Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Branded to the Core?
I was very conflicted listening to one o the groups present today in class, Veritas to be more specific. On one hand, I really liked the creative executions they were coming up with. The puzzle print ad idea was something I could get behind. I believe that this idea related to UNIQLO because of the various interchangeable basics that the company offers. But nowhere on the ads was their Big Idea: Conquering your wardrobe. Although puzzle pieces can be used to represent the clothes that UNIQLO offers, does that really tie into "Conquering your wardrobe"? Another creative execution the group came up with was a somewhat candid approach of picking up people off the street or any other public place and explaining what UNIQLO can do for their wardrobe by a mini makeover. I believe this relates a little closer to "Conquering your wardrobe" or at least I can understand the direction they were going in. But even with this execution, the big idea wasn't added in the slide anywhere! They included some other tag line instead.
Now my issue with all of this is that a concept that is stressed in class is consistency. With all of the variation in the creative execution and lack of consistency, the consumer can be easily confused and your big idea can become lost in the mess. If you really want people to understand your big idea and how it envelopes your brand, you must show consistently using different executions how your big idea is your brand.
Now, like I said earlier, I like their creative executions but they just didn't tie into each other. Consistency is key when convincing a consumer of who your brand actually is.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Martin Agency Speaker Prep
Strategic Issue
Instead
of a strategic issue the Agency is facing, I’d like to focus on something they
are doing that I think is really cool.
It was called the RVA2NY initiative. It was started by members of The Martin Agency and designed
to send cleaning and food supplies to survivors of Hurricane Sandy. I thought that this was a really cool
thing for the Martin Agency to get behind. The fact that they really know how to use social media was
evident, and the results looked to be very significant. It’s refreshing to see a company giving
back like that, something The Martin Agency seems to do quite often.
Customer/Consumer
Perceptions
Judging
by he Facebook and Twitter pages, The Martin Agency is a very well liked
company in the eyes of the community.
They use their Facebook page as it should be used; by posting pictures
and interacting with other members on the network. They use their Twitter much differently by posting mainly
news articles and links to other sites without much interaction with followers.
Questions
Do you hire a majority of your new hires from the VCU
Adcenter?
Is it one of the company’s core values to give back to the
community? Because you seem to do
so quite a bit. And does this
create a positive buzz about the organization throughout the local area?
Sources:
Monday, November 12, 2012
Wieden + Kennedy Speaker Prep
Strategic Issue
Wieden
has recently been pitted against DraftFCB for an ad campaign for Oreos for the
2013 Super Bowl. DraftFCB
currently has the campaign for Oreos, but the corporation must have it’s doubts
about Draft. The Super Bowl is a
huge venue for advertising and the stress to create another ad comparable to
their successful “Made in Detroit” ad than ran in last year’s Super Bowl much
be heavy.
Customer/Consumer Perceptions
Judging
by their facebook and twitter pages, I would say that customer perceptions are
positive. They have a lot of
friends and followers and although there wasn’t as much fan interaction as I
would have liked to see, there was still some and it appeared positive.
Questions
Does knowing that an ad will run during the Super Bowl ad
more stress to the creative process?
Do you add more resources and take longer to make sure the ad campaign
is perfect?
Does knowing that you’re competing with another agency kick
the process up a gear? Does it add
a bit more drive knowing that you have to produce or you no longer have the
gig?
Sources:
Got MILK? Speaker Prep
Strategic Issue
It
was hard to find a strategic issue the campaign itself was facing. Most of the things I found had to do
with new celebrities signing on to classic milk mustache ad. But what I believe the strategic issue
here keeping the campaign relevant and up to date. It is such a well-known campaign and the problem is making
sure that consumers don’t get lost in the repetitiveness.
Customer/Consumer
Perceptions
Got
Milk? is an iconic campaign and well recognized with any person who has grown
up in the past 15 years. With that
said, their presence on social media sites is lack luster. They tweet very sporadically and the
same goes for their Facebook page.
When they do post something on Facebook, they do not typically have very
many “likes” or comments at all.
Questions
How do you keep the campaign front and center in the
consumer’s eye?
How do you maintain such a long running campaign with such
little variation?
Sources:
Monday, October 29, 2012
Burt's Bees Speaker Prep
Strategic Issue
Burt’s
Bees has recently introduced a new line of products, a hydration line. Though the products are all natural and
health products, they are a far cry from lip balm. Burt’s Bees has also fired their old ad agency, and has
hired a new agency, Baldwin&.
Customer/Consumer
Perceptions
Consumers
seem to love the product. On their
Facebook page, even on posts about upcoming competitions, people are still
commenting how much they enjoy and regularly use the product. They have a lot of twitter followers,
and I really like how they have a “Meet ________” campaign where they showcase
a Burt’s Bees user.
Questions
Has the new agency you’ve hired lived up to your
expectations? Have they revamped the lip balm line the way you wanted to?
Is the hydration line taking off or is it selling a little
slower than anticipated? Did the
creative dry skin billboard increase sales?
Sources:
Monday, October 22, 2012
Publicis Speaker Prep
Strategic Issue
In
my research, I found that Publicis Groupe recently acquired the Amsterdam based
digital agency LBi for 540 million dollars. In the article, it discussed a prospective strategic issue
in an otherwise beneficial deal.
LBi makes much of its profits in Europe. Europe is currently struggling economically and is
experiencing “stagnate ad spending.”
Could this be troublesome for Publicis down the road?
Customer/Consumer
Perceptions
From
the Facebook and Twitter pages of Publicis, it seems that consumer perception
is positive. I couldn’t understand
much of the Facebook page because it was in French. But I was able to find the Publicis USA twitter page and
they have a vast amount of followers and their Twitter presence is high. They tweet frequently and their content
is consistent.
Questions
Do you believe that the acquisition of LBi had anything to
do with keeping the agency out of the hands of Omnicom, who were looking to
purchase?
When acquisitions take place, does it ever occur that the
acquired company and an existing division within Publicis hold contracts for
competing brands? If so, what is
protocol in this situation?
Sources:
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