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The advertising and branding module has drawn to a close and was finished up with a full day of presentations, we put forward our ideas and solutions for the Fedrigoni brief and all in all I think it went well considering pre-presentation jitters and keeping the whole thing non-digital.
Just to reiterate we came up with a three part campaign in order to promote Fedrigoni’s new ‘imaginary colours’ swatch range.

Magazine insert

An ad would run through various high-end design publications such as Creative Review, Eye and Wallpaper*, Creative Review in particular has a reader circulation of 60,000 per month and each issue is passed around an average of 3.2 creatives, the majority of which would be in our ‘design professionals’ target audience. It would be an A4 full page, printed on thicker stock & made up of layered cuts of their paper – much like a swatch book itself – in order to bring more attention to it and have it stand out against its’ competitors. There would be 4 different versions of the ad, each with a different colour ‘mood’ that Fedrigoni are releasing – cool, warm, neutral and black and white – so if two copies of Creative Review were side by side the advert may be different in each one. This allows some variety with the advert without further cost of having all 4 ads within one issue. The tagline reads ‘A taste for every mood’ putting across the message that Fedrigoni offers a colour for every purpose, followed up by ‘The original Italian Classic since 1888′ this is in keeping with the traditional Italian values that Fedrigoni stands for, and as we brainstormed what we associate most with Italian culture we came up with food (think gelato, pizza etc) and so applied a recognisable food stuff on each advert depending on it’s mood (Cool = Ice Cream), this also allows the reader to see how ink prints onto the paper itself.

Direct Mailout 1/2

The second part of the campaign is a direct mailout that would apply automatically to all subscribers of such magazines (as stated above) aswell as existing and possible future clients of Fedrigoni. The item posted out would be a very sleek, clean black box made of thick black card stock, with the Fedrigoni logo embellished on the top, upon unpacking the box there’d be a slide pocket holding 4 recipe cards, each in a different colour mood and layered up similar to the style in the magazine ad. The same foods would appear on them with a recipe on the back, we thought this would work well as we wanted something that would allow the client to feel the product themselves, provide them with a sampler of the final product and want to keep rather than dispose of straight away. We found out that Fedrigoni is a very personable company and often holds events/promos with their clients, offering food/drink so we figured it could always be followed up with this via an invitation.

Direct Mailout 2/2

The final approach would be yet another direct mailout which would arrive around a week or two after the recipe cards, this would be a colour dial allowing the user to match up colours that would work well together and build up a sense of the swatches they could form if they purchased the Fedrigoni Imaginary Colours range. This would be accompanied by a postal form that they can fill in and freepost to order the product direct, all kept non-digital. We used the AIDA marketing tool to full effect in this campaign and believe that our approach could work well and attract attention to Fedrigoni’s new product.

So comes an end to this module, it surprised me how much effect brand loyalty has on our everyday lives and the realisation that advertising can steer us in certain directions from such a young age, which in turn can affect our lifestyle choices and who/what we choose to surround ourselves with. Don Draper would be proud.

So as the presentation day looms my group has made alot of progress since our initial meeting, we’ve used several marketing tools that we’ve become familiar with over the semester to gain a better understanding into how we would make a successful campaign for Fedrigoni’s Imaginative colours paper selector, comprised of four different sections: Cool, Warm, Neutral & Black and White.

We began with creating personas of the kindof people that Fedrigoni would target, and why those people would use their company.

Student – Donna

Studying Illustration
Early 20′s
Looking for quality paper for Degree show
Not in the know about paper companies
Reliable
On a student budget
Looking for uniqueness
Likes going out
Dedicated and hardworking
Perfectionist
Experiments with their work
Visits independent bookshops, art galleries and museums in spare time
Loves freebies

Recent Graduate – Derek

Recent Graphic Design graduate
Mid 20′s
DJ’s
Freelance poster producer
Self employed
Subscription to ‘Eye’ and ‘Grafik’ magazines
Flexible with commissions
Collects samples
Organised
Interested in producing designs for packaging
Likes ‘Good’ design
Collaborated with other visionaries
Aims to own his own company
Varying budget depending on project brief

Professional – Don

Late 30′s
Creative Director of publishing house (Angelika Books)
Earns 60-65k
Produces high-end magazines
Travels a lot for business
Hard working and works long hours
Computer savvy
Juggles a lot of projects at once
Has assistant named Peggy
Has a lot of professional contacts
High demands, expects quality and service
Does a lot of networking with clients out of hours
Work is his life
Wants to work his way up the company

We then brainstormed what Fedrigoni could offer each person and the ‘group’ that they belonged to -

Fedrigoni is good for students because…

They offer package deals/ membership loyalty cards
Arranges student competitions
Offers sponsorship for Degree shows, etc
Sends out free samples
Quirky promotions
Offers wide range of products/colours
Offers unique colours
Exclusive offers for students.

