Olympics 2012 & Branding

The 2012 London Olympics have been the main talking point of the world for the last number of months. With an audience of over 20 million tuning in for the 100m final, people have had plenty to say about the events, the athletes, the countries involved and also the branding and marketing of the products associated with the event. The Olympics brand is currently the second biggest global brand after Apple, and is worth over $47.6 billion. Many of the top tier companies would pay up to $100 million in order to become official sponsors of the event (CNN). 

Consequently, there has been a lot of speculation in the media recently about unofficial sponsors using ‘ambush’ marketing techniques in order to to try to increase sales of their products. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated that athletes are not permitted to promote any brand, product or service within a blog, tweet or any other form of social media, which is not an official sponsor of the Olympics. However, one brand which has been focused on in the media is “Beats” headphones by Dr Dre.  It has been reported that the company sent these headphones with a special Union Jack pattern, to athletes at the British Olympic camp. The athletes accepted the headphones and went on to publicly thank the company using Twitter. This particular  brand is not new to these types of marketing tactics as they previously provided the two teams participating in the 2012 NFL Superbowl with their products also.

 

As a result of this, many Olympic athletes have criticised the IOC's code of conduct for not allowing them to mention their personal sponsors on social media during the games. After all, these brands play a huge role in providing the athletes with what they need to become Olympians.

There continues to be huge controversy over the use of branding in the Olympics. The big brands such as Adidas, McDonalds and Visa, have paid huge amounts of money to be associated with the Olympics brand. However many other companies such as Nike, Paddy power and Google have used the Olympics strategically, in order to market their products or have their services used.  There are a lot of different views as to what is right and what is wrong with regards to branding and the Olympic games. It will be interesting to see what will come out of these branding issues once the Olympics are over. Will the IOC consider changing these strict rules? 

Ross Hartnett MDP Advisor

Air New Zealand Now Boarding for Middle Earth

An Air Zealand flight attendant wearing
elf ears for promotion of 'The Hobbit.'

This past week Air New Zealand announced a new partnership with New Line Cinema, the major American film production studio responsible for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. 

This strategic alliance was announced at San Diego’s Comi-Con festival for the upcoming release of the two-film Peter Jackson epic “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again.”

In a press release from the Air New Zealand website, Sue Kroll, Warner Bros. Pictures’ President, said, “Just as Peter Jackson is able to transport audiences to the magical world of Middle Earth, Air New Zealand brings people to the breathtaking landscape that has been home to these epic productions.” 

The country of New Zealand is the filming location for both Hobbit films as well as the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, which helped to put the country on the map as an international tourist destination. With ‘Tolkien Tourism,’ or the trend of fans to flock towards iconic places like ‘The Shire,' the country has experienced a major economic boost from the popularity of the previous films. The government of New Zealand has also poured in $10 million NZD into the promotion of The Hobbit films around the world, the first of which is scheduled to hit theaters on the 14th December, 2012.

The airline has dubbed themselves the “Official Airline of Middle Earth” for the campaign. As part of the two-year agreement, two Boeing 777 aircrafts will be branded with The Hobbit for flights from the U.K. and North America to New Zealand. The airline promises a unique, in-flight promotion experience, as well as an in-flight safety video with a hobbit theme.

This is not the first time Air New Zealand has embarked on bold marketing campaigns. In 2010, the company introduced a twist to their in-flight safety video called the “Bare Essentials of Safety.” The airline staff stowed their regular uniforms for a wardrobe fashioned out of just body paint instead. This commercial spurred online marketing discussions all over the world and has since generated nearly 7 million views on YouTube. No doubt their new campaign will spark sky-high enthusiasm once again.

McLaren Aim to Alter Brand Image

The recent launch of Sky Sports F1 HD has given F1 teams a platform to communicate with their fan base like never before. To capitalise on this, McLaren have teamed up with London-based animation company ‘Framestore’, in order to produce a series of twelve 3-minute animations featuring members of the McLaren team. The series, Tooned, will release one episode for every race remaining in the season, with plans for another series next year. The first video, Wheel Nuts, which aired on July 8th features Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button battle for dominance in a humorous CGI animation. 

The idea behind the series is to thaw the cold image McLaren perceive their brand to have. With a meticulous and scientific approach to their sport, it is difficult to lose this image off the track. The plan is to appeal to a wider audience, with hopes of tapping into the family market. It is hoped that using the real characters and voices, in CGI form, will alleviate the seriousness associated with the brand presently. 

The question now is, have McLaren taken the correct approach to altering their image? Will this series even reach its target audience? It is difficult to tell at this early stage, however, with talks of full length episodes and even a feature film, there is the possibility of great success.

Keep an eye out for the series over the coming weeks! - R.Conway

This year’s Olympic sponsors have taken an alternative approach to promoting their brand. They are no longer trying to push their products to the market through mass marketing. Instead, they are focusing on the parents of the athletes, the people at home, and the Olympic fans. This shows an increased level of engagement with the fans and target consumers. It makes the whole experience a lot more personal and touches on the consumer’s emotions, humour, and their own experiences with their children or parents.

Procter and Gamble currently have a ‘Thank you, Mom’ campaign which shows the athlete’s childhood and how their mother was the force behind them encouraging them each step of the way. The campaign focuses on the life of the athlete rather than the sporting excellence of the athlete. It means that the consumer feels as though they can relate to the athlete, whilst also being emotionally connected to the campaign. 

