Alex Woodruff Biz Buzz

How many companies have the branding clout to advertise without mentioning the company or brand, but by only showing a logo. Those that can have understood the value of brand icons. Good one… (in case you’re wondering: Nike. Thermals, given the tick.)

Sony is an example of a company that’s learnt a lot about branding – the right way. Pass me a CFS-65L please… This press advertising from the 70s shows them proudly announcing the arrival of their 4-wave stereo radio recorder “with the lovely name CFS-65L”. Hmm. Whose idea was that, the techy? Flows off the [...]

Your guardian angel this winter I stumbled across this press ad a couple of years ago in Canada and it confirms how powerful a brand icon can be. Whenever I show it to my MBAs it raises plenty of smiles. Not just a guardian angel in the coming winter, a guardian angel to the brand. [...]

One of my favourite campaigns of all time – because it hits the target market straight between the eyes and has every potential to change customer behaviour in an instant. “I never read The Economist. Management trainee. Aged 42.” When I first saw this ad I was an ambitious young manager sitting on a commuter [...]

Some product endorsements become so powerful, they take over the brand. For years, Spiller’s brand Kattomeat (now engulfed by Nestlé, possibly even extinct?) used a white cat in its ads. The cat was offered a number of varieties of catfood, hidden in black packaging. And always choose the Kattomeat. A simple “preference strategy”, endorsed by [...]

One of my favourite campaigns of all time. Sadly they didn’t have digital cameras when it came out, but I did get the mug… This execution adheres to the art of using surprise to gain customer desire. Dogs never feature in catfood advertising. Unless they are so driven by jealousy that they would actually prefer [...]

Surprise, simple, straight to the point. Another classic campaign from Burger King. Like their snacks, consistently better quality than big Mac. The same applies to this campaign: here.

The Maggi mnemonic Nestlé subsidiary Maggi has been building a mnemonic – or brand property – for years. It’s a very simple device that focusses your interest specifically on their product, in keeping with the AIDA process. A spoon: The intriguing thing about this everyday kitchen implement is that when you realise you watching or [...]

Nick Kamen stonewashing his Levi jeans Levis is seen as the archetypal image brand in the fashion sector. I don’t wish to be controversial but I disagree. Ever since Nick Kamen walked into the laundromat to the tune of Marvin Gaye’s “Through the Grapevine”, took off his Levis and washed them with a bag of [...]

Tony the Tiger, one of my favourites as a kid. A testimonial without the dangers of celebrity slip-ups. Tiger testimonial The wonderful thing about this endorser is he moves with the times, he’s adaptable. And he’s cheap! Why spend millions on expensive stuck-up headline grabbers when you can have someone like Tony endorsing your product [...]