Everyone in the UK most now be aware that John Terry, captain of England, captain of Chelsea is also a spectacular love cheat. How does the fact that he had an affair with his best friend’s girlfriend affect his brand? How does the fact that his friend was 200 miles away and that he had the nerve to counsel both his best friend and girlfriend at the same time sit with brands wishing to associate with him?Will brands only see the good he does on the field? What he’s done clearly doesn’t bother him as he has had two excellent matches and scored a goal since the controversy was about to break and then broke. Will brands buy into him as a Dad or Husband? Not a chance. Would they buy into his success, rough edges, flashiness, competitiveness, dedication, focused determination and steel? Quite possibly. WKD, Durex, Fosters, Paddypower, Nike, Playboy all probably wouldn’t mind the positive association with a rouge character. I am sure that there will be plenty more….All this publicity has created a monster but brands would still want to be associated with King Kong if he was ever presented as the 8th wonder of the world in Leicester Square. John Terry probably won’t get his pick of brands like Alan Shearer or Gary Lineker would but there will be enough brands out there who will look at the on field activities rather than the off field ones and believe that their consumers will do the same.
1 comment(s)
The latest in fashion and brand partnerships is the linkup between Star Wars and Adidas. But is it cool or corny? The answer to this probably differs depending upon whether you are a man in his thirties or forties or any woman!
Men in general think that Star Wars is the greatest movie of all time (I am of course referring to the originals here not the rehashed money grabbing remake rubbish) and that Darth Vader is their ultimate hero. Woman in general can’t understand why there is all the fuss about some bloke in black breathing heavily. What teenage girls and boys think is anyone’s guess but it’s probably still split down sex lines.
Which brings us neatly onto who exactly is going to buy the Adidas and Star Wars trainers and casual gear just launched? Which mid life male would get away with Storm trooper or Death Star trainers? Which self respecting girlfriend/wife would be seen dead with a man wearing this stuff outside? So if not the mid life male then maybe the cool and trendy Nike trainer wearing teenage boy? I can’t see it.
Doesn’t really compare in the playground, Yoda Trainers versus Nike trainers. Therefore who is this targeting and who thought of this brand partnership? Well I don’t know who it is targeting but I will bet you a forty something male who has seen every film, old and new, a million times and wishes they were either Luke, Han Solo or Darth Vader and probably has the light sabre app on the iphone did.........
7 comment(s)
Coronation Street has decided to mark their 50th anniversary by creating commercial brand partnerships with some arguably highly synergistic brands. But are they aspirational, contemporary or merely value matching brands? With great British brands like Typhoo, Harvey’s, Imperial Leather (they just had to have a soap!) and Warbuton’s Coronation Street have found some great British brand partners. But then we would expect them to have brands like this on board. Coronation Street is a great British institution and tea, bread, sofas and soap match their brand values and those of their viewers. All these brands have been around for a considerable amount of time too and have instant recognition amongst with the target audience as being comfortable British brands. Bearing in mind Coronation Street still reaches more 18-24’s than almost every program bar X-Factor and I’m a Celebrity could they have widened the search? Could a mobile phone brand, social networking site, fashion web brand and in fact any website have been added to the list to bring a more contemporary and aspirational British feel to the list of brand partners? Are they just confirming stereotypes of the Coronation Street brand by choosing the brands that they have confirmed so far?
The news that Marie Claire and MSN are involved in a content brand partnership is a great example of the way that brand partnerships will evolve in 2010. There is a great logic to the deal. MSN need more high end female fashion conscious customers and Marie Claire need more females to visit their site. Both win on this deal.Valuable content will always be worth creating a partnership for and interesting to consumers. Marie Claire is an aspirational brand with compelling content that will appeal to a specific target audience who will make a point to view that content. From MSN’s point of view once people have viewed the content and then clicked through to the Marie Claire site they no longer have to come back to MSN to view this content. They can get the same content and a whole lot more that they will be interesting from the Marie Claire site. Marie Claire won’t worry about this but apart from revenue what’s in it for MSN? Is there some quid pro quo in return from the Marie Claire site to MSN? This could be female news content not covered by Marie Claire that appeal to their premium audience?This kind of relationship only works when the content is truly unique and compelling and communicates the brand effectively and can’t be mistaken for someone else’s content e.g. Grazia in this example. As The Times and other newspapers try and charge for their content they will have to engage in this kind of brand partnership. The difficulty they will face is what news is unique and compelling and directly linked to their brand and can’t be gained elsewhere for free.....
no comments
Not all brand partnerships work. Some brand partnerships work for years and then go horribly wrong. One’s that involve money changing hands tend to work least of all as they’re built on a forced relationship.
