Harvey Nichols strikes again

Remember Harvey Nichol’s campaign, a few months ago? If not, you can always remember it here.

For the first campaign this year, Harvey Nichols tried to get the idea that the sales in their stores were impossible to miss, since the prices were so low you almost felt you were stealing. For this new campaign, they tried a different approach.

 This time, you won’t steal, but you’ll be so excited that, most probably, you will pee in your pants. The campaign raised some controversy in England, since flyers were distributed in mail boxes and some people were shocked to see these kind of ads all over the country (in The Sun).

Even with all the controversy around it, we can surely say that, even with a different approach, Harvey Nichols kept the same message and position in both campaigns: their sales are so amazingly cheap that no one wants to miss them! Besides, it also gives the idea thattheir store is light headed, humorous, young and modern, using this kind of strategies to get in touch with their target. But there’s more:

With this approach, they don’t tell you you’ll get excited or feel like a thief just because the prices are low: they just say that, you’ll want so much that specific product that you’ll fight for it with everyone that steps in your way, because is not every day that you can get those prices.

With three different approaches, Harvey Nichols is able to keep with the same idea about the company and their product. By this, we can see how their marketing strategies are connected, in order to keep always with the same message, to attract the target and keep with the idea that the sales in Harvey Nichols are absolutely mandatory for someone who likes fashion at low prices.

It’s a good example of branding and how you need to be sure about your position and message, in order to create communication with the same criteria and messages, always speaking to the target the same way, just changing the approach.

Inês Maria

"Get intimate with History"

Two months ago, in Prague, it opened the Communism Museum. The uniqueness of this museum is that makes you intimate with History – or, at least, is what they say.

That idea is mostly stated in the advertisement campaign when the opening of the museum:

 Through this three pictures, we have a glimpse of that message: by having Stalin with women or Marx cutting his nails, scenarios in which we would never imagine the these three figures of communism, we can the perception that actually we are going to be in contact with more information about Communism; you can actually be in touch with History in a way that you never were.

In the end, it’s a way of showing how this is not just one more museum, but something more; you get a different perspective about History and its participants.

Actually, it’s a bold campaign: putting in the centre of your campaign figures so controversial as Stalin, actually expecting a good outcome from it, it’s not what you could expect. But we are talking about a museum, and these are the central figures of Communism. In a way, we can also get the idea that we are going to see these figures with new eyes, besides the knowledge we get from school.

Probably, this is where the target gets in: people who really want to know about History, more that the common sense or the History classes. In that way, this museum appears to be the solution.

Besides, it has a humorous side, although playing with these characters and humour, once again, can be a tricky thing.

Nevertheless, it’s a different way of getting people to know what you have to offer. For a museum, this is probably the boldest campaign I came across with; it’s different and not common. If more effective or not, I don’t know, but I definitely became curious. 

Inês Maria

My personal lovemark: Havaianas

The topic about lovemarks is long gone but I couldn’t help to bring the topic once more, especially because some brands become so popular that, sooner or later, become international lovemarks. We talked about them during the class: Starbucks, Bic, Ben & Jerry’s… I intend to talk about one of my personal lovemarks, which turned out to be one of those cases.

I believe you know Havaianas, a Brazilian flip flop’s brand.

The brand was launched in 1962, inspired in Zori, the Japanese sandals (in fact, that is the reason why each Havaiana has a specific rice pattern).  It became popular over the years and, by the beginning of the nineties, publicity took a huge step with celebrity endorsement, being Havaianas the thing to wear in Brazil. In 2000 began the internationalization of the brand, on a way that, by 2003, an exclusive model was given to each of the Academy Awards’ nominees. Now, they exist in more than 60 countries all over the world.

The brand became huge! You can find them anywhere, and I had no idea of that fact; just the other day I was walking through Gent and I saw someone wearing a pair. You have models for every taste and price: from the most cheap ones and simple to expensive and full of decorations, every colour and combination… you can even design your own model, in some countries!

It became trendy, at least in Portugal, to have a pair of Havaianas. The thing is that you can get the same kind of flip flops cheaper in any store, but people still continue to find that these are the ones, the best, the cutest ones. I cannot say that I don’t agree with the opinions.

