A 3D billboard at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo is showcases Coca-Cola's "Masterpiece" campaign by animating Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" as a girl whose life purpose it is to put bottles of Coke into a pipe that leads to the vending machine for the soft drink.
This is not "real magic TM" as the Coke video declares. It is a travesty of art that reduces a masterpiece to a Disney-style short film.
I can just picture the thought process behind this with a discussion of the creative team that went like this:
Rich: We need something everyone recognizes as a masterpiece!
Josh: But it has to not be under copyright!
Rich: Right!
Dave: How about Mona Lisa?
Rich Maybe, but can we find something else?
Dave: Vermeer!
Rich: What?
Dave: ChatGPT says one of his paintings is really famous because there was a movie about it.
Josh: Oh, yeah, "Girl With a Pearl Earring." So long as that's not under copyright, it should be good.
Rich: Yeah, any woman in a famous piece of art acting as a waitress to get you to buy Coke should work.
High fives all around.
And so you have it. The enigmatic subject of Vermeer's masterpiece is reduced to Disney-heroine-as-serving girl to allow Coke to appropriate high culture to sell you brown-colored carbonated water filled with ingredients that are detrimental to your health.
I'm fine with a brand promoting itself and with showing off 3D effects and other high tech. But it should have gone the route of creating its own character for this rather than stealing art that is not copyright protected.
Tourism is down in New York, and the state has been attempting to leverage marketing to lure tourists back to the Empire State in general and the Big Apple in particular.
Timing is everything
In July of 2021, I wrote about the city's $30 million campaign, “It’s Time for New York City.”As it turned out, the summer of 2021 was not really the best time to return to the city, as many COVID restrictions were still in place, and some attractions were not even open at the time or even in the fall that followed.
But tourism plays a huge role in NY's economy, and so the it has to continue to look for marketing ideas to make it appealing. So it goes back to the drawing board and looks for inspiration.
The iconic model
It makes sense that what worked well in the past would be considered. That's the iconic "I love NY" slogan that made my list of most memorable brand slogans.
Graphic artist Milton Glaser created this slogan with the heart in place of the word love (way before emojis became standard) campaign to boost tourism to New York State (not just NYC) in 1977. In 2009 it became the the official state slogan and Steve Karmen's song with that title was adopted as the official state song.
Like New Coke
Anyone here old enough to remember 1985 when Coke introduced a new formula for its soda? Here's a refresher for you from Coke itself. The company did its market research and was convinced the new formula would win over more customers, though it threatened to lose them their solid base of loyal fans.
Now NYC is doing the same kind of thing with by transforming the iconic New York State slogan into one for the city alone with these tweaks: a change in font, replacing the "I" with "We" and swapping the heart out for different images in the video. The result that was unveiled in March 2023 is this:
The video description proudly declares:
"We❤️NYC” is a 21st Century version of the 70’s “I❤️NY” campaign. Once again, New Yorkers are coming together to mobilize civic action and community engagement as the catalyst for a renaissance of the city and its neighborhoods. In many ways, the challenges facing the city today are more complex than in the past. Together, “WE” can tackle these challenges and demonstrate, once again, that this is the greatest city in the world."
What I love is that one of the first comments notes how tampering the Glaser's work is a mistake:
I love NYC as much as I despise this logo. The unbalanced design is a third-rate theft from Milton Glaser’s original and is an affront to this great city. A 3-D clip art heart? Please, please @Partnership4NYC do not use this logo.
While some object to the change in look due to the font switch, I'm responding more to the change in wording. I'd say that they're missing the point in transforming the "I" to "We."
The brilliance of "I" is that it is absolutely inclusive because there is no dependence on another to feel the same way you do. In other words, "I" encompasses "we," while "we" doesn't include every "I."
Instead of recognizing that, the campaign is referencing a platitude from the pandemic about being "in this together" that ignores the very different experiences people of different classes had at the time.
One class was stuck with no school open for their kids while they had to work, while another just took their laptop to the Hamptons or wherever they felt safer and were able to pay for private school if their public schools stayed closed like the onesin NYC.
