Heineken – Club Beertender (Netherlands)

Client name: Heineken
Category: Loyalty & Long-term Umbrella Campaigns
BACKGROUND
Heineken developed the 'BeerTender' together with Krups. It's a home-tap system for beer, with which you can tap your own glasses of Heineken's best beers: Heineken, Amstel, Amstel Bock, Amstel 1870, Brand, Wieckse Witte, Murphy's and Affligem.

Beertender was introduced in 2004 as the first system that could provide you a fresh cold beer at home. It's a better experience for the consumer and a chance for a better market share for Heineken.

The product experienced a healthy sales growth (200,000 in 2007).
Slowly, the BeerTender sales are decreasing. Everyone who wants a BeerTender already has one and there are not many new customers. Also, the amount of casks is not in line with the amount of
BeerTenders sold, which suggests a lot of buyers are not using their BeerTender anymore.

The system quickly becomes – without any further promotions – a tap for special occasions and disappears into the closet or garage. BeerTender also suffers from heavy competition of the PerfectDraft, a similar tap from Philips.

The further increase of brand-awareness won't lead to increase of sales of BeerTender, and BeerTender sales don't automatically lead to an increase in sales of casks.

OBJECTIVES
Create a platform to regularly communicate with BeerTender owners and to encourage use of their BeerTender. The goals attached to this platform:

• Building a database of BeerTender users through self-registration
• Measure the communication effects to cask sales, with goal of increasing cask sales to Club members by 25%
  

STRATEGY
The target audience is (mostly male) BeerTender owners. Age doesn't matter, but the communication is aimed at men, aged 25–55, with a strong affinity with football and music.

We chose a structural communication- and loyalty program for BeerTender owners: Club BeerTender. The program stimulates the owners to re-use their BeerTender and encourages them to increase its use. Club BeerTender should also create a special bond between BeerTender owners.

The program has three pillars:

1. TO BRING IN: get to know the BeerTender users.
2. TO BIND: figure out purchase behaviour, using codes. Always give a reason to register these codes.
3. TO FILL: increase sales by using special sales promotions and reach the volume goal of 2007.
   

The Club gives you something directly, there's no need to save tons of receipts to get anything. Members get rewarded in both emotional and economic ways. The following incentives are used:

• Discounts
• Privileges
• Chances to win
  

Examples of privileges: free cask on birthdays, preferential tickets for football matches. Discounts on football tickets, concerts and BeerTender merchandise. Also, with each registered cask consumers had a 1/10 or 1/15 chance of winning “money can't buy” prizes like flying an aircraft or driving a Formula 1 car.

Media:
Current databases, BeerTender sales (utilizing the Krups sales data), BeerTender packages and casks
Other Heineken SKUs
Print media and a banner campaign
Club BeerTender members encouraged to refer other owners

Budget
Radio 9%
Direct Mail 33%
Online 30%
Print media 1%
In store communication 8%
Promotional products 19%

CREATIVE STRATEGY
Club BeerTender is about more than just a device you fill with casks. Club BeerTender is about the ultimate beer experience: being able to get the most delicious beer freshly out of the tap, at home! Heineken supports Club members, but moreover, Heineken makes sure it's more fun using your BeerTender.

Club BeerTender reinforces the relationship between Heineken and the consumer, and gives customers the recognition they deserve. By asking for specific preferences and interests, the communication becomes personal and relevant.

In the welcome-pack, after registering the first cask-code, the new member receives the BeerTender apron, to reinforce the “being-home” feeling. This also goes for discounts and the prizes members can win. Some merchandise is also personalized with favourite football-clubs, which makes Club BeerTender very personal.

Within the concept, the various beer brands (Heineken, Amstel, Brand) get the possibility to reinforce their individual brand feeling. For example via the Brand Brewery Days, the Amstel Live Concerts and the Heineken Music Hall.

Monthly emails are being based on the preferences of the ClubMembers, to continue to motivate the purchase and registration of more casks, in order to win prizes or to obtain further discounts.

A broadsheet to all distribution points explained Club BeerTender. By sending out direct mails with discount coupons, which could be checked at these selling points, the distribution channels were helping Heineken to sell more casks.

Back to back

THE ORIGINAL?

