LL_Reading_extra_advertising_4
Text 1
Accidental advertising campaigns
Read this article from the ‘Financial Times’ and answer the questions.
Intel, the world's leading chip-maker, got into the business of building global brands almost by accident.
For Intel, the lights went on in 1989. An advertising campaign aimed at getting computer manufacturers
to change to its latest processor, the 386, had the surprising side effect of persuading consumers to ask for 386based computers.
"At the time," says Dennis Carter, Intel vice-president and director of marketing, "I didn't really know
what a brand was. But it became evident that we had created a brand and that it made a difference in consumers'
purchase plans."
The next step was to brand not merely one product but the whole range, using the now-familiar "Intel
inside" logo. Intel launched the campaign in 1991 with its first "cooperative advertising" programme, offering to
share the costs of advertising with computer manufacturers that used Intel chips. Soon after came the first "Intel
inside" TV commercial - a journey through the inside of a personal computer, ending up at the microprocessor
with Intel's logo. It had become the first semiconductor company to sell its product to consumers as though it
were a new cola.
Intel initially tailored its advertising to different markets. In Japan, for example, the logo read "Intel in
it" but was abandoned when the company found the "Intel inside" brand was better recognised because of
information from the US. "This really drove home the idea that the PC market is the same everywhere in the
world," says Mr Carter.
Since then, its logo has appeared in more than $3.4 billion (£2.1 billion) worth of advertising including spending by PC manufacturers, according to Intel.
Nick Denton and Louise Kehoe
Vocabulary
To abandon – оставлять, покидать, бросать, отказываться от ч-л
To drive home an idea – довести до ч-л сознания, помочь осознать ч-л
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Did Intel plan to build brands?
What did the first Intel advertisement show?
What was special about the Intel campaign the company launched in 1991?
Why did Intel abandon the separate logo for Japan?
What do the following numbers refer to?
1989 386 1991 3.4 billion 2.1 billion
Over to you
Some products and parts of products are not advertised much. List some of them and say why you think
this is.
Text 2
They'd like the world to buy a shirt
Read this article from the ‘Financial Times’ and answer the questions.
Coca-Cola drinkers will soon be able to buy casual clothing that uses the values of the world's most
popular drink. Coca-Cola is about to launch its own fashion line to reflect the idea that "consumers feel a special
relationship with Coke that relates to more than just the drinking experience".
Which other brands might stretch easily and which might fail? Mars has successfully produced ice
creams branded with the names of its Mars and Snickers candy bars. These are all "sweet tooth products".
Couturiers such as Armani and Hugo Boss have moved into cosmetics, fragrances and spectacles - all "fashion
victim products". Banks now offer insurance policies, investments, business advice and other financial services.
One of the most successful brand-stretchers is Walt Disney, which has added merchandise, shops, books,
videos, games and theme parks to its original filmmaking. The move from making children's cartoons to other
products using the same figures appears a natural development. Yet these are totally different businesses - there
is little in common between making films, running shops and operating a packaged holiday business.
Disney's success comes from its clear view about what its core brand values are, says one branding
specialist. "Disney is about fun, entertainment, childhood and families doing things together. Any business that
deals in those values fits into the brand."
"All the evidence is brands stretch best when they come from a high emotional starting point. Disney has this.
But packaged goods are more functional everyday brands and it could be a real challenge for Coke to move into
a more experiential category such as fashion."
John Willman
Vocabulary
A bar – плитка, батончик (шоколадый)
A sweet tooth – сладкоежка
A theme park – тематический парк развлечений (напр. Диснейленд)
A packaged holiday – организованный отдых, по путевке
Experiential – эмпирический, основанный на опыте
Questions
1. What does the Coca Cola’s own fashion line the company is about to launch reflect?
2. What examples of other companys’ brand stretching are mentioned in the article?
3. ‘There is little in common between making films, running shops and operating a packaged holiday
business.’ Do you agree?
