Tagged 'coping'

Nectar tells beleaguered Brits to ‘Keep Calm and Carry One’

Published by Marian Berelowitz - New York on June 24, 2010 in North America. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

nectarIt was only a matter of time before a marketer coopted the quintessentially British “Keep Calm and Carry On” slogan—originally a World War II propaganda poster (designed in case of Nazi invasion), rediscovered by a bookstore owner 10 years ago and seen everywhere (on posters, mugs, T-shirts, screensavers, etc.) in the U.K. during the downturn. “The words are … particularly positive, reassuring, in a period of uncertainty, anxiety, even perhaps of cynicism,” a London School of Economics social psychologist told The Guardian last year in explaining its popularity.

Things are looking even worse for the U.K. today. The government’s austerity measures, announced Tuesday, were met with headlines like “Pain now, more pain later.” Nectar, a loyalty card, launched a print campaign timed to coincide with the announcement, telling Brits to “Keep Calm and Carry One.” Nectar’s signature purple replaces the usual red background, and an image of the card stands in for the crown. Web copy reads: “Don’t be disheartened by the Budget news! Times may be tough, but using your Nectar card is a savvy way to collect points and spend them on great rewards.”

Using bad news for a brand’s advantage is risky and tough to pull off, but now seems like just the right time for Nectar to leverage this pop-culture phenomenon.

Walgreens asks Puerto Ricans to show what makes them happy

Published by Alexandra Suarez - San Juan on June 21, 2010 in Latin America. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

walgreensIt’s not news that the crisis isn’t just economic—it has affected people’s mental well-being and has created a sense of deep hopelessness for some. So Walgreens in Puerto Rico decided to remind people what truly makes them happy—family, pets, favorite pastimes, nature and so on—in a campaign that turned its photo development department into a prescription department.

Asking “¿Cual es tu receta para sentirte bien?” (“What’s your prescription for feeling good?”), Walgreens encouraged Puerto Ricans to submit photo compilations showing their personal prescription for happiness over a two-month period. Submissions were shown on TV commercials, digital billboards throughout the island and a micro-site. Puerto Rico’s primary retail pharmacy created an atmosphere of positivity by shifting our focus to the many blessings we have, teaching us that the best prescription is closer than we think. This kind of hope-fueled approach—epitomized by the Red Cross Portugal “Hope” campaign—is a smart way to help consumers fend off anxiety.

Photo Credit: http://turecetapr.com/#/home

Tropicana brings sun to the Arctic

Published by Ceren Coskun - Istanbul on June 8, 2010 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The recent best in show at FAB International’s Food and Beverage Creative Excellence Awards, Tropicana’s “Arctic Sun” commercial shows how the brand addressed a key source of anxiety in the Arctic, tied to its positioning “Brighter mornings make brighter days.” One of the major external sources of happiness for humans is light, and while people in Arctic locations adapt to the circumstances, one of their major stresses is living in full darkness in mid-winter. So Tropicana brought light to Inuvik, in northern Canada, after 31 consecutive days of darkness. A Tropicana team lit up the town with a giant artificial sun, enabling its residents to experience a sunny day–an excellent idea that touches people’s hearts to create an emotional link with the brand.

Pepsi gets egg on its face with Mexican promotion

Published by Argelia Martinez - Mexico City on June 4, 2010 in Latin America. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

A Pepsi promotion in Mexico that seemed designed to address consumer anxiety ended up causing some angst instead. The major causes of anxiety in Mexico, a country beaten down by regular economic crises, are uncertainty about future income, job loss and rising food prices. (For more on anxiety in Mexico, click here to download our AnxietyIndex Mexico report.) In the states of Puebla and Veracruz—where poverty rates are high and families regularly struggle to buy the basics—Pepsi distributors launched a promotion in which people could redeem two specially marked bottle caps at small corner stores for an egg (yes, a fresh egg).

The “Now Pepsi is worth an egg” campaign, which ran during April and part of May, was supported with TV, press and, of course, posters outside the corner stores. Problems began to surface when shopkeepers would not redeem the Pepsi caps, even those that displayed the promotional materials outside. Consumers started blaming Pepsi, though the point-of-sale materials stated that Pepsi was not responsible for the availability of eggs.

