Brand | Speed Communications Blog

February 3rd, 2012 by Estelle Douine

Message on a (smoothie) bottle

I’ve always been a massive fan of Innocent – not only does its smoothies taste like pure heaven and help me give the finger effortlessly to the 5 A Day Nazis, but also its so bloody clever about its brand.

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?

Posted in Retail
Tags: Brand, Facebook, Fruit, Holidays, Innocent Drinks, Smoothie, Twitter, Valentine's Day
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February 2nd, 2012 by saracollinge

What can marketers learn from TripAdvisor’s advertising experience?

Yesterday the Advertising Standards Authority cracked down on TripAdvisor for its marketing claims and forced a re-write. This came on the same day as they condemned a L’Oreal advert starring Rachel Weisz for mis-leading consumers.

Is this a nanny state gone mad or are there interesting points things to learn for PRs and marketers?

There’s one thing that’s obvious, it’s completely different for consumer and B2B brands. B2B brands are given almost free reign to make all sorts of claims about ‘industry firsts’ and ‘market-leading’ products and services, whereas consumers are constantly molly coddled by government run authorities. Whilst it’s true that buying a software solution for your business might not effect specific individuals if it goes wrong, why is buying a holiday based on someone else’s recommendation any different?

Perhaps they assume that the business world is more discerning. They might be right there, you’ve got to jump through a lot of budgetary, management and contractual hoops before buying a new business tool, but surely you’d do a lot of research before buying a holiday and in the case of the L’Oreal advert everyone knows that one face cream is more or less the same as another… What’s the difference? Probably mass appeal I suppose and the Government’s obsessive need to protect the consumer.

It’s a bit pedantic, but whether we like it or not, that’s the way of the world. But in my opinion tighter regulation is a good thing. It should actually make us all better marketers. Be more imaginative, more creative, gain audience and customers through being cleverer than the competition and pushing your marketing department to be braver with their campaigns. Don’t stick with the classic we have the best x formula, create your own brand by using the millions and one channels that are available. Video, podcasts, live events, social media, whatever, make your marketing and PR count.

Posted in agency, marketing
Tags: Brand, Marketing, PR, social media
2 Comments »

January 30th, 2012 by Marie Efthymiou

Sweet Smell of Success . . . . ?

This week saw the surprise announcement that Lynx were launching their first fragrance targeted at the female audience. But why would women buy into a brand that has to date, so boldly targeted men – and phenomenally successfully so?

The creative geniuses at Lynx must be commended, for they’ve delivered some of the most impactful and memorable campaigns of recent years – you would be hard pushed to find a person who hadn’t heard of the ‘Lynx Effect’. No one can argue that they don’t understand the male consumer (their use of scantily clad models herding towards Lynx-wearing men proves this) but as a twenty-something female shopper who spends an average of fifty pounds a month on beauty products, I’m not convinced that the launch of a sister product is right. Lynx as a brand is known for pushing the boundaries, but this may be one too far.

Lynx is a ‘lads’ brand, its whiff reminds me of my 17 year old brother’s bolt hole. If I think back to my adolescent years, my friends and I were continuously seeking some sort of common ground with the opposite sex, so perhaps this product will do well with the girls. But then again, as a brand that is so recognisably owned as being ‘male’, couldn’t bringing out a female counterpart actually damage its reputation?

So on that note, I’ll be sticking to my trusted Dove roll-on, after all it’s beauty for ‘Real Women’.

Posted in Retail
Tags: Advertising Standards Authority, Brand, Cosmetics, Lynx, women
No Comments »

January 20th, 2012 by nicole.hudspith

Tetley stirs in social media to strengthen its marketing

The social arena is a hive of activity right now. Early adopters realised almost immediately that they could use tools like Twitter and Facebook to influence brands but finally, brands themselves are stepping up too and there are two in particular I wanted to write about.

Image via Wikipedia

Tetley grabbed my attention today when a friend let me know about its social media campaign. The firm already upped its marketing ante by bringing back the Tea Folk in television adverts so the next natural step was for Tetley to brew up a storm in the social media space.

