Corporates risk consumer backlash

by Marketing ON 18 November 2009

A peak in anti-corporate sentiment by Australian consumers signals a significant threat to established brands, both in Australia and globally, with 70% believing that corporations are money hungry and too focused on profits.

In a report from advertising firm Grey and Sweeney Research entitled ‘The Grey Sweeney Trust Scale Survey’, corporations buoyed by recent economic recovery should be realising that the global financial crisis has altered the way many consumers view business imperatives.

The report found that 54% of Australians surveyed could think of an organisation or brand they no longer trusted, though 59% placed more trust in Australian companies than overseas corporations.

Banks and telecommunications companies have experienced the biggest decline in consumer trust, with around 20% of people pointing to them as organisations they no longer trusted.

Of trusted occupations, nurses not only topped the list, closely followed by pilots, but came well before doctors, judges ahead of lawyers, charity workers ahead of priests and all of them came ahead of politicians and real estate agents.

“The research points to an erosion in the levels of trust consumers place in well-known organisations and household brands. This trust, which is based on hard, demonstrable actions, rather than softer strategies such as community involvement and loyalty programs, is difficult to rebuild once lost,” Grey executive chairman Paul Gardner told a gathering of Australia’s top corporate leaders in Sydney recently.

“If businesses do not adapt to this shift in consumer thinking and understand where it is coming from, then they risk losing ground. It is not enough to disguise a bad offer with freebies or clever marketing – consumers want proof that a company is what it purports to be.

Marc L’Huillier from Sweeney Research indicated that a couple of well-known brands had come out on top in the survey.

“The Salvation Army is the most trusted brand in the country, followed by Google, Australia Post and Medicare. By business sector, airlines are the most trusted, outranking food manufacturers, sporting bodies and supermarket chains. Australians are now looking for certainty and, emotionally, they are looking for a throwback to some of the more traditional values that may have been downplayed in recent times. They trust brands and organisations that understand this dynamic,” said L’Huillier.

Transport Accident Commission (TAC) Pictures of You – a fully integrated approach to road safety

by Marketing ON 22 October 2008

Client: Transport Accident Commission
Campaign: Pictures of You
Agency: Grey Melbourne

Background

Speeding drivers are the biggest killers on Victoria’s roads, with speed a factor in at least 30% of all road fatalities. The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is the prime messenger for road safety in Victoria and is recognised around the world as a major authority on the subject. The organisation was established in 1987 as a no-fault insurer for all people who are injured or die as a result of transport accidents.

The TAC has worked with Grey Melbourne for over 18 years, with the current speed campaign running for over six. The TAC and Grey have the primary long term objective of making speeding as socially and morally unacceptable as drink driving within the Victorian community.

The Campaign

Pictures of You’ is a ground breaking campaign targeting speed, launched on the 20th February this year. The campaign forms part of a long term campaign to reduce speeding, by highlighting the direct relationship between the horrific legacy that speed-related trauma creates and the importance of speed cameras in reducing a driver’s tendency to speed.

In the campaign, a family member is shown holding a photo of the person or persons they have lost to speeding, with the campaign carrying the message: This is why you’re photographed when you speed. The campaign captures genuine and long lasting grief and compels drivers to think twice the next time they get behind the wheel.

Strategy

An integrated campaign was developed which launched with an open letter press ad from the families on Wednesday 20th February urging people to tune in at 8.27pm that evening, look them in the eye and tell them there’s nothing wrong with speeding. This appeared as full page advertisements in every newspaper released across the state that day – the Herald Sun, The Age, mX and all regional newspapers. At 8.27pm that evening a roadblock of the three-minute TVC aired across all of Victoria’s free-to-air channels. Two 60 second and a 30 second version also aired throughout the campaign period.

The media strategy also included outdoor advertising, radio and a significant online component that included homepage road blocks on key Victoria’s websites such as ninemsn, the Herald Sun, Yahoo!7 and MySpace over the first week of the campaign. The online component of the campaign delivered over 10 million impressions.

In addition to the extensive online advertising presence a website was developed www.picturesofyou.com.au as well as the full re-recording and release of Angie Hart’s version of the song, ‘Pictures of You’ used in the campaign.

Creative

Please see creative showcase below.

Results

During the ‘Pictures of You’ campaign TAC’s ongoing tracking showed self-reporting of:

Speed most or all of the time – In the calendar year 2007, on average 13.5%, while during the ‘Pictures of You’ campaign, only 6% reported this (the lowest figures every achieved).

Driving up to 10km/h over the limit is usually quite safe – In 2001 34% agreed and now as a result of the ‘Pictures of You’ campaign the result came in at 17% agreed.

Driving up to 10km/h over the legal limit is not really speeding – In 2001 24% agreed and now as a result of the ‘Pictures of You’ campaign the result came in at 14% agreed.

