October 2008 - Posts - Devil's Advocate - Blogs

ROSS ON BRAND

Surely the only mistake Auntie's twin paid-to-be-edgy musketeers have made is to have picked on Manuel? It's rather like declaring you're for the Republic - there's a lot of people out there ready and waiting to smash you over the head with their golden jubilee china teapots. Of course, you have to feel for Andrew Sachs - an incredibly rich and varied acting career and yet the whole world only knows (and loves) him as an incompetent grovelling waiter from Barcelona. But... there's branding for you. As for his two protagonists' brand of humour - who can possibly be surprised at their output? It seemed pretty much on brand to me.

Posted Oct 28 2008, 11:40 AM by Ian Moore with no comments

Sainsbury's BAGOF ploy

Do people shop at the same time every week? Maybe Sainsbury's know that many of us do. (Certainly they must have an electronic record of my erratic panic-buying.) Whatever... I'm intrigued by their latest scheme to replace plastic bags with little leaflets offering a free weekly text reminder prior to your normal shopping time. I've tried this and it works - at least to the extent that you get a text message imploring you to bring in your old bag (personally, I prefer to shop alone). Obviously the flaw in the hypothesis centres on my opening question: do people shop at the same time? Do they even shop on the same day? ........................................................................................................................................................................... Playing... erm... Devil's Advocate, I'm tempted to wonder whether this is just a vaguely plausible excuse by which to build up a handy database for mobile marketing. How long will it be before the text messages start to include special offers? Actually - I don't think I'd object... although you'd think they'd want to link up with my Nectar card number, so they know what I do and don't buy. Maybe I'm jumping the gun? Still - it will be an interesting one to watch. In the meantime I've set my reminder so it coincides with when I need to put out the wheelie bin each week, so that could prove very handy.

Posted Oct 22 2008, 12:55 PM by Ian Moore with 1 comment(s)

TO LET HUMOUR

I just discovered I'm the only person in the office who wanders the streets filling in (in thought, if not in actual practice) the missing 'i' in every 'To let' I see. With the current property crunch, and surfeit of signs, this keeps me pretty busy on my travels about town. Today, one of our execs happened to have a similar visual on her desk (not sure why), and I happened to mention the missing i... only to receive blank stares all around. Come off it (I said) - this is a wind up. Surely everyone does this? How can you possibly resist the thought? But no - despite detailed interrogation - it seems only certain creative directors are prey to this 'unnatural' urge. I have to say, for me, it conjured up memories of the Python sketch where the guy called Smoketoomuch responds to the retort "Well, you'd better cut down a little" with the reply "I'm sorry?" ................................................................................................................................................................... It's probably true to say that there's a bell-curve distribution of this trait within the population (and the word-obsessed like me sit on the far right), but I'm sure most people could complete the sentence "Beanz Meanz *****" with little effort. This phenomenon - closure in Gestalt pyschology - is something we all use to train our kids, yet is becoming something of a lost art in the world of marketing communications. Jingles are pooh-poohed as some throwback from the sixties, yet I wonder have adult brains changed any in the intervening decades? Surely not. And in this over-advertised hypercluttered media environment, maybe a few short and sharp taglines are just what's needed. Words are powerful little devils if they're kept lean and hungry, and then unleashed upon the right victims.

Posted Oct 15 2008, 07:19 PM by Ian Moore with 4 comment(s)

Greeks streets ahead

Working in Athens this week (well 'working') I'm struck by the Olympic fashion in which the local SP business has left the once Coe-like Team GB spluttering in its dusty wake. Ok sure we Brits keep winning international awards, but these campaigns are a diminishing minorty sport in which we once held sway, like curling or billiards - they often have little to do with true SALES promotion and are only out there because those involved fancied the idea of having a bit of fun with shareholders' money, rather than doing something effective. To feel the true heartbeat of SP wherever I go I always head for a supermarket - it's an instant yardstick by which to judge the fitness of the indigenous sector. I have to say, the three Greek stores I've visited so far were positively teeming with offers, most notably the thought of 'free withs' and bandeds that once made UK supermarkets a fun place to shop. Now, ruled by a dirty dozen godlike buyers who strike down brave new SKUs with thunderbolts from their biros, the British store is a relative SP desert, bereft of offers that would actually put a consumer in danger of switching brands. Am I being sentimental, or is it just the raki?

Posted Oct 02 2008, 01:08 PM by Ian Moore with no comments

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