I know I keep writing posts to announce my return to this blog, but this time I’m here to stay (I promise). It’s been a long 9 months, but I have finished my final year at University and am ready to enter the big, and very real, world. Now that my dissertation has been submitted and exams are out of the way, I can finally return to the things I really love (blogging, eating healthily, actually being outside) and start my new job in a tech start-up!
I think that now I’m venturing into a new industry that really excites me, my posts will be a lot more varied in terms of innovations I’ve seen/read about, but of course there will be more communications related posts. Seeing a small idea grow into a big one is what made me fall in love with communications and is the same reason I am driven to learn in a start-up. So, from the end of May I will be commuting to the big city that is London to start my new journey as a working gal!
Stay tuned and I’ll leave you with this great campaign from Ogilvy Brazil, who developed a skin cancer awareness campaign using the insight that tattooists get closer to people’s skin than anyone else. This campaign was developed for Sol de Janeiro, a suncream brand in Brazil who target youths, who wanted to raise awareness of skin cancer and increase the amount of young people getting checked.
I think this collaborating with tattooists was a great idea, as young people tend to listen to people who are cool and they had the right amount of access to diagnose any symptoms. These kind of “out of the box” communications campaigns are what I love and can’t wait to blog about more of these!
Firstly, I have to apologise for my lack of posts for nearly two months! It’s my last year at university and I am already completely overwhelmed with work, grad scheme applications and life! As I have completely abandoned this blog, I thought it would be necessary to share a few things that I have found interesting and hopefully you’ll enjoy this post!
Red Bull – Revolutions in Sound
Isn’t Red Bull just the coolest brand? People may disagree with me, but they are one brand that continuously push boundaries in order to create amazing and engaging content for their consumers. Collaborating with Felix Baumgartner free-falling from space last year was one thing, but now as part of their Red Bull Music Academy promotion, last night they decided to throw 30 gigs in the London Eye (I mean, not just anybody can hire out the London Eye). Bringing the best of the UK music and club scene together, artists such as Lily Allen, Shy FX and Miss Dynamite all came together to give different live performances in one of the 30 pods. Each pod was hosted by a popular club night in the UK such as “The Warehouse Project”, which ultimately is every ravers dream, bringing all the acts they love together for one night only.
Each pod was streamed online on Channel 4 at 7:30pm last night so viewers could tune into their favourite acts, as well as the campaign hashtag #RevsInSound that was being tweeted all night. The best thing I feel about the whole idea, is that people who appreciate the London music scene at the moment were given an exclusive chance to tune in or go along to be a part of the experience. There was a big push about “no repeats or replays” which meant that fans knew that the live stream was exclusive to them, at that time. I personally tuned in and was amazed by the fact that I could toggle which pod I wanted to listen to, and the website was really clear in who was performing where.
Overall, Red Bull as a brand embody “living life to the full” and these are the same values that make the UK Music/Club Scene thrive. This collaboration is brilliant because the people interested in this event would create positive connotations between Red Bull and music, therefore increasing the likelihood to purchase or even loyalty to the brand.
Christmas Adverts 2013 (a small round up)
Here is a small round up of how I am feeling about a few of the adverts for Christmas 2013.
– John Lewis – “The Bear and the Hare” – adam&eveDDB
As much as I have previously loved John Lewis and their Christmas advertising, this year I was underwhelmed. As much as I am a fan for cute cartoon animals, there isn’t really anything that pulls on my heartstrings like the little boy in 2011 or the snowman journey in 2012. Many people will say I have a heart of stone, however I think that next year, John Lewis should try to do the unexpected, whereas this year I felt like the story was too predictable. Lovely to watch, and I absolutely love the song, but just not ground breaking. I must say though that the advert has had more YouTube views and Tweets than last year, so I guess consumers love it…
– Sainsbury’s – “Christmas in a day” – AMV BBDO
I thought that this short film made for Sainsbury’s was really nice. I feel more emotion towards an advert that seems real, or that portray things (such as Christmas) in a way that I as a consumer can relate to. Similar to their adverts last year, Sainsbury’s have stuck to a real “family feel” advert that shows how many different families, from different areas and backgrounds, celebrate Christmas. There is a real light heartedness to this advert that doesn’t make you feel like your being sold something, but shows you joy at Christmas in all its different forms, from children seeing their presents for the first time or adults preparing Christmas dinner. I liked this advert a lot, it’s relatable and doesn’t give off the “try hard” factor like many other brands Christmas advertising.
