adidas:::Rejuvenating Chinese Volleyball: Bringing the Game Closer to China’s Youth

Category Entered:Specialist & Technique: New Media
Title of Project: Rejuvenating Chinese Volleyball: Bringing the Game Closer to China’s Youth
Client’s name:Adidas (Suzhou) Co., Ltd
Budget: US$362,500


With 2008 fast on our heels, Beijing Olympic partner and Chinese Volleyball Association partner—Adidas, was faced with several immediate challenges: The national Chinese women’s volleyball team’s (CWVT) image and the sport of volleyball itself had lost its “coolness” factor among Chinese youth. This posed as a discrepancy from Adidas overall brand persona of Young, Energetic, Fashionable, Confident and Cool.
It wasn’t always this way. Most Chinese will recall CWVT’s golden victory at the 1984 Olympics; the team had catapulted to national heroes. However thereafter, CWVT gave dismal performances which caused the team’s popularity and the sport of volleyball to decline; volleyball was perceived by youth as a game primarily for “older people.” Meanwhile, China was catching on to “the two big balls,” basketball and football, which were perceived as entertaining, star-studded and key players in shaping youth culture—exactly where Adidas aspired volleyball to be in China.
OBJECTIVES/BRIEF FROM THE CLIENT
The goals of the campaign:

• To rejuvenate CWVT image and the game of volleyball among the target audience (14-24 years old)
• Create and maintain excitement among China’s youth for CWVT as a gold contender of the 2008 Olympics
  
• Strengthen Adidas association with CWVT, 2008 Beijing Olympics and overall brand ownership of volleyball

STRATEGY
Get youth involved. Speak their language. Drive youth participation while giving the game and the team an image makeover. Research by All China Strategic Research (ACSR) focused on the target audience, both male and female. From qualitative research findings, ACSR found that:

• China’ youth culture is heavily influenced by star players, sports icons and celebrities. We need to create star power for the team.
• Though the old Olympic glory of CWVT impressed China’s youth, the team and the sport’s coolness factor was low. In the sports arena, coolness was described by adjectives such as agile, powerful, fierce, intense and exciting. We need to showcase the power of the game.
• The target audience preference was driven by a sense of ownership and participation. We need to drive youth involvement.
  

Furthermore, the 2006 China Internet Network Development Statistic Report points out that New Media channels are an effective medium to increase youth participation and attention.

METHOD DEPLOYED

Build team celebrity status: Drive PR through blogging and glamour shots
The initial phase of the campaign was to increase the profile of CWVT. Up to this point, the general audience had little knowledge of the players’ personalities. We sought to open a dialogue and close the distance between the team and their fans by creating their own blog, which is also the first Chinese Olympic team blog in history. That fact alone drove media coverage and generated traffic to the site.

Each player was given a professional makeover and photo shoot to capture fashionable shots which debuted on the blog; the photos were picked up instantaneously by major print media.

Make the game cool: Volleyball stunts through viral films:
The next phase was to shift perceptions of volleyball as a “tougher, faster, scarier” sport than previously thought. We focused on promoting six entertaining viral films via BBS and many more youth-targeted websites. The viral films were created by Adidas’ advertising agency to portray the volleyball game as edgy, dangerous and exciting. They sought to manifest the high speed of volleyball movements through creative stunts demonstrated by youth, such as:

• Digging (defensive save) in 2.5 seconds was demonstrated through flying off the roof of a racing car or from a speeding skateboard.
• Spiking at 92 km/h was illustrated through a water-gushing fire hydrant that hits a pedestrian and a coconut flying from a slingshot that hits a bystander
  

Increase fun factor: Youth call-to-action through the volleyball chant competition
Similar to popular cheers for basketball and football, we sought to create a national chant, cheer or jingle that volleyball can own. This was an opportunity for youth participation, thus Adidas launched the nation’s first chant competition (still going on now). The competition allowed for entry of a broad range of cheering forms, such as the creation of cheering slogans, chant themes, fans’ T-shirts, hand motions, dance moves related to volleyball moves. Participants can upload their cheering ideas and creations to the CWVT mini site and also rate other entries.

Incentive to participate includes selection into CWVT’s official cheering squad. Rules and registration of the competition were promoted through schools, retail stories, a press and video news release and media editorials.
OUTCOME
The campaign created new icons:

On attitudinal parameters, there was a clear positive shift of CWVT being perceived as “cooler,” sexier and more fashionable than ever.