4. Why did Disney succeed in stretching its brand?
5. When from the author’s point of view do brands stretch best?
Over to you
What do you think of the idea of using:
1) a luxury car brand for a new range of luxury luggage?
2) a chocolate brand name for a new instant potato product in a packet?
3) a rock music record-label brand as the name of an airline?
Text 3
The rise and fall of Sunny Delight
Read this article from the ‘Financial Times’ and answer the questions.
The soft drink Sunny Delight was the marketing success of the 1990s. Now its manufacturers Procter
and Gamble are looking to sell the brand.
Launched in 1998 with a £10 million promotional campaign, within months Sunny Delight had become
the biggest selling soft drink in the UK behind Coke and Pepsi, with sales of £160 million a year. "It was a
phenomenon. This product came from nowhere and went in as the 12th best selling grocery product. I mean, in
all the time our magazine has looked at these figures, no brand has ever done that," according to Jane Bainbridge
of Marketing magazine. It had 'mum appeal'; children lapped it up; supermarkets ran out of stock. Then it all
went terribly wrong.
The Food Commission, an independent consumer organisation, aware of all the hype about this wonder
drink, started to seriously question what was actually in Sunny Delight. Consumers began to lose faith in the
product, particularly when a little girl turned orange having drunk large quantities of it. The negative publicity
which surrounded this story was not helped by a badly-timed Sunny Delight ad showing a snowman turning
orange. James Griffiths, a director of the advertising firm Saatchi and Saatchi which was responsible for the ad,
admits that the timing was unfortunate. Not surprisingly, sales slumped.
Jon Walsh, former launch brand manager of Procter and Gamble, explained their biggest mistake. "We
didn't enter the debate. We sort of stayed in our little castle thinking if we don't say anything, the debate will go
away." Mothers felt misled by claims that Sunny Delight was a healthy drink, and Procter and Gamble was
forced into a total rethink and a relaunch of their product. "I did feel totally misled by the very close placement
of the product next to the orange juice and the shape of the bottle," said Nina Sandler. "It all suggested it was a
freshly squeezed orange juice with sort of added goodies rather than a totally artificial product."
In the end it was a story of corporate power and consumer triumph, and of a manufacturing giant which
has had to come to terms with a new world in which the consumer is increasingly wary.
Vocabulary
Groceries – бакалея
To lap up – лакать
Hype – навязчивая реклама, «обработка» покупателей
To slump – резко снизиться
Former - бывший
Goody – хорошая вещь
To come to terms with – примириться с ч-л
Wary – осторожный
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
When was phenomenal about Sunny Delight brand?
Why did consumers start to lose faith in the product?
How did Jon Walsh explain the Proctor and Gamble biggest mistake?
What was ‘misleading’ about the drink?
What do the following numbers refer to?
1998 10 160 12
Over to you
Comment on the advertising campaign mentioned in the article. Why is timing so important for a success
of an ad campaign?
Text 4
In praise of the TV commercial
Read this article from the ‘Financial Times’ and answer the questions.
Imagine for a moment you are the marketing and sales director of a large company. Achieving your sales
targets is giving you sleepless nights. The company's share price is under pressure, the board is getting
nervous, City institutions are questioning the company's investment policy.
How can you generate extra sales quickly and effectively through your consumer base, and expand
your potential market? Suddenly, I appear. I have invented a thing called the 'television commercial'. It is a new
and unique way of talking to consumers. Between popular programmes, I will sell you slots of time - anything
up to 60 seconds. I will even negotiate for you the whole break, so no one else can compete with you. Within this
spot you can say whatever you like in whatever form you like. You control the dialogue, presenting your product
or service any way you wish.
Of course, the television commercial has been with us since 1955. Since its arrival, it has been one of the
most, if not the most, effective creators of brands and wealth. So why is it that you can hardly pick up a
marketing magazine without reading about the death of this medium?