For me, I don’t think is about fashion or being trendy (because, we all know that, when the Summer comes, you can see Havaianas everywhere, every time); I just like them. I’m positively sure that I don’t need to spend this kind of money in flip flops, but the thing is that the design and everything surrounding the brand attracts me. I’m even wearing them right now, at home. I don’t call my flip flops by flip flops anymore, just Havaianas, which I know that Im not the only one.

More than a pair of shoes, are an accessory, an accessory that people like to show to others. I believe I can say for sure that this is one of the biggest lovemarks in Portugal and, I must say, one of my personal ones, too.

You can get all the information about Havaianas in their website: http://havaianas.com

Inês Maria

Are you aware?

Maybe for the people in Gent, seeing someone driving a bicycle in the middle of the road is as common as someone driving a car. For London, apparently, the same doesn’t happen: the Transport for London (“the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London”, in Wikipedia) has now a new preoccupation about the cyclists who go around London and need to pay attention to the drivers passing by. On March 2008 that TFL launched a different and creative campaign, not only on their website, but also on London’s cinemas, by publishing this video:

Now, did you expected the twist? I sure did not! I originally thought this was just one more video about some kind of test, for amusement. But no: TFL wants to show to people how we may not be aware of everything that goes around us and, while driving, cyclists can be one of them.

The amazing thing about this campaign is that gets people attention: you get excited when you get the number 13 right, but then all fall down when you discover what you missed. It’s impossible not to feel disappointed and claim to self “Maybe I do need to pay more attention…”. That was the purpose of the organization, according with it’s spokesman: "The ad encourages all road users to be more aware of each other while travelling - it aims to make drivers aware just how easy it can be to miss cyclists on the road and for cyclists to understand how difficult they can be to see." (On BBC News)

By November, the video had seen by 10 million people and it became so successful that TFL launched a new one, as surprising as the first one:

All in all, we can say that creativity can always have its good side: you can get your message across through a number of different ways but, the moment you get can pass that message in a way that people will remembered it, even the better! I came across this video through Facebook, a couple of days ago; it’s still on! In the end, the best campaigns are the ones you always get to talk about with your friends, the ones you want to share; more and more we are the means of marketing, more than television or printed ads. If we go to the cinema and see how amazing that video is, we will want to show it to our friends and TFL, more than just getting the message through, knew how to use the means in their favour. 

Inês Maria

Bad breath? Text!

The mouth wash products Oral B lauched a printed ads campaign in Romania for their new product Pro-Expert, a mouth wash which, not only kills the germans in your mouth, but also gives you a mint flavour that keeps the bad breath away. These were the ads they used:

                                                

                                                

                                                

Did you follow the idea? I confess it took me a couple of seconds to fully understand the concept, but then it stoke me: each ad shows us a conversation between two people but in the form of text messages, probably because their breath is so smelly that they’re not able to talk to each directly.

Without a doubt it was a very creative idea: we live in the cell phones era, when we talk through technology all the time – it’s not a difficult scenario to imagine as reality, as a matter of fact. It’s mostly humorous, picking up something so trivial as a conversation in bed between a couple or an elevator talk through text messaging. It surely wants to get attention and be remembered by the target.

That can even be seen through the risk they took by designing such ads: if you see the ad for the first time, you may not understand what it stands for. You see the product, you know it’s for bad breath, but you don’t understand what are the dialogues for. Unless you are acquainted with the fact that the layout of text messages in an iPhone is exactly like the one of the ad. When you finally understand it (and, as I told you, I took some seconds to figure it out), you see how genius and funny it is.

By the time you get it, it’s impossible not to enjoy the improbable conversation via sms due to bad breath. It turns to be funny, able to remember  and, most importantly, effective. There is nothing in the ad which tell us those people have bad breath, but the presence of that specific product makes us use our imagination and get there. Besides, is really subtle the way the brand places the product, creating in the minds of the consumers how the only possible solution must be the Oral B Pro-Expert, although nothing in the ad says so, besides the little image of the product in the bottom. The main attention goes to the problem so many people have; very discreetly, they show us a solution.

