ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Think this ad appears at the midnight hours ? Not really. I found it during prime time. It's like the 美元髮彩 ad with 曾江 that appears at prime times from time to time. Looking at the hair styles, it should be quite an old ad. It seems the management just tries to air something for the sake of airing something. The baseball player is unknown to HK people (baseball is never popular in HK anyway). Stomach remedy relieve drunkenness... it's something also not known to many... Can it really ? Even if it can, should it be positioned this way ?

Here is another potentially controversial ad. That's the use of sex to sell a new kid meal menu. It's naughty but fun. Just wonder if any viewer will complain about it. You know Hong Kong people like complaining about everything nowadays. Let's not go into any moral discussion and see it in a brand image and personality perspective. On one hand, to qualify as a good ad, it should be attention grabbing and memorable. On the other, we need to bear the brand image and personality we want to build over time in mind. To me, 板長 stands for affordable authentic Japanese food. It's definitely attention-grabbing and memorable but what about its brand image ?

Yakault has got a new campaign going on. This is one of the TVCs . When an ad is so creative, I just don't know what I can say about it. It might be fun to watch but I just can't find the connection between the key message, i.e., 40 years of good health and the drama of a gangster meeting. I may be biased but this is the kind of storyboard I would have killed. Love to hear your views.

Pay up your credit card bills and help you save money at the same time ! If you open a payroll account with CitiFinance, you can apply for an installment loan to pay up your credit card bills and enjoy an extra 1% saving rate. It sounds attractive but if you really give it some thoughts, it's a silly idea. Here's the catch. If you have money left from paying for the loan, it mean you can pay more to finish off the loan more quickly. Would you save it for that tiny 1% extra ? Taking up a loan and saving money with them at the same time, you are literally borrowing money from yourself with the bank taking profit from the interest difference ...

Long time since I had organised open program. Been busy on other training and coaching. Now have some free time and will be having the first open program on Marketing Communications for FMCG in 2009. Please click on the image for more details and the enrollment can be found HERE .

In TV advertising, it's a rule that ads of two brands in the same category should not appear in the same commercial time slot. The scheduling is all computerized but here is an example where computer can't be trusted 100%. Two ads, one from Nike and one from Heineken, were aired side by side. Interesting enough, they are both about soccer. It's a pure coincidence. The Nike ad is longer and more appealing, making the Heineken ad look like a comeback segment of it. It's hard luck for Heineken. This spot is wasted.

Haagen Daz should be the leading premium ice-cream brand. If I'm not wrong, in fact Dreyers was the first brand in the premium ice-cream category long time ago but it has lost the share in the consumer mind already. What makes Haagen Dazs more successful ? Consistency in advertising and ongoing product innovations. Sensual enjoyment/indulgence is always the theme of its ad and this is a very typical one. This new Apricot & Cream looks so tempting. Guess I should give it a try too although it is targeting women.

You may find this ad interesting, provided you take the time to read the so called "letter to Mr. President". It has an interesting proposition too. As we all know, we need 8 hour sleep each day but most of us can hardly get at that. It says 6 hour sleep can be good enough if it is of quality and hence you need a Better Six mattress (Better Six is a great name that matches with the proposition). As for the ad, it looks like an adaptation from the English version. Keeping the letter in English can maintain the original humour and flavour. Would you translate it into Chinese so that many people can understand the ad ?

This is a good practice in branding that we can learn from. Venus Breeze is quite a feminine brand name and a pretty good one for Razor for women. If you didn't pay attention, you would almost miss that it's produced by Gillette. Gillette is known for razors, razors for men to be exact. That' why when it goes into razors for women, it comes with another brand name. The Gillette brand name is downplayed on purpose in the branding execution. It's still there as an endorsement to remind consumers that it's a quality product produced by Gillette.

Credibility is the key to selecting celebrity for product endorsement. Sounds logical to pick someone who is a renowned chef and gourmet to endorse a health supplement for cholesterol control. Yet I really don't know why one would employ To To although he is a renowned chef and gourmet for sure. There are many others you can choose. Why choose an overweight celebrity who doesn't have a healthy image ? I just can't help scratching my head...

There is always a problem with international advertising. Language is one big obstacle. Do you find the VO very strange ? Obviously, the Chinese VO is translated from the English version. I bet the local advertising agency has tried very hard to do the translation but because of language barrier, the meaning is not quite the same. If you take a look at the English version below, you will know what I mean. There are a lot of wordplays which are too difficult to translate into Chinese.

