Marketing the Olympics
Posted by Prianka in Advertising Commentary on November 5th, 2009
The countdown to Vancouver 2010 has just passed the 100 day mark and marketing campaigns related to the event are in full swing. These Olympics mark the first time in my lifetime that the sporting event has taken place on Canadian soil, and I could not be happier with the fact that it is the winter games as opposed to the summer. As with everything, the advertisements range from boring to inspirational, from funny to serious. On one end of the spectrum is the ultra-intense Hudson’s Bay Company campaign. They are the official outfitter for Vancouver 2010 and their advertisements are a testament to their long history as a Canadian company. The commercial launches their Olympic clothes with a voice over saying, “We arrived 340 years ago, we outfitted a nation of pioneers, explorers and dreamers” and ends with the bold statement, “We were made for this”. This campaign has been successful for two reasons; it plays on Canada’s pride in itself and it avoids the corny imagery we have come to associate with the Olympics. The advertisement prompted me to head down to the giant Bay in the market to check out the new line of clothes and they are very nice. I am definitely for the more reserved subtle approach of this year’s clothes as opposed to the rather loud, flashy designs that were released during the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.
While HBC seems to have their advertisements everywhere, the opposite is true of Wrigley’s. Whether they intend to or not, they are running a low on the radar campaign with no TV spots or print space. Actually, if it wasn’t for writing this article I would not have realized they were running an Olympic campaign at all. That being said, I like the slant that they are taking in focusing on specific athletes rather than the entire, diverse Team Canada. Specially marked packages are participating in the CHEW (Canadians Helping Each other Win) campaign which will donate money to Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The most notable aspect of the Wrigley’s campaign, is that for the first time in their history they will be printing a maple leaf on individual pieces of gum. This reasonably uplifting, but ultimately boring campaign (with a pretty clever name) suits the product and with a bit more media push could have been a significant fund raiser – as it stands, I think that only the people who normally consume this product will notice it.
My favourite for Vancouver 2010 is Molson’s ‘Give’r for Team Canada’ campaign which ends with the a line that is epic for how fantastic it is, “When our athletes give’r, you can give’r right back”. The idea here is that marked cases of Molson have a card inside the box and for every person who goes online and enters the code on that card, Molson will donate $5.00 to Team Canada. My love for this advertisement is tied to my love of hockey, I watch this commercial online just so I can watch the part where a goalie is ecstatically jumped by his entire team. I don’t like Molson, but this campaign makes me want to drink it for the next few months because maybe, just maybe, my $5.00 can make the difference between a repeat of the monumental double Men’s and Women’s gold medal games in Salt Lake versus the dismal showing in Turin.
What are your thoughts on Olympic marketing? Which campaigns are the most and least effective? Will Canada take the gold in men’s hockey?
Signing off,
Prianka Ghosh
42 Marketing Celebrates its Two Months
It has been a little while since there has been an update on what we are up to here at 42 Marketing but not to fear, we are still here and hard at work. This week marks the start of university classes for a few members of the 42 Marketing team but that should not affect our day to day operations significantly. At 42 Marketing, we are always growing and this week we are welcoming Alex Commons to the team. Alex is a recent commerce graduate from Carleton University and will be working as an Accounts Executive along with current Accounts Exec, Aleks.
42 Marketing is pleased to have finished its first major report, and we are now waiting on a response from the client – a process that we hope will be complete in the next two to three weeks. In the mean time, Aleks and Alex will be working at getting new clients and the web development team will unsurprisingly, work on the website. It is hard to believe that 42 Marketing started just two months ago, it feels like we have grown a lot and learnt even more in a relatively short time span. From here the next steps are to make the website functional especially the portfolio section, more traffic to the blog and just generally to increase awareness about the company.
It is not in the Ottawa area but Marketingmag (http://marketingmag.ca) is having its second annual Marketing Week midway through November in Toronto. It looks like it will be a great event; both informative and an opportunity for networking. Check out the details and register at http://www.the-cma.org/marketingweek/digital.asp.
