Think Out Loud is a blog brought to you by the team at ThinkTank - a catalytic consultancy specialising in strategic marketing, branding and innovation based in Cork, Ireland.
It is certainly refreshing in the Cork advertising space to see the broadsheet Irish Examiner making a bold move with the development of their hard hitting and thought provoking billboard and print ad campaign.
Developed by Dublin based Chemistry advertising the campaign promotes the Examiner’s “Special Investigations” supplement that tackles several of Ireland’s socially taboo subjects -including alcoholism, mental illness, clerical abuse, human trafficking, suicide and pornography.
Hello. My name is Anna and I am a Millennial. I am part of the largest generation yet to exist. We populate Facebook and YouTube. We are social and always connected. We are armed with laptops, iPods and smart phones. We are Generation Y, or indeed Generation Y Not.
The Millennials are the “wired” generation and we don’t know how to be any other way. We’re a new breed of consumers and unfortunately most businesses are not prepared for us. Businesses need to get to know the Millennials if they want to be relevant and successful in the future. Our global annual spending power exceeds $250 billion and we also influence another $50 million in purchases. Our generation has bigger potential purchasing power than the Baby Boomers and is set to supplant them as the most powerful economic force on planet earth.
Soccer’s governing body FIFA recently saw red, but mostly orange – during the Holland Vs Denmark game at the Soccer World Cup in South Africa.
Thirty-six blondes, wearing orange mini skirts gate crashed the game at Soccer City in Johannesburg causing a major brouhaha. The offense wasn’t so much a fashion faux pas but a carefully orchestrated ambush marketing attack by Dutch brewer Bavaria, against its bigger rival Budweiser. The spectacle created a frenzy as photographs and video footage went viral as the story was picked up on social media networks and newspapers around the world.
The reaction of FIFA was swift and ruthless. The authorities immediately evicted the women from the stadium and two were arrested on charges of organising “unlawful commercial activities”. Under pressure from FIFA, South Africa passed laws in the run-up to the World Cup that made ambush marketing a criminal offence. The women face charges of contravening the Merchandise Marks Act (unauthorised use of trade mark at a protected event), and some sections of the Special Measures Regulations Act (entry into designated area while in possession of prohibited commercial object).
Let’s say you’re at a networking event and someone steps in the elevator with you, notices your nametag, and asks, “So what do you guys do?” Quick–what’s your answer? You’ve got just 30 seconds before the doors open so you’d better think fast.
In many ways an Elevator Pitch is shorthand for what your brand stands for. It’s your one-shot opportunity to be different and present yourself in a compelling and memorable way. For most business owners, getting to the crux of what you really do is the hardest, yet potentially most rewarding, one-minute conversation you could ever have.
Strong brands have once again proven their resilience in the recession in Millard Brown’s 5th annual ranking of the world’s top 100 brands. At a time when most key financial indicators plummeted, the value of the top 100 brands rose by 4% in the last year to more than $2 trillion – a 40% increase over the last 5 years. In the wake of the recession, more brands have realized that they need to maintain and even increase their marketing spend to support brand loyalty and engagement. As Millard Brown Optimor’s Research Unit comments:
“Strong brands have the power to create business value. They impact much more than revenues and profit margins. Strong brands create competitive advantages by commanding a price premium and decrease the cost of entry into new markets and categories. They reduce business risk and help attract and retain talented staff.”
South Africa’s low cost airline and equivalent to Ryanair Kulula.com, has been called off sides by FIFA for its recent guerrilla marketing ads.
“A multimedia campaign by the fun loving airline brand featured advertisements with the headline, the Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What, showing stylized pictures depicting the Cape Town stadium, soccer balls, vuvuzelas and a soccer player has been withdrawn following a letter from FIFA threatening the airline with damages.”
The offending advertisement (see above) was part of a campaign to communicate to passengers that it was not charging higher ticket prices during the World Cup. The South African public and local media have been very vocal about high prices from airlines and hotels in the run up to the soccer which kicks off in June this year.
Kulula has a reputation for irreverent, tongue-in-cheek marketing campaigns and the brilliant creative concept and headline “The Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What” has certainly unleashed a media firestorm as well as terrific local and international awareness for this upstart challenger brand. The response to the campaign has gathered momentum with people discussing the advertisement and FIFA’S actions on Facebook and Twitter, and the issue has also been picked up by the national media as well as BBC News.
FIFA says the ad campaign breaks the law with “ambush marketing” by, “Seeking to gain a promotional benefit for the Kulula brand by creating an unauthorized association with the 2010 FIFA World Cup.” Like the IOC, FIFA is known to come down hard on any brand making even the slightest unofficial reference to their event.
The campaign, which is drawing an increasing following on the Internet, also challenged other carriers to keep their fares low during the World Cup. Kulula.com, for its part, broke the news to the country via Twitter, “Oh dear, letter from Fifa’s lawyers says we broke their trademark of the use of ‘South Africa’.
Kulula.com was not only told they could not mention the World Cup, but they also could not use the country’s flag or even pictures of the country’s new stadiums in their ad. They also could not use images of a “vuvuzela,” a traditional South African horn that has been used by rowdy fans at soccer games in the country for decades.
Although Kulula.com has stopped running the ad, a spokesperson for the airline said that another tactical ad is being designed, so we’ll need to watch this space! Whatever happens the online outrage it has provoked in South Africa toward FIFA, who seem to have trademarked everything South African, will probably earn this little airline some big marketing points in the run up to the World Cup Soccer.
Paddy Power has been forced to pull its latest ad on TV after regulators feared it could cause widespread offence.
The spot, the third in a series of three ads created by the bookmaker’s new ad agency Big Al’s Creative Emporium, features four wheelchair-bound actors “doing a runner” on their bill from the ‘Star of Bombay’ curry house.
After the restaurant’s owner gives up on chasing them, a brand spokesman consoles him by explaining that while Paddy Power can’t get him his customers back, it can in some cases help get him his money back, thanks to its new Money-Back specials initiative, which gives customers the opportunity to have their stake, refunded even if their bet didn’t come through.
What do you think about the TV ad? Does it cause offense, and should it have been pulled. Either way the ad, which has been launched to coincide with next week’s Cheltenham Festival, will certainly create a buzz online and generate great PR for the Paddy Power brand.
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