Powerful Promotion

I always respect a creative and captivating ad campaign, and this week, Dove has earned my admiration. With the production of a short 3 minute mini-video, Dove successfully portrays it's strong brand image and brand voice. 

Watch below:
 

By producing this video, this ad campaign has been effective on many levels. 

• It is engaging: Viewers are likely to share the video via social media, as well as spread the word about the video via WOM.
• It is consistent with Dove's core values: It empowers women with this message of natural beauty 
• It is memorable: The artistic elements of the video are compelling and appealing

It can be argued that this video is also ineffective on several levels.

• It does not drive sales: After watching this video, consumers are not likely to run to the store to purchase a Dove product.
• It may not change purchase behaviors: Though the message is powerful, it may not shift the purchasing habits of a loyal Neutrogena customer.

Though Dove has received much scrutiny in relation to the ROI this campaign has generated, I believe that the levels of engagement attributed to this video far outweigh the immediate fiscal return. It's probable that Dove's objective was not to drive sales but instead, to increase future purchase intentions. 

It's All Greek to Me

It's fairly obvious that the Greek Yogurt market is becoming fairly saturated. Representing 2 billion of the $6 billion dollar yogurt market, it seems as if every major yogurt competitor has jumped on the band wagon. But, is it just a fad? Or can this Greek madness last?

There has been a recent surge of television advertisements by Chobani, the American brand Greek style yogurt that entered the market in 2005. Until recently, the company relied on word-of-mouth marketing and print advertisement. The new $30 million ad campaign focuses around the theme: Go Real. With slogans like "keep it simple, keep it real" and "leave food alone," Chobani intends to undercut its competitors by highlighting the simplicity and pure quality of its product. Consumers are encouraged to use the hashtag #tastereal with prompts from television ads that state, "share your first taste of real."It seems to be working, as Chobani is the leading Greek Yogurt brand, capturing 49% of the market and 16.4% of the total yogurt market share. 

So will Chobani continue to rank above the market giants like Dannon and Yoplait? With a growth in the greek yogurt market from 25% to 35% in just a year, and a decline in sales of non-greek yogurt, we can assume that the major competitors will begin to compete financially. In order to gain market share, I assume that companies will begin to compete in price wars; sales growth will most likely remain steady, but will not increase as rapidly as it has been recently. 

Which Do You Prefer?

It's the age old question: Coke or Pepsi?

There is a growing trend of creating partnerships between brands and celebrities to generate new brand imagery through design. We've seen it in the telecommunication, sports, and technology industries. The problem with such collaborations lies in the execution of these partnerships. The association of a celebrity and a brand must be cohesive. The celebrity's target market should be similar, if not identical, to the target market of the brand product. 

Coke was followed immediately by Pepsi after introducing a Diet Coke partnership with Marc Jacobs in Europe. 

As a fashion conscious consumer, upon first notice I was thrilled to see such an alliance between one of my favorite designers and my low-cal drink of choice. But, as a brand aware consumer, upon further inspection I deemed this partnership completely inappropriate. I am not fully aware of the European brand perceptions of Marc Jacobs, but I have deduced from the knowledge of Americans' orientation of the product that the Diet Coke brand and Marc Jacobs brand do not match. Coke may capture it's upper class, fashion conscious consumer with this limited time rebranding, but the majority of Coke consumers (lower to middle class) will prove inattentive to the brand partnership.


When Pepsi followed suit, they introduced a collaboration with Vern Yip. 

WHO?! Exactly my point. Though Coke's Marc Jacobs rebranding may have isolated consumers, Pepsi's rebranding has consumers perplexed. "Who is Vern Yip and what is he doing to my Diet Pepsi can?!" The partnership seems rather advantageous for Vern: large consumer base of Pepsi googles "who is Vern Yip" (which I'm sure 90% of you just did). But for Pepsi, this may be a sunk cost with no real increase in returns. 

So where are companies going with this? Will the limited addition rebrandings continue? Most likely. Though the use of celebrities to rebrand products may not increase profits in the long run, it creates buzz. And word of mouth advertising is exactly what these brands are hoping for.