Posted by: TonyFranco
on Feb 19, 2010
Last week I stayed at Yotel in Schiphol airport, Amsterdam. I arrived very late and needed to get a really early connection. As I just wanted to get some kip, it was the ideal solution. It also meant I didn’t need to leave the airport.
Yotel was the invention of Simon Woodroffe, founder of Yo Sushi. It consists of really small rooms which you can buy in 4 hour blocks. Not exactly a conventional brand extension, but Woodroffe isn’t a very conventional guy.
The interior with its purple and red lighting, plastic moulded fittings reminded me of Virgin Upper Class – although apparently the designer worked on BA First Class cabins. For what I needed it worked really well. Comfy bed, nice shower, lots of different plug connections and free wifi. All a bit cosy, but luckily I didn’t have much luggage.
Not sure they’d be successful beyond airports, but if you’re catching a very early flight, or simply need to kill time whilst waiting for a connection I’d definitely recommend them.
Posted by: TonyFranco
on Feb 9, 2010
Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to work out what role Lewis Hamilton is playing in the Santader advertising and have come to the conclusion that he’s a waste of space. In the latest ad, there’s a kid asleep in the car, the bridge they are crossing turns into lego....and Lewis Hamilton just happens to be standing by the road. And that’s it. He doesn’t say or do anything. He’s just there.
I can imagine what happened. The newly formed bank needed a global communication vehicle to promote awareness and chose motor sport and its fresh faced star Lewis Hamilton. It also provided lots of opportunities to travel round the world watching Formula 1 races for the senior bods.
However when it came to exploiting this new asset in a meaningful way it all falls apart. I don’t blame the ad agency (unless of course they were the ones who recommended him). What’s Lewis Hamilton good at? Driving fast. What else is he famous for? His Pussycat Dolls (ex) girlfriend. What’s he got in common with financial services? Can’t think of anything.
Mmm...not a lot to go on.
Key lessons for me.
1. If you want a brand spokesman, choose someone who has some relevance to the brand and the category.
2. Give him / her a meaningful role in the communication strategy
Better still, focus instead on trying to create a distinctive brand idea rather than taking the lazy route of buying a celebrity to build your brand
Posted by: TonyFranco
on Feb 2, 2010
Often we marketing folk make life difficult for ourselves. We try to build deep meaningful relationships with consumers when in fact they want nothing of the sort.
That's why I really like the Anchor Great Rewards Round Up. Just collect 'cow codes'on Anchor packs, build a herd and swap your cows for cute rewards. And that's it. It's easy, you get free stuff and you get a nice warm feeling towards the brand. No attempt to 'co-create' anything or do anything worthy or more meaningful. Which is great.
