Guilty of being Innocent

So, I like many of you fans, marketers, customers and journos thought it was all over for Innocent since they sold their very pith to the corporate equivalent of insecticide, The Coca Cola Corporation. However it is not all doom and gloom, Innocent may have cracked it......

My heart skipped a beat tonight as I was in Tesco (adding to their 3bn profits) and saw a new Innocent product which if you think about it is the most obvious product they could ever produce and also the one that could seen them move from niche cutsie pie brand to becoming the Coke of the chiller cabinet - Innocent orange juice.

Now, it is not the product itself that is exciting me so much, but the worked famous packaging and tone of voice. It was like being greeted by and old friend and although it was 20p more than the competitor I wanted to be one of the first to try this and have the carton in my fridge. Not since I raced to the shop on Victoria Street in London and bought a smoothie with a woolie hat for my whole team in Xmas 2006 have I been so giddy in a shop.

Highlights of the pack are innovative development of logo, persona on pack (I'm new), two simple options, with bits, no bits, classic no preachy Innocent (a route they started to go down with five a day - tsk tsk) OJ - better than chips (just wonderfully them), even a factbox saying what's in it for me and lastly the open invitation to fruit towers.

I know it is a cliche in the marketing world to talk about Innocent and it is almost cool to tut as a fellow marketers mention their name but for product innovation, packaging and tone of voice I challenge you to better it, they are even juicing Apple in that regard (sorry couldn't resist). 

Here's hoping that Innocent stay pure in product as well as marketing. As soon as the tone of voice is compromised or they become another dullard in the chiller with new product lines or they stop playing in the space that others do not dare, a sadder place it will be for all of us.

By yon bonnie Banksy

I was in Glasgow on Saturday walking down Bath Street and I saw the smartest piece of marketing I have seen in a long time and it reminded me of marketing that I wanted to explore in terms of cut through, talkability and value for money when I was at lastminute.com. 

What I could only describe as street and sign etching is the smartest most eco-friendly way to get your message across. I am unsure any of you reading has actually seen this let alone used it. 'Reverse graffiti marketing' as it is actually known is a rarely used but effective way to stop people in their tracks.

I was delighted to see the University of the West of Scotland attempting this on the streets of Glasgow this weekend. Bath Street and the surrounding streets will be choc full of students and student types who will not have heard of UWS or have a preconceived idea of who UWS are. 

(i.e. not as good as the traditional Unis of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Edinburgh). They are tapping into the cool factor by channel, message and design.

There are some small agencies that do this for everyone from Size? to Starbucks to Big Brother and although not reaching mass numbers the engagement of the individuals who notice this and also 'get it' will be far more powerful that scattergun DM or TV in the right environment.

Be brave and in times like these, be creative and you could really get some traction with the footfall not to your store but any major city or conurbation. 

Very Smart indeed.

If you are interested in this a good agency to speak to would be: Dirty Street Advertising

Innovation's what you need if you wanna be a record breaker....Yeah!

Innovation (as opposed to invention), a widely misused term and something every company no matter how dull wants to dabble in.

The truth is very few companies are as they are simply not brave enough to zag when the world zig and vice versa. I have been thinking about innovation since visiting the public toilets in London Euston (sorry - too much info readers) however I was stunned that I had to pay 30p for a well you know but was delighted that I was met with the sight of wall to wall Dyson airblades. Joy!

That feeling is what innovation is all about - that and that alone. The fact that you are excited about drying your hands, you may even have a second go, you rush out to tell people the loved ones waiting for you that you have just used it and talk through the whole process is what all product managers and marketers yearn for.

That started me thinking about the the main innovators are in our lives and I have been trying to quantify this and give examples of how others could innovate in the future. The best examples are pure brand innovations that inventions and actually fast followers putting their effort into ionic design rather than true r and d.

Ipod earphones - World wears black earphones, we (Apple) will produce white. Creating a striking tribe of apple fans that wear these as a sign of early adoption.

Callaway - World produces 'round golf drivers' we (Callaway) will produce the world's first Square driver. Nike have actually stolen the march on them through tour pro coverage and marketing, however the 'honour' still lies with Callaway.

Even something as simple as breaking convention like Walker's crisps and having Salt and Vinegar in green bags rather than blue gave mass infamy across the UK (and outrage amongst those who are colourblind) almost immediately.

