This ad from Mother London was first released back in 2014, but still brings a smile to my face.


Playing on the difficulty that many of us have in pronouncing the burrito chains' name, the ad agency produced this wonderfully tongue-in-cheek ad. 

No, its not "Chi-Pole-Tay," "Chi-Pottle" or "Shi-Pot-Lay". It's (drum roll please)"Chi-Poat-Lay".Of course, I already knew that ;).

British singer-songwriter Ella Eyre has teamed up with Fiat UK to launch the new Fiat 500. Last night, in front of a star-studded crowd, the 'Waiting all night singer' belted out a re-mastered version of “Best Of My Love” by The Emotions.

Ella Eyre and Fiat UK made history by debuting a re-mastered track live on stage with the car laying down the opening beats.


This experiential launch party was a visual depiction of what the Fiat 500 stands for in the market place, and was a brilliant way of communicating this to the consumer. This collaboration therefore serves as an excellent example of a commercial partnership done right.

In order for a brand partnership to work, both parties need to compliment one another. In other words, the partnership needs to make sense! There needs to be a logical connection between the artist and product so that the message is both clear and believable.

So, first the brand/advertiser decides what meaning the product wants to convey, i.e how it will positioned in the market place, then chooses the star that embodies that meaning. The idea is that the celebrity will be used as the vehicle to the communicate that meaning to the consumer.

Over the years independent creative agency, Krow, has helped to position the car as "the most stylish city car on the road." The success of this positioning strategy is evidenced by the fact that 85% of the people buying the car say its "because of its stylish looks."

Again asserting the Fiat 500's dominance as "the ultimate fashion accessory", Miss Eyre was used as the physical embodiment of the vehicle. She is young, stylish, modern, and a fashionista! This type of brand partnership can be tricky business, especially as an artist's image often changes with the wind. Luckily, Fiat UK are onto a winner with this one. Having recently released her debut album, Feline, she is the talk of the town and is tipped to dominate the airwaves over the next twelve months. More importantly however, her image has not changed much from when she first came to our attention in 2013. This is good news for Fiat UK's association with the singer as it should convey a consistent message for the foreseeable future. 

I am excited to see what future has to hold for this partnership!

Take a look at how Ella Eyre and Fiat 500 put the track together.

Yesterday you may have noticed there was something peculiar about your Google homepage. No, you were not going crazy. The logo had indeed completely changed...well slightly.   

According to the tech company it "has changed a lot over the past 17 years—from the range of [its] products to the evolution of [its] look and feel. And [yesterday they were] changing things up once again".

Going serif-free is the first significant change Google has made to its logo since 1999. So why now? Well, its because of us, the consumer. 
As the video illustrates, both Google and how we use it has changed over the years. Google is no longer just a search engine, its a navigator, a time keeper, a thermometer, a news reader, a friend. 

"Google was one destination that you reached from one device: a desktop PC, these days, people interact with Google products across many different platforms, apps and devices—sometimes all in a single day."

Google now has a family, and this new branding is its new identity. According to their blog they are introducing "a logo and identity family" that has been "updated for a world of seamless computing across an endless number of devices and different kinds of inputs (such as tap, type and talk)."

This new branding will therefore be implemented across all of Google's platforms  to ensure that this connection is clear to the user. 

For example, over the coming weeks you may notice that little blue "g" icon, used for the app and Gmail, be replaced with the four-colour "G" to match the logo. 

Google has hinted that this will not be the last change that they make. However, based on the social reaction to this small change, they might want to consider waiting another 10 years before doing anything else!

In what can only be described as a brilliant PR stunt, earlier this week Burger King publicly reached out to McDonald's with their proposal to create 'The McWhopper'. 

On Wednesday the fast food chain advertised their intent to combine their infamous burger with Mcdonald's iconic Big Mac. This would be for one day only to mark and raise awareness of Peace day, which is held annually on September 21. Apart from running ads in The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune, BK set up a dedicated website which suggested opening a pop-up restaurant with staff from both companies creating and selling 'The McWhopper’.  Naturally the sales would be donated with 'Peace One Day' being identified as the charity of choice.

Shortly afterwards, Mcdonald's ceremoniously declined the offer on their Facebook page, stating “We love the intention but think our two brands could do something bigger to make a difference.” This was both a sly dig at Burger king and a statement that begrudgingly recognised the brilliance of their closest rival's marketing ploy. 



Many voiced their opinions of the proposed collaboration on social networks. According to social media tracking firm, Spredfast, Burger King has been mentioned in conversation 42 per cent more than McDonald’s. Moreover, the hashtag ‘#McWhopperProposal’ was used 9,198 times with ‘#McWhopper’ in second with 8,341 mentions and ‘#SettletheBeef’ in third with 2,882.

