Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Retailers need a fresh approach

People just aren’t spending at major retail outlets like they used to. No doubt the GFC has had an impact, but maybe it’s more than that.

One retailer recently put it down to the fact that consumers are becoming confused by constant sales. His planned response was to establish a brand reputation of ‘everyday low prices’. I think this approach is much more effective advertising. When buying something from Ikea, Dan Murphy’s or Officeworks – you don’t wait for a sale. Because you know they’ll always give you the best price.

On the other hand, if I wanted to buy something from Kathmandu, I probably would wait. Their products seem to be frequently on sale for 50% of their full price, so in my mind – that’s all they’re worth. And ‘normal price’ starts to look like ‘pay 50% extra’.

So, yes, constant discounting can degrade the perceived value of a brand and its products, and consumers are waking up to it. However, the sale isn’t dead. It’s just evolving.

A growing number of online companies are emailing subscribers a heavily discounted product, or deal, every day. This new way of retailing is thriving. So much so that two Aussie brothers recently sold part of their online coupon business for $80 million dollars.

So are consumers becoming immune to constant sales, or is consumer behaviour simply changing? While it’s no doubt a challenging landscape for retailers, perhaps they should be looking beyond their conventional shopfronts to sell products.

If you’re looking for new ways to advertise to the modern consumer, leave us a note. We’ll be sure to chase you up via a number of different channels.

Andy McInerney

Writer

THE DM GROUP

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Wednesday, 27 July 2011

No phone, no lights, no motor car…

The rise and rise of social media is a thoroughly documented phenomenon. There are hundreds of sites, being visited by millions upon millions of people for hours and hours a month. You’d have to be living on a deserted island to have not heard about it, or interacted with at least one social media tool.

Which got me thinking – if that deserted island was Gilligan’s Island and the Professor was able to string a computer together out of coconuts, a semiconductor that washed up on the beach and an excitable seagull, what social media tools would the castaways be drawn to if they were still marooned today?

Gilligan was a clutz. A lovable goofy guy who always had the best of intentions, and every time they came close to being rescued, he’d trip over, break or sink their only way off the island and ultimate success. Yep, Gilligan’s a MySpace kind of guy…

The Skipper, was always telling stories about his life at sea, apparently the greatest card player in the whole US Navy – his status was very important to him. Surely, Skipper would have his language set to English (Pirate) on Facebook.

Anyone familiar with the show would realise that the Professor was clever enough to build almost anything with stuff he found all over the island. He knew where he was, but not how to get home.   Without a doubt, the Professor is the island’s Foursquare Mayor.

Ginger, was a certified A-Lister.  Short on conversation, long on being admired from afar.  Ginger would be keeping her fans updated on island life through Twitter.

Thurston Howell III was all about the money. An Oil field here, a coconut plantation there, he was not short on business interests. It’s a pretty sure bet he’d have thousands of connections on LinkedIn.

Mrs Howell, with more money than sense, a stickler for correct etiquette, and a whole heap of socialite acquaintances - and little idea of what it’s like in the real world. She’d no doubt have been waiting for all of her friends to  join Google+.

Finally, Mary-Anne – baked a mean Coconut Cream Pie, was very wholesome and quite the girl next door. The Professor would probably have to build her a coconut camera so she’d be able to upload to her Flickr account too.

I’m sure that between the 7 of them, one of them would have been able to get the message out to the world, telling everyone they know about the problems on the island, how they’re desperate to get off and come home. But if their friends are anything like I am when I see yet another ‘I’m on a beautiful tropical island right now, and you should see the size of the coconuts’ status update, tweet or check-in – I’m sure they’d have as much luck getting rescued today as they did all those years ago…

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Monday, 25 July 2011

Closing the book on brands

One of the benefits of strong brands is their seeming permanence.

We think they’ll be around forever.

But last week we reached the final chapter for one of the world’s global brands.

Borders.

Not only did the doors close on its last Australian store but in the US the 399-shop chain also began liquidation.

It’s a reminder of how fast even big brands can go bad.

We may now think of Borders with the same cynicism we have for Starbucks. But I remember the public’s excitement when Borders launched in Australia in the late 90s.

…a bookshop…a big bookshop…BIGGER than anything we’d seen before…with the latest overseas magazines even…and CDs you could scan and listen to…a bookshop that stays open until midnight…with armchairs…search kiosks…a coffee shop…where you can take a book to read…

It was like a library but better – you could buy the books.

The fact is Borders was truly revolutionary for Australia bookshops (a fact I’m sure the 300 retailers at this weekend’s annual bookseller conference failed to celebrate).

But Borders isn’t the first big brand to disappear from our lives.

In Australia, Bankcard, Ansett and, most recently, Colorado spring quickly to mind. And I know there are many more stories. Good. Bad. Gripping. Roaming. Starting. Ending.

What chapter are you up to in your brand’s story?

Stephen Flewell-Smith
Business & Creative Director
THE DM GROUP

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Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Not viral enough

If you haven’t heard of Rebecca Black’s internet hit ‘Friday’, then hello…welcome to the internet.

Her song and music video, labeled as the worst ever, has been viewed more than 167 million times on YouTube and criticised by just about every single one of them. But to her credit, she has since attended movie premieres, hosted the MTV Online Music Awards and been interviewed on Good Morning America, ABC News and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to name a few.

Now there’s a new video, ‘My Moment’, that is all about her rise to fame. Rebecca Black is also pushing her soon to be realeased 5-track EP this August.

But did she stray too far from her, dare I say, brand essence of cheap and cheesy, catchy, autotuned innocence.

Although there is a level of cheese in the new video ‘My Moment’ (there were bubbles and spinning around) it just doesn’t seem as fun and annoying, which is why we loved to hate ‘Friday’, or did we hate to love it?

Whether you hated it or you loved it, you couldn’t help but pay attention and that’s the point. I don’t want to take her seriously! I want it to be mindless and fun. I’m no hater, but I think the youtube view count will speak for itself.

Maybe trying to be famous the same way everyone else does it isn’t always the right direction.

John Brunckhorst – The American

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Wednesday, 13 July 2011

As sure as eggs is eggs…..

I’m a great believer in learning from our ‘advertising heritage’ and applying that learning to the challenges we face today.

One series of ads I have always loved was commissioned by the British Egg Marketing Board in the 1960′s.

Before supermarkets, and with only one commercial TV channel, it’s tempting to think these were simpler times. However breakfast cereal manufacturers were spending lots on advertsing and the variety of  their products was increasing.

You can imagine the challenges facing egg producers as housewives switched to an apparently simpler breakfast option. The response to the challenge was this fantastic series of ads.

Of course having the talents of Tony Hancock and Pat Hayes  to call upon is a priceless advantage, but I’ve always believed that even without them these ads would be classics.

The scripts are beautifully written testimonials  to the egg, to its goodness, versatility and simplicity. The language is straight forward and designed to aid comprehension. The comedy supports the product message rather than distracting from it.

The competition is challenged head on with lines like ‘Variety is egg shaped’ and ‘Value is egg shaped’.

And the sign off is wonderful - ‘Go to work on an egg’.   

6 words that distance the egg from the competition. They say ‘this is the food you need to have a successful day’ and ‘this is real food that sets you up for a hard days work’.

By implication anything else is second best. Once you have seen Hancock  dip his soldiers in the perfectly boiled 3.5 minute egg, a bowl of  cereal seems a poor alternative.

These ads teach us that when we communicate we should select the simple over the complex, what is understood by the broadest group, not by the narrowest . The message can still be rich in meaning and successfully engage.

At THE DM GROUP we work hard to keep the advertising messages we create simple, without diminishing their meaning or effectiveness.  If you’d like to see how we can do that for your advertising give us a call today.

Malcolm Harvey

Client services director

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