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Cheers to the Human Race, by Coca-cola

Coca cola

Last year, Coca-cola released an ad to celebrate International Workers’ Day. Coca-cola try to spread hope and positivity, and the message of the ad is clear and strong; we still can have faith in humanity.

Worked together with Dentsu Malaysia, Coca-cola reminds us that “optimism is more contagious than any contagion”. The ad was set strong with “Superheroes” by The Script as their background music, which brought tears of emotion for every audience who watch the ad video.

The ad itself spotlights how everything has changed during the pandemic period. Within the change, every barrier, and challenges that humans have during the pandemic, there is always some positivity that we can see.

At the end of the video, Coca-cola thank all workers worldwide for their dedication and hard work during a hard time. And along with the ad video on their website, Coca-cola also thank all workers who work on the frontline during the pandemic. “Saluting the Heroes of the Human Race” gives the story of workers featured in the brand’s ad.

After all, not all heroes wear a cape.

Best yet, MIU is offering a Free Digital Audit to all SMEs during this pandemic. Contact MIU for more information on how you can improve your online presence today.

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Marketing Disasters and How To Avoid Having One

marketing disaster

Marketing campaigns are part of everyone’s lives. From the massive giants like Apple promoting their latest iPhones to an online entrepreneur asking you for 35 seconds of your time to promote his online investment course, marketing campaigns are omnipresent.

They are vital for the business’s survival regardless of its size. Companies pour millions of dollars every year to devise a strategy that effectively targets their consumer group and stands out from their competitors. 

Creativity is an absolute must, and year on year, businesses try and outdo one another by trying something different. An example of a job well done would be Coca-Cola’s Christmas ad in 2020, a heartwarming and emotional masterpiece that was perfectly executed.

However, this is easier said than done. Even multinational corporations with budgets in the many millions have dropped the ball. Sometimes, ideas that are so sinister and egregious have escaped rigorous testing and been approved to be shown to the public.

Why do marketing campaigns fail?

Frankly, marketers lose track of who they are advertising to. When the goal is purely to be creative or unique rather than target the consumer base, mistakes are made. 

Of course, standing out from the rest is vital in creating a good marketing campaign. However, there is a line in the sand; when being ostentatious is over prioritized, and the target audience is estranged. 

A marketing campaign’s primary goal is to inform potential customers what needs of theirs the company’s service or product can fulfill, why the company can do it better than its competitors, and share its type and brand.

When the campaign forgets about this premise, disasters are bound to happen. 

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the most significant advertisement flops to date and see how to avoid making the same errors in the future.

Beware: Laughably Terrible Advertisement Campaigns Ahead

Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Debacle

Kendall Jenner's Pepsi Debacle

This is an iconic and infamous advertisement. Pepsi launched a two and half minute advertisement called “Live for Now”. The advert featured 21-year-old supermodel Kendall Jenner leaving a photoshoot and showing up at a protest. 

Tensions were growing between police and protestors until she stepped up to offer an officer a can of Pepsi. This fixed the issue. 

The advertisement was branded as “tone-deaf”, and the backlash overgrew, forcing Pepsi to back down and pull the spot and issue an apology.

Dove’s blatantly racist Facebook Advertisement

dove racist Ad campaign

Dove launched a Facebook ad campaign of the above four images. The four-panel image shows a young African American woman removing her shirt. By the time she has done, she has turned into a young white lady.

The disastrous advertisement shows up on Google as “Dove’s Racist Ad”.

To make matters worse, this was the second terrible advertising campaign launched by Dove in 2017, with them having to issue another apology after receiving intense criticism on social media as well as bad reviews on their product.

Volkswagen lies again?

An ongoing disaster, Volkswagen had decided to play a prank for April Fools this year. Volkswagen America changed its name to “Voltswagen”, implying that it sells electric vehicles.

Not too long ago, Volkswagen was caught in the carbon emission scandal; they lied about how much carbon their diesel cars emitted. 

Now, this publicity stunt seems like they are lying about producing electric vehicles. Moreover, VW lied to reporters in a situation where simply saying “no comment” would have been sufficient. 

Now, talks of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cracking down on them, and it looks like Volkswagen is April’s fool.

Wix Slaps Itself

Wix recently launched an attack ad campaign against its competitor, WordPress. This advert portrayed WordPress in an extremely negative light in the context of a web developer seeking help for a mental health crisis. 

