Staying hydrated is one of the most important and often neglected parts of sport. Even in day to day life, replacing fluid ensures adequate mental efficiency and general physical well being. As well as upholding good nutritional habits, consuming fluids regularly is essential for performance enhancement.
Villains and Vengeance, are one of Tick Marketing’s first clients, and we have already written one blog post about them. We have worked closely with Alex (MD) to develop and evolve, with a specific interest in his USP and ability to differentiate the brand. We began our relationship with Villains through a 1-1 brand analysis meeting whereby we thoroughly explored what the brand is, and what it is trying to achieve. From this, and subsequent meetings we have highlighted that the brand is still in need of a story, or is in need of its story being told to people. A brand story will hopefully give customers an understanding of what is driving the company, whilst giving the brand its own personality.
Before today, Villains has operated through ASOS marketplace but today is the day their website goes live. To coincide with this launch, Villains have decided to publish a short piece of content about the brand, and most importantly their brand story.
So go take a look, it will help you understand more about Villains and their personality.
Those viewing this post who are expecting a master class on Inbound marketing are going to have to wait a short while, as this post is probably my second post to do with helping a small company. The last post in this category was about Noise Radio,( https://www.facebook.com/noiseradiouk/timeline) who are a group of self-professed media and radio nerds that are collaborating as an incubator to work under a media group named Waterloo media.
So this is my 6th, or 7th if you include Google glass, post about marketing week live 2014. I’ve been a bit quiet the last week but in that time I have seen the Tour de France fly past me on Bird Cage walk in London, won an 18 hole round of foot golf and have also been violently sick! So back to the blog and this post concerns creating brands that make you stand out from the crowd. At the top of my notes about this conference was this paragraph: ” Is this show missing a huge target audience by having such big/senior names holding talks at the show, whose talks are inspirational but aren’t always achievable or relatable?”.
I wrote this after the 6th conference as it was clear that my fellow marketers in the audience, may struggle to interpret or implement many of the big ideas that these marketing seniors were promoting. ( I wont even mention the last conference of day 2, which was focussed on agile marketing. The speaker actually said that creating a financial budget for agile marketing is more about achieving an objective or ROI, rather than sticking to a budget, i.e. if you don’t achieve what you set out to, throw more money at it, MADNESS!)
So when It came to this conference about Power Brands, led by Ed Pilkington of Diageo, I thought it was going to be another of these “Were so amazing” lectures that simply aim to promote the brand and how good its agency is. But In a sense I was wrong. This talk focussed on different aspects of branding and what it takes of brands to become powerful and ultimately well-known.
The core principles of Power Brands as suggested by Ed were:
All of these are quite generic and you may argue that many powerless brands practice these principles on a daily basis. But there was one small section of the talk that I thought was the most relatable and interesting point that Ed made, which was that “Brands need to work hard to find a way into people’s lives. They should create memory associations through physical experiences and personal connections”.
It is this that I think separates a Power Brand from a Brand. If you think of the physical experience you have when you bite into a piece of Dairy milk, or take the first sip of a Guinness, they instantly remind you of why you have come back to the product. You want that physical sensation again and this how Power Brands find ways into people’s lives, by recreating a previously pleasurable experience. This ideology is championed by Marmite, who know that their product is a ” Love or Hate” consumable, but they have embraced the idea that Marmite gives different people different memory associations, and it is this emotional connection that makes Marmite a truly Powerful Brand.
Whilst I’m wittering on about Marmite, Ed Pilkington did also mention that Power brands have clear Iconography, that have really detailed combinations. Again Marmite achieves this through its jet black packaging and bright yellow lid. I’m sure if you took the labelling off that alone would make you realise what the Product is.
So if you are looking at your brand, and thinking how could Improve what I currently do, I would start by trying to create a physical experience that customers can associate with. This memorable experience, combined with clear iconography will be a great start to brands evolution.
James
Lets start with a quick and simple poll:
Now I ask this as I thought I was a Coke drinker, and it turns out I still am. But I think that even you Pepsi drinkers, are in fact Coke drinkers. Your confused right? This makes absolutely no sense, I agree, but let me explain.
The Bridgnorth Walk – Walking in aid of Parkinson’s Uk and the Mary Stevens Hospice
For all you non-bridgnorthians out there, of which there are a few, the Bridgnorth walk is a 22 mile hike from Bridgnorth, to the top of a big hill (Brown Clee) and then back. The walk can take anywhere between 3 and a half hours to over 7 depending on your fitness levels. However, this is not a simple walk in a park, the elevation gains and losses, combined with the total mileage, make this charity walk quite a challenge, especially as so many people underestimate it.
I completed the walk when I was around 15-16 years of age, and now I am working back in Bridgnorth, I saw this as a chance not only to raise money, but also gather a lot of my friends and try to have a nice day out. So i managed to organise a team of 14 all together, which for our first year was incredible! Our team name, as you can see was ‘All walks of Life’, as our group contained people from all over the UK, and of all different age groups.
I have recently chosen my module choices for my final year at University, and potentially quite dangerously I have chosen out of 10 module spaces, 9 essays and only 1 exam. These 10 modules are then accompanied by a 7000 word dissertation on a topic of my choice, and I think my topic choice will surround digital marketing agencies and how they can differentiate themselves. I have also just been assigned my tutor and subject area, and I did get marketing as my topic which I am over the moon about! I have also been assigned David Houghton, a University lecturer and researcher with seemingly proficient knowledge regards social media, so this may change my outlook for my eventual title. But originally, when I had submitted my dissertation topic, I had believed I would be working on agencies and cluttered markets so when I saw Mike Magee (Vice President of Marketing at Mars Chocolate UK) on the conference list at Marketing Week live I simply had to go, and I am so glad I did.
Mikes discussion was split into two Mars products, Snickers and Maltesers. He then separately discussed the two marketing strategies of the two chocolate brands and how they have both been successful in achieving their goals.
Tick Marketing 