Holidays are coming

Christmas adverts have always provided a festive marker for me. My sister and I used to wait impatiently for the Coca-Cola, holiday’s are coming advert. Seeing it was akin to glimpsing Rudolph’s nose peaking over the horizon- a promise of the festivities soon to come.

But when did Christmas advertising become so competitive?

Over the past fortnight, the heavyweights of British retail have been flexing their media muscle, eager to gain audience approval and drive consumer conversation through attention-grabbing television campaigns.

One of the first big-brand efforts to run the critical gauntlet was that of Waitrose. The up-market food retailer has chosen to shun big budget TV advertising this year, instead giving the estimated 1 million pounds usually spent to charitable causes. The result is an irritatingly pious offering, featuring Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith, being very vocal about just how socially aware Waitrose is. It’s smug and seems to wave an implicit naughty finger at all the other retailers, including sister company John Lewis, who have continued to toe the blockbuster line. Clearly there’s no place for sisterhood in the competitive retail Christmas.

Despite this, John Lewis is claiming that its Christmas commercial, devised by advertising greats Adam and Eve DDB, is its most successful yet. The advert, which launched last weekend (10 November), has generated some 6,790 likes and 1,340 shares on Facebook so far and was trending last week on Twitter. Its 'go that extra mile' message is illustrated by a snowman, who travels over mountains and across streams, only to return with a hat and scarf set (presumably from John Lewis), for his shivering snow wife. All this is set to a cover of The Power of Love and is executed with a comic charm that has generated praise from viewers and critics alike.

Alongside the traditional, some say sentimental, ads this year, a worrying trend for realism has emerged. Asda came under fire last week, after airing its Christmas advert with the strapline, ‘Behind every great Christmas, there’s mum.’ The commercial features a fraught mum, juggling the demands of a thankless family, with Asda seemingly her only help. How the supermarket chain did not see the furor this would cause, I do not know, but it has outraged both male and female viewers, generating a strong reaction from fathers for justice who claim it belittles the role of fathers at Christmas.

Television advertising plays a huge part in communicating brand vision and ethos, and there are obvious, safe ways to use it.  Nevertheless, be it in an effort to snatch the rare Christmas pound, or mere creative competitiveness, retail brands are increasingly looking to create impact with their seasonal advertising offerings. The problem is, the flip side of impact is often risk. As Asda is now finding out, investing in advertising that communicates controversial brand values can be a costly mistake, especially as (according to my mother), all anyone really wants to see is Take That dancing round a country house.  

By Polly Robinson

Train rides and teas

My name is Emily Smith and I’ve been working at Wordville for the past three days on work experience. It’s certainly safe to say that I’ve had far more opportunities working here than I would have had done in Tesco, and I am very grateful for the chance to work here and for the insight the experience has given me into how PR really works.

Day one: The commute. With the number of large business men surrounding, getting to work was a daunting prospect in itself.  Once here I was bombarded with tasks: clippings, magazine overviews, meeting arrangements and more. I quickly started on clippings. All of this work was shocking, as my friends’ texts complained they did nothing but watch videos on Youtube, make teas and watch men e-mail all day.

Although work is never supposed to be fun, I was happy to get on with it. That way I wasn’t twiddling my thumbs for hours like my friends back in High Wycombe.

Day two: Clippings finally finished, onto the next tasks. One thing that I appreciate is the kettle. As on weekends I seem to have a cuppa every couple of hours, schooldays feel like 6 hour long periods of tea deprivation. The copious tea consumption at Wordville meant there was always a cup of PG’s on hand. I was also given the huge responsibility of post duty which was an honour.

2:40pm I left Wordville towers to get the train and sit in on a client meeting. This was beneficial as it gave me an idea of the client PR relationship and the way in which collaboration is crucial. This also meant an early finish. By 4:10pm I was out of the meeting and on Tottenham Court Rd with Dorothy Perkins and a rather nice blue dress calling my name.

Day three: Today I have written up meeting notes, researched PR stunts and now I’m just waiting for Jess’ tasks, bobbing along to a bit of Radio 1.

Tomorrow there is a video streaming that I’ve signed up to watch on www.prweeklive.com and I’m also being taken along to another client meeting at that I’m looking forward to.

Overall my experience at Wordville so far has been very enjoyable and everybody here has been very welcoming in the office.

So for my impressions: Lucy is very on the ball during work, with bags of energy in the way that she speaks and acts. Jess is hugely competitive and always well prepared. She knows exactly what is needed when it comes to her clients. Steph is calm and very efficient in the tasks that she does, whilst Pema is a great guide and explains everything extremely well. Last but not least, Polly is great and very ‘in the know’ with her work and prepared for what anyone throws at her. 

Before I came to the company I thought PR was simply organising events for businesses. Working at Wordville has shown me that PR here is all about helping companies ‘punch above their weight’. The Wordvillains have fun but also really care about their clients, and this is something I admire.

By Emily Smith

Not for nervy flyers

Like thousands of other people, I tuned in to watch Channel 4’s The Plane Crash last week. I’m a bit of a masochist really; a nervy flyer due to fly out on a business trip just seven days later. But I went ahead and watched anyway.

As I boarded my plane this week, I couldn’t help but think back to The Plane Crash. In the staged crash the nose of the plane snapped off, “killing” the test dummies unfortunate enough to have been placed in the front 12 rows. According to the programme, those sitting at the back would have escaped unharmed. So I made a beeline for row 31, smug that I had bagged myself a “safe” seat. The people in “club class” were welcome to enjoy their extended leg room and extra cups of tea and coffee – at their peril.

