Twitter flies high

"Over the past six years, the world has become familiar with a little blue bird. The bird is everywhere, constantly associated with Twitter the service, and Twitter the company. Starting today you’ll begin to notice a simplified Twitter bird. From now on, this bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of Twitter. (Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.) There’s no longer a need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase “t” to represent Twitter."

This is what Twitter's Creative Director Doug Bowman had to say, three days ago, about the decision of changing the company's logo.

In the new version, the little bird mantains its colour and shape, but with a few changes: he's looking more towards the sky as if taking flight, and he lost some of his feathers, especially on top of his head. The new logo was designed from three sets of overlapping circles, representing the way our "...networks, interests and ideas connect and intersect with peers and friends".

Bowman doesn't really explain the reason behind the sudden change. It's not like Twitter is losing popularity. If something, it's gaining more and more each day; there weren't any changes within the company, regarding  new acquisitions, new management, new name and the logo concept was kept the same: the bird it's still a bird.

This is, therefore, a change that will have little or no effect on people. Like Bowman said, it was just a way to simplify things and "burden" only the bird (forgetting the "T", etc) with Twitter, the service, and Twitter, the company.

Sources:

• http://blog.twitter.com/
• https://twitter.com/about/logos

Ana Nascimento

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

Smell Branding

How many of you listens to the radio? And how many of you dislike imensely when the ads come on, sometimes cutting the songs in half? Well, what if the ads were for donuts? And what if, with the ad, you could smell freshly baked donuts and hot coffee?

Smell branding is the new bet of the South Korean franchising of Dunkin Donuts. Everytime Dunkin Donuts' jingle plays on the radio, sound recognition technology enables the spraying of coffee and donuts. The best thing is this technology was placed in public buses: the aroma reinforced the sensory connection with the brand and therefore boosted in-store traffic in South Korea. According to PSFK, "...over than 350.000 people experienced the ad during the campaign, leading to a number of visitiors to the Dunkin' Donuts stores increasing by 16% and sales going up 29%".

So, it obviously works. But why? I think it's because it hit three senses at the same time: smell, hearing and vision. Plus, coffee is already and addictive drink, so how could anyone resist?

Source: http://www.psfk.com

Ana Nascimento

Coca-Cola = Open Happiness

How much is a Coke worth to you? 50 cents? 1 euro? 2 euros? No? Well then, what about a hug? And no, this campaign has nothing to do with the 'likes' and virtual hugs that we can give just with a click of the mouse button. To get a Coke from the machine, you'll really have to hug it.

Following their 2009' global marketing campaign "Coke Side of Life", Coca-Cola created, in the same year, the "Open Happiness" campaign - developed by the Wieden + Kennedy creative agency. That campaign had the objective of invinting "...the billions of people around the world who love to pause and refresh themselves with a Coke to "Open Happiness" and continue to enjoy one of life's simple pleasures. That is the central message for "Open Happiness". And, the way I see it, they couldn't have took that premise more literaly. Isn't hugging one of life simplest pleasures?

"Open Happiness" is still in vigor today, and this new "Hug Me" marketing stunt is the new piece of the puzzle: a Coke vending machine was installed overnight at the National University of Singapore. It looks like a fairly ordinary machine, in the brand’s iconic and forever recognizable red and white. But instead of it’s logo, this machine says “Hug Me”, in the logo font. And instead of money, this machine responds only to the currency of hugs. Specifically, you have to squeeze the sides of the soda dispenser in a specific way to make a free Coke come out.

In a statement as part of the company’s "Open Happiness" campaign, Leonardo O’Grady, ASEAN IMC Director, The Coca Cola Company, explained that: “Happiness is contagious. The Coca Cola Hug Machine is a simple idea to spread some happiness. Our strategy is to deliver doses of happiness in an unexpected, innovative way to engage not only the people present, but the audience at large.”

In other words, they hope it goes viral throughout Asia, leading to outbreaks of random hugging, all with the Coca-Cola brand in mind. Since in Singapore the display of affection is not well regarded but is growing amongst the younger layers of the population, Coca-Cola positions itself like a supporter of the 'affectioned' youth.

