Friday, May 22, 2009

This isn’t just any u-turn – this is a Marks and Spencer u-turn…


The ongoing Marks and Spencer ‘bra debate’ of recent weeks has ensured that the marketing and PR teams behind ‘Britain’s most trusted retailer’ have certainly had their hands full. The protests have come in all shapes and sizes (well, above DD) from outraged female consumers, forcing an extremely public u-turn. However, this isn’t always a PR nightmare if handled as well as M&S have…

If you’re not currently au fait with events in the world of women’s brassiere retailing, this should fill you in… Marks and Spencer recently announced it they would be raising the cost of its larger bras (defined in this instance as DD or above) by £2 to accommodate the increased amount of materials used in the production process – logical, surely? Nope.

Marks and Spencer were immediately harangued by well-endowed women claiming that this amounted to discrimination – the more radical contingent even went so far as to form a group entitled ‘Busts 4 Justice’ – original. M&S clearly had a PR disaster on its hands, and in a time when the retail sector is fighting for every penny, negative press is to be avoided just as much as a quick sojourn to a Mexican pig farm.

However, the response devised by the company’s top brass (should that be top bras?) and marketing wizards needs to be commended, as near disaster has been cleverly averted. Whilst the directors have waived this £2 surcharge to appease the busty brand bashers, the marketing bods have delivered a piece of marketing gold that could well have saved the company’s egg-covered face.

The ATL campaign that has been implemented in the press, on outdoor billboards and online shows a close-up of a lady’s bra-clad chest with the simple caption ‘We Boobed’. There’s no doubt that this advert will be responsible for a few car accidents where it appears on motorway billboards, but its impact extends further than affecting frustrated male drivers. By admitting its mistake and being honest with its customers, Marks and Spencer has shown that its marketing strategy is one of the bust…

This isn’t just any u-turn – this is a Marks and Spencer u-turn.

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News in Brief with the Gapster Chief


A sideways glance at the latest shenanigans of the marketing world…

Pity poor old Proctor and Gamble this week, hit with a £100m tax bill after losing their claim that their Pringles brand ‘isn’t a crisp’. Isn’t a crisp? For goodness sake, if you’re going to try and fiddle finances, at least consult an expert – British MPs have a number of cracking tips…

Pot Noodle is investing heavily in its new Doner Kebab flavour. Fantastic TV ads (even if they do completely plagiarise ‘Flight of the Conchords), but combining two of the most famously un-nutritional things to eat? How can this possibly be a viable commercial strategy? Oh of course, the student market!

M&S has been voted the UK’s most trusted retailer according to a recent YouGov poll. Hard to see how trust is gained when advertising ties and cufflinks for 1p and then leaving thousands of gullible shoppers left with a can of pop and a few sweets, but hey.

“Sorry seems to be the hardest word”, sang Elton John, although he obviously didn’t consider marketing strategists when penning this famous line. First the Evening Standard runs its ‘Sorry’ campaign, now Sunny D is apologising for its previous use of artificial flavours – what next? McDonalds to apologise for making kids fat?

Stagecoach and the Government are teaming up to target customers with advice on relationships and sex in a campaign entitled ‘R U Thinking’. Nice use of ‘txt spk’ there and of course what better place to target randy teenagers than the back of a bus?

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Putting Lipstick on a Pig...


You have to feel sorry for anyone working in Government PR or communications at the moment. To quote the most successful African-American President of all time, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig…”

Whilst the pig in question currently comes in swine-flu flavour (don’t share that lipstick ladies), PR professionals are also trying to limit the damage caused by the greedy pigs in Parliament. A shocking month of revelations has shown that near enough an entire cabinet of British MPs have had their manicured trotters swilling around in the public’s financial trough for quite some time.

Sure, the entire nation has just cause to feel cheated and dis’grunt’led, but perhaps those in the marketing, PR and communications industry have even more reason to. Not only do they envy the fact that most claims on MPs’ ‘second homes’ (wink, wink) dwarf their marketing budgets for the next 10 years, but they’re also the ones that have to dig the Government out of this bloody mess.

Sure, Government PR, comms and marketing pros are used to producing more spin than a cricket test match, but the public outrage at ‘expense-gate’ is fast becoming more talked-about than Susan Boyle – topical indeed. Have Government PR whips really reached a point where they’d welcome back Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell and the less contentious issue of WMDs?

