An Age of Openness

The Jam used to tell us that the bitterest pill was hard to swallow. But as I watch the political landscape here in the UK develop it seems our current and future political leaders no longer feel that holds true.  As the parties set out their respective stalls ahead of next years’ contest, I wonder if ever before an election has been contested on the basis of ‘vote X, it’s going to be  much worse with us’!  It tells us something about the world we live in today I guess. That the levels of trust we have for our leaders have fallen to such a low level that they now feel the only course of action is to be honest with us.  Research Gyro conducted a year or so back showed that in the midst of the credit crunch less than 17% of us (believe we) trust advertising…. . if you’re a bank brand I doubt things have improved.  Marketers of course know all this. They also know that consumers are savvier, more informed and – in theory at least – should have more control over their choices.  And as such the best brands and agencies are responding. Day after day we see, dream up and argue over various brand attempts at collaboration, co-creation and participation.  So as we move forward into 2010 and beyond, we will undoubtedly see more and more stunning ideas in this area as we all become used to these changing times. We’re going to see more openness, more honesty and less spin. And personally, I think I look forward to it. It can only be good for the soul.

The Real Thing?

Coca Cola’s lawyers obviously need a holiday … to Corsica.

On a recent trip there I discovered the locals have their very own version of The Real Thing – Corsica Cola - and they haven’t been shy in using the Coke packaging as the inspiration for their own e.g.

http://www.fractal-angel.org/photo/img/photo0829.jpg

At first I assumed that Coke must own or license the brand but I am reliably informed that the Pietra brewery on the island actually launched it in 2003.

So how have they managed to create something so similar to and seemingly ‘get away with it’? Of course I’m no lawyer so maybe there simply isn’t a case to answer but if there is then what could the story be?

Well what became very evident whilst travelling around was the fierce pride in being Corsican. Road signs are presented in both French and the local Corse language but the French version is almost always painted (or sometimes shot!) out. Advertising celebrates a ‘made in Corsica’ sentiment. And restaurants delight in serving up all manner of traditional and very local delights.

So one theory has to be that a judgement call has been made at Coke HQ that the newspaper headlines created by tackling Pietra in the courts would do the brand more harm than good on this very proud island.

Maybe. Maybe not. Either way one final question remains. Does Corsica Cola taste like The Real Thing?

Simply, no! Though certain other brands sold by the Pietra brewery do come recommended.

U2 Love Blackberry .... and Apple

I've just seen the new Blackberry ad, "We Love U2".

I like it...but it reminded me of something...What was it...of course, the iPod U2 ad!

A mistake? An oversight? No, I can’t believe it’s anything but a conscious effort to take a leaf out of the iPod book of marketing. After all, if you want to emulate them and beating them is not really on the agenda, why not copy them? Mmmmm...

Wally

It’s awards season and over the last couple of days I’ve found some time to look through a selection of entrants and winners from both the D&ADs and Cannes Lions.

There are plenty more to look through but I’m currently dothing my cap to a couple of nice uses of outdoor and one barnstormer of an idea that blasts through all channels.

Virgin Trains and the guys at Spike did the talking billboard which, no matter how often I see it, still gives me that envious, ‘why didn’t we think of that’ feeling!

http://www.spikeuk.com/vtposter.html

The next bit of outdoor magic comes from Australia and it’s a beauty. It’s a fantastically simple, fun and engaging way to get money out of people’s pockets (via their phone bills) and improve the lives of Sydney’s dogs and cats.

http://awards.dandad.org/2009/categories/mmkt/mobile-marketing/20776/throw-us-a-bone

The last one is a BIG IDEA. A whopper. And it’s a little more hardcore. In fact you might want to look at it first and then use the previous two to relax.

If you haven’t seen this before I won’t spoil the fun. Just hit the link below to Meet Wally’s Heart. And ask yourself, would it make me by the brand?

http://awards.dandad.org/2009/categories/intg/integrated/18822/meet-wallys-heart

Just A Little Bit Better ....

I did an interview in Starbucks this morning before work.

“Why Starbucks?” asked Janet when I arrived at work?

Her inferred point was right. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it at Costa or that blue place even though it’s a little closer to the tube.

So why Starbucks?

Of course there isn’t a single reason. They’re just ‘a little bit’ better in every aspect.

The chairs are a little more comfortable. The tables are a little further apart. The barristers are a little friendlier. Their sustainability initiatives are a little more interesting. Their loyalty cards are a little cooler. Their coffee is a little better. They are a little bit better at making a dry cappuccino. Their digital work is a little more engaging. And the whole experience just feels a little warmer.

Here’s to being that little bit better. It’s on the margins that brands win and lose.

Loyalty and Pigs

This post might be seen as a blatant plug for one of our client’s products but it genuinely didn’t start as that.

It started with an email this morning – 7.20am - which informed me I had accrued enough Flying Club miles for a free return trip to the US in the Upper Class cabin of Virgin Atlantic.

Now, for those who don’t know, Upper Class is V nice so I was naturally delighted … especially as this seemed to vindicate my decision around 18 months to pay for the black fee-based credit card that VAA had launched (double miles per £ spent) rather than the free white card.

