Welcome back to another episode of The Barber’s Brief. A segment where we cover news that caught our eye, a marketing moment where we highlight a case study, and our ad of the week.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Our Hosts:

Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠

Get in touch with our hosts:

Marc Binkley: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Vassilis Douros: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/

In the News:

Nvidia's 10-for-1 Stock Split Is Over. Here's What's Next for the Stock.

Link: https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/06/16/nvidias-10-for-1-stock-split-is-over-heres-whats-n/

Meta announces new enhancements to Reels and AI-powered solutions at Cannes

Link: https://www.socialsamosa.com/2023/06/meta-reels-ai-solutions-at-cannes/

How to Kill Creativity

Link: https://hbr.org/1998/09/how-to-kill-creativity

TikTok ads will now include AI avatars of creators and stock actors

Link: https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/17/tiktok-ads-and-branded-content-will-now-include-ai-avatars-of-creators-and-stock-actors/

Marketing Moment: Highlighting Case studies (3-4 minutes):

Bubly / Buble Launch - ARF Advertising Research Foundation

Link: https://thearf-org-unified-admin.s3.amazonaws.com/ARF%20Ogilvy%20Award%20Case%20Studies/2020%20ARF%20David%20Ogilvy%20Award%20CS/Buble%CC%81-vs.-bubly.pdf

Challenge - Gain market share in a fast-growing category

Background

• PepsiCo looking at breaking into a emerging category
• La Croix was established market leader with 20% MS
• Product lacked personality
• Sparkling water category $2b industry by end of 2018
• CAGR around 20%
• Expected growth over the next 5 years of 74%
• Targeting millennials = generation play

Insight

• Adulting is hard
• millennials dealing with adulting want an everyday sparkling water brand that felt as fun, colorfoul and playful as soda.
• Used customer interviews, social listening, quant/qual message testing & google search trend analysis
• Most other brands had very little personality
• La Croix was positioned as fancier than others - name became territory for playful approach

Creative

• Brand took on a “playful instigator” role
• Focused on fun & colour in media placements, partnerships, creative and spokesperson (buble)

Launch

• 2019 superbowl kickoff with Buble convincing people how bubly was pronounced
• Partnership with Ellen Degeneres show featuring Buble in a fun skit
• Snackable video on most platforms, GIFs, BublyV.Buble gif
• Media placements on TV, CTV

Results

• 77% increase in brand awareness among category users
• Doubled retail sales in 2019 to $250M
• Purchase consideration grew by 2x
• Tripled category share
• La Croix reported 16% drop in 3rd quarter earnings

Ad of the Week

Paddy Power - Danny Dyer and Peter Crouch star in Paddy Power's new Euros advert

Link: https://youtu.be/BdavDrqE2jg?si=vyfH-5jhmfesqcM4

Danny Dyer (English actor and presenter) brings his Cockney charm to Paddy Power’s ad, capturing the nation’s excitement for the tournament with a humorous twist. The commercial playfully pokes fun at British quirks, featuring diverse characters who deliver sarcastic ‘compliments’ to the English. From Italians mockingly admiring our fashion to Germans grumbling about World Cup chants, and Dyer himself, portraying the quintessential English dad abroad, the ad is a witty celebration of our national character.

In our latest podcast, we sit with marketing veteran Esther Benzie to explore the evolving marketing landscape. From her experiences at CIBC and P&G to her insights on the balance between brand and performance marketing, Esther shares invaluable knowledge that every marketer should hear. Discover the impact of digital channels, marketing specialists' rise, and marketing sustainability's future.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry's best. Enjoy the episode.

Our Guest:

Esther Benzie - https://linkedin.com/in/estherbenzie/

Senior Marketing Executive

Formerly the:

:: VP of Brand and Advertising @ CIBC and

:: VP Brand Operations @ P&G

:: Board Member of the AssociationAssociatiom of Canadian Advertisers

Our Hosts:

Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠

Get in touch with our hosts:

Marc Binkley: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Vassilis Douros: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠

Timestamps

0:00 - Opening

0:44 - Intro to Esther

4:38 - Learning marketing foundations through CPG

7:30 - How digital changed marketing departments

10:30 - The negative impact of digital on creative

12:19 - Non-Viewable Impressions

15:20 - Talent Development - Specialists vs Generalists

22:45 - The shift from brand to performance and back

30:14 - What got lost in “Performance Marketing”

