It’s surprising just how much an interest and knowledge in marketing can affect how you view a brand. As my interest has deepened in this field, I’m quite literally finding myself viewing the world from a marketing perspective. This is something that I presume is good practise if I want to become a successful marketer; becoming critical (whether positively or negatively) of the marketing strategies that brands use. I quite regularly find myself commenting on the packaging of a clothing product I received through the post (yes, that happens a lot - oops!), discounts and personalised offers I have been awarded from supermarkets as well as commenting on the more obvious TV commercials, billboards and social media coverage that cause such a buzz for brands. In my opinion, this all contributes to the extent to which a brand is trying its best to keep me as a loyal customer, keeping me on my toes so that campaigns are constantly keeping me interested and up to date with the brand. This year has consequently been a great year for brand advertisements and brands have often been successful in generating lots of buzz and news coverage around their new marketing ideas (whether good of bad – any publicity is good publicity as they say... A conversation for another time perhaps)?
Here are a few of my favourite marketing campaigns of 2013, as well as some more opinions that you will find interesting from the committee and other professionals that I/we have worked with during the year…
Here are a few of my favourite marketing campaigns of 2013, as well as some more opinions that you will find interesting from the committee and other professionals that I/we have worked with during the year…
Marmite – ‘End Marmite Neglect’
For someone who absolutely in no way can even stand the smell of Marmite let alone the taste of it (bleughhhhh), I have to admit it is one of my favourite brands. I even put the advert on the marketing societies sign up information page! Unlike other brands, I think Marmite took risks when executing this campaign. A little bit of black humor and controversy caught my attention and definitely made me look up from the sofa to see what the hell was going on with the missing Marmite in this almost sinister advert. However – did my favourite campaign of 2013 actually affect sales for the Unilever brand? Although the campaign made this FMCG a talked about product in the isles of Tesco’s – did the ‘love it or hate it’ product actually benefit from a sales boost? I doubt it…
Brew Dog
For those of you who love your pretentious beer (I do!), you will be no stranger to this Scottish brand. Not only are there Brew Dog bars dotted around the country exclusively selling the product (including Bristol – yay!) you can now also buy these yummy beers in the likes of Waitrose as well as other pubs and bars trying to make themselves stand out from the standard Carlsberg products. The reason I have loved this Brew Dog's brand execution this year is again, because the brand is controversial and takes risks, gaining itself metres of media coverage. The packaging and wording is unlike any brand and their well known slogan and marketing campaign, ‘Equity for Punks’ is a great way of crowd funding the brand. In my opinion the campaign is a great example of content marketing by getting this ‘community’ involved in their online campaigns; ultimately gaining the right attention. “We are determined to change the world of beer, and we want you to change it with us…” is a sentence used to get consumers to own part of the company, getting them to join the Brew Dog team – a great promotional and eye catching tool.
Harvey Nichols Christmas Campaign - 'Sorry, I spent it on myself'
In all honesty I'm not really a fan of Christmas adverts (controversial); however this one definitely caught my attention - witty and humorous, I think the department store did everything right - rather than focusing on buying presents for others, they turned the tables around understanding their consumer. Caused a great buzz on social media sites and YouTube . They actually want you to spend less on others and more on your self! Selfish but I like it and think this advert is great!
In all honesty I'm not really a fan of Christmas adverts (controversial); however this one definitely caught my attention - witty and humorous, I think the department store did everything right - rather than focusing on buying presents for others, they turned the tables around understanding their consumer. Caused a great buzz on social media sites and YouTube . They actually want you to spend less on others and more on your self! Selfish but I like it and think this advert is great!
Three - The Pony
Just because...
Just because...
"I thought that the Burberry Brit Rhythm campaign was brilliant. They introduced a new fragrance, a whole campaign around it, offered to send anybody free samples in the mail and customers were highly involved through social media and a contest. This way they got a lot of attention and went beyond "just" selling a new perfume."
Daniel Enderle – Events Officer, UWE Marketing Society
''The John Lewis advert! - always brilliant, increases sales, evokes emotion and creates buzz. It’s always talked and raved about; the single also sells well! ''
Sam Clark – Treasurer, UWE Marketing Society
Daniel Enderle – Events Officer, UWE Marketing Society
''The John Lewis advert! - always brilliant, increases sales, evokes emotion and creates buzz. It’s always talked and raved about; the single also sells well! ''
Sam Clark – Treasurer, UWE Marketing Society
John found the hype around the John Lewis advert equally interesting - "I heard the John Lewis one being defended on the radio last night – it cost £1m to make and £6m to buy media and this was deemed proportionate to the importance of the xmas shopping season. The relevance was promoted with the sentiment that during tight times – do at least make sure presents you buy are considered and useful to the recipient – an alarm clock so you don’t miss Christmas day...."
John seems to have a soft spot for the Christmas adverts as one of his favourite campaigns was this one by WestJet...
John seems to have a soft spot for the Christmas adverts as one of his favourite campaigns was this one by WestJet...
Sticking to the Christmas theme and ''maybe more of a b2b show off" rather than a full on campaign, John finds this interesting and creative idea from brand training company Quietroom something worth talking about...
http://www.quietroom.co.uk/santa_brandbook/one
John Argent – Managing Director – Studio 6 , Bristol
http://www.quietroom.co.uk/santa_brandbook/one
John Argent – Managing Director – Studio 6 , Bristol
''I thought the best campaign was coke. Really good personalisation and they did a lot of activity using smart phones which was clever. I believe it drove sales up 4% - no small achievement considering the maturity of the brand/ category.''
Michelle Chiffers - Senior Brand Retail Manager - Nationwide
Michelle Chiffers - Senior Brand Retail Manager - Nationwide
''I have judged the DMA Awards for the past 3 years, this year I judged the best customer acquisition campaign and absolutely loved the winning campaign! '' http://www.dmaawards.org.uk/2013-gold-best-customer-aquisition-campaign Luan Wise – Chartered and Freelance Marketer “Favourite Ad campaign-Simples!” Christine Boswell-Munday - Network Manager, The Chartered Institute of Marketing South West Region | ''I loved two Guinness commercials in 2013. Their 'Surge' advert shows amazing craft and it’s a thing of beauty. But as a bloke my favourite for wanting to get down the pub and drink some (I still think adverts should sell) is the Basketball Ad - no explanation required. Nothing to do with political correctness, everything to do with the value of your mates'' Frank Hutton – Career Coach at Hutton&Co |
Lastly, an interesting viewpoint from Sara - well, we have to keep things interesting don't we! ....
'' I find it so hard to identify good campaigns now as well, I can't say there's one that stands out to me as I think most of the best marketing is more sophisticated than stand alone ad campaigns now - it's one of the reasons I left advertising. I wonder if tight budgets mean that modern clients are taking fewer risks and opting for less creative options…''
Sara Bird - Senior Lecturer at University of the West of England
What do you think of these adverts? What's your most memorable ad campaign of the year?
Written by Amelia Sneezum
'' I find it so hard to identify good campaigns now as well, I can't say there's one that stands out to me as I think most of the best marketing is more sophisticated than stand alone ad campaigns now - it's one of the reasons I left advertising. I wonder if tight budgets mean that modern clients are taking fewer risks and opting for less creative options…''
Sara Bird - Senior Lecturer at University of the West of England
What do you think of these adverts? What's your most memorable ad campaign of the year?
Written by Amelia Sneezum