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Archives for January 2011

Caribou Coffee Offers Something Extra in Ambient Advertising

Displaying print ads at bus stops isn’t a new form of marketing, but turning those print ads into a complete experience is.  Caribou Coffee did exactly that with the help of Colley+McVoy who turned a Minneapolis bus stop into a toasty oven complete with a ceiling mounted heating element.  Check out the image below.

The campaign’s objective was to spread the word about Caribou Coffee’s new menu items.  By making clever use of the environment to not only raise awareness of new products but also to differentiate them from the competition (by showing an oven heating the menu items rather than a microwave), Colley+McVoy and Caribou Coffee succeeded.  Not only that but people who warmed up in that bus shelter while waiting in the cold Minnesota weather surely appreciated the working heating element!

All in all, this ambient advertising effort is an example of clever and meaningful creative and messaging that works.  I love finding great ambient media examples that enhance the environment and consumers’ experiences with the ad creative and messaging — and ultimately, with the brand.  You can read about a few other ambient media campaigns that I’ve written about here on the Corporate Eye blog by following the links below:

What are your opinions on ambient media?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: AdRants

Photography, Philanthropy and the Corporate Website

As you’ve never seen them before…

After last week’s post, in which I pointed to a video from Sainsbury’s containing Dragons and Chief Executives, here’s another angle on images of senior business people.

Stuart Rose was one of the CEOs on the video (did you spot him?), and here he is again, as seen by Bob Wheeler and on display at an exhibition called THIRTY by THIRTY hosted by 85FOUR and The Passage.

For those not familiar with The Passage, it’s a London-based charity supporting homeless people, running a 48-bed hostel and helping over 200 people every day to get the help and advice they need – and 85FOUR are a design and branding agency who have worked pro bono with The Passage for over 13 years.

The exhibition showcases 30 photographers and 30 people who have helped The Passage over the last 30 years. Nice idea… and the subjects of the photos include clients, colleagues and donors (including Sir Stuart Rose, Cherie Blair, Rory Bremner and more).

The exhibition looks interesting, and should work well to promote the charity. Do go: it will be held in the SW1 gallery, Victoria, between January 19 and 29 2011.

But here’s a question. I think that photo of Stuart Rose is great: an alternative view of a senior businessman, while still being a professional, dignified image. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to have such good photos on the corporate website?

All too often, the photos on corporate websites are just very… stiff and corporate, and there is at least one blog devoted to poking fun at these images of management (no, I’m not going to share the link). But check out Bob Wheeler’s site for what could be done; if images like these are being presented as part of the annual report, then they could be used on the corporate website too – in addition to the formal head and shoulders shot to go with the biography, of course.

For a while there was a minor trend offering an alternative ‘casual’ shot as part of the management biography in addition to the formal one, but these are harder to find recently (Microsoft is an example of a company that offers some ‘casual’ photos, though these are often simply taken with open collars). I recognise that there is a need for a formal shot, but it seems a pity to miss the opportunity that the web provides to present some beautiful photography as well. (Structurmarine is worth mentioning again here, because they do such a great job of this, and it is still so rare a sight.)

What do you think?

Interested in corporate imagery? Here are some other articles I’ve enjoyed on this topic:

Research Shows Celebrities in Ads Don’t Make a Difference

Let me preface this this post by stating that I am not an advocate of paying celebrities large sums to appear in ads.  I’m not saying that it can’t be effective, but it’s very rare that a celebrity connection to a brand seems to deliver real results.  Of course, there are exceptions (e.g., Michael Jordan and Nike), but those are exactly that — exceptions, not the rule.

A new study by Ace Metrix reveals that celebrities in ads are not effective and are often a waste of money.  The chart below from the Ace Metrix report, Celebrity Endorsements: Exposing a Myth of Advertising Effectiveness, shows that celebrity ads more often brought a negative performance lift when compared to non-celebrity ads.

The report was based on a study of every nationally televised ad during the first 11 months of 2010 and included extensive efforts to present fair and balanced statistical analysis of the results.  The study found that regardless of age or gender, ads without celebrities performed better than ads with celebrities.

Most consumers cited reasons they found celebrity ads to be ineffective as: being confused by what product the celebrity was endorsing and simply not liking the celebrity in the ad.

Ace Metrix concludes from its findings that consumers today are not as easily influenced as they once were.  With quick access to massive amounts of information on the Internet, they want equally quick and instantly relevant messages in ads.  Celebrities affect them far less than relevant messages.