32:40 - How digital advertising change content supply chains

36:28 - An awakening with performance marketing

40:25 - Strategic objectives may differ from digital performance indicators

43:55 - How digital channels like Pinterest align with brand objectives

47:15 - The evolution of marketing performance metrics

55:06 - How to find out more about Esther

Post-Pod with V and Marc

Welcome back to another episode of The Barber’s Brief. A segment where we cover news that caught our eye, a marketing moment where we highlight a case study, and our ad of the week.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Our Hosts:

Marc Binkley - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Vassilis Douros - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠

Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠

In The News

Ad Age: American Airlines Fired Exec After a Marketing Change Aliented Corporate Clients

Link: https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/american-airlines-fired-chief-commercial-officer-vasu-raja-after-marketing-strategy-change/2562716

Paul Worthington Newsletter - Off Kilter - Oops, AI did it again Looking at some of the failings of AI

Link: https://www.invencion.com/off-kilter

Fast Company - How Amazon created a winning streaming formula: shows based on airport books for dads

Link: https://www.fastcompany.com/91134058/amazon-prime-video-streaming-airport-books-for-dads-james-patterson-cross

P&G’s Chief Brand Officer Mark Pritchard talking about inclusivity

Link: https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/beauty-features/marc-pritchard-on-serving-all-and-each-to-drive-market-growth-1236389828/

Marketing Moment - The Power of Positioning // Apple - The Turnaround

Background

• Back in 1997 - Apple was in big trouble
• They had just lost $800m
• Low market penetration and market capitalization of $2bn
• Michael Dell - when asked how he planned to fix the organization, he was planning to shut it down and give the money back to shareholders.
• Steve Jobs returned to re-focus Apple, and there was a lot of anticipation
• In August of the same year, Jobs addressed the future of the company at MacWorld 1997.

Brand Positioning and Strategy

Before getting to the Think Different campaign, they defined the new positioning of Apple, where they identified three core tenets.

• Simplicity
• Creativity
• Humanity

These three tenants became core to Apple and were a major part of the brief that went into the brief to TBWA\Chiat\Day, which famously led to the iconic “think different” campaign.

Revival and Growth

Why was this so powerful? It comes back to the three tenants:

• It was a simple message
• It was about creativity
• And celebrated at its core, humanity

Due to its simplicity, it also worked well across media channels (print, TV, OOH etc.)

The Think Different campaign bought Apple time and got them out of trouble.

Due to this newfound mental availability and the constant product innovation (see iPod) by 2003, Apple had an evaluation of $8bn.

However, because they wanted to grow globally as well, they re-brief Chiat/Day for a global iPod campaign was when “silhouettes” was born, which leaned again against the three core branding positioning tenants.

By 2006, Apple had turned a corner. Now worth over $70bn, it returned to its core product, computing. Going after Microsoft who had dominated for decades the space. The campaign, “Get a Mac” was born. Why did this campaign work?

• Apple created an “enemy”
• highlighted Apple’s simplicity and creativity
• Positioned against Microsoft’s complexity

What Lessons can we date from this example?

• Simple positioning always beats complex positioning - It is important to be clear, and consistent with your brand positioning,
• Differentiation is possible through positioning because it can also help with price volatility helping you to drive profits

Links:

Mark Ritson on the power of Apple's brand positioning (youtube.com)

Ad of the Week - Heinz Ketchup

Fighting counterfeiters of people refilling Heinz ketchup bottles with different brands of ketchup

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-TkRINrr4A&t=92s

© 2024 Sleeping Barber

We are back with our second episode of the Mindless Marketers with our friend of the podcast and fellow podcast host of That's What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne.

We switched things up in the episode, where this time we selected three marketing topics drawing inspiration from Tom Fishburne's Marketoonist, while we introduced a new segment that we hope you enjoy!

Get in touch with the hosts:

Marc Binkley: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Vassilis Douros: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠

Conor Byrne:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrne/

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction
01:19 - Convince Your C-Suite: The Real Impact of Creativity
07:30 - The Evolution and Challenges of the CMO Role
11:47 - The Creative Brief
11:50 - Data-Driven Marketing: A Double-Edged Sword
17:50 - NEW SEGMENT - This or That!
18:45 - Campaign Pre-testing
26:13 - Does Creative Inform Media, or Media Inform Creative
33:03 - Differentiation vs. Distinctiveness

Where to Listen:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-sleeping-barber-a-business-and-marketing-podcast/id1609811324