Facetiousness aside, Gordon Brown may not have to succumb to a snap election just yet, as once again, the PR industry is here to save the day! Apparently, the Government is drafting in a specialist communications team that specialises in dodgy old men famed for screwing people left, right and centre. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the marketing boys from Amsterdam’s Red Light District…

(The Gapster received no payment from the Government for writing this article)

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

News in Brief with the Gapster Chief


A sideways glance at the latest shenanigans of the marketing world…

The M&S bra debate rumbles on, as the retailer issues an apology for overcharging on its DD cup bras. I guess they really have had a large handful of complaints…

Coors Brewers is trialling Carling-branded mobile communications to tempt customers into pubs. What with swine flu, a battered economy and rising unemployment, I’d imagine that the majority of customers don’t actually need encouragement to drown their sorrows…

Eat Natural is apparently launching a bar that tastes like a Bakewell Tart. Because obviously, nothing tastes as ‘natural’ as a calorific, sugar-rich baked cake.

The National Trust has launched a campaign entitled ‘Food Glorious Food’, which encourages the children of Britain to grow and eat their food. Initial enthusiasm will doubtless be dampened when the ‘yoofs’ realise that chicken nuggets and Big Macs don’t actually grow on trees.

The powers in charge of England’s 2018 World Cup bid want to launch an emotive video highlighting England’s rich football heritage. Expect topless, lager-swilling, tattooed louts flinging plastic garden chairs at each other, artistically accompanied by ‘Ness’un Dorma’ then.

The Intercontinental Hotel Groups is launching an experiential campaign encouraging thousands of people to jump up and down on its beds simultaneously. I guess jumping into bed with thousands of people really does progress your position in the market.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

News in Brief with the Gapster Chief


A sideways glance at the latest shenanigans of the marketing world…

Aviva stakeholders are criticising the brand’s £80m celebrity ad campaign featuring Bruce Willis. Apparently, employing over-paid, middle-aged men does not guarantee an ROI for the business, but enough about the board, Bruce Willis rules!

Innocent has announced that it won’t be running its quintessentially English summer fete this year. Rumours that it’ll be running a Coke sponsored ‘chop down a rainforest tree’ day are unconfirmed at the current time…

Marks and Spencer are performing a spectacular u-turn and charging £2 less for their bigger size bras. A brave commercial decision if they don’t go bust as a result…

WKD is planning to launch into the cider market with its ‘Core’ brand. Why not just give up the Alco-pop aegis altogether and re-brand as the mouthwash it is?

NCP is pumping the smell of fresh linen into its stairwells in an attempt to mask less desirable odours. Surely providing toilet facilities would be a more effective solution to car parkers relieving themselves in stairwells…

Starbucks is offering a new loyalty card (with plenty of ‘perks’) to tempt coffee drinkers back into its stores. Call me cynical, but offering customers change from a fiver would surely be a better incentive…

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Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Viral Virals & Swine Flu Marketing...

The recent hype surrounding the outbreak of swine flu highlights two very different forms of marketing. On the one hand, consumers are being bombarded with topical adverts as brands jump on the bubonic bacon bandwagon, whilst office in-boxes around the world are now contagious with spoof swine flu emails – the viral goes viral…

So which of these is actually more effective as a form of mass communication? It’s no secret that the key to successful marketing lies in being both topical and relevant. Kleenex are currently advertising their ‘anti-viral’ tissues (a product that’s not to be sneezed at), whilst Dettol’s website lists disinfecting surfaces as a ‘golden hygiene rule’ in the fight against swine flu – juxtaposed against some beautiful pictures of its product range…

Compassionate or commercial (who am I to question the integrity of a corporation’s altruistic intentions), one thing remains clear – some brands have sensibly jumped on the bandwagon, just as they did when Obama came to power or when the ‘credit crunch’ kicked in etc. Standard ATL advertising thrives on its relevance, but is it actually viral marketing that is more infectious these days?

Within a few days of swine flu fever hitting the media, the Stig’s inbox has been hit by a deluge of emails containing amended Piglet cartoons, Photoshopped images of Lemsip and Porky the Pig and countless other emails that I’d rather not disclose in public (the boss reads this blog after all). I shall, of course, be forwarding these emails to friends and colleagues, which begs the question - is viral marketing now a much more effective method to reach mass audiences?

As fleeting as they are, virals are actively interacted with. You only have to look at recent cultish phenomenons such as ‘Thumbman’ and Compare the Market’s Alexandr the meerkat (who has more Twitter followers than Boris Johnson and Hillary Clinton) to see that consumers are becoming more and more online savvy – handy, considering everyone’s marketing budgets can no longer afford print.

Whilst we hope that the viral swine flue epidemic is eradicated quickly, perhaps the marketing community should choose this moment to usher in a new era of virals in its place. For marketing messages that permeate mass audiences and encourage widespread engagement, surely viral communications are now the method that will bring home the bacon when it comes to brand awareness.

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