International Marketer’s Blog

Swiss bank UBS has bolstered its new international branding campaign with a global partnership with Formula 1. The partnership was announced soon after the bank launched its global rebranding effort.

UBS unveiled a new international advertising campaign last Sunday 22 August. Geared towards rebuilding customers’ trust after UBS was hit particularly hard by the credit crisis, the multi-million pound international brand implementation launched in the bank’s home country of Switzerland. It will roll out in the rest of Europe at the end of this month.

Created by advertising agency Publicis, the rebranding campaign drops the previous “you and us” strapline in favour of “we will not rest”. The Formula 1 partnership, meanwhile, will launch at the 2010 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix in late September.

According to the bank’s executives, using Formula 1 for global brand marketing is a sensible strategy as the sport has year-round activity, is very popular and highly visible. Formula 1 also has particularly strong presence in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, which are key growth markets for UBS. (more…)

Michelin has rolled out the second UK phase of its global marketing campaign for its premium tyres.

The latest element uses a mix of TV, giant billboards, online and an interactive game featuring the Michelin Man, to highlight the improved safety features offered by the brand’s new tyres. The ads retain the campaign’s message: “The right tyre changes everything”.

Peter Snelling, head of communications for Michelin UK commented,“While the initial sight of beloved woodland creatures being turned into roadkill may prove shocking to some, we hope it helps to drive home the message that the right tyre – namely improved tyres developed by Michelin – helps change everything. We really want to emphasise the safety message and how this can be delivered through improved stopping distance.

The international marketing activities launched in Australia this February, and in the UK this March. The long-term campaign will continue to roll out around the world with ads communicating the global brand’s traditional values and its longevity. (more…)

Automotive companies are using messages of national pride to appeal to recession-battered American consumers.

Current campaigns for Dodge Challenger, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chevrolet are among those pushing the patriotic message.

The former, by Wieden and Kennedy, reimagines the revolutionary colonists charging British Troops. The tagline is “Here are a couple of things America got right: cars and freedom”.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee spot, ‘Manifesto’, uses images of skyscrapers, locomotives and welders to remind US consumers “the things we make, make us”.

“The campaign is [our] way of making it clear … that we have that personal pride back and we’re creating quality products,” said Olivier Francois, lead marketing executive, Chrysler Group, when the ad broke.

Chevrolet, meanwhile, has juxtaposed images of rocket scientists with shots of GM workers building a Corvette. “While time has marched on and priorities have changed,” says the voiceover, “it’s nice to know America still builds rockets.” (more…)

A recovery in the carmaking industry and the lead-up to the World Cup have helped to fuel a rebound in global ad spending in the first quarter of the year.

Nielsen figures reveal a 19.1% increase in carmakers’ advertising budgets, second only to FMCG companies, and comprising 8.2% of total ad spending.

Three of the largest spenders in Nielsens’ Global Adview report are automotive firms: General Motors, Ford and Toyota.

Honda, Volkswagen and Chrysler also appear in the top 20 advertisers for the period.

The greatest increases in automotive ad spending were across Latin America and Asia-Pacific, according to the report in today’s Financial Times.

Brazil, Mexico Argentina and India reveal the most significant growth in advertising overall, while Europe still lags behind in terms of overall recovery.

Asia-Pacific saw an uplift of 13% in ad spend, with South Africa up 18% even before the start of the World Cup. China, the world’s third largest ad market, was up 18%. (more…)

Swedish marque Saab has begun rolling out a global marketing campaign; its first global campaign implementation since being rescued in a buyout by luxury carmaker Spyker.

The multimillion-pound campaign aims to communicate the message to consumers that Saab is continuing as a brand using the strapline ‘Anything but ordinary’.

According to David Pugh, marketing and PR director for Saab, implementation of marketing strategy has been developed around three main objectives: Created by advertising agency Lowe Brindfors, Lowe’s Swedish office, the first objective is to highlight Saab’s Swedish heritage, which, Pugh claims, will associate the marque in consumers’ minds with style and good design.

A second strapline ‘So Swedish, so Saab’ will be used in the campaign, while an elk, the emblem of Sweden will form part of the advertising creative. The third objective highlights the power and efficiency of the Saab 9-5 using the company’s background in aircraft design.

According to Marketing Magazine, international marketing activities will run across TV, outdoor, print, digital and direct with idents on Sky due to go live this week. (more…)

French car manufacturer Peugeot and entertainment conglomerate Disney have teamed up to launch a pan-European campaign that aims to capitalise on the launch of the computer-animated film Toy Story 3 this summer.

