Bryan a banner!...

This is very clever [and funny]! Kudos to the BDDO team!

Toilet Marketing..mmm

For those of you that are tired of advertising in your face 24/7 check this picture out! It was one of those ‘really helpful’ ads at the back of a toilet door [the ones I normally totally ignore] at an Ultra City on the JHB-DBN route. I giggled when I saw it [don’t agree with graffiti] BUT I kinda get the sentiment of the ‘artist’.

In the real world… thinking like a practical person… who would want to think of buying Fruit Juice whilst precariously hanging over the Jazz getting rid of the last lot?! I dunno, I would love to see stats for the loo ads to see if they are all what they are flushed up to be!

Country Marketing Woes...

So I’ve been reflecting this long weekend…. Not to harp on the Italian trip, but it got me thinking about the topic of Marketing and my endless quest for a positively consistent consumer experience. Although I think each person reacts differently to every experience, I believe there are common elements making up a positive experience for most people. Whether they are subliminal or conscious.

Lets take Italy…. In my previous blog I said I might have romanticised the idea of Italy BUT like a typical researcher I did my homework on each city (even if I had been before) and all the visual info looked fantastic….(I even read blogs!) It all looked just like a well-conceived marketing plan. So I purchased the goods.

Marketing the essence of a country is pretty easy from a distance using all the usual mediums…. Delivering on the experience is far from easy! Sound familiar!? A small example, we arrived in Venice (airport) and caught a water taxi to our hotel. We were the only ones on the taxi and as any traveller normally does, we all started soaking up our surroundings via our senses….. The boat driver oke was playing ‘guns and roses’ pretty loud and it was early in the morning. So the feeling was..er… well a little odd. Delicate mist had settled eerily on the water and the romantic Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (church) was floating silently at the entrance of the Grand Canal, we had Axl Rose screeching his heart out. I appreciate that not everything can be controlled and I am substantially anal when it comes to details BUT to really have the complete Italian experience would have required Axl singing to a vastly different tune! This may be one small example, but these added up make up one BIG confusing experience!

My primary business value is to make a difference, and I am more often than not categorised in the marketing/ad agency arena especially, because I work with strategy. I never want to be in a situation where I assist a client that has no intention of ever being authentic, yet wants me to assist with building a strategy that communicates authenticity to a base of consumers.…that would be like selling my soul.
So what business am I really in? Do businesses really want to make a difference in the lives of their customers? Do they really care and are they really trying to be authentic? These days consumers are far from stupid.
Does Italy really care? Will we really care in 2010 and will we provide an authentic experience (excluding the crime of course!)… mmm… can you train a nation to provide an experience? Sure the cultures make up a large part of the experience, but its more than that. Lets hope visitors to SA don’t feel cheated. Would be nice to know what the gov's plans are…..