So, given it was only this weekend that we decided we needed a holiday, I thought I would have a look at where to go (availability of reward seats permitting).

So off to Google - 7.25am – to look at the weather in the US only to find that the EU health minister has advised against non-essential travel to the US due to swine fever (a H1N1 strain of flu apparently) hitting 81 people out of a population of 109 million in Mexico.

An over reaction? Or a reason to head to Wales for a break instead?

Brand or Demand?

How should I spend my communications budget in the current economic climate? Do I continue to invest in brand building activities or slash the lot and spend every dollar I have on demand generating activities driving enquiries and sales? I’m paraphrasing of course but this is a question we have been asked to consider on a number of occasions in the last couple of months.  We’ve decided to conduct research to gather different evidence and opinions on the subject for the clients concerned, all of whom happen to be B2B brands. For them the question is actually simpler. They want to know whether they can justify advertising or if they would be better shifting budget into direct and digital channels.  Already I have heard from several commentators arguing that brand building in B2B markets is an ineffective use of budget. I guess those SAP, Accenture and Oracle ads I saw as I came through Heathrow a few weeks ago are all a waste of time and money then?  The same commentators see the B2B purchaser as a purely rational animal, buying and making recommendations to peers based on price, product and service features. I expect us to also challenge that. Isn’t there also a role for more emotionally led communications in B2B marketing?  Some areas we are exploring in the research include:  

• Understanding decision making networks and how to deliver an optimum mix of brand and selling messages
• If appealing on an emotional level to the target whilst giving them the rational arguments they need to appeal to their peers / boss is a valid approach
• Understanding the different stages of the buying process and when to deliver emotional vs. rational selling messages
• Understanding the role of different channels and how to use them to deliver emotional vs. rational selling messages
• Understanding the difference between reputation, relationship and brand

Will We Be Green in 2009?

I mentioned a month or so that we were looking into the relative importance of sustainability, CSR, green and the whole environmental debate for our clients. We were hearing in the media that 2009 will be all about thrift and as such our green consumer values will go out of the window. We wanted to see if this was true.

So with this in mind Gyro has just completed research with close to 2000 consumers and over 150 Marketing Leaders in 8 countries. The objective behind this 2 pronged research was to understand the above question and also to discover whether the people behind the brands fully appreciate the buying motivations of their customers.  The results show a considerable disparity between what brands are communicating and what their customers actually care about.

A selection of highlights includes:

• Marketing Directors significantly underestimated the role green issues can play in the purchase decision of consumers. Even in current economic times.
• People see themselves living increasingly green lives over the next 24 months.
• The UK significantly lags other major European countries in green attitudes.
• Around half of consumers do not trust the claims of green brand advertisers.
• People want to see evidence of companies’ progress in ‘green R&D’. They are not interested in hearing about car sharing schemes. This is about real technological efforts and breakthroughs.

We jointly hosted a roundtable with The Times this week to discuss the results. The Shadow Environment Minister and representatives from P&G, Coke, HP, Shell, BT, Adobe, Google, Nokia Siemens Networks and The Carbon Trust all contributed towards a really interesting debate.

Will We Keep Our Social Conscience in 2009?

This time last year I wasn’t changing nappies, I was in South Africa, rising at 5.00am each morning to go out on an open top 4x4 looking for lions and other hungry residents of Madwike game reserve.  

The animal highlight was the sight of a female leopard taking down an antelope, only for three hyenas to effectively mug her of her dinner minutes later. Away from the game, the other highlight was the hospitality of the local people who run a number of the lodges on the reserve.

Accommodation options include the Madwike Collection, a group of fabulous lodges that in most cases are ‘community owned’. http://www.madikwecollection.co.za/

This means they are run and operated by the local communities with private capital and expertise being used to get them up and running. After a period of ‘a few years’ the lodges are handed over to the communities which means that your tourist $$s have a better chance of going to the people who really need them.

I thought this was a pretty cool idea and it played a huge factor in our decision to stay there. It is also just one example of a fast emerging sector of the economy that I hope defies the current economic downturn.

So it seems that in these tougher times, people in the UK not only want to see vibrant businesses contributing to the economy, but they also want those businesses to consider the communities and the environment in which they operate.

If you had been to Madwike and seen the impact the venture is having there, you’d find it hard to disagree that there is even greater need in countries outside the UK.

Brands are for life. Not just the credit crunch.