Fedrigoni is good for graduates because…

Do customised offers
Creative promotions that are collectible
Sends out free samples
Wide range of products/colours
Reliable shipping service with quick delivery
Brand loyalty and reliability

Fedrigoni is good for professionals because…

Quick reliable service
Luxury quality products with professional finish
Samples aimed at professionals
Sends exclusive brochures and samples
Order history
Ships worldwide
Environmentally friendly.

Since the target audience is ‘top fashion labels, boutique publishing houses, businesses with global reputations to protect and enhance.’ our campaign is more tailored towards professionals than anyone else, although we have developed ideas on how they could expand and reach students/graduates with a follow up campaign which involves a student competition using Fedrigoni paper. To promote their imaginative colours range we have come up with a 3 part campaign, using AIDA as a basis for how it will pan out. First point of contact is through a magazine insert, which will be followed up by two forms of direct mail, all of which will include samples of the colour swatch product they’re aiming to sell.

We’re using a ‘stripe’ design in all formats that will show the range of colours available, the magazine insert will be made up of layered paper (we thought this would be suitable as it’s something out of the ordinary to catch attention), this will be featured in a publication such as Creative Review or Eye in order to reach the target market. This will then be followed up with a mailout (automatic for subscribers to said publications and potential clients) which will consist of ‘recipe cards’ as we want to make a point of the Italian heritage that Fedrigoni has, so a classic Italian food is to be featured on each recipe card depending on the mood (e.g – Ice cream for cool colours, Coffee for Black and White), this will then be followed up again with a colour dial, allowing the user to gain a further insight into the range of colours available from this tool, a perforated send-away form will be included to make it easy for the client to purchase the product.

An important part of our approach is that what we send out for the direct mail is something that the client would want to keep, that is well made and that doesn’t give the impression of being cheap or disposable, because although paper is both of these things, Fedrigoni stands for luxury and quality and this has to come through via what they choose to represent themselves with. So, the Attention is gained through the magazine promo, the Interest and Desire is formed from when the client receives the taster through the post and the Action comes from an attached form that can be sent away to purchase the paper selector. We’ve been going over ideas on how we can include a sense of both Fedrigoni’s heritage and professional values along with their quirky and personable attitude towards clients and promotional products. It’s been a challenge to keep it all non-digital but has provided us with the opportunity to conjure up novel ideas on how we’d promote this tool.

Carrying on from the last Cola wars post, I’m researching further into different aspects of the marketing strategies used by both companies.

In our introduction to this module we were asked what we determine a ‘brand’ as, with the QI siren being ‘the logo’.  To define a brand alot of things have to be taken into consideration – what the company represents, how they interact with our lifestyle and what their vision is, the logo, merchandise and aesthetic qualities is merely a front so we have something visual to associate with the company.  All this being said I’m going to delve into looking at the logos of both Pepsi and Coke, as they prove an interesting insight into each brand.

First thing I noticed when looking at the logo history is PepsiCo has transformed a great deal since it was first stemmed and continues to change with each generation it seems all the while staying identifiable and one of the most recognised logos in the world, this makes sense as it matches Pepsi’s brand image of a constantly evolving product, matching the current culture as we can see from the present logo which is very minimalistic, simple and to the point with no added type which seems to be trending at the moment (see Starbucks/Apple).  On the other hand Coca Cola has been pretty consistent with its logo from the very beginning, which encompasses their ‘traditional’ trait, and in my opinion shows a certain confidence in their product, putting across the message that the product itself has never changed and it doesn’t need to conform to whatever’s popular at the moment.  Looking back at the Gap logo fiasco, and their decision to change it back to the original after negative reactions showed a lack of confidence, although the ‘rebrand’ of their logo was slammed by critics and the public and personally I found it atrocious I still think they should’ve stuck to it if they were willing to make the decision to change it in the first place, Gap is no longer seen as a strong brand after that episode, instead of defending themselves and their brand image they simply let the public sway them to however they wanted.  Although Pepsi changes its logo regularly, I don’t believe it’s from desperation like numerous other companies have done, but it’s how they keep their brand fresh and up to date which fits in perfectly with their aim.

