The Marketing Week

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

Honda to show drivers its ‘Other Side’

Honda kicked off an advertising campaign this week to show off the “wild child ego” of its Civic Type R, while reminding consumers of the car’s reputation for safety and reliability. The balancing act is being handled through an interactive video that initially follows a seemingly mild mannered father driving his daughter to a surprise party. If reliability and luxury aren’t at the top of your wish list for a car then never fear because at the press of the “R” button on your keyboard the ad transforms into something far more exciting. It switches to a night-time story, showing the father’s darker side as an undercover cop driving thieves to a police sting. The Wieden+Kennedy-created “Other Side” ad comes at a significant time for the brand, it says, as it looks to establish a concept that will span to three other car launches in 2015.

GOOD WEEK

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has relaunched with a new logo and plan to become a “more relevant and engaging” organization. Various initiatives are planned includingThe Marketing 2025 Hackathon”, a platform to explore themes, challenges and solutions to some of the key issues facing marketers. The body’s performance has improved – the decline in membership has slowed and growth is forecast for next year, while profit and revenue growth has quickened.

BAD WEEK

Lloyds branch staff

The future of in-person branch banking was again thrown into question this week when Lloyds Banking Group announced it was to close 200 Lloyds and Bank of Scotland branches with the loss of 9,000 jobs.

The move was explained away as a reflection of changes in customer behavior and the increasing digitisation of banking. It is also in keeping with the positioning Lloyds Banking Group has for its brands – Lloyds and Bank of Scotland as relationship brands and Halifax, which will see its network increase, as the community-banking brand.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Taco Bell joins mobile ordering app rush

Taco Bell debuted its mobile app in the US this week, claiming it is the “biggest innovation since the drive-thru”. The service lets users select and pay for food from their phones, customise orders as well as access special offers. It sees Taco Bell become the latest of the fast food chains to pounce on mobile ordering in an effort to pull more younger diners into stores. Rather cheekily, the brand has ceased activity on its social media channels to promote the service, except for a single post encouraging followers to download the app.

Coca-Cola shakes up branding with coloured cans

The drinks maker is introducing six colour variants – pink, purple, blue, green and orange – in one its biggest campaigns in Australia. Content from YouTube bloggers backs the campaign, which sees the drinks maker adopt a non-TV approach to concentrate on teens. Australia has proved a lucrative test bed for ideas Coke can scale globally. It is where it first shared ‘Share a Coke’ and the company will likely pay closer attention to the performance of coloured cans in the coming months.

ONES TO WATCH

AOL out to prove it can do “people centric” marketing too

AOL is looking to show that it’s not just Facebook that can offer a “people centric” approach to cross-device campaign measurement. The media owner has combined its ad platforms under the aptly named “One” tool with the aim of convincing advertisers they can now identify and target ads to 100 millions of users, whatever device they use. AOL claims “One” has a 93% accuracy of reaching the specified target. The move shows the business is not prepared to sit idly by as Facebook and Twitter look to widen the scope of their ad inventory beyond their walled gardens.

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

@estevecalzada, chief executive and founder of Prime Time Sport, on Samuel Eto’s sponsorship woes:

“Eto’o struggling to sign a new boots contract once long time relationship with @PUMA expired. He has approached all top brands”

@LairdDRT, EMEA content and communications manager at Millennial Media, on the dangers of facial hair in ad land:

“A German chap at an industry event has just described my bushy beard as resembling that of a Muslim extremist. Wow. Hello would have done…”

@MusaTariq, digital marketing director of Apple Retail on the San Francisco riots after the Giants won the World Series:

“Riots on the streets of SF, loud fireworks, possible gun shots, things on fire & helicopters in the air. I clearly don’t get baseball.”

@jemimakiss , head of technology at the Guardian, on Facebook removing a photo of a mum breastfeeding a premature baby:

“If the mother is nursing a baby on the right breast, Facebook allows the left nipple to be fully exposed. So now you know.”