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.

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:

https://twitter.com/MartinTweets

http://www.facebook.com/MartinAgency?fref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/Rva2ny

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:

http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2012/10/08/wieden-kennedy-and-draftfcb-duke-it.html?page=all

https://twitter.com/WiedenKennedy

http://www.facebook.com/wiedenkennedy?ref=ts&fref=ts

Modea Speaker Prep

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:

http://www.facebook.com/gotmilk?

https://twitter.com/GotMilk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_Milk%3F

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:

http://www.facebook.com/burtsbees

https://twitter.com/BurtsBees

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/186049/burts-bees-deflakes-with-billboard-video.html

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:

http://adage.com/article/agency-news/publicis-groupe-acquire-lbi-540-million-deal/237342/

https://twitter.com/PublicisUSA

http://www.facebook.com/publicisgroupe?fref=ts

Creative Brief Debriefed

I was really blown away in class yesterday about the power of the creative brief.  Dr. Machin seems to preach about the power of a proper brief and the creative call to action it can deliver.  After briefly (no pun intended) running through a NikeID creative brief, Brandon opened my eyes to what a brief can do.  Not only did it completely capture my interest (which is difficult to do that early in the morning), it made me want to get out there and make something happen.  For some reason, the first thing I did when I got home was get on NikeID.com and start fiddling with creating shoes.  I didn't do this because I'm in the market for a new pair, the brief just captivated me and made me want to start being proactive in a campaign I have no affiliation with.  I was truly surprised by this.  I guess there is a difference in hearing about briefs in class and actually being a part of one.  I now have the utmost respect for the people who put these together, and I hope that my UNIQLO brief can live up to the hype.  I guess this is just another aspect of marketing I have fallen in love with and it reminds me of what captivated me in the first place.  Well done marketing, well done.

Modea Speaker Prep

Strategic Issue

           

One strategic issue I read about online was the building of a new office in downtown Blacksburg.  A couple of questions this poses are: Is this taking available resources away from potential clients? And are you having to add a lot more employees to fill the vast improvement in space?

Customer/Consumer Perceptions

          

From everything that I saw on Facebook and Twitter, EVERYTHING was positive and full of praise.  One thing that was refreshing to see was that a lot of the feedback was from employees commenting on the positive work environment and how much the company gives back.

Questions

Is it hard for potential clients to take you seriously seeing as you are not located in a major city? Does size play a role?

Does the growing role of digital media play in your favor as far as attracting potential clients?

Manly Targeting

So you can't watch ESPN for longer than 30 minutes nowadays without seeing the most manly Weight Watchers commercial ever.  And I absolutely love it.  Not necessarily because its genius advertising or anything like that, I think it's because of how hard they target men, and not only that, but it's interesting to see what they think matters most to men.

For instance, they accentuate a new feature on the Weight Watchers website called the "virtual cooler" (awesome) in which you can drag things like burgers, steaks, light and dark beers, etc. into the cooler and they will give you the details on how many "points", carbs, fat, etc. each item has.  They have to know guys won't partake in any diet that prohibits beer and steaks.

Another thing about the commercial I find hilarious is how the guys in it act.  They talk about getting joked because the common perception is that Weight Watchers is for women.  His retort to that is something along the lines of "Oh yeah, well I look a hell of a lot better than you do right now" as the shot cuts to him fist bumping with his buddies as if he had to world's greatest comeback.

All in all I think it's the insights they had on men rather than the content of the commercial as to why I love it.

P.S. I wish I could find the commercial on the internet, but I've had no luck.  My apologies

Instragram New Key in Branding?

I recently read an article on how Johnnie Walker, the popular whiskey brand, successfully launched a social media campaign via the social media outlet Instagram. Instragram is like a twitter for pictures.  It allows users to follow others to have posted pictures show up on their feed.

Now what does this mean for companies using Instagram?  Well, it allows them to share a story using images.  It shows the true personality of the brand and shares with consumers what the brand stands for.  Personally, I follow quite a bit of brands on Instagram, and I've found that the essence of the brand tends to shine through quite well.

Johnnie Walker is on the front lines of this movement and a lot of companies can learn from their successful campaign launch.

Here is a link to the original article.

Reebok Supports Infidelity?

Need I say more about this bit of advertising Reebok decided to showcase?  Now I don't know how it got through the planning phase, or maybe it was purposefully made to get the talk going on Reebok's entry into the "crossfit" realm.  Either way, it's easy to see how this could be offensive, not only to women, but to men as well.

I think it goes without saying that I am not a fan of this bit of creative.  But I guess it's true what they say, "any press is good press."

Ships Watch Logo

This is going to be yet another logo blog, but what can I say, I can't get enough of them.  

Ships Watch is a subdivision on Highway 12 that I pass every time I head down to the Outer Banks.  I can't exactly put my finger on what I love most about the logo, but i consider it one of my favorites.  I think the fact that you see the ship image of the logo first, and then come to realize that the ship itself is made out of the subdivision initials.

I could just be partial to the logo because of the location and the emotional connection I have to the place, but either way, I love it!

Salt Life simplicity

So I'd like to start my blogging career discussing one of my new favorite companies and how their simple yet effective logo and basic marketing technique have grown Salt Life dramatically.

I'd love to talk about their logo, which is the first impression I ever had of the brand.  The logo seems to fit the image of Salt Life perfectly, from it's rough, jagged edges to its grainy almost sloppy look.  To me, it personifies the gritty lifestyle that the company wants to embody.  They were able to achieve all of this simply by picking a well-created font.

From what I know of the company, they came from humble beginnings, starting with a simple auto decal of their logo.  They were able to have these decals placed in bait shops and pier shops and surf shops all along the east and west coasts.  People who had no idea what the brand was knew that they loved the "Salt Life" and purchased the stickers and business grew from there.  Last time I purchased something from their website in December, they had maybe 10 men's shirts to choose from.  Now, they have close to 100 men's short sleeve shirts alone! If that doesn't show drastic growth I don't know what does.

Congrats to Salt Life on knowing their target market and knowing how to appeal to them on a basic level.