Next point of call I wanted to visit was the subject of product placement, we’re exposed to it regularly and there have been some recent developments with this, in February laws on Product placement in Britain was lifted, and so we were informed of the news that Coronation Street is to be the first show on UK primetime television to take part in this.  We’ve been exposed to product placement for many years now, it’s believed that the ‘Reeses pieces’ placement in the film E.T was the first major step and it’s since snowballed from then.  According to Brandchannel Coca Cola pips Pepsi in terms of how many films it’s featured products in. In my mind one of the smartest moves by Pepsi was to feature its products heavily in the Back to the Future series, which has now become a cult phenomenon but at the time would’ve been a risky move, a virtually unknown actor taking the lead role for what became the most successful film of the year (1985).  To put it simply, Back to the Future was cool, therefore by association Pepsi was too and so it cements its place as the ‘pop culture’ drink.  This is communicated perfectly in a scene during Wayne’s World (a personal favourite), where Wayne holds a can of Pepsi while saying “It’s the choice of a new generation.”, really playing exactly to the image they want to purvey, they put the subject of product placement across as bluntly as possible and yet it’s still effective.

We’ve almost become desensitized to seeing brand names in film and television unless it’s shoved in our faces as obviously as possible, most products tend to be put in discreetly in the background or worked into the story so it maintains an element of realism, Coke does this with a vending machine featured in the award winning ‘Brokeback Mountain’ set from the year 1963 to ’83, this placement is tactful as works with Cokes ‘longetivity’, the impression that even back then they were drinking it.  Looking on the other side of things where there’s been no thought for being discreet, in the 1999 film ‘A Thomas Crown Affair’, Rene Russo dramatically drinks a can of Pepsi and to top it all off finishes with “aaah – there’s nothing like an ice-cold can of Pepsi”.  By no means hiding the product placement but I’m sure after viewing the thought of drinking a Pepsi becomes more appealing.

If I continue to explore the subject of ‘Cola Wars’ I believe various research methods could be used to provide a deeper insight into how these products directly affect our lifestyles and how much control they have over consumer habits.  I’d perhaps try observation research, a prime location spot being the cinema where ‘There’s still time for a Coke’ plays before the feature length film, how many people leave and return to take advantage of this? Analysing which films feature product placement from either of these companies and directly approaching whether it affects our craving for either Coke, Pepsi or neither.  For example this could be completed by setting up a stall directly outside screens before and after a film starts, giving out samples of both Coca Cola and Pepsi and gaining statistics on what is most popular, do these change after a film featuring a Pepsi placement?  Something could also be performed similar to the Pepsi challenge in 1975, where consumers tested both products and showed a definite preference for Pepsi over Coke in the blind taste test.

Below is an infographic designed by ‘BusinessInsuranceQuotes‘ which illustrates various statistics that pitch these two giants against one another, thanks to John for making me aware of this.

Resources Used:

Brand Channel

Coke vs Pepsi

Allen, Frederick, 1995.  Secret Formula: How Brilliant Marketing and Relentless Salesmanship Made Coca-Cola the Best-Known Product in the World.  1st Ed. HarperBusiness.

Lehu, Jean-Marc, 2007.  Product placement and brand strategy in the entertainment business. London: Kogan Page.

The final brief of this module is going to be a challenging one, deliberating over which YCN brief to pick I was very sure of which ones I didn’t want to tackle but not so much on the positive side.  Joining forces with an illustrator and an IED student we’ve decided to tackle the ‘Fedrigoni‘ brief.  To design a fully integrated campaign for their new ‘Imaginative colours’ tool, a swatch palette pack (think Pantone) split into 4 colour sections – cool, warm, neutral and black & white.

The aim is to really promote these new range of colours as something new and exciting that will transform whatever you do with it from good to great, Fedrigoni really prides itself on quality and not supplying just average products.  We’ve taken this on board and noted down that the campaign we design may in theory cost alot to produce but the return will be greater and will promote Fedrigoni as a luxury brand.  The restriction on any kindof digital output of this campaign makes it all the more interesting, resorting back to the ‘pre – digital’ age of advertising campaigns, we’ve been looking at various paper swatch books which I’ve had stored since I found them in a car boot sale a couple of years ago, these were produced to allow the user to see how colours/type would appear on each different stock of paper, an old approach but definitely something which can be revived.  We want to make Fedrigoni a keepsake, paper that you wouldn’t just throw away and that is used for quality products, we believe that by producing a quality catalog by designers for designers will accommodate this idea.

