International Marketer’s Blog

Global soft-drinks giant Coca-Cola is overhauling its European marketing operation as part of a review of the wider business. It has said that it has informed employees of “plans to simplify the structure of the business to improve efficiency and effectiveness.�

Up to 150 staff could be affected in the consultation, which covers the 38 countries in which Coca-Cola Europe operates. Dominique Reiniche, president of Coca-Cola Europe, said that the changes were designed to simplify operations and to make the multinational more efficient. He said that the restructure would allow the international brand to become faster to market, and allow it to increase the scale of its activities across Europe.

One expected outcome – according to Brand Republic – is that Coca-Cola will make London the hub of its European marketing operations, with some Great Britain and European roles, which are currently carried out separately, becoming the responsibility of one person. The efficiency drive could also lead the company to seek full service marketing agencies, thereby helping it to streamline the marketing process. The brand currently works with several advertising and marketing agencies – such as Carlson Marketing, Mother and VCCP – but increased centralisation could help it to drive the efficiency of international brand management and campaigns.

In his final interview before retiring, Simon Clift, the outgoing marketing chief of Unilever, warned of a “lost generation� of brand managers who do not understand the web and social networks.

Traditional advertising agencies are struggling to adapt to the digital world, he said, and the array of new, online marketing tools which are now presented to them.

Clift has been at international marketing giant Unilever for over 30 years – a time which has seen the marketing process revolutionized by the worldwide web, with consumers empowered by the ability to research products and services and publish their views online. He pointed to a “lost generation of marketers�, both in-house and at advertising and marketing agencies, who need to get involved in a “really rapid catch-up.�

“If you are 25 or 20, you know this stuff – you are brought up with Facebook and YouTube. If you are 50, you see your kids do it. Most of our brands are managed by people who have had to learn it,â€� he said. “The people who have most needed it are aged between 30 and 45, running global brands because they grew up after it and haven’t seen their kids doing it.â€� (more…)

Eyecare brand Bausch & Lomb is this week launching a European press and outdoor campaign to promote its daily disposable contact lenses.

The brand aims to differentiate itself from other contact lens brands by demonstrating that the lenses have been designed to help wearers see better in the dark. The ads feature images of a giant white rabbit towering over traffic in the middle of a New York street at night.

The campaign communicates that as light begins to fade in the early evening, eyes can start playing tricks on you. It uses the strapline: “See right at night. Strange things happen after dark.�

Marketing collateral includes in-store material including window posters, counter cards and leaflets providing consumers with product information. The creative features smaller white rabbits dotted across a New York street scene. Customers will be offered the chance to win five nights in New York City if they can spot all the rabbits in the picture. (more…)

Many believed the oddball-looking footwear sensation Crocs would be nothing more than a passing fad. Yet it has rolled out a global advertising campaign designed to establish the footwear sensation as a brand rather than a single shoe style – which perhaps suggests it isn’t going to disappear any time soon.

The campaign focuses on Croslite, the proprietary ‘good-for-you’ technology at the centre of every pair of the brand’s shoes. In the TV execution, a character has been created out of a shoe and is shown massaging a woman’s feet on her return to work.

The idea is to show shoes that ‘love you back’, as VP of Marketing, Ken Chaplin, explains: “As we develop as a brand and work to grow top-line revenue, we need to expand our reach. This campaign represents Crocs’ first integrated marketing effort around a single message – ‘Feel the Love’ – with worldwide execution.�

Marketing collateral for the shoes, which are sold in 125 countries, includes TV, print, out-of-home, point-of-sale and social media elements. The campaign’s aim is to drive sales and increase brand awareness as well as global brand consistency. Crocs also wants to encourage people to take a fresh look at its product line, and to emphasize the fact that it offers more than one style. (more…)

New technology powered by Xerox is providing a hint of what product placement could look like for television advertisers the world over as advertising continues to evolve.

In a recent patent filing, the global tech firm said that its technology for marketing would allow adaptations to be made to broadcast content on a household-by-household basis, so that TV sets incorporating its new gadget would show different products to different people depending on their likes and dislikes.

As marketers grapple with leaner budgets than they may have become used to – in days now immortalised in the cult TV show Mad Men – and as many continue to migrate to online channels, such an innovation could help to dramatically improve the precision of promotional material on television sets worldwide.

The technology is also well-timed given changing legislation, such as the UK’s recent moves to legalise product placement on TV for the first time. Over the pond, advertisers in the US may already be well-versed in product placement, yet optimising the process in order to make it more targeted could pay rich rewards for clever advertisers. (more…)

The world’s two biggest supermarket chains and a homegrown competitor are battling for dominance in Brazil, according to a report in Business Week.

