Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s pick of new product, packaging and design launches this week:
- January is the time of sales and special offers and even fast food isn’t exempt as KFC cooks up;
- Native VML shows how branded content works for Jameson;
- The tinsel has hardly been put away when the shops are slathered in red for Valentine’s Day and “sincere” messages on chocolates;
- Pepsi takes to the streets; and
- It turns out the Sodastream deal wasn’t that sweet for Scarlett Johansson.
Fast food’s deal
I know the festive season was tough for many retailers, but when even the fast-food outlets start doing two-for-one specials, you know that people have changed their buying behaviour!
KFC has taken a leaf out of the mobile service providers by launching a ‘Twice as Nice Deal’ of snack burger (that’s the mini rounder) and a piece of fried chicken for R14.90. The USP is about getting the ‘best of both worlds’ with KFC, as it is being marketed, with a taste of the original recipe chicken and a burger.
It’s trying to capitalise on the fact that people don’t have a lot of cash left in the early part of the year after over-indulgences during the festive season. The offer is limited: from 14 January until 11 March 2014.
Not a bad price and deal, but the PR company should be fined for its headline: “KFC takes the worry out of JanuWorry with Twice as Nice bundle”. JanuWorry… seriously, who made this a meme? Call the grammar police!
Independent content
Subtle branding through creating experiences via branded content channels is the latest and greatest marketing communications strategy. And Native VML is doing it rather well. Remember the KitKat chocolate exhibition last year? Its latest project is for Jameson.
Native VML has created a new content platform for Jameson, called the INDIE Channel. www.indiechannel.co.za will screen the best independent content by South Africa’s young creatives, designers, fashionistas, musicians and small business owners.
Ryan McManus, executive creative director of Native VML, explains that the idea was sparked by Jameson’s need to “reaffirm and differentiate” its niche brand positioning in the marketplace. “Jameson is first and foremost an independent brand. So to ensure it remains part of the cultural conversation whilst retaining its edgy brand identity, we’ve created the INDIE Channel framework — a platform where South Africa’s independent content can be showcased.”
Apart from the best independently curated content, including music videos and short films submitted from around South Africa, the INDIE Channel will also feature six additional independent shows filmed by the Native VML crew and Motion City Films.
After the regular live screenings in both Cape Town and Johannesburg, shorter snippets of the show will be placed on the website, Facebook and YouTube.
“We’re very excited about this new branded content offering that encapsulates the fearlessly authentic voice of South African popular culture. What better way for Jameson to re-establish its position amongst the country’s cool, edgy, independent thinkers of today?” asks Sibusiso Shangase, Jameson brand manager.
P.S. spend more
SMH. I haven’t even recovered from Christmas and already there’s Valentine’s stuff in the stores and saccharine press releases littering my inbox. For those of you who believe in this schmultzy, totally pointless retail holiday, Cadbury is inviting you to say “I love you” to your casual fling with a P.S. chocolate, with the totally obvious message “I love you”.
However, if you tried to get away with being so cheap on Valentine’s Day in a serious relationship, you’d probably find yourself single again! Which, of course, means you wouldn’t have to bother with totally pointless and expensive gifts for occasions such as Valentine’s Day!
Unless the chocolate was of course just a teaser, followed by roses, jewellery and a weekend away.
But there’s more to this Valentine’s promotion and Cadbury also wants you to shame yourself publicly by sending a virtual P.S. I love you chocolate bar to your “crush” via the Cadbury P.S. Facebook app (www.facebook.com/CadburyPS). You may then win a dream date at a secret location.
Pepsi brings sexy back
Pepsi wants you to ‘Live for Now’ and has tried to give consumers that experience with street campaigns orchestrated by Provantage.
To provide the opportunity for South Africans to experience Pepsi’s Live for Now brand messaging, Provantage took to the streets of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape with a campaign to entertain the public.
“We wanted to give consumers a variety of Live for Now experiences that were new and exciting. With this objective in mind, the campaign featured live entertainment in the form of dancers, DJs, MCs and a host of other crowd-pleasing activations,” explains Lisa Morris, Provantage.
And, of course, prizes always do the trick of pulling in the crowds! People were selected from the crowd to battle it out on stage with dancing and raps for a chance to win a Plasma Flat screen TV at the end of each day.
The campaign was supported by a variety of branded collateral including refrigerated vehicles, Polo GTis and a speciality Gig Rig. Various car washes, in the heart of the consumer environments, were also branded, taking the Pepsi brand message straight to target audiences.
Update: Sodastream controversy
Earlier this month we wrote about the Scarlett Johansson Sodastream deal, which has since drawn criticism from Oxfam, for whom Johansson was also an ambassador. Johansson has clarified her position with a statement.
Shelf Life by Louise Marsland is a weekly column on MarkLives. Tweet new product, packaging and design launches to @louise_marsland or email her at louise.marsland at gmail.com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.
Louise has written about the FMCG, media, marketing and advertising industry for 19 of her more-than-25-year career as a former editor of magazines AdVantage, Marketing Mix and Progressive Retailing, as well as websites Bizcommunity.com and FMCGFiles. She currently edits the weekly Wednesday Media & Marketing Page for The New Age newspaper and is the publishing editor of industry trendwatching portal, TRENDAFRiCA, for consumer insight, research and trends in Africa.
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