Does sex sell… at the cost of a brand?
Ever seen a naked woman riding a Vespa?
You will this summer, if you read Cosmopolitan, Lucky, or InStyle magazines. It was revealed in the New York Times this week that Zappos will launch an ad campaign in August featuring nearly naked models doing everything from hailing a cab to playing Frisbee. The campaign touts Zappos apparel alongside its shoe collection, as evidenced by models that need to be clothed.
This venture is just another example of one of the marketing world's favorite mantras: sex sells. The question is do brands end up suffering because of it?
A brand's established image often determines whether sexual advertising succeeds or flops. Brands that already deal in sex appeal can get away with raunchy advertisements because the public understands that their brand embodies that kind of lifestyle. Brands recognized as innocent and unrelated to sexuality, however, can come under fire for a departure from their namesake image.
Take Calvin Klein. The clothing giant has garnered an edgy reputation since the 1980s, and has capitalized on this by releasing several controversial advertisements. Most of them featured teenagers in highly sexualized contexts, and some even depicted violence and rape.
However, criticism hasn't seemed to diminish its presence in the fashion world. In fact, it almost compliments the image that Calvin Klein wants consumers to associate with its apparel: sexy, dangerous, and unhindered by public conventions. When all was said and done, the Calvin Klein brand survived.
Burger King, on the other hand, fared much worse when they tried a similar approach. Its raunchy advertisement from 2009 depicted a phallic-shaped sandwich aimed at the mouth of a woman, with the words "It'll blow your mind away" in huge block-letters. Burger King's brand of cheap, char-grilled hamburgers has virtually no connection to sex appeal, and so the ad got extremely poor reception.
Zappos may not have the street cred to ride the criticism wave like Calvin Klein, but should fare better than Burger King simply by nature of its product offerings. Many are under the impression that Zappos will succeed with the campaign because of its quirky, unconventional fashion brand.
Nathalie Binda, the marketing vice president for Lolë (a women's active wear brand sold on Zappos), praised the campaign in the New York Times article as being "gutsy" and "very Zapposesque." "If there was one brand out there that can do it, it's them," she said.
Contributed by Allison Meeks
Brand Endorsement ROI
I’m a Roger Federer fan. I set my alarm to wake up on Sunday (at 9 am) and watch with the hopes of him beating Nadal in the final match of the French Open. Well it wasn’t in the cards this year. But while watching the French Open this past weekend I couldn’t help but notice both Roger and Rafa are Nike men. I’m sure I’ve noticed it before but for some reason this year I was distracted by it and the other brand placements.
Addison Whitney is headquartered in Charlotte, also known as NASCAR headquarters. I think the reason the French Open brand placements were so vivid to me was because I had watched the start of the Coca-Cola 600 the weekend before and was amazed at all of the places a logo could go – behind the steering wheel, all over the cars and on the driver. All I could think of was how is this placement a worthwhile investment? How is the ROI measured and justified? In my head the potential conversation might go like this: Me: “Hi Boss, I’d like to spend $20,000 to put our logo behind Dale Jr’s steering wheel.” Boss: “Beth Anne, no. Get out.”
And then I remembered Michael Jordan and Nike. Who didn’t want to be just like Mike? (Do you remember the Gatorade song? “I wanna be, I wanna be like Mike.”) I won’t lie. Young Beth Anne was decked out in Nike and Chicago Bulls gear despite living in Atlanta.
Are today’s athletes really so influential that they can influence brand preference? NASCAR fans are loyal. But do Denny Hamlin fans only use FedEx as opposed to UPS because he endorses it? Again, I love Roger Federer, but I’m not going to seek out Nike or Gillette over other brands because of his endorsement (in all fairness, I am a woman, not a man so I don’t know if that makes a difference).
What do you think about athlete endorsements and the value? Do these endorsements really make a strong impact on a brand or are they just a means to increase awareness?
And don’t worry your pretty little head Roger, you’ll get him next year at Roland Garros (and hopefully next month at Wimbledon).
Oprah's Last Show
As Tom Hanks said on an Oprah show earlier this season, the phrase “Did you see Oprah today?” is going to be removed from our vocabulary after today. Today marks the end of the 25 year run of The Oprah Show.
Let’s take a moment to relive some of our favorite moments. You get a car and you get a car. Tom Cruise jumping on the sofa. Johnnnnn Traaaaavollltaaaa. Oprah’s Book Club (who read A Million Little Pieces and loved it as much as I did?). Mattie and his poems. Oprah in Texas. Oprah and Tina. Dieting Oprah who made us all feel better about our struggles. The a-ha moments. Oprah’s hair through the years. The ugly cries, especially when Mary Tyler Moore surprised her.
