The Future Battlefield of Marketing is Here Today...

As announced by technology specialists around a year ago, the buzzwords for 2014 is "wearable techs".

With the saturation of the smartphones and tablets market, competitors had to diversify their offerings in order to secure constant cash flows, and maintain market share. Thus, the complementary gadget was born.

Wearable techs are not so new, they are just becoming increasingly accessible (see Mashable's great historica analysis of wearable techs http://mashable.com/category/wearable-tech/). The expertise of the different tech companies allow them to fit even more power in smaller and cheaper devices, making "smart watches" and "smart goggles" available for purposes other than military or scientific.

What we wanted to touch upon today is the implication of wearable techs becoming mainstream, as if effects marketing, advertising and promotion. The spread of mobile allowed firms in any field a new way to collect data on their customers, an extra channel to reach them and an instant means of communcation for the modern-day human.

However, wearable technologies could take the world of advertising leaps (indeed, not only steps) forward. A first example comes from virtual reality (VR), where someone gets completely emerged into a universe controlled via computers. It is far beyond attention-grabbing, it's total control! For example, how to better sell a cruise than actually "transporting" the potential customers into the shoes, or sandals for that matter, of someone on your ships? And what about having a customer see for himself the extra comfort he could expect from a top-tier suite versus the regular suite? You talk about easy upselling! And these applications are not limited to the cruise industry, it could easily be transcribed to any industry.

Even though VR is promising, it might not be suited for every-day situations, as one is unlikely to wear a clunky, special helmet all day long. But, once again, others found solutions for that - the most obvious example is Google glasses: a more discreet visual wearable tech that could potentially offer great opportunities for marketers as well as the wearers. Wouldn't it be any advertiser's dream to be able to send a message designed specifically for you, at a specific time, location AND based on what you actually see?

Challenges remain with this new advertising revolution to come, mainly ethics concerns and the ability for advertisers to adapt quickly to this new medium. It shall not be too invasive, but creativity must prevail to develop new techniques to inform the different target markets. These tech wears will change the world and there will be a need to change how people advertise. It will be tempting to think of it as "just other mobile devices", but the full advertising potential of all these gadgets will be unleashed when brilliant minds reinvent modern-day advertising.

Until then, enjoy your wearable techs and make sure to stay aware of all the promotional opportunities that will be accessible in a near future.

More than Marketing

Marketing is a powerful thing.

Why? Because it is really just communication; and we all know the pen is mightier than the sword. But marketing can also be manipulative, and is often pinned as such. It’s a shame really, to misuse such a powerful medium; misuse that leads to diminishing faith in brands, and a growing tendency to avoid advertisements as much as is possible.

Yet marketing still has the potential for good. It can create awareness of social injustice, fund your favorite TV show, or simply make you laugh a bit. Most powerful when it exists on the human level, marketing communications shine when they help map the human experience.

With the advent and continued growth of social platforms, brands and marketers now have an ability to communicate on a mass scale in a previously unparalleled fashion. And not only can they reach more people, but they can interact, build relationships, and solve problems.

Marketing can be so much more.

When it comes to creating meaning in our work, we can all learn something from this gentleman’s inspiring campaign. Jonny Benjamin was struggling to come to terms with his mental illness, when he went to Waterloo Bridge to end his life. But he was stopped by a stranger who performed the simple act of caring. Years after the event, Mr. Benjamin began his search for the man, dubbed Mike, to thank him for saving his life.

The power of communication is incredible. Not only did Mr. Benjamin find the man he was looking for, he simultaneously became a face for mental illness, and provided hundreds of others with solace. He didn’t just achieve his objective, he made a difference.

While much broader than our day to day marketing endeavors, Mr. Benjamin has provided the proof of concept for our ability to do more than just what our task is; we can create change, provide support, or even make a tangible impact in others lives.

How do you think marketing can be more?

To watch the full documentary check out the below: 

M. Jordan's back

Now that the world cup is over, sports fan from around the world have some free time to dedicate to other favorites. It might be a coincidence, but this week was a big one for Michael Jordan in the North American advertising landscape.

Starting with his own company, Air Jordan, we've seen the legend of basketball participate in a great celebration of the Yankees' veteran Derek Jeter.