The fast-food chain saw an opportunity to use social media not only to promote the brand's CSR, but also take a clever jab at its main competitor. As Jim Rudden, chief marketing officer of Spredfast, puts it; 

“This move is on-brand for Burger King...consumers love to see brands having some fun with one another on social media...Social media can be a real catalyst for change and this is an example of that. They've got my attention, for sure." 

But as much as I think it is an excellent PR stunt, part of me can't but resent the fact 'The McWhopper' will never be made. And I don't think I am alone in my disappointment.

Centred on the idea of 'Discovery', Apple has launched its first campaign for Apple Music. The three new ads are part of Apple's ongoing attempt to differentiate itself from market-leader Spotify. Despite having its own online radio station, Beats1, and signing exclusive release deals with popular artists like Taylor Swift, the platform is still struggling to lure users away from its more established rivals. As a result Apple have now turned their attention to their service's unique ability to help us discover new music (even though I am pretty sure that is what Spotify Radio is for?).

The three ads, by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, are 60-second spots which feature up and coming artists such as James Bay and Leon Bridges, as well as relatively unknown acts like Flo Morrissey and Ibeyi. The ads are shot in black and white thus stripping away the air of stardom and allowing viewers to connect with both the ad and the artists.

The feauture ad, 'Discovery', has the type of voiceover that one has become accustom when watching an Apple ad. Once again the narrator is able to take a simple concept like, new music discovery, and turn it into something so abstract and profound. Coupled with the naked portrayal of the artists, TBWA\Media Arts Lab is capturing the experiential nature of music, suggesting Apple Music is more than just a streaming service; Apple music understands the artists. It understands the fans. It understands music!

The other two ads feature artists. The first one James Bay and the other Norwegian producer Kygo. These ads are only 30 seconds but stay true to the theme of the longer "Discovery" spot. The ads feature the artists' music and a brief overlay of their Apple Music pages highlighting the connect feature. They then end with the strapline which all three ads share; 

“All the artists you love and are about to love. All in one place.”

This new move by Apple has come at a time when skeptics have suggested that Apple have missed the 'streaming' boat. However, recent events suggest there might still be hope. It's exclusive release of Dr Dre's first album in 16 years, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, was streamed 25 million times in its first week on the music platform. So I guess only time will tell if Apple can live up to its position as"the next evolution in music". And if these ads are anything to go by they might yet silence their critics.

After the launch of their TV ad for their global "mankind" campaign in July, AirBnB have now began their out-door campaign. Ensuring that the adverts speak with a single voice,the posters echo the sentiments of the TV advert, which features a baby walking towards a windowed door as a voiceover invites viewers to explore the essence of mankind.  The ads want us to find out how kind the people of this world are by.......sleeping in someone else's bed? Ok, say what you want about the underlying message, but how the message has been presented is intriguing.

The posters typically feature two things; the brand logo and the hashtag. Some people may think that TBWA\Chiat\Day had run out of advertising ideas, but far from it. Often an ad can say too much and requires so much thought on the part the viewer that he/she becomes disinterested. On the contrary, these posters epitomise simplicity. One logo, One hashtag. And in some cases its either one or the another. Instead of boring the individual, it piques their interest. What is this mankind thing all about? Even if you had seen the TV ad you still might not put two and two together, so you are equally left bemused.  The technique being employed here is "pull" marketing. As modern consumers we don't just sit back and let the adverts tell what the best products are, we find that out for ourselves. TBWA\Chiat\Day are utilising our new found desire to be in the know by inviting us to go exploring. By saying very little and just giving us a hashtag, they are coaxing us to pull out our smartphones and search for it on twitter. You can look at this in two ways: Clever marketing or lazy marketing. I for one think it's genius!

Companies better not underestimate the power of social media after recent events saw average joe, Dan May, pit two of the biggest mobile companies up against each other. The end result was O2 grovelling at Mr May's feet. Well ok, they didn't exactly grovel but they did give him free pizza for a year!


So what happened?


The saga all started when O2 offered its Twitter followers free pizzas delivered to their offices.


It was simple, all they had to do was was reply to O2's message with their location and a hashtag, and then a lucky few would win the pizza.




Danny boy thought he would try his luck and won, but no pizza followed. Disappointed and hungry he took to twitter to share his dismay with his phone company, threatening to leave.

Sensing a moment for a PR stunt, rival mobile company Three swooped in to save the day, sending Dan some pizzas while throwing in their #makeitright hashtag in the process. Genius.




Realising their mistake O2 ceremoniously apologised and were forced to go all out by offering Dan free pizza for a year.



However, the damage had been done. Three have been painted as a cool brand who live up to their tagline #MakeItRight, and probably picked up a few more twitters followers along the way. Sadly, O2 are seen as the villain who make promises they can't keep, which is not the perception you want as company who is in the business of selling pricey phone contracts.

The lesson to be learnt here is take you social presence seriously and monitor how you appear to the consumer on all media platforms. And for goodness sake, if you promise someone free pizza you better make good on that promise!