Keira Knightley stars in a chilling advert to support Women’s Aid against domestic violence.
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For those of you who follow the series ‘Mad Men’, you may have heard about the twitter story around it where characters from the series appeared on Twitter. After having been closed down by the company AMC behind the series as they were not endorsed, they were then reinstated after the following outcry from fans.
The fans behind the twittering ‘Mad Men’ discuss in an article on CNet their experience and the lessons that can be learnt from it. Two interesting quotes from the article:
First, she [Carri Bugbee] said, producers should strive to reserve the Twitter accounts for all the characters in whatever show or film they’re making. “I can’t believe that any of us would have to say that,” Bugbee said, adding that for fans, “if you have a favorite TV show, you could probably go reserve (any character’s) name on Twitter” even now.
“Ross said there are further lessons producers and marketers need to draw from the “Mad Men” Twitter experience. Perhaps most important, she suggested, advertisers need to “stop siloing.” In other words, they need to understand that to get their message out, it is necessary to spread it across a wide variety of platforms”
Update: take a look at an interview of Carri Bugbee’s interview on Ad Age
P&G are getting good results on premium products (see article on Brandweek) but at the same time private labels are winning market share.
Is the Internet itself safe, with more and more internet users each day? Should the ‘deep internet’ be interconnected with all it’s hidden information ?
In a time of recession it is clear that gloomy ideas are more common and a very interesting article on nytimes.com discusses the difficulties of the current Internet system as we know it and love it. There are serious security issues with the way Internet enables attacks to be carried out via the Internet on systems, and even how whole sections of the Internet can be throttled through malicious attacks. Defenses or rather ways that it is being patched are referred to as a Maginot Line approach.
There are currently over a billion internet users since December 2008 according to comScore World Metrix. This survey in Canada (in French) shows how even though Internet is starting to dominate the media world, people are still far more likely to trust TV as a source of information than the Internet.
And even though you think that Google is giving you good results this article on the NY times explains that what is called the ‘Deep Internet’ is holding out on our friends at Google, or is it the other way round… Search engines only cover a small part of the Internet with numerous services and data that is not indexed. But this joins the initial paragraph in that it is probably better that way, since the information is often highly sensitive and should not be available to just anyone…
Articles are flowing about how big companies are cutting away at their budgets, if they are not cutting then they are renegotiating costs with their agencies, here and here…
The article on AdAge explains how companies are also taking a look at consolidating:
PepsiCo last week reported a 43% drop in fourth-quarter profits on write-downs and restructuring and a 9% drop in full-year profits. During Coca-Cola’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Feb. 12, CEO Muhtar Kent said the marketer has slashed its agency roster by more than half. “We have consolidated, ” he said. “Agency numbers have gone down by more than half, and I think we have driven a lot of efficiencies in our marketing, our market-research costs.”
The survey in the above emarketer article indicates cuts are increasing in the various marketing and advertising areas.
The survey also demonstrates it is not always about cuts in spending but also about reallocation of Ad spending. We are seeing during this time of recession that ROI and the ability to provide hard data about ROI is important. There is a distinct move of money from TV to Digital and big companies are putting their money behind the idea that there is a better return on investment in digital media.
Being more efficient with money that is available to spend on advertising is therefore very important. You see so many catch-up campaigns where companies are just trying to better their competitor without looking about being innovating and really thinking about what will allow them to provide interesting and hopefully even innovative services to their customers. There is great article from the creator of the subservient ‘chicken campaign‘, not really innovative or providing an interesting service but as memorable ads go this is right up there with the effective few.
But even though it is cold outside, paying attention to clients needs does pay off and companies that are doing a good job in this arena, like Google, are getting top scores.
“Since new customers are harder to come by in an economic downturn, firms need to pay even more attention to building loyalty with their most important customers,†wrote Bruce Temkin, author of Customer Experience Correlates to Loyalty.
Companies that have a good brand, that people will trust and who also advertise efficiently are highly likely to come out of this recession far better than the others…
Note: there is a new article on emarketer (20 March 09) concerning a Myers Publishing survey providing a new view on how ad spending will evolve.
Just came across a very interesting blog and article explaining that a recent study demonstrates beyond doubt that hospitals were employees systematically wash their hands decrease deaths due to infections. The article explains how “the current New England Journal of Medicine reports on a study conducted in Michigan hospitals” :
And it worked, big-time. “The results are pretty breathtaking,†Dr. Peter Pronovost, a Johns Hopkins researcher and the lead author of the study told the Baltimore Sun. “The numbers of infections went down quickly and they stayed down.â€
What a nice little video 
How to cheer people up, bringing a bit of happiness into their lives. Check out the switch from black and white, to colour…
Madonna in a track suit draped across Il Duomo in Milan courtesy of H&M !
© Red Label
When you have been instrumental in changing the way a fashion concious country like Italy views value for money clothes then making a statement in one of the fashion capitals of the world probably seems acceptable (IHT) :
Both H&M and Zara have found success in Italy by convincing the fashion- conscious masses that you can look good even if the label does not say Armani or Prada. And that was not an easy feat.
…
H&M has become a Swedish success story to rival Ikea. Founded in 1947 as Hennes – “hers” – in Swedish, the company acquired Mauritz Widforss, a men’s clothing store, in 1965 and added Mauritz to its name soon after.
The Madonna advert is riding on a wave of a change in Italy. Many talk about the Euro and the way it has given people the distinct impression that prices have gone up far more than salaries across Europe. These types of feelings have undeniably helped fashionistas see the price versus value proposition from H&M and friends :
For more than a month the fashion conscious masses in this city flowed by the cathedral and peered up at Madonna in her track suit, and all indications are that it has become socially acceptable for the fashionistas to shop at H&M, at least some of the time.
And hopefully the proceeds of H&M’s advertising event will help speed up the renovation of Milan’s Il Duomo !
It seems that Lyle’s Golden Syrup has acquired the status of brand stardom since the Guiness Book of Records has officially recognized it as as Britain’s oldest brand !
Should you have suddenly acquired a craving for golden syrup just looking at the tin, then you’ll be happy to know that you can purchase some through Amazon.
As an article in the Daily Mail explains :
The Lyle’s story began in 1883, when Scottish businessman Abram Lyle built a sugar refinery in London.
A by-product of sugar was a treacly syrup, but it was canny Lyle who discovered it could make a tasty spread.
This syrup was poured into wooden casks and sold to his workers and local customers.
Word spread fast and, in a few short months, a tonne a week was being sold.
Wooden casks soon gave way to large Lyle’s Golden Syrup dispensers being displayed on store shelves.
Lyle’s Golden Syrup was first poured into tins in 1885.
Now nearly 1 million tins leave the Plaistow Wharf factory in East London each month.
The washingtonpost describes the current despair that can be felt in the US from many technology companies and research institutions who really need to hire skilled workers and were hoping that this year would see new legislation pass through Congress to allow US companies to employ talented people from aboard.
Some feel that the bill that has been put forward, tried to change too much :
“It is incredibly difficult to pass major legislative reforms in any areas, and they tried to bite off a lot,” said Jenifer Verdery, a policy director for Intel Corp., which has lobbied for more skilled foreign workers. “We’ve made a strong case, and we’re hoping to take that to the finish line . . . if there is any policymaking left to do after the election.”
But the current situation is getting unbearable for many specialised companies in the US :
Jai Pathak cited the Hungarian roots of Intel Corp. co-founder Andrew S. Grove, whose work helped create the modern computer industry that employs millions of Americans.
“What would have happened if the United States had decided to close the doors on him?” Pathak said
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