This great tribute and demonstration of RE2PECT to a legend of baseball rally us all behind the great story of a loyal athlete, an example on and off the field for a generation of players to come. And why not help a bit with the Jordan brand?

On the other hand, we've seen MJ goof around in Hanes newest summer commercial. Celebrating his 25th anniversary as the brand's spokesperson, it's the first time since 2010 that we see the retired player in one of their TV spots. It surely contrasts with the Jeter ad, but it's quite effective in its humourous appeal.



Seeing Michael Jordan in the spotlight sure brings us back in time, but it's hard to contest his efficiency in either of these spots. Even though advertising and marketing is all about innovativeness and freshness, why change a winning formula ?

Tell us what you think when you see "old" celebrities brought back to life to support brand and campaigns

Lucky You Brazil, Lucky You

We know this blog is becoming inundated with World Cup related content, and we also know that this campaign is a bit of a blast from the past, but with the German’s taking it all home yesterday, lets go back to where these games started, marketing-wise.

Embratur, Brazil’s tourism department, worked with the Sao Paolo based Neogama/BBH to bring to life the “Lucky You” campaign just over a year ago. This campaign, which was aired during the schedule announcement for each of the World Cup games, aimed to bring Brazil to the world in a facet beyond just soccer, and in the timeliest fashion.  

Armed with pre-prepared content, marketers took over a Neogama boardroom the for the duration of the announcements. Every time a match was announced, this pre-ready content would be mix and matched together to create a relevant ad in real-time, that was released within the day.

For example, when England was announced to play in Manaus, Neogama/BBH was quickly able to put together this ad, which features a British gentleman living in Brazil who describes the wonder of the area from his perspective. 

Aimed at reaching the consumer as they worked to book trips to see the Cup, these ads helped to broaden the tourism appeal of the country beyond just the soccer matches. The real time release, and in-depth preparation of the campaign are impressive features that separate this effort from the usual.

In an industry striving toward real time interaction, Neogama/BBH hit a home run. This year's World Cup achieved attendance records, something that was undoubtedly spurred by this campaign.

Game On

Adidas has long been an official sponsor of the Fifa World Cup, a partnership which provides the company with access to a massive market. To give you context, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa reached 3.2 billion people.

They have also had the honor and responsibility of engineering the official match ball for the Cup since 1970. After their design for the 2010 World Cup came under negative scrutiny, Adidas knew they had to deliver this year.

And did they ever. This year’s ball, titled Brazuca, has lead to a near 40% increase in goals scored during the group stage. It was even tested by NASA, and was seen to have the potential to fly faster at certain speeds compared to the previous model.

But its in-game performance isn't what got our attention, we instead were left grinning by its marketing personification. This year Brazuca came to life through twitter, where it now has its own account with 2.7 million followers! This brilliant tactic not only generates a ton of reach for the ball, but also creates an avenue for Adidas to partake in real-time marketing, which they have done, and done well.

Let’s take a look at a few examples:

Adidas took content marketing to a new level with Brazuca, and set a new standard for social interaction.

Are you following? https://twitter.com/brazuca

Caramilk’s Symbols: A Work in Progress

The premise of what seems to be like a huge contest by a food giant has attracted our attention in the last month. With its first TV spots in May and June as well as a collection of 15+ videos available on Youtube, the Caramilk Symbols campaign is trying hard to convince us that the weird symbols we have noticed (have we really noticed them?) on our Caramilk bars are not there by mistake.

Indeed, the main promotional video is our first contact with the campaign and it is still unknown if symbols have really been seen on Caramilk bars. With its suspense-type trailer, Cadbury’s famous chocolate is creating a context of suspense for its summer consumers. Here is a quick look at their TV spot:

Their Youtube channel allow for a lot more interactivity during the video as well as keeping the viewer’s attention for a longer period. The look and feel is positive so far, which is encouraging for the rest of the promotional material that should be released in this IMC. 

