DR4WARD

Living Naked and Eating Savory Foods! Cannes Lions

Hello everyone! just finished my second full day here at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. Once again, I had an amazing day filled with inspiration and learning. I will be talking about a few different things that really excited me today.

I started today off at the savory food commercials. These were very entertaining, I didnt want to leave early for my Masters Class! I find the tv advertisements to be one of my favorite parts of the festival because every country approaches their products in different ways. This can be very influential and bring new ideas to the American plate. Comedy in commercials is something that will never get old. they are attention grabbing and memorable. Some countries advertisements had a more serious approach to food advertisement. I am sure they were affective in the given culture, but were not something I could see being aired on television in the US.
Here are a few of the commercials I really enjoyed...
">hungryman
">fresh farms dove campaign mock

">kavli kaviar mix

">pot noodles
">robertsons spices

I went to a Masters Class in the morning, "Living Naked" by Paul Woolmington. I won't go into too much detail because Stephanie's blog covers it pretty well. It basically talked about listening to the consumers, they are the important part of advertising and marketing. "You should treat your consumer as a partner", "people don't trust advertising, they trust friends". advertising is moving more toward a consumer made approach.
These are some interesting things that we looked at during this workshop.
www.brandtags.net
www.cannestags.com
burger king whopper freakout

"Don't write an ad - start a conversation" complimented the living naked workshop. during this seminar, Nick Moore spoke about 5 major things that advertisers need to do to become more successful with their consumers.
1) actively listen...we hear what we want to hear, not what people are really saying. watch digital conversations, blogs, youtube videos. this helps you to clearly listen to your consumer.
2) join and lead conversation...dont write an ad, say the next interesting thing. join and continue your conversations.
3) become a topic of conversation...the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about at all. people trust people. tell stories! ">bud light video was shared.
4) let go of control!!!...creatives are control freaks and need to learn to let go more. clients can also become too controlling.
5) create many conversations. the more material you have the more consumers you can reach.

and finally, im going to briefly touch on the IGA workshop. In game advertising is becoming a huge market! it is said that advertising for in game marketing will reach $54 billion by 2011.
so why advertise so much in games?
-its a lean forward medium
-totally engaging
-everyone plays video games. (the average 18-35 year old male plays 12.5 hours a week)
-30% of gamers are female
-70% of gamers feel that real brands and products make fames more realistic.
-61% favor in game advertising.
">in game advertising

--Kayla

NIKE PLUS DIGITAL SUCCESS CHANGES RUNNING FOREVER

I often point out marketers who do not get it.  However, I have to admit that I would much rather point out innovators and brands that I admire and think we can all learn from. Nike is one of them and it starts with their mission statement. The Nike mission statement is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete (anyone who has a body) and help improve their lives and reach their potential.  Nike has created innovations with their physical products since the beginning but  now they are creating digital success through the Nike Plus Apple iPod and Nike iD.  The merging of the digital and physical world for Nike and the 360 Degree Brand Marketing focus on improving the lives of the consumer has changed running forever.
 

A sensor in your Nike shoe wirelessly talks to your iPod as you run and you can hear your pace, time, distance and calories burned while you run through your headphones.  You can download your runs on NikePlus.com, set your goals, check progress, challenge friends and interact with runners from all over the world.  You can even share your music and running routes.  The physical world of running and Nike products is now enhanced with the digital social network experience.  In 2007 I attended the Cannes Lions Interational Advertising Festival where Nike was awarded a Gold Cyber Lions and a Titanium Lions recognizing Nike Plus as one of the world's top interactive marketing and integrated advertising campaigns.

Nike iD also improves the physical experience with the digital ability to custom design your shoes, clothing, and equipment by selecting the materials, colors, and features.  You can visit the NikeTown store or go online to customize through Nike iD and have your order shipped directly to your home.  The success of Nike digital and innovation points the way towards success for other companies.  Do you have examples of other companies that have supported their mission and enhanced the physical experience through digital?  Are  there  digital ideas that you would like to see enhance the physical experience of your favorite brands?

I look 4WARD to your feedback.

Keep Digging For Worms!

ALCOHOL MARKETING SAILS BLISSFULLY INTO PERFECT STORM

Alcohol Industry marketing is sailing blissfully into a perfect storm.  Before we look at the signs let's quickly review:  unlike the highly regulated Tobacco and Pharmaceutical Industries, the Alcohol Industry basically self-regulates to avoid marketing's reach and appeal to children and underage consumers. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) does have limited jurisdiction over alcohol marketing but mainly promotes industry self-regulation to balance concerns related to children and the interests of adults.  You can read the complete FTC Guidance Documents here. You can also read the 1999 FTC Report about the benefits of self-regulation in the Alcohol Industry and the Alcohol Industry Advertising Codes regarding advertising placement, advertising content, product placement, online advertising, and college marketing.   

First Amendment issues are given regarding FTC lack of Government restriction on marketing but one only needs to look at the Tobacco and Pharmaceutical industries to see where alcohol marketing regulation is heading if the industry does not change course.  The Alcohol Industry stated goal to minimize the extent to which underage consumers are exposed to and attracted by alcohol advertising is impossible in practice. The "drink responsibly" messages and concern for children are lost in the rough seas of competitive marketplace pressures.  These pressures compel the alcohol industry to attract new consumers and grow consumption with current users.  Let's look at Alcohol Industry initiatives in the past year and the collision with the self-regulated industry code to see the Perfect Storm...

LUNA-TIC SPORTS / CAUSE MARKETING TO WOMEN NOT SO CRAZY

In my coverage of this year's Super Bowl ads I noted that marketers forgot that almost half of the 90 million plus audience watching the Super Bowl were women.  Most of the Super Bowl ads used frat, gross- out humor and sex to target young males, while alienating half the female audience, not to mention many of the fathers, brothers, and husbands to these women.  Where was this year's Dove Real Beauty? 

Yvonne at Lip-sticking talks about smart marketing to women and how few companies get it.  After watching the Super Bowl ads I agree.  However, I believe that LUNA Bar, a whole nutrition bar for women, not only gets it, but is combining smart sports marketing and cause-marketing that all brands can learn from and that deserves Olympic gold medal recognition.  Here is what I think we can learn from LUNA Bar: