Marketing articles from October 2011

Marketing archives from October 2011

Premier in Crisis
October 26, 2011... This month's profit warning highlights an obsession with legacy brands, writes Nick Hughes. It is hard to believe that a company with Hovis, Ambrosia and Mr Kipling among its portfolio of brands should ever be fighting for its survival Yet...

Swatch
October 26, 2011... The brand was created in 1981 to revive the Swiss watch industry, and it has not looked back since. The simple and colourful design of the Swatch watch, an emblem of the 80s, reinvigorated the watch-making industry in Switzerland. The...

Adwatch 26.10.11.(Statistical table)
October 26, 2011... Marketing's unique weekly analysis of advertisement recall in association with tns. Q Which of the following TV commercials do you remember seeing recently? 19.10 Brand Agency/TV buyer % 1= (-)...

Adwatch 26.10.11: Sainsbury's
October 26, 2011... The supermarket has moved its ads into the post-Jamie Oliver era with great poise. I recently spent a week playing Mr Mum, looking after my three young kids on my own. I discovered what every mum already knows: feeding a family is a...

Kodak
October 26, 2011... The veteran imaging brand is struggling to keep up with digital developments, writes Matt Chapman. The annals of history relate that when Kodak founder George Eastman created the brand, he stipulated that its name must be short, impossible to...

Helen Edwards on Branding: Chalk and Cheese
October 26, 2011... Rather than pull against each other, marketing and sales teams can benefit from closer working. When are marketing and sales departments most likely to find themselves at loggerheads? Round about now, halfway through the final quarter of an...

Profile: Muller's New Direction
October 26, 2011... Lee Rolston, marketing director of Muller, is proud of the brand's unusual latest TV advertising campaign. Interview by John Reynolds. Whisper it: Lee Rolston, the Liverpudlian marketing director of Muller, has a bit of a thing for...

Digital Goes Mainstream
October 26, 2011... With more brands pushing the marketing boundaries, digital agencies are increasingly finding themselves at the centre of campaigns that span all media and disciplines, writes Kim Benjamin. It goes without saying that digital is a rapidly...

The Online Pop-Up
October 26, 2011... The pop-up concept has brought excitement to the retail sector Mary Cowlett examines whether this can be replicated online. While pop-up shops made of bricks and mortar may be familiar to consumers, it seems there is also scope for developing...

Marketing Promotion: Taking a Brand-Sensitive Leap
October 26, 2011... As the demand for complex and brand-sensitive conversations increases, companies and organisations are turning to contact centres to provide the medium for much more meaningful and productive customer engagement. The traditional role of the...

Special Report: New Reality Demands a Response
October 26, 2011... The modern consumer wants to move seamlessly across different platforms, presenting a new set of challenges for contact centres, writes Robert McLuhan. It has been a decade since digital channels turned call centres into multichannel contact...

Changing with the Seasons
October 26, 2011... The colour-cosmetics sector is buoyed by continual NPD, driven by its close association with seasonal tre nds in apparel, writes Jane Bainbridge.[QQ Look at any teenage girl and it's not hard to see why sales of colour cosmetics are booming....

What It's Really like Inside: QSoft Consulting
October 26, 2011... - How does the team come up with fresh marketing ideas? The product directs the marketing, and then the team brainstorms on how to launch and reinforce the global brand message. We sponsor hundreds of grass-roots events throughout the year...

Brand Manager of the Week: Michelle Anderson, Marketing Manager, Shopzilla Europe
October 26, 2011... - Describe yourself in three words. Creative, passionate and a 'Zillan'. - What would you be if you weren't a brand manager? Working in a design agency. - What advice would you give someone starting their marketing career today? ...

Andrew Walmsley on Digital: The Age of Collaboration
October 26, 2011... Sites such as Zopa, swaptree and Airbnb show that the web is changing the way people consume. When I first came across the web, the early tentative steps to commercialisation were being taken. It was 1994, but already it was possible to buy...

A Marketing Promotion: The Scale of the Alignment Challenge
October 26, 2011... New research from Ebiquity suggests that social media is starting to bring marketing and corporate affairs teams together, but many brands are still struggling to align their marcomms activities. The growing influence and power of social...

Editor's Comment: Waitrose Seeks Return on Loyalty
October 26, 2011... I'm currently reading a tome about ancient Rome, in which loyalty is a recurring theme. Loyalty to one's general, to the Emperor and to the Empire. Translating the concept to marketing may seem trite, but the principles are the same. Key...

