Bellroy: Using online campaign to sell

Recently I have been seeing the Bellroy wallets advertisement a lot. Out of curiosity I clicked on them and was amazed to find out what they have in store for the consumer. In its almost completely online advertising , Bellroy has hit the nail on the head. With a stated mission to help “slim your wallet,” Bellroy has created some of the most effective series of videos that I’ve seen recently to introduce their brand and promote a product in a visual and very interesting way. Here are some key takeaways from the promotion:

1.     What would you change in a wallet? Show me how it works guys!

Bellroy realizes that they are up against a mundane and difficult to assimilate chain of thoughts – how much can you actually change in a wallet? The team at Bellroy have used time lapse images to show how all the actually fit into the wallet. Also at the end of each video there’s an actual person who scoops up the wallet and heads out, serving as a visual reminder of their mission – chaging the way you carry.

 

2.     Customize each products personality

Although most of the product videos follow a template – demo and then the scoop but they create an individual personality for the products. For example, the playfully named “Hide & Seek Wallet” has a hidden pouch to put extra money … and the video ends with a magic disappearing trick for the wallet. It’s the perfect combination of utility and quirkiness that helps that product have an identity of its own.

3.     Backstory

So how did they come up with the concept. They have a video for that as well. A basic consumer behavior is that the more people care about your brand the more likely they are to go from just being a customer to being a passionate evangelist. The backstory for Bellroy is shared through the video below, which takes you into the creative process that the team used for everything from creating the visuals for the website to sketching out their logo. Also notice that narration is almost absent for the video. As a result, your focus is on the products and how they work, with only a minimal amount of explanation. Not only does this add to the simplicity of the message, but it makes the videos shorter and more watchable as well.

                   

Owing to all these this is truly one of the best online campaigns I have seen till date. 

T(w)o new beginnings!

One brand. Same idea. Same brief. Different countries. Different execution.

UK: How IKEA can help start a life together.

Germany : How can IKEA can help start a new life by letting go

In the end, there's a message for all, at the beginning of the new year!

Is print medium dead?

Hover over to the Newsweek wiki page. Yes there. Click on it! What does the entry say? “Newsweek was an American weekly news magazine published in New York City from 1933 to 2012.” WAS. Does that hit you?  The next line in the same wiki entry sprung a trivia on me - It was the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence.  What then caused the demise of this magazine?

The editors say that the death of the print edition was effected by falling advertising revenues, as audiences moved online.

The image that graced the cover of the final print edition bore a black and white photo of the publications Manhattan headquarters and is slapped with a strapline #lastprintissue.  Is the nod to twitter a backhanded compliment? Or as one reader commented that the hashtag headline was "like using your final breath to ID the killer".

After that cold image of Newsweek front cover a  thought crept in. Is the print medium really going to the gallows? Or is it something else?

I found an amusing answer to this question on adverblog.  Duval Guillaume conducted an experiment in Belgium on behalf of Newspaperswork, the marketing platform for all Belgian newspaper publishers. They gave three top advertisers a free ride in a chauffeur-driven car. So that, for once, they could read their newspaper in peace and quiet. And they kept on reading. Despite the fact that there were enough attempts to distract them.

To know more on what Newspaperswork is doing to keep the Belgian newspapers alive hop on their website.

Given the two scenarios what do you think? Are we going to see more #lastprintissue in the future?

Nescafe 'Reminders' and branding

What if you could take advantage of every opportunity you ever missed, all at once?

“Reminders” follows a young father and husband as he strolls past a brick alleyway filled with every flower he never smelled, a radiant sky beaming with every sunrise he never watched, and more arresting moments in a series of increasingly surreal visuals – each progressing toward a heartwarming conclusion.  My favourite moment from the advertisement is the part where they show four suns rising. Comments after the jump.

What makes the Nescafe advertisement different from others is that it makes the viewer appreciate what he misses in the rigmarole of his life. Its doesn’t ask you to make a resolution or change the way things are for you. The ad simply nudges the viewer to wake up to life! And bang on timing for this one! Close to the New year.  

The advertisement makes a couple of interesting point for brands. It shows how broad a concept like waking up is. Similar to Nescafe a tea brand in India has spun the concept on social awakening – Jaago re – TATA TEA.  I like the Nescafe rendition better, TAT tea is too preachy for me.

 More often than not brands try to oversell their brands in the ad spot. The difference here is that the advertisement grabs the viewers attention from the start and slides the brand into the narrative. It’s a brilliant piece of work. One that I liked since the Indian Nescafe Advt some years back.

Well played Microsoft!

The folks at Microsoft have just released a clever commercial for Internet Explorer 10, the latest version of the company’s once dominant web browser which has seen great competition from Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox over the past few years. It was earlier this year when Chrome dethroned IE as the top browser. ( Mashable report)

In any case, the argument isn’t about who’s currently winning. It’s about winning over those who abandoned ship years ago for the shiny new thing. IE went from a peak of ~80 percent market share almost a decade ago to playing second rung. But that’s about the numbers.  What about the brand image?

IE is perceived to be so ‘last gen’ and ‘uncool’ among its target audience. There have been numerous memes which have mocked the Internet Explorer. One of them is even used in the commercial – ‘IE is good only for downloading other browsers.’

So what does a brand do when it has the baggage of being uncool, last generation and sometimes inferior to its competition. And top that with the brand operating in the technological space! Given this background, the latest effort to announce IE10 is mighty bold. A microsite, The Browser You Loved to Hate, takes the bull by the horn. 

The ad puts you in the perspective of a true troll — dual-screens, a windowless room, old take-out boxes, and a penchant for spewing hate anonymously — and this troll hates IE10 (and Internet Explorer on the whole) with vehemence. The ad has been carefully shot and doesn’t get into the regular pitfalls of taking potshots at the competitor. Microsoft resisted the temptation to put insert a browser frame in the advert. In fact, you don’t even see which browser the troll is using nor are you offered a look at the new IE 10. 

What works is the self-deprecating humour, the suspense which is built into the ad and the big reveal at the end.  Watch it for yourself. More comments after the jump. 

Its a brutally honest advert. How many times have you seen a brand addressing its negative perceptions directly and still managing to nudge the viewer with a smile at the end. The ad directs users to a Microsoft site, browseryoulovedtohate, which promotes Internet Explorer 10 — the latest version of the browser that runs on Windows 8 devices — as a much improved over its predecessors. It makes cheeky reference to IE’s soiled reputation among browsers in its navigation headings: “Curious?” “It’s Good Now” and “No, Really.”

So this commercial is more about an apology, and a promise of something great, than a showy display of the new browser. IE10 remains a mystery for those who haven’t tried it out, and the company takes a humble, likable approach. Well played Microsoft!