Before you rush to the Internet, or search for some fashionable alternative media, look at these facts. The
average adult in the UK watches more than 24 hours of TV every week, 60 per cent of children have a TV set in
their bedrooms. One in four adults watch the soap opera Coronation Street, even more watch EastEnders. So
why do we read that the likes of Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer that sponsors Coronation Street, think
most advertising is nothing but froth and are putting more money into programme sponsorship? Why did we
read that Heinz was pulling out of TV advertising (it has since gone back)?
Could it be that as the medium has become more competitive some companies have found it harder to
create advertising that works? The medium is not a guarantee of success. It has to be used imaginatively. Perhaps
this is the heart of the problem - it's just that some companies find this process difficult to manage.
John Hegarty
Vocabulary
A slot – зд. отрезок времени
Froth – пустая болтовня
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is a TV commercial?
What are the advantages of using TV commercials for advertising products and services?
When did the first TV commercial appear?
Why are some companies questioning the value of TV advertising?
Why do manufacturers find it harder to create advertising that works?
Over to you
When there are advertisements on TV, do you zap (change to another channel while the advertisements
are on)? Or do you actually like some TV ads? Which ones?
Can you remember any of the advertisements you saw the last time that you watched TV?
Have you ever actually gone out and bought something you saw advertised on TV?
Text 5
Winning word-of-mouth approval: teenage marketing
Read this article from the ‘Financial Times’ and answer the questions.
The natural habitat of Japanese teenagers is a small area of central Tokyo between Shibuya and
Harajuku stations which is full of boutiques and music shops. At weekends, teenagers from the city and the
surrounding provinces go there to spot the latest street fashions.
The area is also a magnet for anyone researching or selling to the teenage market: fashion and cosmetics
companies, record producers, editors of young fashion magazines, soft drink and snack promoters, and makers of
games and gadgets.
One such company was Bandai, the toy company responsible for Tamagotchi, the egg-shaped, pocketsized virtual pet which swept the world in the late 1990s. Tamagotchi's first public appearance was in a test
marketing exercise on the streets of Shibuya. The schoolgirls who saw it were so impressed they told all their
friends, and the first few batches of Tamagotchi to hit the shops sold out immediately. Such is the power of
'kuchikomi', or word of mouth.
Advertisers everywhere know that personal recommendation carries great weight. Normally, word-ofmouth promotion is free, but impossible to arrange. In Japan, it can be arranged - at a price.
There are agencies with hundreds of teenagers on their books who receive new products and tell their
friends about them; others are paid to queue up for the launch of a new product or opening of a new store,
creating an artificial 'buzz' about it.
Halfway between Shibuya and Harajuku is the office of Hiroaki Morita, who set up Teens Network Ship
on leaving school nine years ago. The agency is the longest established specialist in the teenage market, and
often uses informal, kuchikomi-style marketing methods. It has a register of 2,000 senior high school pupils in
the Tokyo area, and is now expanding nationally.
As Mr Morita describes it, the logic is simple: selected teenagers are given information or samples of a
new product. Feeling superior for knowing about something ahead of the crowd, they tell on average 50 of their
friends and classmates about their 'discovery', so that with a core group of 1,000, word can spread to 50,000 or
more.
Information spreads more rapidly among the 15 to 18 age group than at any other life stage, Mr Morita
says. For the three years at senior high school, they spend eight hours a day with the same 50 classmates,
creating an exceptionally tight social network.
Bethan Hutton
Vocabulary
A habitat – место, среда обитания
A gadget – (новое) приспособление или устройство (механическое, электронное и т.д.)
A batch – партия товара
At a price – за высокую цену
A 'buzz' – шумиха (искусственно создаваемая)
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Who is the small area in central Tokyo between Shibuya and Harajuku stations popular with? Why?
What is Bandai famous for?
How is word-of-mouth promotion arranged in Japan?
What is Teens Network Ship?
Why does this company use teenagers in their advertising campaigns?
Over to you
What sorts of products or services would you talk about with friends, looking for a recommendation?
Feel free to add to the list.
cars
hi-fi equipment
holidays
language courses
a builder/painter to do work on your house or flat