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by Daniel Todaro

Love it or hate it, you can’t escape The Great British Bake-Off, the BBC’s X-Factor for the baking world. Except, there’s no chasing a dream of the limelight here. Its presenters are funny, the experts on the cusp of national treasure status (Paul Hollywood’s even cracking Hollywood with the US export of the show) and perhaps, most importantly, the contestants are normal.

There are no aspirations to sell out Wembley, no heavily-staged, tear-jerking vignettes and showboating is very much off the agenda. Instead, it’s all about the love of baking and baking for pleasure. As its third season draws to a close with the grand finale this Tuesday (October 22nd), with anticipation and excitement levels reaching One Direction-proportions, can it really be that the baking is the only reason why we love this reality talent show so much?

Before Bake-Off makes its final leap (from BBC2 up into the big leagues of BBC1), it’s an appropriate time to stop and take a look back at the stratospheric rise of a brand that has managed to captivate men and women, young and old, from all parts of the country. In addition to countless books, websites, blogs and TV shows spawned off the back of Bake-Off, we’ve just finished the first ever National Baking Week, a charity initiative partnered with Great Ormond Street. We had the first ever legitimate dilemma over whether we should watch a baking talent show or a do-or-die England game (which would determine the little matter over whether our proud nation would participate in the next World Cup). There’s even something called ‘Baketopia’, a ‘100% edible pop-up’ held this month in London.

National Baking Week 

From a branding perspective, the numbers are impossible to ignore, with the baking industry today now worth a staggering £3.4 billion. As far as trends go, it shows no sign of abating and naturally, as Christmas approaches, the opportunity for brands to take advantage of this phenomenon is equally rising each month. However, beyond the sale of sieves, scales and sugar, the role of food has taken on much greater meaning within society. Its status is such that we can show off our talents when baking for friends, family or even colleagues, and perhaps do this at a fraction of the price and in a healthier way.

As a result, what we’re seeing is an evolution, as blenders, juicers, mixers and slicers become lifestyle choices, high on design pedigree and aesthetics in addition to functionality. Rather than purely functional products hidden away in cupboards, kitchens are increasingly featuring a number of intriguing and interesting products out on full display for visitors to observe and inquire about – much like French designer Philippe Starcks’ Juicy Salif lemon squeezer for Alessi. Now, this may be the worst, most impractical lemon squeezer ever created. But its beautiful design pedigree helped elevate Alessi to global brand status.

Philippe Starcks’ Juicy Salif lemon squeezer for Alessi

Previously, these high-end products only aimed at industry professionals, but now they find themselves on the shopping lists of aspiring amateur chefs, as well. Indeed, browse through the small appliances section of a John Lewis and you’ll find ‘entertainment’ as important as a quality and function for top brands such as Phillips, Delonghi, Kenwood and Siemens.

The highest quality mixers now retail at well over £400, sitting comfortably amongst other options including Heston Blumenthal-endorsed juicers, cute tabletop ice makers and fondue sets. Perhaps these products will be used only once a year, but their purpose goes beyond their most obvious culinary function. Instead, they serve an equally important objective – prestige. Indeed, when keeping up with the Jones’s, the first port of call may well be their kitchen.

For brands, the opportunity is an invigorating one. For so many years, these products too often were obligatory, uninspiring and necessary purchases. A fridge every four years and a new microwave every three. But thanks to pioneering brands like KitchenAid, these products have broken out of the monotony of necessity and into the world of inspiration and impulse, aiming to connect with consumers on an emotional level.

Moving away from tools to ingredients, the fact that Betty Crocker – a convenience brand with huge resonance in the US – is reacting to this boom by launching a bold foray into the UK market is further telling. Capitalising on bake-off fever with its first UK ad, the visuals are striking, utilising actors and swing dancers to create a vintage 50’s vibe. Promoting not the product but the brand experience and lifestyle, this ad targets a completely uninitiated audience who may not know how to bake, but fancies having a go and sharing the emotions that The Great British Bake-Off has stirred in millions of fans.

As Bake-Off draws to a close next week and consumers begin to look seriously at their Christmas shopping lists, the chance for brands in this space to promote a lifestyle choice is one that needs to be grabbed with both hands. More so, with further competition approaching from Europe and across the Atlantic (as baking fever ascends to the level of global pandemic), the brands that will emerge into 2014 full of festive cheer will be those that use a variety of through-the-line tactics to get products into consumers’ hands this Christmas and deliver that aspirational, emotionally-led messaging to catapult the brand into style rather than function status. Brands have a lot to thank the BBC for. Once upon a time, gift wrapping a Magimix Heavy Duty Mixer to your loved one would have led you straight into a night on the sofa. Now it’s the perfect gift this Christmas!

