THE 5 ‘SO WHATS’ WHICH IMPACTED CONSUMERS AND BRANDS THIS WEEK
1. Source a crowd through fear of missing out and connection
It began this week with a Flash Feast in Dublin on a bridge over the river Liffey. The time and location of the lunch was only revealed on Twitter an hour before it took place and there was only room for 40 guests. It was of course the kick off promotion of Street Feast an initiative that started last year in an attempt to get locals together over lunch.
So What? This is yet another example of how Irish people have reprioritised what matters and that is connecting with each other around shared experiences regardless of what environment we do it in. If this is a fleeting moment of connection and people feel as though they might miss out on it, all the better to create a sense of urgency.
2. Irish people love brands but do they love own brand?
British Value retailer Poundland is set to enter the Irish market using the brand name Dealz. The retailer has identified a number of suitable sites, in Dublin and Cork and will open its doors in October of this year. Dealz will stock a number of locally sourced products which will be secured from Irish producers, including milk, eggs and Tayto crisps. Top international brand names will include Colgate, Walkers, Cadbury, Maxwell House, Weightwatchers, Pantene, Beechams, Johnson’s, Winalot, Kodak, Coca Cola, Kelloggs, Maltesers, Fairy, Dettol and Flash.
So What? Given the amount of choice that Dealz are going to offer as well
THE 5 ‘SO WHATS’ WHICH IMPACTED CONSUMERS AND BRANDS THIS WEEK
1. Changes in Transport Behaviour = Changes in Media Consumption Behaviour
A new documentary on the phenomenon of cycling across Europe examines how changes in urbanites commuting behaviours are impacting on other behaviours and society as a whole.
So what? With more people spending time on bicycles therefore they are using less of other forms of transport. The result of this move is that the consumers are operating in a different space – they don’t see bus advertising, safe cyclists don’t listen to their iPod or radio (therefore missing out on ads). How doesthis simple change in mode of transport effect your brand? Are they not drinking take away coffee on the way to work, not hearing your radio ad in the car, not reading your half page ad in the free-sheet newspaper on the train?
2. Technology allows self-discovery and cuts out the tour guide
A new app takes your current location and allows you to discover the famous art pieces by famous guerrilla artist Banksy by giving you directions for a first hand visual encounter.
So what? Turns social media device into a roaming guided tour, turning the streets of the UK into the halls of a art museum. We’re naturally curious human beings and an app like this helps us satiate that need. What impact will such self-discovery apps have on the tourist industry & indeed will we see them spread to other categories?
3. Tapping into the trading down to trade up trend Domino’s Pizza have announced it will be offering a
THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING – BRAND STORIES
People Not Consumers Brand and communications thinking needs to shift and consider consumers (without lots of disposable income as they are in Ireland today) as people. They have needs that brands can help and meet but it does not always mean a consumption moment of the product.
Reflect on People’s Needs People have many needs from brands including: they want to have a say, they act as a community (power of group), and they want it to be personal (brand ME), they want to be in the know (get it first), they support doing what they love and they like to share. People, in short, represent a very powerful channel for your brand if you manage to engage them correctly.
Brands Can Create Consumers Brands therefore can create consumers if they engage people by relating and meet their behavioural needs. But it means a different engagement model. Brands need to create content to engage them in a richer way.
Don’t Get Distracted By The ‘Shiny New Stuff’ Alone Brands need to create content that is connected to the brand and communicates the desired outtake and not be a digital buzzword. It is not about the channel but the outtake you want people to do or take from your content. To this extent, therefore, the first question is what you want people to do or think as a result of this content.
Brand Stories Allow Brands to Develop Richer Engagement People engage with stories and have done since our inception. Brands are story enablers. If you can
THE 5 ‘SO WHATS’ WHICH IMPACTED CONSUMERS AND BRANDS THIS WEEK
1. A big idea condensed
Car advertising usually follows some of the same attributes – show the car driving, show the interior, allow the camera to focus on the drivers enjoyment and so on. Audi’s new series of adverts for the Audi A1 dispel those myths by being 10 seconds in length and focusing on one aspect of the car’s design and selling points.
