We are very pleased to announce the inaugural Cello Group Conference, to be held in London on 11 June: Creating Consumer Chemistry.

The best businesses know that there is an opportunity in every challenge. Marketing and business formulae are now being tested in the crucible of the credit crunch – behaviour is changing. By taking just half a day to attend Creating Consumer Chemistry you will gain highly effective insights on new ways of doing business that will help you reinforce the bonds with your customers.

The conference takes place in the splendid Faraday Lecture Theatre at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Albemarle Street on June 11th starting at 8.30am (refreshments provided) and finishing at 1.00pm.

Our Director of Branding, Giles Lury, will be speaking on ‘The Laws of Smarter Marketing’ alongside colleagues from other Cello agencies and clients including Unilever, COI and British Airways.

We would like extend the invitation to attend for all our blog readers – for further details of the day and how to register for your free place, please visit www.cellogroupconferences.com

I love Walkers Sensations, especially the Thai Sweet Chilli flavour, but have just gone through a desperately depressing period when I thought one of my favourite nibbles had died a death. (Had it been Credit Crunched!?)

Every time I got the munchies and wherever I went shopping I would browse the shelves and find myself disappointed. And despite trying a few alternatives no other flavour or brand was as good a substitute for my craving.

This went on for a good month as I searched for my ‘in-my-mind-sadly-delisted’ crisps but still with no success.

But then one day I noticed a dark pack, one which I had missed on many previous occasions. So looking closer, I noticed to my delight that it was my oh-so-beloved crisps ‘disguised’ in a new design. Happy to have them back in my life, I was however somehow disappointed by the new packaging. It went:

-from dominantly white (clean and simple) to dominantly black (premium and mysterious)
-from slightly exotic yet approachable to exotic / far East / less approachable
-from simple and easy to identify product shots to more complicated and more abstract product drawings
-from safe and familiar to more daring and unfamiliar
-from stylish to (to my eyes) slightly tacky

To my mind the new packaging has gone a step too far, by changing too many of the design elements at once – making it difficult for people, like me, to find the brand on shelf.

I think the old packaging’s strength was the fact that it managed brilliantly to cue taste appeal by the foodie, mouth-watering imagery. It had exactly the right balance of premium-ness and taste sensation. For me, it’s a shame that they are moving away from their lovely taste cues representation on pack, which now lacks much of its old appeal.

Luckily for Walkers however my love of the product will keep me loyal to the brand (if not the new packaging)!

When VW launched into the luxury saloon segment back in 2003 with the VW Phaeton, the car was met with a mixed response from the automotive cognoscenti: sure, it was an outstanding car brimming with the luxury of a Bentley and the build quality of an Audi, but why would you spend £50-70k on a car with a VW badge on the front, when the same money could buy you a recognised “premium” brand? Since when did VW translate as “Fat Cat’s Car” as opposed to  “People’s Car”? The Phaeton just didn’t make sense from a brand perspective.

Poor sales of the Phaeton confirmed this analysis – the target market just weren’t willing shell out that much cash on a VW, and the received wisdom was that VW had created an expensive white elephant. (In the meantime, those that did buy Phaetons were able to congratulate themselves on getting a cracker of a car and being savvy enough to rise above the “badge snobbery” of those around them.)

A recent announcement from VW’s Chief Designer Klaus Bischoff – that VW intends to launch a model between the Mercedes CLS inspired Passat CC and the Phaeton – reveals that VW may have been operating with a little more long-term brand vision than they were initially given credit for.

The launch of the Phaeton, at the very outer extremity of VW’s brand credibility, demonstrated fantastic long-term brand vision. The Phaeton has now created space and “permission” for VW to take on the middle-tiered executive saloon segment which is so dominated by BMW, Mercedes and sister badge Audi. In the halo of the (widely accepted as brilliant) Phaeton, a middle-tier VW that competes with a BMW 5-series or Mercedes E-Class  seems pretty credible, and certainly more so than if VW had attempted to enter the segment from beneath. The Phaeton may not have delivered massive volumes, but from a brand perspective, by placing a super-premium stake in the sand, it has unlocked the potential for VW to broaden its total market footprint. This pincer movement should enable VW to access a high volume segment that was previously out of reach.

As an aside, VW has also demonstrated astute retrospective brand vision – first came the New Beetle and now an updated version of the Scirocco. Neither models will deliver massive volumes, but they were/are both much loved icons and the positive brand halo effect on the total portfolio should not be underestimated.