Category Archive: Opinion

Everything is Theft… We Just Need to Get Used to It

The article is written by Simon Gore, Managing Director at Holmes and Marchant, UK

Newton called it standing on the shoulders of giants; for Pablo Picasso, good artists copy, great artists steal; but perhaps US film director Jim Jarmusch summed it up most pointedly: “Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination… Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent.”

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Jack Daniel’s…You’re Doing It Right

The article is written by Douglas Kaufman, Head of Communications at Cocoon Group

About 30 years ago, my parents took part in a Jack Daniels promotion in which they ‘bought’ one square foot (a foot is about 1/3 of a meter, for the non-Americans reading this article) of genuine Lynchburg, Tennessee property in exchange for their signature and address. The promotion featured a realistic looking title to the land and probably came with some sort of gift-giveaway -both of which were chuckled over, brought home, and promptly forgotten about.

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From Personal Experience

The brand-customer relationship no longer purely focuses on the product or service but also on the experience — or perceived experiential element — that the brand or product can give. And I firmly believe that the focus of en masse social events and networking (both real and virtual) will now start to shift back to being about the individual. In response, brands will need to find ways to holistically design new experiences to truly immerse us in the brand and nurture the relationship — on a more meaningful and one-to-one level.

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Limited Edition Designs: the Rule of Trinity

With this year’s Olympic Games in London and European Soccer Championship in Poland and Ukraine, it is likely that many brands will try to use these events to reinforce their engagement with consumers. Among other things, we could expect the introduction of several limited editions. In particular, Coca-Cola has got a long track record when it comes to linking to the biggest sport events on earth. Some of these limited editions will be a huge success, while others – like Coca Cola’s ‘polar bear cans’ last winter – turned out as failures.

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The Perfect Partnership

Togetherness is high on both the cultural and commercial agenda as businesses and brands come together to ‘partner’ the Olympic Games. Just how these partnerships will play out come the middle of August is anybody’s guess. But if profile has been raised and sales figures have increased then this association has served its purpose. Short-term partnerships are popular branding exercises to create excitement and exposure. But ultimately so is building long-term value and finding the right brand fit to maximise this is not always easy.

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