Marketing Unleashed Blog by Gary Bembridge

Are all brands destined to die? Is the way we manage and think about them destined to make them eventually die, and new ones to emerge?

2010-03-10T01:05:00.000-08:00

In another posting I spoke about how success can lead directly to failure, as people become more and more cautious and reluctant to diverge from something that succeeded in the past - especially if that was a big success.

More recently, I have been thinking more and more about that. But taking a slightly different stand and wondering if it is almost inherent to human nature and been the fundamental thing that allows and enables innovation, and new ways to emerge and succeed. In fact, the very fact that successful people and brands then stick to the formula that worked for them at first is actually important... as it enables new and different models and brands and business models to emerge.

I remember going to a conference arranged by work in Los Angeles. It was one of those all signing all dancing things that no-one seems to run anymore as seen to be showing too much excess, and at it they had all these workshops we rotated around. In one of them (that has always stuck in my mind) the consultants who were manning it had a very simple (but dramatic) story.

They had 2 large boards. And that was all.

On one board they had a list of the top 5 brands from 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10 years ago.

On another they had the largest companies listed on the stock exchange around sometime after the big crash in 1929 and then today.

On the brand board it was frightening to see that brands just disappeared and disappeared and almost none had survived a very long time. In many cases as new forms and ways of doing things had come along and the old brands had never evolved from the category or form and died.

On the company board it was the same, with many industries merging and others emerging.

It was also startling to how even in recent times so many brands and companies that I knew and had grown up with had gone, and I had not really thought about it.

It was a striking and startling message.

And yet we all go to work and keep doing what we do and keep trying the old ways and forms that our bosses measure us on, as that is the model they know and understand.

But is that the nature of the world? By being slow to change, being slow to embrace new things it allows younger, more nimble, and new visionaries to experiment and flourish and take over markets. Until they too suffer the same disease.

Are we all only destined to have our day. Our 15 minutes of fame and time..

MAKING A BOOB OF YOURSELF? Or are you a bigger boob by not being provocative, arresting and stopping people?

2010-03-03T06:08:00.000-08:00

Give us more provocative print ads.

Give us more arresting headlines.

Make people stop and look at my ad.

These are things we are always saying to our agency about advertising. Then (of course) we then proceed to work the idea and headline down bit-by-bit into the copy strategy wording with a picture.

I am guessing the makers of these gems asked for the same thing, but in their cae they stuck with provoactive, arresting and stopping power.

It works!

Just who exactly are Armani targeting with Cristiano Ronaldo ads? Got me thinking: when do you need to look and act like who you are targeting..

2010-02-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the images of Cristiano Ronaldo is the new Armani Underwear ads? He has replaced David Beckham as the face (you know what you mean) of Armani.

In case not, here are 2 of the images from the series:

They did get me wondering. Just who is the target? I am assuming you recruit a world class footballer to promote a product that you are hoping to then sell and appeal to the legions of male footballer lovers. Big, butch and musculine men who love swirling beer, cheering at the game and appreciating the "ladies". So why then do Armani get him to pose and look quite so much in what feels to me a more male sex object that ladies and gay men may appreciate more. I wondered if I am missing something?

We all know that despite all the PR and the miles of coverage it got, that Dove (for all the worthiness of celebrating women of all shapes and sizes) eventually had to ditch the women of all shapes and sizes and ages as women did not want to look at reality. They did not want to look "at themselves" - but how they projected or aspired to.

I guess it is clear that you would never sell much perfume or underwear using a more likely image of the average man: fat, bulging stomach and hairy like in the spoof below:

We often debate the role of the physical target and the target in communication, and maybe it is easier in aspirational brands and categories as you always go younger, prettier and fitter...

I guess the learning is understanding who your real target is, and what they will find relevant and appealing t them.... so does that mean football fans like looking at muscley men in erotic poses in their underwear? Or that the real target is women who buy their partners the underwear and just hope so of the muscle tone will rub off on them in the end?

Digital fundamentals for the Nervous and the Uncertain: a talk I am doing in March at a Digital Marketing Briefing in London

2010-02-19T02:21:00.000-08:00

I have been invited to do a talk at the Richmond Events Digital Marketing Briefing Conference in London in March.

The topic and description is:

Digital Fundamentals for the Nervous and the Uncertain

Gary Bembridge, Vice President at Johnson & Johnson Beauty Care, and award-winning travel www.tipsfortravellers.com, and marketing blogger www.garybembridge.com , will be presenting some of the fundamentals of building a digital strategy based on personal learning and experiences.