Read the full article at http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/10/18/the-great-british-bake-off-brand-bonanza/

Celebrity endorsements are a staple of brand marketing. Product and celebrity have always gone hand-in-hand, wooing consumers with finely-spun tales and selling not just items, but aspirational lifestyles, too.

However, flash forward to 2013 and we’re swamped with highly paid celebrities hawking everything from current accounts to toothpaste, all the while trying to appeal to the aspirations of consumers. But with those consumers empowered both by an abundance of choice and a wealth of information, they’re now in a position to question whether those brand promises really are true and whether the brand is truly worth buying in to. As such, those emotional connections seem to be waning, with price taking precedence instead.

It’s a reflection on the declining influence of celebrities in this space that brands are struggling to make such connections, in no small part due to the fact that so many brands see endorsement as a quick fix and easy path to credibility. Recent research into the beauty and cosmetics sector, one of the most highly-invested sectors for TV advertising, shows that (despite the big budgets) it has relatively low influence over consumer spending compared to sampling, advice and shop floor sales promotion – which can be just as effective at a fraction of the price it takes to hire a Brad Pitt or Scarlett Johansson.

Indeed, when you see Beyonce overacting for Pepsi or Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi trying to convince you they fly Turkish Airlines out of choice, it’s clear that there’s been very little consideration as to how well the brand and celebrity fit together. Instead, it’s simply a high-spending brand throwing cash at a problem and expecting results.

Don’t get me wrong, some brands get it right. Kevin Bacon cleverly delivers a simple message for EE, while David Beckham’s recent turn with Belstaf is little short of genius. Here’s a traditional brand that wants to appeal to a demographic and establish itself (for growth) in the eyes of those who quite simply consider Beckham the coolest kid on the block, but may have spent similar time considering their association with more renowned brands such as Barbour, Burberry or any other of the B’s.

In fact, I think the greatest lesson here could perhaps be taken from one of the most unlikely of sources – One Direction – a modern-day superbrand that taps perfectly into the emotions of its audience. The product is one thing, but the 1D brand – the way in which they are portrayed and engage with their audience via everything from concerts to TV to social media – is carefully considered by a crack team of brand specialists. Undeniably, it’s an immaculate matching of brand, product and celebrity.

Ultimately, in the modern marketplace, consumer purchasing decisions will continue to be pushed away from emotion towards price and value. It takes an exceptional celebrity and complementary brand partnership to reach that emotional frequency. If the consumer is going to trust in the endorsement from the celebrity, then they’re going to have to trust in the partnership between brand and celeb, as well. Every brand wants to appeal to your senses and make you that lifetime customer, but is Jane Fonda and an ex-Desperate Housewives actress really enough to make you buy that magical wrinkle cream?

The A-List

Bet365 & Ray Winstone – In recent years, sponsorship within sport has become increasingly dominated by a single sector: Gambling. Achieving standout is no mean feat, but Bet365 have successfully leveraged a partnership with Winstone and parlayed that with a presence at the halftimes of every major football match on air. Regardless of the ethical issues surrounding gambling, it’s impossible to deny Winstone’s popularity, played to perfection for the target audience with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek humour and self-deprecation on the part of the star.

Waitrose & Heston Blumenthal – These two are so loved up and perfect for each other it’s almost nauseating. The increasing consumer concern for fresh food, provenance and healthier eating has seen a significant shift away from value-ranges towards decidedly more middle-class offerings like Waitrose, where a little extra cost is well worth paying – something that decidedly sets FMCG apart from other sectors. Therefore, bringing TV-friendly and highly aspirational super chef, Heston Blumenthal, was an inspired decision. Despite his many Michelin stars, Blumenthal’s inquisitive nature, exuberance and most important accessibility makes him a perfect fit.

Straight to DVD

Activia & Gok Wan – A celebrity may have all the right hallmarks for a winning partnership, but only a select few can carry off multiple partnerships without looking overexposed. Unfortunately, Gok Wan’s high-energy act for Activia falls on the wrong side of the line.