Take some time to check out the beautiful channel designed specifically for this campaign: https://www.youtube.com/user/caramilksymbols

It is hard to bet against Caramilk’s masterminds when it comes to contest, given their recent success with their golden keys promotion in the past few years. However, we are not convinced yet that consumers will really be attracted by the weird symbols on their bars, which seem a lot less noticeable than a golden key popping out of the packaging.

Caramilk promises to start releasing extra information on July 2nd and we will be on the lookout for any change in packaging or even the existence of the symbols on the bars. Hopefully, this contest will live up to its expectations and help the brand differentiate itself and create some hype and momentum for extra summer sales.

Stay tuned as we will keep on eye on the evolution of this contest as the summer goes along.

They Are Really Sorry for Their Competition

The restaurant chain St-Hubert, the well-known chicken serving franchise with over 100 locations in Quebec, designed a promotion that immediately grabbed Marketing Mindspace’s attention. Oh, and don’t be surprise, the subtitles are meant to be:

Aired during the Stanley Cup playoffs, the “Sorry for the competition” spot had a simple task: make people aware of a pricing promotion, before they arrive in restaurants. However, this simple looking task can be quite complicated in a world where most TV viewers are either inattentive during commercials or just simply skipping them. Where we were impressed is in St-Hubert’s ability to surprise the listeners and arouse their curiosity. Indeed, no matter if you are watching a French or English channel, the unexpected Chinese language coming out of your speakers is inevitably “forcing” you to direct your attention to your TV, following along with the subtitles. And that’s where the fun begin for the advertiser: for the following 30 secs, your are not only captive, you want to solve this problem of foreign language. The human being is a creature who has difficulty to handle the unexpected and prefer to come back to status quo whenever possible. Once an advertiser know that, it can use this tool to sell pretty much anything. The franchise brilliantly took advantage of it and decided to sell us discounted chicken.

As an extra, here is their most recent spot. Same theme (more World Cup oriented), different 
promotion:

When Product Innovation Becomes Top-of-Mind

North America's soft drink industry has experienced a bit of a slowdown in the last decade or so. With increases in health concerns, it is no longer well seen to enjoy a refreshing cola with your every meal. In this environment, two cola giants have looked to different creative avenues for developing their brand and finding a unique product position. With the constant need for new material in the marketplace, the producers at Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. cannot rely on new recipes alone to impress their customers.

We have recently seen an attempt from both organizations to bring in novelty flavors but consumers have not reacted well to changes in their recipes. This resulted in the development of innovative strategies that are simple, and highly interesting from a brand management perspective.

First to appear, MountainDew (PepsiCo.), introduced its built-in bottle cap tool for skateboarders; with a hex-nut wrench made as part of the lid. MountainDew provides clear targeting through this move, essentially saying: we want young, adventurous people, who won’t settle for typical.

Even though its target market is pretty narrow, it has the advantage of focus. From a skateboarder’s point of view, this cap was made specifically for their social group, therefore the product should satisfy their needs. Unfortunately, it is likely that from a consumer behavior standpoint, a cap, no matter how cool, is not the first thing a customer is looking for when buying a soda, and the innovation will thus need extra communications efforts and promotional displays to get the point across.

On the other hand, Coca-Cola has played a different card. Instead of targeting a specific customer segment, they worked to become more “environmentally-friendly”, by proposing different caps to turn empty Coca-Cola bottles into useful everyday objects. Even though the real impact is likely to be minimal (we do not expect millions and millions of people to now buy Coca-Cola based on basic everyday needs), it was certainly well received as a clever idea.

Overall, we think these two ideas were original enough to create excitement on the web; however, we doubt it will really impact each company’s bottom line in the near future. Brands are not built overnight, but these cutting-edge "outside of the box" efforts are a great step towards developing positive brand images.

A Commercial Break on Grandeur

In a world where brands are sending humans to space, or connecting cultures through a pop machine, it can be easy to disregard more conventional marketing tactics. But a glimpse into the global world of marketing can reinstill the value of a communication that just does its job.

During our recent escapades in Brazil, we had the opportunity to intimately visit local brands and advertising agencies. As we sat watching their mirage of recent work, we could not help but feel initially underwhelmed. As can be seen in the example below, the work was predominantly distributed through TV, with relatively linear and story-driven content. In addition, the Blue Man Group was a concept that had been seen in Canada before, and to us felt recycled.

