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The day the agency changed colour…

Not all pitches have a big impact on the entire agency.

Not all pitches require actual labour work from ad men.

Not all pitches put a natural smile on people’s faces.

This all changed during the long road to the world of paints.

We had people all around the agency chomping at the bit to be able to make their mark on what was a clinically white agency, to turn it into a building splashed with accent colours on walls, arches and even support posts. It created great word of mouth in the building. It even inspired people to put more colour to their lives and paint their own homes. Job done.

That day, was the day we won the global business for Dulux paint.

One that has quite literally left its mark in the agency for a long time to come.

Ken

Posted 18 January 2010 † Antonia § General ‡ Comments (0) °

My encounter with Rome SDS

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Oops you perhaps read a lot of snow stories already but I needed to share with you my holidays in the Alps … Or more precisely my encounter with a great brand called Rome SDS. Here is my story and then thoughts on the brand and its success:

After singing a lot of Christmas carols and collecting some eggs in the British countryside, I took a train to visit my brother in the French Alps.

I wasn’t there for an evening before I had discovered the existence of the brand Rome SDS and already knew most of its story. That was only the beginning; after a week I involuntarily became a specialist of Rome SDS.

I was narrated the Rome story a good dozen times, was explained in details the venue of the Rome tour to the resort, got to watch Rome videos, was driven through the Rome website… and I could go on and on but I think you get the point. 

Back at the office, I decided to enquire a bit more and visited the Facebook fan page: circa 10.700 fans and kilos of fan pictures posted displaying the name Rome SDS written on every possible surfaces (their dog, their breakfast eggs, their computer, their feet, their toilet, their banknotes, the Chinese wall, in the place of their names on exam papers… and I will stop here as the list is very long). God, they were all looking even crazier than my brother!

I was now intrigued enough to write this post.

What is the secret of this brand that has completely seduced the snowboarder tribe?

1st the brand story – back to the snowboarding basics:

To make it simple; two young riders left the giant snowboard company Burton and created Rome SDS to get back to the essence of snowboarding: the fun. It’s wonderfully explained online, a bit long but worth reading:

“During the late 1990s, the snowboard industry went into a dark period. Snowboarding’s tremendous growth was followed by massive industry consolidation. The business of snowboarding fell into the hands of people unfamiliar with its culture and apathetic towards its intrinsic worth — people who simply saw snowboarding as a new revenue stream for a broader corporate entity. Not surprisingly, it was a phase in which the industry stagnated and deviated from the primary values of snowboarding.

In 2000, (…) Josh and Paul decided to take advantage of a latent opportunity to fill a void in snowboarding. They came to the conclusion that it was time to break away and re-consolidate snowboarding around a direction based on the values that got them into riding in the first place.

(…) What went down in the winter of 2000-2001 in that garage office was the birth of snowboard-nationalism—a riding-fixated, innovation-based movement to put snowboarders in control of snowboarding. Rome’s gamble that snowboarders care about what’s under their feet, and aren’t indifferent to the values and philosophies for which the brands they support stand, seems to have been right on target.”  http://www.slidersboards.com/ROME_STORY.htm

Rome also appeared to be the perfect illustration of the trends described by so many analysts at the moment: authenticity, experience economy, back to basics, engaged consumer, plus fun and hedonism which are some of the fundamental values of generation Y.

 2nd the story is all tied up in a perfect brand experience:

> Production of quality content: a Rome TV on the website, an exhaustive Youtube channel (lots of great movies), arty posters, stencils…

> Great community built thanks to the brand values and stories but as well through an efficient use of the social networks, blogs and brand websites (you can join the syndicate, upload your pictures, give feedback about your boards to the Rome staff and meet the Rome team).

> Great communication on innovation and technology through a profusion of graphics and articles. Rome definitely appears as the snowboard specialist.

 I realise my post is already pretty long, so I’ll stop here even if I’d like to go on and on about it. It’s so nice to bump into a brand that clearly has a positive impact on a community, enrich it and allows it to express its values.

It could have illustrated the answer to a question I dealt with recently: is brand a concept of the future? Clearly yes if it assumes the role and power it acquired in contemporary societies… But that will be for another post…

Have fun!