The above shows a calendar that Fedrigoni released back in 2010, a really well simple idea but executed well, this gives me a sense that they’re willing to go for novelty value in their promotion and as you can see above, will supply a sufficient quantity of their product for it.

We’ve been mulling over some novelty ideas such as parts of a packaging net which could be collected and built into something however we’ve been strayed away from doing anything too ‘gimicky’ as it can be overdone and doesn’t really fit in with the image Fedrigoni puts forth.  We noted down some important guidelines that we’re aiming to be fulfilled by the campaign such as targeting the correct audience (not the mass public), making sure each element of the campaign works together to create a strong brand image and to ultimately sell the imaginative colours product and in turn gaining loyal customers.

Thinking of our target audience we all agreed some sort of campaign in ‘Grafik’ or ‘Eye’ magazine would be a good choice, aiming at design firms as well as recent graduates, we’ve got the bare bones of an idea thinking of a ‘Fedrigoni’ collaboration with one of these magazines, where a range of their paper stock is used throughout, a full double page ad is included within highlighting all the benefits of their paper and perhaps a discount code of some sort to get readers interested.  We also discussed the possibility of setting up some sort of competition for students as well as established designers/illustrators to create something printed on Fedrigoni exclusively, in theory they would be the sponsoring the next generation of designers and gaining loyalty along the way.  Another idea thrown about was a reprint of classic publications in Fedrigoni paper, ‘If god was to print out the bible, he’d pick Fedrigoni’, associating the brand with nostalgia and in turn creating more publicity for themselves.

After brainstorming and discussing initial ideas I’m excited to tackle this brief and believe within the next fortnight we can come up with an engaging campaign that would work in the real world and benefit the brand.

As part of the Advertising & Branding module we’re to investigate a subject of choosing, initially I was leaning towards product placement in mass media but quickly realised how vast this aspect of Advertising is so instead I’ve chosen to focus on the marketing strategies of Coca Cola as the main subject as well as looking at its main competitor Pepsi, after touching on the subject very briefly in a previous blog post I found it very interesting considering they are basically the exact same product but are both sold to us and stand for very different things, which means that everything is down to how they market themselves, and they choose to do this by making themselves lifestyle products.

After a stint of research, including a look at each products website (where the difference in values is very obvious) it seems that the resounding opinion is that Pepsi appeals to the younger generation, is in touch with pop culture and is very much current, at the moment it’s the sponsor of US XFactor ensuring that each ‘judge’ on the program has a strategically placed Pepsi glass in front of them (logo to the front of course), with the ratings Xfactor generates, the Pepsi collaboration is marketing gold.  Coca Cola on the other hand, stands for tradition, it seems to have always been here, is served everywhere and has, in my eyes, ‘claimed’ events such as a visit to the Cinema (‘Still time to grab a Coke’), Saturday nights (‘Saturdays taste better with Coke’) and the biggie, Christmas.  I’m sure a large chunk of my generation still feel a nostalgic carbonated infused surge of excitement when the ‘Holidays are coming, Always Coca Cola’ advert starts up on television.

In the middle of these two paragraphs I found myself venturing down 8 flights of stairs, into the rain, up the road to the local shop, and back up just to buy a bottle of Coke.  After researching through numerous websites, case studies and marketing strategy books I’ve managed to resist the urge to drink Coke but it seems to be in the back of my mind throughout.  The infamous click, psst and crackle of a freshly opened bottle of Coke is hard to resist, why? very clever marketing, it’s been used in nearly every TV ad and has powered its way into our minds of what refreshment sounds like, another claim from Coke, the sound of opening a bottle, their ‘Open Happiness’ tagline works well with this notion.  Although Coke no longer contains actual cocaine, it is heavy on caffeine, which in large doses is medically proven to be addictive, this has lead to many cases of so called ‘Soda addiction’.  The subject on whether you can be genuinely addicted to the soft drink or not is a popular argument, many disagree however I’ve stumbled across cases via blogs of ‘addicts’ weaning themselves off the product.  See ‘Rehabilitation of a Coke addict’.