Based on his experience from both professional and personal, he will provide insights, tips and advice to the group and share what he has learnt so far (sometimes the hard way!). It will also be a great opportunity to ask those digital questions you've always wanted, but never had the nerve to!

I am currently crafting the talk and tips for the one hour session.

Here is the taster so far, and any thoughts are welcome...

4 things work really well online.
Love it. Live it. Do it
From the top. Expecting is not enough. Be in or be out.
Be where they are. Build and they will not come. Take the mountain to them
Think: Learn forwards versus sit back. Think about the 3 screens:
Create a Fan base (not a database)
Give them what they want. Think like a consumer, stay thinking like that when you walk in the office
Know what’s out there
Use the principles of communication
Don’t try and predict the future, make it.

Follow Digital Marketing Briefing on Twitter: click here

A spooky story: how my father's stolen medals appeared online, and how I found out. The power of the internet and social media

2010-02-19T01:50:00.000-08:00

This is a slightly spooky story.

A friend of my late Dad, spotted that my Dad's long service medals that he was awarded in the Police in Zimbabwe (or Rhodesia as it was then) are for sale on an auction site in South Africa. They were stolen it seems in a burglary years ago when my parents lived in Harare.

What is very spooky is that his friend (who lives in the UK) first spotted them while searching online, remembered my Dad's old regimental number and then focund me to tell me.

This feels all very spooky that they have turned up and through the internet have become aware of them. It was quite a shock as on one of the Photos in the auction I can see my Dad's initials and name and Mum confirmed his regimental number.

The power of the internet I guess....

Nothing causes failure more than success. Barclaycard moving from water slide to roller coaster reminded me of that saying..

2010-01-30T02:50:00.000-08:00

There is a saying that nothing causes failure more than success.

In the world of business and marketing this is very true, and a really big watch out. The problem is that it is very hard to avoid it. Imagine the situation. You have been brave and bold and run a new campaign, it was out of the box, different and created a big buzz both with your peers and also the consumer. And it worked.

What happens next. You try and copy it. You try and replicate it. You try and though stick as closely as you can to the breakthrough thing. You forget that the reason it worked was it was different, bold, breakthrough and challenging. Beware success, make sure that you think carefully about what was the heart of success.

An example for me is the Barclycard instant swipe card thing (unfortunately I can never remember the name despite seeing the ad a lot). They created an impactful and striking and unusual ad where a man goes on a water slide from the office, buying things along the way with his swipe card. It showed the speed of the transaction. And he bought a few things.

So what have they done next? Made a clearly very expensive, technically clever ad where a man goes to work on a roller coaster (and actually only buys one thing). It is all about a rollercoaster, technical effects, and forgets the product. It is predictable and not clever, the first ad was a surprise and unexpected. But moving to a roller coaster was predictable and obvious. Surely the smart thing would be to find an unexpected scenario where people were buying things fast.

Barclaycard Rollercoaster TV ad (click here to watch on YouTube)

Barclaycard Water Slide TV ad (click here to watch on YouTube)

SIMPLICITY: The trend to ride to win today. More thoughts on this topic

2010-01-26T04:24:00.000-08:00

In a recent posting I wrote about it feels like “simplicity” is the hot trend that marketers should be focusing on to win. It feels to be a fast growing trend for all sorts of reasons, ranging from enabling to offer better value for money through simpler less complex offers through to the feeling of being safer, kinder and gentler in an increasingly harsh world.

I have a copy of the original post at the bottom of this update.

As this is top of mind, I tend to notice things that reinforce this view of course

I saw a really interesting article on the Huffington Post blog by Dr Arnold Klein a dermatologist that got me thinking.

In his article he talks about how in the world of beauty care the obsession today is about complexity in regimes, offers and the whole process while in reality SIMPLICITY is actually the best thing to do rationally. Of course as the market is so much about aspiration and irrationality both manufacturers and consumers behave differently.

There were 2 things that really stood out for me in his arguments:

SIMPLE IS SAFER AND BETTER

When it comes to caring for your skin, the more simple you are (he argues) the safer and better it actually is. People are doing things that make your skin more sensitive and affected that they really don’t need to

He says: “Another thing to remember is the fewer agents we use on our skin the better. Albert Kligman my teacher from Penn and the brightest dermatologist next to me, of course (only kidding) did a study on Japanese women; who are known to have sensitive skin. The study found that these women used on average 8 different products on their skin. (For comparison US women use about one product.) When the number of products the Japanese women used was reduced to one there skin was no longer sensitive.”