(You can follow along despite the language barrier)

But then came their next slides, wherein they showed the massive positive response that the campaign generated, and the KPI’s that proved it successful beyond a shadow of doubt. From this we gleaned a series of insights. First, further research shows that Brazilian TV has 97% penetration without much heed for PVR/recording devices - thus making televised commercial highly potent. This is a lesson in humility, where bigger isn’t always better, but more importantly where a thorough understanding of consumption habits across different geographies or classes can provide an idea with better bang for your buck. 

Second, a global brand can learn the value of using popular campaign concepts in new markets. In this case, it becomes paramount to ensure cross-cultural compatibility, but if executed properly this leveraging of successful ideas can milk more lift out of a tried and true idea. Again, this provides cost savings and frees up time to spend in other disciplines. 

More than anything else however, we learned throughout our time in Brazil that there is something extraordinarily important about immersing yourself in other cultures. From a business standpoint, differences in best practices can teach you important lessons to apply locally or abroad. On a personal level, new cultures will force you to learn yourself, and everything you do will benefit.

What are your thoughts? What have you learned from global travels?

Ubisoft’s Greatest Release: How to Sustain Buzz Over 2 Years

On May 27th, a long-awaited title in the video game industry was released: Watch Dogs - and the producer was not disappointed. Ubisoft announced that Watch Dogs now holds the company’s record for most sales in the first 24 hours of a release. However, the path to success was not perfect and so we will take a moment to analyze the roadblocks that the firm had to overcome.

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, the adventures of Aiden Pearce created an instant buzz, surprising the gaming world as an unexpected trailer coming at the end of the Ubisoft presentation, during the 2012 E3 in L.A. The multitude of different reporters from around the world left the conference with high hopes, with the game announced to be released for November 19th of 2013. At that point, Ubisoft’s marketing department had taken a risky bet to announce one of their most promising title 1.5 year before its release.

Unfortunately, the strategy backfired and the product was not at its best for the announced date. The developing team was then faced with a tough dilemma: release an unpolished version and surf on the buzz created in 2012 or improve the product to offer the best experience. They made the hard decision to postpone the release date.

In this situation, the marketing team likely had to change most of their launch strategy. However, as a result we now have the chance to admire their promotional prowess. Starred on Jimmy Fallon’s show, the game benefited from great exposure throughout the year, mainly through fans sharing the teasers and trailers. Also, Ubisoft was smart in offering 5 different editions of their game to please their hardcore fans and gain extra revenue out of their pockets. Different retail locations also offered various incentives for pre-order, a secured source of revenue for the seller and producers.

However, the promotional piece that attracted our attention and interest was a viral video put out on the web. In only 17 days, the “AMAZING STREET HACK” attracted more than 12.8 millions viewers!!!

In the end, Ubisoft did great in sustaining the huge buzz they had created in 2012, and their decision to focus on selling a great product ended up to be a positive one. From a marketing standpoint, we believe the lesson is straightforward: no matter how great your early promotions are, you should make sure to release a great product - even though it requires extra work. The result of these efforts will be worth much more in the long run and will allow you to build a new product line (or franchise) on solid bases.

Have you ever heard of other delayed products, in any industry, that ended up as great success stories?

From ING to Tangerine: Rebranding Simple Banking

Since its debut in 1997, ING Direct has been great at convincing Canadians from coast to coast that banking can be simple. However, 2014 will become a milestone for the organization, as it represents the unveiling of their new brand: Tangerine. Unlike "typical" rebranding used to revitalize a dying brand, the Bank of Nova Scotia was proactive in their efforts to get a good return on their investment. **i think you need to elaborate on this for people who don't know of the acquisition**

Tangerine kicked-off its campaign in late April, and we could not resist discussing it given the huge impact it left on the Canadian advertising landscape. Obviously, the first portion of the campaign was fully dedicated to getting the new name into the customers mind. The consistency in the colour scheme with their older brand eased the transition, but the massive media reach and frequency is the pivotal point of their success. It was hard for any human-being in a major Canadian city not to be exposed to Tangerine at least once a day. Their most noticeable media placement was in public transportation, where they even bought space on subway doors, a usually ad free space. Their eye-catching flashy orange panels obviously attracts any subway user.