• Post-launch research revealed that in some cities, within several months there was an increase of as much as 16% of the target audience who defined CWVT as “cool” (source: ACSR). Shanghai Times noted that fans were impressed with the team’s “never-seen-before sexiness” and their “excellent skin tone,” even drawing comparisons to professional models. One fan’s comment on the blog stated, ”I never knew the girls were so fashionable and cool!”
• CWVT extended their presence beyond the usual sports pages and made a leap towards various lifestyle media, such as popular youth magazines Easy and Touch.
  

The campaign generated tremendous hits and buzz:
The campaign was effective in stimulating buzz about CWVT and activating an attitudinal shift on volleyball.

• The blog attracted 160,865 unique visits and nearly 400,000 unique visits to the chant competition site in the first three months of its debut (source: From Zero). Oriental Sports Daily commented, “Without any prior announcement or promotion, visits to CWVT’s blog on the first day of its launch exceeded more than 20,000 page views!”
• 73% of viewers found the viral films “innovative” and “stimulating,” further describing volleyball as technique-driven, “passionate” and “powerful;” 78% of viewers also forwarded the viral films to friends.
• Within three months of the release of the viral films, more than 5.5 million visitors have clicked and viewed the films; in fact, the viewing rate was double that of the market average (source: ACSR).
  

The campaign fuelled youth energy for the team and the game:
For the first time, a channel was opened up for direct dialogue between CWVT and their fans, which gave the team an extra morale boost.
Chen Zhonghe, Chief Coach of CWVT, commented, “Adidas brought the girls closer to their fans, which is helping to boost the team’s morale and their performance! I am confident about the team’s performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.”
RELATION TO OBJECTIVES and COST EFFECTIVENESS
The campaign activated an attitudinal shift:
The blog established a radical facelift for CWVT, the viral films channelled a positive perception shift on volleyball, the chant competition called on China’s youth to infuse passion for the team, and the overall campaign is effectively strengthening Adidas brand association with CWVT.
Within six months of launch, research by ACSR revealed that nationally, awareness of Adidas and CWVT partnership increased by 5%, awareness of Adidas partnership with 2008 Olympics increased by 7%, and awareness of CWVT increased by 6%.
The campaign stretched the communications renminbi:
The total media coverage of the campaign to date is worth an equivalent ad spending of US$1.3 million USD (print media value source: Sinofile). To date, the estimated return of investment is more than 3 fold.
CREATIVITY AND ORIGINALITY
The New Media targeted campaign heralded a new era for Chinese Women’s Volleyball. For the first time, the Olympic hopefuls had their first collection of glamour shots with heightened celebrity status, their first blog which was also the first Olympic team blog in China (as opposed to an individual’s blog), the assembly of the first CWVT cheering squad and unprecedented media buzz.
OUTSIDE PARTNERS
TBWA (viral films)
From Zero (blog)
Sohu (viral films and blog)
ACSR (research)
Cinsos (BBS)
BUDGETS
Approximately US$362,500
CATEGORY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
The 2006 China Internet Network Development Statistic Report points out that more than 18 million Chinese high school students surf the internet. The rate of netizens among China’s youth is increasing at rapid speed.

adidas::: No Impossible Gold: Setting the Stage for four years of adidas-Olympic Communications

Issue
In January 2005, adidas became an official partner for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In a China gripped by Olympic fever, adidas needed an announcement that would grab attention.

Challenge
Adidas did not want another ubiquitous Olympic announcement.


They wanted to:

• Drive awareness of adidas’ Olympic partnership
• Establish the Olympic credibility of adidas
• Demonstrate the position of adidas as a global sports performance leader dedicated to athletes, product innovation and leadership
• Drive the position of adidas as THE sports brand with an unrivalled Olympic heritage, and ultimately THE Olympic brand
• Enhance and strengthen the relationship between adidas and key 2008 Olympic business partners

Insight
Rigorous, qualitative research amongst consumer and government officials demonstrated the powerful connection between adidas, winning and ultimately Chinese national pride. This key insight was central to developing the campaign strategy and theme.

Creative Idea:
The original brand message of authenticity and inspiration,“Impossible is Nothing”, was re energized as “No Impossible Gold”. Powerful nationalistic symbols of drums, podiums and celebration were employed.

