Daily Mail Launches Fashion Sharing Website and App

The group behind the popular newspaper The Daily Mail, have this month launched a fashion wearing website and mobile app called 'Today I'm Wearing.' 

The new site allows followers to upload pictures of themselves wearing their favourite items of clothing. They can then tag these items, allowing viewers to see where they got them and how much they cost. The website has also been partnered with fashion search engine 'ShopStyle' to allow users to then shop online and make a purchase based on other people's uploads.

Users can 'follow' certain profiles much like Twitter in order to keep up to date with their favourite profile's latest outfits. Registered users can also post comments underneath pictures to give uploaders feedback on their clothes.

It is thought that the Daily Mail group are looking to build on their strong 18 - 35 year old following that it has developed largely thanks to its popular entertainment website. The latest website and app combination was launched before Christmas in an attempt to gain a user base and identify teething problems before a full  advertising and promotional campaign begins for the service in the new year. However, signs are promising for the newspaper group, as 3,000 people have already downloaded the newly available app.

There is a wider issue that must be examined in light of this new service however. In the wake of recent cyber-bullying tragedies in this country, offering a platform for young adults to post comments about people's styles and looks may prove an unpopular venture among parents. The newspaper group will have to monitor content carefully or what initially started as a clever brand extension may prove to be more of a hindrance rather than a help. 

Luke Jordan - Marketing Advisor

Australian Cigarette Packaging

Over the past decade there has been enormous changes in legislation relating to the sale and promotion of Tobacco. On 1^st December 2012, Australia implemented new legislation that has set the bar even higher in terms of how cigarette brands are sold.

Now, all brands of cigarettes in Australia must be sold in the same brown package. These packages carry graphic images and health warnings. The Australian government aim to remove the glamour from smoking, they intend to reduce the level of smokers from 15% to below 10% by 2018. The initiative is particularly focused on the prevention of teenagers taking up smoking in the fist place. However, the move is also set to reduce the number of those smoking also. Research found that when a particular brand was given to a sample of 640 people from the branded packaging and from plain label packets the branded packet scored higher in terms of taste, flavour and aroma.

Cigarette companies did take this new legislation to the high court on the grounds that in infringed on their intellectual property, however the courts ruled against their case.

The hope is that now other countries will follow suit, in particular the EU have shown signs of adopting similar legislation surrounding the sale of cigarettes.

Is this initiative something that should be introduced into Ireland and would it have the desired affect, ie reducing the number of smokers and preventing teenagers from starting in the first place? 

‘Happiness’ drives another new business venture for Coca-Cola

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The notion of Happiness is something Coca-Cola has long been incorporating into its brand DNA. With an estimated brand equity of $72 billion, Coca-Cola has well and truly hit a soft spot with consumers. Now, the company is seeking to expand this joy into the realms of social media, through the launch of a new photo app, ‘Happy Places’. 

 The free mobile app is aimed at encouraged people to share their happy moments with friends.

“Your day, your friends, your trips, your music… your life is full of happy moments worth storing and sharing. 
Happy Places by Coca-Cola is that place where you can upload photos of your happy moments, share them, and remember them any time you want” - Coca-Cola

Users will be able to view and comment on friends’ pictures just as with the likes of Instagram. There is also the option to follow hashtags, such as #music #festivals and #dogslife. This will allow users to keep up to date with friends’ photos that fit prioritised "moments."

Versions of the Happy Places mobile app for both Android and Windows phone are currently not available for download, but the app is available for iOS users through the iTunes store, which was released on November 1^st 2012. The website www.happyplaces.com, registered in June, is currently still inactive.

The absence of Instagram-esque filters on Happy Places might mean it is at a disadvantage when compared to its competitors. There are circulating rumors that Twitter is launching their own photo filter, cementing the trend that customers want an artistic component offered in their photo apps. 

It will be interesting to see how far a global company such as Coca-Cola can push this app. The fact that the company has such an international presence means there is potential to reach out to a whole new audience that most photo-sharing services have never dreamed of. 

Once the website is launched, we will have more details on the service. For now, I don’t think that the Happy Place photo app will make as big a dent in social media as the likes of Instagram, as the service offering seems limited in comparison. In my opinion, the availability of editing options is the key to the success of photo apps. Everyone wants to an artist, to make a statement in ‘vintage fade’ or ‘colour shock’, and the likes of Instagram’s filters have made this possible at the touch of a button.

 

Sharon Donnelly - Marketing Advisor

Ms Halappanavar died at the Galway hospital on October 28th of septicemia seven days after she presented with back pain. She had been 17 weeks pregnant and her husband says she asked repeatedly for a termination over a three-day period but was refused, as there was a  heartbeat present.

The inquiry team has seven members. Its chairman, Prof Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George’s Hospital, University of London, said it was important to have representatives from Galway University Hospital on it to allow the panel to compare the guidelines in use there with the national and international guidelines.

The investigation into the death of Savita Halappanavar will now be “utterly independent’’ of Galway University Hospital, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

The husband of the late Savita Halappanavar wants employees of Galway University Hospital removed from the inquiry established by the Health Service Executive into her death.

Mr Higgins said the investigation into Ms Halappanavar’s death must ensure “above all else” that women will be safer and get the medical services during pregnancy to which they are entitled. He was responding to questions from local journalists during an official visit to Liverpool and Manchester.

The inquiry to come into the tragic death of the young Indian woman must meet “the needs of the public’s concern, the need of the family and meet the need of the State”.