– Aldi – “There’s a lot to like this Christmas” – McCann Manchester
I have always had a soft spot for Aldi ads, mainly because I find them hilarious, but also because they depict a true, imperfect version of British people. The cheeky sarcasm and humorous children add so much value to the advertising because the brand aren’t saying they are luxurious or making promises they can break. The brand are literally saying they have a wide range, to suit everyone’s needs, to penultimately have a great Christmas.
And here are a few more that people are talking about on Twitter ;
– Marks and Spencer – “Believe in Magic and Sparkle” – RKCR/Y&R
– Morrison’s – “Go on…it’s Christmas” – DLKW Lowe (I think the backlash and ASA complaints from their advert last year have steered them towards this)
– Cadbury – “Unwrap Joy” – Fallon
In my next post I will be talking about the “Customer Experience” and what that means to brands. Feels good to be back!
I saw this advert on TV for the first time on Sunday and was sitting with my family, and we all looked at each other in a “wait, did the actually mean, surely they didn’t mean, shall we rewind it and check?” kind of way. This a tale that many parents can probably tell themselves, and I think that the way this story has been animated brings a cheeky humour to TV that will undoubtedly make most people giggle. I am so happy that Adam & Eve/DDB have been taking risks lately with their advertising (Marmite being the perfect example). The fact consumers want to rewind just to check that “the wrestling was actually that kind of wrestling” makes Flora more memorable and also enhances it’s family values. I think tapping into the “not all families are perfect” insight is a really great way to engage these consumers and genuinely make them laugh.
Agency: adam&eve/DDB
Client: Flora
Sector: Food
Place: United Kingdom
Hi all! I admit I have been a bit of a blogging ghost recently but I am back now and excited to fill you all in on what I’ve been up to. Apart from procrastinating on BuzzFeed, my days have been pretty productive and I’ve *drum-roll* started my grad scheme applications! A few have opened and the questions are, as expected, pretty tricky. Even if I don’t get anywhere with these applications they are great, I’m finding out more about myself than I ever knew! My favourite application that I’m doing at the moment is for the Lean Mean Fighting Machine, I won’t spoil it, but the application process isn’t standard I’ll tell you that!
Last week I interned at McCann London, I haven’t written an “Intern Diary” on this placement because unfortunately I had to cut it short, but also I didn’t have much to write about in terms of tasks I did. I found the most value in talking to colleagues about the industry and getting to know more about how planning works (this is really beginning to interest me, I like the process of turning consumer truth into a proposition for a campaign).
I’m going into my final year of University (eek) so hopefully I’ll be able to keep this blog updated with anything cool I learn or any insight I’ve gathered from dissertation research. Of course, I’ll be reviewing more adverts and campaigns, hopefully they’ll be of interest to you – hope you enjoy the read!
I saw a this great campaign on the tube recently for The Times and The Sunday Times, promoting their smart phone app that allows users to watch clips of football matches from the Barclays Premier League. The print adverts simply replace the emblem between “The Times” with a representative icon of each Premier League Team – with colour coded background and text.
I think this campaign is really effective especially when placed in areas such as the London underground, where people have the time to work out the team for each one. I only understood the campaign because of the Red & White “Gunners” ad, otherwise I would have had no idea – which personally I think is nice for football fans, to feel a sense of pride that they know their team (or all teams) well enough to guess them. The Times have a higher likelihood of getting their message across with the consumer focusing on the ad for much longer. I like ads that are thought provoking and this was really nicely done.
I won’t spoil them, I’ll let you have a go at guessing!
Agency: The Box, Team News (CHI & Partners, in house at News UK)
Client: The Times and The Sunday Times
Sector: News/Technology
Place: United Kingdom
Yesterday I came home from London to a hand written envelope from my university. I was kind of scared to open it, thinking I was formally in trouble for something, but it turned out to be quite the opposite.
I have gratefully received a “Second Year, Undergraduate Marketing Student of the Year Award” from the business school faculty (yipee). Now to some, this may seem like absolutely nothing, but I really felt a sense of happiness reading that I had been voted/recognised for something I didn’t even apply for.
I have had a wonderful year in terms of success and I have to admit, it’s been the hardest I’ve ever worked for anything. My B-Hive competition entry, this blog, my work experience placements and not to mention academic studies have really pushed me to try and achieve great things. So to receive this lovely award in the post has made it clear to me that A) God is good and B) Hard work, perseverance and surrounding yourself with things that make you happy really does work wonders.
