Influential Marketing by Network Rail

I was pleasantly surprised to see Professor Green urging us to ‘stop listening to his music’ today, but then I realised it was another great stunt by M&C Saatchi, to highlight National Rail’s new safety campaign.

History has proven railways are problematic and dangerous, even more so now with youngsters listening to music at level-crossings, that who else would have made this campaign as influential as Professor Green!  

It is thought that two youths have already died this year and in the past five years railway staff has reported 19 incidents. This '#LoseYourHeadphones' campaign for social media sites YouTube, Twitter and Spotify is to make youths realise the importance of removing their headphones. 

In my opinion, safety campaigns are often ineffective and ignored, however this one is definitely going to work with the enforcement of Professor Green. The music artist has over 100,000 followers on Twitter and is very credible to a youth which is likely to influence their behaviour.

This campaign is designed to create positive perceptions among influencers and National rail is also going to gain exposure and get attention from Professor Green.

Rebranding gone wrong...

A brand name is the first and most powerful part of a brand. A good name helps the brand stand out in a crowded market and positions itself as a leader.

Yves Saint Laurent, abbreviated YSL, has always been a powerful brand positioned amongst the top designers on the market. The success has lead the french iconic brand to 80 stores globally.

Come autumn, all store signage, clothing labels and logo's will be rebranded SLP, short for Saint Laurent Paris.

It just doesn't sound right does it?

YSL to SLP...

After 50 years existence on the market, you can understand why this thought has emerged, however a Parisian recognised classic with high culture integrity can not be expected to change and be approved by consumers across the world. It is disrespectful to it's heritage and most of all the greatest fashion name in history; Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent.

The new creative director, Hedi Slimane, has chosen to radically change the brand name to typically reposition and upgrade the brand. Perhaps this is to remove negative connotations associated with YSL, but I'm not so sure there was any?

Messing with a classic is a bad idea.

The new name and the great impact that has been placed on the company’s product representation sends out a complete new message about who they are and what they represent. It is very important that the company’s identity be handled with some degree of sensitivity and care so as not to run old customers away.

If it isn't broke don't fix it.

Is it sex or emotion that sells?

We have seen diverse brands using provocative and sexual imagery in advertisements for many years now that the concept of selling ‘sex’ has been scientifically proven to increase sales and spread virally. This is exactly what the health and well being company; Philips tried to achieve when advertising their ‘body groom barbershop’ event in Covent Garden this weekend.

 Philips- who base themselves on ‘fundamental customer insights’ endorsed model celebrity Kelly Brooks to shave men’s body hair, in the attempt to excite and generate dialogue between the male audiences. Of course, Kelly’s physical attractiveness did just this, especially when men were in for the chance to have a body shave by Kelly herself!

The brand’s competition and celebrity appearance built a huge fan base helping to create further brand awareness and instant credibility, but what is particularly impressive with Philips ‘Expressyourself’ campaign is the ability to enhance social networks. Men could only win a personal shave by the top leading model if they applied via Facebook, which long-term enables Philips to attract them to future products or services.

Although this campaign in a way ‘infects’ men who will then ‘infect others’ helps attract a wide audience to the event- but what about the market positioning?

It was Fathers day this weekend and I’m not so sure dads could really get the time to go and have a shave, or in turn attract mum’s or children, to purchase a Philips product from this?! 

Does sex sell on Father's day?

 Here is another 'sex' example from Boots advertising Durex play lubricant as a way to 'Make Dad's day'!

I think brands that targeted fathers day this weekend, and added value and personality to their brand, did much better in terms of sales and longevity. 

For example, the official sponsor of Olympic games- Procter & Gamble launched a “thank you mom” campaign for mother’s day which gained a high response rate and added value to mom’s everywhere, the success gave P&G the power to elicit strong feelings and emotions again this fathers day.

