Like many, I had my doubts after the firm sold part of its soul (stake) to what critics might call the devil but it hasn’t lost its, well, innocence yet. Even the 2011 AGM meeting sounds like the most fun day ever.

And Innocent is being clever again, this time for Valentine’s Day by launching a new promotion via a dedicated website that allows consumers to create their own ‘Love Label’, print it out and stick it onto a smoothie bottle to give to their special someone. The campaign is being supported by Facebook, Twitter and other online activity.

After choosing your favourite smoothie, you can complete the label by either writing your own message if you feel particularly inspired, or picking one of the not-so innocent messages. The barcode and logo also come in different shapes.

Valentine’s Day is usually the time of the year when most of the brands only seem to be able to come up with PR clichés, ideas that have been done to death or campaigns that offer no link between the season and their product, so it’s refreshing to see a new, original initiative that is both engaging and fits so perfectly with the brand.

Have a try – don’t you love these guys even more now?

Rumours have circulated that the online retailer was currently trialling a new system in Seattle with customers being able to collect their orders from shopping centre-based lockers as opposed to waiting at home for deliveries. You order online, receive a PIN number which will enable you to open the locker and get your products – simple, convenient and safe.

Source: Retail Week

As someone who has missed two parcels in the past week and is now dreading an early Saturday morning wakeup call to collect them at the local Post Office, this is definitely good news. Good news also to see a retailer that is listening to its customers – who hasn’t complained about having to wait at home for deliveries? – and is actually doing something about it.

There have been numerous talks about Amazon having a high street presence which doesn’t fit with their model but it looks like they have found a great alternative which has already proven to be successful for other retailers in the US.

In addition, by driving customers (back) to shopping centres, could this provide a solution to the current war between online shopping and shopping centres / high street retailers?

Coca-Cola’s repositioning is the perfect example: not unethical textbook speaking but a bit wrong nonetheless.

Like many other brands, Coca-Cola understood a long time ago that mothers are the key to families’ heart – that is ‘purse’ in marketing language. And what a better way of reaching their ‘heart’ than by telling them that their family mealtimes will taste better with Coke?

The new TV ads will feature a nice 1950’s family meal and when glasses of Coke are poured, rabbits, grass and animated flowers appear.

This is clever and obviously well-executed. And who wouldn’t like to see rabbits and animated flowers in their living-room?

Rest assure though that Coca-Cola is actively involved in a number of programmes to promote healthy eating and physical activity – but can we really hide everything under social responsibility campaigns?

Last week’s Kenneth Cole’s ‘accident’ is here to remind us that sadly, even some of the most successful brands have still a long way to go.

For those who were in a coma last week, Kenneth Cole has been caught posting the following tweet:

The Kenneth Cole brand has been trying to be seen as ‘alternative’, for example via their We All Walk in Different Shoes advertising campaign for example (copycat of Oliviero Toscani’s Benetton ads in the 1980’s).  Not sure if they thought this tweet reflected their brand personality but needless to say, it didn’t go down well in the digital world.

Kenneth Cole isn’t the only brand though – here is a top 5 of social media disasters (and lessons that should now be learned):

1. Nestle – Deleting fans and posting defensive comments will only make the situation worse. Instead make sure you reply promptly and in a personal and friendly way.

2. Belkin – Writing your own positive product reviews – or worse paying people to do it – is NOT an option. Instead, show that you value your consumers’ feedback by encouraging them to leave their comments. And take note of what you can do to make your products even better.

3. Eurostar – Using Twitter as a tool for your campaigns is good, but during a major crisis, people will expect real-time information and comments rather than sightseeing tips.  Social media is a great customer service tool, think about this, honestly.

4. Habitat – Using trending topic hashtags that have nothing to do with your products / services – including hashtags linked to major political crises – to make your tweets noticed is just wrong. Instead, why not coming up with a creative social media campaign and you’ll see your tweets getting noticed.

5. Domino’s – Reacting quickly is a good first step but by already having a strong following on social media platforms, you can help avoid the disaster to spread in the first place.

In a clever move, the band has teamed up with Durex to launch a range of extra safe condoms – Just Love Sex – JLS.  The band’s initials.  Get it?

Although numerous penis/JLS related puns come to mind, the initiative has been labelled ‘the latex factor’.  Due to the quartet’s involvement in ITV1’s show, the X Factor.  Still following?

Four different packs will launch later on this year, each branded with a band member’s individual colour, and face.  Yes.  Not for fan collectables or laughter, just for extra pleasure.

Still feeling in mood?

While a heartless PR consultant at times, I actually didn’t find anything bad to say about the original concept: a talentless yet popular band seen as role models teaming up with condom giant to encourage safe sex and help keep their fans STD and pregnancy free as they get it on, most probably to one of their songs.

All the ingredients are here, yet in practice the partnership feels a little bit like the morning after the night before: surprise soon followed by incredulity and awkwardness.  And no breakfast.