The idea of demonstrating the brand’s empathy and solidarity with struggling consumers, and helping them in a real way, was a good one. But Pepsi distributors failed to fully consider the logistics behind the idea. Once a brand launches a promotion, it has to deliver an immaculate implementation, strengthen it, ensure the participation of partners, put monitoring and control programs in place, provide a call center for consumers and so on. In this case, something that could have been historical became hysterical.

Photo Credit: dos tapas un huevo? by ~brickarms on deviantART

AnxietyIndex: Mexicans most anxious about the economy, violence, crime and job market

Published by Julian Smith and Maria Lezama - Mexico City on May 24, 2010 in Latin America. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

With recession forecast to hit Latin America sometime in 2010, Mexico registered among the most anxious of the 16 countries JWT has studied for our AnxietyIndex. A survey of 296 Mexican adults aged 18-59, conducted in January, found that 78 percent report being anxious.

The primary drivers of anxiety are the economic situation, the escalation of violence and crime, and the stagnant job market. Mexicans’ frustration and pessimism are exacerbated by the widespread belief that the political class is detached from the country’s reality, that the current government is one of the most corrupt and that people are being treated unjustly. Feeling they live in permanent instability, people are pessimistic about the future, especially when they think about the job market their children will one day face, the cost of their children’s education and having enough money for a comfortable old age.

For Mexican brands, there are opportunities in helping to restore a sense of control for consumers. Ford champions this idea of empowerment in a Focus commercial that dramatizes a test drive as a getaway chase in a fantasy urban landscape. The driver weaves around pop-up cutouts of roadside obstacles—dog walkers, construction workers, school children crossing the street, etc.—while drag-racing a paper-cutout driver, accompanied by the 1980s Karate Kid anthem “You’re the Best Around.” The spot positions the Focus as an escape from an increasingly violent and challenging environment and as a means of taking control.

To download the full Mexico AnxietyIndex report from the Trends and Research page, click here.

AnxietyIndex finds that Argentina, while accustomed to economic crisis, is among most anxious countries

Published by Gonzalo Fonseca and Mercedes Santesteban - Buenos Aires on May 17, 2010 in Latin America. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

ai-argentinaWith 79 percent of respondents saying they are nervous and anxious, according to JWT’s latest AnxietyIndex survey, Argentina is among the most anxious of the 16 countries we’ve surveyed over the past year. The poll of 328 Argentineans aged 18-59, conducted in January, found that two key drivers of anxiety are the state of the economy and the cost of living.

Argentineans are accustomed to economic turmoil—they’ve lived with various forms of economic crisis for decades. And Argentina, which is not experiencing the same recession as most of the world, has been grappling with permanent price fluctuation under the ghost of inflation since the 1970s. So consumers are adaptable, expanding and shrinking their spending in accordance with the times. But the concept of saving money has lost credibility—people don’t believe it’s possible to save much. As a consequence, they feel that a happy life with friends and family is more important than focusing on money and materialism.

The opportunity for brands is to offer optimistic messages and a positive brand experience, standing out by counteracting the negativity dominating Argentinean society. For example, communicating from a positive point of view, Walmart’s proposal “Save money. Live better” tells customers that by saving, they can actually have a more enjoyable life. Click here to download the full Argentina AnxietyIndex report from the Trends and Research page.

Spain’s Trust Foundation fails to inspire much optimism

Published by Ugo Ceria - Madrid on April 21, 2010 in Europe. 0 Comments Tags: , .

estosololoarreglamosentretodosHere in Spain the downturn has not faded, and there’s a great deal of concern about how to improve the situation. So in February a group of big companies, under the name Fundación Confianza (Trust Foundation), launched a Web platform:estosololoarreglamosentretodos.org (meaning something like “we can only fix it all together”). A long clip of testimonials from famous figures—everyone from the chef Ferrán Adriá to TV stars and sport personalities—attempts to transmit optimism and motivation. The site also showcases people who have done well during the downturn, starting profitable projects. Visitors are invited to share their own experience about how to succeed.

While a big media spend was supporting the operation, and a Facebook page had close to 75,000 followers, few people uploaded anything to the site. Meanwhile, parodies popped up, like “itshouldbefixedbytheoneswhobrokeit.org,” which collected upward of 20,000 fans. Some criticized the campaign’s naive optimism or charged that bankers were hiding behind it. After a few weeks, the campaign was suspended on two main TV channels when the right-wing opposition party denounced it as a subtle way to make people optimistic about the current administration. (Spanish public TV can run only public service announcements.)