Opinion: The Marketing Society Forum
October 26, 2011... Will the plan to cut 5bn calories from the nation's daily diet by 2020 work? The secretary of state for health has unveiled a government strategy to enlist the help of food brands and retailers in a campaign aimed at reducing the amount of...

Waitrose unveils loyalty-card programme in strategic shift.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... Supermarket's unconventional scheme will include exclusive competitions and cardholder offers. Waitrose is making its first foray into loyalty cards as part of a strategy to reward customers and better understand their shopping habits. The...

Unilever aims for 'more magic, less logic'.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... Unilever is to undertake a fundamental change in approach to its marketing through the implementation of a fresh 'More magic, less logic' company philosophy. The FMCG brand-owner wants to shake up its numbers-led marketing strategy to reward...

Co-Operative to Debut Online Grocery Business
October 26, 2011... The Co-operative Group plans to launch a grocery home-shopping business next year in an effort to increase its 'share of wallet'. The 3000-store convenience retailer is 'investigating opportunities' to create an online transactional business,...

Brand in the news: Movember.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... - What's happening? If you notice an increase in stubble amongst your (male) colleagues next week, don't assume they are simply too lazy to shave. Movember, the annual month-long homage to cultivating moustaches in an effort to raise money...

TUI promotes UK managing director.(appointment of David Burling )(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... TUI, the parent travel operator of Thomson and First Choice, has promoted its UK managing director, Johan Lundgren, to deputy chief executive. Commercial director David Burling will become managing director for the UK and Ireland, reporting to...

Greggs to open stores at motorway service stations.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... Greggs, the high-street baker, is opening a series of stores at motorway service stations on a 12-month trial basis. The initiative will be run as a franchise operation. -------------------- Did you find this article useful? Why not...

The Newspaper Society unveils scheme to offer free ads.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... The Newspaper Society has unveiled a scheme that will offer pounds 15m-worth of free ads to 'dynamic young businesses'. The initiative has been backed by Prime Minister David Cameron. -------------------- Did you find this article useful?...

Clinton Cards to roll out celebrity video cards.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... Clinton Cards, the greeting cards retailer, is rolling out celebrity video cards, as it aims to take on online rivals such as Moonpig.com. The service will be provided through a partnership with JH2 Group. -------------------- Did you find...

Race Online Campaign Seeks FMCG Partners
October 26, 2011... Martha Lane Fox, the UK's 'digital champion', has urged consumer brands to increase their participation in a scheme that aims to get more of the public online. Lane Fox is looking for more FMCG brands to take part in the government-backed...

Marketer in the news: Jenny Grey, Cabinet Office.(Interview)(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... - What has happened? The COI's slow shuffle toward oblivion sped up last week. The 400 staff who had not already jumped ship were notified that they were at risk of redundancy and told a '90-day consultation period' looms. Breaking the...

Samsung and Google unveil Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
October 26, 2011... Samsung and Google have unveiled the Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which will run on the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. The phone, which goes on sale next month, has a facial-recognition unlock feature and Google+ integration. ...

Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines target visitors.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are targeting the UK's African and Chinese communities to attract people visiting friends and relatives abroad. The sister airlines are using direct mail, digital and SMS campaigns, in an eight-week drive....

Lemsip launches tongue-in-cheek awareness campaign.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... Lemsip, the cold- and flu-remedy brand, has launched a tongue-in-cheek awareness campaign ridiculing 'man flu'. The Facebook push enables users to place a picture of one of their Facebook friends in a video and send it to them. ...

The Happy Egg Co gives away Pyrex bakeware.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... The Happy Egg Co is giving away Pyrex bakeware via an on-pack promotion created by Clintons. Tokens feature on 5m packs to tie in with last week's National Baking Week. -------------------- Did you find this article useful? Why not...

Whitbread Repositions Restaurants
October 26, 2011... Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, is to overhaul three of its four restaurant brands in an attempt to attract a younger audience. The brand positioning and advertising for Beefeater Grill, Brewers Fayre and Table Table is...

Olympics Tracker.(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... London's transport infrastructure remains a major concern for the International Olympic Committee ahead of London 2012. It has been predicted that there may be delays of more than an hour on some of the busiest Tube lines during the Games,...

