Independent industry news for marketing, advertising & media execs
Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches.
Graffiti gives forecourt screen advertising a go;Amarula has a full harvest for Spring; the bygone era of the ‘gentleman’s club’ revitalised by the new McCullagh & Bothwell designs; and Huggies gets a dose of reality.
by Erna George. Brands partner consumers in many ways and finding ways to keep what should be a two-way partnership exciting is a challenge given all the many distractions around. One device employed seemingly at the drop of a hat in South Africa is the loyalty programme.
by Emma King (@EmmainSA) ‘Collaborative economy’, as bollocksy as it sounds, is interesting and also very relevant to the modern marketplace.
Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches.
A limited edition superdrink from Appletiser; Rebranding of the Nerds on a street corner near you; a new skintone range to dream of; and Provantage launches a specialist activation division.
by Mimi Nicklin (@miminicklin) It seems to me that in general people like to talk ‘shopper’, and agencies like to claim ‘shopper’, but that often underlying this trendy new money maker is a disinterest from the industry that is so powerful that the discipline is not only an afterthought, but avoided all together.
The perception is that the ‘in-store bit’ is the less interesting, less exciting sister of the rest of the communications mix.Whilst we know this is the final and critical point of actually selling the product, it gets dismissed, forgotten or left to the last minute. The shopper conceptgets left with no time to research, to create or to innovate, with a belief that an on-pack sticker or a busy wobbler will be enough to convert the habitual shopper mom as she flies down the aisle.
In a previous life I may also have fallen into this group of people so I am not totally naïve. I know that producing a TV ad is more glamorous than designing a gondola end, and I know that the photography behind a print adcan, literally, stop one in their tracks. However, I have spent thelast few days wondering why it is that ‘shopper’ in the USA, Europe and even Asia is a discipline full of change and innovation and excitement, yet in SAwe are so often stuck with‘matching luggage’ linked to the consumer campaign that fades into the clutter of retail messaging. Why can’t we see what the rest of the world is seeing so clearly?
Dear DigitalGrandad…
Righti-o Grandad! Here’s my question:
There’s a lot of buzz about LinkedIn but I can’t decide if its a good place to do social-media marketing. I have about 350 plus connections on LinkedIn and although I don’t get a lot of referrals from it, these people do spend more time on my site if they come from LinkedIn.
It does suggest this is a good place to be active (and all my posts go to my LinkedIn timeline) but LinkedIn itself is quite counter-intuitive in its design. I find LinkedIn hard to navigate and, therefore, time consuming. What are your tips on how to get the best out of LinkedIn as a marketing tool for a website? (The endorsing of skills is particularly irritating. Should I be endorsing connections back? That will be very time-consuming. Will it be worth it?)
Regards and thanks very much!
Gill Moodie, Grubstreet
Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches.
Nature Valley granola bar launches in SA; Promoting wine tourism; adidas is a scream; Armani celebrates the modern woman; and there’s still time to enter Product-of-the-Year.
by Masingita Mazibuko. A fantastically intelligent friend of mine is ever at the mercy of eager men yearning for her attention. Some are suave, having mastered the art of ukushela, or courtship. Others, well, the art of courtship seems to elude them. In my opinion, courtship is no different to what we do when we seek to recruit consumers and build their relationships with our brands.
Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches.
A new purple logo for Kraft Foods SA and a name change; collaboration is the game for Lego and Cartoon Network; adidas runs an experiment and Tile Africa renovates its logo.
by Colwyn Elder (@colwynelder) Over recent years the sustainability movement has served to reconnect people with where their food comes from, what’s in it, how and where it’s grown and its nutritional content.