Signing Off,
Prianka
Kraft Canada Helps Families Have Fun
Posted by Prianka in Uncategorized on August 5th, 2009
The big news in Ottawa today is the acquittal in the Larry O’Brien influence peddling trial. I haven’t been keeping enough tabs on it to comment indepth, but the main aspect that is being reported is that because Terry Kilrea displayed a complete lack of credibility as a witness combined with being a key player in the action, this was the main factor for the acquittal. I am concerned with how this is going to affect municipal politics, I was not a fan of O’Brien’s overconfident and arrogant manner before and now that this trial is over, I anticipate that his attitude will become unbearable. Time will tell.
Like most people, I don’t watch a lot of commercials anymore. The funny thing is, I actually really enjoy commercials, it’s just that I would rather fast forward through them and finish watching TV shows faster. Or there is the other alternative where the last two television programs I have been watching have been on DVD so there isn’t even a choice in the matter. With the decline of the success of television commercials, companies and marketing firms are adapting by expanding how they reach consumers. One of these methods is the ever annoying commercials before movies. At least the Telus advertisements serve the purpose of reminding people to turn off their phones before the movie, the excessive amount of milk and Coke commercials however, are just irritating. More than before, companies are moving to the internet to allow for bigger and better advertising campaigns. One such campaign is Kraft Canada’s new Oreo Like Race campaign. Here is a company that has maintained a classic idea for as long as I can remember and yet has always been able to keep it innovative and interesting. The new commercials, (you can check out the spot at http://www.oreolickrace.com/en/) show a family who have trained to be crowned the best and fastest Oreo eaters ever and the companies invites families to upload their own videos or images in a contest to become the new Oreo Lick Race Family, as well as winning a family adventure travel pack. This is a great promotion for a variety of reasons – besides encouraging family activities and creativity, it is setting a stage where children can learn from their parents (or parents from their children depending on how technologically savvy the children are) about how to create, edit and upload a video. It is great to see a company stepping up and taking advantage of the mediums available to them to orchestrate and fun and effective marketing campaign.
Don’t forget , everyone’s favourite advertising show is back this week. Actually, considering the intensity of their viral marketing campaign including making your own character online and a whole behind the scenes tour of the marketing behind the new season combined with the Banana Republic open casting call contest, I would be surprised if you didn’t already know Mad Men is kicking off its third season this coming Sunday.
Signing off,
Prianka Ghosh
Social Media Communicator
Retrospectives: Week in Review (07-24-09)
Posted by Rin in Retrospectives on July 27th, 2009
When it comes to running your own businesses, you need to learn how to delegate. Making time to do all the things you want in a day is next to impossible when you are an entrepreneur. You are always on the go and filling many hats “obtaining” new ones each day. One day you are human resources, the next you could be IT support or finance. Being able to manage these roles can be difficult, but if you have staff, do not be afraid to let them help you.
One of my biggest flaws is learning how to delegate. When I owned my last businesses, I ran everything myself thus, not needing to rely on people to get the work done. Running 42 Marketing is more than one person can handle, so I have enlisted the help of 4 other people. They each have their specialty and are quite skilled in their crafts. The issue is not the work getting done, but is the trust in the employees. If you have a team of employees that are well-versed in their subject matter or willing to learn, you need to be able to give them the work and trust they will get it completed in a satisfactory manner. Without that trust there are many issues that can arrive from it. The work will either not be done yourself, or the organizational culture will be negative.
The last two weeks have been pretty hectic at 42; we are working on an advertising proposal for a client and getting into the final details. There were also major issues with the hosting company we were using and our servers were mostly down for the last couple of weeks, so for the most part, we were running like a chicken with its head cut off. Issues aside, it was an enjoyable experience the last two weeks and looking forward to what the next two weeks bring!