Tiger Woods has a myriad of sponsors and brand partners who pay huge amounts of money to be positively associated with him. Brands from Accenture to Gillette are now questioning this association.
Suddenly all the positives of being associated with Tiger Woods are negatives. All the success on the green has been tarnished by the alleged string of affairs with cocktail waitresses, porn stars and marketing girls off the green. Where before there was honesty, integrity, professionalism and being associated with a winner with the highest of standards now there are the opposite negative attributes. Suddenly the brand association and endorsement is all negative.
Take a look at all those poignant photos of Tiger looking to the sky or in a pond after a lost ball and you will now be thinking something completely different to what the Accenture sponsors would like you to be thinking.
Brand partnerships with physical brands are hard enough to make work. When one brand is a person with all the possible fallibilities and demons that can haunt someone and make them act in ways contrary to their outside persona then that brand partnership becomes a journey into the unknown.
5 comment(s)
Well it’s that time of the year again. Yes it's the time when people’s reasoning over what they spend their money on goes completely out of the window. People buy things they would never look at in a million years and then wake up with a January hangover when the credit card bill arrives and say why? Men especially panic at this time of the year as they generally have no idea what to buy their loved ones and rush around in some blind panic visiting shops that they have only ever been forced into with a gun at their head. Suddenly chocolate shops, lingerie shops, Selfridges, fashion shops, perfume shops, cosmetics shops have an amazing pulling power…..in fact any retailer that they might think their girlfriend/wife/mistress may have a passing interest in or mentioned once after reading Heat….
But where are the imaginative promotions that capture the essence of Christmas? All we have this year more than ever is discount, discount, discount…where is the added value, the Christmas money can’t buy items, the creative on pack promotions, the enchanting retail promotions? Do people not respond to them at Christmas or have the promotions industry just not come up with anything worthy? Answers on a Christmas card.....
The new Cadbury's Dairy Milk partnership with Ghanaian entertainment culture is wonderfully positive and full of life as well as a glass and half full of milk! Zingolo is the first single released from “Glass and Half Full” records, Cadbury’s own record label. This is launched to celebrate Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Fairtrade certification. Ghana is the heart of the Fairtrade chocolate made by Cadbury and this track as well as the overall Ghana connection celebrates everything Ghanaian. Cadbury’s have really gone to town with the positive Ghana associations recruiting dancers, artists, wood carvers as well as musicians. Rather than do this heart-heartedly they have even really invested in marketing the new music and putting it on iTunes to buy as well as promoting all the other Ghanaian cultural connections. It’s a risk as it’s so far removed from the award winning gorilla/Phil Collins, plane/queen big productions. It also assumes that people know that Ghanaian chocolate is the best. However the positive association with vibrancy, colours and a lust for life through the links with Ghanaian entertainers will communicate very positive product and brand values and that Cadbury’s give you a boost and makes you feel better. The only additional other angles worth persuing would be brand partnerships with high street retailers like HMV or fashion brands selling Ghanaian clothes should such exist or travel agents promoting Cadbury through all different associated angles. Overall a wonderfully vibrant brand partnership.
2 comment(s)
Tesco has tied up with talent search site 1Click2Fame to launch a series of mobile audition pods outside its stores – why? you hear yourself ask. Don’t you ever go grocery shopping and have that sudden urge to rush into a photo booth-like pod and start singing and dancing and record the video of it?!
What exciting prizes can be gained from this seemingly pointless use of energy? Videos are entered into a competition with 1Click2Fame, which will be offering a series of prizes including cash, coaching and studio time. Oh wowee! Studio time for recording that album you have always thought is in you but that no one will ever release! Are they just trying to capitalise on the enormous and somewhat disturbing popularity of X- Factor?
Then again would this have anything to do with Sainsbury’s being involved with X-Factor and reaping the benefit? If it is, it’s less than a half-hearted attempt to compete. What Tesco hope to achieve from this brand partnership I have no idea as it seems all the benefit is for 1Click2Fame and even then wouldn’t they be better off doing this with a fashion retailer or entertainment retailer or cinema or nightclub or bar?
