The publishing world is in a constant state of flux, with more publications moving online and developing apps and mobile formats. Interestingly, just as the traditional publishing world is changing, we’ve seen an enormous growth in brands emerging as a new type of publisher – Amex and Procter & Gamble are just two great examples.

Branded content is nothing new — since the 1950s we’ve had soap operas with big brand manufacturers like Colgate-Palmolive as sponsors, enabling them to tie in their products with storylines to get closer to their audience and evolve the brand experience.

Today digital and social media provide brands with new opportunities to become publishers. Many brands are capitalising on this, creating high-quality editorial content and using channels like Facebook, YouTube, branded websites, newsletters and magazines to engage their target audience. Read More »

Cookie brand Oreo has surprised many, won new fans and enraged Christians, as it has effectively taken a political stand on its Facebook page after posting a pro-gay pride promotion.

The pro-pride rainbow picture you can see is the first in a series of 100 “current event” promos to be released to mark Oreo’s centennial celebrations.

This is hugely significant and brave move for such a family oriented US brand. Like most brands marketing and politics are usually seen as not to mix. It is controversial area, fraught with difficulty, and brands would usually choose to walk in the opposite direction when it was so obviously going to stir up political and religious controversy. Read More »

LeWeb has always been a slightly different type of web conference, some might say disorganised, perhaps as a result of its relaxed European heritage.  Run for the last eight years inParis, this year for the first time LeWeb has bought its eclectic line-up toLondon, filling the Central Hall inWestminster with 1,300 people from 50 countries and some heavy hitting speakers.

The audience may have been international but the event kicked off in truly British style. We heard from Brent Hoberman, of lastminute.com fame and latterly made.com andPROfounders Capital, Jonathan Luff and Rohan Silva, advisers to the government and Number 10 and Eric Van Der Kleij, the CEO of Tech City. Read More »

You like a brand and its posts on Facebook, but do they ever like you back? Hardly, ever. The love is all one way. That is until now and this nice idea from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

Kraft asked fans to  “LIKE this post” and told them that they “never know what may happen”. Read More »

Kraft’s European vice president of marketing, Daryl Fielding, was recently quoted as saying “don’t forget customer needs in the rush to digital”, and for me this serves to highlight some of the problems that marketers face as they look at new technologies to help them deliver their messages to more and more people as effectively as possible.

It’s often far too easy to get caught up in the bright lights of digital, but marketers have to look closely at what they are doing and the “new media” channels that they are using, and ask themselves whether they are really delivering in the way that traditional media are? Yes, digital is by its very nature extremely measurable and has changed the way we look at many other media channels, but sometimes the numbers can be distracting. Read More »

Monday morning we all woke up the news that Kraft Foods had
made a £10bn bid for Cadbury, a bid which Cadbury quickly rejected the offer as
it ‘undervalues the company’. Who says
no to a takeover bid with a 31%
premium on top of share price? – A brand which knows it can get a lot more.

Cadbury is the world’s second largest confectionery company
with a stronghold in Britain and emerging markets which account for over
one-third of the company’s
revenue. Kraft is strong in markets such as Scandinavia
and Brazil, where Cadbury has small presence.

Kraft is looking to use Cadbury’s strong brand presence in
Britain and its positioning in emerging markets to create ‘a global powerhouse in snacks,
confectionery and quick meals’.

I am not suggesting that a strong brand name is all a
business should be about, but Cadbury’s decision to decline the Kraft bid had a
lot to do with the strong brand Cadbury has created through innovative ad
campaigns. We all know building a brand / brand equity requires huge investment
and a long term commitment (not to mention a lot of creativity and market
intelligence) and unfortunately the performance and return are never as easy to
measure as they are with a direct response campaign. In the last couple of
years, Cadbury has grown their brand through brilliantly planned and executed
campaigns such as the ‘Gorilla’
and ‘Trucks’ spots – campaigns
so persuasive we all forgot about the huge Cadbury product recall in
June 2006. This means that, if they were to purchase Cadbury, Kraft would be
able to focus on growing sales in Cadbury’s existing markets rather than their
current conundrum – how to build Kraft’s own brands to be more personal and
meaningful.

Kraft executive Michael Osanloo suggested that Cadbury
was only worth what someone was willing to pay for it – as the world’s second
largest confectionary company with average
12% growth per annum in emerging markets and a strong brand identity
Cadbury doesn’t have to sell. Whether Kraft decides to put in a new (higher)
bid or Hershey’s and Nestlé propose a counter offer, Cadbury is in
the fortunate position of choosing when to sell.  Osanloo would perhaps have been closer to the
mark then if he had said that Cadbury is only worth what someone is willing to
pay when (and if) it actually decides to sell.

 Have you seen this? I am totally loving this spot-on simple concept. Kraft’s Stove Top Stuffing brand is heating 10 bus shelters in Chicago to literally warm up consumers this December.

This is such an on-brand idea it is almost amazing it hasn’t been done before. As the NY Times quotes, “Stove Top as a brand has a great equity in the area of warmth,” said Ellen Thompson, brand manager…”

What a great way to prove your brand values, rather than just promise them. (And get some nice bonus PR well beyond the marketing blogs.) Chilly commuters will be both surprised and delighted. Credits and kudos to Kraft, JCDecaux, and Draft FCB.

Seeing this really reminded me of how powerful a brand message can be when it is of tangible benefit to the user and not merely a passive advert. I was reminded of an old boss, G.M. O’Connell founder of Modem Media, who’s oft quoted goal was to do “advertising so good that people will embrace it as a service.” (Check the date on that link btw.) As old as that idea is, I think it couldn’t be more relevent in today’s (chilly) climate.

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