In this case, the risk of placing a possible not understandable ad for all and the kind of humour used end up working with each other, giving the image that, the times may change (we can now text everything we want and find there a solution for our problems), but talking with each other face to face is always the preferred way of communicating and some problems are always there. Apparently, bad breath is one of them.

Inês Maria

Advertising vs Product

“For seven days a piano has been suspended above a car. Every time a prediction about an uncontrollable event was fulfilled, one of the ropes was cut.”

The Russian insurance company Intouch opted for a different kind of campaign while publicizing its External Factors insurance. The premise was simple: “what does safety depend on?”; each rope symbolized all the situations we cannot predict and put our cars in jeopardy and, most of the times, we are the ones who have to pay for the damage. Not if we are InTouch’s clients.

During the seven days the piano was suspended above a car, anyone could send one prediction and wait for it to happen, or not. The events were diversified, from predicting that the temperature in Moscow reached the 21ºC or simply that Barcelona would get to the Champions League’s final. The idea was to show that we cannot predict all the external factors that can damage our vehicles, but we can be insured so we don’t have to be worried about them.

In that sense, we cannot say that InTouch’s idea was particularly out of the blue: it had a point and showed a bit of their message and their product – an insurance against all the external factors which damage our cars and how we are not responsible for them; be insured is the only way of preventing unwanted bills.  By the by, it even got it touch with possible clients and caught the attention of social networks, spreading the word faster than in any other medium (one of the prediction was that the last rope would be cut if 100 people tweeted the sentence “fall, piano, fall! #carvspiano” in a 59 minutes time. There were 100 tweets in 15 minutes). It didn’t tell people directly about their need of having an insurance, but showed them (giving that everything was broadcasted live).

Even so, the campaign got more attention for itself than the product t was being sold; people were excited for having the ability to participate in such activity, maybe even predict one of the events which would result in the smashed car. You can even ask for one piece of the broken piano and car if you like, just sending an email to the company.

All in all, we can never be sure how tour campaigns are going to result. We can have the most creative idea and it fails for it not being so connected to the product that we forget what product we are talking about. Probably, most of the people following the events were not even aware of the fact that it was a campaign for an insurance company, and only noticed it in the end, when everything was already finished.

In a way, Intouch did what needed to catch attention: it created a different campaign which got talked about in the social networks so much that everyone knew what was happening. Only by the end it inserted it in the company’s objectives. Did the message got to all of the people involved the same way, or most of them just cared about the event and not the product?

You can check all the information and get familiar with the campaign in the website Car vs Piano.

Inês Maria

How to steal legaly

The image we get from a certain brand has to pass by through the advertisement used by that brand: the way the brand is introduced to us gives us an idea of what it stands for.

For this particular campaign, Harvey Nichols chose to go through a way that was not new for the brand; getting in touch with the ones who don’t have the economic power to buy designers clothes or truly expensive products.  Actually, Harvey Nichols is an English department store founded in London in 1831 where you can find a little bit of everything: beauty products, clothes from various brands, accessories and even food. Its biggest contestant is Harrods, although younger people have a tendency to prefer Harvey Nichols. Nowadays has spread around the world, with stores in Hong Kong, Dubai or Istanbul, as also in several British cities.  We all know Harrods, has a lot of background history behind it and its famous for the meaning it has, the classic style. Harvey Nichols tries to be directed to a more young population, not the tourists, getting back from the idea people have of Harrods; it talks to young people directly, has fashion related campaigns and tries to connect with a different kind of population. Early this month, the company launched this campaign:

Throughout the campaign, Harley Nichols gives the idea that the reductions are so high that it almost feels as if you’re stealing from the store. In a way, we can almost say that, through this, the brand wants to be remembered by its customers and whoever comes across it; stealing is not seen with the best eyes or socially admissible. Claiming that its customers are stealing every time they buy something from the store can be tricky and end up getting the wrong connotation. But, the thing is, the touch of irreverence is part of the brand. Not just that, but even the idea given is so strong that is impossible not to believe in it: they are clearly saying we are going to steal from them because the prices are so low. How low could they be? You know you’re curious about it, now that you think of it.

The simplicity of the message strikes us without even realizing it.