Subsidiary company, Gillette, launched a TV campaign during the England vs France Euro 2012 match.  <Click here>

  

The strong dialogue immerses dads, mums and children and creates a story that audiences can relate too.  Such interaction makes Gillette approachable and friendly, and gives consumers the illusion that they aren’t just purchasing a product they are purchasing an experience.

The campaign also went online with the Twitter hash tag '#HeresToDad and #ThanksToDad, as well as Facebook where users could win competition to get tickets to the Olympics.

I wonder who did better in sales?

Nintendo's ineffective campaign

I was surprised to see Nintendo’s latest campaign; endorsing celebrity Samantha from TV series Sex and The City. Surely her character and reputation should represent a more feminine product or brand?

Nintendo is interpreted as a male dominated brand with gaming products aimed at the geeky and technically savvy audience- not middle aged women who love city life, alcohol and shopping?!

Samantha, who goes by the real name Kim Cattrall, is the star of Nintendo’s new game ‘Super Mario 3D land advert’. She is featured in her bedroom and refers to Mario in a sexual manner creating a sexual illusion towards the well known character. Personally, I find that disturbing. How can an animated character’s raccoon suit turn on Sex and the city’s sultry Samantha? 

The new campaign seems like Nintendo want to market to a more diverse audience and not just kids, which is good, however if the purpose of this advert is to target women I think the communication is wrong. As a woman I associate Samantha with ‘sex’. Her character in Sex and The City is a ‘try-sex’- someone who will try anything once, and I don’t think I could ever be influenced into thinking she would use a Nintendo, or fancy Mario for that matter!

This ineffective advert does nothing for the brand especially as Nintendo has portrayed the family-friendly image for so long. Samantha is definitely the wrong demographic for this product, and I think Nintendo should start monitoring and analysing their competitors before they launch a new campaign with a different celebrity. Take a look at this classic (and much better) Nintendo ad:

The Jubilee's impact on retailers

The nation has now recovered from the great British showcase across the country as many of us hung union Jack buntings, prepared for street parties, and spent a fortune on celebrations in preparation for the Queen’s Jubilee. I think we all owe a huge thank you to the Queen for giving us a wonderfully patriotic four days off work (and being our Queen for sixty years of course!)

But what about the unfortunate Brits who didn’t get given the time off to enjoy the different events that took place? Whilst I was relaxing watching the Jubilee boat race, retailers were still attracting shoppers, which made me think about the turnover in the run up to the Jubilee since high street brands everywhere converted shop windows and consumers were inundated with red, white, and blue marketing.

London’s Oxford Street is the greatest retail environment within the UK and is said to have kick-started the West end celebrations with 147 flags and over 2 million shoppers.

Amongst fashion retailers, food retailers were all very keen on being Jubilee focused too- especially Sainsbury’s whereby Piccadilly circus was transformed into a ballroom.

The quirky marketing campaigns on TV (like the M&S ‘Summer to remember’ advert), social media photo uploads, in store decorations and product branding, excited us and as consumers it reminded us about the important upcoming Jubilee.

 

The Jubilee gave us fortunate employees time off, and the opportunity to be proud of being English, but it also enabled retailers to have a record trading boost. We could not help but spend! 

Did you see any excellent examples of Jubilee marketing? What did you buy throughout the celebrations? 

 I would love to hear your comments...

Why is a strategy more important than a tactic?

The fizzy soft drink with mixed fruits; Vimto, changed from cordial to carbonated in recent years- probably the reason for them undergoing this new crazy and fun brand personality. Well it definitely suits them. Everything about the brand has improved including their social interaction.

Customers can now play games on their website, tweet Vimto consumption in real time, and have Vimto’s humorous jokes updated on their Facebook news feed. All of which help engage their audience into liking the brand, and once a person likes Vimto, they become more assertive and more likely to say ‘yes’ to the products. 

For example, Vimto’s latest Facebook update is likely to make consumers laugh. By doing just that they are thinking good thoughts about Vimto, and when they think drink, they are likely to associate it with Vimto. It really does depend on how persuasive a brand is with their social content.

