Back in the 1990’s a new drink phenomenon hit the bars and nightclubs up and down the land. In between the lashings of ‘disco fizz’ (pint of lager with a dash of lemonade on top) and dry white wine spritzers for the ladies, a cheeky, little mixer was starting to create a bit of a commotion. It had a taste of pure adrenalin, you slung a shot of vodka in it and it produced a youth drinking culture overnight: the drink was Red Bull. The era of Red Bull had begun and getting a swathe of 18 to 30 year olds hooked on to a caffeine-rich energy drink through the club ...
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There is probably one event that is more important (in terms of consumerism) than the race to claim the Christmas Number One slot in the hit parade; to be THE most sought after toy at Christmas is the ultimate prize for global toy manufacturers. Over the years, children have screamed and begged their parents to tell Santa ‘he must’ place the cleverly marketed piece of tat they’ve just seen advertised on the TV in their sack on Christmas Eve. Big winners, which now sit in a hall of fame for kids’ toys and game, include Action Man with eagle eyes; the Weebles that wobbled but didn’t fall down; the hopelessly pointless ...
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A passing glance across the terraces of numerous English football stadia in the 1990’s would have thrown up some common fashion observations. Through the haze of steam from hot Ginster’s pasties and watery hot chocolate, the de rigueur combination of Stone Island jacket and Burberry cap would stretch as far as the eye could see. No self-respecting football-loving lad would be seen dead in anything else: this was the unofficial match day uniform for supporters up and down the land. It was an association for the classic fashion brand, Burberry, which would go from bad to worse. The brand was becoming a part of a British casual cult and by the ...
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In the early sixties British youth culture was in full swing. It was a fascinating decade of change as the social revolution influenced everything from music to hairstyles and free love. Fashion was central to the changing opinions of youth in the sixties; they had a voice which could be expressed through, amongst other things, the clothes on their backs. As one man put it at the time, “Looking good isn’t important, it’s everything.” That man was Ben Sherman. Born Benjamin Sugarman in Brighton (the town where all worlds collided in the sixties), Sherman moved to the US in 1946. During the early part of the sixties, Sherman became aware of the ...
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It goes without saying that putting a positive spin on things can deliver big benefits. If it goes without saying, however, then how come so many captains of industry get PR so spectacularly wrong? If you look back through the annals of marketing time, the records throw up sensational PR gaffes which have astounded and amused in equal measure. Who can forget Gerald Ratner announcing to the world in 1991 that his brand’s products were ‘total crap’ and, in doing so, wiped £500M of the company’s value over night. Or how about Abercrombie and Fitch’s high profile launch of racy thong underwear…for 10 year old girls. Heathrow’s glittering Terminal 5 was ...
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For many brands, there is only one truly global sport: football. The power and reach of ‘the beautiful game’ has attracted some of the biggest names in global sponsorship and endorsement. Mastercard, adidas, Hyundai, Sony are entrenched in the FIFA World Cup; Budweiser partner the oldest cup competition in the world, the FA Cup; Coca-Cola and Emirates sponsor an increasing array of leagues and teams; Sony Playstation, Heineken and Ford invest in the UEFA Champions League. The list of those keen to be a player goes on: Castrol, Canon, Seat, McDonalds… Not surprisingly, getting a front row seat in this particular house doesn’t come cheaply; sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup ...
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Ask some who their favourite actor is and the usual crop of names will come up: Clooney, Cruise, Pitt, Hanks et al. Those who are a little older might even nominate a certain Steve McQueen who, as the epitome of ‘cool’, arguably knocks all of the above into a cocked hat. He delivered his roles in The Magnificent Seven/Great Escape/Towering Inferno/Thomas Crowne Affair/Bullitt with consummate ease and style. One of his films, Le Mans, doesn’t always spring to mind immediately for many but, ironically, the film is remembered as one of the first examples of a modern marketing phenomenon: product placement. On the wrist of McQueen for this rather turgid documentary-style ...
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Benjamin Franklin (you know the guy…US Postmaster General who liked flying kites in lightning storms) once said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Well, as it is the world’s third most popular drink after water and tea, it seems he may have a point. Of all the beer that is consumed on the planet every day – 18 million pints of which are drunk in the UK alone, a few brands stand head and shoulders above the rest. One such blond beauty is the Belgian titan, Stella Artois. ‘Stella’ has been brewed in the town of Leuven since 1926 and not 1366 as denoted ...
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In the days prior to the turn of the new millennium, when we were all still happily politically un-correct, jokes which poked fun at things we actually thought ‘funny’ was still an okay thing to do. You could get away with Englishman/Scotsman/Irishman quips; you could lighten the mood with the odd apocryphal tale about young females just to the east of London and you could certainly guffaw heartily at the efforts of a certain Czech Republic car manufacturer called Skoda. At one stage it seemed like every other joke invented was one about Skoda’s roadworthy credentials: - What do you call a Skoda with twin exhaust pipes? A wheelbarrow - What do you ...
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Most brand marketers are intrigued (or at least they should be) by the comments made by visitors to their competitors blog sites. It provides a sense of how advocates and nonconformists alike are responding to that particular company in real time. The weblog of the ‘highly ethical’ brand, Patagonia, is a far cry from the usual she-said-this and he-said-that of other £200M companies and visiting marketers may stumble on to something quite unexpected when they log on. Contributors to this eco-friendly cascade of words focus on everything from tips on getting the best out of your garden in spring to erosion problems on the southeast ridge of some mountain or other. What? ...
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Try and think about this for a moment. If you wanted to go somewhere to work, that wasn’t work; to chill out, that wasn’t home; leaf through a paper or magazine or just watch people come and go…where would that somewhere be? For many people, that somewhere is likely to be a coffee shop and for a fair proportion of those, the coffee shop is probably Starbucks. A key driver in Starbucks’ marketing success has been to create a destination between home and office which provides an environment and an atmosphere that its customers can relax into and enjoy. Sure enough, there are other coffee brands offering a similar ‘experience’ for ...
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When you hear that a company has just become as big as a major European country just through selling a few pieces of fancy electronic wizardry, you tend to do a bit of a double-take. But for Apple, the news that they are now as big as Sweden, or Poland depending on what news report you were watching at the time, didn't result in wide-eyed shock from the public with gasps of ‘how on earth did they manage that’? In fact, the response from hysterical fruit-loving geeks across the world was more ‘yeah…that makes sense’. So what, exactly, have Apple done to become a true powerhouse in consumer electronics? It’s a brand that has ...
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