Inês Maria

I believe when I see it

Tic Tac is a known brand, I believe, for everyone. The little breath mints have been around for quite some time and, since our childhood we got acquainted with it. Through the years, more flavours popped  up, but always with the premise that one of those little gums would improve the smell of your breath, without the need of chewing a gum for minutes and minutes. The Tic Tac message is clear: one tic tac will keep your breath fresh from the exact moment you put it in your mouth! And you can see that through this video:

This was a campaign launched in France by Tic Tac.

Here we can see that the message is very clear and simple: you need a tic tac so you don’t kill people with your breath! I believe that the communication and message are pretty obvious and simple to catch, especially since we all know the product and what it is for, the premise behind it. It becomes simple, although, technically, to produce an ad like this one must be considerably hard (giving that anyone can come up and blow the whole thing). Even so, it’s more than just the ad you see on television or bus stops; you are there, you see it happen with actual people, not actors or well-known celebrities who say “Well, before I kiss a colleague in a movie scene, I always put a tic tac in my mouth”. No: we can see it happen – if we talk to someone, they’ll spot our bad breath and we’ll look bad. With a tic tac, the story turns the other way around. We always knew that, in fact; its part of the identity of the brand, what we think of when we hear the its name or see its products.

Sometimes, the easiest way to tell someone what we do its saying it. Or, in this case, showing it. 

Inês Maria

You have publicity and then you have.. publicity

A month ago, a Turkish shampoo brand launched a commercial which arouse some criticism:

In this commercial, we can see an adaptation of one of Hitler’s speeches, in order to tell people how, to be a real man, one must use the Biomen shampoo. This way, Biomen shampoos are relating the image of the real and strong man with Hitler and his ideas. This kind of connection caught attention to a lot of experts and buyers (especially Jews), for the wrong reasons: "It's totally unacceptable to make use of Hitler, the most striking example of cruelty and savagery," said the Turkish Jewish Community. 

For this matter, we know that the brand tried to use Hitler’s image as a mockery, following the idea of the “Hitler reacts to…” videos (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can always search “Hitler reacts to” in Youtube and pick one example. I’ll leave you one right here). The thing is, the brand didn’t realize that their message could be taken the wrong way: having Hitler telling you that if you want to be a real man, you have to buy Biomen, it could not have the same result in everyone. Some might find it funny, others (like the Jewish Community, as we were able to see) may feel strongly offended with that connection. 

Each brand should know, not only their target, but also who could possible get in touch with their ads. In this case, even if the usage of this character resulted in the brand being talked about everywhere, the thing that were being said about it weren’t that positive. A few days after the campaign being launched, the commercial was off the air. For the online comunity, it was a Youtube phenomenon , with 414152 vies. But, for what we know, it might have worked: the youtube video got 779 likes and only 518 dislikes. If the young people in Turkey think just like the ones who rate Youtube videos, maybe the brand was right after all and the commercial did work. All in all, bad publicity it’s still publicity. 

Inês Maria

Making a statement through colour

Like we could understand by last week’s lecture, colour it’s also an important part of marketing; it functions as a way of, not only catching one’s attention, but also to get together with the brand’s message and product. One of the techniques the guest lecturer told us about was the absence of colour, with the attention concentrated on the main aspects of an ad, for example. Bellow, we can see an example of that technique:

You can see that this ad is totally dark, when the only things that become distinct are the name of the brand, with its slogan and logo, the information about the sponsorship of the Irish Rugby and a glimpse of what can be a glass of beer. With this ad, we can see that all of our attention goes directly to the brand, to its name, its identity. What they want you to understand is that Guinness is, in fact, made of more and for you to drink it you need to be made of more. 

We can’t forget that is in an ad for the sponsorship of a sports competition. Taking that into consideration, we see that the important is not the beer or the product that is being sold, but the fact that, in order to be a winner, you need to have more than the others and this is what Guinness states.

If we check one of the video ads (you can watch one of them here), the message remains the same: you can fight, try to succeed, but, for that, you’ll always need to differentiate from your competitors – existing the same strategy of communication in both ways of publicity. In some way, that’s what Guinness is doing: by giving no attention to the product itself but to the message it wants to transmit, the feeling of offering more to the consumer.

And only by the use of just one colour. 

