Peter Springett : Marketing

Fails and sales

Peter Springett — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:11:00 GMT

I really liked this post by Jennifer Leggio describing her least favourite social media marketing campaigns so far this year.

The old rules rule so to speak. Don't make lame gags about sex and death (House, Quiznos), don't insult your audience (Pizza Hut) and most of all, don't lead with the tool and then fail to reach your community (Skittles).

Jennifer's article also shows the wisdom of hindsight. The BurgerKing/Facebook campaign had little take up from its target audience. Although to be fair it generated plenty of electronic column inches.

There's also some wise reflection on the whole Motrin episode where the backlash itself is presented as the fail. The consensus appears to be that in spite of the sound and fury, the impact on sales was minimal.

Can you see what they've done here?

Peter Springett — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:24:00 GMT

There's more than one way to take advantage of the recent decision by the UK government to cut the standard sales tax (VAT) by 2.5 percent. So hats - and crew neck sweaters - off to West London's finest mail order clothing store Boden:

I'm not a fan of Boden's preppy style, but I love the sheer efficiency of this ad, which arrived in my inbox this morning.

It looks like someone grabbed the idea, and ran with it some time after 15.30 GMT yesterday. What I also like is that it looks like a quick job, maybe by just one creative with his or her eye on the clock. "Here's the copy Toby. Now go find me a stock shot of the Houses of Parliament. And grab me a latte macchiato while you're at it." Brilliant.

Help, I'm being followed by a dead artist

Peter Springett — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:58:00 GMT

Back in London this weekend I was persuaded to visit the Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern. It was a good show, but with a bizarre and slightly sinister follow up.

About 24 hours later I acquired another Twitter follower, this time a Mr Mark Rothko. A quick dash to his posts revealed that the artist, who died in 1970, is still hard at work in his studio and posting updates to 30-odd followers.

So what's sinister about all this? Not the presence of deceased celebrities on Twitter for sure. A quick search reveals Dr Benjamin Spock and Anais Nin amongst others haunting the Twittersphere - no doubt sharing cloud computing anecdotes with Francis Bacon and Stirling Moss.

I'm more perturbed by the way in which I'm being haunted just a day after visiting the show. I can't believe that this is coincidence any more than I believe that one of the world's most accomplished abstract-expressionists has chosen to channel his oeuvre from beyond the grave via the world's fastest growing presence awareness application.

So what's the answer? I paid for the exhibition tickets with my credit card and I think my name appeared on the ticket. Did someone eyeball these details? Is this a cunning marketing exercise by Serota and co? No answer so far from Tate Modern press office, which remains curiously silent on the topic. Spooky.

The art of marketing

Peter Springett — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:43:00 GMT

Germaine Greer, the old devil, wades into the Robert Hughes/Damien Hirst feud in today's Guardian. For fear of oversimplifying, this particular spat trades on the fact that Hughes's artistic sensibilities have been roughed up by an upstart who doesn't even make or paint his own works. And then ships slipshod products to a gullible marketplace.

As Greer says: "His undeniable genius is to get people to buy them. Damien Hirst is a brand, because the art form of the 21st century is marketing. To develop so strong a brand on so conspicuously threadbare a rationale is hugely creative - revolutionary even."

I've always been a bit of a fan of Hirst's work. At times it can be cynical, superficial and shoddy, even. But it's never dull. And I reckon Greer got it right. There's fun to be had watching someone play the market with overvalued, messy, misunderstood products. And certainly a darn sight more harmless than events in the financial system last week.

You can read the rest of the article here.

D*mn you Nike

Peter Springett — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:43:00 GMT

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and German-manufactured white goods from John Lewis."

Add to that hallowed list ad after great ad from Nike and its agencies. The latest spot fuses The Killers with a Zoo-TV style montage that combines baseball, football, Mary Decker, Steve Prefontaine and gazelles. Lots of gazelles.

It might look simple - which is half the trick - but the execution is everything. And it's also incredibly expensive - all those film, music and photo rights for starters.

Of course I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff as a keen runner. But I abandoned the Portland-based brand for Asics a year or two ago. But d*mn you Nike, if you're not giving me second thoughts already.

How (not) to give feedback

Peter Springett — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:14:00 GMT

As an agency we thrive on feedback. Whether from colleagues or clients it helps us tailor content to the exact needs of the target audience and ensures that we get it right first time round as often as possible.

Having said that, there are times when you hope for a clearer message. I'll list some golden rules in the next post. Until then, here's an example of how not to do it.