Blue Skies Blog

Presentation by Patrick Collister at a recent Blue Skies seminar identified the key rules for the evolving communications landscape.

 

1. A business about brands

 

In today’s world if you understand brands, you have a future! We have become more concerned with the content behind the message than what our message actually says and how it is perceived by our audience. Brands need to find fresh ways to deliver their message to consumers, always remembering placement is everything. The growth of media channels over the last few years has generated innovative ways for us to communicate with our audiences.

 

When Virgin Cola launched in North America, Branson was fully aware that the market was dominated by Coca-Cola. In order to generate awareness, Branson wrote a personal letter to the MD of Coca-Cola suggesting they should arm wrestle for the North American soft drinks market. The clever thing was making the media aware of the stunt. When Brandon didn’t receive a response, he turned up at the Coca-Cola head offices in a tank, with over 40 millions viewers watching and waiting for his arm wrestle with the Coca-Cola MD. This created a huge PR response, reaching its desired target audience with maximum impact for the Virgin Cola product launch.

 

Brands now need to excite and entertain in a completely different way, making people believe that brands have a sense of purpose; in essence consumer marketing is evolving into the entertainment business. Burger King is one brand that had to take a step back and realise that they are not only in the fast food business but are also in the entertainment business, they give their customers a ‘feel good about you’ emotion. Burger King worked with a small regional agency to devise a computer game on the X Box which was available for $3.99 with every Whopper meal, in 4 weeks they had sold 2.4 million Whopper meals; making the consumer see that their brand had a sense of purpose. Also making their agency a tidy profit in the process, as they’d managed to secure the rights to the X Box game.

 

Coca-Cola over the years has successfully managed to create a connection with their consumers. One of their latest campaigns, ‘Happiness Factory’ demonstrates this connection; when the consumer buys Coca-Cola they are buying a dream, not a product. The campaign moves seamlessly from TV to online offering interaction through a documentary, downloadable game for your mobile and further to this they are also actually building a ‘factory of happiness’ in front of their existing factory to create a whole experience which the audience can fully engage with. The brand has become entertainment, embarking on a relationship with their consumers and generating an emotional connection.

 

Ask yourself – are you an architect or a builder? Architects have long-term vision, whereas builders see a project through from start to finish and then move on to the next. Builders are directed and told what to do – a huge pitfall for creativity everywhere. The digital landscape is creating a way for all agencies to become architects of the future; we just need to make the most of it.

 

2. Make all communications interactive

 

The internet has changed everything; countless new platforms of communication and ways of interacting with your audience have been opened up. Through-the-line campaigns are more prevalent today than ever before and communication is no longer one-way, it is interactive. Expectations and behaviour changes when the consumer has the opportunity to be involved, it produces a connection to the brand and loyalty, this in turn means consumer are more likely to interact.

 

Interactive experiences are really happening. When Steinlager, a New Zealand lager, launched in America, they used the ‘Win Nick’s Life’ promotion to engage the target audience. The campaign, ‘Win Nick’s life in New Zealand’ showed the first advert introducing the workers at the Steinlager factory in the style of a documentary, the promotion was to swap your life for that of the Nick, including his girlfriend, his mates and his family. Moving the campaign online there were interviews with all of his friends and family creating an emotional connection to the brand. Steinlager utilised the core of their media spend online, with just 10% spent offline. More and more brands are becoming media owners, including Audi TV and Budweiser to name but a few. The money invested comes back through engagement.

 

 

With the strength and presence of the internet, reaching vast breadths of consumers who you wouldn’t normally capture, consumers have never been more in control. Companies and their agencies are no longer the power behind the brand. For example, Dove has been at the receiving end of this with a back lash against an ingredient they use that means forests are being cut down at alarming rates.

 

 

Celebrity Will.I.am decided to make his own ad ‘Yes we can’ as a political tool supporting Barack Obama in response to Hillary Clinton’s bad mouthing. People want to talk about what they believe in – the ‘Yes we can’ video was viewed 50 million times and was shown on prime time TV.

 

 

Creativity exists outside of the creative industry. Revver (www.revver.com) is the first online service that allows digital video creators to share and monetize their content across multiple distribution channels: broadband, mobile and broadcast. Consumers are now making money from producing their own digital content and sharing it across the web – so agencies be warned!

 

It is important to remember interactive marketing isn’t reserved for online! Victoria Bitter (VB), an Australian beer, used cricketer David ‘Boony’ Boon for its summer advertising campaign. David Boon, known for more than just cricket by achieving a world drinking record of 52 cans of lager on a flight, became the face of the Boonanza campaign. With the purchase of VB beer you would receive a free David Boon figure, which would automatically voice comments promoted by channel nine commentaries, whilst cricket matches were aired. These remarks tied into both the cricket and the VB brand with comments such as ‘where’s my beer’ encouraging the consumer to interact with the brand.

 

Other campaigns have used visual impact and placement which can have the most powerful effect and create real audience engagement. In a campaign against landmines, a New Zealand agency used tomato ketchup sachets to make a bloody impact and raise awareness. This kind of imagery leaves a lasting memory.

 

3. Integrate or else

 

Share people’s enthusiasm! Integration is taking part in the lives of your customers and enhancing their experience. NZ Girl magazine reached over 40,000 fans at a New Zealand ‘Big Day Out’ festival when they flew a banner across the audience stating – “Scott Kelly has got a small dick.” A banner followed saying – “Don’t mess with NZ Girls NZGIRL.CO.NZ.” The campaign got everyone talking and it received national TV coverage and for a moment Scott Kelly was the most famous person in New Zealand. The magazine followed this up with the biggest revenge, name your love rat competition, the name was revealed at the ‘Big Day Out’ festival the year after.

 

4. Everything is media

 

Use all media available to you. Never underestimate the value of wording, cleverly placed in the right way, in the right place, at the right time. You want to talk to your consumer at the point it makes the most sense. For example:

 

With a paper cup: A plastic surgeon printed the ideal nose on a paper cup, so when the consumer drank their coffee/tea they had the perfect shape.

 

On the road: HBO promoted the Sopranos using an arm hanging out of taxi boot.

 

In the toilet: Mini placed mini traffic cones in the men’s urinal, challenging them to test their handling skills.

 

In the park: Special K placed a bendy bench in a park, telling people to lose weight, you should walk more and be eating Special K.

 

5. There are no rules

 

Anything is possible, try it first and be different. Be innovative and don’t be afraid to give something new a go. There is more than one answer to a problem. Brands need to make friends with their consumers or face being alienated and forgotten.

 

The next time you plan a campaign, think about what problem the brand is solving and how it can engage with a wider audience - content isn’t everything, but placement is!

 

Technology has changed everything. Through the internet and gadgets such as web cameras, advertisers are able to place the audience within the digital ad. Or, integrating with people on a physical level – Nike placed three trampolines on the street of NYC, the participant that jumped the highest could see themselves on a big screen in the street, engaging not only them, but also all the members of public around them.