However, after returning home from work this evening I was surprised to find a new approach from Vimto. Direct mail with the print ‘Get your FREE squash’ and all you have to do is leave the bag outside your door with your house number on it’. Is this persuasive communication?

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for promotional giveaways, in fact I recently blogged about Starbucks and how giving away freebies is a great way to manage customer relationships. We all feel exclusive with a freebie, but as a marketer I don’t think Vimto have considered if this tactic is going to produce positive response, and above all a relatively enduring attitude.

Straight away I checked Vimto’s online channels- to find out more, but it has not been advertised which to me is strange. If this was a marketing strategy surely the brand would have considered diverting traffic to their website, Facebook & Twitter to become everlasting customers? Or even take the name and number for the purpose of their database and send each person future e-mails?

I sound like an absolute bore who is not at all impressed with a free bottle of squash, which is not the case, I know what Vimto are trying to achieve and it could potentially work, but I am thinking along the lines of a marketer not a consumer. This is a great example of a tactic and not a strategy.

 It is quite difficult for any brand to target potential consumers at their home and expect a positive enduring attitude straight away. A brand needs to motivate the consumer and give them a message to think about. Without this push people will resist the kindness- in the same way I did. Or perhaps I was unmotivated towards Vimto because I did not have a chance to 'like' the brand and gain credibility towards the brand?

What do you think about this 'Free squash'. Tactic or strategy?

Join the picture day for future generations

The Swedish non-profit foundation ADAY.org have created a campaign on May 15th to encourage us to photograph our daily lives.

ADAY.org supports scientific research and education centred around the photographic image and written word. Their new campaign sure does inspire creative reflections on humanity.

On this one single day they ask you to pick up your camera to help them photograph 'daily life'. Anyone can join for a wider perspective. All images will be displayed online and some will even be selected for a book 'A day in the world' to be published October 2012.

If you love photography and you have something to say about your life get involved and inspire generations to come.

Click here to join now.

Pepsi launches digital dashboard as a pop culture news source

Pepsi Pulse, a social media interactive board on www.pepsi.com, went live yesterday morning for Pepsi's new global campaign "Live for now".

The ambitious new social platform 'Pulse' is a real time board that aims to pull pictures, tweets and news items from filtered sources. The stream will come from the '#NOW' and '#LIVEFORNOW' hashtags, to update the board with 'now' moments based on social popularity. If it's now its on pulse!

As a result of this Pepsi; a brand who has often associated themselves with live music and events, will attract and advertise their website through messaging, which in effect will direct traffic to their site. Pepsi Pulse aims to be a major player in conversations relating to music and entertainment.

“Pepsi Pulse is a cheat sheet for pop culture,” Shiv Singh, global head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages, told Mashable.

Consumers can find pop culture news on Pepsi pulse- but will the digital platform continuously engage and encourage repeat visits to www.pepsi.com?

Pepsi is among a multitude of companies buying into social media's ability to strengthen their brands. They have even got endorsement deals with Nicki Minaj who can potentially influence her 10 million followers when she tweets something about music #NOW. 

Will you be tweeting pop culture news #NOW on Twitter? 

Nicki Minaj's song 'Moment for life' will be included in the campaign's first commercial on 7th May.

Freebies work!

Great product marketing from Starbucks today! 

Go and introduce yourself on Wednesday 14th March and they will introduce you to the new standard of Latte absolutely FREE!

The power of this promotional freebie gives Starbucks creditability in customer relationship management. We as consumers get excited with freebies and we feel exclusive and special that we are likely to become loyal customers down the line. We could become obligated to pay Starbucks back.

Although free Latte's are costing Starbucks- it is actually saving them millions that might otherwise be spent on  less-effective marketing and advertising schemes.

As mentioned in the video: 'Everything is becoming impersonal nowadays. We have become usernames, reference numbers and IP addresses.' 

Go get your Free Latte!