Signing off,
Rin Pen
Marketing Strategist
Mac versus PC
I remember when I was a kid, my dad brought home a computer and the only thing I ever used it for was to write messages in awesome, but really random symbols. It was a Mac, looking at the Mac product line, I think it was the Mac Quandra running whatever Mac OS was current at the time. That was about fifteen years ago, and I never completely lost the idea of Mac computers being a toy more than a machine that can be used for serious work. Now, I realize that is not entirely fair so please do not bombard me with emails ranting about the technical specifications of Apple’s current lineup of laptops and desktops. My point is rather, the image that Apple has always had; an image that they have created for themselves and maintained through their marketing campaigns, price points and product design.
Everyone has seen the “Get a Mac” ads that have been running for the last few years and from an advertising standpoint, they are brilliantly designed. These advertisements, for all their showing Mac and PC as friends use an incredibly simple format (except for the Christmas ones, there isn’t even a background – the characters gloat in a white, featureless space) and in a series of 30 second spots, have made a mockery out of PC. This simplicity is the core of Apple; from design to marketing, it is the most important aspect of the company and the one that has set them apart from their competitors. These advertisements have been the bane of Microsoft’s existence, the proverbial thorn in their side – , although it’s true that Vista had its share of problems, a significant portion of the of the backlash against the operating system is the result of Mac ads that targeted issues such as customer service and the financing Microsoft was leveraging into marketing versus research and development to solve the problems. Going back to what I was saying earlier about Mac being more of a toy than a serious computing device, they actually tackled that idea in one commercial that was released in 2006 (called Self Pity, it is my personal favourite from the Get a Mac campaign) wherein Mac tells PC that he has been running Microsoft Office for years. You can see the full commercial here. But Mac never really maintained that stance, and in all their current commercials the emphasis is on iLife and how useful it is for everything from video editing to the facial recognition feature built into the image suite. It seems almost as if they know they run Office and they are okay assuming that consumers know that, instead they want to emphasize how much better they are at fun things which again brings back the idea of Mac as a toy.
Up until now, Microsoft has never really reacted to the Get a Mac commercials, there were the commercials featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates and although they were funny, I never fully understood the point of them. Finally, Microsoft has responded and it will be interesting to see how Apple is effected by these new spots called ‘Laptop Hunters’ that show what we already know – there are many PCs on the market that are much cheaper than the Mac computers. Last week the Mac versus PC battle became a little more interesting when Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner announced at a conference that he had received a call from the Apple Legal department insisting that Microsoft stop running the Laptop Hunters commercials because Apple had lowered their prices. With another school year right around the corner, it will be interesting to see whether or not Apple responds, where these two companies go with their advertising campaigns from here and how these new commercials effect each company’s market share.
Signing off,
Prianka Ghosh
Social Media Communicator
Retrospectives: Week in Review (07-10-09)
Posted by Rin in Retrospectives on July 13th, 2009
Running a small business is like being a jack of all trades, you need to interact with your clients and suppliers, make sure your financial are in order, manage your staff, and last but not least you need to provide the core product and service that your business intends to provide. 42 Marketing has made it through its first week! After countless hours doing extensive research, writing the business plan, and many more hours focusing on financial projections, the plan is now being set in motion.
Who would have thought that this would ever become a reality? I didn’t, and at times I desperately wanted to throw in the towel and forget that I even wanted this. The research, the effort, and all that time consumed were the bane of my existence. So, why am I doing this? I love marketing, every facet of it, from research to strategy to implementation, I love it all. Every time I felt the energy and motivation drain, I would always go back to that question. Sometimes, I would need motivation from my friends and family to keep me going, but I get there nonetheless.
This week was tough; it was the first week and saw 42 Marketing making its debut, a not too shabby one either. We hit the ground running picking up a client, doing researching and developing a national advertising strategy for them. Building a foundation in the community, we want to instill a sense of pride and would like to build strong ties with our partners, stakeholders and the community, so we have taken an initiative and sponsored Capital Pride;. our job is to provide sound marketing and strategic advice to implement their marketing plan as effective as they can. Administration, the part of work that lingers and never stops piling; after the work day, here comes the time to make sure the housekeeping items are in order to keep things running smoothly.
After a nice relaxing weekend, I am looking forward to challenging myself with grueling tasks that I face when running a business.