Almost instantly, Wix received backlash for their distasteful and insensitive ad. With so many people around the world suffering from mental health issues, especially due to the ongoing pandemic, it seemed like a very poor decision by Wix to greenlight a campaign like this. 

This ad campaign has received and is continuing to receive a lot of criticism over social media and is sure to be one that Wix regrets.

How to Avoid Marketing Disasters

Let’s find some nuggets of wisdom from the abysmal foolishness above and learn how NOT to make these mistakes.

Don’t ever lose touch

As you can see above, Pepsi lost touch with its audience. They came across as tone-deaf. Remember to consider the implications of the marketing campaign. Even when making jokes, remember that to take into consideration other perspectives and angles.

By sacrificing your brand value for a few jokes, you may risk offending your audience. Insensitivity and tastelessness can quickly alienate the audience and result in a marketing disaster.

Keep current affairs in mind

Marketing campaigns take a long time to plan and execute. They require extensive testing, planning, and, for larger companies, a lot of red tapes. This makes it easy to overlook what is ongoing in the real world. 

A campaign that may have been acceptable a few months ago may no longer be so. If the marketing campaign aims to educate consumers about a situation, it needs to understand the issue and its implications genuinely.

Constantly review the campaign and ensure that it is up to date with current events.

How to create a good marketing campaign

If you are running your own business or part of a giant corporation, you understand the need for marketing. It can be an absolute nightmare to navigate the inner working of creating a successful campaign. What would help alleviate this would be someone who could take this burden off your hands.

MIU offers a range of marketing services that will help your company successfully launch and maintain a marketing campaign. With experience and skills, the disasters mentioned above can be avoided with our help. 

Feel free to contact us for a free digital audit or check out MIU’s website to learn more about how we can help you.

 

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Coca Cola’s Emotional Ad Warms the Hearts of Many this Christmas

Coca Cola's Emotional Ad Warms the Hearts of Many this Christmas

One of the most challenging things we’ve had to face this year was the pandemic.  With Covid-19 in mind, Coca Cola has thus decided to cancel its annual Truck Tour. In its place, they released an emotional commercial for this yea that warmed the hearts of many even in the absence of their truck.

The ad’s message is simple: make time for the people you love at Christmas, and give something that “only you can give”. Go on a journey with Coca Cola even as they will not be holding their Truck Tour this year.

Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi, who has also directed the likes of Star Wars and Thor, it is no wonder this advert touches our hearts so. Ranked the most powerful ad of the season by Kantar, Coca Cola’s ad beat the likes of many others’, including Disney’s and Tesco’s.

Over 3000 UK consumers were paired with LinkNow AI facial coding technology, which revealed that Coca Cola’s Christmas ad elicited the greatest response from audiences. Indeed, they deserve the title of the most powerful ad this festive holiday!

Not only that, but it was the top-performing in seven out of ten key measures, scoring 96 out of 100 in terms of long-term return potential as well as creating brand memories. It also gained a full score in terms of remembering the brand. Talk about effective!

With Covid-19 interrupting many Christmas plans this season, Coca Cola’s ad helped viewers to feel more positive about Christmas – the only ad to score in the top percentile (74 to be exact) for this metric. Beyond that, it also scored 88 for creating warmth and love for the brand and 93 for feeling different.

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5 Reasons Why Rebranding Should Be Done By A Branding Agency

5 Reasons Why Rebranding Should Be Done By A Branding Agency

5 Reasons Why Rebranding Should Be Done By A Branding Agency

All business owners want their business to reach success, and take many steps to achieve these goals. Rebranding, which is not something uncommon for businesses, might be one such effort taken to further the company’s success. Businesses often need to rebrand because of  various reasons affecting the industry.

Rebranding is generally known as a process of marketing strategy which involves various changes such as switching up the business name, company logo, symbol, or any other visual assets with the purpose to create a new brand identity in the minds of targeted customers.

Yes, all business owners should aim to have a clear brand identity for the customers when working on the rebranding process.

There are various reasons why companies rebrand their business. Shifting attention to new targeted customers can lead a business owner to do rebranding. When you aim at an entirely new market, you should consider if the current aspect of your brand can be recognized. If you are trying to expand your business to the international market, but people on the other side of the world cannot remember your brand, you might have to refresh your brand identity.

Another reason that businesses seek to rebrand themselves could be a new business philosophy. When the company updates its vision and values, the current brand identity might need to keep up with the updated vision and values. To achieve that, you should consider starting a rebranding process because your present brand aspect might be outdated and no longer relevant. With the fresh and new brand in mind that is in tune with your company’s new vision and values, the purpose of your business can reach the customers.

