We are delighted to announce that Rosa Wilkinson, Senior Consultant at The Value Engineers, will be on the judging panel for this year’s Licensing Award for best Marketing Communication Campaign.

The Award will be presented in a ceremony on 13th September, to the most creative and effective use of a license in the marketing of another brand or service in the UK.

Last year’s award winner was the Wallace & Gromit Turbo-charged Kingsmill campaign from Aardman Rights, and we are excited what this year will have to offer. It surely will be an exciting competition.

For more information on the awards please visit: http://www.thelicensingawards.co.uk/about.html.

Anne-Cecile Bertrand, Consultant at The Value Engineers, comments on Stella’s latest brand extension in The Grocer magazine: 

Anne-Cecile comments:

“The alcohol market in the UK is really segmented: a beer brand can’t do wine, for example”. And any brand extensions where a beer has tried to outreach its area of expertise “have failed”, she adds, citing Guinness Enigma lager as a recent example.

She also believes the Stella brand has yet to fully recover its lost status. “You can only extend from a strong brand, and this is doubly true when you extend across the product type. They are trying to jump a very high fence.”

“The family architecture is a bit confused, with Stella Artois, Stella 4 and Stella Black,” adds Bertrand. Adding a cider might confuse things more, she claims. But she acknowledges that if AB InBev succeeds, it will set Stella up as a multi category product and have a “halo effect”.

Read the full article on The Grocer online.

Daniella Betts, Consultant at The Value Engineers, comments in The Grocer on Hendrick’s Gin launching a global series of experiential activities with The Adventurists.

Daniella comments:

“All sorts of spirits brands are trying to create experiences now, especially in trying to target a younger group. For example Johnnie Walker’s Keep Walking campaign, about the journey we’re all on. There is an influx of adventure-themed marketing because these days status isn’t judged by what you own, but by what you do. Social networking is all about sharing experiences.”

David Brown, Marketing Analyst at The Value Engineers, comments in the article ‘Brand redesigns – the good, the bad and the downright ugly’ by Rachel Donachie published on 14 January 2011 in PitchDesign.

The main focus of the article is brand redesigns and online social network responses by consumers. Apple, Pepsi, Starbucks and Gap are used as case studies. David comments…

“Sometimes a rebrand can just be that there’s new management within the company or that underlying consumer preferences have changed – look at Bird’s Eye – where’s the bird on the logo? – the messaging and the brand is all about consumer health and their logo reflects this.”

“For Starbucks, the timing really reflects the symbiotic relationship between their products and the logo – it simply hasn’t kept up with their business strategy and product mix. For the last 10 years, Starbucks hasn’t just been about coffee – as the business becomes more international the branding needs to reflect this. If you walk into a Starbucks in China, the first thing on your mind might not be coffee but may be tea, likewise in Europe preference highlights might be a snack and a wi-fi hotspot. The timing reflects a recognition of a need for consolidation.”

Brown also believes that the timing answer depends very much on the company’s senior management; “how sensitive they are to, and how proactive they want to be with, their brand logo.”

The Value Engineer’s Brown: “There will always be a period of transition, especially among devoted brand followers, and companies need to be OK with that. If there’s a clear rationale and research, so that it’s not just a flash in the pan, then the company should stand by it.”

To the question if social media does alter the dynamics of a brand launch David comments:

“What social media has done is amplify a reaction. Ten years ago if a company changed its logo there would have probably have been a letter-writing campaign.”

“Companies need to appreciate that in a focus group, when two out of ten people will say they don’t like something, when it comes to launch time, those two people will amplify to 20,000 or so.”

The full article is available on PitchDesign online.

Lou Ellerton, Senior Consultant and Kids specialist at The Value Engineers, comments in this week’s The Grocer in the ‘Focus on Cheese’ section.

Lisa Riley, author of the article ‘Must try harder at lunchtime’, makes the point that manufactures have failed to make the most of the kids’ lunchbox sector and need to capitalise on the demand for healthier options.

Lou Ellerton comments: “Manufacturers need to wake up to the possibilities. Parents are looking further afield for a relatively healthy, balanced snack in a form that will appeal to kids. Kids’ cheese players are suddenly competing for lunchbox space not only with each other, but with everything from Yoplait Choobs and Innocent Kids to Kellogg’s Winders, Humdinger and Planet Lunch snacks. As yet, there’s little sign that manufacturers have realised this, and they are in danger of falling into the classic trap of marketing myopia… At an ever-younger age kids are starting to move away from foodstuffs formulated to appeal to their age group, towards what they perceive as more adult brands. There are signs that a similar phenomenon is starting to take place in cheese, with adult single-serve products becoming more popular with pre-teens and kids.”