Although both companies started up around the same time (1890 – 1900) they’ve had very different routes to what they are known as today, Coca Cola was originally intended to be a medicine whereas the focus for Pepsi was to create a ‘delicious’ soft drink from the beginning.  Both Pepsi & Coke have faithful followers in drinkers aswell as collectors as far as their advertising & products are concerned.  Frederick Allan author of ‘Secret Formula’ describes Coca Colas market as

“… like a conveyer belt, a company official observed, with the obstetrician at one end and the undertaker at the other.  The goal was to win customers when they were young and keep them for life.”

Products described range from Coca Cola needles to thermometers, and that’s just scratching the surface.  There are avid collectors of the well recognised original poster advertisements that have that ‘Coke’ look – colourful, family orientated and complete with that very ‘American’ look (perfect white beaming smiles & preppy styles are rife) these are the first things that come to mind when thinking of their advertising.

To revisit the ‘Coke owns Christmas’ idea, there are numerous debates for and against the issue that Coke ‘invented’ the modern image of Santa Claus as a jolly, bearded old man in a red and white suit.  The original artist of the first Coca Cola holiday advertisements in 1931 was Haddon Sundblom who although didn’t ‘invent’ Santa in a red and white suit, helped shape the image of the Father Christmas we know today, prior to this Santa had been depicted in many different styles, after being exposed to the ‘Coke’ Santa for so long, it’s hard to imagine him being depicted in any other way.  According to ‘Coke Lore’

“Coca-Cola Santa has had a powerful, enduring quality that continues to resonate today. Many of the original paintings can be seen on display at World of Coca-Cola Atlanta or touring during the holiday season.”

Pepsi on the other-hand takes a whole different approach to their advertising campaigns and is very heavy on sponsorship deals, from events to individuals, past/present sponsor deals include FA Youth Football, Suzuki and the International Cricket Council then onto individual spokespersons which is where Pepsi really thrives in terms of being in touch with popular culture, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and probably the most memorable for the UK, David Beckham have all had their names associated with the soft drink.  Their original ad campaigns are very similar to that of Cokes, all American, ‘Mad men’ matched imagery, however in the last 20 years Pepsi co has established itself with its bang up to date, ever changing advertising campaigns which seem to fit into the mould of what’s happening at the time.  As Coke holds onto its ‘classic’ roots but is starting to venture into current ad trends, Pepsi has long since claimed the ‘contemporary’ cola category.

According to a Daily Telegraph article I stumbled upon recently,

“Over the years the formula was tweaked so that Pepsi ads featured celebrities stressing the drink was the “The Choice of a New Generation”. By the 1990s the Pepsi strategy revolved around consumers being invited to “Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff” by collecting Pepsi Points on packages and cups which they could redeem for lifestyle merchandise. Millions took part and the Pepsi Stuff campaign was considered a huge success. ”

You can read the rest of the article here.

In the second part of this blog post I will focus on further marketing strategies by both companies, how they compete, the power of a logo as well as look at the effects clever product placement has had on each of the cola giants.

Resources used:

The Coca Cola Company

Pepsi Cola: Strategic Analysis

Soda Wars

Are the Cola Wars over?

A recent trip to Glasgow was arranged for us to experience ‘branding’ first hand, in particular taking a look at Merchant City in the city centre.  I’m somewhat familiar with Glasgow however Merchant City has always been a bit of a mystery to me, it’s been mentioned a lot however personally I’ve never known exactly what it is.  Is it a full blown area?  Is it a shopping district?  I feel that failing to have a solid brand behind it has caused the confusion.  After taking a stroll around, the entrance was very apparent in the form of a large sign hanging down from the grand architectural arch that leads you in, a scattering of lux stores & top end cafes are rife but what wasn’t so obvious was its barrier, rather than feeling like a well formed area with a set perimeter it seemed to just filter down until you weren’t so sure whether you were still in ‘Merchant City’ or not.  I feel like a well put together branding campaign for the area would benefit it greatly.  Whether this means more signage simply communicating whether you’ve ventured out of Merchant City or not, perhaps some sort of visual language to identify it from the rest of the city, manhole covers, plaques and/or a unique colour palette as far as signs/posters/sculptures go inside the area itself.