A less likely sponsor to take this approach is McDonald’s. Their most recent Olympic campaign focuses on the fans of the Olympic Games. The campaign consists of portrait photographs of the different types of fans, such as ‘the come-on come-on-er’. These portrait photographs will be made up of the McDonald’s customers, employees, and some of the British farmers that supply ingredients to the restaurant.

The campaign is going to record, replay, and celebrate the people, the moments, and emotions that will make the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games an exciting and engaging event worldwide.

Is this the way forward for these large companies? Is this their long-term marketing strategy for the future, or are they playing on the emotions of the consumer in order to personalise their brand? Something tells me it is probably the latter. 

Starbucks to Open Tazo Tea Shop

Go to Starbucks for coffee? How about having some tea?

Starbucks is looking to open a new 1,700-square-foot store solely dedicated to its Tazo tea in the fall. It planned to sell more than 80 varieties of loose-leaf tea and other tea products. It will also offer hot and cold tea drinks, brewing equipment, pastries, packaged chocolates, infused sugars and honey.

This Seattle-based company decided to enter the new area because they see tea as a $95 billion global market that represents a significant growth opportunity.

According to the data from Euromonitor International, a privately owned, market intelligence firm, 5.6 million tons of coffee were consumed at home and through food service channels like restaurants last year, as tea were drank up approximately 2.9 million tons.

Both figures above exclude ready-to-drink products. Sales of ready-to-drink tea beverages through stores, restaurants and vending machines hit $56.2 billion in 2011, up from just over $32 billion in 2006.

The new store arrives at a time when Starbucks is aiming to expand its brand beyond coffee. Earlier this month, Starbucks announced plans to buy Bay Bread for $100 million and last year it bought the Evolution Fresh juice brand for $30 million.

Greek Elections delay the inevitable.

Global Leaders hailed the results of the Greek elections on Sunday which resulted in a win for the New Democracy party over the leftist Syriza party who had vowed to tear up the terms of the bailout under the premise that the European Union could not afford to have Greece leave the Euro. With the victory of the New Democracy party led by Antonis Samaras there is a common understanding that Greece will push for a review of their bailout terms as they believe they have accepted considerable pain by electing the pro bailout party to power. Reports coming from Germany suggest that the terms of the bailout are non-negotiable however they would be open to discussing the timeframe surrounding the arrangement.

The problem with the continued financial aid being given to Greece is it is just building on their already insurmountable debt and what they really need is not more funding but a complete write down of what they owe to the Eurozone governments (€161 billion) as well as the European Central bank (€50 billion). One of the major arguments against this is the potential of other indebted countries such as Ireland seeing Greece receiving these huge cuts in what they owe and wanting similar treatment. So the dilemma remains, if the EU continue to enforce these austerity measures on Greece then it is more then likely that the Greek economy will continue to shrink and therefore they will not be able to raise the funds to repay there loans and will require further aid from the European Union.

There is a growing number of people who believe that Greece leaving the Eurozone is no longer a case of “if” and more a case of “when”. This could result in a number of disastrous scenarios with investor confidence in other nations damaged. Confidence in other highly indebted countries such as Spain and Italy could suffer and cause them to move money from these banks to the safer banks in Germany or the Netherlands which may result in more banks defaulting on their payments. Another problem with Greece leaving the Euro is the fact that a switch to the Drachma would result in a huge devaluation of the currency which would make repayments of Greek debts even more difficult. It is time for more radical action to be taken as it is clear that the measures being taken at the moment are not enough to save our faltering economy. If major changes are not made in the near future then this will spiral further out of control and this is something that the vulnerable Irish economy can ill afford.

Last week saw the launch of Kellogg’s first ever 3D interactive cinema ad, which was created by glue Isobar. The ad falls under the ‘It’s all lies’ campaign and was launched in line with the new Men In Black movies. It claims to be the first ever ad that can be tasted and, that by the end of the advert, consumers will be able to taste their Rocky Road Rice Krispies Squares bar. Kellogg’s claim that taste will be achieved through ‘audio taste technology’ which has given them high hopes for the success of the ad. Sally Tribe, Rice Krispies Square’s brand manager, has said that Kellogg’s are always trying to push the boundaries with their brand.

Upon watching the ad, it is clear that it fits perfectly under their ‘It’s all lies’ campaign as it is not possible to actually taste the product. It cannot be argued that the ad doesn’t show high levels of creativity, but there is a fear that younger consumers may be confused, or even disappointed, that they cannot actually taste the product. This is a risk that Kellogg’s are happy to take. They have supported the launch of the ad by explaining that interacting with customers adds ‘real value to the product’ and they feel that it will help bring many more followers to the Squares brand.

The launch of the cinema advert appears to follow in the steps of a new trend of interactive movies, which are moving into 4D. These movies are getting customers to interact on an increased level through smell scratch and sniff cards, rain and vibrations. Is this something that we are going to see more from marketers in order to interact more with their consumers?

It is clear from the advert that Kellogg’s are looking to integrate their customers into their advert and interact with them on a new level. All in all, the ad has given the snack bar a whole new dimension and has shown that Kellogg’s aren’t afraid to think outside the box. Looking to the future it appears that Kellogg’s are one to watch out for. The question is, what will they think of next?