Why didn’t a positive initiative like this become popular in Spain? One likely reason is that in the Web 2.0 era, it’s difficult to create a collective movement based on a corporate initiative and advertising spending, and it seems that people prefer to get through this downturn their own way. But the message reached a vast audience, and it leaves a good seed.

Photo Credit: http://estosololoarreglamosentretodos.org/

Craze for historical figure spotlights Japan’s loss of faith

Published by Jordan Price - Tokyo on March 29, 2010 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

ryoma-sakamotoI recently discussed the rising popularity of history among young women in Japan. This trend has been expanding to a broader segment of the population, with a new craze for all things related to one historical figure in particular: Ryoma Sakamoto. A rebel samurai from the late 19th century, Sakamoto was a driving force of the Meiji Restoration (which returned power to the emperor, speeding modernization and ending the country’s self-imposed isolation). He is the father of the modern Japanese navy and was a visionary leader during a tumultuous period who realized that to compete globally, Japan had to unite and to modernize.

Led by a drama based on his life that aired on Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, a boom in everything Sakamoto has given rise to books, anime and manga, events, lectures and tours of historical sites. All Nippon Airways is even decorating one of its jets with a giant image of Sakamoto. I previously noted that this fascination with historical figures appears to be driven by a sense that modern Japan has lost its way and a search for better models from the past. The focus on Sakamoto seems to be linked to similarities between the times he lived in and today, and the feeling that Japan is at another crossroads, again facing an uncertain future.

For businesses and brands, there’s an opportunity to help people envision a better future and to define it for them. We’ve seen plenty of examples of this on the environmental front but fewer on a social level. One of the more innovative examples is JWT’s “Lead India” campaign, launched by The Times of India in 2008, which sought to inspire Indians to become more engaged citizens.

 

Photo Credit: Robert Sanzalone

Anxiety rises in India after Pune blast

Published by Aparna Jain - Kolkata on March 8, 2010 in Asia Pacific. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

In a post-recession environment, it’s not just the usual car, home and holiday that is worrying the upwardly mobile, urban Indian. It’s also the latest buzz word: terrorism. After the mid-February blast in Pune—a comparatively smaller city with a large student population—terrorism is suddenly back and very close to home. The bombing was a reminder that terrorism could happen on the flight my husband takes, the hotel I stay on a business trip and the bakery where my daughter hangs out. Violence, fear and terror have caught up with a social stratum that until now believed it was untouchable, and the general feeling is that no place is too safe—yet one cannot stop living life.

Reflecting this new unease are the status lines of many Facebookers after the blast:

“I can’t believe it, really … considering we used to travel down that road pretty much all the time.”

“I can’t believe anything like this could happen … not in Pune … I guess I was wrong …”

At a time when consumers are coping with the idea that they have little control over their safety, do brands have a role to play? It seems that brands can help by doing what they do best—helping to buoy spirits by offering optimism and empowering consumers to feel they are back in charge of their destiny. Financial products and health care brands especially have an opportunity to create an environment of security, concern and care that will resonate in today’s anxious times.

metal detector hotels india Pictures, Images and Photos

Le Meridien, India - Metal detectors outside major hotels, restaurants and malls are now common.

Photo Credit:emoticonphoto

Bollywood tackles Indian anxiety

Published by Pragya Singh and Vishal Sharma on February 12, 2010 in Asia Pacific. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

My Name Is Khan is a big Bollywood production that’s trying to leverage Indians’ anxiety and religious sentiments to get attention and ticket sales. The movie, which comes out today, features Indian megastar Shah Rukh Khan as Rizwan Khan, a Muslim with Asperger syndrome. Some of the challenges he faces are related to his being Muslim, especially post-9/11, when Khan is living in the U.S. In fact, one of the lines heavily used in the movie’s promotion is “I am Rizwan Khan, and I’m not a terrorist.”


Islam and terrorism is a subject that dominates the news as well as the hearts of every Indian. And most of us believe that the entire community cannot be damned by a few evil men who are trying to destroy humanity. So seeing the film’s protagonist being discriminated against is something we can’t stand—we want to see him succeed in his fight to get justice. The movie is a great example of leveraging our emotions on this sensitive issue.