Branding Bond

                I had the misfortune of being sick off and on for the past two weeks. That meant a lot of time in bed, and a great deal of time watching movies. With the new release of the James Bond film happening this weekend, networks were trying to take advantage of the excitement of the movie release by playing the preview over and over. I have always been a huge fan of James Bond films, and being excited for the new film I really couldn’t stop myself from watching.  I had the pleasure to go see Skyfall and am happy to report that Bond hasn’t change too much, still defying all odds, wearing his customary the black tuxedo  and product placement in the movie was once again front and center.

Product placement has been a staple in Hollywood films for a long time now, ever since E.T ate his first Reese’s Pieces getting lured into Elliot’s home, or Tom Cruise wearing Ray Bans in Risky Business.  Product placement has come along since then, but the goal hasn’t changed; companies trying to obtain maximum exposure for their brand. Product placement and James Bond go hand and hand, starting in the original films with the Aston Martin (Sean Connery as Bond); of course that has shifted throughout the years of Bond films from the BMW Z3 (Pierce Brosnan), to the Audi A6 (Daniel Craig) and now, the new Jaguar XJ-L. What I was most shocked to see watching Skyfall was James Bond shifting from his classic martini to Heineken beer; which reportedly cost Heineken a whopping 45 million dollars. Heineken has also added a commercial 007 campaign in correlation with the release of the movie. But the company credited for making the new Bond, Sony, I think has made biggest splash. First, by having singer/songwriter Adele pen and sing the movie’s theme song (which is incredible by the way), and simultaneously releasing the new Xperia T Sony smartphone; which coincidentally has commercials running before the movie and offers exclusive Bond content when purchasing the phone.

Now that DVRs are in almost every household, TV viewers are fast forwarding through commercials, which means companies rely on product placement in movies and television shows to showcase their products. With the new release of any big motion picture, especially with franchise movies such as 007, you can expect big corporations to be all over the big screen. Movie-goers have grown accustomed to seeing the latest that companies have to offer, and I for one enjoy the product placement. I enjoy seeing creative ways marketers have slipped in an advertisement - successfully. Marketers work collectively with agencies, writers, producers and directors to incorporate product placement through various outlets, and with Skyfall grossing 90 million dollars worldwide on opening weekend alone, you can expect it to continue.

Spooky Marketing

      With another consumer holiday coming up, consumers can be certain that businesses want to take advantage of potential sales. Halloween is a big business and has become a true retail goldmine; in Canada, spending on Halloween candy alone was $331 million (2009) but that pales in comparison to our southern counter-part who spent a whopping 5.8 billion dollars (2009). Around 68% of Canadians plan to participate in some sort of Halloween activity. Halloween isn’t just for kids anymore, adults are the ones driving consumer spending habits as they celebrate, buy costumes, visit haunted houses, and decorate their homes.

    The Halloween market is growing, and that makes it very attractive for business opportunities. In 2006, a research survey by the Retail Council of Canada found that Canadians planned to spend an average of $60, but Value Village’s 2011 annual Halloween shopping survey found that the average Canadian spends about $300 annually on Halloween products. With annual spending habits increasing every year it is time to get creative with business marketing plans.

       The obvious retailers have an advantage over average sales-driven businesses. Retailers such as Value Village and Party City have no problem attracting customers this time of year – the product sells itself; even online costume retailers sit back as Google draws in their customer base. But this time of the year also presents marketing opportunities for retailers that aren’t directly related to the holiday; this spooky day dares to challenge businesses to get creative with their marketing tactics. Companies such Netflix, Bath & Body Works, Pizza Hut advertise in some form, but smaller businesses may have to get a bit more creative. By hosting a Halloween party, printing t-shirts, getting employees to participate by dressing up, or baking Halloween-themed cupcakes. Whatever the plan, they must be sure to incorporate some of that Halloween spirit and not miss out on one of the most profitable holidays of the year. Happy Halloween!

Will Blackberry ever be the “Crackberry” again?

     Remember when Blackberry was coined the “Crackberry”, and you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing someone glued to one? Now it seems like everyone (including myself) has kicked that habit. Research in Motion (RIM) only owns 3% of the smartphone market today; that has changed from 2010 with a high around 20%. The biggest problem for RIM today (Apple, for one) is rebranding the image of Blackberry and what it meant to have one only a couple of years ago. With the release of the Blackberry 10, Research in Motion hopes to change that, but will it be too late?

     RIM has a difficult job to do; to make a Blackberry owner feel proud again. Not all RIM consumers have abandoned ship; there is still a core group of customers loyal to their Blackberry smartphones. They have gone through network system crashes, the use of out-dated software, product launch delays, and heavy competition from Android, Samsung, and Apple. With the Blackberry 10 just around the corner, they hope to regain the “Wow” factor.

    For years now, RIM has been behind the curve with new advancements in mobile technology. Believing that the Blackberry is built for the corporate world, RIM has failed to keep up – sticking with their core group of customers (business people); supplying them with the ability to send and receive emails and instant messages while offering them the highest level of security has been RIM’s promotional objective. However, as the smartphone phenomenon quickly increased, it wasn’t just the corporate world that became interested – other companies were starting to catch on. Apple made as much of an impact in the mobile phone market as they did in the portable music player market – and that was the start of bad news for the makers of Blackberry as Google released its Android operating system, they simply could not keep up. With each release customers (myself included) were hoping for RIM improvements; slowly losing customers to the competition with every disappointing new release. Now after 3 years of decline, RIM believes they have something to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple, the Blackberry 10. But has too much time gone by to retrieve the “crackberry” addicts? Or has one of Canada’s most recognized companies reinvented into something worth talking about in the smartphone market?