If you can’t beat them, join them, right? This was the thinking behind t-shirt brand Love Jozi, who turned a threat into an opportunity, with great success. Rather than wait for someone else to produce imitations of their brand – they did it themselves.

Love Jozi started out as a premium brand for the youth of South Africa who had cash to spend. The brand quickly became famous for its iconic photography of Johannesburg’s skyline. All was going well – but what about the masses who would never be able to afford the real McCoy?

Love Jozi started producing substitute brand Luv Jozi. And they took the role relatively seriously. For example:

1. They purposefully misspelt the logo
2. They created a fake website which subtly suggested the products were being manufactured in China. The photos were actually taken in Chinatown, Johannesburg!
3. They distributed the t-shirts in all the places other fake brands could be found - traffic lights, flea markets, street vendors and Chinese owned retail outlets

For two years no-one was any wiser until the company released a press release admitting it was behind the fake brand.

I’ve got to say this whole ‘behind their back’ approach does make me question the brand’s regard for loyal customers, especially when fans of the brand were writing blogs supporting the real Love Jozi brand. But it would appear, at least in the short term, this isn’t much of a problem. Following the stunt, retailer Big Blue started stocking the Luv Jozi brand, sales of which now make up 75% of total orders. At the very least this idea demanded guts and could just provide some lessons for the rest of us in taking a premium brand mainstream?

Posted by: Carmen Campbell
Thanks to: Love Jozi, Contagious

A truly interactive way to experience a novel has arrived. Level 26 takes the reader to a whole new level. It’s a smart innovation you need to see to believe, and in the case of Level 26, you’ll not just see it. You’ll feel it.

Every 20 pages the reader is invited to watch a video online that enlivens and deepens the story. Just a quick three minute of footage.

And unlike traditional books, this one doesn’t end at ‘The End’ – there’s a social community waiting at level26.com where you can connect with other fans, as well as watch behind the scene footage, get music, production stills, access to the creator and so on.

A novel, a movie and a social community in one - reading a book just got a lot more interesting.

Posted by: Carmen Campbell
Thanks to: Dutton Publishing, Contagious

We know consumers associate themselves with brands they have an affinity with, or aspire to be like. In recognition of this, it seems Pepsi has made a bold move to realign its values and give consumers a new reason to associate with the brand, while at the same time removing its advertising spend from the infamous Super Bowl.

Its latest Refresh Project campaign is an investment of US$20 million to create a tangible way of demonstrating the company’s more philanthropic ethos. The idea itself - creating a site that entertains a maximum of 1000 ideas from the public on how it might improve the local community, in a highly interactive way – plays a key role in the shift Pepsi wants to make.

Even though the advertising at the Super Bowl enabled the brand to reach outrageous audience numbers, it arguably lacked that tangible ‘feel good’ factor. The refresh project may not instantly reach massive audience figures, but the level of involvement and engagement with the community will be deeper, and no doubt have more longevity.

Plus, the media Pepsi uses to deliver the campaign embraces the role consumers now want, and need, to play. The brand has entered the new communication landscape where it’s the consumers who have a voice; setting the agenda and then leading the direction they want to go in. Like many other brands choosing this path, Pepsi is currently the facilitator, letting the consumer take the driving seat.

Good on Pepsi. The campaign effuses creativity and emotion, and let’s not underestimate the publicity Pepsi is getting from this move.

Thanks to: Pepsi
Posted by: Daniel Saltalamacchia, University of Notre Dame Australia & trend watcher to WYWW for the month of Feb, 2010

I believe the world outside of advertising is always teaching us how to tell a better story. Here is one such example.

Posted by: Carmen Campbell
Thanks to: Kseniya Simonora, Ukraine’s Got Talent

We could, and do, have endless conversations on the differences between men and women and the implications this has in the communications industry.

So we invited female marketing consultancy, All About Eve, to share its wisdom into the female mind.

Over the course of 2010 we’ll be featuring regular posts from Eve’s Principal, Linda McGregor. Linda has joined us in the past to talk about The Fundamental Four when communicating to females – you can watch her video interviews here.

Q. You’ve named this series Don’t think pink, what are you referring to?

A. Basically, Don’t think pink refers to getting it wrong when trying to tailor marketing to female audiences. A lot of the problems we see come from outdated thinking - use of established stereotypes, outdated assumptions and information. All good intentions - but insufficient thinking or expertise into the female mind.

Linda McGregor,
Principal,
All About Eve

The combination of all these things tends to result in clumsy or over obvious campaigns that come across as a patronising pat on the head for many women.

Here are a couple of examples to demonstrate both ends of the scale.

Pink Cabs
Many women feel less than safe getting into taxis alone late at night, especially with male drivers.

Pink Cabs addressed the issue simply and obviously with female only taxi drivers and with the cabs being easy to spot by being bright pink! Great understanding of a need and even greater positive use of a stereotype female colour.

Dodge La Femme
In the 50s, automotive manufacturers identified women as a new target market and wanted a car to meet their needs.

Even when we account for its age, the Dodge La Femme campaign demonstrated a lack of real knowledge about what women wanted from a car - other than the assumption that it would be about looks - flower patterns and pink. Its withdrawal from the market due to low sales only a few years later says everything about its failure to appeal.

Q. So what’s the answer?

A. We like to say think link, not pink! By that we mean think, first of how to connect (link) with her as a purchaser of your brand when constructing the offer and message. Then, and only then, address the fact that she’s female, by ensuring you use a form of communication that talks to her in and on her terms.

Three pointers:

1. Demonstrate genuine and real understanding of her world, through empathy and ideas
   Women spend their lives outwardly focused on how they interact with others. They expect a brand to behave the same way when it communicates – focus on her, then on itself. The other way around is selling AT her, instead of first bonding by proving it really gets her wants and needs.

   Dove’s Real Beauty campaign is a classic example, it tapped into females need for recognition that women come in all shapes, sizes and looks and are not all supermodels.

2. Perform to her needs and wants
   Remember that needs are rooted in reality thus easier for her to put a value against. Wants however, are all about dreams and often highly emotional, resulting in a different decision making process. One comparison would be the purchase of most grocery products versus the purchase of a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes.
3. It’s not just the brand offer, but also how it’s said, when and where
   We often see good messages let down by poor execution. Sensitivity to context is as natural to women as breathing, so they unwittingly demand the same when you’re marketing to them. Due to her brain construct, she joins the brand dots across message, consistency of talk and action, time, mood and words.

Q. So where to from here?

A. I’ll leave you with one thought to get your mind ready for the coming months. Think about marketing to women as a real relationship. It will help you better assess the reality of your campaign and its likely success.

In some of the topics coming up: women and sex; women and humour; why she’ll always want more; relationships vs. transactions; differences between the sister generations and more. Any other burning topics you’d like covered? Just hit the comment button below and let us know.

Until next time!

Thanks to: Linda McGregor, All About Eve
Posted by: Carmen Campbell

Knowing how to get where you need to go is no longer a problem thanks to the proliferation of gadgets like the GPS and iPhone maps. But what happens when you know instinctively there is more than one way to get to your destination? Which way do you choose?

Enter Waze: a new mobile phone application that, through collaboration with other drivers informs you if the traffic is bad in a certain direction and then offers you a preferable route for that particular moment in time.

Here’s how it works:

Posted by: Carmen Campbell
Thanks to: Contagious, Waze