Drunken girls singing “like a virgin” at 9pm on a Friday could be fun, sober housewives in tracksuit bottoms singing Leona Lewis on a Monday at 11am would just be excruciating……
The news that Newcastle United’s incompetent owners (the ones that got them relegated) are now auctioning off the rights to their ground, the very famous St James’ Park, should surprise no one. A name is not just a name in the world of football. Newcastle’s ground has been called St James’ Park since 1882 and means the world to the most passionate fans in the world (of which I declare I am one).
The fact that the most hated man on Tyneside, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley, owns Sports Direct.com and has now decided to call the ground SportsDirect.com @ St James Park in the short term, should surprise no one who has followed his series of incomprehensible decisions. The fact that both of these decisions are to try and get some poor misguided brand to sponsor the stadium in 2010 shows how little he knows about brands and their relationship with other brands, especially sporting brands.
Any brand worth its salt would research how the fans felt about this and on seeing the anger currently pouring out of Newcastle United fans would realise that they would be making a massive mistake. The fans don’t want a brand where their beloved St James Park name is. Before it, after it or replacing it. No name. Any brand doing this would be boycotted by Newcastle fans and face unprecedented resistance and protests which would decrease not increase any positive relationship and sales they would be expecting.
Adidas, Newcastle’s club kit supplier, have already taken the advice and declared that they will not have anything to do with this ridiculous idea. Wise.
Any brand looking to do this would be entering hell. Football is not just about life and death to Newcastle fans, its much, much more important than that. This would be brand partnership marketing at its very worse. Beware any brand thinking about doing this. Heed these words. Don’t.
It’s been done before but you can’t help smile through a cynical face at the Wallace and Gromit Great British Tea Party. This time it’s to help sick children and coming up to Christmas with Children in Need around the corner who better to benefit at Christmas time.
Yorkshire Tea are the ideal brand partner for the Wallace and Gromit Great British Tea Party (WGGBTP) that runs between 4-11 November this year. The mechanic is the tried and tested one of have a tea party, invite people, everyone contributes and the proceeds are sent to Wallace and Gromit to spend on making sick kids live’s more comfortable.
http://www.wallaceandgromitteaparty.org.uk/pages/home.htm
Macmillan Cancer have run these annually and there have been plenty of other brands who have also benefited from tea parties. The interesting angle here is that its Wallace and Gromit who are the lead brand and they are using the fact that it’s their 20th anniversary to do this. It’s their children’s foundation that will benefit.
As two of the UK’s most popular characters (Christmas telly just isn’t the same without them) they are in an ideal situation to be able to capture attention, create awareness of their children’s foundation and use their brand trust with mum’s up and down the country to inspire them to hold tea party’s and raise money.
Yorkshire Tea are the perfect brand partner and will clearly benefit from branding, direct marketing and vouchers with money off in all the tea party packs but I am sure that they are paying a good contribution to the foundation to be part of this and hopefully some of the marketing budget too.
Easy to be sceptical about a brand’s motives but this brand partnership naturally fits both Wallace and Gromit and Yorkshire Tea’s brand values. If anything it’s a too safe a choice but if it raises money while also benefiting both brands positive values it’s hard to criticise it.
When a synergistic brand partnership comes along that effectively taps into the lifestyle of its consumers it should be held up like an Olympic torch and applauded! So Powerade’s brand partnership with the Great Event Series, which includes the Great North Run, is logical as it attempts to differentiate itself from other energy drinks.However Powerade giving away 50,000 iPods to incentivise consumers to start running and listen to music at the same time to ease the pain is the icing on the cake.
Furthermore the winners of the iPods can download the bespoke training guide Powerade Pulse to ensure that they maintain motivation. ‘Powerade Pulse’ is a bespoke ‘Powerade’ software programme that scans a customer’s digital music tracks and creates a play list at a designated Beats Per Minute (BPM) to match that person’s running ability. This appears to be similar to Nike’s iPod accessory Nike+iPod but it takes it onto the next level and creates a bespoke playlist rather than use an existing one.
Winning iPods will of course attract more consumer attention than Powerade’s partnership with the Great Event Series and probably cost them less. However if that provides the spark for a consumer to then take up running and enter a half marathon and inspires them to get fit then that’s a great community benefit Powerade are providing. They should be applauded for this and gain some great positive association. Of course they’re not doing this for the community but to sell more Powerade but by inspiring people to run then the end result is the same.
A very cool brand partnership would be even better if they were also giving away places in the event series for races like the Great North Run but I am sure that will be coming, even if it would sell fewer bottles than winning iPods!