HTC & Robert Downey Jr. – Unlike Toy Story, HTC is a prime example of a brand investing in a celeb ambassador and expecting his star quality to do the rest. It’s difficult to find a more charismatic, in-demand actor than RDJ – and probably difficult to find one more expensive too – which makes it all the more awkward when the commercial partnership ends up looking just like that: Commercial and contrived.

The Z-List

Head and Shoulders & Joe Hart – The worst-case scenario is when a celebrity takes on a brand partnership and actually comes out worse. Joe Hart is already facing a tough enough time from the sports media, but sacrificing your dignity – without a hint of irony – is a sure-fire lose-lose situation all around.

Santander and Jessica Ennis-Hill, Jensen Button and Rory McIlroy – It’s perhaps unfair to expect sports stars to naturally take to the world of acting, but it is valid to question promoting loans and mortgages in such a banal fashion. When Ennis-Hill wants to start lecturing me on health, fitness and becoming a world class athlete, I’ll take note. Getting 1% cash back on my mortgage payments? Not so much.

read the full article at http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/10/10/celeb-ambassadors-finding-match-made-heaven/

By Daniel Todaro

Daniel Todaro says DIY’s weather obsession needs to stop Adverse weather conditions often get the blame for retailers’ woes – and the fact that even in the middle of an heatwave we’re seeing many lament their bad luck demonstrates just how ingrained this mentality has become.

As I write this with temperatures sailing above 30C, Amazon reporting a 446% increase in paddling pool sales and Asda shifting BBQ sets at an increased rate of 204%, it seems strange to think it was barely a month ago that it was the rain causing all the problems for the sector. Headlines began with the same rhetoric: “wet weather hammers profits”, “coldest spring in 50 years prompts profit dive”.

Granted, these doom-laden headlines had something to do with our abysmally cold and wet spring but the message translates quite clearly; once again, sales drops were prefaced with the ready-made excuse of ‘bad weather. It’s repeated every year. Any fluctuation in the UK’s weather sees DIY retailers reach for the same tired excuses.  However, with the news emerging that spending on DIY fell for the fifth-successive year in 2012 to its lowest point since 2000, £5 billion less than the peak of £15.5 billion in 2004, DIY retailers need to look beyond the ‘seasonal’ approach they’ve taken in the past and endeavour to find innovative ways to being to drive their sales.

Good weather tends to go hand-in-hand with the desire to take to our gardens and the images foisted upon us by retailers in the summer tend to be rooted in aspiration and lifestyle – and indeed, lifestyle is the key word the DIY sector should be focusing on. In order to break-out of this industry-wide malaise, DIY retailers ought to look beyond the conventional approach and start to view themselves as lifestyle brands.

For even when these retailers are rejoicing at the sunshine, all we see is the same uninspiring campaigns, the same expected promotional offers we get every year, and the same wistful looks when the summer ends and autumn begins.  If they are able to position their offering as desirable and in synch with a certain sort of lifestyle, (in this case one that’s quite tropical), then the sector could see year round prosperity restored – and this is not as difficult as it sounds. Developments in technology mean brands can take advantage of outdoor advertising to create campaigns that adapt to real-time information.

Read the full article at http://www.diyretailer.co.uk/articles/item/407-the-last-word

We’re all in agreement that what characterised the London Olympics was the way in which it brought the nation together; how it immediately created a spontaneous sense of community and altruism we never thought we had in us.  Likewise, we were also quick to agree that from a marketing perspective it had been a rousing success for the brands who had taken the leap by investing in sponsorship.

By aptly integrating into the wave of patriotic and social spirit, these brands found themselves quickly dispelling the previous conjecture ‘censorship’ and the ominous ‘brand police,’ and reaping the benefits throughout the Games and long after the final medal had been awarded. No fewer than half of the top 10 most improved in YouGov’s 2012 Brand Index were Games sponsors, whilst the likes of BA, Adidas, P&G and Sainsbury’s were among the many that revelled in the critical acclaim.

However, at the time I wondered how long this Olympic spirit would last, whether this upsurge in enthusiasm for altruism, community, volunteering and a sense of love for our fellow man would eventually peter out; the status quo soon restored.

A year on and we’re much better placed to answer that question. Is there evidence of an Olympic legacy within the marketing industry? Well, yes, very much so.
What we’re seeing is a clear shift in the way the world’s largest brands are conducting themselves, they’re acting more human (and perhaps, in turn we’re humanising such brands too). It’s difficult not to notice the pure and wholesome nature of the TV ads we see on the airwaves and the promotional activity we see in our towns. More so, it’s largely those who played a key role at the Olympic Games leading the charge.

