Kevin Harrington // marketing // blog

Archive for the ‘Consumer marketing’ Category

That’ll be for me then: Heinz is launching baked beans in a resealable plastic bottle. So opened packs can be stored in the fridge for a few days. Marvellous.

I fear the £3m through-the-line campaign, including TV advertising, is being paid for by the RRP of £1.79 for 1kg but market forces will prevail!

Read more about this at Brand Republic.

And did you know:

1. Every day over one million cans of Heinz Beanz are consumed in the UK.  That is approximately 485 million cans per year.

2. Between 1941 and 1948, the Ministry of Food did the nation a favour by classifying baked beans as ‘essential’ in the rationing system.

Click here for more Heinz Beanz facts.

Superdry, the fashion label, have seen profits triple. This world famous brand has its roots in Hereford and grew with grants from the Thatcher government.

Founder Julian Dunkerton made this upbeat statement to The Guardian:

We are in a unique position: spitting out cash, trebling profits and virtually doubling sales. I have been in business nearly 20 years and have never had all three growing at the same time.

Today David Beckham, Kate Winslet and Pixie Lott are amongst the list of Superdry customers. I’m sure they are part of the success…read the article in the Daily Mail.

Superdry also gets good coverage on Fashion Monkey.

I wonder how many people thought Superdry was a Japanese or US brand?

At what point will all retail shops in the UK be the same? Is it inevitable that they will all sell the same product range one day? Think about it:

Tesco sells petrol – BP sells food
WHSmith sells stamps – Post Office sells stationary

Leaving aside the food range how different is Primark from Marks & Spencer?

Perhaps the differentiator becomes who has the best car parking and the best car wash facilities. And it’s interesting to note that even the car wash in the car park is effectively us paying to have security in the area but the car wash facilities are all the same.

Now I know not all shops are the same. And I know that most shops you can tell where you are when you are stood in the middle. I think I am maybe mourning the halcyon days of the independent retailer.

Please cheer me up with your positive stories about UK retailers.

Is Lord Digby Jones right when he says, “The last thing in the world we need is the younger generation thinking they don’t have to work.”

Well, of course I agree with the above raw statement. But in context, on the BBC website, he seems to make the link from Glaceau Vitamin Water consumers to young people to days off sick. Now that seems a bit unfair to me.

Anyway, my experience is that questionable employee sickness is not the preserve of any particular age group.

Of course a major part of the BBC news item was Digby Jones moaning about Coke’s use of humour in advertising. Personally I think we need more Coke humour and less Digby Jones concern.

But the great thing about it all is we are allowed our opinion. In fact I’ve been out to vote today as part of my democratic rights. Marvellous.

Charlotte Graham-Cumming, joint managing director at Ice Blue Sky started a debate recently on LinkedIn about B2B marketing.

B2B Marketing Focus – is there an appetite? I have had a couple of discussions with Marketing Society members around increasing the amount of events and information that the Marketing Society provides for B2B marketers. I wanted to see if there is anyone else in this group that would have an interest in B2B specific information?

I’ve been following the debate and comments (in the Marketing Society group area) and it has helped me observe other things going on. And yes; B2B marketing does take second place in many magazine titles and trade organisations. Charlotte debates the point further on the Ice Blue Blog.

Like Charlotte, I’m keen on the idea of trying to raise the profile of B2B marketing. Oddly one of my fears is a bunch of agencies using it as an opportunity to sell to me. But the reality is always going to be that FMCG and consumer marketing disciplines are the sexier and more attractive areas.

I like it when a new agency gets into gear. Sometimes the benefits of this comes through with some really simple, clean communications.

We’ve been working with Hunterlodge for a while now. One of the things they have recently delivered is a range of posters that address different reasons why someone might buy and use childcare vouchers.

These need to cut through in busy work noticeboard environments. This example and the rest in the range I really like and they appear to be working well…have look.

It must be seen as really bad luck when you say ‘yes’ to your creative agency and get a TV ad delivered that uses exactly the same concept as another advert hitting the UK television screens.

The ads I’m talking of here are Age Concern featuring Brain Cox and that one with Keeley Hawes for Boots No7. They both use an actors image with changing voices. Spooky that they should both be on air at the same time.