I’m surprising myself by liking an ad with no copy at all. But everything is so simply stated in the picture: if you want your men to get along swimmingly, you know what to serve. Typically in the 50′s, you’d see a line pretty similar to that plastered across the illustration. But the lack of copy actually elevates the feel of the brand here. Bravo Ballantine!
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=4080
Slowly but steadily, Corona Light has been packing up its beach bag and moving into the city; leaving Corona Extra to be the on-the-beach go-to. It started back in the summer of 2010, with a Corona Light TV spot that focused not on a hot, sunny, quiet beach, but an evening party scene on a sandy island.
Then in 2011, Corona Light got completely out of the sandbox and moved to the rooftops of LA. The setting of this spot, though, is poolside and still has a summer vibe.
This year, Corona Light has returned from vacation to the bar scene of a town near you. This new campaign pits Corona Light directly against “brown bottle beer,” urging consumers to break out of the monotony of day-to-day life and trade your go-to Light for “A Refreshing Change of Beer.”
Save for a little sunshine at the very end of the spot, this Corona Light commercial completely changes the positioning of the brand. No longer only for long beach days or summer night barbecues, Corona Light is now the beer that turns any ordinary day into a good time. Targeting the young, working male (who may just be transitioning from college life to the real world) through springtime playoff games and on ESPN, I think it’s fine to let Corona Extra hold down the umbrella on the beach. Move over Bud Light, I think tonight I’ll be ordering a Corona Light at my local haunt.
What do you think about this iconic Corona brand completely changing its image?
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=3991
The task of coming up with new promotions and marketing efforts can be a lot of fun. But when it comes down to it, the goal is to initiate programs that will ultimately be successful, whether that means gaining new customers or making more money.
If you’re on the hunt for your brand’s next big thing and are having trouble brainstorming realistic initiatives, hitch a ride on the old time machine and take a look at what has worked in the past. It’s a tactic brands like Macy’s are currently diving into, and I have a feeling they’re going to be pretty successful.
Retro is undeniably hot. From fashion to interior design to music, people are attracted to the idea of being in touch with the past. It’s not only the emotional connection, but the visual style. There’s something magical about viewing history through type-faces, textures, sounds, and color-schemes.
Of course, retro isn’t for everyone. You need to make sure a retro campaign is strategically aligned with your goals. And if you’re brand has a questionable past, you may want to put it behind you and focus on moving forward instead.
But if a true retro campaign is inline with your game plan, don’t just mimick the designs and visual elements used in the past; consider bringing old products back to life, with retro lines or using an old advertising approach that your competitors might not be considering right now.
A spirited, old school campaign might lend itself to exciting press opportunities, product launches (or re-launches) and other themed events, that are more than just mini sandwiches and cocktails.
Have some fun with your next marketing endeavor and look to the past for success in the future. And while you’re at it, make note of those not-so-successful moments, to avoid making the same mistakes twice. If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look at our Retro Ad of the Week series.
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=4033
I came across the ad below in the new issue of Wired magazine and was immediately intrigued. I spend the majority of my day happily immersed in Adobe products so I was interested to find out more.
Going to the call to action url from the ad took me to a landing page that is pushing Adobe’s Digital Marketing Suite, which Social is a part of. The video here gives a brief overview of the program stating that the key parts to Adobe Social are monitoring and measuring your brand’s presence across multiple social platforms (specifically, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+). From the overview video, the tools seem great. They gather your most active users from across all platforms and put them into an influencers list. And they track the most popular terms from users’ comments and show which of your posts and tweets are actually generating click-throughs and actual sales.
Digging a little deeper I found this article on Mashable. It looks like this past March Adobe combined its own internal efforts on its program SocialAnalytics with the purchase of the company Efficient Frontier, a company known for its work in buying and selling Facebook Ad space. The same article also reviews Google’s new foray into the social analytics space – Social Value – a free but less robust option.
That all sounds great. But the big question is: how do I sign up?
There is a distinct lack of information on how to purchase or sign up for the digital suite. I read the ad, I viewed the information on their landing page and even dug deeper into their full site. But nowhere can I find a “buy now” button or even a price structure for the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite! On every page I am directed to contact a sales representative by contact form or by phone. I guess I’ll follow up with more for you when they get back to me. Tick tock…
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=4004
About a year ago I wrote a post about why ads are like foreplay. They are, in essence, the part of marketing that builds your desire for a product or a brand.
Social media, however, is an entirely different animal.
It takes work. Hard work. You’ve not only jumped into bed with your consumer, you’ve convinced them to stick around and be a part of your life. Now you’ve got to keep them around.
You may think that’s easy, but many brands are being walked out on. According to a survey by Revelation Research, about a third of all consumers break it off with a brand after they like, follow, or subscribe to their social media outlets. And often with good reason.
Here’s how you can avoid getting dumped by loyal customers:
Stick with these four rules, and you’ll have brand love that lasts forever.
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=3973
No one said that your job in marketing was going to be easy. But perhaps no one bothered to mention it was going to be so damn hard!
