Change your business model before this happens...
Historic �Blockbuster� Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past
Friday
Product Innovation at its greatest
I almost lost it when they mentioned feed hoses...
New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less
New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less
Thursday
Nokia DANCE
A random spot from W+K but a nice one for a handset manufacturer. I like the tone and pace of this execution - capture a bunch of moments with your Nokia handset and have fun doing it.
Tuesday
Brand Heaven and Hell
Great visual from Logic+Emotion. Where is the brand you work on? My guess is right below the surface...
Monday
Live Advertising - Honda
A few days ago, Honda in Spain did this live ad. I know that Honda is all about "The Power of Dreams" but this is pretty different. It got a ton of coverage in Europe and will probably be talked about for the next few weeks
When Agencies Recycle
While surfing on welcome to optimism (W+K's London blog), I found this great post about Cutwater - a San Fransisco agency that has had success for two videos for clients Ray Ban and Levi's.
Each of the videos have over 3 million views on YouTube and by all measures, are huge, viral hits. That being said, Cutwater has executed the same idea for two different brands. The products are different but the execution and idea are exactly the same.
For an industry driven on unique and original ideas, what does this mean? All agencies are looking for success, especially in digital, but at what cost? If something works for one client, should we simply copy it outright and fit it too another? Maybe.
But to what extent? It's one thing to reference the success your agency has had through new biz case studies and quite another to apply the same idea to another one of your own brands. Even if Dove evolution was successful, I don't want to retrofit that idea to my new Tampon brand (awkward example but still...).
I can only imagine how this was sold to the clients. "Well," says the cool creative director, "we had huge success with Ray Ban and sunglasses and we want to do the exact same thing for you...except with jeans." The AD is happy about it - it worked before after all - why not for us? And the client? They don't have to make any leaps...they asked for a viral video and why not use something that works?
Because it's unoriginal. Because it's not what you hire an agency for. Anyone could copy Whopper Freakout or Dove Evolution but we're hired to think strategically about our brand, not someone else's. I'm all for knowing what brands are succeeding in the space and learning about what strategies got them there. But let's use those strategies to discover ideas that fit the brand, not the trend.
Ray Ban [Posted a year ago]:
Levi's [Posted 4 weeks ago]:
Each of the videos have over 3 million views on YouTube and by all measures, are huge, viral hits. That being said, Cutwater has executed the same idea for two different brands. The products are different but the execution and idea are exactly the same.
For an industry driven on unique and original ideas, what does this mean? All agencies are looking for success, especially in digital, but at what cost? If something works for one client, should we simply copy it outright and fit it too another? Maybe.
But to what extent? It's one thing to reference the success your agency has had through new biz case studies and quite another to apply the same idea to another one of your own brands. Even if Dove evolution was successful, I don't want to retrofit that idea to my new Tampon brand (awkward example but still...).
I can only imagine how this was sold to the clients. "Well," says the cool creative director, "we had huge success with Ray Ban and sunglasses and we want to do the exact same thing for you...except with jeans." The AD is happy about it - it worked before after all - why not for us? And the client? They don't have to make any leaps...they asked for a viral video and why not use something that works?
Because it's unoriginal. Because it's not what you hire an agency for. Anyone could copy Whopper Freakout or Dove Evolution but we're hired to think strategically about our brand, not someone else's. I'm all for knowing what brands are succeeding in the space and learning about what strategies got them there. But let's use those strategies to discover ideas that fit the brand, not the trend.
Ray Ban [Posted a year ago]:
Levi's [Posted 4 weeks ago]:
Sad Stormtroopers
This is totally random but I (as a nerd) loved it. Nice to see a Star Wars reference that's actually funny. Unlike some of the posts on YouTube.
From Laughing Squid.
FIFA Street 3 - Unbelievable vidoe goes guess what? It starts with a V.
As far as viral goes, when it comes to sports...Soccer is king. Please tell me these tricks are real.
See the latest soccer video to go Viral. Created to promote EA sports FIFA Street 3.
See the latest soccer video to go Viral. Created to promote EA sports FIFA Street 3.
P&G launches TAG Records with Def Jam
I see this turning out like Bud TV. The second that the TAG Records artists start signing about Supermaning a ho, this brand experiment will start to stink.
If you want your brand to honestly be cool - you must let the purveyors of cool take control and run with it. Jermaine Dupri has been brought on to make TAG a cool brand, doing cool things and supporting the interests of its brand target. Will P&G let Dupri do his thing, or will we see Will Smith Jr. rap acts featured in commmercials and giving away free song downloads with every can of spray??? God I hope not.
David Nichols is more optimistic....
If you want your brand to honestly be cool - you must let the purveyors of cool take control and run with it. Jermaine Dupri has been brought on to make TAG a cool brand, doing cool things and supporting the interests of its brand target. Will P&G let Dupri do his thing, or will we see Will Smith Jr. rap acts featured in commmercials and giving away free song downloads with every can of spray??? God I hope not.
David Nichols is more optimistic....
Written by: David Nichols: brandgym head of invention
Peering over my morning cup of tea on a flight back from a tiring workshop this week I was jolted awake by the news that P&G has teamed up with rapper and music producer Jermaine Dupri to launch a music label. Am I dreaming? Has British Airways tea become so strong that it’s making me hallucinate? No. P&G, kings of analysis and data driven marketing, are putting their faith in Hip-Hop hype.
TAG Records will be a major part of their strategy for their TAG male deodorant brand in the US, targeted at a younger urban population for whom Hip-Hop is a major passion. A joint venture with Island Def Jam Music Group, the aim of the new label will be to find and promote new talent, using funding from P&G to put serious money behind new and untested artists – giving them the kind of exposure and promotion only usually given to already successful artists.
Despite this sounding like a bold new frontier in marketing, this kind of thing is not new. Remember Soap Operas? Back in the 50’s P&G and others put their faith and money into a new and untested medium and funded the development of TV shows to drive sales of their laundry detergent brands.
I like this idea and I will wait to see if they can make a success of it. What’s good about it?
1. Don’t claim you are cool – be cool
If you want people to think you are funny – tell a joke. So, to give their brand a hip image P&G have decided to actually be cool, not just claim it. Young urban men are one of the hardest targets to address if your brand is not already part of their world. We’ve all seen the ads where a trendy young person is holding a product with a caption that says ‘It’s cool!’ – It just doesn’t cut it.
2. Helping consumers, not just shouting at them
P&G marketing money will actually be used to create future careers for young urban artists. Helping your consumers in their lives, rather than just targeting messages at them, has got to be a better way to go in these times of message saturation and cynicism. Of course, you have to hope they do actually find some real talent or they risk a PR backlash. But there’s no reward without risk and marketing is no different.
3. A way to differentiate all your communications
This is not just a sponsorship deal or a promotion. If P&G are serious about this (and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise!) then this will give them a strongly differentiating focus for all their marketing and communications on TAG; from POS to promotions to distribution itself – they can use the codes, language and characters of Hip-Hop as the driving theme for everything they do.
Found on BrandGym Blog
Quote of the week
"Consumers want brands burned with the mark of their founders, not artificially engineered by their agencies. They want to know who made the brand, where and why".
~Mark Ritson
~Mark Ritson
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