Zoe 

Posted 12 January 2010 † Zoe § General ‡ Comments (0) °

Snow!

Like a lot of people, I find the prospect of snow a bit of a thrill. This isn’t something that comes to you late in life, we all love snow deep down don’t we? I believe it’s a throwback to our childhood when snow really was an event of fun and frolics and it remains in our psyche, as adults, taking us back to “happier times”. So, the snow is forecast and I wonder what the morning will bring

Now the reality of being an adult and coming to terms with what the snow, which duly arrived, will mean for my day. Unfortunately I don’t live deep enough in the country to be snowed in completely otherwise I’d have gone back to bed. Or would I? I do come from the generation where the work ethic was instilled in you that you got in by any means. Ah the good old days, getting into work 2 hours after the time you should have gone home. Anyway, back to reality, I’ll tell you what it bloody meant. A car ride, tram, two trains and a bus! Then, on arrival, having to hear someone’s hard luck story about how they’d “had to let two tubes go because they were soooo crowded” when they left their flat in Camden at 8:30. I wanted to tell them that, having left home at 6:30, I’d just experienced “frottage” (look it up) on three different forms of transport. My fellow passengers were not in good spirits. In an attempt to lighten the mood I said out loud “Happy New Year” which was only laughed at by one woman, immediately in front of me, whose breath was so bad I pushed back much to the delight of the chap still behind me (have you looked it up yet?).

It’s Saturday and I’m writing this as my football match has been cancelled. What do people that don’t watch football do on a Saturday? I made a kitchen stool this morning which amazed both me and my wife as this sort of task usually ends in disaster. Buoyed by this success I’m looking into the garden wondering whether a conservatory would look nice and how long it would take me to build it with a screwdriver and hammer – my only tools. Perhaps I should wait until someone sits on the stool, for more that 30 seconds, and if it doesn’t collapse it’ll be a sign that next time there’s no football I can “go big”. As I’m looking out it’s snowing again – ARRRGHHH. It’s settling, so this means it’ll be another week of “revised timetables”, overcrowding, bad breath, sneezing, rucksack rage and some frottage if I can find what I did with his number.

Bye for now……. Cliff Gauntlett 09Jan10

Posted 11 January 2010 † Antonia § General ‡ Comments (0) °

Cold pizza and warm beer

Well forgive us if we’ve been a bit on the slow side in updating Eurotrash (how on earth do people find the time to tweet – really?!) It’s been quite busy around here with global pitches on Credit Suisse, Skype and one other in the pipeline. It’s also been a great week for us given the announcement that we’ve been appointed by Credit Suisse to be their global corporate communications agency. And yes, half the agency are in over this weekend to prepare for the next one coming down the tracks. So more cold pizza and warm lager coming our way, but it all feels worth it when you’re getting the opportunity to work with some of the world’s biggest and best companies. But anyway – if you fancy a slice of American Hot then drop by Cupola towers this weekend…

Posted 02 October 2009 † Russ § New business ‡ Comments (0) °

Lessons from soup…

Take some artisan bread laden with fruit preserves, a handful of crunchy cranberry bites and some natural honey infused yoghurt draped over seedless grapes.  Add to that some lively conversation, a little banter and a lot of smiles to give a wonderful picture of the perfect summer picnic.

 

Or so you’d think.

 

It’s certainly not what you’d expect to find at a free organisation serving food to the vulnerable.

 

This was just my first revelation as I volunteered for 3 hours to support the long serving, yet eternally cheerful permanent staff at the soup kitchen on Tottenham Court Road.

 

The kitchen doesn’t discriminate or seek proof of need (something most wouldn’t blame them for given that a few guests arrive deep in conversation on mobile phones).

 

Their philosophy is simple:  If you are in need,

homeless or not,

working or not,

healthy or not,

you are welcome to come and eat. 

And eat well for that matter.

 

Conversation is lively, ranging from government policy to Eastenders plot lines (similar themes I’m sure you’ll agree) and, although some are new to the kitchen, most are regulars welcomed back by the staff who remember their names and in one case, their vegetarianism (cue the production of a personalised meal). 