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4v0kaM350zEY7X2VBuyfrF?si=7083317d5afd488b ⁠⁠

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84MWVjYWJhNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwji_oSOopP-AhXnlo4IHTZKBgYQ9sEGegQIARAC

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sleepingbarberpodcast

© 2024 Sleeping Barber

Welcome back to another episode of The Barber’s Brief. A segment where we cover news that caught our eye, a marketing moment where we highlight a case study, and our ad of the week.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Our Hosts:

Marc Binkley - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Vassilis Douros - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠

Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠

In The News

Red Lobster Filing bankruptcy because of shrimp

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/business/what-went-wrong-at-red-lobster/index.html

Netflix is Launching Its Own Adtech

https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/netflix-is-launching-its-own-ad-tech/

Creatively awarded ads have average effectiveness

https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2024/05/21/creatively-awarded-ads-once-effective-are-now-officially-average

Marketing Week - Tighter budgets and effective choices

https://www.marketingweek.com/tighter-budgets-effective-choices-your-marketing-week/

The Marketing Moment

Effectiveness of Tourism Australia's award-winning 'Dundee' ad - Mark Ritson

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHgfp83k-10

Background

• Big Insight - Strategy Before Tactics
• 2007 - 2017 Tourists visiting Australia was up 11% BUT

• The increase of Americans visiting was much smaller - up 1.3%
• The big challenge was the barriers to travel relative to the competition

• Australia has high levels of awareness & a desire to visit

• But the big problem was intention

• Relative to the UK, France, and Italy Americans had ½ of the intention to visit down under

Barriers include

• High travel costs
• Length of flight
• Not enough time to travel

Campaign Strategy

• Communication Objective: Increase traveller intention
• Business Objective: Grow US Spend from $3.7B to $6b by 2020
• Target: High Value Traveller (higher spend & frequency)
• Positioning - A beautiful place to meet refreshingly irreverent people

Campaign

• Looked like a paid parntership for a new movie Son of Dundee movie trailer release in 2018 with Danny McBride
• Superbowl release trailer #2 with Danny & Chris Hemsworth
• Started promotions characters & partners like Quantas Airline videos addressing many of the questions preventing Americans from travelling

Results

• Most viewed ad in the Superbowl
• Won a gold Effie
• Intention increased by 83%
• 13% increase in bookings from American tourists 1 year in

Ad of the Week

Samsung swipes at Apple over controversial ‘Crush!’ ad for iPad Prohttps://www.marketingdive.com/news/samsung-apple-controversy-crush-ad-ipad-pro/716431/Samsung Video: https://youtu.be/v1YuCMHTGd4 Original Apple Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjkwIXWtrc

Samsung’s Response: Samsung released an ad titled “Creativity Cannot be Crushed” as a rebuttal to Apple’s controversial “Crush!” ad for the iPad Pro.

Ad Details: The Samsung ad features a musician finding a battered guitar in the aftermath of the Apple ad and playing music with the help of a Galaxy Tab S9.

Apple’s Apology: Apple apologized for the “Crush!” ad, which was criticized for being hostile to creativity, and halted its TV run.

Industry Reaction: The quick execution of Samsung’s ad highlights the need for marketers to respond swiftly to social media trends and conversations.

Noteworthy: Following this story’s publication, a spokesperson for BBH USA confirmed Samsung’s “Creativity Cannot be Crushed” ad is running on social channels and does not have paid media support.

Ever wondered about the companies leading global markets from behind the scenes? Our latest podcast episode features Dr. Hermann Simon, who unveils the mystery behind his book 'Hidden Champions.'

These mid-sized, niche companies are more influential than you think. Tune in to learn the strategies that make them successful and how they contribute to the global economy in ways you never imagined.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Our Guest:

Founder and Chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners: world's leading pricing advisor with offices in 27 countries

https://www.simon-kucher.com/en

Inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of fame

Visiting professor at Harvard, Stanford, Tokyo Business School, INSEAD etc

Co-Author of multiple books including Confessions of a pricing Man, Beating Inflation and Hidden Champions

Our Hosts:

Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠

Get in touch with our hosts:

Marc Binkley: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Vassilis Douros: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro to Hermann Simon

2:40 - Why Germany is so successful in exports?

