HTC unveils new 'Quietly Brilliant' brand positioning

HTC Corporation has unveiled its first global ad campaign, based on HTC’s new 'Quietly Brilliant' brand positioning.

The 'YOU' ad campaign is being rolled out across 20 countries in the coming weeks and features the tagline,‘You don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you.’ 

It is hoped to represent HTC’s "focus on people, their needs and how they work and live to ensure that HTC devices suit them." The YOU campaign is focused on driving broad, global visibility and understanding of HTC’s unique brand promise – that it’s all about the consumer and not the device.

“Quietly brilliant is doing great things in a humble way, with the belief that the best things in life can only be experienced, not explained,” said John Wang, CMO HTC Corporation.

HTC worked with Los Angeles-based ad agency, Deutsch LA Inc. to create the YOU campaign that will use an integrated-media approach to reach consumers via TV, print, outdoor and online. HTC’s design expertise will be echoed throughout the campaign, with commercial spots highlighting the unique functionality of its smartphones.

"We've come to have a very emotional relationship with our phones. Many of our key experiences in any given day come through this one device and yet most of the advertising in the category is still about utility," says Eric Hirshberg, co-CEO and chief creative officer, Deutsch LA.

HTC worked with London-based creative consultancy, FigTree to create the quietly brilliant brand positioning. It will be rolled out in all forms of communication and brand touch points across the company.

News Releases

Ireland Innovation Comes Naturally

IDA Ireland, Ireland’s Industrial Development Agency, is running “Innovation Comes Naturally”, an international advertising campaign in television, print, online and out-of-home media, online at www.idaireland.com/innovation/.

“Clean energy. Green technology. And fresh thinking. Why businesses are putting down roots in Ireland.”

The television advertisements emphasise the sometimes spontaneous nature of innovation. It depicts the lines left by a piece of chalk as it sketches out an idea on a blackboard. As we watch, the chalk doodles and dashes about the board. Finally it comes to a successful conclusion, as we see a chalk representation of fireworks above a doodled map of Ireland.

Actor Stanley Townsend provides the voiceover. “Innovation. What it isn’t is something that happens step-by-predictable-step. It doesn’t always stop at the lights. Sometimes it goes backwards to go forwards. It goes up blind alleys. It zigs and it zags. It wiggles. And then… And then it lets rip. Your job is simple. Just give it the right environment. Ireland. Where innovation comes naturally”

“New thinking is not about the dollars you invest,” one ad asserts. “It’s about the people you invest in.”

“See how your business can benefit when a nation thinks laterally.” “Step by step logic will only take your business so far.”

“Facebook found a space for people who think in a certain way,” the headline of one ad proclaims. It’s called Ireland.” “Google googled the planet for the perfect location for their business. They came up with Ireland.”

“We’ve created clusters of expertise in many different technologies”. “New thinking is not about the dollars you invest”.

Mudie told the New York Times about the inspiration for the campaign coming from stencil maps of Ireland that came out as whie on black, looking as though they were drawn on a black board. That led to thoughts about the famous picture of Einstein at a blackboard, which triggered images of a group of people, trying to think of something, using a chalkboard because you can stand back and take a look at what is written. All that inspired the concept of a green board.

The TV commercials are appearing on the Bloomberg and CNBC cable channels. The print and online ads are running in business magazines and newspapers, and their related Web sites, like The Economist, Fortune, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Credits

The Ireland campaign was developed at McConnells, Dublin, by creative director/copywriter Laurence Keogh and creative director/art director Tim Mudie. Media planning and buying in the United States are being handled by BCA Marketing Communications in New York.

The Brand Gap

How to bridge the distance between business strategy and design

The Brand Gap

View more documents from coolstuff.

Yahoo's $100M Marketing Campaign: “It’s Y!ou”

Yahoo outlined its new global branding campaign today, dubbed “It’s You!”, which is focused on the personalization of its homepage and products. The campaign, which has a budget of more than $100 million, includes tag lines that will be featured on the homepage such as “It’s time to get personal” and “The new Yahoo lets you do it your way every day.” The company also released an updated version of its Yahoo search product. The update, shown to the media last month, includes a left-hand column that lets users filter their results by using Search Monkey data. The layout resembles Microsoft’s Bing, which is interesting since the two companies inked a search deal in July.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said that the ad campaign isn’t a short-term marketing scheme, but a harbinger for the company’s new direction and its products going forward. “What we want to do is show (people) what the new Yahoo is about so they come (to the site) all the time,” she said.