The Week in Marketing
October 26, 2011... - Nike runs with Ellie Nike has rolled out an online video featuring pop singer Ellie Goulding training for 'Run To the Beat', the London music industry half-marathon, which took place on 25 September. The 'Music runs Ellie' film was created...

The Calm before the Scrum
October 26, 2011... Brands were surprisingly subdued in their recent Rugby World Cup campaigns, but expect a big increase in activation by 2015, writes Alex Brownsell. It appears to have somehow passed millions of people by that the world's third-biggest sports...

Marketing Mole: Who Does Google Think You Are?
October 26, 2011... Alex von Schirmeister, Vice-president of marketing, operations and advertising, eBay Europe. - The first link is to the LinkedIn search page for people with the names Alex Von; the second is von Schirmeister's profile. - The third result...

Marketing Mole: Little Black Book Members' Club - Anna Jones, Acting chief operating officer, Hearst Magazines UK.(Interview)(Brief article)
October 26, 2011... - What marketing issue keeps you awake at night? What the next technological innovation will be that we can't foresee and which will change consumers behaviour radically again. - What's the next big thing in marketing? Spending face...

Marketing Mole: We'll Call You - Npower
October 26, 2011... Mole is dreading this winter's energy bills as much as the next mammal, so we were thrilled when we read that our supplier would have to help us save. Npower (Answers after Mktg has been on the phone for several minutes and gone through a...

Ray-Ban
October 19, 2011... The popular sunglasses brand has been associated with Hollywood 'cool' since the 50s. Originally designed to protect pilots' eyes from sun glare, Ray-Ban sunglasses have been adopted as a uniform for cool among Hollywood stars since the 50s....

Adwatch 19.10.11.(Statistical table)
October 19, 2011... Marketing's unique weekly analysis of advertisement recall in association with tns. Q Which of the following TV commercials do you remember seeing recently? 12.10 Brand Agency/TV Buyer % 1 (-)...

Adwatch 19.10.11: Halifax
October 19, 2011... The high-street banking brand has opted for an ad with a familiar approach. So, finally, Halifax is back. After the radio-station debacle and then a long hiatus while it chose a new agency, some fresh creative work has emerged. The idea is...

Branston
October 19, 2011... The pickle's absence from owner Premier Foods' 'power brands' list is telling, writes Rachel Barnes. When you think of a category and only one name springs to mind, usually it would be a safe bet that the brand in question is in reasonable...

Opinion: The Marketing Society Forum - Does Global Marketing Require a Network Agency Rather Than Independent Shops?
October 19, 2011... Cross-border marketing presents its own set of cultural and logistical problems, raising the question of whether brands should enlist the services of a network agency or opt for various independents. YES - BART MICHELS, MANAGING DIRECTOR,...

Experiental Essays: Introduction
October 19, 2011... Welcome to Experiential Essays, sponsored by International Confex. For the first time, Marketing and Event magazines are joining forces to produce the ultimate in thought-leadership from the burgeoning experiential industry. A new home,...

Experiental Essays: The power of live.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Experiential marketing has always provided brands with the opportunity to captivate a live audience, offering them a short spike of promotion around product launches and rebrands. Five years ago, marketers would have said that experiential...

Experiental Essays: Blackjack Promotions - Rising to the Challenge
October 19, 2011... With travel retail providing a growing threat to the high street, brands need to wake up to the fact that specialist agencies using targeted interaction and sampling can deliver impressive results. As has been shown by Heathrow Airport's...

Experiental Essays: Ear to the Ground - Live Advertising to Channel Me
October 19, 2011... The live experience is an unbeatable way to connect with consumers, and now it can reach a wider audience when brands capture the event and distribute it via traditional media or social networking. From an epic tune at a packed warehouse...

Experiental Essays: Hotcow - Influencing Consideration
October 19, 2011... A changing mindset among consumers, as a result of increased product choice and a marketing overload, provides a golden opportunity to offer something that will resonate with them. Consumers are changing the way in which they listen,...

Experiental Essays: Sense - Engaging with the Masses
October 19, 2011... The powerful combination of experiential marketing and social media has resulted in any remnants of the traditional question marks over the reach of the discipline being well and truly dismissed. The weakness of experiential marketing is its...

Andrew Walmsley on Digital: The Tech Sector Needs You
October 19, 2011... Technology companies might have brilliant products, but they don't know how to sell the things. This week, some reassurance. After considerable research, I can confirm that lots of other people (including me) don't get it either. A straw...

