In this series of posts I aim to bring to light off-beat stories from the world of marketing, ranging from serious successes to downright abysmal failures.

In these times of receivership, redundancy and recession people are looking for great offers. So this week I bring you 2 stories for 1 (by the way the second is funnier so keep reading…).

The first is about some beer brands, notably Hobgoblin and Guinness which have jumped at the chance of ‘owning’ Halloween. At first this might seem odd but linking a brand to an occasion can be a powerful marketing tool as it can encourage consumers to believe they are embracing a collective experience in a more authentic way, for example, if they are drinking Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day. Obviously that works because Guinness is the Irish beer.

Hobgoblin has an obvious link to Halloween through its name and ghoulish mascot who they are taking on the road this weekend in an inspired piece of brand activation.

For Guinness, other than being dark (which is what the comms plays to), the link is less clear but both brands are conscious of the trend for beer to be consumed away from the on-trade (in pubs and bars) to the off-trade (in kitchens and living rooms). This feels like a response to that shift, an attempt to encourage people to incorporate bottled stouts/ales into their cosy, autumnal nights in. And by hooking into an occasion they may be able to make this habitual. Time will tell but with both being such great beers, I hope it works.

In tune with some previous Friday Tidbits the second story is a bit more ‘interesting’. Inspired by a curious and potentially spoof ad for HundForum, a day-time dogcare brand in Sweden, I briefly pursued a line of research into the range of products and services that are available for pets. We all know about some of the extreme pet pampering, cleaning and massage services that exist in LA but were you aware of a French company called HotDollForDog? I don’t know if this a spoof but particularly if you take a minute to watch the slightly questionable promo video, it does look professionally done.

Very little more need be said but it is interesting as a niche marketing opportunity: firstly because it highlights the existence of niches and how far some (apparently French) consumers are willing to go to satisfy their pets and secondly the importance of a real insight, even to smaller-scale niche marketing. In this case, although I’ve never owned a dog in my life, I am aware of the nightmares friends and relatives of mine have had with the canine abuse of net curtains, the odd thigh or ‘pretty much anything else that’s  going’ as a colleague, James Wallis, revealed.

So hopefully you won’t get nightmares, but there are a couple of stories from the world of marketing to ponder as we wander into the Halloween weekend…

We recently had the honour to be asked by Human Resources Magazine to comment on a story discussing why banking groups are still on the top of the list of places graduates want to work for and why these brands have stayed indestructible.

For the full article and our Director Alex Waters’ view, see here.

1. “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” (Benjamin Franklin)

2. “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.” (Frank Zappa)

3. “A quart of ale is a dish for a king.” (William Shakespeare)

4. “Wine is but single broth, ale is meat, drink, and cloth.” (16th century English proverb)

5. “Beer – Because one doesn’t solve the world’s problems over white wine.” (Anonymous)

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.

It’s the tensest moment in a poker game. The chips are down and you’re all in; one way or another it’s going to be a turning point for someone at the table. The chip leader could take a nosedive and you could find yourself leading the game.

And right now in brand-land the stakes have risen… because the barriers have fallen. Ad rates have dropped steadily as the economy has stuttered and businesses have adopted a frugal-minded attitude to their marketing activity. But the big boys need to stay alert. Because the short-stack brands at the table have suddenly got enough budget to make an impression.

Traditionally brands break down the journey to a greater share of the market into several stages, based on the role they play in consumers’ decisions. It works more or less the same way people (consumers) make decisions about which guests (brands) to invite to their party:

1.  Awareness: Do they know who you are?
2.  Consideration: Do they even think of you when they’re making the list?
3.  Preference: Are you one of the first they think of and do they like the idea of your company?
4.  Loyalty: Will they want to pick you first, time and time again?
5.  Advocacy: Will they be talking you up with their friends?

Loyalty and advocacy are the holy grail, and although they’re not unattainable goals, nobody really expects to generate mass-market advocacy. But all major brands do sweat and fret over increasing their preference against their old rivals. And they can normally afford to be quite short-sighted. They don’t worry too much about the smaller brands in their market which are forced to pursue niche marketing strategies around them, picking off mere morsels of loose share from the brand leaders. Until recently the chip-leaders knew the short-stacks weren’t a threat because they couldn’t overcome the hurdles of awareness and consideration. But with ad rates down, more and more brands on the fringes are setting their shoulders back and striding confidently into consumers’ consciousness.

Just take a look at the current Jameson’s Whiskey and Pets at Home spots. Neither are unknown brands but they have put themselves on TV either for the first time here or for the first time in a long time. As the Pets at Home Chief Exec., Matt Davies, says “We want to tell people we exist … There’s never been a better time to do a TV ad – rates have come right down and people are spending more time at home and watching more TV”

The Jameson’s ad looks an awful lot like the kind of communications routes Scotch whisky and bourbon brands like Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniels have been taking for some time. And for consumers who weren’t particularly aware of it, the taste-led proposition combined with its affordability could drop Jameson’s right into the consideration set against the likes of mainstream whisky brands like Bell’s and Famous Grouse.

The temperature at the table may turn torrid. And major brands in categories with middle-weight competitors should look at their position in the game. When they do, they should recognise that stacks of money won’t separate them from their competitors anymore. They’ll have to consider their brand proposition, their positioning and be honest about how sustainably relevant and motivating their point of differentiation is. They can no longer out-spend the competition; They’ll have to out-think it.

1. “Who wants to hear actors talk?” (H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)

2. “I think there’s a world market for about five computers.” (Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM, 1952)

3. “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” (Decca executive, after turning down the Beatles, 1962)

4. “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” (Bill Gates, 1981)

5. “Next Christmas the iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput”. (Sir Alan Sugar, February 2005)

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.