Five things you need to know this week
From Twitter’s 10th birthday to Tesco launching seven new value own-label brands, it has been a busy week in the world of marketing. Here is what you need to know.
Twitter turns 10, but faces tough challenges to survive
Monday marked the 10th anniversary of Twitter. The platform remains a popular destination for brands and users alike looking for real-time information, with over 500 million tweets posted every day.
Yet Twitter is facing an uncertain future and a challenge in staying at the forefront of a fast changing media landscape as user growth stalls and it faces issues over usability. To survive, it must convince both advertisers and users that it can be more than just a social network and prove a link to people’s interests.
Peter Markey, CMO at the Post Office, explains: “Social media and our use and expectations of it will continue to evolve, and Twitter must evolve too. For marketers, the desire to draw customers closer to their brands will only intensify further and Twitter must keep in step. Beyond sponsored tweets and vines, what more can they do to take engagement to the next level? I hope we’ll find out soon.”
Tesco launches new value own-label brands in a bid to challenge the discounters
By launching seven new value own-label brands, Tesco hopes to lure customers away from discounters like Lidl and Aldi and ensure more customers do their weekly shop at one of its bigger stores.
The new value brands, which look pretty similar to Aldi’s branding, will include 76 new lines split equally across fresh produce and meat and poultry, and all existing ‘Everyday Value’ branded items within the seven categories will be switched over.
A Tesco spokesman says: “Over the last 18 months we have been simplifying our ranges, launched Brand Guarantee and improved customer service.
“However, we know customers want the convenience of getting all their shopping in one place. These seven new brands, which are exclusive to Tesco, address our customers’ needs for quality fresh food, at very competitive prices in a single shop.”
Carlsberg launches its biggest experiential event yet with chocolate pop-up bar
Chocoholics, take note. Just in time for Easter, Carlsberg has launched its “biggest experiential event” yet in the form of a chocolate pop-up bar to ensure people are “thinking about beer as much as they are thinking about chocolate”.
It is a fully functioning, three metre deep, pop-up bar containing chocolate versions of traditional British pub staples such as a chocolate dartboard and bar stools. Members of the public can also help themselves to a complimentary half-pint of ice-cold Carlsberg, served in a bespoke Carlsberg-engraved milk chocolate glass.
Dharmesh Rana, Carlsberg’s senior brand manager for the UK told Marketing Week that this type of experiential marketing is great “for bringing a brand idea to life”.
He said: “It’s a great platform for us to take certain topics or aspects that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a beer brand or the beer category and engage with a broader audience.”
Persil launches global campaign focusing on lack of children’s playtime set in US prison
Persil’s new campaign is not what you might expect from a laundry detergent brand as it focuses on the worrying statistic that prisoners spend more time outside than the average child.
As a result, Unilever‘s Persil has created ‘Free the Kids’ – a film set in a maximum security prison in the US. It features various prison inmates talking about the importance of their daily outdoor time and the lack of outdoor time that children experience.
James Hayhurst, global brand director at Persil, told Marketing Week that while the new campaign is a continuation of the brand’s ‘Dirt is Good’ messaging, it takes a more radical approach in order to get its key message out there and drive behavioural change.
“With the campaign we wanted to illustrate the importance of the matter, so that parents can understand it’s a serious issue. It’s hard to get people to listen, which is why we developed it in this way.”
How focusing on people, not products has kept Vans relevant 50 years on
Twitter wasn’t the only brand celebrating a birthday this week, with Vans seeing in its 50th year. While the brand has been resolutely tight-lipped about its financials, it is projecting business growth of $2.9bn in 2017.
When it comes to the secret of the brand’s success, Neil Schambra Stevens, VP of brand marketing for the EMEA region at Vans, credits founder Paul van Doren’s vision for its longevity.
He explains: “Paul wanted to make it a people company rather than a shoe company. That’s been critical for us in terms of how we develop our products. We have credibility in footwear, apparel and accessories, and so the opportunity to expand into new product groups and categories has been a key part of keeping us relevant.”