Campaign
To target a diverse audience including the government and consumers, a two phase strategy was devised.
Phase one: The “wow” campaign of inspiration and innovation, with a focus on raising awareness of adidas and its strong Olympic connections both in the past, present and future. The key target audiences were the media and Government officials
Phase Two: The “echo” phase focused on two disparate groups of stakeholders; consumers and key adidas business partners. This phase incorporated a seven city interactive road show where the impressive Olympic podium visual and sentiment of winning gold was leveraged. Also, 500 adidas stakeholders ranging from BOCOG to sports associations and federations, retailers, key global athletes and the media were invited to celebrate and cheer at a Gala Dinner.

Outcome
Quantitatively; the campaign resulted in 20 TV reports between January and March 2005, over 139 articles including 40% with visual images, and 38 online features. Approximately US$2.83M in media value was generated, with an exposure to an audience of over 410 million. In terms of consumer tracking, a recent study by AC Neilson cited awareness of the adidas partnership with the Beijing 2008 Olympic games as at 65% amongst 16-24 year olds in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
However, it must be remembered that this high profile announcement campaign created new dialogue with new critical stakeholders. In the long term, the benefits of such powerful relationships cannot be quantified or qualified.

Totally Busted::: COPY CAT ADS from Lynx 2009

Lateral Thinking: When a low probability line of thought leads to an effective idea, there is a “Eureka” moment and at once the low-probability approach acquires the highest probability. - Edward De Bono. Excerpt from a book by John Townsend & Jacques Favier titled The Creative Manager’s Pocketbook. Page: 2. ISBN: 1-870471-69-5.

A copycat is a person that mimics or repeats the behavior of another. The term is often derogatory, suggesting a lack of originality. The expression may derive from kittens that learned by imitating the behaviors of their mothers. – Wikipedia.
Plagiarism: The abuse of another’s original work by copying it and passing it off as one’s own. As defined in Alastair Campbell book titled The Designer’s Lexicon. Page: 293 ISBN: 0-304-35505-4.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of thievery” excerpt from a book by Capsule titled Design Matters. Page: 84. ISBN -13:978-1-59253-341-1.

Advertising Agency: FP7 DOHA
Country: QATAR
Creative Director: Fadi Yaish

Copywriter: Mohamed Diaa

Art Director: Maged Nassar

Photographer: Allen Dang - Wizard Photography

Illustrator: KarenAccount

Supervisor: Charbel Mizher

Totally Busted::: COPY CAT Guerilla Marketing

Advertising Agency: McCann Erickson PortugalCreative Directors: Diogo Anahory, José BomtempoCopywriter: Emerson BragaArt Directors: André Lopes, Rita AndradeAccount Supervisor: Sônia CorreiaProducer: Rui Paz
Source: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/dm/roche_balls?size=_original







STRESSBALL
Type Of Entry: Product & Service
Category: Fundraising, Charities, Appeals, Non-Profit Organisations, Public Health & Safety
Title: STRESSBALL
Advertiser/Client: FRIENDS OF CANCER PATIENTS
Product/Service: BREAST CANCER AWARENESS
Entrant Company: JWT DUBAI
Country: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CD:Chafic Haddad
Art Director :Antra Patel
Copywriter: Zahir Mirza
Strategic Planner:Prabhakar Iyer
Photographer :Rita Dhankani
Production Company :Urofoam Ltd/England

Totally Busted::: COPY CAT ADS

Original

Volkswagen Battery - 2000
Claim : “Lasts up to 4 times longer”
Source : Cannes Shortlist!
Agency : AlmapBBDO (Brazil)






Copy (1)


Duracell Car Battery - 2006
Source : Cannes Archive Online
Agency : Ogilvy & Mather Mexico City (Mexico)

Copy(2)

Koba Car Battery - 2009
Claim : “Long lasting batteries”
Advertising Agency: FP7, Oman
Creative Director: Noufal Ali
Copywriter: Arun, Noufal Ali
Illustrator: Sannop, Renjith Pillai
Photographer: Jacob.k, Sandra M. Matheson
Client Servicing: Ajay Menon, Manish Rodrigues

Krispy Kreme: Marathon

BBDO Guerrero in Manila used guerilla tactics to promote Krispy Kreme donuts during the running of a marathon in The Philippines.