In 25 years, it is not just the show that evolved but also her brand. The Oprah show initially was a little risqué and reminiscent of what became the Ricki Lake show. Slowly over the years, it evolved into a self-help, mentally stimulating, celebratory show. The Oprah brand launched the careers of personalities like Dr. Phil, Nate Berkus, Bob Greene and Dr. Oz. Her endorsement is the golden touch. Marketers strove for just one mention of their brand on the air to have sales explode.
Love her or hate her, you must recognize the impact she’s had on the world. Oprah is a big part of everyday culture (Did you see that on Oprah? Did you read that in her magazine? Did you watch OWN last night?). She used her brand to successfully launch both a magazine and a network at a time when many were struggling to stay afloat. She made topics once considered taboo easy to talk about with friends and family. She told great stories by asking provocative questions. She had the knack of presenting topics or guests in a way that helped people think about them a little differently.
As someone who has grown up watching Oprah, my life has been impacted in a few small ways. I didn’t sleep for a year after watching a show about ghosts when I was younger. I DVRed the Favorite Things episodes so that when I have a bad day I can see the crazy excitement in other people’s faces. I realized (at a young age) that my actions impact the world around me. I can choose for that impact to be positive or negative. And my favorite lesson, “No is a complete sentence.”
No one but Ms. Winfrey knows what her next move will be, but there are millions of people out there eagerly waiting for it. How do you think Brand Oprah will evolve?
Use the comments section to tell us your favorite memories from The Oprah Show.
Tag, You're It!
Facebook recently introduced a subtle change and for once it won't change the appearance of your news feed. Facebook introduced a new feature that allows users to identify people or objects that have their own Facebook Pages.
Previously, users could only tag their friends. Now users can tag celebrities or public figures they meet or tag the brands and products they use. For example, if I posted a photo of myself running in Nike sneakers, I could label the shoes with a tag that links to Nike's official Facebook Page.
For now, this tagging feature is limited to Pages for people or brands and products, although Facebook plans to expand these categories.
If it catches on, this new feature could be great for brands looking to go viral and spread awareness about their products. Companies will no doubt run contests, forcing participants to tag products. It is essentially free advertising on one the coolest and most popular websites today. At least for now.
The new tagging feature could also be an opportunity for Facebook to monetize the site's photo service, perhaps adding sponsored tags.
After all, nothing evokes fond family memories like that tagged bottle of soda in the background!
Marketing Mexican History
Just as we tuck away our green shirts from St. Patrick's Day, May arrives bringing us a new celebratory holiday. And consumers aren't the only ones celebrating.
A minor holiday in Mexico, celebrating a victory over the French at the Battle Of Puebla, Cinco de Mayo gained popularity in the 1950's and 1960's because of the Good Neighbor policy, an effort to build a better relationship between The United States and Mexico, according to National Geographic.
The commercialization of Cinco de Mayo began in the 1980s. American corporations were eager to appeal to the expanding Hispanic population in the U.S. and saw Cinco de Mayo as vehicle to tap into that market. Anheuser-Busch and Miller Company created Hispanic Marketing departments and began sponsoring Cinco de Mayo celebrations. Thanks to widespread marketing efforts, the holiday has evolved into a drinking holiday for many people. Cinco de Mayo has become to beer companies what Valentine's Day is to greeting card and candy companies.
So enjoy the discounts at your local Mexican restaurant, especially the chips and brand salsa!
Know & Love
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Is there any Christmas character more iconic than Santa Claus? The belly o’ jelly, the tress-dressed face and the bright red suit with snowy fur all wrap up to create the jolliest man we know.
While you can buy Coke anytime and almost anywhere, my favorite holiday brand is Santa himself. We can thank Coca-Cola for Mr. Claus as we know and love him today. In 1931, artist Haddon Sundblom introduced us, via The Saturday Evening Post, to who has become our quintessential image of St. Nick.
Coke’s website explains, "For inspiration, Sundblom turned to Clement Clark Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (commonly called "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"). Moore's description of St. Nick led to an image of Santa that was warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human. For the next 33 years, Sundblom painted portraits of Santa that helped to create the modern image of Santa -- an interpretation that today lives on in the minds of people of all ages, all over the world.”
So this year, instead of leaving milk out with your cookies this Friday night, you might leave a bottle of Coca-Cola. Santa is sure to appreciate the caffeine kick; he’s got a lot of houses to hit, you know.