Also the examples offered are kind of lame when you have to say something like you love $1 a slice pizza, though now it's $1.50. Inflation is really not a cause for loving NYC.
While this campaign shares the same flaws behind the New Coke fiasco, the people behind it will not have to admit their mistake the way Coke did when it had to bring the old formula back. NYC is still there and accessible to those who want to visit even if they hate the campaign.
“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and - SNAP - the job's a game.”
Those words of wisdom from Mary Poppins are backed by science that finds that when people are interested and engaged in a subject, they enjoy a shot of dopamine to the brain. Marketers can capitalize on that effect when utilizing gamification to engage customers and deliver a fun experience that associates warm and fuzzy feelings with a brand.
Home decor and shopping get gamified
Design Home: House Renovation is the name of the game. That offers an irresistible combination of video games and shopping.
Some of the pieces can be purchased virtually for the game alone. But the real big money would come through buying actual sofas, rugs, tables, etc. for one’s real life home. And that would be quite the payoff for the affiliated sellers and brands.
This is marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing because it draws the shopper in through active play. To get players even more motivated, it offers“Daily Design Challenges.” There is also a social aspect to it with voting on rooms and the possibility of borrowing from friends through the Facebook connection.
FOMO or an addictive component is also baked in with the possibility of advancing levels, gaining access to unlocked rewards, and the promise of discovery of “brands and trends,” as well as the “new pieces added every day.”
Generating excitement for new offerings
Building on brand loyalty is fundamental for sustained business. When you add in a crossover with another brand associated with play, you can add some fun to that fundamental strategy.
This past spring, when it introduced its Adidas Ultraboost DNA X Lego Plates shoes, priced at $200. While the collaboration alone generated buzz, LEGO pushed for even more engagement by sharing ideas for customizing the shoes on the “adults welcome” section of its site.
See 6 incredible ways to customize your LEGO® adidas Originals Superstar for ways sneaker collectors, designers, and just creative people who wish to share their passions on their feet found to use the shoes as a medium for imaginative arrangements. The idea is to inspire others to follow suit, engage more with the shoes and the possibilities inherent in connecting LEGO bricks.
Promoting products via virtual games
Speaking of LEGO and gamification, the brand aims to engage kids with a section of its site showcasing LLEGO® video games available for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch™ and other consoles.. Those are searchable by theme, which also leads to all related products.
For example, the Star Wars will direct you to the Rise of Skywalker game, where you could choose to be on the light or dark side. It also leads you to a view of the many LEGO characters and sets within the Star Wars universe. The same holds true for other themes for which there are many sets available.
LEGO also offers a range of apps, some of which are specifically designed to bridge the virtual game and the physical world. Among these offerings is what is called “EGO Hidden Side,” which promises live participation in a ghost story that can involve a number of players..
Playing the game of FOMO
For its 25th anniversary, Pokémon collaborated with OREO to Issue a limited-edition collectible cookie that generates FOMO. The 16 distinctive Pokémon designs are promoted as collectible, motivating customers to buy multiple packages to be sure they get them all.
The OREO site warned fans of the cookie or the game that only some the limited edition packages will have all 16 version inside. And to truly complete their collections, they will have to buy enough to even obtain the “super rare Mythical Pokémon.”
I Infusing new life into an old product
Mary Poppins using a magic snap to clean up the room
Gamification elements like AR can also be used to revitalize interest in a product that is usually not front-and-center of a person’s cooking experience. Table salt is a good example of that.
Nearly all of us use some in cooking and baking but don’t think all that much about the brand involved. Morton Saltwanted to get their attention, particularly as more people were taking up cooking at home when not eating out during the pandemic.
To that end, the brand introduced an integrated marketing campaign across all channels combined with QR codes on labels to activate an AR experience. That idea was to give customers “several fun and educational ways” to engage with the brand.
No more boots for Ms. Green and other changes for M&M's candies
A major component of marketing is tapping into trends and making an impression. When it works, these brand messages captures attention and show their relevance to customer concerns to increase feelings of loyalty.
