The bigger, the better? From the very first day it was introduced to the European market a decade ago, smart fortwo proves that this notion is quite arguable. With the new campaign developed by Razorfish and Merkley & Partners, New York, the car is also changing the car attitudes of Americans and tries to beat their ‘obsession’ with ‘big.’ The marketing initiative under the ‘Unbig. Uncar’ tagline, kicked off in the USA in September (it’s the first-ever smart’s campaign since the official launch of the brand in this country in 2008), revolves around the idea that small and eco vehicles can be much better, more ‘unboring, unobey, uncluttered, unblah’, than traditional bigger cars.
Author: Anna Rudenko
Every successful brand or company has a team of people, who developed the winning strategy and helped it move forth—and, in its turn, every team has its leader. Adweek, the magazine dedicated to covering creativity, client/agency relationships and global advertising, honors world’s most powerful marketers, who contributed to strengthening international brands, which shape out today’s culture and in some way determine our tomorrow. This year Adweek will celebrate eleven individuals, who helped global brands continue re-imagining our world, with the prestigious Brand Genius awards (formerly known as Marketer of the Year) “for their success in genius concepts.”
Global companies do not hesitate to share their expertise—and money—with aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses. Among those who come out to support little companies and help lead their country out of the global financial are Facebook, Dell and Starbucks to name but a few, and this list is growing. MillerCoors is one of those who provide aspiring businessmen with a monetary support to develop their companies, diverse and promising—though its MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneurs Series (MUES) program, the alcohol manufacturer has been giving away five grants of $150,000 annually for over a decade. Now, the company is announcing a new submission round (this year, the period was extended by nearly a month), which is running through October 28 at www.MillerCoorsMUES.com.
PepsiCo has finally selected the winners of its PepsiCo10 program in Europe, which was rolled out in early summer as a follow-up to the U.S. version of the initiative launched last year. On October 4, the food and drinks giant, which is committed to driving innovation in everything it does, announced the 10 technological start-up companies, which were chosen from over 130 submissions from all across Europe.
The number of American companies supporting small businesses in their country is growing—Facebook, American Express, Google and Dell to name but a few are now joined by Starbucks, which has teamed up with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) to launch Create Jobs for USA, an initiative that encourages consumers to donate money, which will be used to strengthen community business nationwide.
Following a three way pitch, Anthem Worldwide, the strategic design division of Schawk, whose integrated global network provides innovative solutions to articulate, unify and manage brand impact to create compelling and consistent brand experiences, has been appointed by PLUS supermarket chain in the Netherlands to create a positioning, design strategy and brand architecture that will work across its whole private label portfolio. The objectives are to create a look and feel for PLUS’s products that reflects the retailer’s brand values and delivers a brand in its own right for PLUS which does not follow ‘A’ brands.
Aside from producing and selling new ranges, most big global companies pay a lot attention to charity and social projects, proving that today business means not only making money but sharing it as well. Sometimes, to pursue these goals, companies create unpredicted alliances—one of them—Ford Motor Company plus General Mills—has been formed recently to support the school funding the Box Tops for Education (BTFE) initiative in the USA, running for the 15th straight year. Starting today, October 3, the automobile giant joins the food manufacturer in rolling out a two-month program to generate $1 million in support for schools across the country.