Sex: part of the oldest profession and one of the most powerful forces of human nature. Unsurprisingly, sex is used extensively in communications and advertising. The day after Hugh Hefner passed away, Grain director Madelyn Postman discussed the Playboy brand on BBC’s Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst. Here’s the segment, and an analysis of how Playboy branded sex itself. Whether men really think about sex…
1. How do we position ourselves to get maximum benefits from the merger? First and foremost, further education colleges (which mostly serve learners aged 16-18) need students and so a merged college needs a brand that is memorable and attractive. Existing students need to welcome and identify with the new identity, but it is also vitally important to reach new audiences and attract students who…
Square. Slack. Sea. These words could soon mean a lot more to you than their literal meaning. They are all on Interbrand’s 2017 list of Breakthrough Brands, the companies that are rising head and shoulders above their peers and breaking through to the level where they are soon to become household names. The 40 companies that have made it onto the list have some factors…
Politics has long depended on marketing, with a leader’s image being critical to any political campaign. But marketeers, and brands in particular, have historically tried as hard as possible to avoid politics. However as the political scene has become more divisive, especially in the wake of Brexit, the rise of Marine Le-Pen in France and the election of President Trump in the US, brands have found themselves…
The guys down at Mortgage Finance Gazette have covered the recent launch of Propertymark. Previously known as ARLA, NAEA, NAVA, ICBA and APIP, we created the new name and the new brand with the focus on increasing consumer awareness of the business. Find out more here.
Names – as Waitrose has just discovered – can be unintentionally misleading. Waitrose has found itself on the end of negative publicity from both the National Farmers’ Union and customers for calling its range of ready meals “British”. Waitrose chose the name to reflect the origin of the recipes, for example lamb hotpot and shepherd’s pie. However, other people interpreted the label to mean British…
In the mid-1990s, well before the internet had tangled us all in its worldwide web, Michael Porter set the benchmarks for marketing strategy which still resonate today. To sum up some quite complex theory, he argued that brands either had to achieve cost leadership or they had to differentiate. In a nutshell, differentiation is what allows luxury and fashion brands to charge so much more…
The National Federation of Property Professionals (NFoPP) has rebranded and repositioned as the umbrella brand Propertymark and the changes, developed by Grain Creative, are aiming to significantly disrupt the estate and letting agency market in the UK. Through its membership associations, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the new Propertymark brand has over 4,000 member branches…
Relations between Iceland the country and Iceland the supermarket chain have been frosty for quite some time. And the cold war warmed up in November as the country announced it was going to legally challenge the use of the company’s trademark, arguing that while the supermarket has attempted to freeze them out from using the word Iceland, it has benefitted from positive media coverage about the…
There are very few brands that are quite as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as Marks & Spencer. The marketing management must go through exceptional highs and lows during focus groups. First the moderator asks about M&S Food and Wine and hears the consumer perceptions of innovation, aspiration, quality and reliability, but when the questions move on to clothing they find hostility and indifference to ranges…
A £600m name that no-one will ever know. DAMAC, the Dubai-based property company, has been in the news lately as it has appointed Australia’s Lendlease to build the high rise property, now known as Aykon London One, on the site in Nine Elms Battersea London. The interiors of the 50-storey building have been designed by Versace and the offices and residential apartments facing the…
If you are a hardcore high street fashion brand follower, you must have heard the news earlier this month that Banana Republic is about to close eight of its UK stores by the end of this financial year. A spokesperson told the London Evening Standard: “The company anticipates that the majority of the stores will close by the end of fiscal year 2016.” It’s not…
Driving Positive Change Sponsoring F1 gives brands huge exposure in Europe, Latin America and Asia combined with important (and relatively unique) access to growth markets in the developing world. The associations with speed, glamour and excitement are tempting for any global company and for FMCG brands these associations can be promoted through branding around the race tracks, TV commercials, social media, live fan experiences and…
Congratulations, you’ve had a genius business idea! This is the first in a series of branding tips from the experts here at Grain that you need to consider whilst developing your brand. Whether your new venture is service related, a new product or range of products, you must identify who, why and where your customers are. Everything that you do from this moment on will need…
The Rio Olympics Creates a Rash of Sponsorship Campaigns Global brands pay big money to sponsor the Olympic games. They will all have their own specific objectives for this activity which will include metrics such as engendering employee pride, building brand awareness and positive brand engagement, increasing customer loyalty and, if they’ve played their cards right, an uplift in sales. Whatever their specific targets, they…