 

This diverse group are treated as if they were paying customers and, on further reflection with better service and attitude than some of the places I’ve paid to dine.  In return, the guests are also more gracious and polite than my fellow patrons.

 

And so to the final revelation.

 

Although charity comes in many forms; perhaps the most rewarding for all is that which doesn’t feel like charity at all.

 

Posted 02 October 2009 † Caroline § General ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Shoes maketh the meeting….

It’s 7.59am and as I consider the various appointments I have throughout the day (meticulously prepared for in advance of course) I am left with the final and arguably most unusual question.

 

What am I going to put on my feet?

 

If there’s a client meeting, trainers are out – in fact, flat shoes are out altogether.  Standing up to shake hands with a client requires the girder-straight back you only get with a good 3 inches at least.

 

To toe or not to toe is also easily answered – no toe thankyouverymuch. 

Even if you are worthy of a Jimmy Choo casting call, no-one needs to see your toes in a meeting.  I don’t care if they’ve just been painted.

 

But after that it gets a little bit more subjective.

 

Using colour for different types of meetings can load the dice.  Finance meetings require black ‘I am responsible and not spendthrift’ court shoes.

 

You could get away with other colours but I’d steer clear of red, lest they believe that’s exactly what you’ve done to their bank balance.

 

Conversely, when you’re presenting creative no colour is off limits – the wackier the better.   Believe that your left foot really can stimulate their left brain and never will turquoise snakeskin seem more appropriate.

 

Of course, your shoes can do much for you even when you’re not seeing clients. 

 

Wearing ‘Don’t mess with me’ stilettos will get you obeyed.

Playful Mary Janes will help you cajole (and flirt)

Trainers will endear you to the yoofs

..and so on.

 

However, one pseudo-shoe that must be avoided at all costs is the ‘I would rather be on a beach’ flip flop. 

Though the irritating flack-flack-flack soundtrack undoubtedly heralds the start of summer, flouting your laid back shoe-titude will not do you any favours.

 

Put simply; the slap of your Havaianas as they panic to keep up with your stride will be in sharp contrast to the effort people will believe it takes to keep up with your brain. 

 

Harsh but fair.

 

Speaking of which – to the men out there.  Polish.

 

I doubt the IPA will be snapping at my heels for a paper on this but I bet (some of) my Manolos that tomorrow morning you’ll at least think about what your choice of shoes will say about you.

 

And so to the end of my wildly unfounded shoe theory. 

 

Next week, underwear.

 

 

Posted 02 October 2009 † Caroline § General ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Tck Tck Tck…less words more action!

So, Al Gore isn’t the only person willing to stand up and be counted on climate change. The very brilliant, eloquent and ever so dashing former Head of the UN, Kofi Annan has launched a campaign to galvanise the public and world leaders ahead of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. We have joined forces with Mr Annan and the spirited fighter, Bob Geldof to launch “Tck Tck Tck:time for Climate Justice”. The response has been phenomenal. More than one million people have already pledged their support and last week the UK government endorsed the campaign and called on British business to lend their backing.

We have to keep the momentum up – so alongside the various dog tags, wrist bands and online petitions, we have re-written and re-recorded a version of Midnight Oil’s hit ‘Beds are Burning’. Remember it? It’s a top tune. Some truly awesome international music stars and celebs including Duran Duran, Marion Cotillard (Oscar winner), Milla Jovovich, Fergie and Mark Ronson colloborated for free to show their support for the campaign.

So, now over to you (us), the track is available as a FREE (we love that word) download on all major music platforms. Every download will count as a unique global digital petition with people adding their support to demand world leaders reach a fair, binding and global deal at the UN Climate Change Summit.

When you have a spare 2 mins, click and download the song from the campaign website:

www.timeforclimatejustice.org

Maybe email your friends and get them to download the song? Tweet about the news, post the web address on your facebook or myspace site. You can also go to itunes and buy it for FREE and rate it 5 out of 5.

Finally, please, please add the Tck Tck Tck campaign logo to your email sign off and SPREAD THE WORD.

