Few weeks ago, Pepsico introduced new packagings and logos for Pepsi and Tropicana. Both rapidly became everyone’s favorite topic of conversation, but everyone agreed to say that both were a failure. Let’s focus on the Tropicana one, since so much has been said already about the Pepsi “smiley-faces” logos. As you can notice in the image above, the new packs all looked the same and had a very generic-looking design, removing the “tropic” and “juicy” away from the brand. Consumers were confused in the supermarket aisles: the shelves looked stuffed with OJ packs from Russia circa 1994, making it was impossible to make the difference between the different flavors.
So Tropicana fans rebelled. Mainly online: Twitter, Facebook groups, emails… And Pepsico announced today that they would roll back to the old warmer packagings:
Neil Campbell, president at Tropicana North America in Chicago, part of PepsiCo Americas Beverages, acknowledged that consumers can communicate with marketers “more readily and more quickly” than ever. “For companies that put consumers at the center of what they do,” he said, “it’s a good thing.”
I wouldn’t like to be the agency that worked on the re-branding…
As Donald Gunn taught us in 1978, one of the master formats of advertising is “associated user imagery”. This kind of ad “showcases a type of people it hopes you’ll associate with the product”, in order to transfer the qualities of the people to the product you are trying to sell. In fact, I think this is the format Renault Koreos’ advertisers used to create the following TV ad I just saw last night. The only difference is that here instead of people they’ve got cars.
For the first 47 seconds, this 60-second video promotes the new French SUV in Italy using vintage footage about old Renault models, soundtracked by the irresistible “I’m free” by Rolling Stones, and then finally switches to the brand-new gas-guzzling beast rescuing the old sisters from muddy troubles, concluding with a reassuring voice saying: “4×4 outside, Renault inside”.
I’ve had three cars in my life,and two of them were Renaults. Watching the first 47 seconds I was carried away by all that technicolor galore. But when I saw the 4×4 entering the scene, I jumped on my sofa in disbelief. Even if every single second of the ad was trying to convince me, and was doing it well, then that Renault just didn’t fit it in the picture. Do you remember that classic IQ test question asking: “In this set, which object does not belong?”, that’s how that SUV popped up to my eyes.
Investigating about the concept of this car I found this old post
describing the Koleos prototype with these words:
The new concept car also offers prompt response and driving pleasure, with a hybrid power unit that combines a two-litre 16-valve turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor.
So what happened to the hybrid SUV? I have yet to find an answer.
I think that never like today paying attention to your brand values and your audience (and reality) attracts more money than a good ad. And looking at this 1973 Renault 4 (190g/km) retromercial had me dwelling on another question: what in the world we need SUVs for?
Trendwatching isn’t all about reporting what is currently happening trend wise – it also requires an effort to be able to predict what will happen if things continue going down the road they are going now. It’s not a crystal ball method – we are not predicting the future or giving sure answers. It’s more an empirical approach to society – using the tools we have now, the knowledge we gained through the research to write these article and a gut feeling to say what we believe that will happen in the future. Continue reading ‘Crystal Ball – Generation Neo’
Denshi mane (electronic money) was first used by NTT DoCoMo in Japanese mobiles, Edy (which stands for Euro, Dollar, Yen) is a free electronic pre paid money service that allows you to charge money on your phone or card. This can be used in convenient stores, shops and even vending machines. You can even use your phone when going on the train, instead of using your suica card. That’s the name of the JR Lines metro card, it uses a magnetic strip that you swipe. You can even use it to buy things from vending machines in train stations.
So how does this work? A small magnetic like chip is inserted on the back of a mobile. This chip uses Sony’s FeliCa technology. A small scanning device is placed next to a register, or is attached to a vending machine. All you need to do is scan the bottom of your mobile over the device, and it reads the strip inside.
How does it take your money? You actually have to charge your eddy account. You can do this in several ways. They have small stand alone machines where you can deposit money in and then scan your phone, which adds the money to your account. You can also use your home computer and charge your credit card, but the website only takes certain cards.
Today AU by KDDI and Softbank Mobile also offer this feature and it seems to be doing rather well, although some are better than others. While I was living in Japan I never used mine. The one time I had no cash on me and was really thirsty the convenient store I went into had a broken Edy Machine. I was very disappointed. I do however think this is a very useful tool because I feel this feature will let you even leave your wallet at home. Japanese mobiles seem to play a huge part in life in Japan. It’s almost as if you leave your mobile at home, you leave a part of your life. That’s pretty scary.
After reading about it for a while, this morning when I logged to Facebook, an extra layer in the layout opened, asking me if I wanted to move any of my 49 applications to an extended profile.
I have to say it’s easy and convenient; you decide the applications boxes that you want to keep or store, and your extended profile can be edited any time from your profile page.
How simple??? If only all things online could be this simple. Not wanting to go into a rant about complicated things, but I think Facebook have delivered that first building block of a solution to a problem, whereby if everything was approached in this way it would make the online world one of sheer ease.
I will try to adopt the Facebook “simplicity” model when proposing any online solution!
It’s Consumer Electronics Show time in Vegas and I’m not invited. But our friends at NotCot got that privilege and they came back with a pretty impressive list of gizmos that you’re gonna drool on.
But my favorite from CES is the 3M’s demo of a really really tiny projector integrated, for impromptu PPT presentations or vacation slideshow, as reported by PC Pro. Boston Police, be prepared, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force LED devices turned bomb scare was nothing compared to what those guys could come up with using it.
One week into 2008, we thought that it would be interesting to make a 100% subjective list of the 10 things that shaped our digital landscape for 2007. So the team at Trendwatch Daily went post-fishing last weekend to celebrate our 6-month anniversary and this is what we came back with, in chronological order.
Stresstetainment
A new form of stress born from the over-exposure to too many sources of entertainment at once.
Design Class #1: The Homepage
It’s very often the 1st impression that users get from your site, so you’d better get it right the first time!
Up for grabs in 2008: the coming 2008 dot-com crash, Wall Street gets frustrated with Google, Nintendo banks on fitness, smartphones become mainstream, online social networks grab more ads $ and integrate hi-def video.
The TrendWatch is the collective postings of some of the FullSIX Group’s designers, strategists, and consultants on new media and marketing trends. It is meant to be an impromptu think-tank, and is a way for us to share theories and beliefs about how we think communication and connectivity is evolving.
We work for The FullSIX Group; a leading full service marketing agency with digital DNA. From our 15 international offices with over 600 employees, we constantly embrace and encourage innovation to make integrated marketing and communication campaigns that are more accountable and efficient for our clients.
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