Zazou Marketing

Do you ever dream about the time in your future when all of your marketing pursuits will have paid off and you’ll be able to take a marketing break? Ah, yes, it does sound divine. But here’s the reality check: Even when things are clicking along and you have more work than you can handle, you can not take a break from marketing. Want proof? Even “Harry Potter” needs to do marketing. Yes, that’s right. Even the boy wizard who is known worldwide has to do marketing.

Even "Harry Potter" needs to do marketing

What’s next on the “Harry Potter” marketing initiative? Getting people to the 6th movie this summer. What are they up against? By some accounts, the “Twilight” franchise, whose vampires have a major cross-over audience.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Hollywood marketing executives say that these days the “Twilight” franchise has influenced almost every studio marketing campaign that targets teenage girls. Some posters for the upcoming “Potter” film echo “Twilight”’s emphasis on romance. One features Harry and his crush, Ginny, gazing longingly into each others’ eyes, in a pose reminiscent of “Twilight”’s now-iconic image of its star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward. Another shows Harry’s friend Ron with his girlfriend Lavender, while a jealous Hermione scowls in the background.

Still, the “Harry Potter” marketing team says that they didn’t consider “Twilight” when creating their marketing campaign. More from the article:

Warner Bros. and the team behind “Potter” say they didn’t take the “Twilight” franchise into account when designing their marketing materials for “The Half-Blood Prince.” Instead, they crafted a campaign aimed to resonate with previous “Potter” films, the executives and filmmakers say, dismissing the notion that there is a rivalry between the franchises among fans.

“With all due respect to “Twilight,” the longevity and world-wide success of the Harry Potter franchise speaks for itself,” a studio representative said.

Whether they considered “Twilight” or not when creating a marketing campaign, you will notice that they are doing marketing. They are not saying, “We’re so famous, we don’t need marketing.”

So, sorry to burst your marketing-break bubble. But if “Harry Potter” needs to continue to market even with the success he has had, so do you.

Perhaps for the first time, Air New Zealand has managed to created safety videos that people will actually watch.

With a big dose of humor and light-hearted fun, the video speaks to the company’s lack of hidden fees. How? The safety video stars real-life company employees who are clad only in paint. Yes, that’s right: Paint.

While your head turns because of the elaborately painted-on uniforms, it’s the copy that is the punch line. At the beginning of the safety video, the paint-clad flight attendants introduce the video with the following copy:

Flight attendant 1: “Before we lift off, we’d like to give you what we call the bare essentials of safety aboard this flight.”

Flight attendant 2: “Even if you fly with us quite a lot, we’d appreciate it if you take… a second look.”

You won’t be surprised that seat belts, life vests and baggage conceal body parts, as needed.

Perhaps just as compelling as the curiosity factor, though, is that the crew seems to genuinely be having fun — almost laughing — as they impart their safety wisdom. And the music (“Under My Skin,” by New Zealand singer Gin Wigmore ) is upbeat and cheerful. The total effect is that you really do want to watch.

Along with this new in-flight video is a similar ad campaign that has been running for about a month. The advertising campaign’s slogan is, “At Air New Zealand, our fares have nothing to hide. Which is why the price you pay includes everything — up front.”

In this ad, paint-clad staffers help with bags and paint-clad flight attendants offer drinks. Again, the tone is playful and the copy is the punch line. Case in point: The ad closes with two women sitting in the airport, watching as two pilots in their painted-on suits walk through the airport. One of the women says, “Do you love a man in uniform!”

This marketing campaign is successful on many accounts. First of all, the video and advertisement are entertaining (and you won’t be surprised that they have gotten a good viewing on YouTube). But they also effectively deliver a message about the brand. But, for me, perhaps one of the best parts of the marketing campaign is that in this day and age of security lines and cramped legroom, it makes traveling look fun again.

When you think of people who rent out apartments, what’s the first thing you think of? It’s probably not superheroes, but Apartments.com wants that to change. The website is launching a new marketing campaign that “empowers its advertisers to become everyday superheroes,” says the company’s press release. It goes on to say, “we’re committed to ensuring our advertisers continue to be heroic by adding exposure opportunities and first-class products that drive qualified renter traffic to their leasing office doors.”

All I can say to this is, “What?! Come on!”