SIMPLY OFFERING WHAT IS GOOD IN A SIMPLE WAY SHOULD BE ENOUGH

He talks about how manufacturers tend to create complicated offers to try and sell more regimes and cross-sell.

He gives as an example how Neutrogena in the USA sell retinols (which he acknowledges an outstanding anti-age ingredient).

He says: “A good example of a product like this is Retinol SA from the Ageless Intensive Line by Neutrogena. Its concentration of retinol is high enough to be effective (i.e. converted to retinoic acid.) The issue I have with the Neutrogena product is that there are all these weird add add-ons that come with the product such as the facial vibrator and cleansing pads one is suppose to use. Why? Buying a new cream becomes tantamount to buying a new car. Why they can't simply sell the cream?”

Read the full article on the Huffington Post:

“Hope in a Jar --- Cosmeceutical Science : Fact or Fiction Part 1” by Dr Arnold Klein

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arnold-william-klein/hope-in-a-jar-----cosmece_b_433967.html

My original post on Simplicity as the way of the Future:

Is simplicity the way of the future? I think it could well be. I do think it is a big trend to watch out for an embrace.

After years of excess and conspicuous consumption, the economic crisis has forced a rethink in so many areas. And one theme for me seems to be that simplicity is the thing that is emerging. It is a natural reaction to excess, complexity and concerns about what we eat, use and do to our bodies and the environment we live in.

Some of this trend is fuelled by the need for organizations to find ways to cut costs too, ironically.

Many hotels, airlines and other service industries are taking out various features and items to reduce costs. In fact some hotels are prepared to lose stars from their ratings in order to strip back some of the features. Hotel chains like Travelodge are doing well on the basis of offering nothing more than a good night's sleep. They do not have complex services and features but focus on making sure that people have a good night sleep. Nothing more and nothing less. Focusing on one core and simple thing. People may get used to, and like paying less for getting the key thing: good comfortable night sleep. This is simplicity and ensuring you focus not on all the ancillary offerings, but the simple thing people need.

The increased awareness of the dangers of chemicals and the junk in the environment that is leading to increased incidence of things like eczema and skin issues is also leading to more simple and perceived safer products. We are seeing, for example, rapid growth of brands like “Simple” in the UK that tells a story of just a few key ingredients that are all you need to get the results you want. We are also seeing the growth of pharmacy brands promising to exclude preservatives and other chemicals to be just simple but effective.

There was a really interesting article recently in USA Today about the emergence of the simple trend and how it is having an impact and resonating across many other categories that is well worth reading called “How many ingredients in this scoop? The answer may be surprisingly simple”

What do you think? Got any other examples? Email me or leave a comment on the blog posting now!

New Media Cruise/ Podcamp@sea: of interest to new media fans?

2010-01-19T01:06:00.001-08:00

The Idea

A different kind of cruise is being planned for this June. This is a cruise for people more interested in bit rates than bingo, and more interested in RSS than the midnight buffet. The idea is to create a floating unconference on new media. I have had a chance to do a themed based tech cruise and found that it was much more enjoyable and interesting than a regular cruise vacation (shuffle board is not my game). We will spend the time in port exploring but when the ship is at sea we will have sessions of interest to the attendees on new media and social media.

This is a 5 day cruise to keep the costs low with no additional fee for the conference as long as you register through me. By registering together as a group, the ship should provide the necessary meeting space with no additional charge. Also we will sit as a group rotating people through different tables to make it easier to meet people.

What is an Unconference
To keep the costs low it is my intention to do this as an unconference where the people attending will decide what sessions we will have rather than paying for speakers to attend. I would like to provide a place where novices and experts alike can learn something. I have created a discussion in the Amateur Traveler boards called “What do you want to learn?”

The Cruise
The plans for the New Media Cruise have solidified and we have reserved cabins for cruise leaving New York City on June 28th and returning on July 3rd with stops in Halifax and Saint Johns.

Who are we?
I am the host of the Amateur Traveler, The Bible Study Podcast and a co-host on This Week in Travel podcast. All together I have published more than 400 podcast episodes (both audio and video).

I am working with Lorene Romero of the Home Based Travel podcast to pull this off because she is a cruise travel expert and knows how to coordinate this with the cruise company and how to help people book their travel, excursions, etc.

For full and fair disclosure Lorene and I will make money on the commissions to help pay for our time working on this, but frankly Lorene thinks I am a little crazy for not having a registration fee to pay for miscellaneous expenses.

How much will this cost?
The taxes and fees came in a bit higher than I expected (always make sure to check these when you book a cruise because often the advertised price does not include them).