So what? How can your brand focus it’s advertising communications on being benefit led and not advert led?
2. Nation of Open Champions
Darren Clarke. Graeme McDowell. Rory McIlroy. Northern Ireland has produced 3 Open Champions, all who are still performing on the main stage. Northern Ireland tourist board are attempting to position Northern Ireland as the European hotspot for golf but have have felt progress being pushed back by recent troubles.
So what? As Oakley & TaylorMade have shown, you need to react quickly leverage your assets. As a country we need to leverage our assets also and aligning ourselves with the success of the golfers on the international stage is a must.
3. Theatre beamed directly into cinemaa
A new theatre production has decided than rather than travel the length & breadth of the UK touring that they’ll simply broadcast the show directly into cinema’s around the country instead.
So what? An innovative move by the theatre company enabling them to target an audience at a given location – the cinema. A couple of weeks ago we noted that cinema’s across Dublin were showing the wimbledon finals
IT JUST MAKES SENSE
For years marketers have been keenly aware of the power of connecting with their consumers in a multi-sensorial way. Retailers bake freshly baked bread in an attempt to enable the aroma to drive impulse purchase. As people look for new experiences, brands have to find creative ways to keep up with them and it becomes increasingly important to allow consumers to interact with your brand in a multi-sensory or poly-sensorial way. So in order to find out more, MCCP embarked on a trip to Ireland’s second biggest tourist attraction, the Guinness Storehouse, to see how it impacted the senses and changed perceptions.
The Storehouse has been designed to activate the senses from the moment you enter. The storehouse cleverly places physical elements of its history throughout the building enabling the physical history of the brand to be touched and tangible. The ‘brewing room’ brings the physical elements to the fore, by allowing you to touch the grain, smell the roasted barley and feel the power of the waterfall. The clever use of dimmed ambient lighting further enhances the feeling of being inside the brewing process.
The temperature was controlled at different levels of the tour, being warmer during the brewing stages and colder and refreshing during the Gravity Bar stage, just as you being to enjoy your cold pint of Guinness. Sound and light were used to trick the mind into different moods, bright and lively for the transport section and dark and craft-like for the cooperage. The darker levels of
DON’T FORGET THE DADS
With unemployment reaching nearly 15% it is not surprising that you will see more and more Dads, picking their kids up from school and playing with them in the playgrounds during the day. Many of these Dads are in very unfamiliar territory as they face unemployment for the very first time. Todays unemployed Dad is likely to be educated to degree standard and have had a very established and credible career before unemployment.
MCCP Consumer Dialogues™ reveals that unemployment is a mixed blessing for these Dads. From one perspective, it holds significant fears about the uncertainty for the future and the unenviable task of asking themselves ‘how did this happen?’ as they stand in line at the dole office. On the flip side as it enables these Dads to spend more time with their kids and have enhanced family experiences.
Dads are struggling to find their ‘new role’ in the household and many are still experimenting with extended DIY lists, gardening duties and round trips to the playground. The digital space (as usual) was the first to see this changing trend. In the past men’s websites would have featured the articles on the sharpest suits, the best grooming products and the allure of good whiskey. But now sites such as the ‘Man of the House’ feature articles on cooking, lawn care basics and the best Wii games both Dads and kids will enjoy.
So What?
MCCP believes that it is critical that your brand considers the changing dynamic of the Irish Dad
THE 5 ‘SO WHATS’ WHICH IMPACTED CONSUMERS AND BRANDS THIS WEEK
1) Crowd sourcing rewrites history Ever imagined what was happening on your street 10, 20, 70 years before you lived there? Ever wondered how a local oddity came to fruition? Then you’re in luck as a there is a website that can help you answer all those questions and more. Historypin is a great new app and website where people come together to share their historical pictures and stories. Essentially, it aims to crowd source the history of every town, village, street and laneway in the world by encouraging people to pin their picture and story to an exact location. Historypin also allows people to compare the location of their old photo to a current photo of that same location.