If your company is in the process of merger or acquisition, you have to start the rebranding process as well. It is very important for the two brand identities not to collide with each other, and it also prevents confusion for the customers. A new brand identity can attract new customers who did not recognize your brand before. The company merger or acquisition may also bring new values and vision to your business. As mentioned earlier, rebranding your current brand identity to fit with your company’s new values and visions is a key reason for rebranding.

Then, when should you need to rebrand your business? The answer depends.

It is not recommended to start rebranding your business just because you or the board of directors are bored of the current brand identity. Or when your company is facing a crisis and threatens your business sustainability, rebranding should not be used as an escape plan. Besides not having a significant impact, these reasons can cause you to lose your current customers and not reach your newly targeted customers.

The rebranding process should work in in-depth research, step by step. If your internal team is not capable or you do not have enough resources in your company, but you still want to rebrand your business, you can hand the process over to a branding agency.

coca-cola-logo | cahproductions

Can you believe Coca-Cola’s logo used to be black and white?

Even Coca-Cola, a multinational company, went through rebranding with a global campaign as guided by a branding agency. In 2015, the company invited ten agency partners around the world to pitch ideas for the worldwide campaign. Then, they selected three WPP agencies to lead the Coca-Cola global marketing campaign. These agencies are Ogilvy & Mather New York, Madrid’s SRA Rushmore, and Buenos Aires-based Santo (Campaign, 2015).

Are you still in doubt about handing in the rebranding process to a branding company? There are plenty of reasons why the rebranding process would be better handed over to a branding company or branding agency.

1. Rebranding isn’t just about changing the logo.

Although visuals are a significant part of the rebranding, it is more than just that. There are essential parts of your company that need to be reestablished and redefined, such as the target audience and market, the company’s vision, and values. These need to be reassembled first before you move to your brand’s visual aspect. With the help from a branding company, your work for the rebranding process will be more accessible because the branding company will give you an insight point of view for each part of the rebranding process.

2. Rebranding is not an instant process.

Rebranding requires step by step processes and in-depth research, especially when reestablishing your market and target audience. Even if you may be finished with the rebrand and launched your new brand identity, it is important to have an evaluation process to see the impact of your business rebrand. For the research process, it is best to let the branding company handle it because they can give you much more insightful research conclusions. And also, a branding company can provide you with continuous support until you reach your rebranding goals.

3. Limited resources to do the work.

Your company may already have a Marketing or Brand Communication team, but sometimes when working on the rebranding process, that team is not enough to do the job. Besides the lengthy process and complexity, your internal team might have other important tasks to focus on. With help from a branding company to do the rebranding process, your team can direct their full attention to the business and these tasks. Instead, the internal team can act as the communication bridge between the business owners and the branding company, which will be useful in avoiding a communication gap.

4. Branding companies can give you a customer’s perspective.

A branding company is a stranger to your company but to business nor to the market. Most branding companies will do some research or brand audit and will then give you the customer’s perspective. It is advantageous to determine the goals of your business rebranding.

5. Branding company experiences

When the company rebrands for the first time, sometimes the internal team faces some confusion on where they should start. This confusion can affect the rebranding process and cause it not to go as planned. On the other hand, a branding company will help with your rebranding goals with specific methods. If you are still in doubt, you can check and research on the branding agency to see their work. A branding agency’s website usually will show their achievements and portfolio.

MIU is more than just a branding company. Based in Singapore, MIU is a digital creative agent who will help you in your branding or marketing needs. In terms of rebranding, MIU has worked with several businesses to reach their rebranding goals. Our work is not likened to any other branding company. You may type branding company Singapore, branding consultancy Singapore, or branding design company Singapore in the search bar and find multiple results.

But unlike any others in your search, MIU gives a different perspective when talking about branding and rebranding. We believe each brand has a story to tell, but sometimes they may have difficulties expressing it. Through our unlimited design package, MIU helps businesses who want to express their story through their brand reach more people via the on-target rebranding process.

A business will start its rebranding process, sooner or later, as times change and evolve. For the best result of the rebranding, help from a branding agency is not something you can reject. With specific methods and their experience, a branding agency can help your business rebrands reach your ultimate goals and tap into more customers. Now it is up to all of you as a business owner to determine: do you still want to do your business rebrand by yourself or trust a branding company with it? The choice is yours.