Final costs are:
Inside Cabin $420 base price, taxes and port charges $198.77 = $618.77 per person
Outside cabin $480 base price, taxes and port charges $198.77 = $678.77 per person
Balcony $650 base price, taxes and port chagres $198.77 = $848.77 per person
Also plan on $10 per person per day for tips

How do I book the cruise?
Email newmediacruise@AmateurTraveler.com with your contact info and cabin selection. If you do contact them please mention that you heard about it via Gary Bembridge (TipsForTravellers Blog)

How can I help?
Please spread the word to the podcasters and new media producers that you know. The more people who come the more fun this will be.

Renault Twingo living in modern times campaign. I like it.

2010-01-17T01:01:00.000-08:00

There is so much dross and dull formula advertising out there at the moment, and as times and budgets are tight it feels safer to make safe choices.

I am very much entertained by the new Renault Twingo ads in the UK. I normally am rubbish at remembering what ad is for what car, but found the cheeky and thought provoking take on attitudes to life quite surprising and interesting.

In both the ads you are lead to believe that the person will react in one way to seeing something unusual about one of their family members, but they don't. And underpinning it all is clearly both an open attitude and clearly a caring for the family member, accepting them.

I liked that it captures a social trend and also reflects the bond within families. And they are fun and well made.

The campaign is called "Modern Times" and the line is "because we live in modern times"

The 2 ads are for "Dad" in line and "Daughter" with a new job..

Click here to watch on YouTube if ad not running above

Click here to watch on YouTube if not showing above

MOST POPULAR ADS OF THE NOUGHTIES: WHAT DO THEY TELL US?

2009-12-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

This week on the main terrestrial commercial TV channel in the UK (ITV 1), they had a program that counted down the twenty most loved ads from the “noughties” (the last decade)based on over 8000 TV viewers from a list put together by the station

The top 5 were in ascending order:

5) Cadbury “Gorilla”
4) Honda “COG”
3) Compare the market “Meerkat”
2) Skoda “Cake”
1) Hovis “Boy through time”

What was a little bit scary for me is that as a marketer I think pretty much of all them are terrible ads, and wondered if that is where it all goes wrong! In fact some I think are almost dumb and perplexing, and I am fairly sure would not have made it past the 1st presentation. Also I am still not sure as a consumer that they would have had much affect on me. So I started to ponder that, this and the meaning overall and here are the 4 things that I took from it all:

1. UK consumers love ads that entertain. They love the indirect sell, the clever and the quirky. And they really like humour. Though when they mde their final choice it was nostalgia that wins through. Especially in the uncertain times, it was interesting to see the very clever and thought provoking ad from Hovis bread was the number one.

2. They all are quite long, up to 2 minutes for the full Hovis ad. Does length mater after all? They are big, memorable and would seem small in short ad lengths.

2. We have no idea if they loved the ads and acted on them. For an ad that does not sell or change perception and sell is not worth it all. Personally, the one ad that did make me change was the Compare the Market ad, which is just about brand recognition and recall so when it was time for new car insurance their name popped straight into my mind. There are reports that Cadbury sold more chocolate after the Gorilla ad, and the huge PR and talking point it created. So maybe there it was more the buzz and the top of mind again that worked.

3. We have no idea what the brief was and if they met it. If the brief was “get my brand talked about” then 4 of the 5 on this list interesting did and a lot. There were written about, discussed and covered in all sort of media. But did it deliver the brief.

4. It would have been a dull show if the ads that sold lots of products only were in here, as suspect it would have been a drier and more message driven show. Nearly as dull as many of the breaks these days.................

Scary as most with marketer hat on I despaired of at the time as felt they were more production than selling

WATCH THE TOP 2 ADS

HOVIS BOY on YouTube (full long version)

SKODA CAKE: click here to watch on YouTube

THE SUN NEWSPAPER SPOOF APPLE IPHONE

2009-12-15T02:53:00.000-08:00

As readers of the blog know, I am a fan of and interested in spoof ads as I think they are not only entertaining but more importantly they show when advertising has caught a nerve (good or bad) and also have a creative idea or format that people identify with and is so clear that they can replicate it.

Sometimes of course it is consumer generated, and less often by other manufacturers or service providers.

One of the spoof/parody ads that is currently being written about on blogs, Twitter and online generally is The Sun newspaper in the UK.

The Sun newspaper has done a very clever parody/ spoof inspired by Apple iPhone and the way they communicate on features and benefits.
Watch the ad on YouTube: click here

THE BRAND GAP: AN INTERESTING PRESENTATION

2009-12-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

I was sent a link to a presentation about branding titled “The Brand Gap” that the Creative Director at our ad agency came across by one Mart Neumeier.