I may be too old or not cool enough (rhetorical questions, thanks) but can anyone above the age of 16 confirm that this won’t put them or their partner off at the crucial time?

Its first-ever product launched outside of the US is targeting young, middle class Asian consumers between the ages of 18 and 28 – and what better way of targeting them than hiring ten of them to blog?

The 10 lucky ones have been selected from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and India to represent the rising Asian generation – and also cleverly to support ‘Denizen’ which, after launching in China last week, will subsequently expand to Singapore and South Korea.

This 100-day innovative pan-Asian social media campaign appears to be rather audacious given that the bloggers have been given total editorial freedom and only asked to ‘share their experiences and thoughts’ – topics are suggested but not imposed and their blogs aren’t linked to the official brand website.

Is this why the Head of Corporate Affairs at Levi Strauss Asia-Pacific division said that Denizen10 wasn’t part of their official marketing plan? “Denizen wants to provide a social media platform that speaks from grass-root level and represents the youth 24/7”, he also added, un-marketingly.

Professional models weren’t hired for the launch of the first collection in Shanghai but bloggers, musicians and friends of those involved with the campaign – people who could be identified as ‘regular people’ – well, if this isn’t marketing then…

Sea, Christmas and Sun

Selfridges is getting ready to celebrate Christmas – and is encouraging us to do the same – by launching its Christmas season next Monday, its earliest ever opening.

To justify kicking off the festivities 145 days before the actual day, the store used the well-known pretext of ‘responding to consumer demand’.

Yes previous sales had shown that some customers, especially overseas tourists, started thinking about Christmas during August which obviously represents a great opportunity for the store to increase its profits but what about the Christmas spirit?

Isn’t Christmas so special and still so popular because it is fleeting?

By spreading Christmas over four months, it will not only dilute its meaning (even more than it already is) but will also make people tired of it before the annoying Christmas ads have even started.

Even more worrying, given the fierce competition amongst retailers, it is also an invitation for the others to raise the bar and start their Christmas season sooner next year.”

Christmas is coming earlier each year” says a spokesperson from Selfridges.  Well, I don’t know for you, but my calendar hasn’t changed and Christmas is still on 25 December.

Instead, how about making some Christmas must-haves available throughout the year for the fanatics and launching the Christmas season at an acceptable time, i.e. when people aren’t thinking about barbecues and sun cream?

In the meantime, I will try to explain to my niece in vain, that yes Santa Claus will bring her a Barbie but she’ll need to be patient, very patient.

We’ve all been there – already struggling to find a convenient date or place for a simple catch up with our mates, organising holidays with them can quickly turn into a nightmare of emails and planning (and that’s even before discovering that half of them snore).

The new Easy Jet Facebook application ‘Holiday planner’ appears as a lifesaving tool.  It’s quick and easy to use and allows users to select destinations, dates, budgets and invite friends to join the trip.

This is the first time that a travel company is offering full booking facilities through Facebook – it actually makes me wonder why no one else (erm, including me) has thought of it before.

It’s always great to see a brand being involved in social media for other reasons than because all its direct competitors are and they feel they need to do it too.

Easy Jet appears as an innovator (once again) by taking a step further and using social media for e-commerce: a wake up call for other brands to realise that there is a whole range of opportunities behind straightforward campaigns, however successful some of them are.

After only a short chat amongst my colleagues, I have managed to compile a selection – feel free to use them if they aren’t already part of your PR vocabulary:

1. To ride the tiger
2. Bluesky thinking
3. To push the envelope
4. To step up to the plate
5. To throw it against the wall and see what sticks
6. To pluck the low hanging fruits
7. In a nutshell
8. Ducks in a row
9. To think outside the box
10. To touch base

In the Consumer team, we have recently adopted the term ‘ride the tiger’ as our new mantra – all management books agree that it helps to pull everyone together and brings that extra bit of motivation to a team, and in our case laughter.  We have since noticed that our mantra has taken on a life of its own and has now started an international trend.  Or so it seems.

Celebrities and brands are never very far from each other.  After many stories in the past weeks showing how some sportsmen can terminate sponsorship contracts in more time than sending a naked picture by text message, some PRs clearly still have faith in A-listers.

In fact, Magnum, the yummy ice-cream brand announced last week that Benicio Del Toro, the no less yummy Hollywood actor will be the new face of the new Gold ice cream.  After Eva Longoria and Eva Mendes, it is now our turn ladies to sit back and enjoy these sexy ice-cream ads.

The male opinion on Twitter was quite negative and they didn’t seem to see the connection between the two, whilst the ladies on the other hand are clearly more appreciative.

How do you make sure you choose the right celebrity for your brand?  I believe if the celebrity is credible and its personal story fits the brand, then why not?   In this case, Gold ‘aims to reflect the brand’s indulgence and chocolate credentials’ and ‘the campaign will build on the brand’s positioning as the World’s Pleasure Authority’ according to Unilever which look right on target for Benicio.