Client:Krispy Kreme
Agency:BBDO Guerrero, Manila
Creatives:David Guerrero, Simon Welsh, Joel Limchoc (Creative Director)
Brandie Tan (Art Director)
Tin Sanchez, Meggy de Guzman (Copywriter)
Other Credits:
Print Producer: Al Salvador, Cielo Laforteza

Sweetie CRM

The Natural Confectionery Company is Cadbury’s Schweppes product line containing no artificial colours or flavours. We asked Simon Gregory of interactive specialists Weapon 7 to explain how online strategy and CRM played a part in the brand’s successful relaunch.
Turning awareness into brand engagement: or combining the power of broadcast with the power of online Our key challenge in launching The Natural Confectionery Company for Cadbury was how to ensure that we converted awareness into brand engagement and subsequent purchase.

TV ads were doing a great awareness job, each one was a wonderful Fallonesque cultural happening. In fact consumers loved the ads so much they were in danger of becoming a victim of their own success; we soon learnt that just because people liked the TV ads, it didn’t necessarily follow that they liked the brand. This meant that any ‘campaign-centric’ CRM strategy focused solely on the ads could prove counter-productive. So we treated the TV ads as an introduction to the new brand; as the start of a conversation, taking those who demonstrated an interest in them on a journey.

The indication that you were interested would probably start with online search. We listened to the online conversations prompted by the ads and encouraged people to engage with us further through social media channels including Facebook and a YouTube Channel, a web- page promoting data-capture and an on-demand TV show called Packet Life.
In each channel we provided people with further content that built on the TV ads, such as behind-the-scenes clips or an animation. If they engaged with it, we then tempted them to try a free sample and opt-in to stay in touch. The brand’s YouTube channel is here: www.youtube.com/user/natconfectioneryco
Over time we continued to deliver further expressions of the brand to our audience through a host of games, emails, applications, invitations to visit our new site and Facebook gifts (over 140,000 in the UK alone). And, where relevant, we dropped them a little note or message letting them know. Each interaction acted as another step towards brand engagement and ultimately purchase.
To date, our research suggests that when we have converted awareness to trial, whether sampled or through purchase, we have created consumers that quickly add the product to their profile of preferred sweets. Plus, we now have tens of thousands of people engaged with the brand and product keen to stay in touch. The big idea is now lots of little relevant ideas. www.naturalconfectionery.co.ukwww.weapon7.com

SMB Retailers Need to Embrace Digital Marketing

January 21st, 2009
It was pretty much the worst case scenario realized for retailers last month. Retail sales declined 2.7 percent in the all-important month of December, drawing to a close the worst holiday season since 1969.
With consumer confidence still at record lows, how can a typical retailer hope to survive such dire circumstances? While there are no easy answers to address this multitude of problems, it’s time for retailers, especially those in the SMB space, to embrace digital marketing to help survive and possibly even thrive in the current economic conditions.

Digital marketing should be top of mind for anyone in the SMB sector, and this is especially true for retailers, both online and “brick and mortar.” Here are a few reasons why:It’s Affordable-

Unlike other more traditional marketing channels, digital vehicles like email and SMS should be within the budget of even the smallest of retailers.It’s Trackable-Lower revenues and disappointing sales mean it’s time to re-focus on maximizing ROI, and digital marketing in its very nature is designed to be trackable. Whether you just want to see how many people respond to a specific offer, or you need more sophisticated conversion tracking, you can monitor, in real time, the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts.
It’s Attainable-Gone are the days where only larger companies could effective deploy and manage digital marketing strategies. This is especially true for mobile marketing, in which SMB retailers can use applications like our mobileStorm SMS platform to quickly and easily launch highly effective campaigns, such as mobile coupons.It’s Adaptable–Being stuck with an ineffective marketing campaign can be a serious blow to a retailer, both in terms of lost revenue or even your reputation. Changing course in the traditional media outlets can be cost both time and money.
In the digital realm, however, such corrections can be done with minimal effort and expense.It’s Personable–Most forms of mass communication are geared towards the mass market, meaning that the same message is applied across a wide section of potential consumers. Digital marketing allows you to take an inverse approach, giving you the flexibility to customize your offer to a much smaller (and arguably more effective) niche audience.
It’s Inevitable–Whether or you are currently engaged in digital marketing, the fact is that eventually you’ll have no choice but to use it.

