Mickey Mouse Wine

Branching out from Mickey Mouse and his associated creations, Walt Disney Co. is moving further into lifestyle with projects as varied as furniture, linens and now wine.
In the US Disney is launching a wine label via Costco Wholesale Corp. based on its forthcoming animated film “Ratatouille,” the story of a rodent who wants to become a French chef. The chardonnay product, from the Burgundy region in France will bear the Ratatouille name and sell for $12.99 (£6.50).
Such licensed products targeted at adults highlights Disney’s push to gain a deeper foothold on more sophisticated consumer products. Last year the company partnered with Drexel Heritage on a high end furniture line based on the decor of Walt Disney’s home and office during the 1930s and 1940s.

Canne-ed Learings

Amidst the delicately faded glory of the grand hotels and the elegantly dressed ladies walking groomed poodles, Cannes is June is buzzing with the latest noise from Adland. Brand Strategy went down to the Riviera to find out what everybody’s talking about at this year’s Cannes Lions (June 17th-23rd).

Nationalities of the festival delegates this year reflected the importance of the BRICS with a greater presence of people from emerging economies. Likewise those sipping the chilled rose on the beachside terraces are increasingly likely to put an Asian accent on their English or a Latin American touch to their French. The event is increasingly international in focus.

With the widespread use of mobile phones, blackberries and notebooks,  consumers embrace the personal culture more and more. In a seminar entitled ‘The Third Screen’, Bob Greenberg, Chairman of R/GA and  Annsi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, General Manager of Multimedia at Nokia looked at the convergence of mobility and the internet and its implications for marketing.

Vanjoki states, “With the right message at the right time in the right location, we predict the first screen will become the first screen.”

More and more we are consuming things that can not be touched and these emotions are residing more and more in the web. The mobile phone manufacturer sees those below the age of 20 as ‘digital natives’ while those above are ‘digital immigrants’.

Nokia argues that the mobile phone with its rapidly increasing capacity for giving people access to communication, information and entertainment will become the main device for digital media.

Leo Burnett and Contagious Magazine were intent on ‘Wildfire Brands’. These are the ones at the forefront of technology and the ones where a ‘Return on Interest’ is as crucial as a ‘Return on Investment’. They highlighted interesting work done in this area – all ideas that spread fast, weaving themselves into the fabric of society and capturing people’s imaginations:

• Dominoes Pizza launched a microsite to highlight its $9.99 price promotion auctioning a mass of things on eBay for the $9.99 price tag. The concept saw ipods, video cameras and home entertainment systems auctioned for the price of a pizza.

• The site Gaia is like a fusion of Second Life and MySpace and has over 1 billion registered posts.

• Facebook’s widgits enabled pages are part of the attraction for its 25 million members.

• The Nike + relationship between the sportswear brand and Apple has made running more enjoyable for fans of those brands.

‘Wildfire brands really come into their own in the space of location based technology and personalisation,” say Contagious.

Getty Images, who staged an outdoor photography exhibition at the festival titled ‘Tasting the Limits”, gave a seminar exploring the changes in consumer sensitivities in recent years. These changes have meant carefully crafted advertising can explore sex, violence and bad language to increased degrees. “The consumer is intelligent and can differentiate the content and the context and associate it with the brand’s own values,” argue Getty.

EMI’s panel discussion, Beyond:3.0. – music licensing, creativity and new media, looked at music projects in non-traditional media and creative branding opportunities.

Hot topics for both the music label and the brands that see the potential of music are:
• Brands owning content (e.g Nike giving consumer’s original content).
• Digital Rights Management (where brands have the opportunity to be a taste-maker by financing projects and allowing consumers free downloads)
• User Generated Content.

User Generated Content was the focus for Nike, Unilever and Frito-Lay in a session hosted by U.S.A Today.

Noting that 71 percent of 18-24 year olds spend a significant amount of time online watching content created by other consumers, the brands gave examples of advertising projects they have run which have been created by their consumers. “Brands are giving consumers the platform on which to express their creativity,” says Frito-Lay marketer Ann Mukherjee. “There is a timeless need for people wanting to be heard and create mixed with the need of those who want to discover something new.”

Frito-Lay famously put a user-generated ad on the infamously expensive Super Bowl slot ($2 million worth of airtime). Mukherjee adds: “When your consumers have passion about your brand they protect it with more zeal than you do.”

FIFA and Mastercard settle for $90m deal to end sponsorship

FIFA has agreed to pay Mastercard $90m (£45m) to end a messy legal battle over the rights to sponsor the World Cup. Mastercard will now scrap its proposed sponsorship of the 2010 and 2014 World Cup events. The case first emerged when FIFA ended its sponsorship agreement with Mastercard last year, which had run since 1994, in favour of the financial firm’s arch-rival Visa.

A judge ruled at the end of last year that FIFA had not honoured its agreement with Mastercard as the credit card company argued that that it should be given first refusal on any sponsorships going forward. The $90m is set to be paid in installments and it is believed that FIFA will continue with its new partnership with Visa now this matter is settled.

Seeing red

The pre-school character market is a highly lucrative one, with toddlers easily fixated on an entertainment property, and parents happy to buy into a piece of the licensing to avert another tantrum or for an easy birthday present solution.

One of the most popular properties is Thomas the Tank Engine. With old-fashioned values, quality merchandise and a high resale value, a collection is often highly prized.

But today news reaches us that several classic examples from the Tank Engine range are to be recalled – including the red ‘James’ which is one of the most popular characters. This is due to unacceptably high levels of lead in the paint on the toys, which could flake off if the toy is chewed, as younger children are wont to do. This particular batch, sold between 2005 and 2007, was produced in a Chinese factory and newspaper claims suggest that cost may have been a factor.