This simple but well thought of marketing campaign was created by Ogilvy & Mather.

Sources: 

• http://www.psfk.com
• http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2009/01/open-happiness.html   

Ana Nascimento

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

Analog SMS'ing

Before we all had cellphones, how did we sent messagens to each other, especially when we were in class? Does any of you recall using little pieces of paper you methodically threw to the destined recipient? I do. I myself preffered writing on rubbers - it was more discreet -, but when the message was to big I had to do it the traditional way. But then came cellphones and free text messages, and we forgot all about the little pieces of paper. Well, Moleskine didn't.

The legendary notebook, used by geniouses like Picasso or Hemingway, is still a symbol of creativity, geniality and talent. The company, due to the 20th anniversary of SMS (Short Messaging Service), decided to put a playful spin in our childhoot passtime by creating their own version of SMS: The Moleskine Shooting Message System.

At sale only at three places - the main one being in Milan as a worldwide exclusive for Milan Design Week -, and created by Pietro Corraini, this celebratory pack features a classic Moleskine notebook with a graduated cover that indicates how far you can shoot, using the notebook elastic band as a sligshot; it also contais a few preset, short messages like 'I Love You' or 'Call me'

This great marketing action not only brings back the old days where our lives weren't rulled by technology, but is also a fantastic way to publicize the famous notebook and keep people interested in buying it instead of another, cheaper brand - in order to prevent what has already happened for a decade in the 80's: its discontinuation.

Ana Nascimento

Source: http://www.psfk.com

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

Is it a brand stronger than words?

Andrew Miller, strategic agent of change at Carbone Smolan Agency (a Design and Branding Agency) threw himself into a particular challenge: for 100 days, he will paint white common products that he has around the house or that cost less than 10 dollars, take pictures of them, and upload them to the Tumblr entitled Brand Spirit. Miller’s challenge consists in “(…) removing all visual branding, reducing the object to its purest form” and, therefore, discover if a brand speaks louder than words.

So let’s check the picture below:

Within, at maximum, a few seconds, you can identify that that’s Tabasco. Why is that? Is it because we use it every day? When was the last time you used Tabasco? It's just funny to have this reserve of knowledge about brands and shapes and have the ability to immediately draw from that useless knowledge tank.

And this one?

My first thought was ‘french fries’. Why? How could I not know how a Heinz ketchup packet looks like, especially with the growing of fast-food chains? This project, still in its beginning (today is day 14/100), can already make us think about the power of certain brands. I say ‘certain brands’ because it’s obvious – except maybe if you have a very keen eye or a true passion about advertisement or shopping – that you won’t guess them all. I tried and got 9 out of 14. Nonetheless, I get the feeling that in spite of being painted white, some brands will be immediately indentified, which only speaks of their rock solid identity in terms of packaging.

However, and we can see it clearly in the case of the picture of the condom, that in that case it’s quite hard to have a packaging that differs from the competitors’ and it’s still identifiable. My first thought on that one was Durex or Control, not Trojan. I’m guessing that’s because I’m Portuguese and Andrew Miller is American: the brand that sells the most in both countries are Durex (or Control) and Trojan, respectively. So, geography is a very important variable here.

And so is demography. In the case of the Kleenexes, for example:

I know the brand and it’s sold in some selected stores in Portugal, but I never bought it because the house brand from my supermarket of choice has the same characteristics, offers the same results and it’s cheaper. Resuming: I could identify the brand by its packaging – so it speaks to me in a way -, but I don’t acquire it often because of my family income. Besides, I have established a loyal relationship with the house brand I referred to, so I tend to overlook other brands, especially if they’re more expensive. But perhaps if it was not a Kleenex but a Renova package, it would be best perceived by Portuguese people.

Andrew Miller, however, started this project (which you can follow at http://brandspirit.tumblr.com/) with American packaging’s and it’s directed to the American population, who can better identify the packages. Nevertheless, I think that it’s a project that it would have a positive remark in every country, given that the target was adapted to that particular country – and so were the packages.

As a result I think that, indeed, brand’s identities can be stronger than words.

Ana Nascimento

Source: http://www.psfk.com/