Pepsi::: Logo ...red, white, and blue?

Pepsi logo was initially all red. That changed inl the 1940s with the advent of World War II

"Patriotism" To show support of the war, Pepsi unveiled a new bottle cap that featured the Pepsi script surrounded by swirling red and blue colors on a white background.

Since Pepsi was recognizable with its script logo in the same manner as its main rival Coca-Cola at the time, the cap logo was simply meant as a show of U.S. patriotism as opposed to a marketing scheme.
The cap logo, however, quickly caught on, and by the end of the war in 1945 became Pepsi's primary logo....

Virtual Wardrobe::: Online Shopping Revolution

While its virtual fitting room lets you see how you might look with different hairstyles and colors, and you can quickly determine how different garments will look with each other, it's not going far enough yet. It's similar to an Interactive Mirror concept we showed you a couple of years ago. But we'd like to see how the clothes look with the exact measurements of the prospective buyer.

This is heading in the right direction, though. The ultimate goal, called e-fit, involves stepping into a 3D scanner, and getting measurements of your body. Then, clothes can be digitally painted onto that image, for a realistic look at the results. Still, there's one more drawback — the final frontier of online clothes shopping: How does the material feel?

Riyadh::: The ship-shape- hotel

No. 3 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:::The World's Worst Places to Work

Overall Grade: Very High Risk Location
Severe Problems: Political Violence & Repression, Political & Social Environment
Major Problem: Culture & Recreation Facilities
Other Problems: Housing, Climate, Disease & Sanitation, Education Facilities, Physical Remoteness, Communications






No surprise here. Life in the Saudi capital is not easy. "The possibility of a terrorist attack is an ongoing threat," according to ORC, "while wide-ranging restrictions on dress, movement, conduct, food, alcohol, travel, and communications limit expatriate life." The city is especially hard for foreign women. Finally, adds ORC, "violating the country's strict moral religious codes is a particular danger in this conservative city."

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/03/0304_difficult_cities/1.htm

Semantic noise: the copywriter’s curse

“Semantic noise” is the term communication professors use to describe what happens when words mean different things to different people.

Here’s one notorious example. A copywriter wrote the following slogan for a cough syrup company:
“Try our cough syrup. You will never get any better.”
You can see what the poor copywriter meant to say, but his slogan can be understood in two ways. It creates major semantic noise and you are left wondering why anyone would buy a product that promises to NOT work.

Here are other examples of semantic noise caused by writers from around the world.

• Sign in Norwegian cocktail lounge: “Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.”
• Detour sign in Japan: “Stop. Drive Sideways.”
• Hotel in Vienna: “In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter.”
• Elevator in Germany: “Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.”
• Dry cleaner window in Bangkok: “Drop your pants here for best results.”
• And my favorite from a Japanese hotel: “You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.”

These are all extreme examples, of course. But they show what can happen when you mean to say one thing and your words are understood to mean something else.

The solution?
1. Look for semantic noise in your copy. Just being aware of the possibility of confusion, and that words do not carry set meaning, can help you avoid this sort of copywriting catastrophe.
2. Don’t write in a rush. I always try to build “cooling off” time into every project. I write, set aside the copy for a day or two, then come back to it with fresh eyes. This always helps you see things you didn’t see in the heat of writing.
3. Show your copy to other people. A client, proofreader, friend, anyone. Fresh, objective eyes can quiet semantic noise in a hurry.

Verizon:::New brand identity

Loyalty program: Not Just Short-Term Behavior but Long-Term Relationship Management

The pressure to deliver growth has increased as the technology revolution has enabled marketers to link programs to real-time profit generation. As a result, CMOs are often forced to shift resources toward programs that deliver identifiable, immediate revenue. One of the core tools used:Loyalty program

Certainly, these programs may drive short-term results. But if not designed correctly, they can actually undermine the long-term health of the brand.

Loyalty programs are mainly psychological in nature, with little true interaction between the brand and the consumer. Still, they can go a long way toward making relationships concrete, as there is a back and forth between the consumer and the brand.

The typical loyalty program enables consumers to earn points that can be redeemed for rewards. When consumers' purchases are motivated by such promotions, we term that "behavioral loyalty." A form of loyalty exists because the consumer engages in repeat purchasing, but it's not clear whether it's because of the incentive or because they are really loyal to the brand.