Iconic superheroes Batman, Superman and... apartment leasers? Art by Alex Ross and Jim Lee.

The premise, I believe, is to say that they make leasing professionals into more powerful sales people. OK, I can buy that. But the leap to being a superhero? Even after repeatedly reading the company’s press release, I still don’t get the connection — so I certainly can’t explain it here.

It is always a good idea to have good creative when you are launching a marketing campaign. And it’s a great idea to offer a new twist or turn to catch people’s attention. But this marketing campaign is just off-base. I can imagine a leasing professional doing a lot of things, but leaping tall buildings in a single bound is not one of them.

Imagine how powerful a message could be created by some of the worlds’ most creative minds. Specifically, imagine what kind of a message the United Nations, the International Advertising Association and some of the world’s greatest advertising, marketing and media agencies could create…

Well, they have done just that with the launch of Hopenhagen, or hopenhagen.org, “a global marketing and communications initiative that will inspire and generate mass activation around the world,” according to the press release. Yep, we’ve got big names, big ideas and big, lofty goals all converging with this marketing campaign.

What exactly is Hopenhagen? Here’s the opening copy from the website:

“Welcome to Hopenhagen.
On December 7, 2009, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to determine the fate of our planet. Let’s turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen.”

The focus of the climate change conference is to solve our environmental crisis, explains the copy.

And accompanying the marketing campaign copy is a place to add your own thoughts on what gives you hope. The ideas that people have input then run as a scroll on the bottom of the web page.

The focus, then, is clearly hope. And here’s what the press release says about what inspired the idea:

“Hopenhagen stemmed from the idea that the UN Climate Change Conference is an opportunity to protect people and the planet, while powering global green growth. The campaign will emphasize a shift from “coping” or ignoring to “hoping” and ultimately acting to create a new reality.”

What I find most interesting about this marketing campaign is that in today’s world of flash and design-driven advertising and marketing campaigns, it’s primarily copy driven. Even more, it’s effective: the campaign is simple; the copy is creative; and it gets you engaged and thinking.

So, what gives you hope?

Toyota’s marketing campaign for the 2010 Prius includes advertising on Gas Station TV — you know, those TV screens at the gas pump that show news and ads. I for one hate those TV screens and do everything I can to avoid going to gas stations that have them. I simply resent being forced to watch and listen to whatever is being blasted during the time that I pump my gas.

Assuming I am not the only one who feels that way, I might discourage Prius from using this marketing medium. However, a new study shows that this may just be the perfect venue for Prius to market to those unfortunate people who do have to watch ads while they are pumping.

Why? Because relevance is key. A generally known concept in marketing circles, there is new data to further back it up:

Ads on websites with content that related to those ads were 61 percent more likely to be recalled than those on websites with unrelated content, according to a study from CBS Vision, as reported by MediaPost’s Online Media Daily. Interestingly, social networks, shopping sites and food sites created the best recall rates (29 percent to 39 percent). And non-topic-specific search and portal sites had the lowest recall rates.

While this study is website specific, the results just back up what has already been proved by other studies. So, Prius may actually be smart to advertise to people who are pumping gas (and would rather not be). And you should definitely figure out who your target market is and where they are — and make sure to market to them there.

Dunkin’ Donuts is rolling out an entertaining and fun new ad campaign. But that’s not what made it noteworthy enough for me to write about here. The reason that I’m mentioning it is because — as all marketing campaigns should — this campaign effectively differentiates the company from their competition.

Dunkin’ Donuts’ “Breakfast NOT Brokefest” advertising campaign introduces the company’s new 99-cent breakfast wrap, which is also in line with their current coffee pricing.

Dunkin' Donuts is rolling out a new "Breakfast NOT Brokefest" ad campaign.

The marketing campaign includes displays of legs that stick out of public fountains, which make it look like someone jumped into the fountain to gather coins. A sign next to the legs read: “Please do not remove change for 99-cent items at Dunkin’ Donuts.”

In a separate TV ad, a man tightens his belt, which prompts a colleague to point out that that won’t save him money.

The price-oriented advertising campaign sets the brand apart from the pricier McDonald’s and Starbucks (who are both trying to tackle the coffee and breakfast market right now).  Considering that people are feeling the need to scale back and let go of luxuries like a $4 latte, the Dunkin’ Donuts campaign may entice more than a few new customers.

