Artist Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) surprised fans with a free pair of kicks with a brilliant example of experiential done right. Using iOS Airdrop at Coachella, he send out a photo of the shoes he created in collaboration with Adidas. By using this mobile-first tactic, Glover was able to a create buzz and excitement at a moment when people are already highly distracted and would normally actively avoid brand experiences. He was able to get his audience to opt-in to a brand experience by playing on their natural human curiosity. Those who accepted the Airdrop received a free pair of the sneakers and signed a contract stating they would wear the shoes, attend the show, and keep the shoes on all weekend.


It is so frustrating seeing brands using technology for the sake of using technology, in a vain attempt to appear "with it". This is so refreshing. The use of Airdrop as the marketing vehicle here is far from contrived and is just a simple, surprising and delightful way to connect with an audience who is always glued to their phone.

Big thumbs up from me!

Wait, is that really Marks and Sparks?

The household brand has debuted a new interpretation of its “This Is Not Just Food” advert.

The campaign, dubbed #ThisIsNotJust, comes 15 years after the company introduced its famous tagline “This is Not Just Food... This is M&S Food” and adverts featuring slow-motion close-ups of food. The adverts were last seen on television 12 years ago.

Instead of close-ups of food, the new advert sees M&S customers being distracted from their daily lives and unable to resist describing the brand's food in a sultry voice, mimicking the voiceover of previous adverts.

Although it is a notable step a change for M&S, this Junior Planner welcomes it. It’s good to see how a well-established, household brand can mix it up without sullying their brand image and what made them great in the first place. This is a clever re-imagination of a beloved brand campaign that will certainly get chins wagging. In fact, it seems to be working already

It is making M&S accessible and humanises it without effecting it’s premium stance. We all know that M&S produce brilliant, delicious food but now they are putting a different,approachle lens on it. This campaign also creates clear water between M&S and Waitrose by adding another feather to the formers bow beyond eloquent food porn which is a bit done to death now. Don’t get me wrong I love to see beautifully presented food but that is no longer ownable anymore with every supermarket bring out premium ranges and hiring the same food photographers.

This is clearly part of M&S broader strategy to reach a wider market, with them at looking to into launching home delivery.

Can’t wait to see what they do next!

I saw this one on my way home last night and was captured by it's simplicity. Heinz has brought out a new and improved microwaveable version of their famous tomato soup. #YUM.

Ensuring the busy passerby knows what the ad is all about and who it’s from, the ad is smothered in recognisable properties. The infamous Heinz red and all those KBAs (Key Brand Assets) are clearly visible. But for me, the use of the sound, a microwave makes when your food is ready, is what made me smile. It's such a simple yet eloquent way to communicate that this is a new variant, the key point of difference and how to easy it is the make. All this encapsulated in the use one word. Ping in this context is imbued with so much meaning, and is an apt example of how sometimes less is more in advertising. We see here the weight that words carry, so make sure you are purposeful and deliberate with yours!

Love it or hate it, the new ad for Mcdonald's monolopy game is infectious.

That piffy, catchy phrase is a clever way to get people talking about a brand property that is no longer new news. To borrow a phrase from the Adlandian dictionary, this campaign was about "evolution not revolution" (yes, it made me cringe too). The golden arches took a common behaviour (how we all take off that sticker) and made it virtuous. I love me a likkle behavioural economics and this one uses social herding in a clever and humorous way. But can 'peely, peely' become a thing , and by 'a thing', I mean can 'peely peely' become part of our cultural parlance.

One brand that has been able to embed a brand-out phrase in culture is Nando's with 'cheeky nando's'. The phrase is so ubiquitous that when someone says they are going to grab a bite from these chicken connoisseurs and they don't put "cheeky" in front of the brand name, it somehow seems less appealing. I guess the addition of  the word makes it more naughty and therefore makes getting one even more desirable.

So can ' peely, peely' get to that status?

Sadly, I don't think so. Cheeky Nando's refers to eating at the establishment at any time throughout the year and isn't product specific. Monopoly isn't evergreen and will be gone again soon so people won't have a need to use the phrase once the promotion is finished. However, it can own a similar space in our vernacular to Meerkat's "simples". Now, we don't often use "simples" in our day to day lives but when someone does say it you instantaneously recognise it and the brand is once again top of mind.  "Simples" success was partly due to media spend and the heavy use of the phrase in all of Compare The Market's ads gave us time to overboard the catch phrase. This campaign will not get the same run time but due to the warm sentiment around it, if someone does use the phrase it is likely to evoke similar warm brand feelings.

Let's watch this space!

Spotify are one of the most culturally relevant brands out there. They killed it last year with their clever use of data to talk about their various playlists and this year they are again speaking with a human voice. They are one of the rare people to talk like a consumer and do it right.

Love it.

I don't think Maccy D's got the memo about the wellness trend.

I mean, now there app sits right next to my fitness plan I know which one I am going to being on more often than not. I guess my the summer body goals can wait another year. Sigh.

So what are some of the ways McDonald's have communicated their new mobile app?

Whacking out the recognisable brands codes that we all know and love. Mark Ritson recently wrote about the importance of brands codes (KBAs) in praise of Mastercard’s decision to drop the name from its logo. The renowned marketer spoke eloquently about codes being “sensationally important to a brand in achieving distinctiveness in the market”. He bemoaned that fact that so many agencies are reluctant to emphasis their brand codes and implored them to buck this trend by peppering all their tactical work with these symbolic and graphical devices.
Now the ones McDonald's use are not exactly trademark-able or legally ownable per say. But they are definitely synonymous with the big arches.

Check out the clever use of mobile phones to make up some of the classic yummies we buy from the brand. We recognise the food, the mobile phone and brand colourways so when we see “Mobile Ordering is here” it all makes sense and our brains love that!


No cognitive dissonance over here thank you!

I saw this from UFIT on the underground which, based on this ad, is aiming to be a healthy protein drink option for individuals who want to eat right but also enjoy life’s pleasures. So basically, every millennial in London?

Now, I don’t think there is much wrong with this insight. It’s true, we want to make healthier life choices but a combination of financial constraints, lack of time and the “foodie revolution” means we don’t always want/choose what’s good for us. We look for brands that make it easy for us to live well without compromising on taste or flavour.

But the issue I have is that all the newbies to the “easy health” space are singing from the same hymn sheet. Remember Popchips “Be A Bit Good” campaign? It also plays on the daily battle we face between good choices and bad ones and appearing to be the perfect go between (all done in a tongue-in-cheek manner). I think they were one of the first and did the best.

While I don’t think there is anything wrong with tapping into a common mindset, nowadays brands are currently leaning too heavily on this “easy on-the-go health” message and it’s getting a bit old, especially  the “We Have Protein" song.

I think brands need to sit down and ruminate on the “so what” a bit longer, and really think about what only they can offer. They forget that they are not just competing with brands in their immediate category, they are also competing with every other brand that gives you easy, fast and tasty nutrition – Innocent, Nakd, Bounce, need I go on?

Relying on this quite frankly lazy, no shit Sherlock truth ain’t going to fly anymore….not for me anyway.