Newspapers have really stepped up their promotional schedule in the last few weeks. But is anything that they have given away worth having? Last week the Mail on Sunday gave away DVD of a new unreleased film that probably would have done no business at the cinema. Therefore the distributors probably gambled that they would make more money from what the Mail paid them and the marketing they put behind it. Ultimately a crap film is still a crap film even when it is free! Did anyone watch it and if they did did they finish it? The Times this week were giving away a real first, free REM iTunes tracks to help promote their new live album. The only problem with this is that half the tracks are some of their best music and any self respecting music fan would already have them. Who wants a live album anyway, they’re rarely as good as the original versions and REM have had better days. Nice idea but where’s the value apart from for REM’s record company’s marketing department?The Mail on Sunday have given away a best of Robbie Williams CD this week, again to support the release of his new album. But again if you wanted his best music wouldn’t you already have it by now? So the Mail are happily being the main platform of the record company’s marketing campaign and 95% of the CD’s will never get played. How does the consumer benefit?For all the instant sales that these promotions may gain the promiscuous readers that take these up will jump paper for the next freebie next week so where’s the marketing value?The way forward for newspaper promotions and partnerships surely has to be The Times’ new loyalty scheme Times+. This imaginative scheme rewards loyal readers on a long term basis with exclusive content, offers, prizes and money can’t buy events like meeting The Times’ journalists. This is surely the way that all newspapers should be approaching promotions in the future, no free crap, no free marketing for fallen pop stars or terrible films but actually thinking about what a loyal reader wants and rewarding them.
Kit Kat’s free music download with every pack promises much and overall it delivers. Nestle have formed an alliance with Universal to offer every customer a free download from 500,000 music tracks. Although because there is no brand on the packs, no Play.com or itunes to reinforce a trust factor, customers might be cynical about which music tracks that they will actually receive. There does appear to be a great choice of old and new from major artists.
As the partnership is with only with one of the major music labels many people will be disappointed with the choice but overall they’re getting free music just from buying a Kit Kat to listen to in their perfect tea break so what have they go to lose! Music and Kit Kat’s are a fine partnership.
The National Trust has pulled off a coup by being the first charity to create a brand partnership with Monopoly. Up until now any tom, dick or harry brand have created partnerships with Monopoly with regional themes, football clubs, cartoon characters you name it having their own Monopoly branded board.
The National Trust will educate people about twenty six National Trust places from across the UK including beaches, a light house, a mill from the Industrial Revolution and Sir Winston Churchill’s family home and raise money from the sale proceeds. Where there are houses and hotels in the original game, National Trust Monopoly has players building visitor centres and holiday cottages, a neat twist.
You may think that the ultimate capitalist game has little to do with an historical charity but they are all themed around property. A castle instead of Bond Street, a light house instead of MayFair. Ultimately a more interesting game that could lead to people becoming more enthused and inspired about the National Trust while still competing madly to win a classic board game.
Pink Lady apples have partnered with the theatrical production of Grease to raise awareness of their brand. Pink Lady is giving away tickets, West End breaks (as the show is only on in London) and the chance to meet the cast (some guy who didn’t win x-factor….) which they are promoting through the press.
Just because there is a nasty gang of teasing girls called the Pink Ladies does mean that this is a good reason to create a promotional partnership with them? Am I missing the part in the film where the cast suddenly stopped smoking and said “I fancy an apple instead”? From Pink Lady's point of view this is a bit too literal.
I can see why Grease would do it, any additional exposure is welcome but why Pink Lady? Pink Lady are also receiving nothing at the west end venue hosting Grease in terms of sampling, branding, advertising, direct marketing or sales promotions. It all seems very one sided.
Grease said yes as it will cost them nothing and Pink Lady appear desperate to get some kind of point of difference. But Grease? 70’s music and slick back hair, leather jackets and tight trousers, illicit teenage sex and dancing…..where’s the brand values that Pink Lady wants to be reflect and be positively associated with? If you just focused on the Pink Ladies gang itself the brand values get worse as there was nothing healthy or tasty about this bunch of promiscuous bullies! Maybe they are trying to position apples as rebellious?
Even more bizarre is a part of the activity will see the show’s Pink Ladies characters posing and singing in various locations alongside a Pink Lady branded “Mini Clubman” car which is currently driving around the UK giving away samples of the apples. Now this strikes me as the least efficient way to give away sample apples. How many apples can one mini hold? Surely a better to connect with the film and have a series of Greased Lightning cars giving away apples…….not very sexy though it is!
Chris Reed
Blogging for:
Member since: 04 Jun 2009
Last login: 01 Feb 2010
Total Posts: 32