So what? French poet, playwright, and novelist, Alfred de Vigny said before his death in 1863, “History is a novel for which the people is the author”. However, it has taken until the year 2011 and the birth of Historypin for this to really hold true. Historypin allows people to create and be part of history in a more personal and participatory way than ever before. People no longer have to rely on the retrospective story of a historian to gain the sense of a place they can understand it through the words of people who resided there.
2) In London they’re black, in NY they’re yellow, what colour should they be in Dublin? The National Transport Authority released a statement during the week proposing that taxi’s in Ireland be a standard branding
CAN THE IRISH BE PROTECTED FROM THEMSELVES? PART 2 OF THE DEBATE
In response to Shane’s blog yesterday ‘Should the Irish be protected from themselves?’
Interesting given the current fiasco here, where indeed it seems some we should be protected from ourselves and their innate greed and where NAMA is trying to control one sector. However, I wonder can the Irish psyche be controlled! We banned smoking but what has happened is that smoking rates have not shifted downwards, we are happy to smoke outdoors and have even more fun doing so. We have even managed to attract non-smokers to come and join us and get back into passive smoking but once you are part of the banter – it’s ok.
Likewise, we cycle, for some once bikes are free and for many others, it is a form of exercise, few do it only for green reasons. Maybe to control us, we need not only a deep recession but a sense of pleasure to be gained as well. A worthwhile debate…
SHOULD THE IRISH BE PROTECTED FROM THEMSELVES?
An initiative was launched last week in Iceland to put forward a proposal to the government that cigarettes should be banned from sale in all outlets except for pharmacies as a step towards irradiating them completely. The proposal is seen as very extreme by many groups in Icelandic society and the general consensus seems to be that it will fail, however we at MCCP believe it raises some interesting questions.
How far does a countries remit go in protecting its citizens? What level is the right level of regulation for substance that may cause harm to people? At what point should the choice of whether to engage in a gradually harmful activity be taken away from people?
These questions are interesting for our own society too. Ireland was the first country in the EU to impose a smoking ban that has now been adopted elsewhere, and it has affected the numbers of people smoking, while also creating new social habits for smokers. The ban radically changed most social environments in Ireland and hugely altered the perception in people of what is and is not acceptable in a public place.
While this proposal in Iceland may seem extreme to some, we need to recognise that sometimes such radical moves can be whole-heartedly embraced and accepted by a population within a very short time. Should we be looking at ways to further protect people in Ireland, even from their own behaviour, or is this a step too far toward a controlling state?
How do brands add value beyond price?
The question on everyone’s lips today is how can I save money and still buy the brands I want? It sounds like an easy ‘in’ for marketing professionals, i.e. simply cut prices and consumers will respond and buy?
Wrong. After months of extensive research; probing and interviews of over 650 consumers, MCCP have discovered that price is no longer the key driver in delivering value for brands in the eyes of consumers. So if it isn’t price, what is it and how do you apply it to your brand?
MCCP developed the Value Equation™ which enables marketing & brand owners to identify how their brands can create value beyond price, a timely topic for any brand in today’s climate. The backdrop to the need and subsequent development of this Value Equation™ is outlined below.
1.THERE IS A NEW NORM: Consumers are becoming ‘recess ionised’, BUT Irish consumers still love brands. Consumers are now being bombarded by brands with price offers; price cuts; price deals etc. and as a result consumers are no longer seeing brands, they are beginning to only see price:
However despite this, marketers are still not concentrating their efforts on creating long-term value for their brands 90% of marketers we interviewed said they would spend their last €100K on short-term gains activity, but 95% know they should be planning longer term.
2. AS A RESULT CONSUMERS ARE CREATING VALUE FOR THEMSELVES BECAUSE BRANDS AREN’T DOING IT FOR THEM. They are doing this through Experimental activities such as
•Online grocery shopping –obviously not