The campaign created by Euro RSCG and the Disney/Pixar creative teams, focuses on a ‘Toy Story 3’ Peugeot TV ad, which will run on a multi-platform basis, featuring Peugeot’s 5008 MPV and Woody, the cowboy character from the film.

In the TV execution, a family is shown arriving home in their Peugeot 5008, but when Woody, who is voiced by Tom Hanks, forgets his hat in the car, both the car and the Disney character are brought to life, showing off the modular versatility of the Peugeot’s interior in the process.

International marketing activities are due to launch this week across Europe in key country markets including France, Germany and the UK. Marketing collateral supporting the launch will run in print, in-dealer and online advertising.

Ollie Griffin, Manager, Brand Advertising at Peugeot, commented “’Toy Story 3′ looks set to be this summer’s blockbuster movie and we believe the campaign will really capture the imagination of our customers,â€� (more…)

Japanese car manufacturer Honda is this week launching a pan-European integrated campaign, in support of its new hybrid sports coupe, the Honda CR-Z.

A TV ad created by Wieden & Kennedy London has been filmed from the point of view of someone travelling through an urban environment in a CR-Z. The ad uses the colours red, green and blue to represent the three driving modes of the vehicle: ‘Sport’, ‘Normal’ and ‘Econ’, with the aim of “creating desire and engaging with a more youthful audience.” The TV spot which breaks in the UK tomorrow will roll out across 29 markets throughout Europe.

Marketing collateral includes print and digital activity, with pan-European below-the-line activity created by Elvis. Digital creative agency Collective has created an innovative Facebook-led campaign which integrates a range of Facebook social plug-ins, targeting a 25 to 35 year-old ABC1 audience.

A direct marketing campaign created by digital agency Crayon to support the CRZ activity will target 20,000 relevant database prospects according to Drum magazine, as well as those highlighted through an affiliate marketing campaign in March and sign-ups via the main Honda website. (more…)

French car maker PSA Peugeot-Citroen has announced a broad management shake-up which will see the company base an executive board-level official in China for the first time. The shake-up has been implemented in order to reinforce both the company’s global reach and its operational efficiency.

According to the report in the Wall Street Journal, Gregoire Olivier, currently Peugeot’s head of automotive strategy and programs will step into the newly created role in charge of operations in China, Japan, India and the ASEAN countries, and will drive the group’s efforts to shift the focus of its business away from the mature markets in Europe and develop sales in the fast-growing Chinese market.

The reorganisation will see Jean-Marc Gales who currently heads the Peugeot and Citroen brands to now also be responsible for the group’s product and marketing operations.

The reshuffle is part of a broader plan to overhaul the group in order to boost sales and profitability and to expand its global dimension, a strategy which saw the launch of a new look brand logo in January, and the introduction of a new tagline “Motion and Emotionâ€� to be used on all Peugeot global brand marketing. (more…)

Increasing numbers of people – particularly within the younger generations – say that they cannot imagine life without their mobile phones. Carmakers are now attempting to woo this mobile phone generation, with pay-as-you-go schemes, car sharing and partial ownership, in the face of cooling of enthusiasm for car ownership. According to The Financial Times, “the generational change has dovetailed with a new frugal mood and advances in mobile technology and social networking.”

How lucrative such schemes can be remains to be seen, yet they certainly allow for innovative global brand solutions, positioning first-mover companies as thought-leaders, and allowing scope for highly creative international marketing activities across a variety of channels. The figures for carmakers appear to stack up, too. Consultancy Frost & Sullivan expects membership of car-sharing schemes in Europe to increase tenfold from about 500,000 today to about 5.5m by 2016. The Generation Y customer, says partner Sarwant Singh, wants “personal mobility” over and above car ownership.

PSA Peugeot Citroen and Daimler are both experimenting with new business models, piloting programmes which allow consumers to pay for individual trips either ahead of time or at the end of the month. Such models emulate mobile phone contracts in terms of how people pay. (more…)

According to a report in Adweek, global car manufacturer Ford is the first marketer to create banner ads using Google’s new display offering which runs ads according to the nature of websites, in order to increase their relevance.

The car company has created an interactive banner ad campaign using a technology called Search API DoubleClick Rich Media, which Google has been able to develop since its acquisition of online display ad giant DoubleClick in 2007.

Meanwhile, the search engine giant is keen to cash in on projections of increased spending on display ads as the global economy recovers from recession. It has been widely reported this week that YouTube has seen a surge in display advertisers in recent months.

Scott Kelly, head of Ford’s digital marketing, said that Google’s technology has automated a process that would otherwise be extremely labour-intensive, thereby creating increased control of marketing spend. “This is the first time we can take search targeting and put a brand wrap around it,â€� he said. “Google can scan through our websites and create ads on the fly and get them out in a really relevant way.â€� (more…)