mardi 15 novembre 2011

Catvertising

Nowadays, you can measure what people are watching on YouTube. And it will not be a surprise to learn that videos of cats doing stupid things are watched and watched again millions of times.

That is something that the advertising agency John St noticed. John St uses creative, design, digital, strategy, social media and research to make their clients' brand "unignorable". And they have launched a new concept to do so: the catvertising. This means using cats for their ads, in order to be on the top of internet new trends. Because, as they say, cats will soon do more views on the internet than porn.That's why they opened the world's first cat video division:






dimanche 13 novembre 2011

Event! Shock! Benetton!

Benetton is famous for its provocative advertisements.  Now, it was presented shocking live event - Lana Sutra, broadcast simultaneously from 3 concept stores in Milan, Munich and Istanbul: the new 2011 Fall/Winter collection. It was presented together with an exhibition of Lana Sutra installations by Cuban artist, Erik Ravelo – a celebration of the purity of human love through the interweaving of wool and colour.


jeudi 10 novembre 2011

"Shock Marketing" , where is the limit ?

The goal of Shock Marketing is to go against moral principles of someone. To make him have a trauma, an emotional shock.

Nowadays, many ads are trying to shock. People are confronted to so many ads that so marketers think that creating an emotional shock is a very efficient way to deliver their message. But do these shocks have an impact on consumers behavior?

If it doesn't, at least, they catch attention. Moreover, with the new social communities, they create the buzz. But in the good way ? Even if they believe that they are delivering their message, don't they take the risk to cross the line and to send back the trauma on the brand image ? Should there be a limit, or are all the ways good to catch the attention ?


For this, we have many examples. From Lady Gaga to "Reporters sans frontières", they all try to shock to make people react or force them to get a message.

During the last ten years, sexual contents in ads have become more and more common. Now, they use it even for promoting products which have no relation with it. That's the case of "vivastreet" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwLli9uMHoE&feature=player_embedded) or "perrier" ("La main la plus sexy du monde")

So now, if sexuality is less and less shocking in people mind, they try to enter on new fields, that's the case of "Loué" with its ad for its "Free chicken":


But also RSF which made some ads attacking directly symbols of the french republic:



And some other brands, understanding that some targets want gore and trash (mainly young people), don't hesitate to shock in order to reach them:


Other commercials will go even farther. That's the case of many "prevention" ads, that try to "shock" in order to make people realize. But many people complained, saying that these ads are confusing strong symbols that have no link together (Aids and Hitler, in a spot against aids).
Other are going very far and try to create a real trauma. That's the case of the spot for the road safety, with blood, cries, dead bodies, they really made it distressing so that people can realize and react. Shock to save.



If brands could maybe not permit themselves to create such trauma, mainly because it wouldn't bring a good image of them, this kind of marketing is used by some people to become famous, and stay famous. That's the case of people living of their image and fame. These stars, mostly singers, will try to catch the attention by any mean, which can be very controversial sometimes.

That's the case of course of Lady Gaga, who created buzz any time she did something (wearing a dress made of meat, shocking video clips) but also of many others. And even if many people complained, it did work. The buzz was done. That's also the case of M.I.A., who asked to Romain Gavras (well known for his very controversial video clips that always create the buzz, such as "Stress" for Justince) to make a clip for her song "Born free".

They said they wanted it to be shocking so that people would realize the need of equality between people. But, if the video does shock, we can wonder if the message is spread.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeMvUlxXyz8&ob=av2e&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dborn%2Bfree%2Bm.i.a%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1

More than controversial, this brings the question of what can be tolerated in order to catch attention.

The amount of advertisements is growing more and more, and with internet, it is spreading faster and faster. If ten years ago we could only see french ads in France, now any commercial can have a worldwide success. Having that in mind, we can wonder if some ads won't try to become more and more shocking in order to be different from others.

To my mind, this way of attracting attention is the laziest way. Shocking instead of trying to be different with its originality and creativity just like the wonderful job of Tippex:




 But good or bad, useful or useless, people might complain or not, these producers and marketers of "shocking ads" achieved their goal: people talk about it and that creates the buzz.















Shocking people, and make them smile

How could we speak about shocking people and create a buzz without talking about T-mobile, the German communication company, present almost everywhere in the world ?

They love creating buzz, by many means: gigantic dance in a train station, surprising musical comedy at airports, unplanned sing-along in Trafalgar Square with Pink, and lately the parody of the Royal Wedding. And it works. From 5 millions views to more than 30 millions viewers, they are catching the eyes, and the attention.

But it is not just that it's surprising to see so many people dancing, singing or else in amazing places, moreover the video is very well done, giving the viewer a real sense of happiness. I chanllange you to watch those videos without smiling !

