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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

The essence of luxury marketing: exclusivity


When it comes to celebrating 50 years,  gray flannel just doesn’t cut it.


The Range Rover’s golden anniversary called for a celebration and a new suit. Accordingly, the brand collaborated with Henry Poole & Co,  located on on London’s Savile Row,  to create a unique fabric pattern that  incorporates the colors of the original 1970 Range Rover:  Tuscan Blue, Bahama Gold, and Davos White.  


The fabric itself would be woven out of lambswool in Somerset by cloth manufacturer Fox Brothers & Co Ltd,  The limited supply of 120 m. would be just enough to make  50  bespoke men’s and women’s jackets.




Luxury marketing and exclusivity in common 


It may seem odd to connect a car to a jacket, but the branding approach does make sense in the context of the target market. Referring to the sense of heritage and luxury that the car brand and tailors have in common,Land Rover’s Chief Creative Officer Prof Gerry McGovern OBE touches on the essence of luxury marketing:

  “Rarity does play a role, exclusivity in the appeal of the products from these brands. We’ve deliberately limited the amount that we will produce both on the jacket and on the vehicle itself, and I think that rarity is something that appeals to both our customers and Henry Poole’s.” 



Read more in The Man in the Range Rover Suit

Monday, September 14, 2020

To the sleeper the spoils




A good night’s sleep is not just desirable but essential for top performance. That’s the lesson of the IKEA ad that envisions a prequel to Aesop’s famous fable about the tortoise and the hare.

See “The Hare” commercial on YouTube Note the name of the place where the hare hangs out with friends before playing video games and posting pictures all night rather than getting the solid night’s sleep enjoyed by the tortoise.


Perhaps they can play off the whimsy in this adaption with creatives that offer backstories to other famous stories about sleep. I can just picture it working for Sleeping Beauty, or better yet,  The Princess and the Pea. 

Read more in IKEA Presents the Night Before the Fabled Race

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Schoolcation post makes the LinkedIn List

One of the great things about writing for Optimove is that I get to review hundreds of interesting marketing stories to select the very best ones to be featured on the PostFunnel site. My most recent one just got this LinkedIn mark of distinction:
"Congratulations! Your post was featured by the LinkedIn News team in "Home-schooling...at Disney World?"

To read the post, click on Hotels Now Offer “Schoolcations”

Monday, August 31, 2020

From Shakespeare to Starbucks: Pumpkin spice marketing mystique


Popular wisdom used to say "It's the sizzle that sells the steak." Well, today it's the PSL buzz that sells the drink. But if you know your Shakespeare, you know that it's not a wholly new idea.



Retailers don't wait until October to push pumpkin in the form of special scents and flavors. Even those who don’t sell drinks or food have hopped on the pumpkin spice bandwagon with scented candles, body lotions, soaps, and even deodorant.

In fact, the most highly-anticipated pumpkin spice of all made its grand arrival in August. I refer, of course, to pumpkin spice latte (PSL) that fans look for every year at their favorite coffee shop.

The pumpkin spice mystique is not just about the flavor; it’s about building a connection with customers that heightens anticipation and engagement. Starbucks does it brilliantly.

During August, Starbucks rides the buzz on the return of the PSL. It lets it build up with much speculation about when the first one will be poured, as the date changes each year to maintain a feeling of mystery and maximize anticipation.

That's the essence of the PR strategy that Shakespeare's Prince Henry adopts, as he tells the audience  in Henry IV Part I:

I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behavior I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

What works for heroic kings in plays also works for brands that know that even pleasurable things lose their sparkle when they are around all the time, just as we take the sun for granted when it is never hidden by clouds. The perception of rarity grants the object in question a particular status that it would not have if it were always available.

For more marketing posts, see a collection of links to blogs posted on various publications here and
Marketing in Uncommon Times

For more references to Shakespeare, see The Marriage Plot: Expectations for Novel Ending Must Be Met, The Marriage of Opposites, and Happy (Early) Birthday, Shakespeare.

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Have your shoe and eat it too

Anyone on TikTok or Twitter has likely seen at least one #EverythingIsCake meme. These very short videos make anything from what looks like a can of Coke, glass of water, roll of toilet paper, or even a human hand to be an actual cake that is revealed when it is cut. Yummy.
A Croc was one of the items, and perhaps that is what inspired the collaboration between Deliveroo and Adidas UK. Deliveroo delivered the news in a tweet featuring the edible version of the new  ZX 2K Boost Adidas sneaker (in England called trainer) design that would accompany the real thing for the winner of its promotional offer.
 

Does the shoe fit?

For a chance to win the twin pairs of shoes - one to wear and one to eat - those who live within a 1.5 mile of the Deliveroo Whitechapel Editions kitchen have to visit its app after noon on August 26. While cake is among the usual items Deliveroo delivers, the wearables would be a first.

So why should a food delivery service promote itself with sneakers? It’s all about capturing attention and publicity.

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

A nickel-and-dime trick for thousands of dollars of free publicity



One of the things that has been noticeably absent this summer due to COVID-19 is the usual run of summer blockbusters. It’s been a long road to safe reopening.

At the end of August, finally, there is good news for movie lovers. AMC Theatres announced it will open over 100 theaters as of August 20th, rolling out to open more than half of their locations by September 3.

To mark the reopening and 100 years of movies, AMC is offering 1920 prices at the theater for one day only.

Limited time bargain


This offer is only available to those fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of one of the theaters opening on the 20th. They get to snag the bargain of a lifetime: just 15 cents plus tax for any movie showing that Thursday.

This is a great opportunity to be able to echo your own grandparents in boasting “I remember when movie tickets cost just 15 cents!”


Why is offering 15 cent tickets such a win? In the first place, the people who do snag those tickets on Thursday will likely feel they saved enough to justify a splurge at the concession stand. In the second place, the offer brought AMC so much attention that just about every single news outlet in the country covered the story, giving it tens of thousands of dollars worth of free publicity.  

What's in a pen name?



We’ve all heard that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but what about the name on the cover? Should it be the author’s real name or her chosen one?

The Reclaim Her Name series is a re-release of books “with their author's real name on the cover for the first time.” To mark the 25th anniversary of the Women's Prize for Fiction, there are 25 books available for free download or eBooks (which definitely keeps costs down for printing and shipping).


It’s a fact that women have written some of the best novels ever published. It’s also a fact that some of those novels feature a man's name in place of the authors.



The question then is: are we doing a favor to George Eliot and her pseudonymous peers in stamping their birth names in place of the names they chose themselves?