Freedom of tweet

Although the concept of super injunctions took place in the 80’s, their technological existence only took place a decade ago. Today commercialized stories and numerous publications fill the internet which made it necessary for the ‘Freedom of tweet, Censorship, Government, Marketers and the law’ event to take place during London’s social media week.

Ryan Gigg’s story about Twitter proves the challenge that we are facing in the legal framework. Although Gigg’s phoned his lawyer to stop information coming out on him in the attempt to protect his family, news still escalated around Twitter, and stories were still published in newspapers around the world and in Scotland.

When Gigg’s tried to stop the stream of gossip international laws made it difficult to do so as Twitter has no presence within the UK. What this means is that we are moving away from an era of print media and publishers (which could withhold information on celebrities with super injuctions) to a modern day era where we have to believe all types of different shapes and colours of opinion.

This is the challenge we are facing. Everyone can be a publisher and how successful they are depends on what they write. Everyone has a voice within the social sphere so it is difficult for the law to determine if tweeters are breaching the court orders or if in fact they are just generating a conversation?

It has become so difficult for the law to move quickly enough and keep up with online developments to resolve the cases involved with it, that instead of advising celebrities to take out a super injunction and guarantee amenity, they should advise PR expertise to help generate good news. We cannot stop people talking.

Since the London riots, there has been adequate legislation put into place to address the challenges that are coming out, but the main challenge seems to be the Judiciary. They are not literate enough to understand Twitter and they do not know when to treat it as a joke or as a serious issue.

What we as publishers should consider is that we are in a generation where we need to stay in-the-know. If the UK government had adopted the Egypt internet censorship legislation during the riots would we have been happy? The answer is probably not.

All of us rely upon citizen journalism and information from various sources that we need freedom of speech on the internet.

However, as Twitter continues to grow internationally, the UK government have decided to filter tweets, in order to withhold content from users in specific countries. What do you think about filtering tweets? Do you think this regulation causes underlying concern for freedom of speech?

Kitkat's ' £6m 'choose a chunky champion' campaign...

I was really impressed with Kitkat's latest TV advertisement which promotes the 'choose a chunky' campaign.

Kitkat have created 4 new LIMITED EDITION flavours and are asking consumers to vote their favourite flavour to stay permanantly. This is such a tactful campaign in encouraging existing customers to purchase all flavours before they vote, and it offers the opportunity to attract additional customers.

What the Kitkat brand have done here is engage consumers via TV advertisement and accustomed them to have their say via social media, therefore it is directing consumers to their Facebook page, which in effect is likely to cause more 'likes' and more interaction with the other Facebook posts.

Graham Walker, Nestlé UK Trade Communications Manager, said:

“With consumers increasingly looking to have their say in the future of their favourite brands, the Kit Kat Choose a Chunky Champion event is well timed."

The voting will close and the new chunky edition will be collated on the 24th February! Get Voting: http://www.facebook.com/kitkatuk

What do you think about the campaign? Is crowdsourcing the future for brands?

When hashtags go wrong!

The #McFail

McDonalds recently launched their Twitter hashtag campaign ‘#Meetthefarmers’ in the hope to promote the company’s fresh produce and meat. The fast food chain took the campaign to a wider consumer market with the hashtag ‘#McDstories’. Unfortunately for Mcdonalds tweetsville soon hijacked their original tweet and re-branded ‘#McDstories’ with their less favourable experiences.

  

McDonalds hashtag is a brilliant example on the bad effect social media can have on a brand if they are not carefully planned. ‘#McDstories’ lost control within one hour, which suggests McDonalds did not consider that they are a company that strongly divides opinion and not everyone likes their food. It is not about their brand- but their consumers.


This is #Nuts!

The same can be said about the Mars owned chocolate bar Snickers, who yesterday sponsored the hashtag ‘#hungry’ for the reason they want to highlight ‘Your not you when your hungry’. But how well did this hashtag trend on Twitter?