Campaign recall – During the ‘Pictures of You’ campaign the average recall for the campaign was 81%, which is well above the TAC benchmark (70%).

Since the campaign launched in February, ‘Pictures of You’ has since gone on to be shortlisted at the 2008 Cannes Lions in both the radio and television categories. It has also win six MADC awards, including best integrated campaign, best radio and best 45+ second television commercial.

The World Bank Vietnam Five Clean Fingers – an international perspective on communicating public health messages

by Marketing ON 21 October 2008

Client: The World Bank
Campaign: 360/Synchronised campaign for handwashing with soap
Agency: Grey Vietnam

Background

Grey Vietnam created a unique social marketing public awareness campaign in Vietnam. The driving idea behind the campaign was: Five Clean Fingers. The campaign is part of a global public health initiative stemming from research indicating that handwashing with soap at critical times is one of the most effective ways to prevent common viral and bacterial diseases. The project initiator, the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program, the leader of the National Handwashing Initiative, selected Grey Vietnam as its communications partner in the campaign, which is part of international efforts toward millennium development goals.

The objective was to reach rural mothers with children under five years of age with key messages for behavior change. Grey’s annual consumer study on Asians, Eye on Asia revealed a key insight about rural Vietnamese women: Being a mother = Stress. Their biggest source of stress is when their children get sick. The challenge was to overcome myths about cleanliness believed by the target audience, uncovered by research conducted by Nielsen. Among people’s beliefs were that water alone is enough and that clean looking and smelling hands are clean enough.

Objective

The research findings were used in a communication workshop where campaign objectives were developed with public and private partners, stakeholders, including Vietnamese Ministry of Health and other government agencies. Grey Vietnam applied its brand acceleration model to develop the campaign, Driving Idea steeped in local culture and having the ‘magic’ ingredient needed to talk to and convince mothers – children themselves. For generations, Vietnamese use proverbs and songs to teach and train children in the Vietnamese traditions. Mothers and kids sing the songs to reinforce values. One such song’s lyrics are: One plus one is two. Two plus two is four. Four plus one is five. All five clean fingers.

Strategy & Execution

The driving idea, Five Clean Fingers is the foundation for a combination of tactics, including an above-the-line television commercial in both Northern and Southern Vietnamese dialects, a poster series, and a bold campaign logo used throughout the campaign. These materials were used in conjunction with the following below-the-line, direct activation programs: a national launch event for invited government officials and media to encourage campaign momentum; direct-to-target audience regional road shows that bring the mass-media materials deep into rural hamlets; and regional, educational-entertainment fairs, featuring ultra-violet light handwashing demonstrations, local key opinion leader speeches, and a dramatic play production created by Grey Vietnam to deliver key messages to mothers with children under five years of age in a entertaining, yet highly memorable and educational format.

Public Relations was also an integral part of this integrated behavior change communications campaign. Publicity helped reach policy advocacy goals and forge stronger, long-term public/ private partnership alliances. The result was strong, early campaign momentum and on-going media coverage in print, broadcast, and internet mass-media channels.

Results

In addition to overall increased awareness and exposure to messages about the importance of handwashing with soap amongst the target audience, the campaign helped with the commencement of public/private-sector alliance activities and better coordination and collaboration between all relevant parties for next stage of the Vietnam National Handwashing with Soap program, scheduled for launching in 2009.

The media results include two radio reports, eleven TV news reports, 35 web news links, and 24 local, regional and national print publications, resulting in millions of exposures to key messages. Meanwhile through the below-the-line activities, over 30,000 people in pilot regions were reached via direct activations. Grey Vietnam is now assisting Vietnam’s National Handwashing Initiative in organizing the celebration of the 1st Global Handwashing Day in Vietnam. Grey Vietnam also has received a request from the Initiative to roll-out this campaign nationwide, 2012 in 64 provinces and 616 communes, starting now until the year 2012.

Recipe of the Month: John West Salmon campaign

by Marketing ON 19 November 2007

Client: Simplot – John West Salmon
Creative: Grey
Media buying: Mitchells Media
Research: The Lab Strategy

Background

Salmon is the largest contributor to the John West business and is the brand’s flagship premium product range. So the development of a strong communication campaign focusing on John West Salmon was imperative to reverse a recent share decline, to defend leadership, validate ‘The Best’ positioning and present consumers with a compelling reason to justify the John West price premium.

From qualitative research, a number of key communication directives were identified to help guide both media and creative strategy. Research from The Lab highlighted four main perceptual drivers of salmon quality:

purity imagery – the extent to which the product is perceived as natural
origin – salmon sourced from Alaska is considered to be the best quality
price – the more expensive the better the quality, and
appetising imagery – motivates consumption.

