Pinigit To Win It; A master class in branded apps.

Apart from having a very funny ad the Barclays Pingit app is a genius piece of consumer focused innovation. Pingit allows you to transfer friends money via their phone number. This is a genuinely desirable product that will help Barclays acquire new customers. Operating in a notoriously difficult environment (you are more likely to get divorced than change your bank account + everyone hates banks) Barclays have made some very smart strategic decisions in the conception and introduction of Pinigit. These decisions have helped transform it from just being a branded app for existing customers to a powerful strategic marketing tool which will help them steal market share.  I believe Pingit will be a massive success with longevity and here are three reasons why;

VW Polo Dad Ad; Three Things You Should Learn From This.

I think we can all agree that this is a pretty powerful ad.

The beautiful cinematography, emotional script, heartbreaking acting and evocative song choice aside...  the strategy ain’t half bad either. Pull at Dad’s heartstrings with a montage of all the seminal moments he will have with his daughter, whilst reminding him that when inevitably the time comes to let her go (drive) out into the world, a Polo will keep her as safe as he did.

IKEA Invades; Coupons reinvented.

The economic downturn, credit crunch, depression... whatever you want to call it has had an effect on retailers the world over. One age old solution to this is couponing, a smart piece of thinking in itself. Rather than discounting everything (and risk giving a discount to those willing to pay full price) you are able to more specifically target those who would not buy without this discount.

Couponing is an extremely over-used and basic promotional technique almost always applied to fmcg products, as by their nature they are quick, disposable discounts.

IKEA Australia, an smcg company, looked at the over crowded couponing world and saw an opportunity to innovate...

So what is so special about IKEA calling their coupons rent cheques?

1.       By trading the rent cheques for space in your home they immediately seem more valuable than coupons given away for free.

Cidre; How Stella changed the g(n)ame.

I can hardly think of a more crowded market place in the UK at the moment than Cider. Since Magners exploded onto the scene a few years ago (seems like a very long time ago now) the number of Cider brands & drinkers has exponentially increased.

It was not so long ago that Cider was for teenagers and tramps.

In the wake of Magners many other brands soon followed. Apart from Strongbow which has been around forever (and I’m sure has seen an increase in sales since Magners – I have seen people drinking it with ice...) of the top of my head right now I can name – Bulmers, Gaymers, Kopparberg, Savanna, Brothers, Aspalls, Addlestones and Jacques. Add to that all the varieties within each brand like pear (isn’t that just Perry!?), all the niche, trendy, traditional Ciders and all the ones I couldn't think of, and you have a very competitive environment. I’m not saying these brands didn’t exist before, I’d just never heard of them. I couldn’t really tell you what the difference between any of them is either.

Power through simplicity; How a poster can out-gun a TV ad.

Take The Stage

The Olympics are coming, the world is watching, the time is now and performance runs through everything you do.  So do it with pride, do it with style, but most importantly do it with Adidas.

This thinking that has gone into the Adidas Olympic campaign is really powerful. Using the Olympic theme of ‘the greatest show on earth’ to link sport, style and culture through performance could not be any more relevant or motivating. It also impresses a huge amount of urgency, the sense that their is a unique opportunity about to be upon us, that we must be ready for (with Adidas clothes). It’s a creative and effective strategy.

Now watch the TV ad.

Disappointed? I was.

 I love the thinking but the creative just doesn’t do it for me. The fashion / sports mix seems forced, maybe because of the mix of uber trendy and banal camera work. I don’t get the feeling of impending opportunity, which the tag line suggests so eloquently. There is just way to much going on here (the bit with Keith Lemon makes no sense) and it seems like spending the budget was more important than delivering that one powerful idea – Take The Stage.

Alternatively there is a black and white poster on the tube delivering that same strategy (curiously without the tag line I am so keen on) which I think is brilliant.

What do you think?

PS. I also HATE Stella McCartney outfits for Team GB.

Turning Intelligence Into Magic; A Very Quick Review.

Although the content of 'Hegarty on Advertising; Turning Intelligence into Magic' was full of insightful analysis and powerful advice, strung together by great story telling (for that kind of review click here), I was most struck by the presentation of this book. Rather than pick a font, size and page template, Hegarty considered each page in it's own right.

Every double page spread in this book could be a poster in it’s own right. The compositions are beautiful and range from intricate to minimalist.

Most of the time they are selling shit to fools, and it’s getting worse, (Damien Hirst, 2004): Researching the possibility of ‘For The Love Of God’ and ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’ as performative critiques of the market.

Above; The head auctioneer calling for bids at Sotheby's Beautiful Inside My Head Forever sale.
Below right; Hirst licking For The Love of God.

‘Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art’ (Warhol, 1975).

‘Something that so much of today’s art mirrors and thus criticises, decadence. Not so, it’s just decadent full stop. It has no critical function, it is part of the problem. The artworld dutifully copies our money driven, celebrity obsessed entertainment culture.’ (Hughes, 2008)