This is just the latest in a line of reports suggesting that Chinese factories are producing goods with substandard materials. What is the biggest brand question we should be asking here? That consumers are inconvenienced? That supposedly ‘premium’ products are revealed as being produced for the lowest cost possible? Or that China’s aspirations to become a force in the international economy are hindered by poor quality policing?

How can Facebook work for brands?

A year ago, MySpace was the darling of social networks, the ‘cool’ brand that everyone wanted to be associated with…these days, everyone is talking about Facebook. It is growing in page views by 50% each month, according to some figures, with up to 1.5 billion page views each day. Amazing figures.

The way that brands can operate on networks like Myspace is through posting up a ‘profile’ about themselves. For example, Wendy’s square burger and ‘Towel Boy’, who is a brand ambassador for Lynx both have thousands of ‘friends’ who like the brand enough to ‘link’ themselves with them. It’s a win-win for the brand, who has an audience of people already predisposed to liking the product to which they can then market. And since each Myspace member will have posted up their likes, dislikes and information about themselves, the brand can target down to a very detailed level if necessary. You got a new lipstick to sell – why not only target girls who wear makeup in their profile pictures? This may sound ridiculous but the potential is there.

Facebook is a different proposition. Here you have people linking with friends, rather than just cool bands or brands that they happen to like. At first glance, that might seem limited in terms of how companies can exploit the system. But there are also ‘groups’ where people can join up to show their interest. For example, do you love Coca-Cola? Why not join the We Love Cola group? Again, people helpfully segment themselves into little categories where you can target them….

What do you think? Why has Facebook suddenly got so popular? Is the Myspace phase over or will there just be an increasing amount of specialist social networks from now on? Is this the ‘long tail’ in action? People start off with the big blockbuster social networks and then fragment onto more specialised ones as they get more used to them? Let us know your views.

Paul gets his teeth into Apple iTunes

If you’ve been living in a cave for the past week, you may have missed the news that Paul McCartney has performed a little ditty for an iPod advert, which has been viewed nearly 50,000 times on YouTube in the last few days alone. We believe his solo albums are available on iTunes…although The Beatles releases have yet to appear on the download platform as yet.

Honestly, Starbucks, Apple – Paul’s gone brand crazy!

CSI extends its brand worldwide?

Now this would be an interesting brand extension……the popular US crime show CSI (of which the CSI Miami version ranks as the world’s most-watched programme, we believe) could soon be coming across the pond, according to an interview in Variety magazine.

Apparently, the team behind the show flew to London a while ago to meet Scotland Yard operatives and find out how they conduct criminal investigations, according to an interview with executive producer Carol Mendelson. Season eight of the original series, which is set in Las Vegas, is already set to do some filming in San Francisco.

While it appears that the CSI forensics will not be boarding the planes for Blighty immediately nor is this plan confirmed, Mendelson did say that the worldwide success of the brand has its producers mulling over some new ideas.

Come to London, CSI! Perhaps Gil Grissom could solve the Jack the Ripper mysteries? We can only dream….

Cadbury announces it will cut 15% of workforce

Cadbury confirmed today that it was going to cut 15% of its staff by 2011 – a cull affecting 7,500 jobs. The company, which employs 50,000 on a global scale, saw its shares drop slightly after the news of the reorganisation, which is likely to cost the company around £450m in a one-off charge. The business hopes that profit margins will increase from 10.1% to the mid-teens over the next four years.

Cadbury’s finances were hit hard last year by poor sales in Europe and a costly salmonella scare that required the company to recall a million chocolate bars in the UK, allegedly costing it £30m. Brian Revell, national secretary for the Transport & General Workers’ Union, which represents many Cadbury staff, says that he believes the job cuts were driven by fears of a takeover from private equity.

Certainly, private equity has been sniffing round the Cadbury brand. US reports claim that there are at least two consortia with interest in Cadbury’s Schweppes unit, which produces soft drinks. The company has already said it will probably sell off this section of the business as part of plans to split Cadbury’s operations in two.

So is this bad news for the Cadbury brand in the long term? It was only back in February this year that the company announced its intentions to “invest” to drive sales; now it is cutting jobs. With its extensive European business and US arm, it is the largest confectioner in the world. But can it hold onto this position while cutting staff in a climate of growing obeity fears from consumers? Let us know your views.

LA Fitness launches beach-friendly body initiative

It’s a canny branding move. Gym brand LA Fitness has launched a special short-term ‘Summer Body Rescue’ package for people who need to develop beach-friendly bodies in a hurry. While most gym memberships tie in their members for at least 12 months, the new initiative allows people to pay £30 for 30 days or £40 for four weeks.

The promotional offer will be running throughout July in the UK and will be supported by direct mail, banner and poster ads, in-club marketing and online.

This is an interesting idea and certainly something different from a sector which normally runs a standard recruitment package with price discounts.

Flirtomatic picks up a £2m admirer for the brand

Good news for those people hoping that the surge in social networking sites online can offer them the chance to find the man or woman of their dreams. A service on mobile WAP and online called Flirtomatic has apparently received another £2m in funding to go international; it claims to receive 100 million page views a month on web and mobile already.

Our only question is: is the brand a bit obvious about its intentions? Its competitors such as Facebook and Myspace facilitate flirting and networking (haven’t you “poked” anyone on Facebook yet?) but without the outward stigma or obvious intent of being there only for flirting or relationships. Still, it’s an interesting idea and Brand Strategy will be watching the development of this social network brand carefully….let’s see if a true love affair develops with its consumers or it turns out to be just a fling.