Maxim's seems to have identified a positioning to compete with Cafe De Coral and Fairwood. Homemade meals can be a good positioning potentially but the execution of the ad is rather poor. When we communicate a positioning, we need to spell out the benefit specifically. In this case, be it more healthy (rational) or sharing together (emotional) or both, tying in with the appeal of homemade meals. Also there should be reasons to believe. The obvious selling points may be less oil, no MSG, variety, value for money and so on. All these are missing in the ad while the appearance of Ah So is not adding value at all. She is over-exposed and consumers is confused with what she is endorsing : Towngas ? Park'n Shop ? Swanson's Chicken Broth ? Even I can't remember it right ...

Companies are kind of obsessed with launching loyalty programs or frequency programs of all kinds. A typical consumer may be members of like a dozen of VIP clubs. Sometimes I doubt the effectiveness in increasing frequency and building loyalty. First, there are just too many and it's hard to turn it into a competitive edge. You invest time and money on coming up with a VIP club and your competitor can react with the same. Second, such VIP club may not be suitable for any category. Like JustGold, purchase is rather infrequent anyway I suppose. What's the point ?

Doesn't this make some good sense ? During the current financial tsunami, AXA guarantees that you will get refund on the paid premium if you turn unemployed within a year. However, you can only enjoy this guarantee if you subscribe to a policy before May 25. It's a promotion for new customers only. It may not be viable but if this guarantee were extended to all existing customers, it could be a great PR initiative to build AXA as the caring insurance company that goes through tough times with its customers. There would be short term impact in terms of revenue and costs but it may be worthwhile for long term brand equity.

Time for a break. Hope you have an enjoyable Easter holiday. Daily post resumes on April 14.

Speaking of products with miraculous functions, Japanese charcoal is another one. 備長炭 has been advertised by different people : it can purify the air, give out ions, dehumidify and so on. Can all these ads beat the perception of consumers ? Charcoal is charcoal and we know it's for BBQ while 備長炭 is just a type of charcoal for Japanese BBQ. Sold at HK$455 per kg, will consumers consider it ? Even with so many benefits and endorsement of a so called celebrity ? May be it can be sold as an Feng Shui item that can bring you good luck. There will be a bigger market. lol.

This just sounds like a miraculous machine. It can turn normal tap water into disinfectant in 2 minutes by so called "super-oxygenation". Said to be the TIME magazine best invention of 2006, registered at EPA and approved by FDA, the "super-oxygenated" water can kill 99.99% of the common germs. I'm not saying there is any over-claim in this ad. The point is that consumers are skeptical about new products that sound miraculous. How do we make this ad more believable ? Well, maybe some good explanations on how it actually works may help. Agree ?

Here is an ad from ebay. Basically it's selling the similar thing as the Yahoo! Auction ad that I posted yesterday. Let's do a little comparison. Could I say this ebay ad is stronger playing on Mark Six as the creative idea ? Both ads try to use one stone to kill two birds while selling the benefits of setting up own e-business and announcing sales promotions at the same time. The promotion of ebay is even more distant as it's a sales contest. The promotion mechanic is more for the existing users of ebay. The chance of getting new users with this promotion mechanic is slim. Look, when we do promotion, we need to think about the objectives we try to achieve.

When job security is low and unemployment rate is getting higher, Yahoo! has picked the right time to promote its online store/auction service. The ad is loaded with a lot of messages : the goodness of having an online store, call for action to check out the success stories online and the promotion offers. The promotion offers are most prominent in the ad. It goes with the thinking that promotion offer motivates consumers to purchase. Is it always true ? In this case, consumers would need to take some time to consider whether online store is something of value to them and figure out what to sell. Promotion is more like the last deal-making step. So would it be better to put the communication of the promotion offers online after consumers have checked out the success stories ?

Here are some creative ads for you to enjoy ~ Are they clever or creative for creative sake ? I'll leave them to you to judge.

When we sell a product with advertising, we will need to think about how the functional aspects of the products connect with the emotional aspects of the users. Eclipse can freshen your breathe making you more attractive to the opposite sex. Magsil can get rid of the gas from your stomach and so there is no more embarrassment. They are different products but both use romance as emotional appeal that connects with the functions of the products. That reminds me of the quote : "In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope." - Charles Revson

Speaking of protecting kids from germs and bacteria, Dettol also advertises its Instant Hand Sanitizer lately. It's nothing new and basically it's an alcoholic gel. It was a hot selling item during SARS when we were all afraid of catching the incurable disease. I suppose sales of such thing should have shrunk to very little after the hype of SARS 6 years ago. Just wonder why Dettol would spend on TV to advertise it. Tying it with protecting kids from germs is of course the logical thing to do. Yet would that make it a comeback. I don't quite think so.