Technology mixed with creativity can give amazing results in terms of marketing campaigns. People are attracted to anything new, anything that has never been done before and most of all anything fun. Advertisement has become something so normal that people can become very annoyed with it. For example on TV, no one wants to watch 10 min of ads after 20 min of your favourite show! There is so much more we can do to bring products to customers. I personally enjoy the creative outdoor ads: they are smart, fun and nothing like we have seen before.
While reading one of my colleague’s blog post: Nadeen Sakic’s “Scratch and Sniff”,  I found that scented ads are also a way for firms to differentiate themselves. Promoting a product in a very different way, people will end up spending more time on the magazine page and are more likely to remember the product. I agree with Nadeen though, that those ads won’t fit every product.  It really wouldn’t be very pleasant to have a magazine starting to smell like pizza or any other very strong smell. But for a perfume, I find this method very effective. For example Guerlain, in addition to its television ad has included a scented page in magazines. In this case you would lift a patch glued on the page and smell the new perfume. I find this effective since customers can find out that they really like it and the next few days go and try it out at a store.

Issues involved just like Nadeen mentioned would be the cost and possible allergies, but more and more as technology evolves, we will be creating cheaper ways to place a product. What if soon, you could reach to the television screen and simply smell or even try the product?!  I think the more we play with people’s mind, whether it is trhough their 5 senses: optical illusions, smells and touches or through humour, the more the advertisement will please. The point of an ad is to make people remember the product: those methods are very effective in doing that!

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s we talked about branding in class, we learned how a company’s brand image is not about its product or service but about how it makes people feel. Customer’s buy a product/service to feel a certain way: buying a Starbucks coffee is not only about the coffee itself but about the atmosphere at the shop, and most importantly how you will feel when you buy the coffee – proud of the image you are giving of yourself maybe or satisfied with the experience you are getting. So as I was reading about an interesting post on the Popsop branding blog online (http://popsop.com/47085), I came across a particular example of how a company sells its products by making people feel a certain way.

The post is about Electrolux and its newest vacuum: Vac from the Sea. It is basically a vacuum made with the plastic gathered from the ocean. The product has been a great success; over 200 million people have posted about it on social media website and environmental/lifestyle/design blogs. The product shows that Electrolux is a brand who cares about the environment and who is acting against the population of the oceans. What are the results? Millions of consumers are now attracted to their brand thinking: “If I buy this product, I will be helping the environment” and they feel good. They feel so good about themselves they won’t mind spending more on a vacuum, which is great not only for the environment (bringing awareness of ocean pollution) but also for Electrolux!

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So this is where we can see how an innovative idea that brings sustainability and technology together can bring great results to sales.  Other than a brand’s reputation, its design and its price, how else would consumer distinguish between vacuum cleaners? With this campaign, Electrolux brings to its reputation the one of not only being the best leading appliances company but of being sustainable: which is all it took to differentiate itself from the other appliances companies. In addition to that the design of the vacuums is simply amazing. They are colourful and fun, and 5 different designs have been created, each for the different oceans of the world by using the materials found in those regions.

(http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2010/electrolux-vac-from-the-sea/)

But what if another appliances company would have created this campaign? Would consumer act as positively? Perhaps it is important for a brand to make sure it is known for its quality before being able to pull off this kind of campaign. This is what branding is all about.

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In this post I would like to comment and add on to what Priscilla Thany wrote on her second blog post about packaging. I think she had some great ideas and think she did a great job at explaining the importance of packaging.

In class, we talked about the segmentation of a product: how targeting and positioning will help it make its sales boost. Basically how a product can a attract customers, and this is for many reasons one of them being for its packaging. But we also talked about repositioning – finding this new market among the existing products and services a company might have. I believe this is where packaging can play a very important role, if it becomes more attractive customers will buy it. A great example of a product’s image that was completely redesigned are the new branding of baby carrots we have seen in class. Making the packaging a lot more fun, attracted different kinds of customers: people will buy it not only because it is a healthy snack but also because it looks cool to eat them. “Eat them like junk food”.

An example I want to give about the importance of packaging in repositioning a product is this Brazilian brand of biscuit that also drastically modified their package in order to attract more customers. Previously they had a basic package where each small chocolate wafer was found in a box. Very successful but it had been the same way for so many years sales were not changing and competition with new products had become an issue.

What Lacta did to change the image of the famous Bis (the chocolate wafer) was to make it as small as pop corn. They also changed their rectangular box, by one that was shaped almost like a pop corn bowl. This was a great success, people would buy it to eat it in form of their or computer while they were working. It was practical, and very fun! It was new and authentic. It was addictive and people wanted to buy more.

This is example was to show how beneficial packaging can be to brand and how the marketing department can use it to completely reposition a product.

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Sometimes a product plays such an important role in the life of consumers that it becomes part of a country’s culture. One of the most popular products sold in Brasil are flip flops; they are cheap, you can clean them easily, useful for the beach and hot weather, and now a days they are stylish. The most famous brand of flip flops in Brasil and probably in the world today is Havaianas, in fact is so popular that Brazilians don’t refer to them as flip flops anymore but as havaianas. It doesn’t matter if they are actually from the brand or not, they are not called flip flops anymore. I believe a company has achieved a strong level of recognition among its consumer when they use the brand name instead of its actual name.

Early on, Havaianas were seen as a very basic product to own. Their quality has always been really good but its design was fairly simple, people used them for practical purposes. Today, as their design become more and more creative: with many different colours, shapes, and prints, purchasing Havaianas is not a need anymore but a want. The brand has now expanded to Europe and the United States, becoming a luxurious pair of flip flops to own since it is exported from Brasil: a country known for its beautiful beaches, sunny weather, culturally exotic. The brand uses this image Brasil gives out to brand their product, in order words the culture behind the flip flops.

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One of my favorites ads is one from Contrex, a French water brand. Its campaigns promote health, and how water can help you be more slim. It has become a very popular water in France not only because of its different taste which I adore, but because of its water bottle design. Using pink  and a differently shaped bottle, it appeals mostly to women. But you would be surprised by how many men actually love it. Apart from having a differentiated packaging, their ads definitely were standing out  especially after this one. Filmed in Paris, with spinning bicycle (health promo) and lots of pink! It is a fun ad, unexpected and engages physically with the public.   It has everything to catch the people’s attention. Here is the video:

Contrexteperience

Now a personal fact about me: What I am most passionate about in life is traveling. I love seeing and experiencing new cultures even if it means drastic life changes and lots of hours on a plane. I just love the adventure and the learning experience!

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