You can read all about Santa’s image and other Coke lore on Coca-Cola's website.
Merry Christmas, y'all!
Kelloggs Pops Up in Times Square
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Times Square boasted a new store recently and the streets have been abuzz over the sweet addition. Promoters call it Pop-Tarts World and the 3200 square foot space contains an hourly light show, a café offering over 30 snacks and desserts including Pop-Tarts Sushi a as well as an interactive create-your-own-variety-pack vending machine. Though the 3200 square foot store has a lot to offer Pop-Tart fans, renting a space on Times Square is really more about brand marketing than it is about sales. “Our long-term hope is to strengthen the bonding between the brand and the consumer, and that has great benefits for the brand,” Senior Director at the Pop-Tarts brand, Etienne Patout, told the Wall Street Journal in a recent article. Averaging $1000 per square foot, Times Square presence comes at a cost but a 50-foot store front and a six-story billboard in view of 26 million annual visitors a year delivers priceless visibility.
Contributed by: Allison Jobes
Confessions of a Name-Induced Shopper
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Be honest - have you ever bought a product solely because of its name or packaging?
*whispers* I have.
The bottle’s appearance sucked me in, the matte hot pink and matte yellow bottles at the end of a sea of glossy blue and purple cans. I moved in closer, seeing the name EOS emblazoned across the top. Instant adoration! I love the name because Eos is the ancient Greek goddess of the dawn, often signifying a new beginning. Double bonus verbal branding: they’ve made it an acronym apropos to their product line, the “Evolution of Smooth.” So, even if you didn’t know that Eos was the goddess of the dawn, they are telling you this is a new beginning, an innovation in shaving, a new era of smooth legs!
Thankfully, I have ended up loving the product, too. Vanilla Bliss, indeed.
Will I now buy their lotion, lip balm (smooth stick or smooth sphere) and other flavors of shave cream?
*shouts* Yes!
Maybe it’s not the smartest way to shop, but EOS sold me in five seconds flat. I wasn’t even looking to buy shaving cream that fateful day in Target.
I wasn’t even in the aisle.
Paint Scheming
My latest obsession: virtually painting my fingernails on OPI using their vast palette of audacious hues.
Why don plain old red when you could rock Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It? You could scrap a shade of red altogether and try Who the Shrek are you? Or, you could really splurge with Extravagance. Hard Candy makes seductive shades like Mr. Right, Mr. Wrong, Hypnotic and Frenzy.
On my own personal fascination scale, that activity is followed closely by this game.
Why paint your walls a basic blue when you could coat them with a Fragrant Cloud or take an Aegean Cruise or dip into an Inky Pool? Why brown when Labrador Sands is an option? Or, how about Enigma from Sherwin-Williams? Valspar’s Ancestral Haze?
The verbal branding of these types of products is challenging (seriously, how does one delineate between I Think Pink and Pink-a-Doodle?), but it is clearly a powerful tool. Color naming takes advantage of the subjectivity and emotional responses of customers. These names help to paint a picture (no pun intended, I promise) for the consumer; they are buying not just a can of paint, not just a bottle of nail polish, but an entire experience created from a single shade. These special names make the customer part of a secret, a little wink-wink in an up close and personal world.
Perhaps you would like more than just warmth for your family room; try Buttered Toffee. If you wanted, you could turn your cabin den into a rustic getaway with help from Wild Frontier. Maybe your sunroom could be accented by Pool Party.
Did I recently have Mrs. O’Leary’s BBQ brushed on my toes? Why, yes. Yes, I did. Because for me, summertime isn’t just about the vibrancy and heat, it’s about family gatherings and pulled pork sandwiches. And, I had thought about moonlighting at a nearby diner for the summer, but I’m Not Really a Waitress.
New Kotex Commercials
Need a good laugh? Be sure to check out the latest Kotex commercials. If you've already been caught off guard by them, you are not alone! The commercials mock feminine product commercials of the past that have typically featured women "practicing yoga in white spandex, riding white horses along the beach, or airborne in cheerleader outfits," according to New York Times writer Andrew Newman. The commercials feature women who ridicule the history of feminine product advertising, ironically including material from their own ad archives.
Kotex hopes this re-branding effort will help separate them from other feminine products. They recently launched their youth-driven U by Kotex line which features new black packaging and bright colors, signifying a revolution in feminine care. Their new slogan, "Time to break the cycle" enhances the humorous route they are taking to extend the brand's reach.
Contributed by: Ashley Popham