I know you hear these words often – “we can make a difference” but they are only hollow if you just sit back and leave it to someone else.

Thank you from all the supporters and here’s to a bright future.

Posted 02 October 2009 † Antonia § General ‡ Comments (1) °

I want good news!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM&feature=player_embedded

This is a song that have been recorded by musicians around the world. I’ll let you discover the concept by watching the video, nice one.   

It reminds me of the project “where the hell is Matt”. This guy took his car and did his silly dance with people around the world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

Cheesy? Euh yep perhaps a little bit cheesy. But I think these videos hit the right balance, are definitely good and managed to appeal to the masses. “23,731,796 views” is the number of time people have viewed Matt’s video on Youtube.

These are movies that correspond to the kind of messages that lots of us want to hear/see at the moment. Is it because we are all tired of the gloomy recession period? Not only that. It goes deeper.

I’ve been impressed recently by the number of people who told me they decided to stop watching TV and feel so good since doing so. It reminds me of my favourite moment in the movie Wild at Heart (Lynch); Sailor and Lula are driving along on the highway, suddenly one of them breaks down while listening to the asphyxiating radio, stops the car, throws the radio away and starts dancing, liberated.

Another example; a friend of mine has recently launched a successful radio station in Belgium, the idea: just happy news and happy tunes!  The audience rates are really high.

Is it egotistical? It’s not; it’s not a decision to get completely isolated. We all know what’s going on around us, particularly the younger generations, who have grown up in a global world. And of course it’s not about stopping any kind of bad news reaching us. It’s more about the right to take a break from the daily flow of bad news we get and appreciate this time.  

And when we do have bad news to give; why not get more constructive sometimes? Why not teach the facts, work out an analysis and then give easy ways of helping out. See tck tck tck. I got the message and found several ways to get involved thanks to the campaign: simply write it, draw it, organise events (which me and my brother rushed to do…)…

To conclude all this: I think these videos have a good tone that appeal to people and could be efficiently used in our works.

Last point, I come back to the notion of balance which is crucial. This tone of voice requires a high level of quality if we don’t want to fall into the terribly cheesy.

Zoe

PS: lots of other really good songs by this PlayingForChange project: take time to listen. (“One love” among others is cool)!

Posted 23 September 2009 † Zoe § General ‡ Comments (1) °

One Young World – a new dawn in CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility. It can be a bit of a dirty phrase, don’t you think? For some, it smacks of a ‘get out of jail free’ card. A company can do what they like and because they have a Corporate Social Responsibility policy, they can claim to be morally sound. It’s like that old adage from Puritan days gone by of the “Love God, do what you want”. Sounds too good to be true, and that is because it is. If you read between the lines, the catch is simple: if you love God, then your actions will be reflective of that love. Now I know what you’re thinking: How can we bring millennia of theology back round to contemporary business practice? With a willing suspension of belief, it’s not so hard. In today’s connected society, with information flowing more freely and transparently then ever before, a company will find any of its unethical behaviour put under the consumer microscope. We can ill afford to be flippant about what we say we stand for, we must now deliver it too.

As communications firms, we always ask our clients: what is your brand truth? What is it that you ‘do’ that consumers don’t necessarily know about that marks you out from the competition? Why is it then, that the same does not apply to us? Ask an advertising agency about their brand truth, and they might give you a wonderful set of stock phrase – ‘joes’ advertising puts the square pegs in the round holes’. Sounds good, but does that say anything tangible? Not so much. It’s an ethos, not an action. It’s not what you ‘do’ to benefit your clients and their business. You aren’t offering them opportunities, simply services. As a creative industry, we have the opportunity to put the formidable talents of our industry to the fore to enact change, and help our clients do the same.

One Young World is Havas and the Euro RSCG Worldwide communication network’s action. A network saying we have creativity at our core, and using it to give the space to those that require it. Young people are constantly shaping the future, One Young World is giving them the space in which to do it together, face to face and with the important global perspective. We ask our clients to stand for something, and One Young World makes us do the same.