Loyalty programs can shift what may have been a warm, emotional relationship into a cold, contractual relationship where consumers feel they are "owed" rewards.

A more valuable kind of loyalty

There does exist a more valuable type of loyalty: attitudinal loyalty, defined as when the customer has a strong emotional connection to and preference for the brand. Behavioral loyalty might be described as consumers doing what you want them to do, while attitudinal loyalty involves consumers believing what you want them to.
While attitudinal loyalty is a driver of behavioral loyalty, the converse may not be true. As a result, loyalty programs that provide only economic benefits may be appropriate in some instances but may actually conflict with brand-building efforts that ultimately attempt to create attitudinal loyalty.

This type of conflict can be seen in the airline industry's marketing efforts. Airlines have used slogans such as "Fly the friendly skies" and "Something special in the air" that try to establish the brands as friendly or luxurious. In contrast, the airline loyalty programs require that customers fly a great deal to get access to the improved, "friendlier" or more "special" service levels.
The airlines are left with two segments of customers. The first is those who feel they have "earned" and are therefore "owed" enhanced service, and although they demonstrate repeat buying behaviors, they're unlikely to have a true emotional attachment to the carrier and in the long run may easily move to a competitive brand. The second segment is those who have not "earned" anything, and are treated as second-class customers, so they are likely have neither behavioral nor attitudinal loyalty.

So what does it all mean? When designing a loyalty program, marketers need to move beyond focusing on just purchasing behavior and look at the impact of the program on overall brand health. While rewarding the right behaviors can lead to short-term revenue growth, designing loyalty programs so they also strengthen the brand perception can help lead to long-term brand equity.

Beyond the next purchase cycle
If every element of a loyalty program goes through a filter that evaluates it from the perspective of whether it will strengthen the consumer-brand relationship, the result will be a revenue-enhancing program that lasts longer than the next purchase cycle.
If an airline stands for superior care of the customer, can the loyalty program be designed to reward spending but also take care of the consumer and strengthen the brand? One answer might be to use a combination of fixed and flexible rewards. For example, the airline can keep the points-based program but also add customer benefits that are not explicitly mentioned. Unexpected rewards can have significant value as consumers view them as gestures on the part of the brand rather than payments that are owed.

Rewarding the right behavior means developing a structure that encourages the customer to shop more and spend more. This is obvious, and most programs are designed to effectively incent this in the short term. However, it's equally important to look at behavior on the margin and ensure that you don't accidentally "punish" a loyal customer.
In the current economy, with consumer spending down, it's very possible that many customers will not maintain the status they had in a specific program but will maintain or even grow their share of wallet with a specific retailer.
Most programs would punish those consumers for not maintaining their dollar spending even though they had maintained their share of wallet spending. Design for the best-case scenario, but make sure to design for alternative scenarios as well.

As stewards of not just the loyalty program but of the entire brand's health, CMOs have to rethink the design of these programs. Inciting short-term behavior is table stakes. The bigger challenge is moving beyond short-term efforts to design on-brand programs that can last beyond the immediate pressure. It may be a little harder to do, but it's the right thing to do.

Jeddah: Ikea store opening

Maybe it's time to cooperate, not compete

We tend to focus on our competitors and how to beat them. Take a moment to reflect on your potential 'cooperators' - brands that you could work with to strengthen your position in the market.

Maybe it's time to cooperate

Cooperate on product distribution
In 2008 Dunkin' Donuts partnered with J.M. Smucker to distribute a packaged coffee product to roughly 40,000 supermarkets and stores in the US. The result, US$115 million in sales. How can you cooperate with other brands to increase your distribution?

Cooperate on product design
One of my favorites: Italian sports brand Fila produced a line of Ferrari inspired footwear. This is just one of many examples of footwear brands cooperating with automotive brands to offer something extra. Levi's developed RedWire DLX jeans which feature an iPod dock and controller joystick built into the pockets. Which brands could you cooperate with on product design?

Cooperate to build your industry
Sometimes it makes sense to 'grow the pie' rather than compete for a slice. The WoolMark brand is a great example of this - promoting pure wool and all its benefits. The WoolMark brand helps to protect and grow the use of wool, as it competes with alternative fibers. Very useful if you work in the wool industry. How could you cooperate within your industry, to 'grow the pie'?

