Pick of the ads- July 2015!

Thought I'd return with one of my favourite blog posts to write- my pick of the newest adverts on TV!

Southern Comfort- 'Tan your lemonade'

This is so silly that I actually love it! The Southern Comfort brand show their cheeky side and the ad is just a fine example of creativity in my opinion! Everything just works, the music, the actors and the brand message. The ad reflects pushing boundaries and accepting yourself and fits in to a number of Southern Comfort ads within the same campaign. The Southern Comfort brand is really struggling so it will be interesting to see if their repositioning away from 'Californian drink' to fun and cheeky brand pays off. L'Oreal 'The Waterproof Experience'
Not going to lie- I think this ad is a bit crap. There's a lot of emotional build up without transferring this on to the audience. The ads creative is very fitting with ad trends of real life/ PR stunts being filmed- typical of Dove etc. but without any beautiful filmography, or without getting to know the characters in the story, as other brands have done well. Yes, it gets the functional benefit of the product across just fine, but you'd have been better tipping buckets of water over the women's heads to prove that point! This is supposed to be 'product testing' but I'd say being waterproof is a fairly standard trait held by most waterproof mascaras...wouldn't you? FIAT 'Parking Billboard' Now this is the way to get across your product benefits whilst being creative! Fiat have done an awesome PR stunt here and they've really shown their technology capability- an impressive thing through advertising, whilst keeping it entertaining. Everyone finds parking stressful and this is a great function that Fiat really should be pushing! However, it doesn't really demonstrate the car or showcase it much. Would be interesting to see how well showing the car/ not showing it works in automobile advertising as there tends to be a 50/50 split in car advertising as I've seen. One thing I did pick up on though, despite the idea being really strong- not sure how well I like the stereotypes of the bunny girl being 'sexy' and the young black guy being 'cool' and not sure how well this will go down with a varied audience too. Although, their target audience may be less receptive.  Dove 'Love Life in Full Colour'

And they've done it again! I'm a huge fan of Dove's advertising already- however it was really nice to see a British version of the type of ads! I think it's a really nice idea and adds an element of corporate social responsibility without spending a huge budget or making a really outlandish statement or move. It's simple but really, really effective and will put a smile on the face of any lady who watches it! 
Now I know I have always said how much I love the Dove ads and how much they make me respect Dove as a brand, but I'm not sure how many products these types of ads actually help them to sell. At the end of the day that should be key to any marketing campaign. Yet, potentially Dove are a big enough brand that their products are so heavily integrated in the public domain, they don't actually need to push them to the target audience and can instead focus on painting their brand in a positive light, which they ultimately succeed at.
All in all, a lovely advert and nice to see real women associated with a beauty brand for a change!

Stephanie

Experiential campaigns I've been working on!

I've been a busy bee working on some really awesome... and some not so awesome campaigns lately. With my job, I really do have to take the good with the bad sometimes- some campaigns are amazingly well thought through and executed and some are disorganised, boring and frankly feel a bit pointless!

So I thought I'd let you know what I've been working on and what I thought worked and what didn't from a frontline point-of-view!

#BLUFREEDOM

This is one of the best campaigns I've ever worked on, yet when the brief came in I was a little sceptical as working with a tobacco brand can sometimes be seen as a little bit unethical and I wasn't sure what the reaction would be.

For those who don't know- blu is a US-based e-cigarette company which has just been acquired by Imperial Tobacco, based here in Bristol. The brand was launched in the UK back in 2014 through these launch parties, showcasing their brand values and providing a sampling experience for their target market 'party people'.

The blu brand is focused around music, appealing to a more 'alternative' customer and have a strong emphasis on technology. Their brand values seem very integrated in everything that they do and they remain constantly focused on what they are trying to achieve. I worked on a launch party for all Imperial Tobacco staff in Bristol- held at the uber trendy creative space in Bristol- Paintworks. The whole event was totally in line with the blu brand with blu cocktails and champagne on offer, top class DJs, technology everywhere and of course plenty of blu e-cig samples to try.

Great PR event with @ImperialTobacco & @blucigs celebrating their partnership tonight!! #event #publicrelations pic.twitter.com/f3kbWFmQRF
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) February 5, 2015

The reason why I really loved the campaign is that the party attendees were really, really able to experience the brand and gain a sense of what it stood for.

 Harveys/ Bensons for Beds

You might think this is going to be one of my more boring campaigns- but actually, it's one of the most organised and I think rewarding campaigns I've ever worked on!

I used to associate both brands with cheap, low-quality furniture and Harvey's recognised this view amongst their consumers and aimed to change these perceptions. They worked on a complete re-fit in stores and held a launch event across their stores.

I was lucky enough to work on the whole launch weekend within the Torquay store, where myself and my event colleague Molly were greeting guests, handing them sweets and communicating the new store launch to customers.

The store were really grateful to have us in for the weekend and we gained really awesome feedback! Despite the action being really simple, customers did not expect to be faced with a tub of sweets when they came in to the store and therefore their reactions were great!

Dove Men- +Care

I got the chance to work with Dove Men at the 6 nations rugby match- Wales vs Ireland at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff- yes there are a few perks of this job! We were sampling Dove shower gels and driving brand awareness amongst rugby goers! Dove is one of my favourite brands and their ethos surrounding portraying 'real' men and women within their advertising is admirable. They aim to showcase an ideal man as a man who is comfortable in his own skin. 

As Dove Men is a key sponsor and supplier to the rugby teams- it was fundamental that their brand name was highlighted throughout the match and that consumers made that link between Dove and the rugby game. We had Dove ambassadors positioned at all exits handing samples to those leaving the game! It was a bit of a rush with 1000's of rugby fans to sample to- some of them had had a few too many beers and so was a bit of a challenge. 

Lovely team at the Millenium stadium working for @DoveMen today! #6nations #Cardiff #experiential #event pic.twitter.com/97mPclZ3Ll
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) March 14, 2015

Overall, the brand message was engraved in consumers minds and trial encouraged amongst hundreds of men and therefore I believe the event was a success! The place and target audience was entirely appropriate and well thought out as well as a perfectly organised event in terms of care taken and attention-to-detail, making this event a great success!

I have some really awesome events coming up in the next few months which I can't wait for! Keep your eyes peeled for updates and follow me on Twitter at @stefclarkx for more!

Steph