So the simple rules of innovation seem to be, look at your market and product and like Paul Arden famously said 'Whatever you think, think opposite'.

Simples.

To Twit To Who?

So, Twitter is the latest 'socialite' to takeover our collective lives and destroy millions of pounds of industry productivity and the ability to concentrate on anything anyone else is saying unless they are part of your virtual circle of friends. Great huh? 

Well, yes bloody brilliant in fact as it gives you the ability to brag to the world what you are doing right now or to show them how quickly you can RT (retweet) the latest snippet of news to show how 'in the know' you are. 

Fun for us, but for the CEOs and CMOs it is another panic meeting in your diary for them to ask you , "what is this Twitter and how the hell can we make money from it". This shows yet again the lack of thought, respect and understanding of those who are using it from the more senior people in the stodgier organisations. Meanwhile most brand and marketing manager's will be breathing a sigh of relief as they didn't quite crack facebook, myspace, bebo or even this blogging thing so they have a chance to start again and make a real success of this latest tool to engage their audience. Could this be the one the (business) world is waiting for?

So how can you make it work and what are the rules when starting to dabble in the Twitterverse for your company:

1) Have a reason to be there. Same as any communication. If you are a bank, really think about the reason to be there - you won't have many fans right now. However if you have deals, inside track info or real interest from letting people into your daily office life then this is the start of a conversation.

Brands that could do well are:

- O2 on tarriffs, priority tickets and competitions
- lastminute.com could communicate any real 'lastminute' deals through Twitter and make it pay to be a member

- Radio and TV stations promoting competitions, song now playing and coming up Tweets as direct calls to action

2) Drive sign ups through communications and on your site, reasons to join and continued engagement when they have joined, its email subscription all over again!  

3) Follow the 'Twitterquette' as peeing off your followers could be a big mistake that could result in negative Tweets and would damage your brand faster than Gerald Ratner.

David Norris a learned former colleague of mine from lastminute.com who is now COO at livebookings has constructed a few handy hints on Twitterquette.

Which brands have got it right?

So far great examples are brands that really bring you into their world. 

- Spotify's what music they are listening to whilst having cake afternoons and also updating you every few days with the baffling amount of tracks that are available to listen to for FREE (talk about a reason to follow).

- Lovefilm's handy hints about their service and what they are watching is great but could do more on film releases that week and what is good in cinema and dvd.

- BBC have got it pegged as usual as a quick reminder that the apprentice is on will see you drop the iphone and switch your undivided attention for an hour which let's face it you never do anymore not even for you fav football team! 

But the real winners are the celebs like Stephen Fry, Tim Lovejoy, Chris Moyles, Philip Schofield, Lily Allen, Mike Skinner, Jonathan Ross, Rob Brydon and Holly Willoughby. The draw is From Tweets about what to wear, what they are drinking is a cheeky intriguing glimpse of what their life's are really like and is a nanosecondly updated version of 'heat'. Then we have the chance to reply where all of of our friends can see our 'witty' comments or helpful points to celebs in need. The constant checking to see if they have replied to you keeps you engaged although it never happens (apart from Toby Young - Thanks Toby!) no matter you will do it all over again in a mere few minutes time. 

Holy Moly has brilliantly developed a formula of Twitter Twattiness which is as follows:

100-(100 divided by f1 multiplied by f2)= percentage tool when f1=followers f2=following

Boiled down means when looking at celebs the bigger the gap in followers to those following, the bigger their ego etc.

Guess who is the winner of this competition? (The Biggest Brand on the planet)

Which Brand's have got it wrong?

Brand Loser's are most of the bands whose Tweets are written by their manager or some lacky. We are too savvy for this and if you cannot be bothered to type 140 characters to your closest fans then you may lose us depending on how powerful Twitter becomes. Oasis, Britney and Coldplay should know better by now being Global Brand Juggernauts themselves. Tut Tut!!

So in summary Twitter looks like it will be a very fragmented channel unless you drive followers, have reasons to follow and give real value to your followers. 

Lastly - how do you know it has worked? Interaction, followers and measuring your buzz rating via the Linked in App is a good start to keep the people upstairs in dinner chat about how they have got the better of Twitter.

Good luck! 

I will leave you with a clip on the people Twitter is turning us into from Current TV