Inês Maria

Football and Marketing

We got to the point that it's needless to say that marketing can be used in all sort of campaigns. Football is no exception. In it’s own way, a football match is a product that must be sold – the tickets are one of the most important sources of profit and, if the team is not popular enough, there are also no sponsors. Getting fans to go to the stadium, buy the tickets and enjoy the match it’s a double profit: not only because more tickets are sold, but also because the team gets enough popularity to get the attention of sponsors.

Sporting Clube de Portugal (or, in English, something like Sporting Team of Portugal) is one of the three most important football teams in Portugal. Being one of the most important, it has a large amount of supporters in the whole country and it’s also one of the teams most talked about. During this year, the team has been out of shape, the results are not the expected ones and the supporters are not happy. Last month, the administration hired a new coach, but the supporters continued unsatisfied: the new coach is an old player with no relevant experience in coaching and better results were needed.

This was the administration’s move:   (you can check the translation bellow the video)

When a friend calls for help, what do you do?

When there’s a tear in someone’s face, can you make him smile?

Or do you choose night if the day turns out wrong?

Have you forgotten the day  Alvalade (Sporting’s stadium) received you for the first time, next to the one who taught how to love and to be loved?

Have you forgotten the goals that made you jump, that stole your voice, that made you dream… Have you already forgotten who taught you what it is to be distinctive or you forgot what it is to honour a history that taught you, that to win, you need to fight? Or maybe you’re forgetting that there is the Jamor’s battle (a Portuguese football competition) to win, and that it’s not only in the past that Europe has your name carved on.

Or do you rather quit, forget that there is an honour to defend because this is our time to discover who is loyal, to remember that only Sporting has Portugal in its name?

Because this is the moment to give a sense to loyalty, to accept the honour for which you were chosen, so today we can believe that there is no biggest strength than the heart that makes you scream, the far roar that remembers you that, if you’re a lion, you don’t cry if you’re losing but you fight until death!

And you, do you have a lion’s heart?       

First of all, I’m sorry for the Portuguese ad. The fact is that I found interesting how all we learnt can be applied, even in such a thing as football and this video is an example of that.

As you can see though the video and the narrative, the main target of this ad are the fans, the ones who truly support Sporting. With this video, the administration wants to reach to the supporters who really are there to help the team to go further, to create the need to believe in the team again because it already gave to the fans so many good moments. The ad was shoot in tones of green, not just because it’s the team’s colour, but because it’s also the colour of hope and hope is what they need; they the support of the true fans, who fight strongly with the team, not only when it’s up, but mainly when it’s down.

We can say that the Sporting’s administration is selling the brand with an emotional link to the fans – it’s the team to gives us all the good moments and feelings we can remember, who taught us what it is true support. In a way, you can see how the message goes against the critics that the team has been receiving: you’re only a true fan if you still believe in what we can achieve as a team and, if you don’t, if you don’t remember, you’re not a true supporter. Even the fact of choosing the new coach to say the last words, to ask to the fans if they are true supporters, it’s a way of maintaining that position of “you can say whatever you want about our decisions and our performance, but if you were a true fan, you would not criticize us as much”. It’s not only about selling the brand, but also about giving a perspective of what the brand thinks of itself and what it stands for.

To complete the message that the big victories are not just in the past but also in the future, the administration promoted a single game against Manchester City with a new video (you can see it here, but it’s in Portuguese, again). It talks about past victories when no one believed that the team could win and asks fans if they still believe in victory, again speaking to the supporters and if asking if they continue to believe in their team.

Concluding, marketing can also be a way of responding to the critics and give a new image of a brand. After all the criticisms and bad choices, Sporting shows itself with a new message - that the future can be as bright as the past, that fights against adversities without quitting and its true fans do the same. It creates a connection between team and supporters, leaving players aside - the important thing is the support, the soul, the heart.

Inês Maria

More than just an add

The world's fastest smatphone. It flies.

If you were to watch the video without reading the slogan of the new Huawei phone, you probably would see it with different eyes; maybe just a funny idea on how to show to the public a new product. The company went a little further than that and chose a different approach.