The HSE  published the terms of reference of its inquiry and named three new members, two Irish and one from England, of the inquiry team. These replaced the Galway-based consultants who stepped aside in an unsuccessful attempt to meet the objections of Mr Halappanavar.

The report to be compiled by the team will not identify staff members involved in the treatment of Ms Halappanavar or any other names, according to the terms of reference.

The death sparked off a heated debate and protests in Ireland for a change in the country's abortion laws. Around 10,000 people marched through Dublin on November 18 during one such protest.

Niamh Cusack- Marketing Advisor 

Paddy Power Obama Campaign - An Intelligent Publicity Stunt or A Step Too Far?

The U.S. Presidential Campaigns of both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have been the centrepiece of international news across the globe over the past few weeks. However, last week the spectacle came to an end as the American people took to the poll's to choose the next leader of their country. Although the U.S. polling day was set for the 6th November, Paddy Power were so sure of themselves and confident in the success of an Obama win that they declared they would begin paying out to all punters who backed Obama to win from Sunday the 4th of November.

A spokesman for Paddy Power explained how the company felt that Obama's win was a "nailed on certainty" making the possibility of losing the €500,000 associated cost of an Obama loss extremely irrelevant to the company:

Romney gave it a good shot and is doing well in the popular vote, but we suspect he’s had his moment in the sun and is likely to be remembered more for his legendary gaffes than Presidential potential.  

The overall betting trend has shown one-way traffic for Obama and punters seemed to have called it 100 per cent correct.  

Despite Romney appealing to the large evangelical and senior vote, America’s sticking with black and cool.

So this may all seem like a bit of harmless fun and an intelligent risk worth taking for the betting company that is known for its wild marketing and advertising campaigns. However, many have criticised the company for its print media campaign that was launched in support of the Obama payout:

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland stated on Monday the 5th November that they would be launching a full investigation into the matter after receiving a public complaint in relation to the advert. Ken Robertson, a spokesman for Paddy Power defended the half-page advert stating the company did not create an ad that was meant to be racist or stereotypical. He added that in keeping with previous campaigns developed by the international company, it was "edgy, if not a little bit provocative but always funny".

So how would you rate the overall marketing campaign engaged by Paddy Power? Personally, I think its another example of the smart marketing that the company is consistently famed for using. It has caught international headlines across the world, has got people talking about the brand yet again and all for a feeble cost of a 1/2 page print advert in a local Irish newspaper. A single complaint to launch an investigation seems unrealistic, I might go as far as saying it may have been Paddy Power themselves who issued the complaint - more media attention, more hype - more brand awareness.

Overall the campaign has had one question resonating in my mind - what's next Paddy??

 Jennifer Beirne - Marketing Advisor

Facebook is testing a retail-friendly “Want” button

Facebook is testing a retail-friendly “Want” button accompaniment to the “Like” button, which could help Facebook increase revenue through sales commissions and ads. Facebook is working with seven retail partners in the beta test, including Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria's Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com. Facebook users in certain areas have been able to click “Want” and “Collect” buttons upon products from the retailers.

Items that users “Want” will be saved in a collection or wish list. Also the wanted item will appear on the users’ timeline. In turn, Facebook friends will be able to look at a users' wants/collections/wish list and treat them.

During the test phase, Facebook will not get a commission for wish list purchases by Facebook friends. However, it is likely the social network will take a cut when the feature is rolled out properly.

Although Facebook won't get a cut of sales, Robert W. Barid analyst Colin Sebastian told Reuters that the "Want" button provides other opportunities for monetisation. "In addition to potentially collecting a transaction fee for referring users to an e-commerce site, Sebastian said that retailers might also pay Facebook to promote products featured on users' wish lists, similar to the way the Facebook's current ads function."

The “Collections” wish list feature will be gradually rolled out to all US users when the wish list feature is fully integrated into Facebook.

The Collections feature won't be a social plug-in or available outside of the Facebook site for now, the company said. It will be viewable by Facebook users on their News Feeds.

There was some talk at the time of the addition of a Want button for products, but more speculation centred on different variations of how a user might be able to signify that they'd consumed media.

Mengxue Zheng - Marketing Advisor

007 Loses his 50 year tradition

In recent times product placement has become more and more popular being used in anything with air time on our screens from day time TV, documentaries and movies. Product placement is where branded goods or services are placed in a context of being advertised in such things as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. Famous movies and TV shows that are popular for product placement are James Bond, Sex and the City, The Hangover, ET, The Office, Mad Men, Suits and Friends to name a few.

With the release of the 50 year anniversary bond movie “Skyfalls” this month product placement is set to go crazy. When you think of product placement through all the James Bond movies we automatically think of brands such as Dom Perignon, Rolex, Aston Martin and Walther PPK are all naturally linked to James Bond. In recent times they have changed Bonds habits and have changed the regular product placement to new brands which are Heineken, Range Rover and Coke Zero. James Bond has always drunk Vodka Martinis 'shaken, not stirred' since the line first appeared in Ian Fleming's novel Diamonds are Forever in 1956.

But Bond has hit hard times like the rest of the world and has been forced to sell himself to the highest bidders as film-makers MGM have tackled financial difficulties. It is believed that the Bond deal to swap Vodka Martinis for Heineken was worth a massive €35 million. They claim the movie could not have been made without the deal.

Although in my opinion, I do not know if this is the right move for the enterprise especially as it is an iconic 50 year anniversary release. But on the other hand will viewers even notice the difference?

Do you think €35 million was worth MGM changing 007 James Bonds trademark drink for a 50 year symbolic movie or do you think the change is a good for the move?

Nada Mousa- Marketing Advisor J