MK College Guerilla Marketing

Busy at work I didn't have much time to read behind it, but I wondered why I kept seeing this one particular person around Milton Keynes. I went to get my lunch in Xscape and he would be there, shopping in The Centre MK and he would be there.

Friends on Facebook started to post about this mysterious person and within a week or so he went viral!

 

He was handing out cards with a date on and a link to a microsite. When you logged on it was a countdown timer.

The people of MK were so captivated by this Guerilla marketing tactic, that news quickly spread. 

All was revealed that the countdown was for MK College and this character was REKO TAO ZION, also known as the time Traveller.  The Time Traveller’s mission was put together by a team lead by the College’s Head of Marketing & Communications, Kate Raclawski.  “The Time Traveller is part of our wider campaign to reach people aged 16-19 and to encourage them to really think about their future,” she says.

MK Citizen reported the microsite had received 200,000 hits three days before his true identity was revealed. 

At a low budget, I'm surprised more companies are not turning to unexpected and unconventional marketing strategies like this one. We will see if any other local businesses take an unusual approach like this one...

FREE popcorn!

It is not often you get a flyer initiating FREE popcorn, so once I heard about it, I quickly paced over to the stand which surprisingly was a black tent with arrows saying 'this way'.

As soon as I got in the tent there was an Australian lady with 2 pots of popcorn. She asked me to choose one pot, in which I did and found it was empty! The lady asked me to think about poverty and how children must feel when they have no food. This definitely made me analyze what just happened.

 

I was given a stamp and a wrist band, which made me think about it for the rest of the day. I also told my friends and got the attention from locals when they asked why I have a stamp.  

This campaign was from World Vision in the fight to end world poverty, in association with Cineworld and MK Xscape.

Marketers are looking for the best price related promotions and as a consumer we look to buy products on offer and although this was a short term gain, I still wanted free popcorn! 

It was very creative of World Vision and I'll be thinking of a similar way to entice passers by and give them something to think about...

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...