4:18 - The growth of Hidden Champion research

5:20 - Defining hidden champion companies

7:17 - Apple’s value chain of “deep tech”

9:22 - Niche businesses aren’t always tiny

10:28 - 3 pillars of Hidden Champions strategy

11:25 - Customer proximity is one of their biggest strengths

12:32 - Hidden Champion’s innovation advantage vs. enterprise orgs

16:01 - How niche focus leads to technological advantages

20:49 - Profitability vs. Market Leadership motives of Hidden Champions

21:45 - Pricing strategy of Hidden Champions

22:48 - Niche companies are not without competitors

24:18 - Why Germany produces so many Hidden Champions

29:12 - Competitive advantages - a 22 year overnight success

31:59 - Government’s role in developing supporting eco-systems

34:12 - Talent development & Leadership style of Hidden Champions

37:00 - The role of M&A

39:35 - Innovation processes inside Hidden Champion orgs

42:10 - Take-aways from Hidden Champions

46:55 - Post-pod with V and Marc

Background Research & Literature:

Simon, H. (1992). Lessons from Germany’s midsize giants. Harvard Business Review, 70, 115–123.

Simon, H. (1996). Hidden champions–Lessons from 500 of the world’s best unknown companies, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

M&A has an 50-90% failure rate https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-90-mergers-acquisitions-fail-155000525.html

Profit or Growth - You lie in the bed you make https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10422587211059991

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/worlds-exports-by-country-one-chart/

Welcome back to another episode of The Barber’s Brief. A segment where we cover news that caught our eye, a marketing moment where we highlight a case study, and our ad of the week.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Our Hosts: Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠ Get in touch with our hosts: Marc Binkley: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/ Vassilis Douros: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠ In the News

In the News

Meteoric Rise & Fall of Prime:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meteoric-rise-stunning-fall-prime-130900275.html

Adweek: Google Delays Cookie Deprication a Third Time

https://www.adweek.com/programmatic/google-delays-cookie-deprecation-for-the-third-time/

Why most launches fail to grow your brand?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-do-most-launches-fail-grow-your-brand-prof-dr-koen-pauwels-wwsfe/

lobal social media ad spend to approach £200bn in 2024

https://www.marketingweek.com/social-media-spend-200bn/

Marketing Moment: McDonald’s: A 15-Year Brand-Building Triumph

Background

In the early 2000s, McDonald’s faced significant challenges in the UK. Cultural outrage and negative perceptions threatened its very existence. However, the brand’s resilience and innovative approach helped them turn the tide.

The Crisis

Context: McDonald’s was once a beloved part of British life but had lost its luster.

Crisis: A series of events damaged brand perception, putting the business at risk.

Abuse claims - https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66231131

McDonald's runs out of milkshakes in England, Scotland and Wales - https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58315152

The Unique Approach

Emotional Brand-Building: McDonald’s focused on emotional connections rather than just transactions.

Target Audience: Instead of narrow segmentation, they aimed to reach the entire nation.

TV Advertising: TV remained their primary medium, allowing broad reach and emotional storytelling.

Results

Commercial Growth: Despite PR crises, market fragmentation, and Covid-19 disruption, McDonald’s thrived.

£4.7 Billion Net Revenue: Their brand-building efforts contributed significantly.

Case Study Gold: Recognized as the most effective restaurant brand case study by IPA.

References:

Mcdonald’s Marketing Strategy 2024: A Case Study: https://thebigmarketing.com/mcdonalds-marketing-strategy/

McDonald’s: Keeping customers Lovin It for 15 year
https://www.thinkbox.tv/case-studies/brand-films/mcdonalds-keeping-customers-lovin-it-for-15-years

Ad of the Week

Trucker Napp VW Meteor

Link: https://youtu.be/5RBayTVBUlQ?si=CxGSUuaH9nyJmErN

• 42% of auto accidents are related to lack of sleep
• In Brazil, truck drivers suffer the highest # of fatal accidents while on the job
• Pressure to get deliveries to a location often forces them to not sleep
• VW & Livelo (Brazil's largest reward program) created the Trucker Napp app
• Connect smartwatch to the Trucker Napp app
• Earn points for sleeping
• Better sleep quality = more points
• The more points a company fleet earns, the more discount the company gets from VW

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

0:45 - In The News

0:50 - Prime Energy (The Rise and Fall)

5:40 - Google's Cookie Deprication Delayed. Again.

9:04 - Why Most Launches Fail to Grow Your Business

14:00 - Social Media Has Now Overtaken All Media Channels in Spend

17:00 - The Marketing Moment - McDonald’s: A 15-Year Brand-Building Triumph

23:00 - Audience Q/A

27:00 - Ad of the week