Traditional Thaï Massage - 2005

Agency : Leo Burnett (Slovenia)

LESS ORIGINAL :

Revita “Relax with Shiatsu” - 2009

Agency : Fields (Brasil)

Amtrak:::Less hassle with Amtrak

BRAND OWNER:Amtrak
CATEGORY :Travel/Airlines
REGION :USA
DATE :2008

Unlike Europe and Asia, Rail travel in the US is not a dominant mode of transportation. In fact, over 98% of all US consumers are aware of national railway company Amtrak, but only 4% choose rail on any given year. Amtrak needed to change perceptions and get people to travel by rail instead of car or plane.

The rise in fuel prices in 2008 and subsequent financial toll it took on airlines and car travel created a perfect environment for Amtrak to change perceptions, targeting consumers at frustrating moments in their travels.

Amtrak targeted passengers at airports in the terminals, the baggage claim areas and the highway just outside the airports as well as taxi tops.

Amtrak could not purchase signage inside the gate area, so it ambushed it by gaining exclusive access through log-in wi-fi screens at regional airports and in CNN’s airport feed in 40+ airports to keep Amtrak in mind when passengers were delayed.

Amtrak also targeted petrol stations along the east coast of the USA, with a geo-targeted media buy in more than 1,500 gas stations – all two miles from the interstate, or 5 miles from an Amtrak station.

While consumers shelled out $4 a gallon for gas, they were reminded of Amtrak by ads on gas toppers and nozzle pumps.

Amtrak also sponsored local TV and radio live-read of traffic and weather report as well as search. As a result the number of people riding the train rose by 11.1%, with revenues rising by 14.2%. 27% of first time customers stated they would not have taken Amtrak had they not seen or heard the advertising.

Finally online bookings saw a 300% increase while cost per click decreased almost 50% and cost per booking dropped 88%

Sprite:::Slam dunk contest

BRAND OWNER:The Coca Cola Company
CATEGORY :Drinks (non-alcoholic)
REGION :USA
DATE :Oct 2007


Sprite has enjoyed a long standing partnership with The National Basketball Association (NBA), which appeals to the primary target audience of African American teens.
In the past, the partnership has revolved around TV sponsorship and integration, but Sprite wanted to reinvigorate the sponsorship and drive sales.
African-American teens continue to be passionate about the NBA, and aspire to be part of the glitzy, showboating lifestyle they see lived out by NBA stars. Sprite decided to reorient its NBA partnership from TV to new digital platforms - video games, online video, and mobile. As the long standing partner of the Slam NBA Dunk Contest TV broadcast, Sprite worked with the NBA to put consumers in control of the event.
First of all they were given power to vote for the winner of the contest, either online or via text. The call-to-vote was pushed on TV and online. People were invited to discuss the event on the NBA page of Facebook. On the night of the event, consumers were reminded of the text-to-vote opportunity via Sprite crawls, TNT announcers, on-screen graphics, billboards and custom TV creative.
Toward the end of the broadcast there was a 5-minute voting window. The results were then announced live on-air at the end of the broadcast.
To continue the action all year long, Sprite infiltrated NBA licensed video games (NBA 2K8, NBA Live 08 and NBA Street), creating an exclusive new game feature, the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, where the virtual players competed in the famous Sprite NBA event.
During the contest, consumers sent in 856,200 text votes and 101,000 online votes – smashing the original goal of 25,000 votes. The 2008 Slam Dunk was the most watched in the event’s 23-year history with 5.2 million viewers (+7% vs the previous year).:

Pacifico:::Peace project

BRAND OWNER:Pacifico
CATEGORY:Charities
REGION:Colombia
DATE:Sep 2008 - Dec 2008

Colombia has the oldest armed conflict in Latin America. A 36 year old Colombian doesn’t understand the concept of his/her country without war. Every 15 days 346 people die because of the armed conflict. In 2007, six kidnappings occurred every two days. However, the nation is making strenuous efforts to stop violence. Colombia has a Guinness Record for the world’s largest peace movement against war.

In 2008, 1,042 rebels handed over their weapons. Initiative set up a communications movement called Pacifico to support and promote peace.

The hub of the peaceful campaign was www.proyectopacifico.com. This is where Colombians could post their simple ideas to help Colombia live in peace. These included: “ask for forgiveness”, “remember to breathe”, “call your mother more often”, “don’t shout”.

Initiative approached leading advertisers in Colombia and persuaded them to transform the ideas into media spots so the message of peace could be spread. Leading media owners supported the project by giving free ad space. Initiative garnered support from the Francisco Santos, vice-president of Colombia as well as key media moguls.

More than 60 media owners in TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor and digital supported Pacifico with free spots, with a value of around $US 700,000. Around 1,000 simple ideas have been posted in the page.

The campaign also managed to unite media owners and advertisers in a single cause.

What Can Twitter Do for You? More than you might imagine

For me, Twitter is not another Facebook. It's not about connecting with lost friends or letting your virtual posse know what you're up to. It's not simply a source of breaking news . And despite the fact that it blows Google away as a real-time search engine, even that barely begins to describe Twitter's true potential.Instead, I've found far greater benefits to incorporating Twitter into my life and onto my desktop.
Here's what Twitter's given me:

1. Instant access to thought leaders in social media, digital trends, technology and marketing in the new age of community. They're all here: the staff of Wired, the lead strategists at the next generation of agencies, the pioneers of social media itself. Not just the expected names like @crowdsourcing (Jeff Howe) or @johnabyrne (BusinessWeek's digitally proactive editor) or @henryjenkins (MIT's director of comparative media studies) or @jaffejuice (Crayon's Joe) but a new generation of even younger social media enthusiasts.
Most of them are remarkably generous with their knowledge, willing to answer questions, share ideas, even give away their content.

2. An opportunity to experience crowd sourcing in action. Conduct a brainstorming session in your own agency and you're pretty much limited to the usual suspects. But on Twitter there are thousands of people willing to help out. And because no one pays attention to seniority or title, new voices are more willing to express an opinion that more often than not is both fresh and provocative. I'm constantly surprised where the quote or thought or insight or example I'm looking for comes from. But it's always to be found.

3. A new way to connect with Millennials. We live in a society that does its very best to isolate generations. But because a Twitter relationship centers around content, information and ideas, it erases differences in age. I'm now connected with college students in New York, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and Miami.
Many of their blogs are far more telling than another research report from Simmons or Forrester. And all of them are willing to make me smarter about how marketing has to change if it's to connect with a generation defined by community, collaboration and responsibility.

4. The first hand experience needed to become an authority. As has been noted by Adweek, clients are critical of most agencies' lack of experience in social media, specifically calling them out for not using the space themselves. For me, hanging out on Twitter inspired ideas like Trash Talk from Section Twitter and RedCarpet09, two virtual gatherings created around the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards.
They not only became successful events in and of themselves -- generating visibility for Mullen and attaining status as hot topics on Twitter -- they demonstrated to clients how one agency in particular actually gets it.

5. A better understanding of how to weave together all things social. If nothing else, Twitter gives you a clear sense of everything a brand can and should do with social media: enable connections and ultimately create a community that let's you listen, engage, inspire, build and mobilize. Maybe you can't achieve social Nirvana with Twitter exclusively -- you still need a broader brand network, relevant content and genuine utility -- but Twitter makes it easier to create connections and to identify the content and utility that can help make sure those connections last.

Yes, there are challenges. Co-founder Ev Williams admits that Twitter needs to come with a set of directions; the functionality remains less than obvious. It also takes time to determine a personal strategy. Are you building your individual brand? Seeking new contacts? Looking to master a category? Or simply practicing what we all have to preach? To make things more complicated, there are hundreds upon hundreds of Twitter apps to consider, thanks to the open API. Figuring out which ones matter is in and of itself a chore.

Still, it's worth the effort. If you haven't joined yet, you're missing out. If you gave up the first time around, give it another go. And if you want help making it easier, contact me. I'm @edwardboches or http://twitter.com/edwardboches. I'll gladly share everything I've learned about the platform, and willingly introduce you to a few hundred people who can teach you everything I don't know.

Those who cultivate wind harvest a storm

Published in Campaign ME magazine, 29 March - 11 April 2009 issue, Page: 18.

Based on (unconfirmed) reports of up to a 40% decrease in advertising spending in the first quarter of 2009 and unoptimistic forecast still the year’s end leaves no doubt that the global economic crisis has castits shadow on Kuwait’s advertising industry; but the truth is that the industry has been dented long before the crisis due to years of malpractice based on “if it isn’t broken why fix it” mentality.

Advertising has an important role to play in the marketing mix as “Advertising presents the most persuasive possible selling message to the right prospects for the product or service at the lowest possible cost”– IPA.

Lets examine the situation based on “cause and effect”.

1. Cause: Price wars, “Brown envelope” culture and long credit.
Effect: Lower profit margins, cash-flow problems and redundancy across all ranks of the industry.

2. Cause: Stock photos and clip art copy-paste creativity.
Effect: Poor creativity and ROI (return on idea).Client’s messages are neither standing out in the clutter nor differentiated from their competitors. As a result clients perceive advertising as a commodity and seek the services of the lowest bidder further contributing to lower profit margins.

3. Cause:Hiring on the basis of “whom you know rather than what you know”.
Effect: Poor levels of industry practitioners. Media and printing press sales representatives compete with agencies by offering lower prices directly to clients than those offered to agencies - further leading to loss of business or contributing towards lowering industry profit margins.

4. Cause: Lack of (credible) media research, transparency and absence of media auditing.
Effect: Misleading data. Hindering the function of advertising targeting “the right prospects for the product or service at the lowest possible cost”.

5. Cause: Proliferation in the media mix.
Effect: Fragmentation of the budget (based on misleading data).

6. Cause: Lack of enforcement of intellectual property copyrights laws.
Effect: Copying the communication solution of a totally different set of problems, which does not yield a ROI - instead resultin a pandemic of copycat advertisements.

7. Cause: The over-simplification and generalization of obtaining an advertising license.

Effect: Advertising is not acknowledged as aprofession that requires certain qualifications to be practiced. Anyone can venture into the industry and cause havoc then exit leaving behind long lasting damage. Pre-press service bureaus, commercial printing press, advertising agencies, PR consultancies, calligraphers, sign makers, corporate gift items and premiums, event management, publishers and distribution companies - All fall under an advertising license with the exact same set of requirements.
Based on these stated facts; my conclusion is that the local advertising industry is in dire need of major restructuring.
If such problems are not seriously tackled promptly, the industry will remain in crisis long after the world economy recovers as per the Arabic proverb “Those who cultivate wind will harvest a storm

Follow the lines :Copy Cat

THE ORIGINAL?

Ariel “Stain-Free” - 2000

Source : Advertolog ad archive

Agency : Unknown

LESS ORIGINAL :

Persil “free the stain” - 2005

Source : Adsoftheworld,

Agency : DDB Warsaw (Poland)

Sony::: Kuwait Copy Cat

Published in Kuwait - 2009

Cheers and hope tarnished

Published in Arab Ad magazine February issue, copycat section, Page: 154.

Chevrolet :::Branching out into widgets

BRAND OWNER:General Motors
CATEGORY:Automotive
REGION:USA
DATE:Apr 2008 - Jun 2008


As gas prices skyrocketed, the American consumer was looking for an environmentally conscious car. Most consumers think Toyota, but Chevrolet wanted to make consumers aware of its commitment to environmental sustainability and conservation.

Chevrolet’s research showed that most consumers do not want to make the big changes in their life to become a true environmentalist. They will however, join and champion a cause that requires little personal time or involvement.

The campaign was launched on Earth Day across several media type, concentrating on key digital spaces that provided a one click platform where consumers could make a real world difference and show off their environmental commitment to their friends and family. Chevrolet teamed up with MySpace to develop and launch a virtual tree widget.

The Chevrolet widget allowed users to plant a seed within their profile that over 30 days grew into a tree to showcase their support for the environment. If users stayed committed to the cause for the full 30 days, then Chevrolet and MySpace pledged to plant up to 225,000 real-world trees in partnership with the Nature Conservancy in Florida. The widget was promoted within MySpace, but was spread virally.

To get the message across, each recruit would receive a note from GM’s VP of Environment, Energy, and Safety Policy stating that Chevrolet has “dedicated time, resources, and the brightest minds available to make our processes more sustainable, our vehicles less petroleum-dependent, our suppliers more conservation-minded, our plants more efficient and our planet more livable.”
Financial resources limited the number of tree plantings to 225,000, and this number of Tree Widget downloads was achieved in days.

To date, the Chevrolet Tree Widget has been downloaded by more than 18m MySpace users. Awareness of Chevrolet alternative fuels improved by 53%.