Helen Edwards on Branding: Come Fly with Me
October 19, 2011... British Airways and easyJet's big-money ads couldn't be more different - yet neither hits the mark. Compare and contrast the seduction techniques of two airlines lavishing big money on advertising right now. In its 90-second TV spot,...

Editor's Comment: Leahy's Risks Made His Business
October 19, 2011... 'The winter of our discontent', the Bard's oft-used phrase, may be brought back into service as the economy stutters toward Christmas. Consumers are feeling the chill, and cheer is in short supply as rounds of cuts and redundancies continue...

What It's Really like Inside: Palmer and Harvey
October 19, 2011... - How does the team come up with fresh marketing ideas? We get a lot of inspiration from our people on the ground. We also hold regular creative brainstorming sessions with staff from across the company. - What are the perks of the job? ...

Brand manager of the week: Caspar Nelson, Head of brand communications, Phones4U.(Interview)(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... - Describe yourself in three words. Pretty big lad (I'm 6' 5'). - What would you be if you weren't a brand manager? I wouldn't mind designing biscuits - you can't beat a good biscuit. - What advice would you give someone starting...

Branson puts ethics at core of Virgin bank plan.(Richard Branson)(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Entrepreneur says 'honest' Virgin Money would shake up high-street banking. Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson has promised to place ethics at the heart of his new banking proposition, as Virgin Money bids to take over branches from...

Tesco lettuce ad challenged.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Sainsbury's has picked a fight with rival Tesco over the alleged freshness of the latter's produce, disputing that it delivers all its Iceberg lettuce from farm to store within 24 hours. Sainsbury's has lodged a complaint with the ASA about a...

Sony shifts adspend to radio and online.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Sony is moving investment from TV advertising into radio and online media in an overhaul of its UK Christmas marketing plans. The brand is to focus its seasonal campaign on a radio ad voiced by Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch, giving...

Microsoft unveils first 'umbrella' drive.
October 19, 2011... Microsoft is launching its debut umbrella marketing campaign, featuring a range of consumer brands from across its portfolio. The pounds 5.5m drive breaks this week and features Windows, Windows Phone, Kinect for Xbox and Office being used in...

Vodafone puts loyalty to fore.
October 19, 2011... Vodafone is backing the launch of its rewards scheme with a pounds 3m campaign, as it takes on O2 and Orange in the customer loyalty arena. The 'Freebee Rewardz' programme offers pay-as-you-go customers access to a range of deals and...

Leahy: 'Crisis is opportunity'.(Terry Leahy )(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Sir Terry Leahy has challenged marketers to view the recession as 'the best of times' for their brands. Speaking at an event hosted by The Marketing Society last week, the former Tesco chief executive said marketers must 'break out of a...

Thomson Targets Gains with Early Ad Campaign
October 19, 2011... TUI-owned operator switches from post-Christmas focus to 'get people to listen'. Thomson Holidays, the TUI UK & Ireland-owned brand, is to break from its traditional strategy of a post-Christmas ad campaign by running its biggest push to...

Industry Steps Up Fight to Keep Self-Regulation
October 19, 2011... The marketing industry's ongoing battle to prevent tighter government regulation has been boosted by the launch of several initiatives encouraging responsible practices. Over the past week, said to be one of the most significant for the...

Moneysupermarket.com launching local-deals sservice.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Moneysupermarket.com, the price-comparison site, is launching a local-deals service. It will offer discounts of up to 90% on a range of products and experiences, such as wine-tasting, in seven UK cities. -------------------- Did you...

Levi's kicks off live-music campaign.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Levi's has kicked off a live-music campaign as part of its 'Go forth' global activity. Gigs will be held at its flagship Regent Street store at the end of the month, including one headlined by Primal Scream, with other artists voted for by...

Fresh brand identity for Cobra Beer.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Cobra Beer will unveil a fresh brand identity this month. The new look is intended to emphasise both the brand's premium positioning and its 'world beer' credentials, while retaining a sense of its Indian heritage. The revamp includes...

Lucozade Energy to launch cola-flavoured variant.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Lucozade Energy, the GlaxoSmithKline-owned sports-drink brand, will launch its first cola-flavoured variant this month, in a limited-edition black bottle. The brand will support the launch with a campaign encompassing digital, PR and...

