Harry Potter applies his magic to theme parks

A Harry Potter theme park? Is there nowhere this brand can’t go? Having said that, we’re actually quite keen to have a stroll down the corridors of Hogwarts….

Photo credit:  PR Newswire

YouTube – once a pioneer, now a corporate partner

YouTube – it was all about being youth and crazy for a while, wasn’t it? If you wanted to dub a Kylie video with the vocals of a squeaky mouse, that was your prerogative. But these days, the Google-owned website is a legit brand that other corporates are lining up to partner with….

Record company EMI has announced that it has signed a deal with YouTube to allow users to access videos from its artists. This means that now all four major record businesses are YouTube partners. Apple has got in on the act too, announcing that YouTube content will be available through its TV set-top box, which means that people can stream videos to their TV from the internet.

All of which means that there would hardly be any excitement left in the world if it wasn’t for Viacom  suing YouTube for $1bn (this follows claims that YouTube was showing Viacom content without permission). Still, even Viacom is sounding conciliatory these days. On hearing about the Apple deal, it said it was still keen to protect its copyrights but would “welcome the opportunity to license content to Apple”.

What’s your view on YouTube? Is the heyday over or has its power just begun?

Pump up the sustainable strategy

Although neither clubbers nor environmentalists can claim counter cultural status these days, the Dutch are managing to give sustainability a sexy and challenging edge in the guise of club night brand Sustainable Dance Club. ‘Sustainable Week in Amsterdam’ kicks off on 1st June with the first Amsterdam sustainable dance night in hip venue, club 11 and heightens the brand position of the clubbing concept.

The Sustainable Dance Club is developed by sustainability innovators Enviu with partner Doll architects and is about making sustainability accessible and appealing to a large group of young people. The concept combines contemporary lifestyle with the latest ideas on sustainability. Elements of the brand experience include generating energy while dancing on a (re)generating dance floor and drinking biological beer.

“We have looked further than just the basics of sustainable building and sustainable entrepreneurship,” comments Stef van Dongen, Director of the Enviu Foundation “We also have considered the possibilities of making the core activities of a club more sustainable, think for instance of sustainable versions of dancing, drinking, flirting and going to the bathroom.”

The brand first launched in October 2006 with 1400 visitors dancing the night away at Rotterdam club Off Corso to a soundtrack of soul, funk and electro. It is now set on world wide distribution. Following Amsterdam, the founders are planning to export the concept to New York, London and Melbourne.

To Do: Cancel Dr’s appointment

You can almost see how the creative meeting went:

“We have a fashion brand whose values are a bit rebellious, a bit ‘hard’, a bit alternative. We have some rock stars who are also a bit rebellious, a bit ‘hard’ and a bit alternative. It’s a match made in heaven.”

“Great, let’s set the scene in heaven too…”

And so shoemaker latest ad campaign was born, featuring dead ‘indie’ rock stars wearing heavenly togas and Doc Marten books, while reclining on fluffy clouds.

However, part of these stars’ rebellion was to espouse a singularly anti-capitalist bent. That they are now – posthumously – the stars of an ad campaign should see them revolving at approximately 1600 rpm.

Message boards are awash with indignation at the company’s assumed gaul, however in a statement released today to Marketing Week, Doc Marten’s wishes to make it clear that:

“Dr Martens did not commission the work as it runs counter to our current marketing activities based on FREEDM, which is dedicated to nurturing grassroots creativity and supporting emerging talent. As a consequence, Dr Martens has terminated its relationship with the responsible agency.”

That agency being Saatchi & Saatchi, which despite protestations that it was a rogue element within the company, will no doubt be nursing its pride, as well as the hole in its accounts.

The Download festival plays with Second Life

The Download alternative music festival has created a viral campaign to run in online virtual world Second Life through an avatar called the ‘Download Dog’. The character (who can be seen below) is an interactive character, who leaves a ‘trail’ through Second Life which other users can then follow as part of a treasure hunt to win an Epiphone Les Paul guitar. The guitar is signed by artists playing at the festival.

