clutterbreaking

Marketers Strive for More

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Those working in marketing are quite familiar with the relentless pursuit of market share, brand awareness, conversion rates, and the list of metrics goes on… Yet, amidst all of these metrics, there are some that are particularly interesting such as the race for claiming association with specific occasions, shapes or even colors.

Let me refer to some familiar examples: Consider the clash of brands competing for association with particular occasions. Kit-Kat claims the “break occasion,” while Coca-Cola stakes its claim on the “meals together occasion.” Then there’s the struggle for dominance in the realm of colors. Mondelez, with its iconic Milka brand, champions the color purple, while Reckitt Benckiser endeavors to be synonymous with pink with their Vanish brand. Lastly there is also the battle for recognition based on shapes. When one thinks of the egg shape, Kinder reigns supreme as the most closely associated brand.

So if you consider the Easter occasion, the imagery of eggs is top of mind… and the egg-shape is traditionally owned by Kinder. What would you do if you were Mondelez, and color purple is your strong asset?

This pursuit of association gave rise to a stroke of genius in packaging.

I noticed this ingenious packaging of Mondelez’s chocolate eggs breaking the clutter in shelves, simply by nesting their chocolate eggs in an iconic purple carton (yes the one that real chicken eggs are sold in). In one shot Mondelez asserted ownership over not just the color purple, but also the iconic egg shape and hence the Easter occasion itself. Great move!

Happy Easter to all the witty people out there!

Marketers Strive for More

A playful twist for a (previously) dull passage

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I’ve been writing my blog for 6 years and I have never praised projects that I have led (at least not until today). However, on November 2020 while Greece is experiencing the second phase of a lockdown, I had the honor to receive a Platinum distinction in the Event Awards 2020 organized by Boussias Communications for the project “The First Interactive Under Passage in Greece”. I felt that amidst these tough times, this is the right moment to write about this case and highlight the significance of brand experience as we navigate through Covid19. Let me break down for you, why I believe this is a particular good story to share.

In early 2019, I took the courage to propose to my manager an idea to revamp an underground passage in the city I grew up. Why does it take courage to propose something like this?  There are numerous reasons but let me provide my top 5: A. It needs a good amount budget B. You face the risk that the project gets vandalized C. Initiatives like this are often mistaken for CSR actions and not perceived as brand initiatives (ie. there is a weak brand role in the renovation) D. It is almost impossible to hit the right balance between a branded intervention (which also included a high risk of vandalism) and a restoration that cannot be attributed to a brand (ie. this is nice but we don’t know that OPAP did it) E. Collaborating with the Public Sector can be long and cumbersome. Even one single reason of these, could have discouraged us and force us abandon the idea.

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A playful twist for a (previously) dull passage

Breaking the clutter – the two angel debate

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Have you noticed to how many ads you are exposed everyday? From TV spots in lengthy commercial breaks, to skippable ads and pop up banners, advertisers go fiercely after our valuable attention. They aim for message reach, they want to maximize click through rates and conquer top of mind awareness for their brands. In this struggle, marketers set KPIs, follow metrics and peruse market research studies in an endless (and probably vain) race.

But wait a minute… Let me slightly rephrase the sentence above: “Advertisers go after our valuable attention, mainly while we are in front of a screen.” What happens when we are off-screen?

 – “You can’t measure that!” says the online communications angel sitting on the right shoulder.

– “It is when you are off-screen where amazing happens!” says the offline communications angel sitting on the left shoulder.

I guess professional photographer Joanna Skiftou, listened to the last angel and decided to snail mail me (yes you heard that right!) two printouts with a small sample of her portfolio to my office address. Since we haven’t physically met before, but we were only connected on LinkedIn, I quickly figured out that she preferred to quickly google search my office address and post me a small but distinctive sample of her work instead of sending me a digital message with her full online portfolio. She decided to proceed with a traditional mail so that the prospect pauses and considers her extraordinary sample of work. Why did I like it? Because the communication was super targeted (to a marketing professional, during working hours time slot) and because she used an alternative uncluttered channel. In this way, she achieved literally to come in touch with her work, breaking the overwhelming digital clutter.

Going offline when everyone else is online can work truly well.

What are you planning to do differently, in the environment we operate today?

Breaking the clutter – the two angel debate