Disney Seals Xbox 360 Tie-Up for Game Launch
October 19, 2011... Disney UK and Microsoft are embarking on an eight-month partnership to support the launch of the Disneyland Adventures Xbox 360 game, which marks the first time a brand has used Disney's live shows in promotional activity. The campaign, which...

Marketing Mishap: BlackBerry blackout.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... - What has happened? A prolonged service outage caused by a 'switch failure' left BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) the butt of dubious jokes, such as: 'What did one BlackBerry user say to the other? Nothing.' The brand's image has...

Ebay faprtners Facebook.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Ebay has partnered Facebook to integrate the social network's recently added Open Graph functionality into its own commerce platform. This will enable merchants selling on eBay to share their wares more easily with Facebook users. ...

Coca-Cola in talks with Visa.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Coca-Cola is in talks with fellow London 2012 sponsor Visa to introduce cashless payment vending machines to the UK at the Olympic park during the Games. -------------------- Did you find this article useful? Why not subscribe to the...

Ryanair extends 'cash passport'.(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Ryanair has extended its branded pre-paid MasterCard 'cash passport' to UK consumers. The payment card is supported by digital activity across ryanair.com and through emails sent to the low-cost airline's customers. -------------------- ...

Domino's agrees partnership with Tesco Extra.(Domino's Pizza Inc.)(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Domino's Pizza will open a branch at a Tesco Extra after the two brands agreed a partnership. The branch will open in Dudley, West Midlands, and will offer pizzas for collection and a 'ready-to-go' option to let shoppers pick up pizza...

Who Do You Think Should Be Crowned Brand of the Year?
October 19, 2011... 'Brand of the Year' is as much about the year as the brand, in that the winner will have best exploited the latest trends in media, technology and society. As the readers of Marketing prepare to choose the shortlist of brands for this year's...

The Week in Marketing
October 19, 2011... - Virgin Media refresh Virgin Media has unveiled a fresh brand identity incorporating the Union Flag, as it seeks to tap into patriotism sparked by London 2012. The logo combines the flag with the brand's original red infinity symbol Created...

Marketing Mole: Who Does Google Think You Are? - Richard Cristofoli, Marketing Director, Debenhams
October 19, 2011... - The first link is to Debenhams' corporate page. - The second and fourth links are to a video interview with Cristofoli on Marketing's website. - The third is to Retail Gazette about his appointment. - The final result pushes to a...

Marketing Mole: Little Black Book Members' Club.(Interview)(Brief article)
October 19, 2011... Ben Hughes, Deputy chief executive, Financial Times - What marketing issue keeps you awake at night? Return on investment and how to measure it, particularly as budgets become tighter and we target audiences more specifically. - What's...

Marketing Mole: We'll Call You - BT
October 19, 2011... Mole was intrigued by news of BT's 'porn filter' for broadband customers, because we want to be certain our computer is clear of such smut, we hasten to add. BT: Hello, BT Sales, how can I help? Mktg: Hi, I'm a customer and I read in the...

A Clearer Footprint
October 19, 2011... Sustainability is high on the corporate agenda, and with consumers demanding transparency, fostering understanding of brands' carbon emissions is crucial, writes Elisabeth Jeffries. If the Fairtrade Foundation label cut through the fog of...

Placement Put to the Test
October 19, 2011... The relaxation of rules regulating branded content on TV means that product placement is likely to beco me more commonplace, and brands and channels are sure to be watching carefully, writes David Benady. Broadcasters are blurring the...

Ticking the Healthy Box
October 19, 2011... Cereals are still a firm favourite at the breakfast table, with brands promoting both their nutritional and ec onomic benefits, writes Jane Bainbridge. Article upon article has been written about the death of the family meal, and people...

101 Christmas Premiums: The Dangers of Cutting Back on Festive Rewards
October 19, 2011... Skimping on seasonal gifts, even in tough times, may be a bad business move. Against the background of high-street gloom and a projected UK economic growth rate of only 1.1% this year, Christmas gifting could be seen as an extravagance. ...

Selfridges & Co
October 12, 2011... The world-famous department store has stayed true to its creative retail philosophy for 102 years. Selling a staggering range of goods from furniture to food, Selfridges attracts visitors to its 540,000ft2 Oxford Street store with not only...

Adwatch 12.10.11.(Statistical table)
October 12, 2011... Marketing's unique weekly analysis of advertisement recall in association with tns Q: Which of the following TV commercials do you remember seeing recently? 05.10 Brand Agency/TV buyer % 1 (-)...