We continue to monitor the negative effects of over-inked coverwraps and the effectiveness of well executed coverwraps ... and today is a perfect example of the latter.
The bin at the station - our reliable measuring stick - only had one cover in it this morning vs the usual overflow on an over inked day:
Well done to the UGG creative team for producing artwork fit for a newspaper cover and for ensuring the ad stayed intact and went some way to delivering the media value the client paid for.
Not so clever contextual targeting on the Mailonline at the weekend for Kuoni, advertising 'Magical Kenya' given the ads were served against the headline story of the Kenyan Mall massacre in Nairobi.
It's important to consider the negative impact of contextual targeting as well as the smart targeting benefits.
Despite the creative impact that advertising coverwraps have when attached to the paper, more often than not the bins on mainline commuter stations are littered with them, detatched from the main paper due to 'over inking'.
Today was no exception, with the NatWest ad consigned to the bin (as per the image above on the right), and another for TLC a few weeks ago (as per image above on the left).
Taking in to account the fact this is a high ticket item when it comes to media costs - surely the creative team and media agency should be aware of the effect of adding too much solid colour and over inking the covers. It seems to be a very expensive and avoidable mistake.
The example above for TESCO is a good example of a cover that survived ultimate consignment to the bin, where as the ones below for Adidas and Nike didn't make it across the finishing line.
For almost 20 years Sky Sports has maintained the ownership of sport viewers, but could this be the season that the ownership is contested? BT Sport's first televised Premier League football match at the weekend, Liverpool versus Stoke City, attracted a peak audience of 764,000 viewers, beating ESPN's opening game last season.
Although the audience figure is far less than Sky Sports 3.1 million viewers, Sky Sports first game last season only raked in 843,000; BT Sport should be considered as serious competition!
In a recent press release BT Sport claims to have acquired 1 million subscribers due to the new sports package offering, indicating that 76% of all subscribers tuned into the game - pretty impressive! That being said, the cost per acquisition is still painful given the £100m+ marketing campaign.
We've been following the campaign since the first day it was executed, commenting on the different creatives, messaging and tactic's used by both brands and early signs appear to be positive for BT Sport. But, there's still a long way to go before seeing a positive ROI.
We have a feeling this will go the full 12 rounds!
The posturing, the bad-natured bravado, the poorly disguised
dislike and the testosterone-fuelled, territorial circling has swamped our daily
lives for the past couple of months.
The ink used in the print ads would have filled the Great
Lakes. They’ve had more TV time than Lord Sugar. They’ve even spent more than
the entire Premier League combined (yes, including Manchester City)
The two behemoths of British sports broadcasting, Sky Sports
and BT Sport, have been obsessed with the quest to become the one that has eaten
a bigger slice of the Premiership Pie.
As we have documented, despite the initially considered
nature of the rivalry, the contest has descended in to a bare-knuckle brawl.
Targeted placements have given way to ubiquity and refreshing
messaging has devolved into tale-telling and seemingly contradictory claims.
The season starts tomorrow.
In a final, desperate lunge that reeks of burnt rate cards
and smashed sales targets, BT Sport have literally blanketed today's media,
with Sky Sports remaining comparatively calm. We've included the examples at the end of the blog - you've no doubt seen them several hundred times in the last two months!
We shall have to see whether the Evening Standard is equally
as battered by this crusade (campaign doesn’t seem to do it justice).
The biggest test will be the figures that are recorded over
the next few weeks.
Let the chips fall as they may.
All we know is, we’re finally glad that there will be a
little more content on the tellybox.
What do David Hockney, Lucian Freud, John Constable, LS Lowry, Tracey Emin, Sir Christopher Blake and many more artists have in common??
Their works are among over 50 pieces of British art selected by the general public to feature in the World's largest outdoor media 'Art everywhere' campaign that launches today.
The artwork will be shown on 22,000 digital outdoor poster sites across the UK - in a joint collaboration between the art world and the advertising and media industries....with sites donated by major outdoor contractors including CBS Outdoor, ClearChannel UK, JCDecaux, Ocean Outdoor & Primesight....no hidden agenda, just the opportunity to celebrate 'Art'.
At Pure we are always on the look out for interesting outdoor campaigns - as well as a challenge amongst the team, so we have taken it upon ourselves to try and spot all 50+ pieces of artwork in situ.
Our last quest was to capture the 150 names that Coke claimed to have used in personalised products and ads earlier this year, only to have seen very few of them in the outdoor ad campaign due to the fact the reality of the production budget clearly outweighed the creativity of the multi executional delivery.
Dabbers to the ready .... we're hoping the digital nature of this campaign and the promise of over 50 creative exections will enable us to get a collaborative 'full house' over the coming weeks.
The plot thickens; wires are crossed in the form of mixed messages, BT and SKY Sports competitors become allies and then competitors again in the same day. At the same time Virgin Media is dragged into the ongoing sports-package rivalry bout...WHAT IS GOING ON?!
Now, we're into round 4 and the ad battle has escalated to the point of confusion. SKY has fired a broadside across the BT's bows, by guaranteeing the best price for both packages, whereas BT has countered stating you can only get BT Sport through BT:
Who to believe?!