I hope it’s onwards & upwards from here! (P.S thank you to those who have supported everything I’ve been doing, even if it meant I looked like a geek/had no life. You know who you are).
This is a really feel good, fun advert from John Lewis to promote their home insurance offering. I must admit, it’s quite refreshing to see a lovely advert for home insurance in comparison to the humorous ones that seem to fill the market. John Lewis are sticking to their brand values, focusing on family and home, which links nicely to the “if it matters to you, it matters to us” strap line. I think the ad targets both existing and new consumers really well. People who love John Lewis products will see their home insurance as an extension of their great service, and new consumers may convert if they feel that the brand is trustworthy. The soundtrack (Nina Nesbitt cover of “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac) combined with all of the other sound effects really do bring the advert to life as well as the beautiful visuals. I tend to forget about audio in an advert until an ad like this shows me how important sound can be for an overall “feel”. I personally think this is an ad you’d like to watch over again and feel good each time.
Agency: adam&eveDDB
Client: John Lewis
Sector: Insurance
Place: United Kingdom
So here is a snippet of my second (and last) week at M&C Saatchi. I’ve had a great time and again worked on a big variety of projects. Hopefully this will give you an insight into what work experience is like and how I got on.
I had a really exciting start to this week! On Monday morning I made my way to some student halls for a Vine shoot as part of NatWest’s “#Uniproof” campaign. When I was invited to this shoot I expecting to be a hand model, but what I didn’t expect was to actually be thrown into a realm of props, scenes and re-takes. The Uniproof campaign focuses on tips for university, especially ways to save money. All of the work experience people worked on different scenarios, and the production team were great at directing us, getting us into “student character” (which wasn’t hard considering we all go to uni). We also got to play a bit of ping pong, from what I know that’s an ad agency speciality.
on set for NatWest – onesies at the ready!
This shoot took two days (which meant two days of yummy Vietnamese food for lunch, can’t complain) and afterwards we could see our hard work up on the NatWest Vine page. It was interesting to learn how much detail goes into social media content, as most people wouldn’t expect to know how long it takes to get it “just right”. I must say, it was amazing to be on set but to also be part of a campaign that is relevant to my life at the moment. Also, it wasn’t bad getting featured on the NatWest Twitter as part of the campaign and then featured on The Drum in an article! My hands are famous yipee.
After these brilliant two days on set it was a bit weird coming back into the office, but I got stuck back into tasks. I worked some more on the Uniproof campaign, proof reading the Facebook quiz app for it to be approved by the risk department. Wednesday was cool because me and Anna (my work experience bud) were given time to learn about the strategy department, what the role entails and an example brief. I was intrigued to learn about strategy (known as “planning”) because I had a preconception that it was all market research. To be fair, there is a lot of research involved, but I didn’t know that strategy pieces everything from consumer insight to brand values together, to create a focus or “idea” for the creatives. Our mentor, Ardy, went through a great case study from Dixons (that M&C created) that highlighted the strategic thinking. See the campaign below;
Dixons “The last place you want to go”
Thursday was my 20th birthday (woohoo) and I spent most of the day carrying on with my WordPress content project for an Australian Bank client. I took a look at the example strategy brief we were given and was excited that the client was Virgin Holidays, for Walt Disney World’s (WDW) new product My Magic+. This was a challenge because the planners need to come up with an idea that integrates the My Magic+ product, with WDW and then also Virgin Holiday’s campaign “unleash your mojo”. I enjoyed working on this, it got me and Anna to understand who the consumers are, what the brand values are for both Virgin and WDW, and how to bring them together.
My custom salad, yum yum, with a leftover bottle of wine as a bday present
My last day was spent reading a brilliant book created by M&C Saatchi for their client, Transport for London. It talks about the strategy behind the transport adverts during the Olympic Games, and how it effected behaviour change. This was interesting and knowing the thought behind those ads, a year after seeing them, was so cool. I found out a lot from people at the agency about how to approach my applications for grad schemes – something really useful to take away. Something great about all my work experience is that I’ve learnt that you truly have to be yourself – or you won’t survive, which really made me happy because I was scared that to work in advertising you had to be a quirky genius. I also had a great last day after work drinks with the other “workies” which was a nice way to say goodbye and hopefully we’ll cross paths again in the future!
with Ally and Anna, my workie buddies!
