Virgin Atlantic - Fly in the Face of the Ordinary

It is very rare that you find a campaign which is original, witty, surprising and above all engaging, and it comes as no surprise that Virgin Atlantic has managed to achieve all of the above through their latest campaign ' Fly in the Face of the Ordinary'.

Based on the premise that the airline crew and staff are nothing short of super heroes in your service what better way to achieve an un-paralleled flying experience?

Touching upon Virgin's USP's the campaign accurately reflects their positioning, perfectly captured in the tagline 'Fly in the Face of the Ordinary', it is again just another reminder why Virgin is one of the world's most successful brands.

How does Kellogg's Special K make you feel? Emotions Sell

One country (Israel) is finally taking a stand against the false beautifying or photo shopping of models' images which decorate fashion magazines as well as banning those models who are below a BMI of 18.5. This is a bold move for any country to make against the 'glorifying of the skinny' and the question is how long will it last?

One of the main reasons behind this ruling is the self-esteem issues many young girls face which can lead to a variety of psychological and behavioural problems, so does the enactment of this law signal a changing trend in advertising for beauty products? 

Traditional advertising naturally positioned the products to reflect the benefits they could provide to the user. They could make them fairer, or skinnier and generally help them to be more attractive. But with an increasing amount of criticism against such advertising, which aimed to encourage sales purely on the fact that people's appearance needed improvement, some change would be in order. 

The latest campaign of Kellogg's Special K cereal reflects this change. It's not about how much you weigh, or what's your size. An individual should not be defined by a number, instead its about you feel. Confidence, pride, self - esteem this is what counts, and Kellogg's Special K can help you achieve that. So the product still makes you look better, but now also helps make you feel better. Emotions sell. 

Initially started by Dove's campaign for real beauty, which changed the advertising rule book, it seems likely that more products will adopt this positioning to garner a better public image and reputation, and eventually trust.

Branding in 2013

The New Year has dawned bringing with it a flurry of new resolutions and predictions, and this is not any different in the advertising and marketing world.

There has long been a shift towards digital marketing rather than traditional marketing, however 2013 may see a return back to the basics where traditional marketing will play a bigger role. Integrated marketing looks at using several marketing channels, be it digital or traditional, in co-ordination to spread a unified message. With an audience whose attention is being increasingly fragmented among multiple devices such as laptops, PC, mobiles & tablets, it is important that marketers utilise all the information they have about their customers to help target them better. 

This is where 'Big Data' steps in. Big Data aims to collect any information about customers from multiple sources, including social media, to track their behaviour, interests, friends, connections, what they search for, their buying behaviour etc to paint a complete picture of the customer. However this has to be implemented and utilised successfully by marketers to prevent it from becoming just another industry buzz word. Big Data is very useful in understanding customer behaviour and is not only restricted to digital marketing but can be used in traditional marketing as well to target them based on their social behaviour, such as where they shop, eat and socialize with their friends. In targeting customers in all areas there is an increasing chance of the message being sent across and received. 

However customers as well are becoming quite clever with the latest in marketing techniques and have a refined understanding of their own value. They know the price marketers are willing to pay and won't come cheap. Instead more browsers are offering a service to increase privacy options while online, so while marketers want to find out more customers want to reveal less, and the battle goes on.

And the new year would not be complete without the mantra of MOBILE, MOBILE, MOBILE. 

Mobile is the future, where customers want to carry all their information with them on the move, so mobile and tablets, usually synced with their laptops through could sharing services, is the future. People are constantly connected bringing increasing opportunities for targeting. It is an essential and integral feature which cannot be missed. So to re-iterate the main trends for marketing in 2013 are:

• The convergence of Digital & Traditional Marketing
• Big Data
• Customer Control
• Mobile
• Integrated Advertising

Ref: 'Branding in 2013: Convergence, Content, Gaming, Big Data and other trends' by Barry Silverstein for Brand Channel