Driving around we see dozens of speed signs every day.
But how much do we take notice of them?
This particular one, on Kerferd Avenue in Sorrento, is just down from the local primary school.
I noticed it, as it gave me an emotional reason to slow down.
It was more than a traffic sign, it was a pull on the heart strings as well.
The day we returned from our Back to Yack adventure we took, what’s now known as, The Great River Road.
The website describes the road as:
‘Set between two of Australia’s most beloved landscape icons, the Murray River and the Snowy Mountains, the Great River Road showcases 155 kilometres of beautiful high-country in Victoria’s North East – perfect for exploring at any pace.’
We started at Corryong, in the east, and then drove westward to the edge of the Hume Weir. The scenery was spectacular and there were many points of interest along the way. These included lookouts, odd bits of sculpture and historic markers.
The road was originally not one designated drive but a number of different routes.
The logo that has been recently developed is used for both The Great River Road and the Upper Murray region.
Although there isn’t much information about the development of the Upper Murray marketing program, it seems to be a joint venture between the local councils, community groups and even Upper Murray Health and Community Services.
It’s clever marketing that can take something, that many people already know about, and turn it into a new adventure and experience.
However, the idea isn’t original.
The Great River Road was first created in the United States in 1938 and was used to market the Mississippi River.
The US website describes it as:
‘The Great River Road is a collection of state and local roads that follow the course of the Mississippi River through ten states of the United States.’
The US road also has a logo, which is a little outdated. I much prefer the Australian one, as it actually has an idea.
Nonetheless, I do think that a trip up, or down, the Mississippi River road would be great – especially considering they have a craft beer trail already mapped out for me.
It’s an epic craft beer experience that takes you to 43 breweries in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.
It does seem an odd combination of drinking and driving.
I love craft beer.
So much so that when we travelled across the US, from west to east and visa versa, we always looked for a brewpub first for the evening meal.
These places not only had great beers but also excellent wines and food. Their food and drinks were well priced, and they weren’t a slave to the US practice of tipping.
Most of the owners paid their staff a good basic wage and therefore they weren’t reliant on a tip to survive.
Most craft breweries have a very different approach to creating and marketing their products. Especially compared to the big breweries, who are just after volume and usually develop beers that are basic and designed not to challenge the drinker in any way – they don’t want to offend.
Over the last few years I have seen a profound change in the design of beer labels.
The craft breweries’ strategy of creating a unique product now extends to their labels as well.
The first craft beer that I discovered, with a very different marketing approach and attitude, was BrewDog. This Scottish brewery has become international with manufacturing in the USA, Europe and now Australia.
However their labels were nothing to brag about. Their point of difference was their attitude and they did go out of their way to offend in as many ways as possible.
It certainly didn’t damage their sales.
As the craft beer market, both in Australia and around the world has becomes more crowded, brewers needed to find another edge.
Now the label has become a tool to express their point of difference.
Below are a few that I have discovered.
BrewDog (the original) from Scotland. Brio from Berlin, Kaiju from Melbourne, KCBC (Kings Country Brewing Collective) from New York, Mikkeller from Copenhagen and the very minimalist designs of Singlecut, again from NYC.
On our most recent trip to Berlin, I was surprised to see this street poster for Coke.
Roughly translated it proudly proclaims: ‘For serious pizza serve the original.’
I fully understand food and wine, matching, even food and beer matching, but food and Coke is just silly.
While the uptake of bottled water is growing worldwide, Coke’s market share, especially in Germany, is on the slide. Their worldwide business has shrunk by 2% per annum over the last ten years.
So it’s no wonder that they have adopted the rather bizarre strategy of trying to make a fizzy, sugar laden soft drink match with food.
Recently I watched six new episodes of the very successful science fiction TV series, ‘The X-Files’.
The original series ran from September 1993 to May 2002. Written by Chris Carter and staring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, there were 202 episodes and two feature films. The second film was released in 2008.
It was the longest running science fiction series in US history.
I think that this latest 6 episode series is a fishing expedition by 20th Century Fox Television. Each episode was so completely different that I can’t help but feel they are all part of an elaborate market research program.
Some episodes were verging on ‘slap-stick’ while others continued with the old protagonists and conspiracy theories.
The producers even introduced Fox and Scully clones.
Its been 8 years since the last film and 14 years since since the last series, so the market’s attitudes towards the characters and plots may well have shifted.
Will there be more X-Files and what will be the theme?
The truth is probably out there, or at least buried in the market research.
What does the latest Ford posters say about the company?
For one it says they are frightened; frightened that their ever dwindling market share is going to vanish completely into an Australian heat haze.