My experience at M&C Saatchi has been amazing, and I am so excited to start applying for grad schemes (no matter how much I get knocked back). Work experience like this really teaches you a lot about yourself if you are willing to put yourself out there, and talk to everyone where possible. I hope this was interesting to read and I really hope that one day I’ll be able to go back! In a few weeks I’ll be interning at McCann London, so will be back with another diary then!
Despite the controversy and over 400 complaints to the ASA about this advert, Marmite have definitely gained some attention because of their recent advertisement. Titled “Love it. Hate it. Just don’t forget it”, the advert focuses on neglected Marmite jars and spoofs a (what I think is funny, not offensive) rescue team entering homes to save these neglected jars from the back of cupboards. Considering Marmite have had the slogan “Love it or Hate it” for years, this humorous ad seems well fit, and I think that both the agency and Marmite have taken a great risk in producing this. In all honesty, I think that the advertisement is a play on the slogan and I really don’t think that there was any intention to upset audiences who may be sensitive about animal rescue (what the spoof imitates).
I guess, that although this advert was amazing PR for the brand, there are things that come with taking risk that brands have to be aware of. Marmite have paid the RSPCA £18,000 in donations to help settle the backlash, which I’m sure will put stakeholders at ease. I love it when big brands take risks though, this ad has gone viral within the past few weeks and it’s understandable why. It sparks conversation, be it good or bad – Marmite is still in consumers heads. A really clever and funny ad, Marmite have stayed true to their tongue in cheek values. After all, who would care if it was bland?
Agency: Adam & Eve DDB
Client: Marmite
Sector: Food and Drink
Place: United Kingdom
So as I mentioned earlier this year, I interviewed for a work experience placement at top ad agency M&C Saatchi and was lucky to gain a spot. This is the first advertising work experience I have done and was so so so excited to start. Last week I began my placement and here’s what I got up to!
M&C Saatchi – “Brutal Simplicity of Thought”
On our first day we were given our tour around the agency by Ardy, a really nice guy based in account management who looked after us throughout our work placement. It was a shock to see how big the agency is, with beautiful views of London the higher you go up. I really felt like I was in the modern Mad Men! We got chucked right into it on the first day, and I found myself going to two swanky recording studio’s to watch voiceovers being done for The Daily Mail (Sunday and Sport) which was brilliant! I spent the rest of Monday getting used to the work experience format (emails for tasks come through from the agency, and you choose which you’d be able to get done). I also worked on my first research/competitors task for their recently won client, Boots digital.
at the recording studio, watching the sound engineer and voice-over actor work their magic!
On Tuesday, me and Anna (a lovely girl who also is on work experience) were briefed on an account management “Competitive Review” project for us to work on to present on Friday. The client was Direct Line and we were excited to get stuck into this, as it was the first time we’d got to work on something from start to finish. For the rest of this day I was briefed in the PR department on a task, I had to find some costs in line with a budget – but for what for, that’s strictly confidential!
The long and busy commute every morning/evening has been a great insight into working in Central London. I personally really enjoy the buzz and it has definitely made my sleep every night feel heavenly haha.
On Wednesday me and Anna took a long cab journey from Soho to Hoxton to pick up some beautiful hand-crafted models for some print ads for TFL (Transport for London). All of these tasks have shown me how varied and fast paced the ad industry is, no two days are the same. To finish the day I worked on a small task for RBS and carried on working on the presentation.
It’s been really nice venturing out into Soho (where the agency is based) on lunchtimes. The vibe is really cool and there are a lot of niche, beautiful cafés to grab food.
Carnaby Street – Soho
Thursday found me and Anna working hard to finish our presentation, I’ve learnt so much about personal insurance than I ever thought I would! I also found myself being briefed for a WordPress task for an Australian bank, which required me to create a blog, find a skin and start uploading content about innovation in finance for them. This was great because it gave me a chance to show my skills, as I’ve used WordPress for a while now.
Our presentation seemed to come around quite quickly on Friday, and with a lovely spread of sandwiches, sweets and tea we comfortably presented our ideas to Ardy and Noah (the account director for Direct Line). This was a fantastic chance to give our opinion, but also to open up a discussion about their client and talk about their communication strategy. Our presentation seemed to go quite well and I really valued the feedback afterwards.
Overall my first week at M&C Saatchi London has been amazing. I thought that my passion for advertising was big before, but this experience has really opened my eyes to the industry and has ignited my fire for it even more! I’m excited to get involved with more projects next week and really get a flavour of what it would be like to be an Ad girl.
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