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By Synergy on February 18th, 2009

Tags: Press Clipping

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Following on from Lisa’s blog about The Barbie Experience, the goddess known as Barbie made her catwalk debut at New York Fashion Week last Saturday in celebration of her 50th birthday next month.

51 models strutted their stuff wearing outfits designed by a host of big names including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan and Diane Von Furstenberg, some of which were more successful than others!  I think even Barbie would be hard pushed to get away with Patricia Field’s creation of a one-legged black and silver jumpsuit which didn’t leave much to Ken’s imagination.

But what of Ken?  Well, he was certainly not forgotten and also got his 30 seconds of catwalk glory as he strolled down the runway in a black velvet jacket with jeans.

The Barbie extravaganza now moves to London Fashion Week which opens on Friday where no doubt Mattel, makers of Barbie, will be hoping that her new career in modelling will make her cool again.

By Emma Vanspall on February 18th, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Fashion, Public relations, Synergy

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Paul Daniels and wife Debbie McGee have recreated the famous Posh and Becks Emporio Armani underwear adverts for Closer Magazine’s Valentine’s edition.

Daniels is adorned in tattoos and wearing a saggy pair of briefs whilst his wife, and magical assistant, does a fairly good impression of the Posh pout.

The couple came up with the idea for the shoot as a response to unflattering photographs of McGee in a bikini on holiday. It is good to see that the couple have a sense of humour and are able to send themselves up rather than the all-too-often reaction of celebrities going on crash diets and blaming photographers for media invasion.  All I can say is thank goodness Paul didn’t decide to recreate the Beckham frontal shot.

By Lisa Parfitt on February 17th, 2009

Tags: David Beckham, Media, Public relations

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SA Brain beer brand has once again struck inspired marketing gold in their efforts to evade France’s alcohol ban in sponsorship and advertising.

Since the marketing genius of SA dreamt up the replacement of ‘Brawn’ for ‘Brains’ when the Welsh side played in Paris in 2005, the brand has become known for its clever avoidance of the stringent French marketing rules.

In this year’s RBS 6 Nations, Wales once again travel to Stade de France for the first Friday night game that the Tournament has ever had, on 27th February. And when they take to the field, this is what the boys in red will be sporting across their chests:

This has the double effect of ‘essai’ translating as ‘try’ in French, and spoken aloud it is an invitation to ‘try’ Welsh beer brand ‘SA’.

Nice.

By Lucie Bartlett on February 17th, 2009

Tags: Ambush campaign, Brand marketing, Rugby, Sponsorship

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As a chocolate eating child of the 70s, I’ve always been a fan of KitKat‘s adverts. I suspect it’s the ‘Have a Break’ tagline, one of advertising’s most famous slogans. It innocently appeals to the procrastinator in us all. From the Dancing Pandas in the 80s to last year’s launch of the Senses range shamelessly plugged by Girls Aloud, the messaging has always been simple, impactful and memorable.

None more so than the launch of KitKat’s new website earlier this month; a neat idea to turn the increasing bombardment of brand messages, sponsor logos and digital clutter of 2009 on it’s head.

The aptly named www.thefirstworldwidewebsitewherenothinghappens.com does exactly what it says on the tin. No reams of text, video content or flash animation, the site somehow reminds me of the clutter free white England rugby shirts of old. I may not choose to frequent the website more than once or twice but it made me smile and I found it a welcome relief from messaging, pokes, tweeks, second or third lives, microblogging and whatever next threatens to saturate our virtual lives.

My favourite line on the website, and it won’t take you long to find, is at the bottom, ‘If you detect something happening (on this website), it’s probably a bug and we’ll try to fix it’. Joy. 

By Stephanie Branston on February 17th, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Digital marketing, Sponsorship, Viral Marketing, YouTube

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In a now infamous incident, during last week’s live coverage of the Everton v Liverpool FA Cup 4th round replay, ITV cut away to an ad break just before the end of extra time - with the result that while Everton were scoring the winning goal, the fans were watching…a Tic Tac ad. Oops. Cue irate viewers, ITV apology and acres of coverage. But rather more entertainingly, cue also a new Tic Tac film, with help from our friends at WCRS, which re-creates the Everton goal for the fans. TicTastic.