The ad campaign will launch in the U.S. on Sept. 28 and in the UK and India on Oct. 5. Yahoo will roll out the campaign to other markets, including Brazil, Canada, France and Hong Kong, throughout the next year. “It’s you!” will be featured online and through a variety of other mediums such as TV, print and radio. Yahoo said it expects to see a shift in consumers’ perspective of the company brand within 12 months as a result of the campaign.

Reports surfaced earlier this week that Yahoo was preparing to unveil a marketing campaign focused on the size and scale of the company and personalization of its products. Examples of the campaign have already sprouted up in New York, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bartz hinted at the upcoming “It’s You!” campaign during the company’s July earnings call, saying that Yahoo’s “Q3 plans include an initial wave of incremental marketing spend which will increase substantially into Q4 and next year.

Since Bartz took the helm of Yahoo in January this year, the CEO has made sweeping changes to the beleaguered Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s image, including rolling out a revamped homepage and updated versions of its Mail and Messenger consumer web products that tap into social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Bartz also has been quick to correct widespread assumptions that Yahoo is a search company, trying to set it apart from rivals like Google and Microsoft.

Releasing fresh versions of its products isn’t the only way the company is trying to redefine its image.Yahoo is looking to offload Zimbra, an open-source email company that it acquired for $350 million in 2007, in an effort to slim down its portfolio, AllThingsD reported this week.

When asked to confirm whether the company is selling Zimbra, Bartz said, “We don’t comment on whether something is being shopped or not. What I can tell you in the spirit of the question is that Zimbra technology is very, very important to our mail system.” But she added, ” The technology is already integrated into our system.”

According to Bartz, 76 percent of the U.S. population are Yahoo users and 581 million people visit the site each month.

Rebranding exercises in Arabia::: Looking ahead of Logos

In Arabia Mainstream brands have undertaken rebranding initiatives to shed their old corporate images and position themselves in a new, more modern light. Some have simply upgraded their logos, while others went much deeper. Which leads branding enthusiasts to wonder, just what is the difference between an identity refresher” face lift” and a true rebranding?

People are sensory beings. Yet branding is typically defined through the single sense of sight. To merely focus on the visual element of a person's interaction of a brand (logo, pantone colours and so on), it fundamentally misunderstanding people. Sound alone has an immense impact on the experience that people have with a brand. This realisation amongst brands has led to a significant increase in brands investigating what the Sound of their Brand is, what it means to consumers and how it needs to evolve.

It is true that the rebranding goes beyond logos but it is an interesting place to start. As visually oriented creatures, we conceptualize a brand into a logo (and perhaps the sum of its parts). If the brand represents an interface, through which the consumer interacts with the organization, then the logo is a useful touch point.

Is changing the logo enough?
In situations where firmly established brands become outdated, rebrands can be tricky, and often resemble identity makeovers rather than full-blown rebrands.

But is this logo change enough to bring brand’s into the modern marketplace—especially one that’s hypercompetitive?

There is no reason to completely rebrand a brand that isn’t suffering from an internal identity complex. Sometimes creating an effective logo is enough to upgrade an identity and penetrate markets. According to an executive creative director “There are some brands where heritage is important and it is foolish to get rid of it, in order to stay relevant with the times.”

Brand identity in Arabia
“The notion of brand identity as representative of something more than a recognizable symbol is relatively new in India…brand names and symbols in the past often did not represent something that the brand stands for.”

Today, however, brands in Arabia are moving beyond a simplified view of the marketing and advertising world and see the need to comprehensively rebrand themselves. The proliferation of several international brands in recent years has caused several homegrown brands to undertake an all-embracing approach to their brands.

Simply because of:

1. Higher disposable incomes,

2. change in consumer demography

3. and greater reach through media

Brand makeover boutiques.

pressure on brands to resort to an identity makeover, to realign themselves in the new environment is increasing “It should not be like a trip to a hair salon, where after two weeks your hair goes back to normal. It should go beyond just a cosmetic change, where only the logo is altered, but should reflect a fundamental change in the company.”