Starbucks

Starbucks is by no means my first choice for a caffeine top-up but I find myself there occasionally with company, as there’s a branch located right at the entrance to Merchant City we made it our first port of call.  We were asked to be take note of particular stores/chains and see how they brand themselves, what kindof atmosphere do they provide and does this reflect the products they sell?  While chugging down a good gallon of Americano with a dash of hot milk I realised that this particular Starbucks stop had a whole different image to those I’ve previously visited.  Here in Dundee there’s a prime Starbucks store right in the city centre, glass surrounding, cosy yet modern interior with quite a long queue/collect system.  The one situated at Merchant City entrance is dissimilar in a lot of ways, it seemed much more homely, tables and chairs were mismatched and splayed throughout, it also seemed to provide private little corners, nooks and window spaces which I would expect more from an obscure little independent coffee shop down a side street rather than a massive chain like Starbucks.  Staff were very personable, almost mother like and the ‘Starbucks’ system was in full flow but wasn’t as overt as our one here.  Of course the new (and in my opinion, improved) logo was in full swing, looking right at home on everything from the cups to the stickers on sandwiches, a bold move from the company but something to be proud of when an organisation is so established that a simple logo without type can be recognised worldwide.

After a recent lecture regarding Ad regulation, we were shown a selection of campaigns that caused controversy and consequently led to being banned.  It became obvious that there’s a fine line between when an ad is unacceptable and when it’s reasonable but controversial.  Legalities apply to advertising, as we became especially aware of when looking at alcohol ads.  Even though set rules are in place for the masses, some campaigns need to be focused on as individuals, for examples this applies to the infamous ‘Hello Boys’ Wonderbra advert.  Was the amount of flesh on show acceptable? At the time (1994) this campaign was contentious, however what saved it was that it was clever, ‘Hello Boys’ was a humorous tagline when accompanied with the image.  The most recent Wonderbra ads have caused outrage being to blame for car accidents as the billboards are too much of a distraction to drivers.  If a woman is in her underwear on an ad just for the sake of it and with no apparent reason the reaction would be very different. The Wonderbra ads really set the benchmark for how much you could bare on a public poster, now perfume & fashion ads have followed suit and we barely bat an eyelash.

Some would say this has become a problem with society and we’re now de-sensitized to a lot of things that would previously shock, this can become a major problem when children are involved, are these ads providing a false sense of self-image to young girls of what they’re meant to look like or what they’re meant to wear?  Celebrity culture is partly to blame, new scandals appear regularly about a ‘photoshop’ mishap or an enhanced version of a recognised figure backfiring, see the Julia Roberts/Lancome outrage.

The ASA subsequently banned these ads for ‘Abuse of Photoshop’.  Her face had clearly been airbrushed so much that her features almost seemed to disappear and were replaced by a cyborg hyper-skinned version of herself.  The argument was that it was misleading, Lancome were essentially trying to convey that this makeup could perform miracles by erasing any sign of human form in the face (pigment, wrinkles, contour lines), ASA pulled the ads as they didn’t ‘reflect reality’, but do we want to see reality in our advertisements?  We see it everyday around us, when flipping through a magazine such as Vogue (where beauty ads are rife) do we really want to see those we consider ‘the beautiful’ as they really are, or do we want to escape to an alternate otherwordly beauty reality where results are so unobtainable, it sets us apart from them even more?

I recently stumbled across an article on Independent online titled ‘Ten adverts that shocked the world’.

‘Advertising is a world in which the normal is beautified, cracks are airbrushed over and real-life is portrayed with rose tinted glasses. And all with the intention of getting the consumers to buy into such ideals.’

Their examples are at the extreme side of advertising and show how ruthless and disregarding of morality advertisers can be.  When will the ‘shock’ culture reach its limit?  Advertisers seem to be pushing the boundaries with each new campaign and with the next generation being raised on the World Wide Web is it becoming harder to cause a reaction by using startling visuals? & will the ASA rules eventually be relaxed in order to meet the level that we demand from our adverts?

Yet another batch of photos from my Summer, this time through the lens of yet another camera.  Having a go at Medium-format photography has been on my to do list for quite a while now, so after acquiring a Lubitel 166b and a roll of Ilford XP2 Super over summer, these photos eventually came to fruition.  Development took longer than expected so it’s only recently I’ve received these back and can revel in the 6×6 square of  black and white delight.

Having just loaded up another roll, there’ll be more results in the future.  In the meantime there’s a couple more examples at my Flickr.

The Old Spice ad campaign, ‘The man your man could smell like’ now holds a place in advertising history, so successful that the product is now the #1 body wash brand for men, in an over saturated market, it’s chosen to reposition itself within its market segment without a complete re brand, a confident and brave move, but one that paid off.  Old Spice’s figures have show that it’s sales are up 107% since the campaign was unveiled, success advertising agencies must dream of.

