Top Slogans

We see a lot of slogans and catchphrases branded onto products, some great, others not so great. It was interesting to see this year’s Adslogan’s annual shortlist:

The full list of this year’s contenders:

• The last place you want to go - Dixons, M&C Saatchi
• Let’s colour - Dulux, Euro RSCG London
• Bursting with berryness - Ribena, M&C Saatchi
• Why Britain loves curry - Patak’s, JWT London
• Motion & Emotion - Peugeot, Euro RSCG Paris
• For ladies that crunch - Ryvita, Grey London
• I’d go Directgov - Directgov, MCBD
• The game is just the start - Sony PlayStation 3, TBWA London
• Every dessert deserves a squirt - Anchor, CHI & Partners
• Write the future - Nike, Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam
• Find the strength - Victim Support, MWO
• There’s method in the Magners - Magners, The Red Brick Road
• Be Stupid - Diesel, Anomaly
• We care because our name’s on it - Warburtons, RKCR/Y&R
• Power to you - Vodafone, Santos Argentina
• It’s great in the middle - Clover, Grey London
• Here for good - Standard Chartered, TBWA Singapore
• Let’s go - Shell, JWT London
• Smell like a man, man - Old Spice, Wieden & Kennedy Portland
• Quality you’d expect at prices you wouldn’t - Waitrose Essential, MCBD

The nominated slogans have to have appeared for the first time since 1 May 2009, and a panel of judges will determine the top three. The panel is made up of representatives from advertising and creative agencies throughout the UK.

Last year’s AdSlogan winner was VCCP’s catchphrase ‘Simples’ for Comparethemarket.com, followed by Lynx Bullett’s ‘Pocket pulling power’ by Bartle Bogle Hegarty New York. In third place was Wall’s ‘We only select the best bits’ by Beattie McGuinness Bungay.

Facebook Fans

If you think your online marketing is going well, you could probably still learn a thing or two from Lady Gaga, who has become the first living person to have more than 10 million fans on Facebook with her tally standing at 10,673,476 (5 July).

According to new research by online site Famecount, the star recently overtook Barack Obama (9,824,885) to claim the number one spot. Despite setting the new record, she’s still only in sixth place overall. Above her are Texas Hold ‘em Poker, Michael Jackson, Mafia Wars, Facebook and the US TV show Family Guy.

Surprisingly I don’t even make the top ten. Daniel Dearlove from Famecount said: “Lady Gaga has seen her fan base across Facebook more than double this year and is currently the fastest growing star; “Achieving 10 million fans is a remarkable testament both to her stardom and to Facebook’s extraordinary reach.”

Pop-Up Shops

We love wacky branding ideas; guerilla marketing that stops and smacks you in the face (not literally). That’s why I was pleased to hear that Unilever is planning to open a number of Marmite pop-up shops as it looks to establish the brand’s positioning in new areas.

Last year Marmite opened a limited-edition pop-up shop on Regent Street, and is now set to launch new pop-up shops in 2011.Matt Burgess, managing director of the brand, admitted it is plotting further launches:

“We are looking at 2011 and it is under serious consideration. But it needs to be slightly different than before. It needs to be a new location, unusual location and bespoke.”

The pop-up shop in London was open seven days a week and stocked more than 100 Marmite-inspired promotional products. Marmite if you’re listening, Gift Selection can supply you with a full range of branded items!

Branding Chocolate

Cadbury’s Flake is ditching its famous strap-line ‘Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate’ , after their new owners Kraft, feel a change of direction is needed for their marketing. The latest TV add for the chocolate bar will mark a shift in strategy for Cadbury’s Flake, as  one of the longest-running strap-lines in Britain will be axed.

Created by Fallon, the TV ad airs on 8 June on Channel 4, featuring new Flake girl ballerina Yulia Lobova. The ads vanished without a trace in 2004, but were since resurrected when the brand re-launched in 2007, with multi accented Joss Stone as the new star.

If you want to use chocolate to promote your business, then contact the branded confectionery experts over at Sweets2order.com. Branded chocolate bars are their bread and butter (so to speak). Why not make it more difficult for them, and ask them for a branded chocolate ingot or a bespoke chocolate business card!

Rest assured that any branded chocolate bought from sweets2order is made to the highest standards, either here in the UK or from the continent. Beware of rival suppliers offering cheap promotional chocolate that was swept from the floor of a Chinese factory.

Not So Happy Meals

A couple of days ago, the more observant amongst you will know that I talked (typed?) briefly about McDonalds. Well funnily enough Happy Meals will not be quite so happy in parts of California, as the Santa Clara County authorities in a landmark move, have banned restaurants from giving away toys and other promotional items with high-calorie children’s meals.

Passed in a 3-2 vote this week, the limited ordinance targets any meal that contains more than 485 calories, 600 milligrams of sodium or certain percentages of fat or sugar. “This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes,” said Supervisor Ken Yeager.

This is not the first time they’ve made the headlines with their healthier eating promotions. In 2008, the county’s board voted unanimously to require menu-labelling for fast-food restaurants, placing Santa Clara alongside San Francisco and New York City in efforts to curb obesity.

One quarter of children in the area are overweight or obese and officials say they are tackling an “obesity epidemic”. They said toys were being used to lure children to high calorie foods loaded with salt. Ken Yeager, the county supervisor behind the ban, said: “This prevents restaurants from preying on children’s love of toys to peddle high calorie, high fat, high sodium kids’ meals. It breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.” Food outlets will be stopped from offering toys with meals that do not meet a set of basic nutrition standards. There will be a limit of 485 calories per meal.