As almost any Marketing Professional will testify, it is the most thankless job in an organization. They get blamed for everything from sluggish sales to missed deadlines. They work like dogs, behind the scenes, putting in long hours that never really end. The dozens of individual tasks that must come together perfectly to produce a successful marketing campaign constantly swirl around in the brain of every good Marketing Professional, day and night, Monday through Sunday, with no time off for holidays.
If you are a Marketing Professional then you are well versed in the concept of Restless Mind Syndrome. To read about yourself, spend some time here.
According to the experts, only 3% of the population has RMS. I believe that figure is entirely composed of Marketing Professionals. They lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, racking their overtaxed brains to remember if the printer was sent the last-minute client changes and whether someone (anyone!) signed off on the new proofs before the presses starting rolling on the run of 300,000 inserts being tipped into the weekend newspaper. Or wondering if the avalanche of hate mail that the new social media campaign unexpectedly generated yesterday will get them called into the CEO’s office in the morning.
Then there is the issue of job security. An annual survey conducted by executive-search firm SpencerStuart has shown that the tenure for CMOs at the top-100 consumer-branded companies has averaged a scant 23 months. (By contrast, CEOs hang on to their jobs for 54 months.) Some sector averages are particularly grim: If you’re in telecommunications, you’re looking at 15 months; in the food industry, you’ve got about a year.
Something else to think about when the lights go out.
Speaking of the lights going out, all of this got me to thinking: Do Marketing Directors die young? I’m not a doctor, but I have to think there is some truth to this. Going through life trying to see the future while constantly being judged by what you did yesterday MUST have an adverse effect on one’s life expectancy. I’d like to believe that the interaction with your partners at your ad agency is a pleasant respite from a crushing workload, but that is probably overly optimistic. It’s highly likely that we contribute significantly to the angst.
It’s a good thing the pay is good. You’ll need about $15,000 for a decent funeral.
But at least you won’t be awake to worry about it!
In the meantime, you can at least be sure there’s one person on earth who appreciates what you’re going through. Keep up the good work.
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=3958
“Over the boating horizon comes the 1930 Chris-Craft fleet, sweeping before it all the previous conceptions of water motoring luxury.” A perfect opener for an ad in The Literary Digest.
FUN FACT: Notable Chris-Craft boat owners in the past have included Henry Ford, William Randolph Hurst, Katharine Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley.
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=3848
Can you say this about your logo? Well that is what the new Brooklyn Nets basketball team is saying. Co-owner Jay-Z was apparently the creative director on this project (although after doing a quick search online it looks like it was created by designer Timmothy Morris, who has done lots of work for Jay-Z and his other brands). At a press conference earlier this week the Nets announced their official move to Brooklyn and revealed their new logo family and merchandise line. Below you can see their new logo and I must say, aside from some personal issues with how the word “NETS” interacts with the shield, I like the logo and applaud their overall move to a black and white color scheme.
In the extremely flashy and colorful world of professional sports branding, especially in the NBA, it is easy for a designer to get caught up in 3-D shapes, loud colors and bold display fonts. This family of logos and their new merchandise will stand out for its subtlety. The new brand also does a good job of fitting into the New York retro looking hipster design scene of the moment. If you look below you can also see the family of logos and a couple of the new shirts for the merchandise line. The line of shirts (all of which are on the Nets Webstore) continue to push the retro modern feel of the logo and continue to shape an overall new feel for the team.
My one word of caution for the team would be to lose or begin to downplay their secondary “B” in the circle logo. At a quick glance I see this as the Boston Bruins logo and even more so when it is placed on their hats, as it appears in this press event pic.
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=3941
It took me a while to locate it on the shelf this time — the package had been redesigned.
When I realized it was the same product, I was hesitant to get it, essentially because I didn’t like the new packaging. Not that the old packaging was so great, but when I bought it the first time, it seemed like a product you might find in a specialty shop instead of in the grocery store. And while the new logo was an improvement (and easier to read), the rest of the label seemed more pedestrian than French soap should feel.
I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I almost didn’t buy it. I wanted that French soap feeling (hold the Frenchman jokes, please).
It may seem crazy, but that my friend, is the power of package design. I experienced the same kind of disappointment with Stash Tea when they changed their awesome package design to be more like every other herbal tea in the market.
I’m interested in knowing which of the South of France bottles/labels above other people like better. What do you think? Are there other brands whose package redesigns leave you unimpressed? Any that you’ve had a positive reaction to?
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=3911
This ad was released at the height of Gucci’s problem era – a period of family in-fighting and financial trouble that was documented in the tell-all book, Gucci Wars. The sleek gold (plated) watches with black leather bands rest on a bed of black framing nails to show the quality of the watch. It’s a concept that would work really well if there was any truth behind it – if these watches actually lived up to the brand quality standards as they were before the brand had been run into the ground (or today, after its recovery).
FUN FACT: The interlocking G’s found in the iconic Gucci logo represent the initials of House of Gucci founder Guccio Gucci.
http://mascola.com/insights/?p=3892
