No politics from me, yet. However, I did want to share my favorite campaign advertisement to date based purely on the criteria that the ads stop and pull you in. Needless to say, the campaign did not, however, accomplish its mission.
"Published on Oct 13, 2015: This is the second television ad released by the Draft Biden 2016 Super-PAC, asking Joe Biden to run for President in 2016. Joe Biden was proud to work alongside President Obama to rebuild our economy in the wake of the Great Recession. He and President Obama understood the challenges facing American families because of the struggles their own families had faced earlier in their lives. Joe Biden: “A job is about a lot more than a pay check. It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in the community. It’s about being able to look your child in the eye and say, ‘honey, it’s going to be okay,’ and mean it and know it’s true. You never quit on America and you deserve a president who will never quit on you.”
"Published on Oct 7, 2015: This is the first television ad released by the Draft Biden 2016 Super-PAC, asking Joe Biden to run for President in 2016. The ad highlights how Joe has overcome personal tragedies and his vision for the future in his own words: “We are on the cusp of some of the most astonishing breakthroughs in the history of mankind – scientific, technological, socially. It will be up to you in this changing world to translate those unprecedented capabilities into a greater measure of happiness and meaning, not just for yourself but for the world around you.”
The US coconut water category is now worth well over $400 million, an increase of well over 500% since 2010. While the category will be challenged to sustain this historic growth trajectory, much like Greek yogurt did to the yogurt category, it is already helping change the type of beverages Americans consume albeit on a much smaller scale.
A decade ago, Greek yogurt made up less than 1% of all U.S. yogurt sales. Now it makes up more than half. In doing so, not only did the Greek yogurt revolution reignite category growth, but more importantly it changed the way consumers and retailers think about the yogurt category. More specifically, Greek yogurt accomplished three things:
Boosted the category's health benefits by packing in several grams of protein
Became more than a meal in itself, but also an ingredient in other
Broadened Americans' yogurt palates and opened their minds to other new types of yogurt (i.e., Australian, Icelandic, Asian, lactose free, sheep’s milk, goat’s milk, soy ,and Chia Pods)
In a very similar fashion, coconut water is accomplishing all three of these same results.
Much of coconut water's initial growth came from claims that it was a ultra-hydrating sports drink packed with natural electrolytes (i.e., potassium and sodium). While many brands have backed away from these initial claims, the category is still widely marketed as a natural beverage without artificial ingredients - which is an implicit 'better for you' health claim. And, in reality, this softer claim likely has broader appeal and relevancy among the mainstream market.
Coconut water is becoming increasing used as an ingredient in a broad range of meal recipes, smoothies, and cocktails, as well as, an ingredient in personal care products such as shampoo and skin care.
Even as the coconut category continues to mature and diversify its range of flavors, it's success has already triggered the next wave of plant-based water innovation. Many of the emerging brands in this next wave also claim to have hydration and nutrition benefits for athletes. Emerging variations include:
Maple Water. Maple water stems from maple tree sap and claims to be a source of manganese, calcium, and other vitamins. A few brand examples include Drink Maple, Happy Tree, Vertical Water, and Seva.
Cherry Juice. The largest cherry juice brand is Cheribundi. Cherry juice takes the health claims to the next level by suggesting it acts as an anti-inflammatory that helps post-workout recovery by reducing muscle pain.
Beet Juice. Beet juice allegedly increases blood and oxygen flow to athletes' muscles which in turn helps boost endurance.
King Coconut. King coconuts are related, but differ from the green coconuts used in traditional coconut water. They reportedly have more vitamin c and a softer taste profile
Going forward, its safe to assume, coconut water will benefit from the sustained upward trends of better-for-you beverages and “clean labels”. While the category will continue to grow, its somewhat polarizing flavor profile may prevent it from ever reaching the size of Greek yogurt category in the US. Nonetheless, coconut water is causing increasingly big ripples in the beverage category and remains a category worth watching.
This came out about a year ago, but is an awesome viral commercial for Beldent Chewing Gum from Argentina. It's called "Almost Identical Twins" and is an excellent execution.
In only a matter of few months, Audi appears to have done a reverse shifts on its brand positioning, or at least the articulation of its brand character - leaving consumers to wonder if its naughty or nice.