But Harlan Levy of McDonald’s disagreed, saying: “It substitutes the county’s judgment for the judgment of parents. It does nothing to address a holistic response to the problem.”  What do you suggest instead then Harlan? How about just banning McDonalds altogether? Would that be an holistic approach?

Are You Loving It?

When it comes to giving away promotional items, they don’t come much bigger then Ronald McDonald, with his array of crazy character side-kicks. Not even Gift Selection can compete, with the volume of promotional products the fast-food giant churns out throughout the world.

The Happy Meal, although not inventing the idea of giving away a promotional product with a children’s mean, is certainly the most popular. Happy Meal toys have become increasingly elaborate, from initially being little more than a cheap plastic trinket, they have gradually been replaced with increasingly sophisticated toys, many of which are a tie-in to some existing toy line or film. Between the 1980s and 2006, this was usually a Disney movie. However, on January 1, 2007, Disney did not renew the contract, wishing to use their characters to promote healthier foods instead.

Aside from it’s relations with Disney, McDonald’s iconic ‘I’m loving it’ slogan, is set to change here in the UK. Within six months, McDonald’s chief marketing officer Mary Dillon, is hoping we will all be chirping “You deserve a break today” instead.

World Cup Marketing

World Cup themed promotions are going to be everywhere shortly, with the world and his wife getting in on the act. The latest large scale world cup marketing campaign in the UK, is Pizza Hut’s ‘Pass it around’.

The digital and direct mail activity, created by agency Elvis, wants you to take a look at their dedicated micro-site. On the site, which uses Facebook Connect, users can play an online football game with the chance of winning prizes. These prizes include a Samsung 40″ LCD TV, Blu-ray discs, PlayStation 3 consoles, and football games, as well as a fridge full of Pepsi and pizza.

Pizza Hut is also to launch a range of new products, such as Footie Feast Pizza and Loaded Potato Skins, with the activity encouraging consumers to sample the new toppings and products available. I think any brand can positively associate themselves with the World Cup in a variety of ways. A series of prime time TV ads probably won’t be appropriate for small and medium size businesses, however promotional products can be.

Quality distributers such as Gift Selection and Promostore, can offer quality promotional products to suit any size of organisation. If you’re a marketing agency for example, who is stuck for ideas to pitch, ask one of their friendly teams for a special World Cup mini brochure for some eye catching ideas.

Branded T Shirts, branded footballs, everything you may expect is available. I think you’ll be surprised about what is available - why not go for some quality personalised chocolate footballs in a branded pint glass!

Gambling Sector Promotions

The biggest industry that buys promotional products outside of the public sector, is the gambling sector. Poker, bingo, sports betting you name it, there are promotional products out there representing them.

Promotional poker chips, branded snooker balls there are all sorts of unusual promotional products out there that Gift Selection can supply. We recently quoted on a very large order for some promotional travel mugs of all things, not the first thing I would recommend for a book keepers, but then again – why not?

It wasn’t a great day for the bookies on Sunday, as a massive £2 million was staked with online giant Betfair on Italian clubs Chievo and Catania finishing level. In the end, seven firms suspended betting by last Thursday, but they had to pay out on bets beforehand.

David Williams of Ladbrokes, said: “We saw a lot of money for the draw and decided to pull the plug”. One gambler made the good point of “the amount of money was unbelievably high for two teams in their position. Neither is exactly a household name here and the game wasn’t even televised.

Sales Promo News

You want to know what’s going down in the world of sales promotions this month? Well I’ll let you know!

Hovis is running a £5 million marketing campaign, including money-off coupons to support the news that its loaves are now made from 100% British wheat. Advertisements run for six weeks from the beginning of February, with each ad ending with sandwich cut into eight pieces to create a Union Jack shape. Clever. In addition to TV advertising, there will be heavyweight consumer press advertising with money off next purchase coupons – you know, if you need the dough? (Sorry).

What else can I tell you?

Menswear magazine GQ is running an exclusive promotion with Kurt Geiger gift card, ready loaded to spend in any Kurt Geiger boutique around the country; In addition ten randomly selected cards have been pre-loaded with £1,000.

While…

Disaronno, the Italian liqueur, is launching as on pack promotion with the chance to win one of five weekend breaks to Verona. If you fancy looking round Romeo & Juliet’s old stomping ground, with £500 spending money, the competition will run across 80,000 bottles until the end of March.

Finally…

Milkshake makers FRijjj is using augmented reality technology (still not sure what that means), as part of its latest integrated campaign, which also includes a competition offering customers £40,000 worth of instant prizes. Presumably this isn’t £40,000 worth of milk shake based prizes!

Record Viewing Figures

Obviously we think promotional products are the best way for organisations to get their message across. But I have to begrudgingly admit, there are other avenues too. This year’s Super Bowl has become the most watched television broadcast in US history, attracting a US audience of over 106 million people.

According to audience ratings agency The Nielsen Company, yesterdays 44th Super Bowl between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints on CBS broke a 27-year record, held by TV comedy Mash, which pulled in 105 million viewers.

Here in the UK, a respectable 800,000 people stayed up and watched the Super Bowl live on BBC1. If you think there are too many ads on British TV, then don’t bother tuning into American TV. Of the nearly 60 ads shown during Monday’s game, a BBDO-created Snickers spot topped a USA Today poll of America’s favourite commercials.

Before you give up ordering your promotional Sparta mugs, bare in mind these ads don’t come cheap. The cost of a 30-second commercial was approximately $3.01 million. This excludes production costs and fees for actors, equipment, ad agencies, directors, crew and other personnel. In 2009, NBC sold out all the advertising spots for record revenue US $2,600,000!