It took me until 11am this morning to realise Tetley were conducting a competition on Twitter, which was to simply start following @tetley_teafolk and retweet one of their posts. This competition has already been incredibly effective with Twitter followers jumping up from 38,281 to over 39,000 (at the time of writing). The giveaway is a year’s supply of teabags and as a nation of tea-drinkers I think it constitutes as a pretty good prize that won’t even break the bank for Tetley, but will do wonders for its brand advocacy.

Another company ramping up its social media efforts is bmibaby; the airline has put a competition on Twitter to add cheer to a dull January day. On Friday, 20th January, bmibaby announced it would be giving away five pairs of tickets to help its followers make someone’s January special. Anyone who’s on Twitter will know about the ‘Follow Friday’ hash tag – #ff – used to suggest people to follow. The competition from bmibaby is, effectively, an extension of this; you nominate your friend using the hash tag #ffff, which stands for “Free Flight Follow Friday”.

So, are brands finally waking up to social media or are the just becoming less scared of it? With 61% of UK adults using social media sites it demonstrates that it’s a marketing opportunity not to be missed!

Brands should absolutely be looking to integrate social media into their marketing strategies to take advantage of such a vast audience. However, brands should proceed with caution – consumers see Twitter as a different way of marketing; it’s about dialogue and a sense of community. With Twitter, consumers have a direct communications channel with a brand and one that’s in a public forum, which if not handled carefully and respectfully can turn very bad, very quickly for a brand.

P.S The Tetley competition ends at 5pm today when a winner will be announced. Having now lived in England for the last couple of years I, too, have taken on the tea-drinking way of life and entered this competition; I’ve had my fingers crossed since 11am.

Posted in Media, Retail, Technology
Tags: bmibaby, Brand, Facebook, Marketing, social media, Social network, Tetley, Twitter
No Comments »

June 29th, 2011 by sarahapps

CyberMummy11

For the past few months my inbox has been getting filled with reminders about CyberMummy 2011, which took place on Saturday 25^th June.

For those of you who don’t know about CyberMummy it is the UK’s conference for Mummy (and Daddy) bloggers – the opportunity for them to come together for workshops designed to help them with their blog writing as well as giving them a chance to meet one another outside of their virtual worlds.

I arrived at 8am whilst the other Sponsors were setting up and stood watching as the queue began to unfold. Once the doors opened you could feel the excitement in the air as each attendee let out a sigh of relief that the day they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

A lot of the mums I spoke with were having a much needed break from their normal day to day home life. Some spoke of their apprehension from being away from their children, whilst others bashfully exclaimed of their shyness at having been out of the social pool for so long.

Product after product of baby friendly brands were grasped by eager hands in the form of goody bags and standalone items.

After the first initial hour of meeting and greeting and parents making their way across the company in brand sponsored cars and luxurious hotels the first speeches of the day kicked off at 9.30am. After a rapturous applause for the events founders Lord Richard Allan, Facebook’s Director of Policy, kicked off the conference with the topic ‘Working with Facebook: the power of social web’.

He handled questions from the floor well, especially when asked about privacy and content ownership where he not only reassured all there present that Facebook would never reveal their contact details or sell off their images.

The second key note speaker, and the one most people were there to see, was Sarah Brown, the wife to former Prime minister – Gordon Brown. Active in charity work and the founder of PiggyBankKids she took the floor to a wave of applause and flashes of photography where she discussed her work and spoke of the launch of her new book ‘Behind the Black door’.

There were four workshops throughout the day covering everything from working with brands and making money using your blog to SEO and the basics of a well designed blog with writing tips thrown in for good measure. I’m not surprised that those attendees present were like giddy school girls. I have never met a nicer, more welcoming group of individuals who not only understand their need within their community but the power they hold when it comes to brands.

