Archive for the ‘Advertising’ Category

Generate’s Managing Director Rupert Pratt lends his thoughts to Frontiers to discuss the adidas Ice advertising campaign ahead of the Olympic Games

Interesting to see the adidas Ice advertising campaign this week using London 2012 hopeful Tom Daley. I wondered why adidas hadn’t badged it with the official London 2012 logos? Good use of personal endorsement in the creative and a good synergy with the product and brand (shower gels etc) so why no London 2012 badging? 

And there lies the answer, it’s a licenced adidas product by cosmetics company eCoty, so therefore not an official sponsor. Nothing fundamentally wrong here and why not, Tom Daley is even an adidas ambassador so some thought has gone into his selection.

But I wonder what hair and skin care company and IOC sponsor P&G think about it?

Category dilution/creep is not uncommon in the financial services sector (where banking, insurance and pensions are often offered by one business) and with technology convergence (televisions,  computers, mobile phones). I would be interested to know LOCOG’s and the IOC’s perspective on the adverts as unless adidas, eCoty or P&G have negotiated a ‘body care’ exclusivity carve out, it sets a dangerous precedent.

For example, Worldwide Olympic (audio/visual) partner Panasonic leads this morning with an advert for its televisions – what would happen if Samsung featured an Olympic themed advert (but with no reference to the Olympics or London 2012) for televisions?

So is the adidas campaign an official unofficial ambush? At this stage there are more questions than answers. It could just be the fine line between the ‘body care’ and ‘hair and skin care’ sponsorship categories or the definition of a contract. Interestingly adidas is an official London 2012 and therefore LOCOG partner, but will this encourage similar marketing campaigns?

Time will tell, but following on from last week’s article yet another brand has entered into the official and unofficial Olympic and London 2012 sponsorship clutter.

Rupert Pratt

Federer, Woods (pre hands in the cookie jar), Sharapova, Clooney…… all big global stars synonymous with luxury goods; especially Swiss watches. Their endorsement and image is used round the world by these luxury watch manufacturers, their association and usage is inescapable. But as we move into a new era of global economic growth and development, are these strategies going to be as effective as they once were? I think not.

USA and Europe are no longer the global growth economic powers they once were. Brazil is now the world’s 6^th largest economy. India, China, Russia, the Middle East is where the growth is at. How should global brands and their corresponding sponsorship strategy reflect this?

It’s hardly rocket science. Relevant to your product or service go to where the growth is, go to where the money is, go to where the people are, and utilise an appropriate platform to communicate with them. In a nation obsessed by cricket and their own film industry, how relevant are Federer, Woods, Clooney and co in India?

Luxury Swiss watch brand Audemars Piguet signed up Sachin Tendulkar in 2005 early, but have only recently utilised him heavily. It is only now that other watch manufacturers are seeing the value in such a localised strategy in India with Hublot signing up Harbhajan Singh and Ulysse Nardin signing up Youvraj Singh. A trend set to continue in other developing nations as mature brands seek new revenues.

Ben Bradley

For big brands, tapping into the current news agenda is an invaluable PR tool to gain valuable column inches and make a brand appear current. It is a tool used in advertising also, with one particularly great example being today’s newly unveiled Hublot ad campaign.

The advert features a shocking image of a battered and bruised Bernie Ecclestone with the slogan ‘See what people will do for a Hublot’, referring to his recent mugging outside his London offices when a similar Hublot watch was taken from him. The 80 year-old and his Fabian Flosi girlfriend were attacked in November and had over £300,000 worth of jewellery stolen during the incident.

When talking about the ad campaign, Mr Ecclestone said, ‘I rang them up and suggested this was a chance to do something different’. You’ve got to hand it to him, he certainly knows how to turn his misfortune to his advantage! And, in turn, to Hublot’s advantage.

No-one can argue that the advert is certainly different. The ad is shocking, disarming and leaves you unable to look away, which must surely make it an advertising hit! Not sure if it would make me want to buy one of their watches though….. 

VH