These reactions resulted in the formulation of a number of key communication directives:

talk about John West – don’t talk about competitors
keep the John West air of confidence – substantiation is seen as a sign of weakness
maintain the mythology and romantic imagery of past John West communications – fishermen, bears, water and wilderness, and
the best is still the best – work with it, but say something new.

Objectives

Based on these directives, Grey moved away from its initial focus on strong competitive claims and instead began to consider how it could evolve John West’s current communication style in a way that would resonate with the target market and achieve the following objectives:

increase brand relevance to the core target, primarily female grocery buyers aged 45-plus leveraging the knowledge that taste is a key driver of purchase
reinforce the positioning ‘The Best’
give consumers a compelling reason to purchase John West salmon over competitors
build a connection with consumers that translates into sales not just awareness, and
create a halo effect for the John West brand.

Strategy

An integrated communications strategy incorporating a 30- and 45-second TVC, website, viral, point of sale and price promotion was implemented. The activity was timed to tie in with Lent, as this is the key selling period for the canned fish category. The TVC aired over a six-week period with a media buy targeted at singles and couples and focused on must-watch programs. It included both free to air metro and pay TV.

The TVC – ‘Flying Fishing Tackle’ adds further layers to the brand’s mythology, by reminding consumers that John West not only selects the best fish, but also that ‘John West is prepared to endure the worst to bring you the best’. It features the powerful imagery synonymous with previous John West communications – fishermen, Alaska, wilderness and bears – and, as a result, does as much for the John West brand as it does for the sales of canned salmon. The imagery also taps directly into the perceptual drivers identified in the research, particularly those of purity and origin. The advertisement’s reference to the richest tasting red salmon stems from an understanding that taste is the primary driver of purchase. An element of surprise and overstatement communicates John West’s premium positioning in a fun, entertaining way and maintains the John West air of confidence, while indicating that the brand doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Viral/online – To build interest and extend the reach and effectiveness of the TVC, the campaign included a viral and online component that began three days prior to the advertisement on-air date and coincided with an internal launch. This involved the development of a click-through to the TVC from the John West homepage and an email with a link to the TVC. The email was sent to all Simplot staff immediately following the internal launch, and staff were encouraged to forward it on to their friends and family. The website also incorporated a ‘Send to a friend’ functionality. Plus the ad was uploaded to YouTube.

POS and promotion – A variety of John West branded point of sale was developed to tie in with the TVC, create in-store theatre and generate exposure for the John West brand. The point of sale included wobblers with a number of red salmon recipes to encourage usage and further drive purchase.

Results

Tracking – Millward Brown ad tracking results for the ‘Flying Fishing Tackle’ TVC have been outstanding, with the ad scoring well above Millward Brown’s norms on most tracking measures. Recognition of the ad was 76 percent, well above the 40 percent norm, and among those who recognised the ad there was 92 percent brand identification versus the 56 percent norm. This puts ‘Flying Fishing Tackle’ in the top one percent of all ads tracked online by Millward Brown in terms of branding. Product recall was also strong, with 67 percent identifying that the ad was for salmon. The ad successfully communicated the link between John West and the highest quality salmon, with nine in 10 (89 percent) taking out the message that JW is dedicated to getting the best salmon. The ad also succeeded in persuading consumers, with 75 percent claiming it made the brand seem more appealing versus the 55 percent norm, while 60 percent claimed it made them more likely to use the brand versus the 40 percent norm. The ad also scored well on uniqueness, with 48 percent of respondents agreeing that it made them think the brand is really different from others versus the norm of 34 percent.

Viral/online – Prior to the campaign, website visits were averaging 250 individual hits per day. The number of visits quadrupled immediately upon release of the email, and continued to increase for days after the send, with over 5000 unique hits recorded. Once the initial spike had settled down, website traffic continued to increase and settled at a much higher average of 400 unique hits per day. This trend has continued and is still growing. The viral activity resulted in almost double the average number of unique visits to the website in the months since release. Interestingly enough, traffic has been driven to the John West site from a number of different sources. Social networking site, MySpace, is among one of the highest referring sites for John West, with all traffic being driven to the TVC. The success of the ad on YouTube has also been impressive. Originally posted only twice, the ad now appears numerous times throughout YouTube, where it’s been viewed more than 150,000 times.

Value share growth – As a result of the campaign John West has regained significant value share in red salmon, particularly from private label, which has seen a marked decline in share over the past quarter. For the quarter to 29 April 2007 John West was up 21.7 percent in value share while private label was down 12.3 percent and Paramount was down 7.9 percent (AC Nielsen). Towards the end of the campaign period John West recorded its highest four-weekly share result in over two years.

Sales growth versus Lent 2006 – Sales of John West Red Salmon were the primary driver of growth of the red salmon segment over this period. The segment grew by six percent in value sales versus Lent 2006, while John West rose by 12.2 percent (ACNielsen).