Audi launched a new advertisement last summer entitled "nice performance" that aims to position the brand as the performance vehicle for considerate people, while BMW as the car for self-entitled jerks.
"The Audi A4. Engineered with a spirit of excellence, thoughtfulness and respect - traits also shared by those that drive one. Sure, it's a German luxury performance sedan, but it's these special qualities that put it in a class of its own," Audi says.
However, in January, in an abrupt change, Audi started running a commercial entitled "swim" that features a school-aged boy breaking the town pool rules, only to be commended by his approving mother. Sure his main crime is doing a cannon ball into the community pool. But, nevertheless, the brand communication is clear - society's rules are meant to be broken. That with Audi, its okay to be a little naughty in order to express yourself.
"When a young rebel considers taking a plunge, he envisions the consequences of challenging everything he’s been told. For over 100 years, Audi has embraced that same challenger spirit. You’ll see it in our cars, our company, and in everything that we do," Audi says
I find the ad funny, but pushing the brand too far from its non-conformist messaging. There is a difference between expressing your individuality and encouraging kids to break society's rules. And more importantly, a far cry from the position as the "nice" guy.
Interestingly, Audi recently started re-running it's 'nice performance' ad.
So is Audi naughty or nice? Either can potentially work, just not both.
I'm a big fan of how Apple has started promoting Apple Pay.
Apple itself has yet to run any televised commercials for the service. Instead, Apple has been partnering with the largest credit card issuers to promote the product for them. In fact, Apple recently claiming that Pay is supported by credit cards representing roughly 90% of U.S. purchase volume.
Recently banks such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, and Capital One have all aired commercials promoting Apple Pay . . .
Capital One:
Wells Fargo:
Bank of America:
While all of these advertisements are done by different banks, Apple has done a great job to partner with each to make them all feel relatively consistent and delivering on the same message. Apple's influence is also clear in showcasing the product in use. Since the launch of the iPhone, Apple has hands down had the best product demos of any TV commercials.
More importantly, the launch strategy of handing over the product promotion to business partners is successful because it accomplishes three key goals:
Helps generate a tremendous amount of product awareness
Simplifies the notion of mobile payments by making it just an extension of an existing credit or debit card
Creates credibility by linking the new technology with the financial institutions that consumers already trust for their banking needs
Now all Apple has to do is continue to enroll more retailers and start pumping out more iPhones.
A few years ago, Coke launched its "Share a Coke" campaign first overseas and then in the US over the past summer where the brand put the 250 most popular American teen names and other millennial sayings on its labels.
Now it looks like Bud Light is taking a page out of Coca-Cola's playbook. As part of its "Perfect Beer For Whatever Happens", Bud Light is launching new bottle labels featuring over 100 different varying messages.
Each label touts Bud Light is the "perfect beer for ... ".
For example:
"the perfect beer for when you're eating breakfast meats outside of breakfast hours"
"the perfect beer for forming a one-person conga line"
"the perfect beer for leaving your comfort zone in another time zone"
"the perfect beer for taking off the blindfold and showing that piñata who's boss"
"the perfect beer for tuning up the old air guitar"
The messages are suppose to help position the brand around inspiring spontaneous fun. And while the messages are fun enough, they do not have the same compelling call to purchase as consumers seeing their names on a bottle or labels such as "BFF,” “Star,” “Bestie,” “Legend,” “Grillmaster,” “Buddy” and “Wingman” like Coke featured.
Additionally, the messaging in at least one of the accompany TV advertisements fails to hit home on this core benefit because it over complicates its message by trying to communicate too many things...
The area of the campaign that has the most promise is where the brand will customize beer bottle labels sold at sporting events and concerts that allow some drinkers the chance to win random, on-the-spot prizes, such as backstage passes or other real-time rewards.
Using the beer labels as a ticket for entry into a contest or a treasure hunt is clever and I believe will be compelling enough to drive consumers at the events to purchase. The biggest question is how much scale can Bud Light generate with event based programs and will it be enough to generate sufficient social buzz to drive a noticeable lift in sales? The other question is why didn't the brand aim bigger? It seems like the brand could replicate this strategy on a much large scale with a McDonald's like Monopoly game where the notion of spontaneous fun can support itself organically.