Cooperate on customer experience
When United Airlines began serving Starbucks coffee in-flight it gained passenger approval (and great PR too!), hotels use branded toiletries, cars use branded hifi, etc, etc. How can you cooperate with other brands to enhance your customer experience?

Brand cooperation can be very powerful, ask yourself:

Which brands can I cooperate with, and how, to strengthen my position in the market?

Rolls-Royce:::Phantom Launch

Challenge:

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars wanted to generate excitement and awareness with luxury lifestyle and business media in North America

Insight:
• Capitalize on limited tour of new Phantom EWB and 101EX Experimental Coupe to introduce the “new and invigorated” company
• Leverage upcoming vehicle introduction to demonstrate the performance, craftsmanship and luxury that has made Rolls-Royce the standard for excellence in any category
• Highlight features of U.K. headquarters to give journalists inside look at what makes Rolls-Royce special

Action:
• Arranged first-ever visit by U.S. journalists to Rolls-Royce corporate U.K. headquarters
• Created targeted media campaign aimed at luxury lifestyle publications and relevant national and regional press
•Spearheaded media relations in support of vehicles in select cities

Outcomes:
• Exclusive story with CNBC that set the broadcast strategy for Detroit Auto Show
• Features in luxury lifestyle publications including Celebrated Living, Palm Springs Life, POST USA and Malibu Times Magazine
• Lengthy local broadcast stories in select markets that were picked-up across the U.S.

DHL:::Taking on a Duopoly: The Deutche Post Formation of DHL in the U.S.

Challenge:

After acquiring 100 percent ownership of DHL Worldwide in 2000, Deutche Post World Net (DPWN) in 2003 purchased Airborne, Inc., and overnight became the third largest express delivery company in the U.S.

Restrictions on foreign ownership of U.S. airlines caused DPWN to spin off the airline portion of both DHL and Airborne.

ABX, Inc. and ASTAR, Inc. were two new independent airlines created by this transaction, and each would contract air lift to DHL’s express delivery ground operation.

The politically powerful U.S. express delivery duopoly of FedEx and UPS quickly reacted by inserting language into the Defense Appropriations bill that required the U.S. Department of Transportation to undertake a prolonged review of the ASTAR application for an airline operating certificate.

By requiring DOT to put the issue through an administrative law judge review, FedEx and UPS were able to use the public hearing process to generate negative press about DHL and DPWN, portraying them as the “German postal monopoly,” and effectively delayed DHL’s entry into the U.S. Our challenge was to not only counter the misinformation campaign being waged by FedEx and UPS in Washington, but also to boost public perception of the DHL brand as it attempted to gain foothold in the U.S. marketplace

Action:
• to develop a strategic communications plan to counter allegations from FedEx and UPS that DHL had an unfair trade advantage by being a subsidiary of the partially state-owned DPWN.

•We waged an education campaign to correct this misinformation through Hill briefings and media interviews, and maintained rapid response to negative media coverage.

•Additionally, designed an integrated marketing campaign to articulate DHL’s world-class expertise to the U.S. marketplace, introduce the company as the new challenger brand and infuse a spirit of competition and choice into the express delivery market.

•Specific strategies included:
–A 360º communications approach that leveraged the announcement of DHL’s $150 million investment in its advertising and marketing initiatives
–Defining the DHL brand to the U.S. business community and gaining credibility as a better option through an aggressive media relations campaign
–Launching a grassroots initiative to generate nationwide media interest in the “New DHL” while emphasizing the company’s U.S. heritage through local community outreach

Outcomes:

Ultimately, ASTAR and later ABX were certified and went on to provide air lift for DHL in the U.S. By actively engaging Capitol Hill and the media, we also were able to change perceptions of DHL and DPWN among the Washington audiences.

Further, we were able to eliminate the editorial descriptor “German postal monopoly” in coverage of DPWN and DHL.

The integrated marketing campaign was also a tremendous success, and the advertising effectively increased brand awareness by 12 percent following launch.

Public relations efforts supporting the brand launch generated approximately 69.7 million media impressions, including national media coverage on CNBC’s SquawkBox, The Today Show, Good Morning America and FOX & Friends and coverage in outlets such as: The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, Reuters, AdWeek, and Advertising Age.

The Week in Advertising Episode 21