Brand Building on the Internet

Consumer packaged foods have found the recipe for a successful life on the Web. Bob Tedeschi reports on New York Tiems (free reg.) about the online branding efforts of Unilever, Kraft and Procter & Gamble.

File under: Consumer packaged foods, online branding

Crime, let’s bring it down� campaign

In the UK Profero has recently produced a series of viral clips for the Home Office and COI Communications (Don’t give them an easy ride. Crime, let’s bring it down� campaign). he three clips were written by Profero and revolve around an opportunistic robber in a underground car park who spots a �target� vehicle and is confronted with various scenarios when he attempts to perpetrate a crime. Have a look at them online, they’re really nice and funny: www.secretcctv.co.uk.

File under: online video viral campaign

Budgeting Internet advertising

How much money should you invest in online advertising? Mark Redetzke provides an answer today on ClickZ. Well, he doesn’t give you any exact number, but he provides you with important inputs to evaluate our strategy and come up with a budget decision and information, you know means money.

File under: budgeting decision, online advertising budget

Visa’s online branding strategies

Increase the awareness of Visa’s sponsorship of Nascar. This the main goal of Visa’s online promotion to build a relationship with a loyal and high affinity audience. On iMediaConnection you can find campaign insights from the latest Visa’s year-long branding program.

File under: campaign insight, online branding, visa

The Role of Content-Based Advertising

Content-based advertising is still in its infancy but everybody is already talking about it as the future of search engine advertising. On E-CommerceTimes yesterday, Robyn Weisman reports on contextual advertising, quoting analysts from IDC and GartnerG2.

File under: content-based advertising, contextual advertising, search engine advertising

Jose Cuervo “Endless Summer” Campaign

Jose Cuervo, the tequila maker, wants to drive grassroots awareness of its brand, therefore has decided to run an online campaign in the US to switch Labor Day from the first Monday in September to whatever is the official last day of summer. The news is reported on DMNews today by Mickey Alam Khan who explains that the campaign includes banners, e-mail and the Web site at www.cuervonation.com. Jose Cuervo basically wants people to sign up for an online petition to delay summer’s end, later they will send the petition to the US Congress. Sam Chadha, global integrated marketing manager at Jose Cuervo International in New York. says: “For us, it’s getting close to our customers and learning more about them, and CuervoNation is the platform for the brand. The actual promotion mechanics encourage consumers to contact likeminded people to gather as many names as possible”.

Apparently it’s a smart marketing idea to collect names and demographics from online users. Personally I like the fact of using the “Endless Summer” concept, but I believe that such an official looking petition is exaggerated, making the campaign rather dumb. To see some of Cuervo’s banners exposed online, click here, and here.

File under: brand awareness, collect data, cuervo nation, endless summer campaign, jose cuervo

McDonald’s ‘Cool Train’: a successful wireless campaign

McDonald�s �Cool Train� developed by Tribal DDB Sidney has won two awards at Mobile Marketing Association Awards held last month in Sydney. Tribal DDB won the major award for �Best Use with Radio� and won the Highly Commended award in the overall �Best Integrated� category. As explained on the agency

File under: australia, brand interaction, mcdonald's, mobile marketing

Pop-ups: extinction is close?

Pop-ups are annoying and even non-effective but… they are still there, alive and somehow healthy. However, according to the opinion expressed today on IAR, pop-ups are their way to extinction. I particularly liked the way Paul Iaffaldano, Weather.com’s chief revenue officer expressed his opinion about pop-ups :

“I believe from the very bottom of my heart that pop-us, while a very wonderfully ingenious idea, are not the most effective way to reach consumers. I think the industry will move beyond pop-ups in the next year or so.”

Let’s meet here in one year time and see what has changed. I’m not so sure pop-ups will disappear so easily.Pop-Ups Under Siege

File under: pop-up

Virgin Mobile likes to make it viral

Digital Media Communications has just released a new online buzz campaign called “Red Academy” for Virgin Mobile. The campaign features a digital film clip called ‘Friends’ that pokes fun at the Orange campaign by introducing viewers to the Virgin Mobile ‘Red Academy’ and its childlike Machiavellian character Damien who compels naive trainees to “forget phone functions and simply phone friends”. You can have a look at the Friends film on DMC’s Web site. As reported today in Mobile Youth newsletter, recently Virgin Mobile has announced that it has reached 3,000,000 customers, confirming its position as the fastest growing network ever seen in Britain.

File under: friends, viral campaign, virgin mobile

Online advertising on the rise in France

As reported today on Le Journal du Net online advertising is growing in France. “E-pub”, as defined in French, has reached a value of 119 millions of Euros in the second term of this year, with a growth of 64% compared to the same period last year. The data come from a recent study by TNS Media Intelligence-IAB France and highlights the fact that online advertising has surpassed by three times movie advertising. Cars, travels, telecommunication providers and banks are the most active sectors in online advertising.

File under: cars, france, investment, online advertising