Category: Marketing Strategy

Ad Review: Highland Spring

highland_spring_sparkling_ad_2015

As a creative, I’m always torn between what I think looks cool and what I think makes sense for a brief. My position though is always start with the meaningful message and then build something beautiful around it.

I’m also always aware that what I consider great design work lies somewhere in the middle of my own personal preferences, current design trends, and historical reference points. What motivates me personally is shaping the world according to my creative vision, so when I see artwork that I don’t like, it troubles me to my very core. #firstworldprobelms

But like I said, you have to bear in mind that sometimes excellent communication doesn’t look like something you want in your living room.

QED: Highland Spring’s recent ad campaign. My first reaction was that it looked a bit tacky. But then I read the line and it all came together.

Highland Spring is being positioned as a classic “magician” brand – one that provides a moment of transformation, of magic, transporting you to another (fancier, more special) place with just the twist of a cap. Sparkling water is often used as a kind of shortcut to a more sophisticated dinner party or event. Bubbles! Wow. You are truly spoiling us.

That’s what Highland Spring can do for you. And no, it doesn’t look as trendy as Voss or Ty Nant, and the visuals of the ad for me look a bit photoshopped and OTT (when you’ve got the natural epic beauty of Scotland to work with, does it need to be pushed this far?) – but the message of this campaign is absolutely on-point.

PS Shout out to David Boni, the photographer – some stunning stuff to look at on his website

 

Content Marketing Strategy

Marketing Worth Watching

A lot of people are talking about content marketing at the moment from lots of different angles – some focusing on SEO, others on enriching user experience on websites, some looking at just rationalising all their channels to make sure everything is aligned and coherent.

The most interesting thing for us about content marketing is this: creating content that acts as marketing, but is something interesting and useful in its own right. In many ways, it’s about creating marketing content that provides the same benefit as the product itself.

In other words – your Nike trainers will make you fit, so their content marketing – workout suggestions, tools for managing your exercise – does the same thing. Your Nivea skincare is simple and effective – so their pre-roll videos on Youtube show you simple and effective life hacks.

We find it fascinating that companies have started to realise the power of creating content that people might actually care about, might actually find useful – even if it’s a slightly softer sell – rather than just bleating on about why their product is amazing.

Here are ten tips on how to improve your content marketing strategy:
1. Always bear this question in mind: What could you put out as content that your customers would actually care about? Most brands start with the product. Flip your thinking and start with the audience’s lifestyle and needs.

2. Be genuinely useful. Think about, for example, how you can improve people’s lives, save them money, make them fitter, solve their problems. That’s what people are looking for online.

3. Think about customer need states, and what form of content matches what your message is. Your audience might be on Facebook, but that might not be where they solve the problems you can fix.

4. Spend some time thinking about your brand message. Because channels like blogs, Twitter, video and so on get set up independently in silos, it’s easy to strategise for each individually. But all your content should be focussed on your brand positioning – if it’s not, why are you producing it?

5. Be part of a bigger ecosystem. If you’re a food brand, for example, you’re not just dealing with people’s hunger – you fit into a much broader lifestyle pattern and attitudinal structure. Create content that matches this broader mindset.

6. Avoid white noise. There’s no need to create content for the sake of it. The relentless speed and ephemeral nature of social media makes it feel like you have to – but much better to have four really compelling and valuable videos on YouTube than constant meaningless chatter.

7. Think about sharability. The reason that infographics, text-on-image jpegs and gifs and so on have become so prevalent is that they provide social users with ready-to-share content about things they love, expressed better than they could have.

8. “How to make an omelette” is more interesting than “latest egg news”.

9. Use your expertise. You are experts in your field – get that information out there for people to see and make yourself easier to find.

10. Don’t forget about activation. One of the misunderstandings of content is that what you produce is all there is to think about. If you don’t get it out there you might as well not make it.
Aside from anything, we’re all making content already – whether social posts, blogs, emails, product videos or articles. So maybe it’s time to start strategising, to make the most of it and make it as compelling for the end user as possible.

This blog was originally published on Futureproof Thinking