By Tim Crow on February 12th, 2009

Tags: Branded content, Digital marketing, FA Cup, Football, Football Sponsorship, ITV, Media, Television, Tic Tac, Viral Marketing, YouTube

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With St Valentine’s Day around the corner it got me thinking, not least because I’m hoping for one of the greatest days of my year (my true love Wales take on England in the RBS 6 Nations).

Back to Valentine’s Day, the landmark of love across the UK and beyond. Each year lovers, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends and who knows who else will be on our high streets, in hotels, restaurants and card shops hoping they’ve found the perfects gift to exemplify their love and devotion for their special one. Of course, retailers have been capitalising on the opportunity for years, but what is interesting for me is the opportunities that brands exploit.

Take Umbro for example (clip to the left). A very sport focused male brand. No association with the great show of love you’d think? Actually, Umbro have managed to capitalise on St Valentine’s with an old ad that’s currently doing the rounds, pretty amusing to my eyes.

Dating site mysinglefriend.com is running a cute campaign to reclaim Valentine’s Day for singles.  A teddy bear is being held hostage (online) with single people being encouraged to sign a petition to return the bear to its owners, allegedly mysinglefriend.com.  Take a look at the microsite at thebeargetsit.com

Or a more traditional approach from thelondonpaper, with a campaign designed to inject love into commuters’ lives.  A selection of the classic lonely hearts ads from the paper will be reproduced on large outdoor sites across the London tube network to help some lucky readers find love.

Just a few examples from the love train of brands looking for some affection this Valentine’s Day.

Ben x

By Ben Wilkinson on February 12th, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Default, Digital marketing, Experiential marketing, Viral Marketing

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Demonstrating that green initatives are continuing to top brand agendas, McVitie’s Penguin has partnered with The Zoological Society of London. The campaign will be supported by on-pack promotions offering the chance of winning a family holiday in South Africa to view Penguins in their natural habitat.

McVitie’s will also be donating £50,000 to send ‘Penguinologist’ (what a job title!) Tom Hart to visit the Penguins in Antarctica and to study how climate change is affecting them.

Last night the BBC screened the first of its ‘Nature’s Greatest Events’ documentaries which concentrated on ‘The Great Melt’. Watch it here on BBC iplayer.

By Lisa Parfitt on February 12th, 2009

Tags: Environment, Sales promotion

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David Beckham, like death and taxes, is one of life’s certainties – only he’s a marketing certainty. Just when we thought his move to California had calmed the media waters around Brand Beckham, he has bounced back with his potential move to AC Milan and return to the England squad.

Now that the BBC has announced a one-off screening of the Milan derby off the back of Beckham-mania, it has proved again that his is a star that has lost no gleam. Hats off to him and it proves that as a marketing icon he has always got one thing fundamentally right – doing his job on the pitch first.

By Dominic Curran on February 11th, 2009

Tags: BBC, David Beckham, Default, Football

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With the UK snowbound, it seems entirely appropriate to (b)log that the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics announced its first domestic sponsorship yesterday, a recession-busting $460m (£316m) deal in the telecommunications category with state-controlled long-distance telephone company Rostelecom and Russia’s number three mobile carrier, MegaFon.

In a departure from usual Olympic practice, the Sochi organising committee revealed the financials behind the deal – the two companies have pledged $260m (£179m) in sponsorship, plus a further $200m (£137m) to develop infrastructure in the region – thus enabling Sochi to claim early Olympic bragging rights over Beijing 2008 and London 2012 by stating that their telco sponsorship is ‘a record in Olympic history’.

Given that in its bid for the 2014 Games Sochi projected a total domestic revenue target of $350m, one can only conclude from this first deal that – perhaps deliberately? – Sochi underestimated the marketing appeal of the Games to domestic sponsors. After all, the two most recent Winter Olympics, Salt Lake 2002 and Torino 2006, raised $494m and $348m respectively from the domestic market, and Vancouver 2010 is aiming to raise $620m.

It’s also interesting to note how fast Sochi 2014 has moved by modern Olympic standards of sponsorship acquisition.  London 2012 – which set new standards for the Olympic Movement in acquiring domestic sponsors rapidly – announced its first domestic sponsorship, with Lloyds TSB, 591 days after winning the 2012 Bid. Sochi’s announcement yesterday shaves 14 days off that mark.

Recession, what recession?

By Tim Crow on February 2nd, 2009

Tags: Beijing 2008, Default, London 2012, Olympic sponsorship, Sochi 2014, Winter Olympics

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