When Snickers hijacked Katie Price’s Twitter account it had her 1.5 million followers wondering if she had been hacked! With recent issues in the NOTW (See here) about phone hacking this PR stunt could have gone terribly wrong. Luckily for Snickers they did not generate negative tweets about their brand. 

It just goes to show that when a brand sponsors a hashtag they cannot be controlled, and it can quickly turn into a PR disaster.

What are your thoughts on #hungry and #McDstories? PR fail or success?

The WIKIPEDIA BLACKOUT!!!

Everyone trying to access the online encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA will see this message today:

 "Imagine a world without free knowledge.'

The 24 hour blackout has been done in protest against US legislation laws SOPA, which stands for 'Stop Online Piracy Act' and PIPA 'Protect IP act' in the aim to stop online piracy. It is believed that this blackout will open the door to internet censorship, and prevent future misinterpretations online.

Usually we visit Wikipedia for facts, but this online publicity stunt, instead gives us fears not facts. SOPA and PIPA may be aiming for users to look elsewhere for information, but this is going to cause negative consequences for the speed, stability and security of the internet.

Although Wikipedia have only taken the English- language content offline, and the encyclopedia is still available on smart phones and mobile devices, which makes me think the 24 hour blackout is a way to generate awareness not to prevent damage to the website and limit peoples access to online information.

In my opinion a more powerful protest would have been to close the URL without any acknowledgment and justification. However instead we are all aware that Wikipedia is 'dark for a day'... which is not a drastic movement and it is not a frightening precedent.

Please contribute to charity's!

Casually having a flick through the local newspaper...violence, crime and more crime...until  'Wrapping is big success'- certainly a story that warmed my heart!

In the run up to Christmas, Centre:MK provided a gift wrapping service, located just outside Debenham's in Midsummer Place.

 'MKnews' suggests it was a voluntary service aimed to raise money for 'Advantage Africa'. An organisation that helps people affected by AIDS in Kenya and Uganda.

 £7100.00 was raised!! 


Since 1981- 25 million have died from AIDS.


Before you pay too much attention to mainstream media, in the controversial truth, and you start to think you don't want to contribute to charities think otherwise!!!

Third world countries have lack of health care and have a higher chance of death.

We are now approaching a modernized social economic future, that we are able to provide people with health care, during AID pandemics.

Please contribute to the next charity you see and provide the less fortunate with the best care possible.

If you are interested in being a volunteer for next year's voluntary gift wrapping service please contact jackiegiftwrap@btinternet.com. Alternatively take a look at http://www.volunteermk.org.uk/

Why should you utilize social media for real life marketing??

I previously blogged 'does Gemma like this' where I shared my views about liking a brand on Facebook. I was not convinced that liking a particular brand would help generate sales for that brand, however after research on the brand 'Heineken', my view slightly changed...

Heineken have over 2 million likes. They have successfully demonstrated the importance of building an online community, and how it benefits the brand by engaging and interacting with their fans.

Once Heineken achieved 1 million likes they carried out what I call 'real life' marketing by sending 'Heineken huggers' around Amsterdam to hug strangers!

Seems ob surd right? But imagine if this was you... you are encountering a real life experience with someone in a Heineken t-shirt that you can only relate to the Heineken brand in a positive manner.

Well a similar thing happened with Ikea....

100,000 people liked the 'Have a sleepover in Ikea' page, so Ikea decided to  grant 100 lucky winners their wish. Ikea hosted a sleepover at its Essex store giving customers a once in a lifetime opportunity! Again imagine if this was you... 

Guests were welcomed by 'The only way is Essex' celebrity; Sam Faiers, and given a goody bag containing eye masks, snacks, towels and slippers. A sleep expert was also on hand to give advice on how to test a mattress- All of which help promote the products and services of Ikea.

 <Click here to watch the footage>

This real life marketing proves that Ikea was listening to what their customers want. As a business in the 21st century Ikea are privileged to have a platform like social media, in order to interact with consumers, and improve their marketing strategies. 

Absolutely Fantastic Ikea! Get Liking for the next PR event...