The Economist takes to high wire for first cinema ad in eight years
July 4, 2009
‘Let your mind wander’ cinema ad aims for curious readers left cold by Economist’s traditional red-poster campaigns
The Economist is launching a radical new brand strategy with its first cinema ad in eight years – a 70 second commercial featuring a high-wire walker.
In a move aimed at boosting the Economist’s circulation, the campaign is targeted at people who do not read the magazine but are “intellectually curious”.
The dramatic advert, “Red Wires”, features wire-walker Florent Blondeau walking through a city on a series of high wires coloured red. Each wire represent different thoughts and ideas inspired by reading The Economist.
A new Economist slogan, “Let your mind wander”, is also being introduced with the high-wire campaign. The Economist said that the high-wire walker represents the “thrill that stimulated minds enjoy”.
The advert will appear in cinemas in Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London from Friday, running before screenings of Public Enemies and Inglourious Basterds. The 70-second version will appear on Channel 4 News on the Sunday.
Regular readers of the magazine loved the Economist’s traditional poster adverts but they did not connect with non-readers, according to the Economist’s UK publisher, Yvonne Ossman. “The brand left them cold,” she said.
The magazine has a history of maintaining its marketing during recessions and it is thought to have spend under £1m on the campaign in an effort to attract more readers.
According to the Economist’s research, there are more than 3 million people in the UK with “high levels of curiosity” about the world. But the magazine sells 186,995 copies each week here.
The research focused on psychographics rather than demographics. “It was less about your job title, more about your mindset,” Ossman said.
“We could have stayed with the previous campaign for many years. We are doing well. I personally think that that’s when you change. When you have to do something, that’s a little bit knee-jerk,” she added.
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, the Economist’s long-standing ad agency, created the new campaign. “Red Wires” was directed by Tom Carty. Media planning and buying was handled by PHD.
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The Hard Sell: Coke Zero
July 4, 2009
The Coke Zero Hero has pulled! He has totally pulled this hot babe - that’s what heroes do - and they’ve probably had sex! WOW! Sex with a hot babe? Heroic! She then goes to have a shower; and that’s when her parents show up at the flat! Time for the Coke Zero Hero (who, it should be noted, has a distinctly unheroic bumfluff moustache) to do his thing! His “thing”, it turns out, is not to hurriedly tidy up the flat then politely answer the door and engage in awkward-but-essentially-friendly conversation with the young lady’s parents; or get the message to her that her folks are here. No, it’s to summon an entire SWAT unit, who blast in through the windows, speed-make the bed, defumigate the pad, muzzle the barking dog and then extricate lover boy in their helicopters, giving him just enough time to make a spectacularly smug “I’ll call you” sign to his new lady friend before he’s whisked off through a blizzard of inexplicable explosions. Now, call us harsh, but what has this twerp done to merit being called a hero? If he’s too scared to even attempt social interaction with his new squeeze’s parents, too lazy to affect the basic tidying up of a studio flat, and can’t even grow a proper moustache, he’s not exactly going to give Batman sleepless nights, is he? And what’s with the shattered windows? More to the point, what’s with the exploding buildings? Coke Zero man isn’t a hero; he’s the living embodiment of feckless, irresponsible, scrounging Britain. Who just happens to have his own private SWAT unit. If he does call, hot babe, don’t answer; you can do better.
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Visit Devon targets Midlands with first TV campaign
July 3, 2009
LONDON - Visit Devon is launching its first TV ad campaign to capitalise on the predicted increase in domestic tourism this summer.
From: http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/RSS/
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Volkswagen tries to lift car industry gloom with Morecambe and Wise ad
July 3, 2009
Morecambe and Wise’s Positive Thinking song used to offer potential VW buyers an ‘infectious burst of optimism’
Volkswagen is bucking the recessionary gloom with a musical TV advert set to Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise’s Positive Thinking song.
The TV ad, which VW describes as an “infectious burst of optimism”, comes as the car industry struggles with a 54% year-on-year drop in production while hard-up consumers back off on making big ticket purchases during the downturn.
Volkswagen took the unusual step of making an upbeat ad amid dire financial times – and chose the song that Morecambe and Wise used to sing over the end credits on their TV programme in 1970s.
The TV ad, created by DDB London, opens with an office worker losing his job. Instead of being downbeat he breaks into song as he walks past closing shops and real estate agents going out of business, on his way to his VW Passat.
The ad closes with the man driving toward a light at the end of a tunnel, watched by a bunch of sheep bobbing along to the music despite being transported to the butchers.
The TV ad breaks tonight and will also run in cinemas nationwide. It ends with the strapline “One thing you can be sure of”.
The car sector cut its ad spend on all media by 19% in the year to the end of April, according to figures from the Nielsen Company.
Car production in the first five months of the year totalled 319,022 – a drop of 54% on the same period last year.
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118 jobs to go as Trinity Mirror axes a swathe of its Midlands’ papers
July 1, 2009
LONDON - Publisher Trinity Mirror has announced plans to close nine newspapers and two niche publications, and merge two other papers, making 118 staff, including about 25 commercial staff, in its Midlands division redundant.
From: http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/RSS/
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‘No prospect’ of Royal Mail sell-off until economy recovers - Mandelson
July 1, 2009
LONDON - The sale of a stake in Royal Mail will not happen under “current circumstances”, business secretary Lord Mandelson told the House of Lords today.
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TMG relaunches Telegraphjobs website
July 1, 2009
LONDON - Telegraph Media Group has relaunched its jobs site with a host of new features that include work advice from BBC Dragons’ Den stars James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne, and the shoe and watch specialist John Timpson.
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Moonfruit Twitter promotion proves a massive success
July 1, 2009
LONDON - Moonfruit, the web design software company, has found itself one of the most tweeted about subjects in the world as word spread of its Twitter-based MacBook Pro giveaway.
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Revolution Forum: How to create the perfect website
July 1, 2009
LONDON - Daniel Bonner, chief creative director at AKQA, which scooped the Cyber Grand Prix a Cannes last week, gives his five tips for creating world-class digital experiences.
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Twiggy returns to adverts for Olay cosmetics - 25 years on
July 1, 2009
Model appeared in campaign for Oil of Ulay - as it was then known - in the 1980s
Almost 25 years after she appeared in an advertising campaign for Olay, Twiggy has been re-signed to front a national marketing push for the anti-ageing cosmetic brand.
Twiggy, who turns 60 in September, last fronted a TV ad campaign for the Procter & Gamble-owned beauty brand in 1985. At the time the range was known as Oil of Ulay.
P&G has signed Twiggy, who most recently appeared in a TV campaign celebrating Marks & Spencer’s 125th anniversary, in a one-year deal to promote the Olay Definity range that “goes beyond fighting the appearance of wrinkles”.
The first ad campaign, which targets women aged from about 50 to 65, will run in national press.
P&G said signing Twiggy was, at least in part, a sign of the growing trend among fashion and beauty brands to use “age-appropriate” models to target consumers.
The FMCG giant uses younger models to front other lines of beauty products for different demographics such as Camilla Rutherford, the 32-year old Gosford Park actress, and the model and women’s editor of GQ, Saffron Aldridge.
“Some of our consumers will remember Twiggy’s first campaign,” said Carla Berry, P&G beauty and grooming spokeswoman. “But what is most important is that she is a relevant role model for mature modern women today.”
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