The launch of a major Apple product – especially the iPhone, brings out a slew of negative articles around the company. The narrative is broadly as under: – Apple has stopped innovating- The magic of Apple has vanished after the demise of Steve Jobs There is a sound economic reason behind this: such articles are great for generating traffic. Positive news about Apple (record sales, profit) only appeals to a niche audience. News of a…
Among the many ads we see every day, only a few are noticed and remembered. Here are my picks of creative ads from last week: a clever print ad for L.L.Bean, a sculpture made of keys for IKEA…and more.
1. Amtrak: Break the Travel Quo One of my earliest lessons in advertising strategy was about correctly defining one’s competition: an amusement park’s competition isn’t necessarily another amusement park but other avenues of ‘fun’. Amtrak’s new campaign in the US promises a better way to travel as compared to air or road. The promise of cellular connection in the train, no middle seat or traffic snarls and extra baggage are the benefits highlighted. Loved the…
Subaru Crosstrek: welcome to the pack I am not an automobile fan myself (though I keenly follow the category advertising, especially in print) so I didn’t know that Subaru has a reputation for evoking loyalty in the US. It is said that casting dogs and babies in an ad is guaranteed to generate involvement in viewers. That said, the dog plays a central role in this story, puts in a stellar performance and subliminally cues…
Nowadays it is common to spot articles bashing ‘content marketing’ as a discipline. The common grouse with such articles is: – content marketing is just a buzz phrase; it is essentially what was practiced in advertising forever – the practitioners of this discipline are bullshit artists who thrive on throwing jargon – most of what passes off as content marketing is noise and does not add much value to a brand by way of sales…
1. IKEA Human Catalogue A critical piece of the IKEA marketing mix has been its catalogue. There have been several notable marketing activities centred around it over the years including outdoors which were pop stores, mobile app which uses augmented reality to bring alive the shopping experience, effective use of relevant social media platforms like Pinterest and even an Apple TV app.It makes business sense as the catalogue showcases the vast range and helps consumers…
Competitive advertising is an age-old tactic by brand owners. The intent is to create preference for one’s own brand by showing competition in poor light. When is it effective? When a brand with its own positive equity and ‘fan following’ takes on a big brand in the domain. Things can go downhill when a strong brand reacts to a new entrant in the category. The reaction could be to a threat, real or imaginary.