Brand collaborations are not a new thing, but in the last 3 years they have been increasingly utilised by big names to drive organic growth across both existing and new brands, in the face of slumps in consumer spending and reliance on sales. In fact, Google found that fashion collaborations were ranking higher than their solo counterparts in search. Whether brands are seeking audience volume … Continue reading Brand X Brand: the rise of the collab.
You can’t have a day in the office without hearing someone talk about it; ‘Did you watch Love Island last night? Oh my god!’. I must confess that I don’t actually watch it, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been touched by the obsession that’s swept not only my home country, but my current country of residence too. Love Island is by no means the … Continue reading How the reality TV model is driving real business
We all know apple has millions of dollars to spend on agencies and ads – so it’s unsurprising what they produce is best in class. Having said that, I haven’t actually been wowed by an Apple ad recently (even the much applauded holiday ad). But this one stopped me. I love an ad that takes a stance, is topical, displays what the brand believes in, … Continue reading Advert of the Week – Apple First Dance
Not just because I’m a fan of the movie (which is great, go see it), but also because this is a bold statement, utilising advertising space to drive a purpose. Un-ignorable, it does the job of using in the moment relevancy to bring back the question (as sadly with so many tragedies every day we too often, too soon, forget), “why did this happen to … Continue reading Advert of the Week – 3 Billboards
Forever the dilemma of a global brand strategist; how local is too local, how global is too global? Driving relevancy and cut through to your audience is the bare minimum you should be doing with ANY output you have from your brand. But then, creating stuff is expensive. With increased expectations and slashed budgets, we trudge through meetings about ROI and sales uplift, back-to-back with … Continue reading Advert of the Week – Nike LNDR
Have you ever bought something just because you liked the packaging? Of course you have. I’m not just talking about pretty colours and pictures, but actual design, usability, ease of opening – a feature that makes you pick it off the shelf over its next door neighbour? Let’s take the example of heinz creating squeeze bottles. This is probably one of the best innovations they … Continue reading Packing innovation is the smartest thing a company can do. Here’s why.
We’ve all seen the massive OOH campaign Spotify did at the end of 2016. It won a bunch of stuff, including industry-wide (and beyond) praise. See here. This wasn’t just a campaign gimmick. Spotify are determined to make data the centre of their business. Although Tidal and Amazon aren’t too much of a threat right now, that could change very quickly, so this is a … Continue reading If content is King and data is Queen, then Spotify is the current President.
This advert actually came out a while ago but it’s still sitting there in my favourite of 2017 so far. It’s one of those ones that still pops into my mind every now and then – which is basically what everyone aims for when making something like this. I must also confess I have browsed the Contiki website more than a few times since watching … Continue reading Advert of the Week – Contiki
Advert of the week goes to Ikea. This is a sweet advert that shows Ikea understands the audiences reality, and doesn’t just put forward the aspirational side of ‘dream home’ advertising. It almost makes something that a lot of brands would have made overly emotional and brought it to a normal tone. This sets it aside from adverts desperately trying to make you cry, … Continue reading Advert of the Week – Ikea
This post is basically the opposite of my Advert of the Week posts. I can only imagine the tense nature of the global Pepsi office this week. I was actually interviewed for a job as a brand manager at Pepsi in Sydney before I accepted my current role. Today is a day I feel grateful that I didn’t take that job. ‘Live for Now’ is the … Continue reading This week’s episode of ‘what were they thinking’ has a new segment called ‘who the hell approved this?’
