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Tag archives: advertising
The Switch: What is the currency of aspiration?
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) The love of money is problematic. Many of the problems we face today can be linked to a desire to possess more. This is an important debate for us advertisers, as almost every client brief we receive asks for aspirational communication.
Radar – now within range
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Radar has had its offices in the midst of a construction site for just over a year. It’s an easy allegory to describe the agency, which has been working hard to reinvent itself following the departure of three of its four partners just over a year and a half ago.
In 2006, four friends (Baphumze Msengana, Tricia Snowball, Karen Meyer and Jason Ray) left Ogilvy to launch Under the Radar (UTR) a specialist below the line agency. They had, says Ray, the last of the four left at the agency, believed that it was time to launch a new kind of agency that backed away from its reliance on traditional media, and had been in advanced talks with WPP, through Ogilvy, to back them. They got as far as looking for premises, but final approval just never arrived, so they departed and set up on their own.
Ray, who was Head of New Business at Ogilvy before helping launch UTR, says he knew the start-up agency would be OK when Old Mutual gave him an access card to Mutual Park at his going away party. The agency had signed Old Mutual as one of its founding clients.
UTR would live by three core rules, still in place today, says Ray. They would only work with clients they liked, they would avoid communication layering so that the client would always deal with the most senior person on the job, and accessibility and a focus on quality time will mean real agility inside the agency.
Under the Radar had been just that, operating under the radar from most of the advertising and marketing industry, but this is set to change. Ray has bought out his three partners, amicably, he says (one is rejoining agency as a staff member), and has evolved its full service communications offering. The agency has been rebranded as Radar.
The Switch: A window today, a mirror tomorrow
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) Ever thought about the relationship between a window and a mirror? The question on many people’s lips is, is advertising a mirror to the soul or a window into the aspirations of the soul?
Nike, Oscar Pistorius and weaponry – more ads deemed inappropriate
“Nike extends its deepest sympathy and condolences to all families concerned following this tragic incident. As it is a police matter, Nike will not comment further at this time.”
Commentators are already questioning the appropriateness of ad collateral produced for Nike including its ‘Nike – My body is my weapon’ campaign that featured Pistorius.
How to direct a dictator (as told by Dean Blumberg)
by Kim Penstone Creating empathy for a man such as Robert Mugabe is no easy feat. But that was the task put to Dean Blumberg by agency Black River FC and client Nando’s.
The Gate Keeper: Chapter 24 (In which the intern contemplates blackmail)
by Andrew Miller TBW Smith Jones Wallace Broadbent and Ndimande is an agency in crisis. Their ‘basket of boutique services’ strategy has bombed. Only a massive new project can keep the doors open – all eyes are now on the corporate tent at Mangaung. Far in the background, an emergency replacement executive PA with decades of experience makes important decisions. Interns rise, board members take unexpected steps and things begin to change…
The intern considers the full ramifications of the Chairman’s criminal intent, while the consultant starts to walk the corridors…
Louise Marsland & MarkLives launches TREND.
MarkLives and well respected marketing and media commentator and editor Louise Marsland have teamed up to launch an exciting new market intelligence resource to the advertising, media and marketing communications industry in Southern Africa.
TREND. brings together the research savvy of Marsland with MarkLives’ cool and sexy take on the modern advertising world. TREND. launched this morning at trendlives.info and will focus on trend forecasting, in-depth reports, insight and analysis relevant to the broader marketing industry.
The site will serve as a central curated resource for local and international marketing and media research as well as create its own unique in-depth reports that sources and charts influential modern trends marketers and their agencies need to note.
As with MarkLives, TREND. will will offer its content free of charge, and will be supported by site and report sponsors. Ornico, Quirk, Machine Agency, 60layersofcake Cape Town and John Brown Media are the founding landing page sponsors for the site.
The first in-depth Dissect report to be published on TREND. focuses on socialising the enterprise. Compiled by Marsland and sponsored by Quirk, the report, which runs to over 11 000 words, sets forth the effects of a socialised consumer base on the modern enterprise. Content is broken in readily digestible pieces for the busy executive.
Social media is not about a suite of social networks and tools writes Marsland. “It is now about the social enterprise, the brand that integrates social across all platforms of engagement. It is about living social.”
Draftfcb Johannesburg announces new Managing Director
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Draftfcb Johannesburg has announced the appointment of Alistair Mokoena as Managing Director of the agency. Mokoena comes from ABSA where he had served as head of Marketing at ABSA Retail & Business Bank.
Clueless professors on Pepsi Refresh. What the hell are they teaching?
by Bob Hoffman (@adcontrarian) There was a piece in Ad Age last week featuring the astoundingly clueless opinions of marketing and business professors on the subject of the Pepsi Refresh project.
The amazing thing is that these people weren’t from Southwest Arkansas State. These guys were from Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn and Notre Dame.
It makes it clear why so many young people in advertising are confused about what they’re supposed to be doing. And just how out of touch these experts are.
Before we take a look at the comments, let’s review the facts:
In 2010, Pepsi diverted scores of millions of dollars from traditional advertising (including their Super Bowl sponsorship and their traditional TV advertising) into a massive social media project.
After one year of this, they had lost 5% of their business.
Their sales dropped by an estimated half a billion dollars.
They fell from their traditional 2nd place in the soft drink category to 3rd place.
Their sales erosion increased widely compared to the previous year
Their beverage ceo was so upset he said he was going to “blow up the place.”
To this day, they are still suffering from this debacle
Many of the key players are now gone from Pepsi
After burning astronomical amounts of money on this, Pepsi finally killed it in March.
If that doesn’t describe a complete marketing disaster, I don’t know what does. So what do the academics have to say about Refresh?