Coca-Cola, for example, has eschewed its own branding in order to encourage us to share a coke among pals, as if it represents an age-old friend we’ve known since childhood. Adidas and GlaxoSmithKline have both been vocal in their opposition to steroid abusing athletes; a far cry from an era not so far behind us when sponsors would refuse to take a moral stance. Today, they seek to adopt an ethical code in line with their consumers.

The explosion of organisations on Twitter taking on a simple human guise (First Direct and Solihull Police provide two highly diverse, but excellent examples) further provides evidence of this move towards humanisation. The most successful view those online conversations much like a real-world one. They adopt the same rules of etiquette:  Much like you wouldn’t barge into a real-world conversation trying to sell a mobile phone contract, these brands are instead seeking permission to join the conversation by trying to demonstrate an effervescent (or at least useful) personality.

With more and more brands experimenting with this approach, the trajectory only appears upwards and I cannot help but feel that this trend was kickstarted by the Games. London 2012 showed us all the power of humans, ordinary humans that shattered the perception of a soulless, IOC machine we all believed would characterise the Summer. Instead, we found human beings we could relate to, ones that were more worried about contributing to our good times rather than nitpicking over red tape and fretting about the threat of ambush marketing.

The difference for these winning brands is that they’re moving on from simple traditional, broadcast communication; taking that ATL message and delivering it through the line. They’re walking the walk as well as talking it, and doing it at the local level to encourage real social cohesion, becoming the catalyst that brings entire communities together.

Through brands acting human and investing in people, the Olympic spirit may just become a genuine legacy after all.

Five brands taking a more human approach:
 
Visa
Visa signed Usain Bolt for its 2012 ‘flow faster’ Olympic campaign. The ad’s demonstrated the various payment technologies on offer from Visa, with the message that it made life quicker and easier.

That theme continues in Visa’s 2013 activity, but the influence of the Olympic legacy is clear. The focus shifts from Usain Bolt to an old man and while ‘speed’ and ease of convenience is still a key brand message, the story of the old man racing to the birth of his grandchild is a significant, family-orientated step-change from what had gone before that adds a new human dimension.
 
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola went Hollywood with its all-singing, all-dancing activation at London 2012, enlisting Mark Ronson to create the brand’s own song for the Games; something quite introverted. While the brand did commendably look to find ways to connect with and inspire young people, the national TV campaign was typically weighty in both celebrity endorsement and investment.

It provides the platform for perhaps the most significant change of direction, with the incredibly successful ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. Simple, effective and very personal

P&G
P&G won the hearts of the nation in record time with its ‘Proud Sponsor of Mums’ ads; notable for being the first time the multi-global corporation had directly addressed its consumers under the P&G brand name.

Since then, new Global campaign ‘Everyday Effects’ has been launched with a significant human feel. Throughout the world, P&G are distributing ‘Blue Boxes’, making a not-so-subtle, but effective demonstration of all the products within the P&G family.

Carrying on the soft theme, P&G quickly signed up the highly-endearing Kirstie Allsopp to lead the campaign and the brand giveaway action, as it seeks to speak to customers on a one-to-one level and become a household name.
 
Adidas
Adidas implored Team GB to take the stage during the Olympics and in the process, became a legitimate part of the iconography of the Games that we hold in our memories.

Adidas have rarely looked back since, continuing to make the most of those British connections with the recent Andy Murray and British Lions successes. The brand also did not blink in its decision to drop star sprinters Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell following failed drugs tests. Would this decision have been so clear cut five years ago?
 
Sainsburys
As primary sponsor of the Paralympics, Sainsbury’s were a key driver in ensuring the Paralympic Games were elevated to a level of attention and status that was unprecedented. The retailer went to great lengths to both celebrate the athletes, but also emphasise the human qualities of its brand.

Such was the adulation Sainsbury’s received for its sponsorship, arguably they could have left it there and moved on – but a year on and they’re continuing with a push to promote sport in schools and investment in both disabled sport and British Athletics as a whole. The Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games left us in no doubt of a lasting commitment.

Perhaps the biggest winner of all, Sainsbury’s demonstrated a human aspect that is leaving rivals in its wake. It goes beyond tasting a difference; Sainsbury’s is genuinely making a difference .

By Daniel Todaro

Read the Full article at: http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/08/15/what-have-brands-learned-from-the-olympics-a-year-later/