There were some really inspiring individuals from the speakers to the friends I made throughout my time there. And whilst the insight into mummy bloggers grow and grow so does their power within consumer brands and the expansion of their following.

Posted in agency
Tags: Blog, Brand, Facebook, Gordon Brown, history, iPhone, Mummy, Sarah Brown
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February 16th, 2011 by Rebecca Gregory

Crawl to toddle – Morrison’s breaks into baby market

Image via Wikipedia

Morrison’s is like the baby in the family, competing against elder siblings Tesco and Sainsbury’s which started walking and toddling, respectively, a long time ago. The acquisition of Kiddicare and the rights to its technology platform, as well as talks about developing its own clothing range, is a clear sign that Morrison’s wants to take its share of the non-food market. But is it running before its walking? It has yet to deliver the anticipated online grocery shopping service, which is quickly becoming de facto standard for the main, and not so main, supermarkets. Although I’ve no doubt that Tesco will dominate for many years to come, it’s good to see Morrison’s making moves and forcing the market to be just that little bit more competitive for the consumer.

It’s certainly much harder being a supermarket these days. Not least the price war, which has seen Waitrose match its prices on 1000 branded goods to that of Tesco whilst having to retain its upmarket image (no mean feat). Then there’s quality and brand image. When it comes to brand image, each supermarket has to differentiate itself on price and then, if it chooses, quality. It’s hard therefore to be clear on what makes you different from your competitors. Waitrose cornered the organic, ‘local’ supplier route years ago – a well-timed and well-thought out positioning, and Morrison’s has the ‘local’ brand image – local fishmonger, butcher, fromagerie (we’re a nation happy to adopt continental traditions). Neither of these the other supermarkets have quite yet cornered.

Obviously, this is all my personal view but the reality is that often it’s accessibility that dictates your shopping habits. Controversially, I do think Morrison’s has good quality at lower prices than some of the market leaders, but I don’t have one that is on my well trodden commuter route and I’m obviously it’s too much of a faff to deviate. Particularly south of the Watford Gap, where Tesco (and to an extent, Sainsbury’s) has the advantage of being ubiquitous, Morrison’s is still working to stake a hold in this geographic region.

I‘ve a mind to create a supermarket quadrant, but I’m pretty sure some clever person will have already developed one and the fact that there are many more I know nothing about (see the every helpful Wikipedia list), it wouldn’t really be a fair exercise. Makro, for one, is unknown to me, and sounds like a tech hardware company. On that basis alone I’d have to banish it to the bottom left. Which shows just how difficult it is to market your supermarket brand.

Posted in agency, Media, pr, skills
Tags: acquisition, Brand, Kiddicare, Morrison, Sainsbury's, Supermarket, Tesco, Waitrose, Watford Gap, Wikipedia
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January 26th, 2011 by Helen Beavis

The mother of all brands

Sky football anchors Gray and Keys may have prehistoric views about a woman’s role in today’s society, but god forbid any brand that underestimates the force that women have over them.

And not just any women, but a specific group of women – DIGITAL MUMS. The power of this group of influencers has grown to meteoric status. So much so that I challenge Superbrands UK not to recognise them as a new chart entry for 2011.

And this savvy brand’s a real game-changer.

It’s changing, redefining and elevating the customer to a new game where the old rules don’t apply. Any brands working to the old rules become irrelevant.

This brand’s ambassadors are adopting the strength of some of the most revered media hacks in the business. Sticky Fingers, Tara Cain, recently highlighted the do’s and don’ts for PROs wanting to start a dialogue or pitch their brand’s wares. And Tots100 has turned this into something worth paying for. It’s just re-launched its site with a subscription levy for PRs and Brands to access its index of mummy (and daddy) bloggers who have ‘opted’ to receive info.

So what does all this tell us about this brand’s future? It’s bright and sets a president for a new bred of digital Superbrand groups to galvanise their networks and relationships in order to change the game for many other brands out there.

Posted in agency
Tags: Brand, mummy bloggers, Superbrands
1 Comment »

November 18th, 2010 by Helen Beavis

It’s Skoda be worth it?