It was a great read (170 very visual slides with very visual ideas).

There were 2 things that really resonated for me, as they are things that I have written about in the blog, and these were:

1. You need to be different to STAND OUT and be noticed by your target. The point he makes, which I had not thought of before, was that we have so much information and stimulus to digest constantly that we are “programmed” to only really notice things that are different and enexpected. Anything that is very similar or the same we do not tend to notice and register. Good point!

2. If you are really trying to INNOVATE, then you need some strange ideas that feel uncomfortable and make you feel a bit nervous. If not them they are far too familiar and safe, and probably are me-too. Another good point

The full presentation can be found at:

http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/0321348109/goodies/The_Brand_Gap.pdf

Who is Marty? I have not met him but the presentation says: Marty Neumeier is president of a San Francisco-based brand consultancy, Neutron LLC. Neutron supplies the “glue” that holds brands together: brand education programs, seminars, workshops, creative audits, process planning, and more.
Visit http://www.neutronllc.com/. (though if you visit you will see they have merged with a company called LIQUID)

Big and Small: the 2 ways of the future. The Economist agrees..

2009-12-08T04:55:00.000-08:00

This is an update on my posting about how it feels to me that to succeed you increasingly have to be really big or small but tightly targeted.

I was interested to read in the "economist" magazine of 28 November their article "a world of hits". It referred to the "long tail" book by Chris Anderson - but argued that what has happened is that big hits in films are getting bigger - and the very targeted are selling nicely... But the ones in the middle are struggling. The same is true of newspapers (big titles doing ok, and the very narrow local ones doing just fine).

The article is worth a read:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14959982

ANOTHER TREND? NO ROOM IN THE MIDDLE ANYMORE? BIG AND BROAD VS. TIGHT AND TARGETED?

2009-12-01T06:56:00.001-08:00

As readers of my blog know, I tend to have my “theories” about trends and areas to focus. One of the recent ones was around the emergence of SIMPLICITY as a trend that is being driven not just by the economic crisis and challenges that mean suppliers of products and services are stripping back offers to the core offer to help make them more affordable, but also by the increasing uncertainty about safety of so many ingredients, products and the such like making simple offers feel better choices.

Another thing that I have increasingly been observing is that to compete and succeed there are also 2 clear way to proceed: either be big, broad and loud or highly targeted, niche and specific. Think the middle ground is doomed territory.

Here are some examples

From the world of TV
Big event shows are booming. Take a show like “X-Factor” in the Uk (or “American Idol”, “Britain’s Got Talent” etc). These are big shows that are capture the imagination of the public on a broad and big scale. They become intensive shared experience viewing, and create spin off content, comment and interactions across many media and medium (blogs, newspapers, twitter, Facebook). Many (like me) watch the show with a dialogue going on via Twitter, Facebook with friends and others. They are loud big and dominate media for a period of time.

Then on the other extreme are smaller, highly targeted and specific shows and channels that have a tight and dedicated target that watch and get engrossed in. The numbers are not huge but they are very attractive and make money because they are efficient at reaching and talking to that target and interest. The problem is all the stuff in the middle that is expensive to make and get good enough viewers but neither huge to sell broad appeal advertising to or specific enough to sell very targeted stuff. It seems that Drama series fall into this area. They are expensive to write and make and even with several million viewers they just cannot make money.

From the world of news/ newspapers
There are 2 things I consume. The Times (a general interest newspaper that gives me a broad view of the world) and the CHiswickW4 (a weekly email with news from the suburb I live in). I love both. They are not on the same scale as the TV example but interesting. ChiswickW4 runs ads for local events and services and always helpful, The Times the big new things and services.

It is also clear that people will only pay for content (especially online) if it is specialist and expert, and not big general things like day-today news.

I think it is time to think about one’s product offering. Maybe within a brand there maybe some big, broad offers and then tight efficiently targeted lines that can be very efficient and profitable as you only need to talk to a small tight target who can be reached through tight media/ medium offering.

MARKETING UNLEASHED PODCAST NOMINATED FOR EURO PODCAST AWARD

2009-12-01T06:16:00.000-08:00

My Marketing Unleashed Podcast has been nominated for a European Podcast Award. PLease vote! Thanks

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STELLA ARTOIS GETS THE SIMPLE TREND?

2009-11-29T07:46:00.000-08:00

In my last posting, I spoke about how more simple and "less is more" seems to be an growing trend - and could be THE next big trend.