By the way, if you want to read more about what Starbucks has been up to recently, read my past posts:

Starbucks vs. Stella: Two beverage companies warn against paying less

Copy Chatter: Starbucks Bucks the Short Copy Trend

And the winner is…. Burger King!

No, it’s not the Academy Awards. It’s the Effies, which, if you’re in the advertising and marketing world, you already know is a big deal. The point of the Effie Awards? To honor marketing communications ideas that work.

So, the 2009 Grand prize was awarded last night to Burger King and Crispin Porter + Bogusky for the “Whopper Freakout” campaign.

The Grand Whopper Freakout campaign removed the Whopper from Burger King's menu and won the 2009 Grand Effie last night.

Here’s a summary of the campaign (go to the Effie Awards page for more details):

First, Burger King removed the Whopper from the menu without letting their customers know. Then, in phase two of the campaign, customers were given competitors’ burgers instead of the Whopper. Finally, Burger King TV ads to drove traffic to Whopperfreakout.com, where you can view an eight-minute documentary on the experiment (and, of course, you can upload it — see below). This part, of course is key, because the very entertaining and funny video focuses on the reactions of people who are being deprived of their beloved Whoppers. The result of the campaign was that Whopper quarterly sales increased by double-digits.

Double digit sales increase on the whopper? It just goes to show you that innovation and showing the value of your product or service can go a long way in your marketing campaign.

Recently I posted about how Starbucks was bucking the short-copy trend — opting for a page of copy rather than a one-line zinger. But it looks like they have been out-copied by a long shot!

As part of Cesar Sunrise’s launch of “the first-ever gourmet canine cuisine breakfast,” they have created an eight-page, make-believe humorous newspaper. Called The West Highland Herald, it is chock-full of stories written by dogs for dogs. Yes, you read that right: The stories are written by dogs with their dog peers in mind. (You can also view the paper on their Web site.)

To give you a sense of this newspaper, in the “fashion and lifestyle section” the headline reads, “Bold Shapes Dominate Milan Runways” and runs with the following photo:

This story includes the following excerpt:

First, let’s talk collars. Expect them to get tougher than leather, with several designers taking their cue from the junkyard and early 80s punk music. That’s right, studs and spikes are back! Goodbye bitch—hello butch!

And in the “Regional News” section a headline says, “Dog Saves Family from Vicious Vacuum,” with a story that starts with the following copy:

LOST GATOS—A very brave and fast-acting South Bay Pomeranian put an end to an upright vacuum bent on destruction this past Saturday. Teddy, 4, of La Serra Terrace, made a split-second decision that spared his family certain harm.

And there is a lot more where this came from.

You may ask, “Where is the Cesar ad in all of this?” That’s easy: On each page there is a labeled advertisement (definitely keeping things authentic here).  One says, “wake up to something special, cesar sunrise breakfast entrees.” Another says “new! cesar sunrise brand.” When you click through any of the ads, an extensive, multi-paged interactive Cesar ad pops up.

As for whether this humorous campaign will generate additional business, as always that remains to be seen. However, this ad campaign is entertaining and is certainly designed to go viral. If it does (with the help of a few people like me) it may very well increase sales.

If you’re launching an ad campaign, you certainly want a return on your investment. So it’s nice to know that research shows how to make your ad campaign increase sales or profit.

Here are the results of a study done by The Journal of Advertising Research, as published in Ad Age today, which found that the following strategies are most likely to increase sales or profit:

* Focus on hard objectives, such as specific market-share gains, rather than soft ones, such as brand awareness
* Focus on price, not volume
* Focus on penetration (winning new consumers) rather than loyalty
* Influence consumers emotionally rather than rationally
* Create ads with “talk value”
* Have a high share of voice relative to brand market share
* Include TV in the mix
* Include a small number of media channels with a concerted message

Source: Les Binet & Peter Field, June issue, Journal of Advertising Research.

While some of these elements are part of an overall marketing strategy, many of them are very much intertwined with your copy. So remember, for instance, to consider keeping your focus on specific objectives that win new consumers.

Of course, each advertising campaign is different and some “rules” are meant to be broken, but the above list is certainly a good guideline when mapping out your ad campaign — or, for that matter, any marketing materials or marketing campaign.