Old Spice has been around for 70+ years and unlike similar products hasn’t changed its branding strategy drastically in that time, as mentioned to me recently it’s similar to the deal with Pepsi & Coke.
Both products are fundamentally the same thing, so how do they differentiate themselves?  Marketing strategy and Brand positioning.  Cokes branding has never changed, its values lie with tradition and nostalgia, in my mind it’s cemented itself as the ‘default’ soft drink, the thing you drink if you’re too lazy to choose anything else.  The logo itself has remained pretty much the same all throughout its lifespan as well as the signature red and white colourway.  Pepsi on the other hand changes itself for each generation, it’s the competition and you always like one more than the other.  It doesn’t rely on nostalgia and instead prides itself as being a part of youth culture and has shown this through its choice of product placement, you can spot it in ‘Wayne’s World’, ‘Home Alone’ and most notably ‘Back to the Future’, the film that practically defines a generation.

So back to Old Spice, in my mind it’s something that your Grandad uses, or that you brother gets for Christmas from your ‘clueless about fragrance’ Granny.  Having been employed in a cosmetics/drugs store, I’ve always been aware of the product but it was always shunned to the bottom shelf next to ‘Blue Denim’ or a much ignored musk fragrance.  After mentioning the brand in a recent lecture there was a much resounding agreement to the ‘smells like old man’ association that the product seems to have gained.  I’d imagine ‘Old Spice’, like many other fragrance brands had loyal users before this campaign was released, the ‘always used this so why should I change it’ syndrome.  People invest trust in a brand, according to my most recent read ‘The Brand Gap’.

“The foundation of a brand is trust.  Customers trust your brand when their experiences consistently meet or beat their expectations”

This couldn’t be more true especially when it comes to perfume as people buy into the brand and what lifestyle they promise you through advertising.  The smell of the fragrance itself seems to come last at point of purchase, after you’ve absorbed all of the different factors.  Who’s selling you this perfume?  Celebrity perfumes seem to sell based on the idea that this is surely what they smell like, and since they’re successful/beautiful/adored by millions, their scent must have played a big part and contributed to that, right?  Is it just coincidence that your favourite celebrity’s perfume is also your favourite scent?  Would it still be if the guy in the newsagents was selling it?  Probably no.  I doubt that Pam down in Tesco could sell a fragrance that “makes women feel sexy, strong, empowered and make them like they can conquer anything.”, but Beyonce sure bloody can.

After reading a case study on ‘Old Spice’ it was proven that women are responsible for the majority of mens grooming purchases,  this is a glaring example of selling to the Customers, rather than the Consumers.  So Isaiah Mustafa, otherwise known as the ‘old spice guy’ is obviously there for the women, over-exaggerated he might be, he still manages to portray ‘everything your man should be’, all the time questioning the masculinity of the men watching it.  If Old Spice is what a man is meant to smell like, why wouldn’t you wear it?  We agreed this plants a seed in the mindset of the customer (women) who want to know what Mustafa smells like, and to the consumers (men) who wonder what they should be smelling like.  The people behind Old Spice must be confident enough that people may buy the product simply to try it out or as a novelty because, well, everyone’s seen the advert.  The question is do they carry on using this?  Will they stay loyal to the brand?

Carrying on from this, humour goes a long way in the ad game and this is a prime example, the ad campaign is funny in a witty/taking the mick out of itself way, which makes the watchers feel like they’re in on the joke.  That they’re clever enough to get that it’s being over exaggerated and laughing at themselves really.  This leads to feeling familiar with the brand, that they ‘get’ you and vice versa.  This stands for both men & women, a rarity in mens grooming adverts, it appeals to both genders without showing the obvious ‘girl finding guy irresistible because he wears (x) fragrance’.

Lastly, what I found genius about this ad campaign is its use of viral marketing.  Old Spice really used it to full effect, by combining two social networking giants, Youtube & Twitter.  Firstly clocking up millions of views after just a day on Youtube, drawing traffic by trending through Twitter, Tumblr & Facebook.  Since everything on the Internet seems to move at light speed, you can be popular one day and then something like the ‘Rebecca Black’ fiasco comes along and takes over, Old Spice didn’t let this ‘trending’ opportunity get away and made 180 follow up videos of Isaiah Mustafa answering questions submitted by twitter users, all the while carrying on the same sense of humour & ridiculousness.