The premise is to introduce the fastest smartphone in the world, so fast it can fly. “Huawei's vision is to enrich life through communication.” – you can find this statement in the company’s website – here. Taking that into account, we can see that the company positions itself in the market as the one who provides, not just the fastest smartphone, but also the fastest way to communicate and, therefore, to enrich your life. Creating this Pegasus and showing it in the streets, not only gets the attention to the phone itself, but also to the company, as a creative one, emphasizing the features of the phone as fast: just like a Pegasus, which runs but can also fly. Besides, if you only watched the video, you get to see the effort it was made to create the figure and how the phone fits in the structure, showing a modern design and features.

We can say that the construction was a way of seeing Huawei as a different brand, which innovates and brings us new products. Because it’s not every day we see a Pegasus totally made of wire and cell phone.  

Inês Maria

How Disney promotes a movie

We all know the Muppets: those little fury creatures that we used to see on television when we were younger. I must confess I always loved them, from Kermit the Frog to Miss Piggy or the Cookie Monster.

As you may know, in the end of the last year it premiered a new Muppet movie, with the not that creative name “The Muppets”. As you may also know, before the launch of every movie, there is a marketing campaign attached to it: from posters to trailers and interviews with the professionals involved in the film. For the Muppets movie, there was a different and very original one.

Bellow, you can see some of the posters launched before the premiere of “The Muppets”:

So, you can see what they did: they took a really well known movie poster for the younger people and replaced the main characters with… muppets. Films as “Twilight” or “Captain America” are recent and everyone, from kids to grownups, know these movies but specially kids and even teenagers, who probably didn’t had the same contact with the Muppets as their parents, get to know them and can even get curious about these funny characters. But this wasn’t the only Disney’s idea for the promotion of “The Muppets”:

This video is a parody to “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” trailer (here, you can watch the original version). Right in the beginning, you can see the statement that they know (the muppets, of course) they’ve been away for a long time, but now, they’re back! Besides, during the campaign, the various characters were guests on shows such as Saturday Night Live or even the Jay Leno Show, programmes made for adults, specifically. So, it's not only for the children, but the parents of those children who always knew who the Muppets are; there is a new movie for you all go to see out there!

All in all, we can conclude that Disney tried to aim their campaign to a considerably wide range of ages: from the kids who are just now getting to know the Muppets to their parents, who grew up with them. We can’t also forget that in every commercial or appearance, all this characters so well known to us showed always a funny and “trolling” side, convincing the potential consumer how amused they’ll be if they choose to see the movie (like we always expect from a Muppets movie). By the end, we just believe that “The Muppets” is the comic movie among all the others who got out at the same time and more recently.

Inês Maria

Opera is for the old!

We talked about how cultures are evolving, how nothing is static and that, with evolution, also our values and habits may change. Uniformly, a culture begins to be identified with other features. So far, so good.

Technology couldn’t come in a more perfect time: in a little time space, with the advent of the internet and social media platforms, can we imagine our lives without these mediums? Probably we can but, as a famous Portuguese add says, it wouldn’t be the same.

As Erasmus students as ourselves, we see even more the impact of new technologies in our lives: the distance between ourselves and the family and friends back home is less than the actual one; with one click we can see our parents in the screen our talk for hours with our friends through email or instant messaging. We use Facebook to show the pictures and update our statuses as the day goes by, we tweet our new discoveries and adventures the moment we live them, we put on youtube the videos we filmed in that amazing party! Yes, each and every one of us, in and out of our class room, has an online life which is difficult to distance from.

The English National Opera used that reality as a way of getting people's attention for their new opera using this video:

Technology became cultural, a part of what we do and even are. With this simple add, they not only made as think about that online lives of ours, but also gave us this need to see more, learn more about it, go and see the opera so we can actually see which dangers are those they are talking about. And they just showed what we do on the internet but refuse to do in real life (and even despise the ones who dare to do it).

As simple as that.


Besides, practicaly all young people has in their minds the idea that opera is for elder ones. With just one video, the English National Opera show that an opera can be about anything at all, even Facebook or Twitter! And what theme can be as captivating to youngsters as technology? In the end, they picked up a current theme, wrote an opera about it and now they want young people to go and watch how fun the opera can be.


I certainly became curious!




Inês Maria