Then, after being focused  on them, being happy for those people on the video, how can we refuse their moto "life's for sharing" ?





That makes you happy to come back



Each Royal Family Member has its own double



Bateclo Infinity - Bringing ideas to life

Last year, Batelco, from Batelco Group, the leading integrated communications’ provider in the Bahrain, created the buzz with a wonderful video.

Wanted to be seen as the reference among the Middle East North Africa region’s key telecommunications players for innovation and customer experience, the message of the video "What are you thinking right now ? Keep thinking.  - Batelco. Bringing ideas to life" is definitely well chosen.

And they made their point. Almost two millions viewers of the videos (250 000 after one week) and 250 000 fans on their facebook page. The german TV-directors,Alex & Steffen, were not at their first try. They already had worked for Nissan, Snickers or Vestel. A video that must be seen.

http://www.batelco.com/infinity/ 

mercredi 9 novembre 2011

YouTube 'Stars' That Brands Love


The Huffington Post   |  Catharine Smith 

While big cable companies struggle to retain subscribers, some YouTube "stars" are drawing large audiences--and ad dollars to match.
According to AdWeek, this new wave of Internet celebrities attract subscribers with entertaining videos that receive thousands, sometimes millions, of views. YouTubers who engage directly with their audiences are ideal vehicles for brands like Mattel, Lancome, McDonalds, Kraft, GE and more. AdWeek reports that these YouTube stars earn "six-figure ad revenue deals from Google, [and] up to $20,000 a pop for branded videos."
Take a look through our slideshow of YouTube celebrities that brands love, based on data by analytics and advertising firm TubeMogul. How do you feel about YouTube video stars who accept brand sponsorship? Are they smart or are they sellouts? Share your thoughts in the comments below, then check out our slideshow of top-earning YouTubers.
iJUSTINE
1 of 6

Subscribers: 917 thousand
All-time views: 196 million
Average views per day: 301 thousand
According to AdWeek, iJUSTINE (aka Justine Ezarik) sometimes features her brand sponsors as her co-stars. "TubeMogul estimates her brand integration views this year alone have generated more than 9 million views," AdWeekwrites.

Nike s’offre une projection aquatique incroyable pour le lancement de la Jordan Melo M8


mardi 8 novembre 2011

Opening of Dressing the man website


It’s been a while that clothes retailers have understood that having visibility on the Internet is necessary. Most brands have their own website and more and more are developing « shop online » section to surf on the Web wave that is becoming a very powerful distribution channel.

But the truth is that many new players, that are penetrating the market, have decided to go straight to the goal: to sell only through the Internet.
The famous and trendy mixed website that illustrate well this trend is ASOS
On the men market, a few players are already well established. Among the most known, let’s quote MENLOOK, STUDIO HOMME or also Mr Porter (UK)





But, even if the Web is a powerful channel, those online stores have well understood that they must have strong competitive advantages, to make weight at the hands of all stores that have a physical sales point.

Dressing the man has well understood that challenge.
This website have been set up by 2 men, Bertrand Thoral and Stéphane Grand-Clément. They both have strong knowledge about fashion, and they consider it as the main strength of Dressing the man: it will allow them to suggest their customer a relevant selection adapted to 25 to 45 years old men.
Their targets are men that care about their image, sensitive toward fashion and trends with high wages.

The soul of the website is the selection offered: They will suggest around 50 well known brands (Bellerose, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Villebrequin…), but also more confidential ones, with a real product interest like cuisse de grenouille, Bérangère Claire… All will be choosen according to the values they support: Elegance, Modernism and unpretentiousness.
On top of that, 20% of the website offer will be non-fashion product, like high tech or design items.

The presentation of the items will be in still life, very qualitative. The models they will use are people from the street with the aim of creating human on the web.
They want the website to be everything but frozen. To do so, they will for instance point up a brand and a cloth, and 3 styles suggestion (casual, chic and trendy)

The advice part is also the strength of the website: Fashion advisers will be available through email, chat or phone, during weekdays. The aim of that is to provide design and technical advices to men, like they should have if they were in stores.



Dressing the man will also have its magazine to serve brands partners: it will allow them to publish information about them (like stores openings).






English version: to be arrived in Spring 2012  ...


lundi 7 novembre 2011

Shocking the customers : that firms that do not want to be forgotten


Nowadays, advertising is everywhere, in your TV, in your radio, on the internet, on the street and even on your cellphones ! Moreover, there are more and more competitions, so more and more brands. It's being complex for companies not only to be heard and to deliver a message, but also not to be forgotten. Firms have to be careful not to disable a customer that is sometimes fed up with this world of brands and ads.
            That is why more and more companies try things like that :



It's a Romanian Press Relation event for the new season of the series True Blood.
The red water reminds the blood which is omnipresent in this series.
This type of marketing has many advantages. Firstly, it costs almost nothing regarding the impact : People there and the press do the job for the firm by relating the event on classic and social media. Moreover, the surprising charcharteristic of this fountain, make that people who will see it, are not going to forget it easily.