It was interesting to see that Stella Artois, for years the "reassuringly expensive" beer ran complex and long almost epic style ads has gone for something more SIMPLE. Talking about how it is made from only 4 ingredients. Though, isn't all beer only made of 4 ingredients?

The secret of winning in the future? It's SIMPLE!

2009-11-11T01:29:00.000-08:00

WHAT DOES REAL DANGER AND PRESCRIPTION DRUGS TELL US ABOUT BLOGGING AND PR?

2009-11-03T23:49:00.000-08:00

When you start getting press releases from PR agencies to your blog does that mean that you have "arrived", or does it just mean that clients and agencies are (finally) understanding that bloggers can get a message out quite fast and quite wide at relatively low cost. Ensuring that the story or angle being pushed can get coverage and also make sure then that it gets picked up in search more?

In recent weeks, I have noticed that I am starting to get more releases and stories from PR agencies. This may also (of course) just mean that someone has created a list of blogs by topic and is selling the lists and so does not mean very much at all!

Or (as in the case of the one I am about to comment on), is a message that may get longer life and a more diverse coverage than in traditional media - especially as part of the material is a bit "rough" to digest..

One of the recent releases I got was from Shiny Red PR for their client Pfizer, which is encouraging people not to buy prescription drugs online - warning that many may be dangerous and harmful by containing things like rat poison. At the heart of the campaign is a stomach churning ad that shows a man pulling a dead rat out of his mouth. The ad has been limited to very late night TV on limited channels in the UK due to its content.

It also struck me that this is also why targeting blogs works when you have something that may have viral potential due to its graphic and controversial nature, and where mainstream media would not want to show it in peak times.

The ad itself is not pleasant, and possibly a bit obvious versus subtle but it is very well made and has convinced me that buying prescription drugs offline is to be avoided should I ever toy with the idea.

But interesting thought on how and when to use bloggers. I have also received many releases about brands doing every day things, and not yet found a hook or reason that has sparked me enough to blog about it. And so maybe another learning is that to engage bloggers, versus spam them is to have a story or some hook that gives a good reason to write about your brand. And it is not likely to be just to say how lovely it is, as paid media can do that where you control everything.

You also need to accept that bloggers may not write what you want them to...(or is bad publicity better than none?!)

What do you think? leave a comment on the blog

Watch the ad on YouTube by clicking here, or on the blog posting:

Visit the website: http://www.realdanger.co.uk/

USA ADS GETTING SCARIER. OR JUST ME GETTING MORE PARANOID?

2009-11-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

Being on holiday in the USA a month or so ago, meant watching more TV than I usually do when there on business. Something really struck me about the nature of US advertising that felt to me like it has got more pronounced, and has made the difference with UK advertising more pronounced than ever.In the UK, advertising (especially on TV) tends to be optimistic, positive, light-hearted and upbeat. There is a high emphasis on entertaining to sell. Ads tend to be funny, show slices of life and even tend towards story telling.USA ads seemed to be getting much more scary that I remember them. They seemed more problem / solution orientated. The alternative brands to those being advertised being positioned as being more risky, more flawed and even more dangerous. The ad breaks felt to be more full of threats and gloom. The ads make life seem so much more fraught. It seemed to be playing on fears is the dominant ad approach.

As I wrote this posting originally in the last few breaks I had seen on the TV:
· seen jealous boyfriends kick down a terrified woman’s door who was saved because of her security alarm.
· been warned about the dust left behind by feather dusters, and how my family could suffer allergies unless I switch to some other product
· been told if I have been taking a certain drug I could suffer tendon problems and should contact some lawyers to join suing the company
· been told that as I am ageing I am risking getting a heart attack and better start taking daily aspirin doses
· been told I should chose a line of diabetes monitoring products as they are designed and made in the USA, implying other countries cannot be trusted

I was wondering if it has always been so? Has the style of commercial that convinces American consumers to make brand choices based on creating fears and uncertainty reflecting the times the country is going through - so mirroring society?

The UK is by no means going through the most positive of times, but seems being copy is trying to be more cheerful and entertaining and focusing on the positives is the ad industry weapon of choice. Is this a cultural thing? Or just me over concluding?

Topical advertising, taking advantage of the clock change to sell your product

2009-10-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

One way to stand out and connect is by being topical and taking advantage of events. One event that happens twice a year and so can be planned for is the clock change. Here are how a number of manufacturers try and use events like the clock change to sell.