Furthermore, Virgin Media and ESPN have unwillingly been thrown into the ring too with another message contradictory to that of the previous SKY Sports ad:
Very confusing for potential customers and it seems the only beneficiaries are the media owners.
At least SKY and BT can't be criticised for rolling out the same creative throughout the whole campaign.
This highly impactful 48-sheet from o2, executed by our sister agency VCCP has a simple message but hides a complex and engaging campaign running across multi media.
We are impressed by the depth of this fantastic engaging campaign, with the digital execution integrating some smart technology encouraging us all to "Be More Dog".
Once you log on the website http://bemoredog.o2.co.uk/ you are greeted with a short intro from the (wannabe dog) cat featuring throughout the campaign:
After you've been told you his bio, you are given a unique code to log onto the website on your mobile. This in turn loads up a mobile optimised frisbee for you to throw towards the cat/dog on the PC screen:
Amazing integration, slightly indulgent, and so much fun!
The campaign also involves a twitter hashtag; #BeMoreDog, which is causing a lot of online conversation:
And the TV campaign is also very loveable:
o2 said the campaign aims to "spread positivity, excitement and inquisitiveness ... to rid the UK of cynicism" by getting people to "embrace their inner dog".
We think this has been absolutely achieved that, and whether you're a cat or a dog lover, the campaign is extremely impressive!
And as to be expected, the media are all over it like a rash .........
We've picked out a handful of our favourite, tactical press ads and custom made print media offerings. Starting with the front page of The Sun today:
They have published possibly the most momentous front page adaptation of all the dailies; no plugs, no ads and no editorial. The issue has gained huge traction within social media and other top media platforms:
Our weird, little friend #BrianTheRobot is also making the most of the birth with a unique creative execution in the papers this morning. Often associated with creating awkward situations, here Brian harmlessly holds a "Baby on Board" placard and a patriotic flag and asks in regal speak - How he might save us pounds?
No controversy caused this time as another footnote in the Life of Brian is executed. Just a simple tactical ad idea, planned to feature in print in a very timely fashion.
The flexibility of the #ShareACoke campaign enables Coke to adapt the names on the bottles shown to take advantage of situations.
We have seen Coke execute similar tactical ads a number of times since the #ShareACoke campaign started and each time it works incredibly well! Let's see how quickly they publish another tactical ad (or produce a limited edition bottle) featuring the name of the 3rd in line to the throne.
We love Jelly. We really love clever, sweet and thoughtful Jelly!
Over the past few weeks Bassetts Jelly Babies have been executing a series of small fractionals within newspapers, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Royal newborn.
This was finally topped off with a larger page dominant fractional ad this morning - Celebrating the new arrival.
A great example of how a bespoke smaller budget campaign can be created to deliver tactical associated messaging and make the most of positive news events!
Plenty more examples running online ... where the flexibility of the digital space allows for quicker turnarounds and greater opportunties for multiple executions and updated creative.
From the team here at Pure Media, congratulations to the Royal Family!
It is extremely
difficult to predict negative PR, especially as daily
papers such as The Metro and The Telegraph give advertisers little or no time to
react to issues. Added to this is the issue of avoiding placing ads near brand-deterring features, which in itself is a challenging feat.
Here at Pure we’re
massive ad geeks; we don’t miss a thing! And every now and then we’ll empathise
with advertisers who have been incredibly unfortunate with their ad
placements.
Today there has been two cringe-worthy mis-haps:
1)Supermouse vs. Picnic Club
On page 9 of
today's Metro reads an article about Tesco's apparent "Supermouse"
issue with the headline: Tesco failed to clean up droppings, grease and filth
after failing three inspections.
With a Tesco “Picnic”
ad on the following page:
Ouch! A perfect
example of why it is important to liaise with editors around current issues to
avoid this situation.
2) Terrible round...Great watch nonetheless!
Poor Rory McIlroy
had a "miserable" opening round at the Open yesterday, finishing 13
shots behind the lead. The Telegraph did not let him off lightly with a series
of unflattering photographs and write-up which evokes a cringe of sympathy:
To add insult to
injury, an abject post-feature Omega ad endorsed by, you guessed it, Rory
McIlroy.
It is incredibly unfortunate to have an ad placed so closely to a feature which achieves the absolute opposite to the brand goals. Using celebrities as brand ambassadors increases the risk, another example is our Sharapova-Evian #PurePoint.
It's just one of those things all of us in the industry have nightmares about!
...Ding Ding!! .....There is seemingly no end to the exhaustive budgets and sporting rivalry between BT Sport and SKY Sports ... with SKY producing a power punch in the latest round by introducing David Beckham to front their current advertising campaign.
Probably the most recognisable British sportsman, certainly in the world of football, a mass ad campaign launched this week across Sky and terrestrial TV channels as well as outdoor, print and digital activity.
WPP agencies Maxus and MediaCom must be loving the ongoing battle as the budgets continue to get ploughed in to multi media campaigns.... Just how many rounds can they afford to go??
