Morning Update: Cadbury invades Loch Ness; Starbucks’ loyalty program flops; How Droga5 branded The Rock; Carlsberg and your mum
Campaign Live: Cadbury teases Loch Ness mystery in Easter Egg campaign
Cadbury has dropped three large eggs into the Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, making it look like the Loch Ness Monster is slowly emerging from beneath the surface. The stunt by Carat is part of the brand’s Easter campaign to make Cadbury synonymous with this time of year.
It also builds on its 15-year partnership with The National Trust and the Easter egg hunts it organises. The eggs, which are around the height of a double-decker bus, have been slowly rising from the water. PsLive, which is part of Dentsu Aegis Network, handled the experiential work.
Ad Week: Changing Your Loyalty Program? Be Prepared for a Potentially Brutal Impact on Your Brand
A lesson for brands thinking about overhauling their loyalty programs to save some money or boost sales: You could be doing more harm than good. The most recent brand to prove this point is Starbucks, which just saw a dramatic drop in consumer perception after overhauling its rewards platform.
On Feb. 22, Starbucks announced that, starting in April, it would change its loyalty program from rewarding customers based on number of visits to instead rewarding the amount of money spent. Predictably, the idea of having to spend $62.50 to earn a free item, instead of as little as $24, didn’t thrill regulars, who reacted negatively and vocally on social media.
Ad Week: How Droga5 Branded Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as It Would Any Consumer Product
When Droga5 sold a 49 percent stake to Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor in the summer of 2013, there was plenty of speculation about how each side might leverage the other—how WME could use Droga’s marketing prowess, and how Droga might employ WME’s roster of entertainers.
Since then, they’ve collaborated many times on a number of projects, from the marketing of Kendrick Lamar’s music to a unique campaign for The Martian—starring WME client Matt Damon—that prominently featured Droga5 client Under Armour. Naturally, Droga5 also found brand-new clients through its WME connections.
https://youtu.be/SgfHSVRHj-w
The Drum: Carlsberg takes a unique spin on ‘your mum’ jokes with Mother’s Day skit
Carslberg has subverted generic ‘your mum’ humour with a campaign taking a more positive approach to the often lewd sentiment. The ‘If Carlsberg Did #YourMum’ campaign celebrates Mother’s Day with comedians Lloyd Griffith and Tom Davis exchanging positive ‘your mum’ quips.
The campaign, devised with creative agency TMSW, the campaign looks to tap into social media conversations surrounding the occasion, while combating negative points of view. Dharmesh Rana, senior brand manager at Carlsberg UK, said: “Anyone can make a stupid gag at the expenses of their friends, but we wanted to create a piece of content which adds a layer of wit and intelligence to it.
Mumbrella Asia: What’s wrong with adland (and how to make it great again)
D. Sriram argues that the ad industry has fundamentally changed for the worse since he joined it 18 years ago, but there are ways to make it great again.
I loved advertising and worked in agencies for 18 years of my life before getting involved in startups and then new media companies.
However, it feels to me like its fundamentally changed, and not for the better. The trade press is full of awards scams, agency reorganisations and layoffs, frequent pitches, falling margins, lack of transparency and disruption by small, smart startups (which then get bought for large, stupid prices). So I got to thinking why, and here’s what I came up with.
Campaign Live: The Top 10 Turkeys of 2015
From Protein World to the Conservative Party, these ads were the biggest flops in 2015.
1. Protein World ‘are you beach body ready?’ by Protein World
2. Hyundai ‘you couldn’t live without this, girl’ by Red Bee Media
3. Lil-Lets ‘TOWIE’ by Leagas Delaney
4. Johnnie Walker ‘the gentleman’s wager: II’ by Jake Scott
5. Tesco ‘Christmas ad series’ by Bartle Bogle Hegarty
6. McCoy’s ‘go bold’ by BMB
7. Airbnb ‘is mankind?’ by TBWA\Chiat\Day
8. Etihad Airways ‘flying reimagined’ by M&C Saatchi
9. Diet Coke ‘regret nothing’ by BETC London
10. Conservative Party ‘road to recovery’ by the Conservative Party
