McDonald’s hopes to create environmental buzz around Bee Movie promotion

We have some research coming out in Brand Strategy magazine this month that suggests that children are often teaching their parents about the environment and conscious consumerism. In many schools in different parts of the world, children are taught about recycling, healthy food and so on.

So it is no surprise that McDonald’s has caught onto this trend. It is apparently producing themed meals in conjunction with DreamWorks’ Bee Movie film. It has collaborated with an organisation called Conservation International to back up the meals with some credibility.

The Bee Movie promotional meals will feature a bee character logo on Apple Dippers (peeled apple slices with an optional low-fat caramel dipping sauce) and low-fat white or chocolate Milk Jugs. Restaurant trayliners feature environmental messages and tips from the film’s character “Barry B. Benson” and Conservation International. Kids also get a character from the movie.

The fast food chain will also apparently be working with Conservation International to preserve bee habitats in Mexico and South Africa.

This is an interesting move as it was only recently that Disney ended its 10-year relationship with McDonald’s amid rumours that it didn’t want to be involved with promotions of non-healthy food. The Disney brands now appear on supermarket apples and other fruit snacks in the US and Europe. So it is an interesting move to see how McDonald’s has responded by using its healthier meal options to push the environmental message instead.

Inspired? You tell us.

Vodafone calls into Second Life with InsideOut

This is something that’s been talked about for quite a while but now actually seems to be operating…Vodafone InsideOut.

The service links people in the real world and virtual world Second Life through their mobiles. It is an attempt to take communications across both worlds and link together people’s identities on and offline.

It works like this: your Second Life avatar gets a little handset called a Heads Up Display (HUD). From this, you can ring or text other avatars in the virtual world. If you are offline when your avatar receives a text, it will be sent as an SMS to your real-life mobile. You can also have your Second Life calls redirected to your real mobile if you so choose. If you need to track down a Second Life avatar, you can also call into the world direct from your real phone. Essentially, you need not separate the communications within and without the virtual world.

Anyone keen to find out more about this service or try it out should read the guide at Vodafone’s website.

Then you can be teleported over in Second Life to Vodafone’s special InsideOut island where your avatar can pick up the HUD package from a special vending machine. Apparently the service is free until the end of November 2007 (although using your real phone to call into the virtual world still costs money), so check it out now as charges are likely to be applied afterwards.

What do you think about this? Interesting or too complex? A valuable service or of limited appeal? Tell us your thoughts.

MTV EMAs – a New Sounds of Europe update

MTV has revealed a bit more about its big annual experiential marketing extravanganza, the European Music Awards. As we’ve previously told you, this year’s ceremony has some fun user-generated components such as the New Sounds of Europe category, co-branded with Sony Ericsson. A band is now being knocked out each day until the event itself when three acts will remain. First to go today was Latvian band Astro’n'out…..

The brand has also announced more acts and celebrity presenters for the show including Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas, Craig David, Joss Stone and Wyclef Jean. MTV tell us here at Brand Strategy that Will.i.am alone has contributed to more than 27 million album and single sales worldwide, which, frankly makes us feel a bit like underachievers! Oh well.

Kodak doesn’t picture itself as Olympic sponsor after 2008

Imaging brand Kodak has announced that it intends to end its role as the offical imaging sponsor of the Olympics after next summer’s games in Beijing. The brand has been associated with the event right back to 1896 when it ran ads in the event’s programme. It cites a change in marketing tactics as its reason behind the change in strategy. Kodak says that while the Olympics are great for building a global brand, it needs to look at activities that “more directly connect” it with consumers.

This is an interesting development. The company has been undergoing a transformation for several years as it tries to catch up with the change in its market from film to digital technology. It has amassed nearly $3.2 billion in restructuring charges and accumulated $2.1 billion in net losses over the last 11 quarters. Its workforce will slip to around 34,000 at year-end, half what it was five years ago, according to Reuters.

So does this mean that the brand can no longer afford to spend this kind of money on brand building and sponsorships? Or is the company simply attempting to move its brand building from general awareness to specific understanding of what it can offer – something best done in a more direct way? And does this offer a chance for one of its rivals, such as Canon, to move in and take a plum branding opportunity?

Let us know your thoughts.

Marketing trends for 2008 and beyond….

US marketing consultancy Fletcher Knight has released this interesting list of trends that it believes will be particularly important over the next year and going forward:

The New Luxury: Expertise vs. Prestige
As high-end goods reach down to the masses, luxury is evolving to create a new elite consumer that values expertise more than prestige. Instead of looking to the wealthy for what’s aspirational, this consumer looks to the experts as their role models. Rather than just going out and buying a Sub-Zero refrigerator, for example, these new luxury consumers are asking, “What are the best chefs using in their kitchens?”

The Weight Management Gap
Just as the income gap continues to widen, there will be a growing gap in waistlines. A small group of consumers will take advantage of the proliferating healthy eating options — from organic food to low fat ice cream — to assertively take and keep control of their weight. But the vast majority of overweight Americans, stressed out and financially stretched, will continue to grow heavier. The disparity between the lightest and the heaviest will widen, making America both one of the healthiest and unhealthiest nations at the same time.

Oasis is virtually everywhere

We reported only a few days ago about the band Oasis appearing on the Habbo virtual world network and now here they go again, popping up in Second Life. Or at least their DVD is getting a launch in the online community, thanks to Universal Music….

Here’s how it looked:

Fries and chips

US fast food chain, Burger King, is to extend its gaming presence into mobile phones, with a series of games featuring the brand’s avatar, the King. Far from being free advertising, consumers will have to pay to download the games, providing the company with both revenue and brand presence. It’s not the first time the company has extended into gaming, with a number of branded presences across games such as Fight Night and Need for Speed on the Xbox.

Burger King chief executive, Russ Klein, claims that: “Content-generated share of voice wins hearts and commands attention in an over-crowded medium.”

Will Oasis and Jamiroquai follow Radiohead?

Radiohead’s decision to let consumers choose what to pay for its new album seems to have started a trend. Two other acts no longer in contract to the big labels – Oasis and Jamiroquai – are rumoured to be considering taking similar action with their new music.

While Radiohead haven’t released how many people have already signed up for its new album, the newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports that internet monitoring service Hitwise recorded an 11-fold increase in hits on the band’s site, making it the top music site overall. Google has seen a ten-fold rise in internet hits.

On an interesting note, the band’s spokesperson apparently claims that more fans are signing up for the £40  box set containing vinyl, CDs and artwork than the digital offer. Perhaps a sign that while people want digital music for free, if you offer enough enticements and extras, people will still be willing to pay for something more permanent?

It is interesting to see so many of the predictions of French economist Jacques Attali at MIDEM 2007 – where he said that music would soon be free for consumers and artists needed to start thinking about making their money from offering experiences – come true so quickly.

The music industry will be watching this trend carefully…..and so will all the brands hoping to fill the gap between consumer and artist. It is notable that The Charlatans are offering people their new album for free if they visit the website of radio station XfM – how long before it is artists telling fans to visit the Pepsi or Coke website to download their wares? Interesting times.

Friday’s top adverts: never leaving work and a shining halo

It’s Friday, which for some people means “Hooray, the working week is over” and for others, it means “Oh no, I haven’t done nearly everything this week – I’m going to be working all weekend”.

Whichever camp you fall into, take five minutes to relax and enjoy some fun ads from around the world. Picked out by our friends at AdForum, who know what they’re talking about, we offer up a spot for Halo 3 from the US, which looks almost as good as a Hollywood epic; and a man constantly thwarted in his attempts to meet his girlfriend by the demands of work for Vodafone.

Halo 3:

Vodafone:

Cadbury’s gorilla: when a spoofy ad gets spoofed

It has been hard to miss the buzz around the gorilla advert for Cadbury’s chocolate. A bizarre display showing a man in a gorilla suit playing the drums to Phil Collins, it was only a matter of time before it got spoofed itself. So, for your interest, we have posted below both the original video and the new spoof from Rebel Virals. Enjoy (or be slightly alarmed like us…). We’re still not sure if the original isn’t even stranger than the spoof.

The original:

The spoof: