8 of the Best Ads From 2014

The average consumer is exposed to an estimated average of 3,000 marketing messages on a daily basis. That's a lot of brands competing for attention. Advertisements now need to be more than explicit promotional communications, if they are to cut through the clutter and be heard above the noise. They need to shock, entertain, make people laugh, or cry. They need to connect with people emotionally. Here is my selection of ads that managed to do this better than the rest in 2014 (in no particular order).

1. Quit Smoking Message from Gerry Collins and the HSE

This has to be the hardest hitting ad from the last 12 months. In March, Gerry Collins died from terminal lung cancer, aged 57. Before he sadly passed away, he bravely agreed to leave behind a message. There was no need for clever imagery or catchy jingles with his one, the message was strong enough on its own. If you smoke, stop. And if you don’t smoke, don’t start.

2. An Opportune Tribute to a Legend by Target McConnells

This year, Ireland’s greatest ever professional rugby player decided to hang up his boots. On the 8^th March, Brian O’Driscoll played is 140^th and last match in an Irish jersey. There was only one word that felt appropriate; legend. Target McConnells decided to pay a tribute of their own to BOD in the lead up to the game, taking advantage of their close proximity to the Landsdowne Road venue that staged this momentous occasion.

3. Ireland Inspires Video by Fáilte Ireland

In celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, Fáilte Ireland released this beautiful, inspirational video, showcasing all that is great about Ireland. It was played for audiences gathering for Irish Embassy events celebrating around the globe. If this one didn’t make you feel proud to be Irish, nothing will.

4. A Little Bit of Humour From Energia

With downsizing, restructuring and cost reduction measures all being the order of the day, this ad was both timely and very clever. A clear message, with more than a touch of humour, this ad cut through the clutter. Well done to the boys and girls at, well, Boys and Girls (the ad agency behind it).

5. Three Little Words

Strictly speaking, this ad was first aired towards the end of 2013, but it ran throughout 2014. Beautifully shot, the script was based around three little words, therefore managing to repeat the brand name several times without being overly promotional.

6. Hunky Dorys in the Bath Anyone?

Largo Foods decided to live on the edge a little with another slightly dodgy Hunky Dorys ad that was more than a little naughty. It did get noticed though. And if eating chocolate in the bath can make young ladies climax (as with the old Cadburys Flake ad), why could a bag of crisps not do the same for us blokes?

7. EBS Do Not Clock Off at Five O'Clock

A clever use of humour was the appeal used in this entertaining ad by EBS. Sometimes the use of humour can overpower the message - you think it's funny but can't remember what the ad is really about. Not so with this ad, the message from the humour was clear. EBS is flexible and will arrange mortgage appointments around your schedule, because real life is not nine to five. 

8. Let Them Know - An Post 

Considering my current role, I could be accused of being a little biased with this one. However, if I wasn’t working for An Post, I would probably have picked this ad as being the best new Christmas ad this year. A really beautifully shot ad enhancing the emotional connection of sending a card at Christmas – For all the ones you love and all the ones you miss, let them know. And aided by the gorgeous voice of Lisa Hannigan, I think this one will be an enduring classic.

Trend Spotting - Is the Beginning Near?

'Tis the season to be jolly. And also to get that crystal ball back out and try to predict what the next year or so might have in store for us. I recently started a new role as Market Engagement Manager at An Post. Things have been a bit hectic, hence the sound of silence on the blogger line. Part of my new role is organising business conferences and briefings for the wider business audience. Our most recent breakfast event, Smart Trends 2015, provided some unique and interesting insights into the direction we are headed and how things might play out for Irish business in 2015. Our speakers were Gillian Nelis, Managing Editor of the Sunday Business Post and Gerard O'Neill, Chairman of Amárach Research. Here are some of the highlights.

Thankfully, consumer confidence has been steadily on the rise over the last 12 months and this trend is set to continue. The ordinary, everyday Joe may not necessarily feel the effects of the recovery in their pocket yet, but they are optimistic they will in the near future and are starting to loosen up a little.

Consumer spending is set to increase from about €85 billion in 2014 to an estimated €87.6 billion in 2015. This represents a 3% increase and, as a welcomed changed, is a step in the right direction. Over the next 6 months in particular, 14% of Irish consumers intend to borrow, 11% intend to buy a new home, 19% a new car, and 56% plan to spend on a foreign holiday. Whether or not they do it is another story, but the intention is there which is a start.

And, it would appear, we are set to become even more health conscious. 51% of Irish consumers say they intend on exercising more and 53% plan to eat more healthily. This will result in an estimated €5.1 billion in health spending (I wonder how much of this will happen in January with us all joining gyms in an effort to fight the Christmas bulge?).

The trend towards online shopping is set to continue in the year ahead too. Currently 9 in 10 Irish consumers order online once a month, with the average spend per month being €91. 77% of us use comparison websites, like Trip Advisor or Trivago and this seems to be influencing our purchase decisions. Based on reading a positive online review, 69% of Irish consumers have bought electronic goods, 63% have bought a car (a little strange I thought), and 58% have bought clothes.

So, is the beginning near? At face value, it would appear so. And hopefully the beginning will last a little longer than the end did, if you know what I mean.

(All figures from Amárach Research; Gerard O'Neill's presentation at An Post's Smart Trends 2015, 3rd December 2014.)

Why Anti-Smoking Ads Don't Work

Ok, so I know I am a day late with this one, National No Smoking Day was yesterday, right. But, perhaps there is good case to be made for everyday being a no smoking day. Bad breath, discoloured fingers, high risk of lung cancer and heart disease, not to mention the strong likelihood of an early death - are all the results of nicotine consumption. 


Yet, most smokers know this and still continue to happily consume death. Just why do smokers smoke? This was the question I asked myself this week as I observed a group in my local pub exiting the establishment like clockwork every half-hour to stand in the cold and the rain and consume death-inducing nicotine. I felt compelled to ask them what motivates them to do what they do. Although they agreed it was probably bad for them and they should quit, they also felt the need to justify their consumption habit by telling me of examples of others who smoked all their lives and lived long and healthy (the statistical exception who, for some reason, escaped the medically proven fate of smoking). They seemed to have a formed attitude that helped reinforce their habit and provided counter-arguments to justify it when required. I don’t know of another product that clearly states on the pack “Consumption of this product will kill you” that sells quite as well.

Probably a better question to ask though is 'how can smokers be convinced to stop'? Marketers, working on behalf of government agencies and non-profit organisations have been trying to persuade smokers to stop smoking but have, so far, failed to have a significant impact. Many engage in the use of fear appeals in their advertisements, trying to show the effects of smoking and put the fear of God into them. But studies have shown that the use of fear appeals can have varying effects.

Too much fear, like in this one shown, doesn't always have the desired effect. Instead, what actually happens is consumers avoid giving their attention. The communication disgusts them so much that they switch of from it from it. They use a perceptual filter to screen out the message so that it doesn't work. 

Too little fear, like in this advertisement, has been shown to be ineffective also. It doesn't do quite enough to grab the consumer's attention and make them feel the fear. It results in the kind of attitude 'tell me something I don't know'. It makes the habit just fall into the 'no-so-healthy' category as opposed to the 'ruthless serial-killer' one.

So, what's the answer? I have got to say, I don't know (although I'd be interested too hear your thoughts). It baffles me why smokers do it to themselves. I know it's an addiction, but many others have proved it is not an addiction that can't be broken. Perhaps anti-smoking marketers should try to learn from their anti-drink-driving colleagues. There was a time when it was socially acceptable to drive home after a few drinks (in Ireland anyway). Not anymore. A sociological shift has taken place, largely down to some very effective ads that engage, what seem to be, an appropriate and effective level of fear. On a final note, I hope they do start to get it right. And perhaps this shows the important role marketing can play. Usually its purpose is to get people to buy and consume more of something. In this case the goal is to get them to stop. And in doing so it literally is a matter of life and death.

Gavin Fox MSc, MII Grad

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What is Worse Than Being Talked About?

“There is only one thing worse than being talked about, 

and that is not being talked about.” (Oscar Wilde)

Although he was not specifically talking about marketing, the great Oscar Wilde’s words have absolute relevance to the discipline none-the-less. The key to great marketing campaigns in the modern digital world is talk-ability or, as Seth Godin calls it, making campaigns “remark-able”. And when a marketing campaign is remarkable, people talk about it, they share their experience with their friends, and with a reach like never seen before. Previous research suggested that consumers usually share brand experiences with 9 or 10 people or, in extreme cases, perhaps even with up to 30 people (Walker, 1995). However, although this research is not that old, it it is completely out of date and not in touch with the greatly changed world that has rapidly evolved in that time.

Now, individual consumer reach is far greater. Since October 2012, Facebook has over 1 billion active users. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. If they share a brand experience with these friends, and if they in turn decide to pass it on further, the reach of word-of-mouth could now be measured in the hundreds, thousands, or perhaps even hundreds of thousands.

In recognition of this, many marketers have plunged into the social media world in an attempt to get their ideas to spread faster. Many closely monitor what is being said on their own platforms and as a result they gather useful insights. However, apart from monitoring what people are saying on your own social media platforms, it is becoming increasingly important to monitor what is being said in the social-media-sphere. Reach is not the only thing that needs to be measured; conversation content and its influence is of the most importance.

Many smart marketers are not just diving into creating social media content, but they are using social media monitoring tools like the sophisticated dashboards provided by the likes of Hub Spot and Radian 6, or the less sophisticated free versions like Tweetdeck, Hootsuite (who also offer a paid version), or Technorati (for monitoring blogs), to monitor what is being said about their brands and organisations by those who matter most  - consumers. And they are talking - a lot. With regard to Facebook alone, 510,000 comments are posted every 60 seconds and more than 2 billion posts are liked or commented on daily, according to Hub Spot (Sibley, 2012). And why is this important in a modern marketing context? Because, according to one European study, 78% of consumers say they trust and believe recommendations for products and services more than any other medium, many even going as far as saying that traditional advertising is, by comparison, “false”, “deceptive”, and “misleading” (Centaur, 2007).

It is not smart for brands to ignore this online conversation. It is smart to monitor, react (when necessary) and participate in this constant dialogue. So, if I could re-write the famous words that formed the introduction to this short piece it would read the following. 

“There is only one thing worse than being talked about, 

and that is not knowing what is being said.”

Gavin Fox MSc, MII Grad

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A Friday Night Marketing Strategy

So you think marketing is just for marketing people, right? Wrong. Marketing is for everyone, regardless of what walk of life you come from. After all, everybody, at some point in their life, is selling something. A car. A house. An unwanted sofa on Done Deal (which is me at the moment incidentally). Perhaps even yourself. This week, as we gear up for Valentine's Day (which is this Friday lads by the way), spare a thought for those looking for love. Those who find themselves in the nightclub on Friday night trying to successfully market themselves. Here's how marketing strategy could be applied to your efforts.

Firstly, you could go the direct route. So, you see that gorgeous girl and you approach her and say "I am very rich, would you like to go out with me?". That's direct marketing.

Alternatively, you could send your friend over to the gorgeous girl to say "He's very rich, you should go out with him". That's advertising.

Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to have that gorgeous girl walk over to you and say "You're very rich, I'd like to go out with you". If so, you have got brand recognition. 

Or maybe you'll be like others who have taken the walk of shame back to your mates, after you walked over to the gorgeous girl and said "I am very rich, you should go out with me", and she slaps you in the face. That, by the way, is customer feedback.

Or, imagine you walk over to her and say "I am very rich, would you like to go out with me?", and she introduces you to her husband. That's demand and supply gap.

And finally, what if before you even get to say "I am very rich, would you like to go out with me?", your wife arrives. That's restriction from entering a new market.

So, you see, everyone's selling something. And a knowledge of marketing is, in fact, of benefit to all. A drop of Armani's finest smelly stuff might just help too. Good luck lads!

(This blog post was inspired by a Mike Coleman tweet @DigitalEmerald.)

Gavin Fox MSc, MII Grad

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5 Advertisements You Will Never See Again

So, do you think marketing has changed much over the last, say, 50 years? Here are some advertisements that featured from around that era. I think it is fair to say these emphasise the dramatic changes in how brands communicate with their audience.



Ethics and corporate responsibility have become a dominant feature of modern marketing and rightly so. Cigarette brands are not permitted to promote their products at all in many countries (including Ireland) and the sale of such death-inducing products take place in what is often referred to as a 'dark-market'. The other reason this communication would not work in the modern era is because consumers have become much more savvy. They don't just believe advertisements but question what they see, even if a doctor apparently endorses the featured product. (Perhaps it also tells us that doctors have got a little bit smarter in that time too.)

I bet she won't. In fact, producing this on Christmas day morning is more likely to result in its use as a weapon rather that a household appliance. (Although the young lady in the advertisement does look happy, it has to be said). The role of women in most western countries has changed. No longer is it acceptable for us men to convey sexist remarks that stink of inequality (and, again, rightly so). Although, I do dare the Marketing Manager at Hoover to re-run this campaign. Just don't reveal your identity as doing so could greatly reduce your life expectancy.

Everybody knows Coca-Cola is really good for you, right? And what could be a better start in life for your treasured little ones than a regular intake of caffeine mixed with about thirty odd spoons of sugar? Marketing communications aimed at children have become extremely strict in recent times, especially concerning high-sugar food and drink brands that lead to obesity, diabetes, and other associated possible health problems. What parent in their right mind would give this stuff to a baby? Well, perhaps some do, but the likes of Coca-Cola are not allowed to target them with these sort of communications any more and, even if they were, doing so would put the brand in the firing line for some pretty hefty criticism.

In writing this I'm thinking "perhaps this campaign would work today", but for quite different reasons. It would be a handy way to consume this sort of thing without getting that white powdery stuff everywhere. Nigella for one would be delighted I'm sure. Ok I'm joking. This one is wrong and would never be allowed today. And, let me officially put on the record, that I do not condone nor encourage the consumption of cocaine, in toothache drop form or otherwise.

So, what's wrong with this one then? Perhaps these guys could team up with Coca-Cola and do a joint promotion, they would be, after all, targeting the same audience. Well, even if you do produce clothing for the slightly larger child, calling them "chubbies" is a big no-no. We live a world of political correctness and, let's just say, discriminating against the minority (even if they are a growing audience) is not the way to go anymore.

So, there you have it. Marketing has changed, forever. Consumer needs have changed. Our roles in society have changed. How we react to advertisements and the control we each now have as a result of social media has meant that we have much more of a say than ever before. The thing that hasn't changed is the fact that marketing is still about finding and keeping customers. It's just that how we now go about doing so is radically different.

Gavin Fox MSc, MII Grad

W: www.foxmarketing.ie

E: gavin@foxmarketing.ie

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Search Marketing: Selling to People Who Want to Hear From You

“Selling to people who want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t.” So says Seth Godin, the post-modern marketer who announced the death of mass marketing and the rise of micro-marketing. But what is micro-marketing? Is it not just a fancy new term that only serves to dress up the traditional marketing process of segmenting, targeting and positioning (STP) brands? To answer this, let’s briefly consider how traditional STP works. You identify groups of individuals who are all similar in some way. It might be based on demographics, lifestyle, behaviour, or whatever. You target this ‘homogenous’ group with a marketing program and you aim to position your brand on some point-of-difference. However, as the global proliferation and adoption of all things digital has shown us, this process is fundamentally flawed. Why? Because no matter how ‘homogenous’ the segment is, it is inherently ‘heterogeneous’. Although the people within the group might share a similarity, they are all individuals, with individual needs, preferences, behaviours, values, and lifestyles. Marketing is about meeting customer needs profitably, not pigeon-holing people and adopting a one-size-fits-all solution. Marketing has become personal. Really personal.

One such manifestation of the highly personal nature of marketing in the web 2.0 era is search marketing. Search marketing involves making sure your message is put in front of those who want to hear from you (as opposed to interrupting strangers who don’t through mass marketing). We now spend as much time online as we do consuming any other media. In fact, if you are a generation Y consumer (someone born between roughly 1978 and early 2000’s), you most likely spend more time online than you do watching television, listening to the radio or reading newspapers/magazines. This time spent  online has affected how consumers search for brands. The fact is, when people want to find out about a product, a service, a brand, they don’t rely on mass media; they rely on micro-media. They trust a search engine. They “Google-it”. They search for what they are looking for and Google returns results that best fit their search. Whether the goal is to achieve a click-through (to achieve sales) or just to achieve an impression (for brand building), your brand simply must feature. Why? Because if it doesn’t, not only are you not considered, but you don’t exist.

In today’s highly connected world, where people demand immediacy in having the information they want at their fingertips at any given time, day or night, brands simply must be found online or they will die. And they must be found easily. 73% of search engine users never look beyond the first page. Marketers must invest their time in search marketing and ensure that their brand is showing up in both paid and organic results above the fold (visible at the top of the first page). Having a nice website that cannot be found is about as useful as designing and printing a nice brochure and hiding it in a cupboard. It starts with making sure your website content is keyword rich. And not words you consider key, but words the people carrying out the search consider key. Marketers must track these keywords to make sure they are still relevant. Ask yourself, what words do my customers and prospects use when searching for my product? Although nobody outside of Google fully understands the ‘secret sauce’ that is the algorithm, which is made up of over 200 spiders or bots of weighted data used to evaluate how relevant your website is with respect to the user’s search, we do know that certain things help. Like updating your website content regularly and updating it with highly relevant and compelling content. Using, not just keywords, but meta-tags (keywords written into the code of your website). Having links to your website from other trusted third-party websites helps too. It’s all about building relevance, authority and trustworthiness.

And with all this technology, marketers need to be careful not to forget what the whole thing is about. “Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is not about optimising for search engines, it’s about optimising for humans” (Dharmesh Shah, Hub Spot). And when you optimise for humans, you ensure you can be found; with relevance and authority. Search marketing has given marketers a fantastic tool that enables them to personally sell to people who want to hear from them.   

Gavin Fox MSc
W: www.foxmarketing.ie
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A Marketer's New Years Resolutions

Well, the festivities are now over and it's time to get stuck into yet another new year. It's the time we when we tend to make resolutions, objectives for the year that are usually forgotten about within a few days. Get fit, lose weight, learn a foreign language, you know the sort of thing. But, from a marketing perspective, what should be your new years resolutions? What should be your marketing objectives for 2014? Here are some suggestions, some things to consider when aiming to improve your marketing strategy in the coming 12 months.

1. More Marketing and Sales Integration Required -
It still amazes me how the marketing department and the sales department are best of enemies in many organisations. Sales teams blame the marketers for not knowing what's going on on the ground. Marketers blame the sales guys for not implementing the marketing strategy effectively. And, while the internal turf war continues, the organisation suffers. When both departments are closer aligned they make each others' job so much easier. Marketers can provide opportunities for sales people to make sales, which in turn helps in making marketing campaigns successful. Marketers can benefit from feedback from sales people, as they act as very effective market researchers, which can help marketers design more effective marketing campaigns. It's win-win. A key objective for many organisations this year should be to get the best of enemies to be the best of friends again. They, are after all, trying to achieve the same thing.

2. Digital Marketing, Social Marketing...It's Just Marketing -
If you are still struggling to get to grips with the new world of marketing, you need to catch up quickly. Many still discuss 'marketing' as being a separate discipline from 'digital' and 'social' marketing. But, guess what? The distinctions between each no longer exist. Its just marketing. The new world of marketing involves engaging with an audience through many channels. Integration is the key, as is implementing a coherent strategy across whatever relevant channels possible. So this year, forget about pigeon holing marketing and just get engaging with your audience, wherever they happen to be (both on- and off-line)

3. Entertain the Audience -
Consumers have been bombarded with one-way communications of droll, boring and meaningless marketing communications for too long and they have stopped listening. If you want consumers to give their time and attention to what you have to say, your communications need to have the entertainment factor. Ask yourself; will the communications I am planning for this year entertain the audience? If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board because it will not work.

4. Marketing Eyes Wide Open -
Marketing has got so much smarter. It used to be the case that marketers put a campaign together and hoped the sales followed. Now, as a result of data analytics, marketers can use a real-time 'dashboard', telling them what's working (and what's not), when its working, how its working, and so on. For online campaigns, you can track how many views a communication has received, how many click-throughs, whether or not users continued past the landing page, at what stage they made a purchase or submitted their details. The use of a CRM system, giving access to the sales pipeline and providing a 360 degree view, linking sales back to specific campaigns, is an essential tool enabling a smart marketing approach. Now, marketing is no longer conducted in the dark. This year aim to have your marketing eyes wide open by using the data. Smart marketers put a spotlight on their efforts. Don't leave it to chance. Measure and evaluate.

5. Prove a Return -
Accountability has become a hot topic in marketing and rightly so. As a marketer, your job is not done when you plan and implement marketing campaigns. Your job is done when you prove a return. If marketing as a profession is to be taken seriously at board level, a more scientific approach must be taken. If you want to be taken seriously by your board (and particularly by those who hold onto the purse strings in your organisation) make sure you talk the language they understand the most; money and profits.

If I can help in anyway with your plans for 2014 let me know, I would be delighted to have a chat. In any case, I hope you have a successful year.

Gavin Fox MSc
W: www.foxmarketing.ie
E: gavin@foxmarketing.ie
T: +353 87 649 7660

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