The festival has apparently chosen the marketing method as it taps into the idea of ‘communities’. The Download festival has a large online following, which helps the organisers to shape the event’s future through feedback and this was seen as a good fit with the Second Life users. We at Brand Strategy like to see alternative events tapping into alternative universes! It makes a clever branding idea.

If you want to enter the Download Dog competition, click here for more details.

Travelodge asks goldfish to do their bit for customers

This is one of the strangest product offerings we’ve heard about in a while. Budget hotel chain Travelodge is renting out goldfish to help stressed customers get a better night’s snoozing. The company apparently discovered through research that 63% of the British nation is sleep deprived due to stress and 58% claimed that watching goldfish could be the answer.

A leading animal psychologist and sleep expert are backing the scheme and there are some amusing pics (see below). No news yet on how the fish feel about having to stare at Brits all night; is that good for their stress levels? The whole thing sounds a bit like a fishy marketing ploy to us…!

The US follows the UK’s lead on McJobs

Back in March last year, we ran a lot about how McDonald’s was trying to address the image of the McJob within the UK. Now it seems that the Americans have seen the success of this campaign and they want to get in on the act too with their own McJob-praising adverts.

Back at the beginning of last year, the British arm of the fast food company commissioned Professor Adrian Furnham, a psychologist at University College London to do some research into McJobs and tap into attitudes among employees and their families.

Now US and Hispanic ads feature Karen King, a division president at McDonald’s who started her career at the brand 30 years ago and Ofelia Melenerz, who originally joined the brand as an intern and is now a vice president.

So we thought that readers of our blog might be interested in reading about this strategy from the article we commissioned from McDonald’s VP of people…

Read on for the feature:

Is luxury lost? A detailed report from the Walpole Seminar 2007

Luxury brands need to modernise their thinking and stop relying on CRM strategies and old ways of doing business, according to speakers at the Walpole Seminar 2007. The event, which took the theme of ‘luxury experience – magical or mundane’ asked why the industry is failing to pick up on many trends such as two-way dialogue with consumers, personalisation and clinging to outdated ideas of ‘loyalty’.

What You Need To Know

First, Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, set out the context for luxury brands operating today. He talked about the large quantities of private equity available, particularly in Europe, and how this ‘cheap money’ meant good economic conditions were likely to continue into 2008. He put forward some startling facts: last week, the Chinese stock market had a higher turnover than the rest of Asia (including Japan) put together. He emphasised the enormous effect that this one country alone would have on the global stage.

Barber also said that the ‘green’ phenomenon is here to stay. He warned that companies need to get used to operating within this new environment and adapt their businesses accordingly. He also spelt out the importance of the theme of authenticity. He said that in conversations with Unilever, he discovered that the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty material [which uses real 'imperfect' women rather than 'perfect' models] had been downloaded from YouTube millions of times in just a few weeks. Barber says this shows how consumers appreciate authenticity in brands and luxury marques need to bear this in mind.

Green goes mainstream in the branding world: The Top Ten UK Green Brands

We’ve already brought you the top 10 US green brands but what about the UK? Landor Associates has also produced a report looking at green issues in Britain.

The research categorised customers into similar categories to the US:

Bright Green – an older generation that recognises its impact on the environment and is prepared to do something about it.

Green Motivated – realise they have responsibilities but there’s room for improvement.

Green – optimistic that society can handle the issue and are making some efforts.

Fading Green – pessimists about the state of society and are doing little to help improve the situation.

Dull Green – young yuppies in urban areas who are so focused on careers, school and social life that the effort needed to be green respresents a burden rather than an opportunity.

Read on for the Top 10 Greenest UK brands, according to Landor Associates…

Green goes mainstream in the branding world: The Top Ten US Green Brands

Green is a mainstream concern for modern Americans, according to research done on behalf of branding agency Landor Associates. Forty per cent now consider ‘the biggest problem today’ to be global warming. Twenty per cent blame themselves and others like them for the problem and more than half think that society is on the wrong track to protect the environment.

The report identifies five key consumer groups who make up the consumer population:

Active Green – 34%

Green Motivated – 10%

Green Hypocrite – 26%

Green Ignorant – 19%

Muted Green – 11%