 So should we spend our way out of it as Chancellor Darling (and John Maynard Keynes before him) seems to be advocating or should we batten down the hatches and come back when it is all over (as Pete next to me in the office is advocating)?  Personally I am not sure either route is preferable. For one I don’t have any hatches and for two I can’t help thinking that the ‘spend now, pay it back later’ approach was the thing that got us into this pickle in the first place?  Anyway, clearly I am no economist so I will bring the question back to a marketing theme and ask: What should brands do in a downturn?  It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are reigning in spend, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times. But how should brands behave during such times? What messages should they take to consumers?  Well hopefully Xtreme will have part of the answer. A recent email informed me that they have put together a report that ‘explores and analyses recessionary marketing communications tactics and strategies from around the world’. I thought this seemed like a nice idea so we have ordered a copy.  In addition to generating them a sale, the Xtreme email did another job. It prompted me to recall a rather jarring brand experience I had had courtesy of Orange a day or so earlier.  I had flicked through 5 or 6 pages of press doom and gloom – Mumbai, house prices, the pound against the dollar, more failing retailers and another round of job cuts – when I logged onto Orange broadband at home.  The message on the home page read “How bad will it get?” with the usual ‘expert’ telling me it could undoubtedly get worse. Now I am not sure I want to see Orange jump on the back of the credit crunch band wagon. I expect it of Tesco. I expect it of Asda. But I want Orange to tell me it’s all going to be OK. That things are rosier than we might think. That the future is bright for gawd’s sake!  So what does my own reaction tell me? It tells me that marketers and agencies need to think twice when the idea of a credit crunch campaign falls hits the flip-chart. Credit crunch busting offers and promotions might drive penetration in the near term but we must question what the effect will be on the brand in the long term.  Brands are precious. They are for life not just the credit crunch. Be careful out there.

The Art of Integration

Is Integration becoming a dirty word in agency land? We always keep an eye on the competition and one thing is certainly true, it has never been a more popular term to describe an agency’s offering!  So it may not offer much differentiation for agencies going forward, but more importantly what does it mean for clients? We recently spoke to around 60 international marketing directors to get their views.  Our research points to different client segments requiring very different engagement models. At the one end there are clients who value the full-service agency model. They are often resource constrained and work for businesses that perhaps don’t value the marketing function as much as they possibly could. They want the efficiencies an integrated agency can bring and the convenience of having ‘one throat to choke’!  At the other end of the scale are the more sophisticated marketing operations. These are brands with bigger budgets, more marketing resources and, more often than not, communications functions that are organized by discipline (or ‘silo’ if you are a true integrated believer!) They buy specialists – direct marketing agencies, digital agencies, advertising agencies, branding agencies and media agencies – and often build rosters of similar companies to drive competition and / or manage workload.  So one questions is, are these bigger clients uninterested in the idea of Integration?  We certainly think not. We see an increasing trend towards a requirement for more Integrated Planning, with agencies being thrown together to collaborate on initiatives. Whether this works and is effective against the original objectives always comes down to the agencies and individuals involved. The client can always help by ensuring there are clear areas of responsibility … especially when it comes to delivery of the plan! And the agencies can help (and make things easier for themselves) by cutting back on the number of people involved from each side!  We are certainly comfortable with both the above approaches as I am sure are many of our Integrated competitors. Our approach has always been rooted in Integrated Thinking rather than simply Integrated Deliver. It is not about being full-service or a one-stop shop.  It is about solving clients’ business problems and we are always happy to work with other like-minded agencies to achieve that goal.

Thrifty or Green?

So the economy is in a tad of trouble and all our concerns over the environment immediately go out of the window? That seems to be the basis of the countless 'thrifty consumers' articles I have read recently.

We weren't comfortable with that prognosis at Gyro (surely this will be about different segments? and why are the two mutually exclusive?) so decided to conduct a spot of research to see what the true situation was. We spoke to over 2,000 consumers and markers in the UK, Europe and the US and discovered that things aren't so black and white ... they seldom are.

We'll be publishing a report on the subject after Christmas but safe to say we have found some interesting differences in views ... especially between the consumer and the marketing professional!

Let me know if you would like a copy of the report.

Loyalty for Life

Getting The Best From Planning

I was asked today 'how can an agency get the best out of planning'? I obviously have my own views but I thought I would canvass the opinions of others so asked a couple of creative directors,  a few suits, a number of other planners I know and our new business director.

People had various views but it all came down to three or four key areas:

• Involve them early - easy if it is an account they are working on but sometimes is forgotten when a new opportunity walks in the door. I would concur with this and let's face it there is nothing worse than getting a brief second hand or so late that the Account Team can't go back with further questions.
  
• Give them time - finding that insight or inspiration for a new positioning or strategy requires research, understanding and thinking. I.e. It takes time.
  
• Let them focus - don't ask someone to be the voice of the customer; to understand the client's business, market and competition better than they do; to be the brand guardian within the agency ... and then ask them to do that across 10 brands!

The Honey Trap

I returned from a great, sunny week in Sardinia recently with 3 identical jars of local honey.

Nothing unusual in that - the Sardinian people are well known for their production of bitter sweet honey. The interesting thing was how we got them.

It seems that the hotels and agriturismos of Alghero and Olbia have discovered the combined power of honey and the internet in pulling in overseas visitors. Specifically www.tripadvisor.com where, in return for each delicious jar of honey, we were kindly asked to post our glowing reviews of each of the 3 places we stayed.

Three different places. Three identical jars of honey. Maybe the honey farmer is the real smart guy here.

Anyway, they got their reviews (and in this case they were all great) and I have got a couple of early Christmas presents. So all good.

And for the record, this was the best hotel of the 3 – Hotel Lucrezia near Oristano.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187884-d578775-Reviews-Hotel_Lucrezia-Oristano_Sardinia.html