As you may have heard, the tobacco industry has been accused of using video sharing websites to get around a ban to advertising for cigarettes.

Giles Lury, our Director of Branding, was invited to comment on those latest accusations on Peter Allen and Aasmah Mir’s show on BBC Radio 5 live Programme 5 Live Drive.

To hear what Giles has to say you can listen again here  (26/6/2010 from 1:53:26 and lasts around 3 minutes).

We are proud to announce that we have made contributions to the marketing press twice last week:

Consultant Sally Moses comments in The Grocer’s article ‘Review for Pepsi Raw after sales deteriorate’ by Alex Beckett:

‘The brand had suffered from the outset with a “half-hearted approach” from PepsiCo, claimed Sally Moses, branding consultant at The Value Engineers. “You only have to look at Pepsi Raw’s Facebook page to see how it’s failing to resonate. Consumers don’t know where to buy it and don’t know what it is. The benefits of the raw cane sugar ingredient were not properly established. It’s a shame because many people enjoy the taste.”‘

Read the full article on The Grocer online. 

Alex Waters, Director of Capabilities, comments in Marketing in Kim Benjamin’s article ‘Kronenbourg looks to home’ which discusses that the brand aims to drive off-trade sales by playing on its premium credentials.

‘Alex Waters, director of brand consultancy The Value Engineers, shares this view. “The challenge is convincing the trade that Kronenbourg truly is a premium brand and that it should be priced accordingly”, he says. “This means exploring new behaviours, target consumers and products for Kronenbourg. It could target a demographic that is not well served by lagers currently, such as 35- to 45-year-olds, where it could play to its brand heritage of the Brasserie Kronenbourg and become the lager choice for those who know their beer or want to be seen to know it.”‘

Read the full article in Marketing online.

As you may have heard, the Dutch beer brand Bavaria has been fined by FIFA for its ‘ambush’ advertising of girls in orange mini-dresses.

Giles Lury, our Director of Branding, was invited to comment on this incident and the perils and pitfalls of guerrilla marketing campaigns, on Simon Mayo’s show on BBC Radio 2 yesterday.

To hear what Giles has to say you can listen again here (from 1:32.25 onwards).