But when the brand missteps, it embarrasses itself and risk alienating the very people it intended to court. Here are three recent examples from major brands that certainly had the budge to do adequate research before launching such campaigns.
Adidas' topless pics: branding boon or bust?
On February 9, 2022, Adidas pinned a tweet with the hashtag #SupportEverything that included 25 pictures of women's breasts to demonstrates the range of sizes, shapes, and colors (though skin tones have no bearing whatsoever on the fit and support of a bra). Here's the tweet without the photos:
The brand posted the same photo to its Instagram, though there the breasts have a bit of airbrushing to achieve the digital equivalent of pasties. The overall reaction on the Meta-owned platform was more positive than it was on Twitter, judging from the sentiments expressed in the nearly 3k quote tweets.
It's true that some considered the move liberating. For example, Jezebel applauded the tweet in Adidas Frees the Nipple.
The Barstoolsports blog response corroborates what I thought was the real game here: baring what is usually covered still gets a certain amount of shock value, and that is what the brand is exploiting in presenting the 25 pictures. While the post celebrated achieving marketing goals, the comments in response were not at all the positive if you're after celebrating diversity in women's bodies. It is the inevitability of such reactions that makes some people feel this is not a positive step for women
On its own site, Adidas doesn't show any topless women. In fact, the embedded video (also on YouTube) that explains the problem women have in finding the right fit only shows braless women from the back, where the marks left from bras attest to poor fit.
The braless pictures, on the other hand, are meant to make the very reasonable notion of making sports bras do more than serve as short tank tops into something almost transgressive. It's really not, and Adidas is certainly not the first brand to offer more bra fit choices than the standard 32A to 40D range of sizes.
My guess is the social media manager was told, "Do something to get people's attention," and the person decided this was pushing the envelope. For the "no such thing as bad publicity" school of thought, it's a success. But I believe that the brand did alienate some potential customers here, making it into a branding bust (pun intended) for a consumer brand with a very wide market base.
M&M's misses the mark when aiming for inclusivity
M&M's candies got a makeover in the name of inclusivity. But the public is not impressed. M&M’s announcement about the changes included this video:
The comments are probably not quite what they were expecting, or they would have disabled them to begin with, as I wrote here.
Mars says it’s not just about candy but a larger commitment “to create a world where society is inclusive.” The emphasis on women’s representation is what trickles down to showing the candies that have female identities wearing more sensible shows now than they have in the past.
For example, Ms. Brown’s high heels have been replaced by sensible pumps. Ms. Green’s heeled boots are replaced by comfortable sneakers.
I’m all for comfortable footwear myself and gave up on high heels long ago, though I have to say, I don’t really believe that cartoon renderings designed to sell candies will have a direct impact on female choices. The representations of different types of people could add to the fun consuming candies but they really don’t direct people’s life decisions.
Indeed, that kind of critique was raised even by those who are very much in favor of changing thing. The fact remains that fictionalized progress is no substitute for real progress. Then there's the other camp that is tired of brands' claims they’re saving the world through their products and marketing.
Despite marketers insisting that people want to see their values reflected in brand messaging, claiming too much for a brand makeover can backfire. It’s clear that audiences are not nearly as impressed with the brand message as the brand is with itself, and that’s now a win.
Coke missteps when hopping on the gaming bandwagon
Massively multiplayer online (MMO) are designed to be extremely engaging with life-like characters and details to make up an immersive environment. As I wrote here, they often center around epic battles between species that may be using highly advanced or medieval style weapons.
Coca-Cola brand decided to hope on this hot trend, using an MMO as the backdrop for the commercial it released on September 30, 2021:
Spoiler alert: drinking Coke doesn’t just revive the player; it gives the ross between an Orc and the Hulk character in the game enlightenment. He literally throws down his weapon and grasps the hand of his enemy is a show of solidarity that brings the whole world to the verge of shocked recognition.
Everyone embraces peace and love to fit wit the tagline of “We are one Coke Away from each other.”