Here is another example realised by Greenpeace to make people realise that the global warning dissolve the ice of the North Pole.

Those types of ads are dramatically efficient but can also shock people that are not in the targeted population. This "event" has been made by MTV in Bulgaria to promote one of its show for young. They organised a challenge to promote it. The idea of the winner was to be attach on a column during an afternoon. Very efficient marketing for the targeted population, but what a shocking way to promote a TV programme...



By the way, if you do not want to be forgotten, be surprinsing.

dimanche 6 novembre 2011

Social campaign without social media tools, true?


Facebook and Twitter are an integral tick box on just about every marketing plan. Page on Facebook won’t make your brand social!The key point is not where brand communicate, but how.
Look the Nike Livestrong/Chalkbot campaign. People submitted 36,000 messages through social media. Each message was printed on the section of the course, photographed, tagged with GPS coordinates and emailed to the person who submitted it.

vendredi 4 novembre 2011

H&M and the Masstige trend


"Masstige" is a portemanteau word that join together « Mass market » and « prestige ». 
Masstige product are items that are premium but atteignable : it answers to the new trends which is the growing interest of mass consumers toward luxury brands.

The key success factors of the Masstige can be identified as:
  •         The collaboration between a luxury brand and a mass consumption brand
  •         The use of mass consumption  communication codes
  •         Short lived commercial transactions mainly based on the announcement effect
  •         Marketing target younger than the target of luxury brands


H&M has understood this and managed surfing on that trend through a few collaborations with luxury brands.

in fact, the suedish brand has already collaborate with  designers of luxury brands such as Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Sonia Rykiel, Victor and Rolf, Jimmy choo and Lanvin.

Stella McCartney add:



Some of those collaborations have been reallly successful (Karl lagarfeld, stell mc cartney, sonia rykiel) and some others less (Jimmy choo and LANVIN)

 In November it will be the turn of Versace to reveal its capsule collection designed for H&M brand. It’s the artistic director herself, Donatella versace, that has designed the entire collection for H&M. 
The collection will give consumer a look on all the brand legacy : she will use esthetics codes and symbolic items that made Versace brand historical : leather, gold studs, exagerate use of colors…
This collaboration is announced as not only glamour but also successful.
Donatella versace has declared that she likes surprising people, so we can’t wait to be amazed by that new collection, that is scheduled to be in selected stores on November 2011 the 19th.


H&M is not an isolated case of collaborations between luxury designers and retailers. 
For instance the japanese department store Uniqlo (which sells very cheap product in japan)  has collaborated  with German fashion designer Jill Sander. The clothing range Entitled +J, offers a selection of clothes in monochromatic style but with a value added price tag.

Jill sander's add for UNIQLO


jeudi 3 novembre 2011

Luxury's 4 codes of meaning

Scenario DNA – an american consumer insight agency, which is working with wide range of companies, such as LVMH, Mercedez-Benz, Nike, etc, has defined «luxury's 4 codes of meaning».  


What does this code mean?

According to scenarioDNA, today rank must set authentic standards: «Todays superrich no longer imitate a psuedo-aristocratic lifestyle with hourse prints on the wall.» (Tobias Meyer, Sautheby's principle auctioneer).
Guilt involves power, given to influential people and corporations. With power comes responsability. We now seek power that enables change and which can be expressed through:

  • Restraint trumps decadance
  •  Rethinking the mundane
  •   Building the reconnection to the source
  •   Ethical mainstreaming
  •   Sustainability

Perfection – could be defined in two ways. From the customers' side, today every product detail is scrunitized, even if product is not percieved. From the companies' side, the response must come up with the critical process control and refining the ordinary.





Freedom is:

  
·      Creativity
·      Conspiration
·      Indulging playful stories
·      Transcending the expected
·      Being confident to mix high and low (collaborations, e.g. Missoni and Target)
·      Knowledge engagement – 
it engages the human and activates behaviour (involvement, authenticity, sustainability)
·      Innovation




Scenario DNA evoke the need to build cultural taxonomies. Nowadays most recently we are exhasting the language – the words we use are out of sync with the real cultures that bring them meaning and power. But language is the powerful tool which permits to build a connection between the culture to the brand. Our target is not packing the latest buzzword and hoping for the best, but engaging language. Beyond the logo, the licensing and huribs, there must be something more deep and profound.

Today culture is the product.