OK, so some might say 20 years is a long-time to go from butt of jokes to best car-maker but reputation building is and should be a long-term commitment.

Great brands need strong reputations and these are only built by insight and understanding of customers, market gap and brand USP. And have the agility to continually nurture that reputation in-line with modern times.

Skoda has been able to rise up the auto rankings over the years due to the fact that Volkswagen, back in the early 1990s, injected its marketing expertise to set about doing just that.

But of course, you can have the best idea of reputation but if it’s not nurtured, communicated and built on over time, investment is null and void. That’s where PR comes to the fore as it’s our role to protect it and help the brand demonstrate it.

My top 5 brand reps

1. Skoda
2. Apple
3. Innocent
4. Marks & Spencers
5. Top Shop

Posted in clients
Tags: Brand, Business, reputation, Škoda Fabia
No Comments »

October 19th, 2010 by Rebecca Gregory

Gap succumbs to online vigilantism?

Image via Wikipedia

Retracting a new logo amid social media backlash says a lot for brand loyalty and the power of social media. Various media commentaries have been both scathing of Gap in showing a certain lack of corporate backbone in succumbing to this online pressure, as well as placing so much importance in its brand logo.

On the latter, this is proof against those scathing commentaries that brand is important, particularly in the consumer world. Although Gap should be pleased that its consumers are so loyal, they also shouldn’t let online chatter belie the strength of their brand; it’s easy to be superficial online. The real question is whether these consumers would physically picket Gap stores? I doubt it. Vigilantism isn’t what it used to be.

Talking superficially, I also suspect that if the new logo had looked less like a generic IT services company and was more in tune with slim happy people the online response would have been mixed, generating debate, rather than overwhelmingly against.

Although Gap was changing just its logo, the point here is that consumers don’t like surprises, they need to be gently eased into it with their hands held and reassurances that the product won’t change, even if the brand image does. I remember when Marathon rebranded to Snickers many years ago; it was like the world as you know it being turned upside down.

Did Gap show a lack of backbone? Yes, I think it did. In a social media world did they really expect the response to be nothing but super positive? What else is citizen journalism if not a vehicle for being as negative and abusive as possible about something you’ll forget about in a week, and all without reprimand? Apparently the Twitter handle collected nearly 5,000 followers, and the Facebook site more than 2,000 followers. These figures are hardly crippling. Gap would have done better to let the ranters’ rant, and then wait for the real impact on sales and brand loyalty to feed in over the coming months; and then make an informed decision.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: Brand, brand equity, Brand loyalty, Business, Facebook, Gap, Marketing and Advertising, Online Communities, protest, Snickers, social media, Twitter
No Comments »

August 18th, 2010 by Nick Bishop

The Economist named as one of the world's hottest brands

The Economist might be 167 years old but age, and an unwavering commitment to a philosophy formed back when Queen Victoria was busy ruling an empire, haven’t prevented it from being included in Ad Age‘s annual round-up of the “World’s Hottest Brands”.

Ad Age’s list is limited to just 30 brands, including many of the names people in the marketing industry would expect to see included: Facebook, Ikea, Nike and BMW for example. That The Economist, a brand with a fraction of the number of consumers of these companies, is considered to be of the same calibre says much about both the quality of the product and the rigour of the publication’s marketing.

In both cases, it’s The Economist’s refusal to compromise that has made it so successful. Editorial is always disinterested – unaffected by background forces – and marketing is always true to the essence of the product. That may sound simple to achieve but to not waver over the course of 167 years deserves great praise.

Posted in agency
Tags: Advertising Age, BMW, Brand, Business, Economist, Facebook, Marketing, Nike, The Economist
1 Comment »

Message on a (smoothie) bottle

Sweet Smell of Success . . . . ?

CyberMummy11

Crawl to toddle – Morrison’s breaks into baby market

The mother of all brands

It’s Skoda be worth it?

The Economist named as one of the world's hottest brands

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