In the lead, it says, is Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicão Grupo Pão de Açúcar, with revenues of $13 billion in 2009. Yet close behind is France’s Carrefour, with sales last year of $12.6 billion. In third place, but “making a big push” is Wal-Mart, which operates under several names in this key global market. Its sales in Brazil last year totalled $9.5 billion.

As the middle class expands in Brazil, spending on food is expected to rise 50% over the next five years. Among the BRIC nations, Brazil also offers arguably fewer barriers to international marketing and business than Russia, India and China. India bans foreign stores which sell multiple brands, while Russia limits expansion by retailers. China is undeniably attractive due to its rapid economic growth, yet, according to Justin Scarborough, a retail analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland in London, “Brazil is more developed in terms of infrastructure and wealth creation.�

“Consumers are used to shopping in hypermarkets,â€� he says, “whereas retail in China is more traditional.â€� (more…)

The world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, is on a “marketing splurgeâ€�- according to Advertising Age – to drive growth, as part of a long-term, international marketing strategy.

The company plastered Rio de Janeiro’s streets with billboards during last month’s Carnival, while it kept marketing spend as a percentage of sales near 2008 levels last year, despite competitors SABMiller Plc and Heineken NV cutting back.

The brewer will invest in its main brands “come hell or high water,� Chief Marketing Officer Chris Burggraeve said recently.

Chief Executive Officer Carlos Brito boosted advertising spending by 20 percent to $1.4 billion in the final quarter of last year. According to the Advertising Age report, Brito, “oversees a management team in which every expense must be justified each year. After paying down or refinancing debt from 2008’s $52 billion purchase of Anheuser- Busch Cos Inc., AB InBev is giving all its attention to growth from its existing brands for the first time.�

In the second half of last year, the maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois released Bud Light Golden Wheat and Budweiser Select 55 in the U.S., and new varieties of its Antarctica and Bohemia brands in Brazil to attract new consumers. (more…)

Gap Inc. has announced it will open its first store in Australia, as part of its continuing global expansion.

The company, founded in San Francisco by Don Fisher in 1969, has signed a franchise agreement with Brand Republic Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Busby Holdings Australia Pty Ltd, for exclusive rights to operate Gap brand stores in Australia.

Gap sees franchising as a key part of their global business strategy and now has franchise agreements in place across 24 country markets on four continents.

“With Australia, we’re extending our international presence to a whole new continent,� said Stefan Laban, vice president of Strategic Alliances for Gap Inc. “The country has a strong retail sector and an underserved market of consumers who appreciate the casual, American style that Gap represents. We’re confident that we have the right partner to help us bring Gap to consumers in Australia, given their success bringing other international brands to the Australian marketplace.�

Under the terms of the agreement, (more…)

Calvin Klein Underwear is running the global fashion brand’s first augmented reality ad campaign across editions of Condé Nast’s GQ magazine in key country markets. The campaign, which will run in12 countries worldwide, is designed to promote the launch of the brand’s X Underwear range for men.

The augmented reality print ads will run in the April issue of the men’s general interest title in Australia, China, Korea, India, Mexico, Taiwan and the US, and in the May issue of GQ in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Consumers with webcams will be able view the campaign on the brand’s dedicated microsite at xmarksyourspot.com, by holding up either the ad from the magazine or a print-out of the AR code. A 3D box then appears, which allows them to select from four short films created for the augmented reality initiative.

Digital ads will also run on GQ.com, linking to the microsite, which is a new branded destination for consumers to access all materials and videos featuring the campaign.

The move represents the international brand’s first foray into augmented reality, said Tom Murry, President and CEO at Calvin Klein. “Calvin Klein X Underwear is a very important launch for the company, and we wanted to make a powerful statement with the creative – but it was also imperative that it was executed boldly,â€� he said. “The resulting campaign is provocative, engaging and fun and we feel that using innovative programmes like these in partnership with an authoritative brand like GQ will resonate successfully with our consumer globally.â€� (more…)

Clinique is looking for a digital agency to handle a global campaign for its Skin Supplies for Men product division, Campaign reports.

The winning agency will be responsible for creating a global campaign that increases brand awareness, drives consumer engagement and creates a new audience across country markets.

The brief specifies that the campaign must re-energise and refocus Clinique’s Skin Supplies with accessible market positioning whilst creating a stand-out proposition against its competitors which include Clarins, Lancome, Boss, LAB Series and the more mass market L’Oreal Men Expert, Gillette, Nivea For Men and No7 brands.

Figures from Mintel show that the men’s market is expected to be worth £963m by 2012, an increase of 19% compared to 2007. The research also suggests that spend on these products should reach £35-a-head over the next five years. (more…)