Vodafone Supercats

There's some great examples of marketing as I'm making my way around the world. One of the best I've seen so far has been in the Greek Islands. It's a bit of a time consuming task getting between the islands, except when you're on one of the super-fast, super-modern jetcats.

There's four of them all up, and they're covered head to toe with the Vodafone logo. You can spot them when you're on the beach, or high up on an island hill, cutting through the ocean with a powerful force. They're the quickest, most comfortable and most modern way to get around.

This is relevant branding. Vodafone has single mindedly linked themselves with a vehicle that conveys a lot of the sharp attributes the brand wants to stand for. And not a competitive logo in sight.

Compare this to an AV Jennings or ANZ sign hanging around the fence at a Swans v Crows game at the SCG. Plus the other 200 brands all fighting for attention in the same space. And most people tend to just watch the footy.

A complete waste of money and totally irrelevant to the environment. Unless of course you're the Managing Director of one of those companies and you get to drink expensive beers and noodles out of paper boxes behind glass windows every second week. Then I suppose it makes sense to spend the money.

Der Guten Guys

Munich, Germany

Just to prove that consumers will buy products from dickheads all over the world, I have found Germany's answer to The Good Guys.

They are Der Guten Guys. They sell a fantastic range of electrical equipment and whitegoods at great prices.



Der Guten Guys next to their Aussie counterparts, The Good Guys

The Big Apple

Regent St, London

Mars brilliant Believe campaign has hit a snag. Apparently the marketers forgot that the thing is distributed in Scotland as well, and now the haggis munchers are urging a boycott of the bar. It's hard to believe your national team will win the World Cup if you're not even in the tournament.

The guys at Apple know how to do it properly. I reckon the new Apple store in Regent St is the best example ever of a company bringing a brand to life. Mac heads everywhere, with their Macs, talking to heaps of Mac staff about all things Mac. Upstairs there's a small auditorium where workshops are run every hour on all the different applications. They've sold me....it's the first thing I'm buying when I'm back in town.

Why is it that Apple is targeting the same market as Coke and doing it so much better? Everything about Apple appears classy....the ads, the style, the fonts, the attitude, product benefits.

Apple invents the amazing Apple Store. Coke launches a new product with something called The Coke Zero Movement. It was the Scottish Believe Mars Bar.

Believe

LONDON, June 5, 2006

Flew into London from Mexico City. England is getting very excited, and why not. The World Cup is only 4 days away and the pubs will be packed.

Mars have rebranded their Mars Bars for a limited time. They are now called Believe bars. Obviously they came up with this strategy before Wayne Rooney got injured and was replaced by Peter Crouch.

Either way, it's a clever strategy. How many times have marketers talked about going for the emotional pull, only to get scared and end up in a steaming pile of functional claims and a Brand Power ad.

And Mars aren't actually saying England are going to win it. They're just asking to believe that they can. Kind of like the ALP.

Mars are also rolling out the same campaign in other countries by renaming the Mars Bar.....

Brazil - Ours
Togo - Fluke
Switzerland - We support all names
Costa Rica - Buckleys
Australia - Who Gives a Shit, We're There!

I actually bought a Mars/Believe bar yesterday and the only thing I really believe is that the size of them is going to get even smaller.