Signing off,
Rin
Marketing Strategist
An Introduction
Posted by Prianka in Introductions on July 5th, 2009
42 Marketing is a little company with big dreams. It is comprised of a small group of current and former Carleton students lead by Rinda Pen. The excitement and headaches of running a business are old news for Pen, in 2005 he participated in the Ontario Summer Company program and formed the now defunct Tension Media. Although he had to abandon the project when school started in the fall, Pen had caught the entrepreneurial spirit and it was only a matter of time before it resurfaced. Fast forward a few years, an older and more business savvy Pen suddenly finds himself unemployed when he is let go from a social marketing position with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA). Deciding to eschew conventional post-secondary employment, he spent the next few months designing a logo, devising a business plan, and getting ready to launch 42 Marketing on July 2, 2009. Along for the ride are Accounts Executive, Aleks Simrooglu and Social Media Communicator, Prianka Ghosh (that’s me!).
42 Marketing is, unsurprisingly, a marketing company, but we’re not your grandmother’s marketing company. As Rin likes to say; we are not just thinking outside the box, we are smashing the box into tiny, unrecognizable pieces. Our motto is Imagine Inspire Innovate and it is a motto that will be followed throughout the design of every marketing campaign we undertake. The number 42 is a reference to Douglas Adams’ trilogy in five parts, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy wherein an alien race builds a supercomputer to learn the answer of the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Eventually the computer calculates the answer 42, however when the aliens complain about the inappropriateness of the answer the computer explains that it is the answer to the Ultimate Question. Conveniently though, the supercomputer is unable to tell them what the Ultimate Question is. Don’t worry, 42 Marketing won’t take 7.5 million years to design your marketing plan!
With the first clients already in place, networking, and meetings next week, we are excited to see where this will go. Watch this space and follow us on Twitter at 42Mrktng to read about the adventures of Ottawa’s newest marketing company.
Signing off,
Prianka Ghosh
Control Panel
Is There Such Thing As Too Much Awesome?
Posted by Prianka in Advertising Commentary on January 14th, 2010
If you had asked me that question a few years ago, my answer would have been an unswerving “NO!”, but these days I am not as certain. It seems that, thanks in part to television shows such as How I Met Your Mother, the word awesome has once again become part of the mainstream lexicon and now advertisers are trying to make the word awesome work for their products. Here are two examples of this phenomenon – one that works and one that definitely does not.
First, the new Bourbon Whopper from Burger King. This commercial was airing frequently for a while but as of late it has been surprisingly absent from prime time broadcasts. If you do not know the commercial I am referring to, it features a redneck/hick type in 80s garb including wrap around shades and large moustache extolling the virtues of the new Bourbon Whopper. As part of his speech, he refers to the new Bourbon Whopper as being awesome in a way that is just a tacky overuse of the word. Assuming that Burger King’s aspiration was not to target the red neck population of Canada, I can only guess that this commercial is supposed to be ironic or kitschy and in that sense I suppose it works. I don’t know about you, but I feel a little dirty every time I see that commercial. It is hard to say which is worse; the terrible dance he does or the tattoo of himself eating a Bourbon Whopper.
The other product that is using ‘awesome’ to its advantage is the recent effort from Molson. This commercial features a voice-over that praises Canada while showing a montage of beautiful Canadian scenery. Starting with the line, “Canada. Look at this place.”, he goes on to the line that makes this commercial clever and memorable saying, “We have more square feet of awesomeness per person than any other nation on Earth”. That line, “more square feet of awesomeness” is brilliant because it manages to champion Canada and to congratulate Canadians just for being Canadian while at the same time creating a measurement that is ridiculous enough to be memorable. This is a commercial that makes you laugh the first time you hear it. With the Olympics right around the corner, now is the time to be patriotic (although I will talk about that more in the next blog) and this is easy for Molson, because they have pretty much always been.
What do you think; is there any merit in the pure camp that is the Bourbon Whopper commercial? How do you feel about Molson’s continued reliance on national pride, can they get away with it just because Canada is so awesome?
advertising, Burger King, commercials, Molson
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