Coke
One of the comments on the video is from Kevin Sugrue who explains what the brand gets wrong::
“Lacks insight and understanding of esport gamers. This tries to approriate [sic!] the gaming trend in Coke's pursuit of regaining relevance among a younger audience. You compete in MMO games to help your team triumph over the competition; not to unite the entire world.”
Here Coke tried to plaster its “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and teach it harmony” jingle on a specific form of gamification culture that may just resent the intrusion. Those who are deeply involved in that culture consider it an epic fail for the brand.
What do brands aspire to when they set out to create a slogan? They want to be remembered. I was inspired to make my own list of memorable slogans to identify my own favorites get the dates down for each. The baker's dozen below are selected to represent some ranges. I don't mean to endorse any of the products or stores listed only to applaud excellent copy.
1. Apple – “Think Different” The slogan was introduced in 1997, way before most of the world adopted the ubiquitous smartphone. It was born as a decided twist on IBM's "Think", the brand identity established in 1915 when Thomas J Watson expressed his frustration at the lack of thought:
“The trouble with every one of us is that we don’t think enough. We don’t get paid for working with our feet — we get paid for working with our heads,” he intoned in a noteless lecture that continued for several minutes. “Knowledge is the result of thought, and thought is the keynote of success in this business or any business.”
Watson then wrote the command "Think" on a blackboard. The rest is history, literally IBM history that was the backdrop for Steve Jobs' differentiation of his computer brand.
2. The California Milk Processor Board — “Got Milk?” Goodby Silverstein & Partners originally came up with that slogan in 1993, and it was such a hit that it was licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers.
3. De Beers — “A Diamond Is Forever” A woman named (Mary) France Gerety came up with that slogan back in 1947, and it has been used ever after and been further immortalized in a James Bond novel and film. It was named ‘The Slogan of the Century’ by Advertising Age in 1999.
4. FTD — "Say it with flowers" This one dates all the way back to 1917 when people were generally familiar with the connotations of different blooms. See The Language of Flowers.
5. Greyhound — "Go Greyhound and Leave the Driving to Us" dates back to 1956
6. M&M's — “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands.” The slogan was trademarked in 1954, though that was the goal of developing this form of candy in the 1940s. The unlikely source for this information is the explanation of a work of art on the MoMA site.
7. Maxwell House — “Good to the Last Drop” slogan dates back to the 1920s. The company played up the attribution to one of the most memorable presidents, Theodore Roosevelt.
8. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies — The words "Snap! Crackle! Pop!®" first appeared in a print ad in 1929. Four years later, the artist Vernon Grant created the whimsical elves named for those sounds associated with the cereal. They then began appearing on ads, posters, and, of course, cereal boxes.
10. MasterCard — "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard" 1997 was the year that the credit card first branded itself as "priceless" by capturing the thrill of experiences one can enjoy, thanks to the card. It was a brilliant play on the truism that money can't buy happiness. The elephant example is of the heart-warming variety, though many take a sassier approach.
11. New York State — "I Love NY" " was created by graphic artist Milton Glaser to boost tourism to New York State (not just NYC) in 1977. But it only became the the official state slogan in 2009, the year that the "I Love New York" song by Steve Karmen was also adopted as the official state song. In the age of emojis, we're used to symbols standing in for words, particularly the heart for love, but likely we owe that to Glaser's vision.
12. State Farm — “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There.” Barry Manilow composed this memorable jingle for the insurance company in 1971.
13.Virginia Slims —" You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby" The cigarette brand launched this campaign in 1968 and kept it up for decades (of equating feminism with the freedom to smoke a cigarette made specifically for women and gain equal opportunity for lung cancer). New iterations came out to match changing fashions and to reflect on "bad old days" for women.
If you're interested in what makes people like and/or remember a slogan, see A study of the antecedents of slogan liking. According to its abstract, "the liking for a slogan may be unrelated to media expenditure, and driven largely by the clarity of the message, the exposition of the benefits, rhymes, and creativity."
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