As a direct, competitive reaction to Colgate's "brush hour" at Waterloo Station this week which saw thousands of angry commuters causing mayhem with old toothbrushes in hand expecting a direct free swap for a newer model, Philips decided to capitalise on the situation with the following full-page ad in yesterday's Evening Standard:
The idea was generated, the ad produced, media space bought, ad was signed off by the client and supplied to publication in less than 24 hours after inception - not a bad turnaround at all! Especially considering that Philips usually have a long-term brand vision as opposed to the quick-turnaround, tactical approach.
The tagline; "the best things in life aren't free" adds insult to injury and something else for Colgate to worry about after dealing with the dirty-mouthed comments from customers and recovering from the embarrassing fiasco.
The recent KIA campaign has grabbed our attention with the execution of a small series of neat and tactical tongue-in-cheek ads running in the build up towards the Ashes.
These three print ads ran on consecutive pages in Sport magazine last week around an exclusive feature about Matt Prior.This implies an impressive level of attention to detail towards media planning with the placements in a highly relevant creatively synergistic editorial feature, which can often be overlooked with big budget campaigns.
An outdoor campaign is also running, where multi format activity can be seen dominating Vauxhall Station - the home of 'The KIA Oval' which will be hosting the final test of the series next month.
Whilst the placement of activity is timely and is highly relevant in terms of targeting and proximity, it would appear that the cretive team have made an uncharacteristic wrong-turn by including the name of one of KIA's main competitors "SEAT" in the creative.
Which 'SEAT' is it ??
Apart from this apparent creative slip-up, the campaign's timing and execution has been very well thought-out. #PurePoint
Following the Sharapova/Evian sporting blunder another supposed brand ambassador who hasn’t quite lived up to expectation
is Mario Götze, who completed his £31.5 million transfer from Borussia Dortmund
to Bayern Munich today.
Unfortunately, he didn’t really think through his outfit,
given that his new employers are sponsored by Adidas and indeed hold a 9% stake
in the club.
Evian’s offering in the annual Wimbledon tactical ad-fest is
a neat iteration of the Baby and Me campaign, seeking to highlight the
rejuvenating effects of water by showing the
delightful Maria Sharapova and an infant version of
herself, as seen in the following half-page DPS in the latest issue of Time Out mag:
The media strategy has been executed nicely, with impact being achieved through strong OOH placements
(**London Bridge posters**) and some neat 1/2 DPS strips in Metro and the Standard, but the fact that
Maria literally tumbled out of the tournament in the second round surely
evaporates the impact? Surely just securing the ad space with one creative
execution is letting the brand down in this instance as they haven’t covered the
eventuality of her being knocked out so early.
The APP they have produced,
where you can take a headshot on your camera-phone/ tablet and see what your
infant equivalent looks like, would probably have greater uptake if Sharapova
was still grunting and screaming her way through the tournament at
SW19.
We’ll take a large PIMM's with some strawberries and cream – they
never get old!
Red Bull's latest viral film starring Danny MacAskill is an extremely late contender for this week's #PureAdOfTheWeek (albeit tenuous as it's not really an ad ... just 7 minutes of great footage).
The video is executed in such a captivating way that it has accumulated over three million views in less than ten days!
As we say, although it's not an "advertisment" per se, the video has generated such popularity that this week we have selected it as an extremely strong contender for the title of #PureAdOfTheWeek.
Since Confused.com decided to scrap Cara, the scruffy haired cartoon karaoke singer, Brian the robot has been introduced to spearhead the price comparison website's re-positioning with a backing of approximately £28million, according to CampaignLive.
Although Brian has been programmed with a lack of social skills, his charming nature adds to what is unfolding to be an extremely clever multimedia integrated campaign.
The campaign first started with the inception of Brian, who we saw being brought to life in a 40" TV spot called 'Lab', during the semi-final of Britain's Got Talent earlier this month.
The campaign then unfolded across other media - with simple and impactful ads running in print, outdoor, on the radio and across multi digital routes.
The outdoor campaign appears to be dominating key cities with heavy presence by running a generic money saving ad on T-sides across the bus network ....
.... as well as location specific large format ads tailored to the area and audience they are placed in.
A further TV execution is now running - where we get to see and hear more of Brian's personality and sound effects as he traverses around a car boot sale, conversing with some slightly bemused folk.
This adds impact and association to the radio ads now running, due to the immediate (robotic) voice recognition of the audio.
Added to all of this there is digital activity running across the piece, with some virals, Facebook and Twitter profiles - inviting us to find out more about the Life of Brian.
So how effective is a socially inept, fictional character in the world of social media?
Answer: extremely effective so far. Aided by the interactive elements and the #BrianTheRobot hashtag running across other elements of the campaign.
Could this be the start of a battle for FB friends and Twitter followers; Brian the Robot vs. Aleksandr the Meerkat in a price comparison, fictional, loveable character war?
We hope so - but it will take some time (and more marketing investment) for Brian to catch up given he has only received 302 likes for his Facebook page and 1,068 Twitter followers to date vs the plethora of likes Aleksander has amassed - a meer 797,000 as well as 60,519 Twitter followers to date.