Radox viral ad about taking time to yourself. Using a Eastenders man in a suggestive ad to attract and target women. This viral video was re-posted many times by people on YouTube, Twitter and other social media sites.

Watch ad on YouTube: click here or on the blog posting:

Brand Integration: easy to say and hard to do. But key to commercial success in advertising and sponsorship

2009-10-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

I am constantly reminded that if you want to create communication that people remember is for your brand then you need to make sure that it is fully integrated into the story of the communication.

So much so that you cannot tell the story of the ad (for example) without having the product or service integral to the communication.

This is one of the easiest and most basic mistakes that we all make. As consumers we know that we have seen ads, especially on TV, that we talk about but never sure what brand and product it is actually advertising. We have all done the "did you see the ad where the x did z etc". Often they are ads that we have really LIKED, but as we cannot remember what they are for, then not very good.

I was reading recently a book by Martin Lindstrom called "buy.ology" and in it he also talks about how key this is as we look at new communication forms. Some examples that struck me where:

American Idol sponsorship.
This show is the biggest TV show in the USA and has 3 sponsors who invest a lot of money to do that.

One of them, Coke, has found that awareness that they sponsor the show is huge and has driven some brand image positively. As part of their deal, they intertwined the brand into the fabric of the show. So the space the contestants are interviewed in has the coke brand code colour and the judges have a red glass with coke brand on it and they often sip while giving feedback. Cingular also does well as to be able to vote by text message you have to be a Cingular user and so that is part of the story of the show, voting by text is for Cingular users only. Ford just runs some ads and competitions, and awareness is almost nil. By integrating the Coke brand through the show even though subtly in relative terms it became part of the story of the show.

James Bond Movies.
Other than Austin Martin cars that have been used forever, almost no-one remembers the zillions of products placed in the films as the producers got over the top and lined up products and products in the films. But as they were just slotted in gratuitously and added little to the story and the plot, again they had little impact and few recalled them.

One brand that I was thinking of that was waved into the story and key to the plot was "Central Perk" coffee shop in Friends. I know that if you asked people what the coffee shop in the series was everyone could tell you. But it does not exist as a real brand of course.

The key is you need to add to and be part of the story in communication to be remembered and for good branding. It sounds really simple but ends up being harder to do than we expect as we get carried away by the momentum of a creative idea.

Do you have examples where brands do this well? Email me at gary@bembridge.co.uk if you do, or leave a comment on the blog

IS IT JUST ME, OR ARE THERE MORE NEAR NAKED MALE FOOTBALLERS IN ADS THESE DAYS?

2009-10-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

The most read article on my blog online (rather than read by people who get email alerts with the articles in) by far is the one titled: Is it just me, or are there more naked men in ads these days?

This probably tells us a few things like:
(1) The terms “men” and “naked” are popular search terms online (and I think sex related terms are the top search topics overall consistently). Sex interests people, and so that gets traffic to the site.

(2) People are interested in naked men and like looking at them and so that probably explains while more naked and shirtless men appear in adverts, as they have stopping power.

(3) Men are now very much fair game to be treated as sex objects to sell things

But, one thing that also struck me recently is that there seems to be a growing trend that is increasingly bringing together the world of football heroes and designer underwear. In fact it is becoming so common, it almost looks like it is part of the career path of a successful footballer!

First Fredrik Ljungberg for Calvin Klein, then David Beckham with Armani, and now we hear that Ronaldo(who we often see in the tabloid press in small shorts and swim trunks) will replace David in 2010 as Beckham expands into his own briefs... By which I mean he is launching his own line.

Sports men and briefs seem to be good partners as even Bjorn Borg (the multiple Wimbledon winner) his own line.

I wonder if the main target are men wanting some of the sport champion winning power to wear off on them. Or for women to buy them hoping the more athletic and virile sport star will project onto their man.

Either way it is an interesting trend. Is success on the football field going to be measured by how fast you can get an underwear contract?

Who cares some may say, as:

(1) they certainly do stand out and get noticed. My lasting impression of the American Academy of Dermatology congress in San Francisco in 2009 was not the subtle Aveeno posters plaster on bus shelters announcing it was the natural brand dermatologists recognised, or the facial filler brand whose name I forget, but the zillions of David Beckham posters twice life size lying around display his ball tactics.

(2) they stand out from the sea of muscled and toned men now appearing not only on underwear but many other items. Having a naked/ near naked man no longer is enough as so many now seem to be doing it, you need people to remember who you are - and associating a football star very publically helps with that. Especially as it seems that almost none of the ads talk about benefits and features of the product, just the look. So it is all about brand recognition and aspiration.

OK, enough of my cheesy double entente posting for one day.

I still ask: are there more naked men in ads than ever? There certainly are more near naked footballers!

100 Professional Footballers in underwear ad prove my point:

And if to prove the point that being an underwear model is the career of choice of footballers (or that they are good at selling underwear), the Belgian designer and reported football fan Dirk Bikkemberg had 100 professional footballers pose in underwear in a sort of art installation to launch his new range.

See the story on YouTube: click here

Or watch on the blog posting

Guest Post: Connect with your audience socially and reap the benefits

2009-10-12T03:52:00.000-07:00

I often get requests for people with a point of view on marketing or issues I have raised to provide a guest posting for this blog. I am going to experiment with having them to see how they go down if they add to the debate on issues I have raised. I do not receive any payment and don't take paid for postings by the way.

This posting was written by Christopher Angus, who descibes himself as "an award winning Internet Marketer, who owns SEOCompanyUK.com in the UK" and is on a topic dear to my heart at the moment and something am trying to work on for brands I work on.

Connect with your audience socially and reap the benefits

"Social media is the new kid on the block when it comes to internet marketing; however, it’s one of the biggest arrivals in the last decade and should not be ignored. Brands can be made and destroyed in the blink of an eye due to the effect of social media.

Social media is all about being social. It’s about connecting with a group of people, creating something interesting or useful and growing a group of fans. These fans are like fans of any other brand, but you can develop them quickly and relatively inexpensively when compared with traditional brand building. You don’t need to give things away to grow a group of fans; social media is still quite altruistic in a sense and fans will follow anything that tickles their interest.

It’s these people that will become your online PR machine, they will say nice, flowery things about you and your business so that it will grow. Be kind to your audience and don’t try to relentlessly market your products to them and they will reward you with loyalty and positivity when asked about your business or products.

Connecting with your audience and cultivating a loyal group of followers is hard work initially but very rewarding. It’s highly important that you make the right connections initially as a fault in the beginning can kill your whole social media campaign. When it’s got traction and you have momentum, you can then take a few risks and start to try to promote your product subtly.
The most popular platforms to grow your brand at the moment, include, Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In among others. It’s a form of “online networking” only with access to millions of people in a very short space of time.

Once you have built your relationships, you can use your connections to promote your business, help you with a product launch or get feedback on a new concept you're maybe considering. It’s a huge amount of power to have at the tips of your fingers, all for almost nothing, just the time to build your social connections around yourself.

People that take the time and effort to build their social networks today, will reap the benefits tomorrow, they will be literally years ahead of people that haven’t taken the time or bothered to grow their own networks."

My question for readers:
What is the best example you have of a brand doing all of this well?? Write a comment in the blog or email me using the link on the blog.

No money or not enough budget? It is more expensive if almost no-one is stopped by, notices and digests your message

2009-10-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

It is too expensive. We don’t have the money to do that....

These are two very common phrases I have used myself and am hearing more and more these days. Especially when it comes to format and spot lenthgs in creative work.

However, one thing we all need to remember is:

It is very expensive if almost no-one is stopped by, notices and digests your message. That makes whatever you do very expensive indeed.

It is a topic I have been pondering much more recently, as with budgets tight and getting tighter in the current climate (though isn’t budget always tight anyway?), many markets, marketeers and agencies are aruging that they need to run shorter TV spot lengths, run single pages instead of double pages, sequential pages or even fold-outs and the such like that have been used more in the apst to have stopping power and engage more.

I think the key needs to that when making the call on not doing these or on moving away from them that: The most expensive thing you can do is something that almost no-one will see or hear.... that is very costly as you will have thrown away everything.

As someone once told me on an advertsing course: it is better to be seen once than ignored 1000 times....

New Nandos ad with Evita Bezuidenhout: selling out to sell? Or not?

2009-09-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

Evita Bezuidenhout (played by South African satirist Pieter Dirk Uys) is a character created originally to mock society in the white ruled days in South Africa. the character allowed him to mock and taunt the government. The character has lived on as he still mocks the political world in South Africa.

I thought when someone sent me a link to a new Nandos (the chicken fast food chain) form South Africa that he was "selling out" and going for cash by getting involved in ads. However, as the ad shows, he has still managed to get a barb in at the nature of the political landscape in the country.

It is funny and pointed at the same time! Also interesting to see a client being bold enough to make a political and selling statement in one!

(In case you are not up on the political world in South Africa the main political party is the ANC)..

Watch the ad on YouTube: click here
or on the blog posting: