Tropicana Gets a Makeover

The new gym-members are not the only ones getting a body makeover for the new year. Tropicana has introduced its made-over carton. They have ditched the old straw-in-the-orange and given Tropicana a look that will help differentiate it from brands that had similar cartons such as Minute Made. Simple, clean, and my favorite part - the screw cap is a little orange!

The website boasts, "New fresh carton. Same Great taste. There's a fresh new package just for you. Everybody has their favorite Tropicana. Some people like pulp. Some prefer no pulp. Others want a taste of strawberry or banana with their orange juice.  The package is new and the variety names may have changed a bit, but we've still got your favorite Tropicana."

The little orange screw-top has won me over.

Super Bowl Scramble

The Super Bowl is just a few weeks away, but with the current state of the economy I am anxious to see if viewer's will be receiving the same laugh-out-loud quality of commercials that have been the result of past year's advertising efforts.  According to Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek, NBC has reported having sixty-seven $3 million spots left, but a media buyer survey claimed that only a baker's dozen remained.

Last year the commercial's were pretty disappointing, most being for FOX's own shows. This is what I am hoping for this February 1st (Since the Giant's won't be playing) when NBC puts on the big show: 

1. Anheuser-Busch has continually delivered on creativity for Super Bowl Sunday and is sure to entertain this year.
   
2. Mac. I already own one, but that makes me love the truth behind the commercials even more. Mac hit it big with its 1984 Super Bowl Commercial and I am hoping that Mac will be paying that $3 million to do it again this year.
3. E-Trade. The baby spot was the most memorable for me in 2008 so I am looking forward to what they come up with during a time when the stock market is a mess.

If these three companies do not hit it big during Super Bowl Sunday, at least Bruce will entertain at half time. What are your favorite Super Bowl Spots?

Holiday Hiatus

AdGab will be on a short holiday hiatus.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

See you in 2009.

Starbucks: Saving the World or Saving Its Stocks?

Starbucks will launch its newest campaign beginning November 27th that will run through January 2nd. A campaign that, in my opinion, is a total disgrace. A campaign that was presented to me through Facebook Event Invite. I am actually a bit angry about it.

Starbucks will use cause marketing to attract coffee drinkers to its chains.  From November 27th through January 2nd, any consumer that buys one of three drinks, 1) Espresso Truffle 2) Mocha Twist 3) Gingersnap Latte will have a whole 5 cents donated to The Global Fund to help fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The other $5.55 will go to Starbucks, of course.  In addition, on December 1st, World AIDS Day, the drinks will not be limited to just the 3 - all drinks will have 5 cents donated! WAHOO! (Completely sarcastic, of course).

Now, this actually isn't a bad idea for those that make a daily run to Starbucks already - these customers are given an option to donate 5 cents, of which would normally go towards their coffee addiction, to someone in need. What bothers me is that this billion dollar company is only donating 5 cents of its $6 drink to charity, but marketing themselves to be a company that, as I quote my Facebook invite, "is doing something GOOD."  Additionally, the event invite goes onto say, "Everyone, for the sake of your neighbor, your friends, and most importantly to a stranger, become a PARTNER in this positive action. Come together with your community and contribute. Embrace the responsibility to make something happen, the potential for good.  The world needs our help. TELL EVERYONE!"  The world needs our help - but only 5 cents at a time. What a fantastic message.

Yes, the company still needs to make money, but it is only offering this promotion with THREE of its drinks.  These drinks are also seasonal, which means the loyal customers that bring money into the company daily probably will not be purchasing these drinks everyday from November 27th to January 2nd.  Here's an idea, Starbucks, why not promote donating that $6 that would go towards your coffee to a charity?

Sure, 5 cents can help to some extent, but there are plenty of organizations that are helping to raise money without gaining their own profit from it.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Hanson (the MMMBop boys!) has started their own organization to help raise money towards AIDS treatment and research. Take the Walk offers a number of ways to donate money while still getting something in return.  For example, one can buy their song "The Great Divide" for $1 or the music video for that song for $2 and ALL profits will be donated.  In other words they do not make money off of that sale.  Also, they have partnered with TOMS Shoes - buy one pair of shoes and one pair will be donated to a child in Africa.  TOMS Shoes donates a pair of shoes for every pair bought towards children in need. So yes, TOMS Shoes makes money off that one pair of shoes, but they are still donating another pair which pretty much cancels out the money made on the pair purchased in the first place.

What I'm getting at is: Consumers - please do not be fooled by Starbucks.  Even in this strained economy, they are still able to afford to donate more than 5 cents for every $6 coffee purchased.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

What do you think? Is Starbucks saving the world or just trying to save its stocks?