Rebranding beyond logos

Tweaking a logo and leaving everything else unchanged is pointless. “A logo change raises expectations, both internally and externally,” . The branding exercise should not be isolated to the letterhead; it should be an experience for the customer. The moment one steps into the office, employees should be able to feel it just as they expect their customers to. As a rule ;The old logo portrayed trust, warmth and confidence. However, with the entry of many me-too’s trust could no longer be the key differentiator for the brand. So the new logo, along with the tagline supporting the logo upgrade might add a fashionable, young and international image of any brand.

The logo change was only a small part of the rebrand. “ a deep-rooted A 360-degree approach across customer touch-points to be taken to convey the new identity (merchandising display exhibits, new uniforms …etc.)

But change isn’t always easy.

In organizations that are several decades old, employees are entrenched within the system and find it difficult to come to work one morning and adopt newer systems.” Change must be gradual in order to be effective.

For a new identity - image overhaul -to be effective ..the makeover has to be an experiential makeover, and not an advertising makeover in a way to involves integrated transition in systems, processes, employee orientation and customer experience without destroying the core values it was founded on.

Smart transformation is the key driver here to retain the essence of the brand’s heritage, while projects a contemporary image in sync with today’s lifestyle.

Finally , talk to your users “consumers”… they know better …

Gillette launches first global brand campaign in five years

LONDON - Procter & Gamble is introducing a new core brand message to Gillette following the recent addition of hair styling and personal care products to its shaving care range.

Gillette's first global branding campaign in five years is designed to expand the brand beyond shaving and strengthen the brand's emotional bond among men.

Following extensive global research among thousands of men, which found that even confident males have doubts at many moments throughout their lives, Gillette is progressing its "The Best A Man Can Get" message by with a new campaign called "The Moment." The FMCG giant says men are looking for products that give them the confidence they want and need to look, perform and feel their best.

The campaign features everyday guys, as well as the Gillette brand ambassadors -- Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Derek Jeter -- experiencing moments of doubt and how they overcome them to succeed. The ad was created by BBDO New York.

ZAP from Yoplait: How to stir up a fermented market

This document contains information from an article from the CB News No. 543, 26^th October 1998, with the kind permission of Christian Blachas and Emmanuelle Fradet. It is completed with information provided by the agency in its presentation dossier.

With the flavored yogurt market losing its momentum, Yoplait zaps the end of the family meal with its new yogurt, which can be eaten without a spoon, and therefore away from the table.

Who? Yoplait

What? To become brand leader in the standard flavored yogurt market.

How? The launch of Zap, the first yogurt in a sachet

With what? TV and poster advertising campaign

With whom? McCann Erickson (advertising) and Logic Design (packaging)

How much? FFr16 million gross on advertising

Result? +12.7% in Yoplaits turnover on the flavored yogurt market in one year.

1.    Objective: To be market leader of flavored yogurts

On this supermarket aisle there is hustle and bustle According to studies, 95% of hyper-market customers go to this aisle every visit (1) and not just to look, as 80% leave with at least one product in their trolley. Chilled desserts, a sector with FFr23 billion in turnover in 1996 represents a very dynamic market with a year on year growth rate of 5.3% in comparison to 1995.

An interesting sector, as new products are frequently being launched onto the market. But there is one problem: yogurt, the biggest segment of dairy products in France, with a turnover of FFr8.8 billion in 1996, sales were sliding. Or to be more exact, the flavored yogurts, which represented 11.9% of the yogurt markets sales. In fact sales were in free fall, down 10% compared to 1995. 'However flavored yogurts remain the second market segment of fresh dairy products', explains Hlne Roux, Product Manager for Zap from Yoplait. 'Unfortunately retailers own brands continue to increase their market influence and the major brands, Yoplaits Fructos, Danones Kid and Nestls Yoco only compete during promotions, robbing the market of any exciting competition'. As a direct consequence, investment in advertising is stagnant, increasing across all brands in 1996 to FFr19.4 million gross

Flavored yogurts, 75% of which are purchased by households with children, were gradually losing interest. This was as much the case for consumers as for retailers. Although bought mainly for children 50% of flavored yogurts are consumed by adults. The major brands have tried as well as can be expected to give more punch to the sector. Danone introduced a 'creative' version of Kid, with an accompanying small dish containing chunks of fruit or cereal; Fructos repositioned itself as the only yogurt flavored with fruit juice; Senoble joined forces with Haribo to launch the strawberry flavored yogurt Tagada In short, each one tried to differentiate itself from the others on the market.

In vain: the market remained stable, with no increase in the number of consumers and the brands retained their positions, only making an impact on the competition during price promotions. In 1997 the flavored yogurt market collapsed even more, only just reaching 21 000 tons and turnover of FFr960 million (-8.7% in volume and

6.7% in value)

The time had come for existential questions: Stay or go? Not an easy decision as Yoplait did have a good market share, as was the case for the three major brands (2). Yoplaits Fructos accounted for 28.8% of the market in terms of volume in 1996, whilst Danones Kid had 18.7% and Nestls Yoco 21.5% (respectively 28%, 20.1% and 21.6% in financial terms).

'We therefore had no choice if we wanted to remain in the market than to create market value by trying, once and for all to become market leaders', continues Hlne Roux.

2.    Resources: FFr16 million to kill off the little spoon

With a clear aim in mind, it only remained to find a solution. Having completed some studies, two strong tendencies in French society leapt out at Yoplait: the increasing amount of snacking and the explosion of the mobile phone market. Nothing to do with yogurt? 'Wrong' comments Jacques Hervouet, Commercial Director at McCann Erickson.

'In fact this indicated the presence of a McDonalds generation, ready to break free from eating traditions'. 'We then only had to create a new product which would correspond with these tendencies towards snacking and being on the move', continues Hlne Roux.

'This all came back to adding value in two ways: habit and pleasure', continues Renaud Degon, Director of Strategic Planning at McCann Erickson. So with added value, the price per kilo of the product would rise and so there would be an increase in turnover

Snacking and being on the move: the two main sales features of the product were established. Yoplait had experience in this area already, having launched the Petits Filous with straws on the petit-suisse sector (that were now called Petits Filous Tubs), and in the yogurt drinks segment, they had launched Yop. These products were aimed at different target groups, with the former for small children and the latter for adults. As for the 'medium' sized (aged between 7 and 12), they found themselves 'orphans' in the yogurt world.

Not for long - as Yoplait decided to launch a product aimed at them. The aim: a yogurt, not to drink, but to swallow, greedily, without a spoon. The yogurt sachet weighing 90g (compared to 125g for a pot) is born.

'We originally envisaged launching under the brand name Pocket Fructos so that we could capitalize on our brand. But this posed a problem: we risked reducing the added value of this new product. To fully optimize the novelty, we decided to create a new brand: Zap', explains Hlne Roux. Zap as in to zap, of course Price per kilo: FFr22 compared with an average of FFr6 for standard flavored yogurts.

September 1997: Zap appeared on the shelves for the first time. The launch of this yogurt in a sachet attracted major retailers. The availability in shops grew steadily and in December 1997 Zap was available in 60% of large retailers, which account for 74% of total retail turnover (3). In short, the time had come to launch the advertising campaign.

A double objective: image and volume

• To create a new category in the mind of the consumer: yogurts without spoons
• To encourage people to try it

McCann Erickson performed studies to decide on which tactic to take. 'Two discoveries came out of our meetings with consumers: firstly that mothers can no longer manage to keep children at the table. So fairly often children skip the end of the meal and mothers feel guilty that they havent given their child enough milk', continues Renaud Degon. 'Now we had a product which would allow children to consume a dessert elsewhere and provides what mothers feel is most lacking in their childrens diets: milk', explained J. Hervouet.

Deciding against an evidential campaign (a film showing children eating Zap outside), McCann Erickson suggested the idea of symbolically showing the arrival of the sachet yoghurt on the market with a fact: the death of the spoon (the spoon is yesterdays news).

'The choice of media was self-evident: television to demonstrate the product and posters because, of course, it is an outdoor product', concludes Renaud Degon.

Zap appeared on the TV screens on the 16^th January 1998, with two clips of 30 and 20 seconds directed by Pascal Chaumeil (production: Quad). The defunct little spoon, which is thrown out the window, plays the star part.

From 21^st January 1998 the billboards displayed, along with the fossils of the yogurt spoon, two slogans which left nothing in any doubt: 'No future' and 'End of the reign' (165 showings of 30 and 20 second clips; 6236 boards, in pairs, in all towns with over 50 000 inhabitants). Total budget: FFr10.6 million for television and FFr5.4 million for the outdoor campaign (4).