But what’s actually in it for companies and brands? Thousands are spent each year on Market Research, both quantatively and qualitatively. Well, One Young World is the ultimate qualitative research: 1,500 young people, proportionally representative of the world’s population debating vital contemporary issues and commiting to their solutions. This is not about ‘brands’, this is about how the world should look according to us, the generation inheriting it.

Chosen through recommendations from the world’s leading organisations, corporations, charities and the sheer chutzpah of the individual, they all want to put themselves into this space and share their voice. A company can send their best delegates, find out what the new owners of tomorrow want, and pledge to act on it. They can return the next year to the One Young World Summit with results. It won’t tell you if a current campaign is ‘working’ but it will tell you what this next generation that should be engaging in a relationship with your company expects of that relationship. Whether you listen to those expectations or not is your call, but you have the opportunity to start that vital dialogue, and more importantly, to listen.

In terms of HR, what better way to invest in your young people then to send them to a summit of passionate, active young citizens from around the world, hosted by passionate, global leaders? We spend thousands on attending seminars and courses that won’t put us in as good stead to take on global business in the future. (Not that we MIND going!)

It’s an exciting time for One Young World with new brands, countries, philanthropists and individuals signing on every day. The coming months will only get more so as One Young World starts approving its delegates and booking them on that Midnight plane to London for 8th February 2010.

Posted 28 August 2009 † Jake § One Young World ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Junk Snacking

Well it’s been a while, but I thought I’d ease myself back into the blog gently with a quick update on a piece that I wrote for Marketing last week on the latest Pot Noodle execution.
As you can see it pays homage to my former employers and Campaign’s agency of the decade in 2000 – HHCL.

Where did it all go wrong for HHCL? But perhaps more interestingly – who is in the running to pick up that accolade next year? Answers on a postcard or indeed a blog post please…

Marketing Adwatch – Pot Noodle ‘Tastified’

Russ Lidstone, CEO Euro RSCG London

It’s as if it was yesterday… It was1993, and as a researcher for Coca-Cola, I found myself in the west end of Newcastle talking to a bunch of 15 year old skunk smoking joy-riders about advertising that they admired. Through heavy Geordie accents and interspersed with expletives too strong for this family publication, they told me in no uncertain terms that the new ‘Pot TV intense snacking’ execution for Pot Noodle was ‘geet canny’.

That ad courtesy of Mr Howell, Mr Henry, Mr Chaldecott, and Mr Lury, along with their creative understudy geniuses; Mr Robinson and Mr Young – represented the new dawn in advertising. Startling honesty, wilfully silly and capitalising on the zeitgeist of youth (then termed rave culture) – this set the tone for many HHCL campaigns, but especially Pot Noodle.

Over the years, Pot Noodle has, through its relationships with the late HHCL and Mother, consistently delivered unashamed and self-deprecating celebrations of the product’s simple truth – its ‘junk snack’ status. Through culturally rich and almost disposable advertising, constantly refreshed executions have challenged and engaged us. From ‘The slag of all snacks’ through to ‘Fuel of Britain isn’t it’ – the irreverence of Pot Noodle has kept us snacking for 16 years.

So here we are in 2009… As media and production budgets get slashed, and brands inevitably feel the need to demonstrate superiority through didactic explanations and side by sides, we see Pot Noodle bucking the trend and maintaining its irreverent stance with a ‘High School Musical’ epic, plus another nod and wink at its savvy audience.

The musical pastiche highlights that Pot Noodle has been ‘Tastified’ through a hilarious 60 second song and dance routine (is that Same Difference in the opening scene?)

It sticks to some of the core principles of what makes Pot Noodle communications great, and represents a bit of much needed ‘feel good’ fun. This commercial leaves you in no doubt as to the role of Pot Noodle …’more fun than throwing a poodle’

But perhaps most importantly it is evidence, if we needed it – that great effective campaigns outlive brand managers, agency chiefs and indeed agencies themselves. Hats off to Unilever and Mother for brightening up our day with a good dose of post-modern irony, for bucking the trend, but perhaps most importantly; sticking to their guns.

There will be some 32 year old skunk smoking joy riders somewhere in Newcastle still raising their Pot Noodles to that.

Posted 03 June 2009 † Russ § General ‡ Comments (0) °