    A massive billboard in Montreal's biggest subway station

The people at Tangerine were also really smart in setting up their rebranding campaign. They did not spend all that money just to let us know about their new name: they built on that momentum to expose us to their offerings. With simple AB multiple choice questions on their OOH and print ads, Tangerine reinforced and introduce to new potential customers its historical competency in keeping banking simple. 

    Example of their OOH advertising, on Yonge street in Toronto 

    Source: http://www.princanada.com/tangerine/

Indeed, the second part of their campaign was even more aggresive and enticed potential customers to check out their websites and offers. Emphasis was put on digital medias (first Canadian bank to use contextual pre-roll Youtube advertising according to Dave Forde http://www.princanada.com/tangerine/), but traditionnal medias such as TV and direct mail were also prominent. 

Their main (and mailed) offer is the $150 bonus available for new customers (check their website for details http://www.tangerine.ca/en/landing-page/bonus150/index.html?utm_medium=TangerineDisplay&utm_source=home&utm_campaign=bonus150)

Tangerine really made a remarkable entry in the new year. Its focus on remaining simple, emphasizing the brand's symbols (orange and mug), committing not to test the waters but to really go large scale, and their refreshing approach to banking makes this campaign a rebranding success. Hopefully the investment will be worth it economically, but even if the numbers are not there in the short-term, they have been great at making Canadians reconsider what they really want from their banks.

    Source: http://www.princanada.com/tangerine/

We want to hear what you think of the Tangerine campaign. Did you like their approach? Did you feel, like us, that this new orange and white brand was everywhere? Is their positioning as a simple bank attractive to you? Comment, we love to read you.

Culture Clash – How We Can Learn From Each Other

            For the last week, Marketing Mindspace has been working with a group of Brazilian exchange students on the topics of Global Branding and Cross Cultural Management. Throughout this period, we have become acutely aware of just how powerful a fresh point of view can be.

            For example, during a lecture on the importance of universal values, the professor was depicting a personification of the respective brand. After providing a detailed explanation of the brands “age”, “appearance”, etc. a Brazil student raised his hand. The conversation went something as follows (paraphrased):

Brazil Student (B): Isn’t that a bit narrow?

Professor (P): Can you please expand?

B: Well, the targeted consumer of this brand is not limited to that description. People who purchase this product are more in line with a certain lifestyle, not a certain personality. Shouldn’t it then be more important that we define the consumer as a lifestyle (psychographics) as opposed to a narrow personification?

While this is a simple point, it caused an epiphany for us. Throughout our respected business degrees, we have all been taught the appropriate methods with which we should understand and highlight our targeted consumer group. However, few of us have ever questioned if this method is the most appropriate. It has become convention for us; a second nature thought that dictates our inclinations, yet perhaps has blinded us from the correct path of action.

            I am not saying that we should reanalyze the way in which we come to specifically understand our consumer group (personification). I am instead attempting to highlight the value of an alternative perspective, one that is not hampered by textbook definitions of right and wrong but instead reacts with an unperturbed mind.

            We will be spending another three weeks with our friends from Brazil. During this time, we are excited to continue to learn from their differences in perspective, and will continue to share what we discover. For this week, we challenged you to find an alternative perspective, and confront your own deep-rooted beliefs. We can learn a lot from each other… all we have to do is listen.

When Students Help Expedia Pass it Along

Marketing professionals surprise us every day with new creative approaches to help us hear about their client’s product(s). However, pros don’t have the monopoly on creativity and it’s always refreshing to see a new wave of advertisers come up with solutions that can truly solve customers’ problems. We have seen some crowdsourcing efforts in the world of advertising before (e.g. Doritos and Superbowl ads), but the example presented today is coming from a group of students at the Miami Ad School in San Francisco.

Without further due, here is the creative and the fictional app they came up with:

First of all, we want to acknowledge the professionalism and the realism of the spot. It was so realistic that it made us look for the app on the App Store, only to realize 10-15 minutes later that it was a school project…

The realism of the video was also enhanced by the fact that the students are addressing an important need for travellers: the need to save money. In a connected and tech-savvy 2014 world, it just makes so much sense to share these unused transportation tickets rather than throw them away.

The other positive side of this whole experience, is that it can be highly beneficial for the Expedia brand. The brand gets huge exposure, from the process of using the Pass It app to the usage of the resulting Expedia credit. The only possible result if the app becomes successful would be even more traffic and purchases on the regular Expedia website to trade in these credits.

However, the most brilliant part in our opinion is the “nice guy/gal” perception that will be associated with the brand. Who could not love a company that helps you easily get rid of an unused item AND gives you money for it? Expedia looks great in this transaction and that can only help reinforce the positive associations to the brand, as well as revenues for the vacation selling website.

Hopefully, the Product Development team at Expedia will hear of the project and will consider putting it to their agenda. The world is filled with smart people and the rise of social platforms to share great ideas like Pass It can help customers and companies live in a better world.

We want to hear from you other great examples of crowdsourcing or amateur projects in the world of advertising and new products. What is your favourite one? Should there be more place for this kind of community involvement in the world of marketing?

A Crash Course on Content: CMI Master Class

           This past week, Marketing Mindspace had the opportunity to attend the Content Marketing Master Class, brought to us by the Content Marketing Institute and LinkedIn. This post is intended to share with you the insights we gained from the event, and open the door to a conversation regarding Content Marketing.

        Hosted at the stunning Four Seasons in Toronto, the conference presented the opportunity for attendees to become intimately engaged with the core concepts around Content Marketing, and how it fits in the evolution of advertising.

        Three keynote speakers were in attendance: Joe Pulizzi – who is the founder of CMI (Content Marketing Institute), Robert Rose – the Chief Strategist of CMI, and Jason Miller – the Senior Content Marketing Manager at LinkedIn. Each brought to the table their unique backgrounds to present a rich and meaningful seminar.

        Pulizzi started by speaking on the Evolution of Content Marketing. Key points from his talk include the core elements of Content Marketing, which are: Sales, Savings, and Sunshine, and a Content Marketing Mission Statement. The Sales, Savings, and Sunshine relates to the importance of having a clear goal in mind for your content marketing, whether that be to increase sales, decrease costs, or create customer satisfaction. This involves developing a “WHY” for each communication channel in the name of guaranteeing that the content produced is working toward the correct purpose.

        A Content Marketing Mission Statement has to answer three questions: 1) who is the Core Target? 2) What content is to be delivered? and 3) What is the intended outcome of this content?

        Note, contrary to common belief, content marketing is not owned media aimed at generating earned media. In order to maximize the effectiveness of a content marketing strategy, it is imperative to have a narrow consumer focus to deliver the most relevant communications. This can result in having multiple content marketing strategies in order to reach your products full demographic range.

        Rose continued this thought, discussing the key difference between targeting virality and targeting resonance. Highlighted through the video below, his discussion pointed out that having a million views means nothing, if your content fails to stimulate behavior. However, a video with a hundred views that stimulates a hundred people to act is far more effective. An underlying fundamental of Content Marketing, is that it should stimulate not more leads, but better leads. This is achieved through messages that resonant, not ones that go viral. With that being said however, there is nothing wrong with virality, as long as it is accompanied by resonance.

Jason Miller then talked about what makes good content. Relevance was cited as one of the most important attributes to have in communications aimed for content marketing. This goes in line well with having content that resonates. A more unique point he brought up was the concept of using content like you would a turkey a thanksgiving. By choosing topics that are large and innovative, you can reuse content in a multitude of platforms, in order to increase the shelf life of an idea, and reduce the pressure of creating new content. Similar to how you eat the leftovers of a turkey dinner for weeks, in the form of sandwiches, soups, etc., great content can be used in blogs, videos, white papers and many other forms, before losing its appeal.

        While we could go on for days about the content discussed at the conference, the above is a good recount of the highlights. The event was well run and a great introduction into the ever-emerging world of Content Marketing. What are your thoughts? Is Content Marketing where we all are headed?

For any others who were in attendance, what are your thoughts? What key takeaways do you have?