Product Packaging: An Overlooked Strategy

An article on AdWeek.com announced recent findings by Nielsen Co. that private label brands are considered equivalent to name brands.  According to the article, Nielsen findings include:

• Private label accounted for $81 billion in U.S. sales this year, up 10.2 percent from the previous year.
• Sixty-three percent of consumers believe private labels' brand quality is just as good as name brand quality, while 33 percent of respondents said they consider store brands to be of higher quality than name brands.
• Sixteen percent, however, said store brands aren't comparable in quality to name brands, and the packaging is "cheap-looking"
• Price and value are the primary drivers for growth, with 74 percent of consumers expressing price as the key purchase factor. Two-thirds (67 percent) of those surveyed said store brands provide "extremely good value" for their prices, while 35 percent are willing to pay the same or more for a store brand if they like it. Twenty-four percent of Americans, on the other hand, said they'd pay more for name brands if worth the extra price. 

Private label brands will need to step up their packaging efforts to win over the remaining brand-name consumers. 

  

These packages are similar, however the private brand appears very outdated.  In all honestly, it looks like a bag of cheese curls that has been sitting on the shelf since the early 90s.  Private labels will not necessarily have to spend big money changing its packaging, but rather update it to match the current  styles.  A new, more simple, color-scheme and less cheesy (no pun intended) alligator pose along with smooth lines rather than jagged edges would do wonders for this package.

It is easy to overlook the importance of packaging.  However, packaging contributes to the overall brand image and is reflective of the brand's quality.  What are some characteristics of strong packaging?

1. Packaging should stand out from the competition in an effort to motivate the consumer to purchase.

2. Packaging should remain simple in order to clearly communicate the product to the consumer: avoid cluttering of text and images.

3. Packaging should reflect the brand message.

Consider the recent changes in chewing gum packaging.  Wrigley's Orbit gum moved away from the stick-gum-wrapped-in-thicker-paper and introduced its product in a more unique package. Orbit gum is smaller and thicker than a traditional stick of gum and is packaged in two rows inside a brightly colored thin-cardboard box. Wrigley took this one step further with its 5 Gum by making it's package taller and leaner than Orbit and increasing the number of rows of gum inside the package by using traditional flat-long gum.  Both of these packages stand out from the traditional gum packaging increasing the consumer's interest in trying the brand.

   

What products, based on packaging, do you find most appealing?

GAP Gets Interactive

This week GAP aimed to top some of its best advertising with the launch of its holiday season campaign, "Mix it Up."  GAP is taking advantage of a new strategy (dare I say, attempting to mix it up?) - interactive and viral - to boost its sales this holiday season.  This is a different approach from past campaigns that featured only print and broadcast advertising.  GAP is promoting the mixing of clothing patterns by remixing familiar holiday tunes featuring some of today's top music artists, actors, and actresses.

Entertaining, as always, but this year GAP takes it a step further.  Consumers can go online and view the series of commercials, email their favorites to their friends, and create their own remix featuring the same celebs.  Creators choose the singers and dancers for different segments of the "Jingle Bells" remix and then choose a message to be featured at the beginning of their video.  Each emailed video contains a "special offer," where consumers can register their email address to receive 15% their next GAP purchase and receive further special offers.

GAP is truly using interactive to their advantage.  The self-made remix only takes seconds to create, but has an addictive quality that has the potential to keep the consumer on the GAP website creating and sending out their own GAP promotions.  In addition, the celebs are wearing the signature clean-cut-and-colorful GAP style and makes the clothes look so good it would be hard to pass up stopping into a GAP store to take advantage of that 15% discount.

How does GAP's campaign compare to Office Max's 2007 "Elf Yourself" campaign? First and foremost, does anyone even remember what "Elf Yourself" was actually promoting? It's hard to deny the GAP brand in its promotion since the style of the ad and interactive media is consistent with that of past GAP campaigns. Also, the user is taken to the actual GAP website rather than a sister site - an important detail considering Nielsen Online's recent report that holiday shoppers will spend the majority of their money shopping online this holiday season.  The user can receive 15% off at GAP just for sending an email and the receiver is given the same offer - 15% off is a lot of money in today's economy. Additionally, each streaming ad features a list of the styles seen so the viewer can easily match the look.  GAP's holiday campaign definitely has the ability to hit it big this holiday season.

Check out my mix!

New Faces for Verizon

This post is really just a shameless plug for Verizon's in-store holiday campaign and it's next two years of in-store marketing. Tim Bryan, a friend of mine from high school and current Ford model, will be getting a lot of in-store face time. So get acquainted with him, Verizon customers!