Many critics argued that The Plane Crash was little more than a publicity stunt for Channel 4, and accused the broadcaster of bad taste considering that 19 people (seven of them Britons) had died just nine days earlier in a plane crash on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. I share their sentiment on that, but also, did Channel 4 not consider that it was bad publicity for flying?

My short flight to Milan was the longest two hours of my life. Every bump sounded like an engine exploding; every creak sounded like the bodywork breaking; and every time the engine quietened I was convinced the plane was going to drop from the sky. I couldn’t help wishing I’d refrained from watching that programme.

I also noticed considerably more people sitting towards the back of the plane – but in truth it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference where you sit as every crash is different. Is it really healthy to add to the nerves of flyers, and have them spouting all sorts of irrational theories and paranoia about where and how to sit?

The multi-million pound experiment was meant to provide data on the impact crashes have on the human body. It may have done, but will it really help passengers in future crash situations, when the exact circumstances of landing are as yet unknown?

One thing that struck me during the experiment, was that while the poor passengers were left in the plane to meet their destiny, crew members simply slipped on a parachute and effortlessly jumped to safety. I was left questioning why this option is not available for passengers on ordinary flights. If The Plane Crash is anything to go by, there would be plenty of time to get everyone out before the jet ploughed into the ground, thus saving the “lives” of the test dummies in rows 1-12.

My point is that while The Plane Crash was without a doubt a compelling change from Z-list reality drivel, it was bad PR for flying. If I were a press officer for Easyjet, British Airways or Ryanair I would be less than thrilled with the documentary, which bought the reality of flying into sharp relief. If something goes wrong at 30,000ft, there’s really not a lot anyone can do.

By Jessica Matthias

Brands fall face-first for extreme marketing

So unless you have been living under a rock for the past week, then you would have heard, read or seen something about the Red Bull Stratos jump. This publicity stunt was the one to end all publicity stunts – Red Bull somehow convinced dare devil Felix to free fall a jaw dropping – 96,000 feet or, in other words, from the edge of space. Now as someone who is terrified of heights, to me, this is crazy, insane, bonkers – take your pick.

It did however get me thinking about publicity and the lengths that companies will go to capture their audience’s attention. As time has gone on, marketing stunts have grown more outrageous, risky and in this case, out of this world.

There’s no denying that successful publicity stunts have news value and create buzz around a brand. Google has confirmed that the stuntman’s supersonic dive over New Mexico was watched by eight million concurrent viewers on YouTube, the largest in the website’s history. On Facebook, the first picture of Felix was shared nearly 30,000 times in 30 minutes and Twitter said the event generated more than 3.1 million tweets.

In terms of creating brand buzz, it’s safe to say Red Bull has done that. Hats off to Felix. He’s a true daredevil and now a world-record holder. However I think another risk taker forgotten in this stunt is Red Bull. Yes their activity has generated has lots of media attention and a social media sensation, but the fine line between success and failure here was very fine.

If Felix had gone into a rapid spin, he could have passed out, damaged his eyes, brain and cardiovascular system. If his space suit had ripped his skin would have boiled. On replay, this would be terrible to watch, but imagine the whole world viewing it live. The lasting damage to the Red Bull brand would be both lasting and catastrophic. I doubt anyone would pick up a can or feel inspired to take on the world for quite some time.

As great as publicity stunts can be, they have a dangerous flip-side that can create long term, irreparable damage to a brand, person or product. World records in stunts just don’t cut it anymore. Instead marketers are turning to this form of ‘extreme marketing’ to create stunts so outlandish that they are virtually impossible to beat.

Nevertheless sitting here, with both feet firmly positioned on the ground, I can’t help wondering how long it will be till one of these stunts beats a brand.  

By Pema Seely

Women say no to Crispello

This week, Cadbury’s kicked up a media storm, announcing the release of its latest chocolaty confection, Crispello.

The company is pinning its hopes on the new product, the first since the 1990s, to reverse a worrying downward trend in chocolate sales. According to industry research, annual sales of single chocolate bars fell by 6.6 per cent last year, in a market worth approximately £800m a year.

Now apparently women are to blame for this. We are all too weight conscious and have therefore decided to forgo fatty snacks in favour of nuts, raisins and rice puffs. Taking this as our (dubious) starting point, you can understand Cadbury’s logic in designing a slim-line chocolate bar that would appeal to women with one eye on their waistlines.

Nevertheless, it is one thing to design a light chocolate bar which may appeal to women, it is quite another to market it so unashamedly to an out-dated female stereotype.

A Cadbury’s spokesperson described the concept behind the new bar, “The mix of wafer and chocolate is a lighter way to eat chocolate, and we know from experience that women are attracted to this particular format. It will also appeal to women, because it is in three separate portions so they can consume a little at a time rather than in one go.”

Much as I hate to admit it, I am just the kind of girl that this bar should appeal to. I find a whole snickers hard to handle and have a tendency to buy a bounty, only to leave the second half for later (much to my flatmate’s consternation).

But if there is one thing I hate, its being patronised.

Susan Berfield summarised my feelings exactly on Bloomberg BusinessWeek commenting, ‘I’m sorry, did the spokesman just tell women how to eat chocolate?’ 

Everything about the Crispello, from the tragic strapline (‘A little treat for you’), to the condescending comments of the Cadbury’s spokesperson, makes me want to inhale a king-sized Mars whilst burning my bra.

I do not deny the business sense or effectiveness of gender specific marketing. I do however think that marketers need to spend more time ascertaining how that gender would like to be marketed to. Women in the 21^st century may still count calories, but we’ll be damned if anyone counts them for us.

By Polly Robinson