3.    Results: +12.7% in Yoplaits turnover on the market

'No other advertising campaign took place. We had planned a series of promotional events in stores, but they were not needed. Sales escalated from the appearance of the advertising to such an extent that we didnt need to use any other techniques', comments Hlne Roux.

On the shelves, Zaps arrival did not go unnoticed. Without doubt because McCanns advertising had been seen, by children as well as by mothers. The post-tests prove it (5). The recognition rates for the TV ads (interviewees claiming to have seen the campaign) were 78% amongst children and 52% amongst mums (average for children 81% and 46% for mothers). And those who had seen the clips didnt forget them: 54% of children and 30% of mothers remembered one or more details of the clip (average 35% for children and 15% for women).

It was the same story for the poster campaign: 54% of children and 23% of mums were able to recollect details (average 35% for children and 15% for mothers).

'We are all the more proud because this campaign did not resort to using the methods for reaching children, with neither comic book characters, nor cartoons', continues J. Hervouet. 'All the more proud because the appearance of the advertising campaign coincided with soaring sales (from 10 tons per day during the first week of January 1997 to 86 tons at the time of the outdoor campaign). And this development did not suffer a downturn, as in June 1998, sales were still at 74 tonnes per day' Had the launch of the sachet yogurt revitalized the flavored yogurt sales? too early to tell. The fact remains that Zap seems to be a real success (6). The new brand from Yoplait had gained a presence in the shops very quickly.

Available in 83% of French hyper-markets and supermarkets in August 1998 (accounting for 90% of total retail turnover), Zap alone holds 3% of the flavored yogurt market in terms of volume but when taking into account its price per kilo, in terms of value it holds 8.1%'. There was no noticeable cannibalization of Yop or the Petits Filous Tubs', concludes H. Roux. Final result: Zap made Yoplait market leaders on the flavored yogurt shelves (6). By the end of August 1998, taking into account all their brands, Yoplait held 37.5% of the flavored yogurt market in volume terms and 41.2% in terms of value, compared with 28.9% and 28.5% in 1997.

At the same time, Danone retained 22.8% of volume and 24% of value (compared with 20.8% and 23.8%). And Nestl pulled out of the market. So Zap re-launched its campaign with repeats in September 1998 for FFr9 million gross.

TV Scores

	Ave.	Children	Ave.	Women
Total score	77	85	38	38
Specific score	35	54	15	30
Proved score	44	56	21	34
Recognition	81	78	46	52

Poster Scores

	Ave.	Children	Ave.	Women
Specific Score	35	54	15	23

1. Marketing Book, Secodip, 1997
2. Nielsen, Annual accumulation 1997
3. Nielsen, December 1997
4. Secodip
5. Post test Ipsos TV and posters (752 people, groundwork 5^th and 13^th February 1998)
6. Nielsen with annual accumulation end August 1998 

Pedigree::: Adoption Drive

BRAND OWNER:Mars
CATEGORY:Pet Care
REGION:Germany
DATE:Mar 2008 - Jul 2008

Pedigree was facing a huge problem, since the dog food market was being polarized between own label and premium brands. Pedigree was somewhere in the middle and did not have clear differentiating brand attributes.

The opportunity was to tell consumers, that Pedigree cares more about every single dog than any other manufacturer. In order to prove this, it created the Pedigree Adoption Drive and raised Awareness for dogs living in animal shelters.

The idea was to activate dog lovers to get them to become part of the Adoption Drive and create a dog rescue movement. Dog Lovers could become part of the movement, by donating money or by adopting a dog.
The first stage saw various rescue dogs profiled in all the big German newspapers, along with a telephone number for more information. Posters at gas stations on the freeway – notorious dumping grounds for unwanted pets – reminded people about the dogs’ plight. This was supported by TV ads.

The second step was to activate consumers to become a part of the movement, largely at point of sale. Images of local animal shelter dogs were displayed along with the message that with every purchase from Pedigree they support these dogs. People were driven to Pedigree.de in an online drive and there were many cases of editorial integration including reports of dogs who had found new homes. All of these homed dogs were shown on the Pedigree site.



The campaign achieved a short term sales growth of 8,6%.

Also the penetration of the brand increased about 4,8% for the first time in three years and remained on a higher level also after the campaign period.

Finally the target to donate €250k to animal shelters was smashed with a donation of €400k and the adoption rate increased about 20% during the period of the campaign.