Why else would you feature a poster campaign where the logo is larger than the product and the proposition is even smaller still.
Ford will stop manufacturing cars in Australia later this year, and it’s my guess that these ads are more about propping up confidence in the dealer network, than they are about selling vehicles.
Given the new car sales figures for 2015, they should be worried.
Ford were 6th, with 70,454 sales (down 11.6%) and behind, of all manufactures, Mitsubishi with 71,752.
2015 was a bumper year for car sales with 1,155,408 vehicles sold – a 3.8% rise on the previous year.
Holden and Ford were the only companies to post a sales decline, with Ford having its worst year since 1966. Even the Mercedes-Benz C-Class comfortably outsold the Ford Falcon.
It appears that Australians have already given up on Henry.
Increasingly companies, organisations and governments are entering into CSR programs. CSR is primarily an attitude that can be implemented in many ways.
It’s about being a good corporate citizen.
The customers or consumers can benefit from the CSR program of an organisation, as they are rewarded by choosing an ethically and socially responsible product or service.
Look how the Nike brand was damaged by using Sweat Shops to produce their products. The garment factory fires in Bangladesh has also had repercussions on retailers here and around the world.
CSR benefits the brand and its reputation, by giving the consumer another reason to chose it. When all else is equal, a brand’s reputation can make the difference.
There are many benefits in developing a meaningful CSR program, the obvious one is the associated good-will that is generated towards the organisation. However a ROI is also counted as a primary objective and benefit of the program.
The second day of the New Year’s cricket test, at the Sydney Cricket ground, is traditionally a day given over to the the McGrath Foundation and is known as the Pink Test.
This was the sixth Pink Test and to-date over 5 Million Dollars have been raised to provide Breast Care Nurses throughout Australia.
This year, as the major sponsor of The Ashes, the Commonwealth Bank were involved for the first time.
I watched it on TV and it was a fun day, with the involvement of both the Australian and English cricket sides, the Chanel 9 commentary team and of course the spectators.
The biggest surprise to me was that the Commonwealth Bank actually changed their logo for the day.
It’s a brave company that messes with their corporate identity, but it paid off.
The pink logo would have been noticed more in this test than any of the four that had gone before.
If it was a fleet of the new Gonski Stealth Jet Fighters, then security and border protection would be the benefit.
If it was the Gonski High Speed Rail Link, running up the east coast, between Melbourne and Brisbane, then we would benefit from the convenience.
A Gonski Dam on the Ord River, would open up vast areas for cultivation and the subsequent benefit of increased food production.
Most Australians would see the value in paying 14.5 Billion Dollars for one of these Gonskis. That’s because we all understand what an fighter jet, rail network or a dam can deliver.
History has etched that in our minds.
Now the Gonski school funding reforms are different. It’s a complex issue to understand, let alone sell to the average punter.
There have been a number of newspaper articles written recently trying to articulate what a Gonski is. Here is the most recent one from SBS.
‘Selling’ has never been the strong point of the current government. They follow the polls when making policy decisions but don’t listen to the consumer when it comes to articulating their benefits.
They need a good advertising agency.
When the late, and very divicive, Maggy Thatcher came to power in 1979 she used the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi to sell her agenda. They came up with the ‘Labour isn’t working’ poster.’ This very quickly and simply articulated the Tory message.
I think Julia could take a leaf out of Maggie’s book and hire a good ad agency to help sell the Gonski.
This poster, seen in Saint Gallen, Switzerland, was the centre piece of a window display for the watch maker Maurice Lacroix.
The copy, a quote from Sir Bob Geldof, reads:
“I don’t want to live like you. I don’t want to talk like you. I’m going to be like me.”
Now I guess that Sir Bob, due to contractual obligations, wears a Maurice Lacroix watch. And I am equally sure that the manufacturers of Maurice Lacroix would like you to wear one as well.
Why else would they spend all that money to use his name?
Therefore isn’t the whole idea of wearing the same watch as Bob at cross purposes with his message?
A total disaster.
Thursday, June 23rd, 2022Total, the French multinational petroleum company, has decided to move into the area of sustainable power and rebranded itself as TotalEnergies.
This move to green energy is laudable, however the newly developed name and logo is to my mind, a fiasco.
It’s too complex, too long and not memorable, or even aesthetically pleasing.
The company website goes to great lengths to rationalise the new design. Which is in itself is an indication that it’s not self expiatory.
‘Total’ as a word means ‘complete’ and ‘absolute.’ So why not stay with a perfectly simple name and let the design and the accompanying PR do the work.
After all isn’t a picture worth a thousand words.
This whole project has been over thought and I can see the client’s ‘guiding hand’ being a major factor in this disaster.
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