5 things that mattered this week

From Ted Baker’s new shoppable movie to Deliveroo unveiling a bold rebrand, it’s been another eventful week for marketers. Here are five of the most important stories from the last seven days.

Is Deliveroo rebrand about gaining global appeal or reducing controversy?

With driver strikes making the headlines, it’s been a difficult couple of months for Deliveroo. However, the restaurant delivery service made some positive waves this week as it announced a colourful new rebrand.

It has introduced a more minimalist kangaroo character while overhauling typography and staff uniforms with colourful new designs.

The original logo, along with its black and green rider suits, were designed by friends of Deliveroo co-founder Will Shu, who said in a blog post today (September 5) that it was necessary to rebrand following the rapid global expansion of the company. “Our identity needs to work a lot harder,” he admitted.

A slightly more cynical James White, a consultant at brand communications agency Vital Communications, has a different theory altogether. “The rebrand may have been motivated by a desire to draw a line under some of the bad news which has trailed the company lately by presenting a new brand identity to the market that is bright and cheerful.”

Carling wants to rival Amazon Dash as it launches ‘world first’ beer button

beer button

Following in the footsteps of Amazon and its Dash button, Carling launched a “world first” beer button this week.

The button, which is designed for placement in a consumer’s fridge and syncs with an accompanying smartphone app, enables users to select from either Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s and at a touch automatically adds Carling beer to their online shopping baskets.

Carling-owner Molson Coors says the button is a bid to achieve more visibility after internal research found British shoppers were only able to see a maximum of 10 products on a page when grocery shopping online, with one in three not clicking beyond the first page after searching for a item.

“The Carling Beer Button is designed to tackle the increasing problem of brand visibility online and drive both brand and retailer loyalty,” said Alpesh Mistry, customer marketing director at Molson Coors.

Ted Baker on why more marketers should put faith in shoppable videos

tedbaker

Ted Baker has teamed up with film director Guy Ritchie to launch a short film that allows consumers to click on featured products and buy them, with the fashion brand confident the format will become integral for marketers.

Taking cinematic inspiration from the likes of James Bond, the three minute film – which was executive produced by Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ director Guy Ritchie and directed by filmmaking collective Crowns & Owls – sees the leader of the appropriately titled spy agency T.E.D deploying fashionably dressed agents to prevent a global couture catastrophe.

The twist is that every item of clothing in the cinematic ad, which can be accessed through Tedbaker.com, exclusive UK partner Selfridges.com and US partner Nordstrom.com, can be bought by clicking on it in the video.

Unsurprisingly, Craig Smith, global brand communication director at Ted Baker, thinks the film is a gamechanger: “We’re in an age where consumers are almost disappointed if an ad doesn’t have some form of extra interactivity. People want to be able to shop directly from whatever it is they are hooked into.”

Aldi insists customers are ‘not returning to the big four’ as it unveils ‘Everyday Amazing’ campaign

Aldisalmon

With analysts lining up to discuss a decline at Aldi, the discounter has used an interview with Marketing Week to discredit the claims.

“Things are not slowing down, it’s an exaggeration,” said Aldi’s marketing director Adam Zavalis. “In value terms we are growing faster than we did in 2011 and we are not seeing customers return to the big four either, it is quite the opposite. We have attracted 652,000 more customers over the last 12 week; Aldi is still going from strength to strength.”

Zavalis was speaking as Aldi launched its new ‘Everyday Amazing’ campaign, which focuses on themes such as responsible sourcing and employee wellbeing.

The lighthearted first ad focuses on ‘coffee table facts’, such as Aldi selling 22,000 free-range chickens, its salmon being RSPCA assured and being voted by UK suppliers as the fairest supermarket to do business with.

Following five years of sustained growth, the new campaign, created by McCann, comes during a tougher period than the discounter is perhaps used to. Market leader Tesco has upped the pressure after achieving two consecutive quarters of sales growth, while Aldi’s sales growth was the lowest for five years during the 12 weeks ending 1 August, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Screw it, let’s do it: Virgin Holidays on the launch of its ‘most ambitious campaign’ yet

virgin holidays live ad

Virgin holidays has launched its first live ad in a bid to get more people to take long-haul holidays, as it says that Brexit has made people want their money to work harder than ever before.

The “most ambitious brand launch” in Virgin Holidays’ history begins this Saturday (10 September) when it will air its first live TV ad during X factor. The ad will showcase influencers across 18 different destinations, as the company hopes to demonstrate that normal people can make these destinations a reality, not just celebrities.

“We really want to take it away from the celebrity ether and root it in real people doing authentic things on holiday,” Claire Cronin, Virgin Holidays vice-president of customer and marketing, told Marketing Week.

The campaign involves 90 production crew who will film simultaneous scenes of influencers in their destinations, from riding the Pacific Coast highway in San Francisco to snorkelling in Barbados.

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