Video: Burberry Open Spaces Film

January 30, 2023 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

Burberry Open Spaces Film https://youtu.be/iCbfq_-cd-g (2:24). Pure unadulterated fun – I guess that is the positioning (Chapter 4 and maybe Chapter 13 – promotion objectives) that Burberry is seeking here.

YouTube description: “A pioneering spirit has been part of Burberry since the beginning, with our founder Thomas Burberry inventing our signature fabric gabardine to help people embrace the outdoors and explore new spaces and places. Today, we continue this journey with a film that blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. The cast bound weightlessly through fields, defying gravity as they take flight – challenging convention and exploring new perspectives. As Thomas Burberry wrote in his book Open Spaces, ‘Inherent in every Burberry garment is freedom’. Captured in the British countryside, #BurberryOuterwear offers us the freedom to move into new spaces beyond boundaries and expectations.”

What’s with the M&Ms

January 26, 2023 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

There is a lot going on with America’s favorite (ok, maybe second favorite) candy. This could lead to a fun discussion in class. The M&M’s “spokescandies” have been around for a while. But it is only recently that the candies have taken a stand on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has brought criticism from conservative media. Is the recent decision to back away from the spokescandies and use Maya Rudolph in their advertising a good move? A bad one? I find it interesting to discuss brands taking a political stand.

If you want to get up to speed, I suggest starting with this well-researched (it quotes three marketing professors) article on CNN Business. Then, you might show the two videos below in class. The first is from a few months ago when M&Ms introduced the new purple spokescandy. Below that a short video introducing Maya Rudolph as new spokesperson. The word is the candies will also have a Super Bowl commercial, and it will be interesting to see how they approach that.

Video Case Study: Public Health Promotion “Lil Sugar”

January 24, 2023 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

Part of my YouTube PowerPoint collection. This type of video we call a “Case Study” because it includes some details about a promotion.

Lil Sugar – Master for disguise https://youtu.be/VPng4F6O7p8 (2:14) is an example of a public health promotion with an app that gamifies teaching kids about how unhealthy sugar appears in so many forms and products. Chapters 1 (nonprofits use marketing), 3 (social cultural trends), 8 (ingredients and product labeling), 16 (games), 19 (#M4BW).

Toy Companies Find the Adult Active Play Market

January 19, 2023 by Joe Cannon Leave a Comment

Readers of Essentials of Marketing will recall our Chapter 4 case opener on Lego. We use this case to introduce segmentation and targeting, talking about how Lego uses different marketing mixes to target boys, girls, younger kids, older kids – and adults. Lego stumbled into the adult market segment but now sells 10% or more of its products to AFOLS (Adult Fans of Lego). Now more toy companies are finding a market for their products among adults. As quoted in this Time article, a CEO of a toy consulting firm says, “Toy companies began to say, ‘We’re not in the kids business. We’re in the play business. And anyone can play.”

What does that mean?

Mattel now serves alcohol at its American Girl store,
A Gucci-Build-a-Bear collaboration sold out in less than a minute,
Squishmallows (stuffed animals – see photo) are appealing to parents and their kids.

To see a few samples of Lego’s efforts to target AFOLs, see three ad examples below.

The article and/or video linked above offers more examples and rationale. This could be a fun addition to your coverage of segmentation and targeting (Chapter 4).