I agree with the Ace Metrix conclusions, and it’s nice to see some research support what many marketers, myself included, have believed for a long time — a celebrity might help raise awareness of an ad and get people talking about that ad or celebrity, but it doesn’t guarantee positive results for the brand, company, or product.  A celebrity can only help if the message is good, the celebrity is well-liked by the target audience, and the celebrity matches the brand, company, and product, he or she is endorsing.  Disparity in any of those areas equates to a waste of money.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts about celebrity endorsements and the value of paying celebrities to appear in ads.

Does an excellent CSR report mean an excellent website?

Elaine Cohen is a prolific CSR blogger and the chances are if you’re reading this you should already well aware of the excellent content she puts out without ever appearing to flag.

On Christmas Day she published what she considers to be the Top 10 CSR reports for 2010.  Trusting her judgement implicitly, and following my usual MO, I decided to have a look at these companies’ websites and see whether their excellence in reporting extended to their websites, picking up a few hints and tips on the way.

To put it another way, do they get one thumbs up or two?

I’ve addressed the companies in the same order Elaine did, and she makes clear this is in no particular order whatsoever.

Danisco

A Danish food, clothing and chemicals conglomerate whose 2010 CSR report also won a top award in Denmark.

A well presented website with good granularity content touching on many issues to a surprising depth.  Topics are presented simply but with further information always available.  Further links take the reader on to the latest report for greater detail and performance figures.  The only shame is that those figures aren’t available immediately on the website.

Alling Henning Associates

A small US marketing agency which, among other services, produces CSR reports and communications.

An exceptionally innovative one-page online only report which reports facts and figures only.  Programmed in Flash, little speech bubbles and other interactive widgets pop up as you browse through it and once you’ve spotted the ant on the apple core you can’t help but smile.  Just a shame I couldn’t find a link to it from their main webspace!

Impahla Clothing

A small clothing manufacturer from South Africa, part of Puma’s sustainable supply chain.

Impahla don’t have a website so it would inappropriate to comment, other than to say they gained a lot of coverage as the carbon neutral manufacturer of several African nations’ kit at the 2010 World Cup.

Coca Cola

The US based world-bestriding drinks manufacturer.

An excellent example of arranging hardcopy report information in an imaginative way which allows the user to skip between sections at will. There’s very little which is technically groundbreaking, but the design just works really well.  I especially like the way the Data Summary’s been put in the top right corner, always available but not dominating proceedings.

Campbell Soup

A worldwide food and drink manufacturer from the US .. not just soup any more!

Another great example of reworking a linear report into the more dynamic web environment.  Specific data is embedded within the individual items and section headers have a java scroll of pertinent individual examples.  My only quizzical moment is when realising a section header lists the contents both in the left sidebar and at the bottom of the page, the latter seeming to be unnecessary.

(Part 2 of this post will follow next week)

Picture Credit: thumbs up by anthony kelly under Creative Commons Attribution License.

Which Logos are the Best Logos of All Time?

Creative Review magazine is asking its readers in over 80 countries to help them put together a list of the greatest logos of all time, which will be provided to a group of designers, experts, and academics who will narrow the list down to the 20 greatest logos ever.  Those logos will be revealed in the April 2011 issue of Creative Review.  You can add your votes for the best logo ever by leaving a comment on Creative Review or on Brand New.

The quest to identify the best logos of all time launched publicly this week, and already hundreds of people have added comments offering their opinions.  Some of the top contenders from the population at large appear to be Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s FedEx, Playboy and The Rolling Stones.

Of course, identifying the best logo is somewhat subjective, and well-known logos from big brands typically take the top spots in these types of ratings.  However, it’s still a fun initiative.  I’d love to see the top 20 list broken down into three separate lists though — top 20 logos overall, top 20 big name logos, and top 20 lesser-known logos.  I think it’s more fun to find the diamonds in the rough — those logos the wider population might never see and the designs that don’t get the widespread recognition they deserve.

The logos that are getting an early buzz have a couple of elements in common, which I think are marks of the best, iconic logos — those that can stand the test of time.  They are simple, and they use limited color palettes — one or two colors and that’s it.

Which logos do you think are the best ever and what do you think are the key elements of iconic logos?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts, and don’t forget to add your votes on Creative Review.

Read more about logo design on Corporate Eye: