International Marketer’s Blog

William Grant & Sons is centralizing global marketing communications for its non-Scotch brands with the establishment of a new global marketing office.

In a move to ramp up its international marketing strategies, a 17-strong team based in Dublin will manage the entire global operations for the company’s non-Scotch brands. These include Sailor Jerry, Hendrick’s Gun and the newly acquired Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey.

Building Tullamore Dew, the world’s second largest Irish whiskey brand will be a prime focus of the Dublin team, according to the report in Marketing Week (marketingweek.co.uk, 07.09.10).

The company is currently commissioning an international marketing campaign for the brand, scheduled to run across television, print and outdoor channels. In order to streamline the global campaign implementation, the push will be entirely managed from the Dublin office.

Stella David, chief executive officer of William Grant & Sons, said: “We are assembling a very strong team to market our core non-Scotch brands throughout the world, as well as to drive our overall innovation agenda.” (more…)

Korean Air, Korea’s flagship carrier, is launching a global campaign with the new theme, “For life on a whole new scale”.

The push stresses the scale of the airline’s vast worldwide network and emphasises its attention to detail in customer service.

This new positioning marks a departure from the airline’s long running slogan, “What Korean Air is made of”, which debuted in 2007.

International marketing activities have kicked off across television, print, outdoor and digital channels.

To ensure the global campaign execution has local relevance, three different versions of the television ads have been developed for Asian, European and global markets.

According to AdWeek, the latest push extends the sophisticated messages of the earlier ads, and also includes a more sales-driven version, highlighting some of the key destinations in the carrier’s network.

Cho HyunMin, corporate communications and integrated marketing team manager at Korean Air, described the new campaign as both extraordinary and original. (more…)

Global document management company Xerox is doubling its advertising spend and rolling out its most expensive global brand marketing campaign in twenty years, in an effort to rebrand as a business services company.

Xerox has strong global brand recognition, although its brand name is synonymous with copying. The company hopes that the marketing push will change legacy perceptions and achieve a major repositioning of the brand.

Earlier this year, Xerox acquired Affiliated Computer Services Inc, the world’s largest diversified business process outsourcing, tripling its business services enterprise. The expanded services now account for more than half the company’s revenue, with business services now equal to its equipment unit.

According to the Wall Street Journal the ads “focus on Xerox’s relationships with six clients like Procter & Gamble Co., Target Corp., motorcycle maker Ducati, Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, the University of Notre Dame and Marriott International Inc., which are allowing their brand name to be used in the campaign.â€� Brand icons are shown botching back-office functions and are over-run by paperwork. The campaign then demonstrates there are better ways for companies to handle back office work -by innovating and partnering with Xerox. (more…)

Coca-Cola recently had embarked on a big move to centralize its European marketing operation into a London hub. Joe Thomas of Marketing Magazine (Marketingmagazine.co.uk, 20.04.2010) reported that Coca-Cola currently uses a roster of agencies from countries across the region, all of which contribute to its marketing activity.

Adding to the complexity, the marketing campaign is decided and activated by marketers at a national level, rather than collectively from a region-wide or global perspective. Not only it results in a total lack of synergy in its advertising in each market, the localized marketing activities and ideas actually create unnecessary costs.

Some may comment that many of the markets in Europe operate, on occasion, purely for their own benefit, without considering a wider regional picture. The Diet Coke TV commercial featuring Duffy was criticized for being an idea that was never going to work outside the UK. Some even commented that a Welsh singer in a supermarket would not appeal to any other audience. Putting aside the fact that I actually quite like the song (and secretly love the commercial), the way it was adapted for other markets by simply dubbing the line and subtitling the song in Austrian, Slovenian, Bulgarian…and so on, it has lost its simplicity. As an idea, it has been diluted as an execution – and it was an international marketing execution that cost Coca-Cola money. (more…)

Zurich Financial Services Group has unveiled the latest element of its global brand campaign for its HelpPoint service.

The ‘Insights’ campaign builds on the original effort, launched in 2008, which aimed to convey a deeper customer understanding within the insurance sector.

‘Insights’ portrays Zurich customers in a number of positive situations, to convey the message that they can count on their insurance coverage and on the Zurich HelpPoint service, which handles emergency claims. Situations shown in the adverts include one customer taking a kite-surf ride, and another driving his pregnant wife to the hospital.

The campaign also targets corporate customers, with adverts depicting real cases where Zurich’s services were used. These range from the large construction project at the Panama Canal expansion, to smaller-scale cases of the company managing claims for businesses. (more…)

International travel operator Eurostar has asked its roster agencies to pitch for a brief in regards to the company’s advertising around its sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics.

According to the report in Campaign magazine, the rail services operator has asked TBWA\Brussels and the Paris-based Leg to pitch for the project which will incorporate all the company’s international marketing activities in the lead up to and during the Games.

Eurostar will be the international rail services provider for London 2012, following the announcement in May that the company has signed up as an official tier-three sponsor of London 2012.The deal means that as a tier-three sponsor, the company will be entitled to use the London 2012 branding on its product .

Additional news from Eurostar is the launch of its social media platform, designed to aggregate customer reviews of European destinations. The new site europebyeurostar.com asks users to share their recommendations about European cities and favourite places at destinations that can be accessed via Eurostar. (more…)

Chinese sportswear maker Li-Ning has signed a long term endorsement agreement with Evan Turner, the 2010 number two overall draft pick of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, to front the company’s international marketing activities.

In what is widely seen as the Bejing based footwear and apparel company’s biggest step into the U.S market so far, Turner will play a major role in Li-Ning’s global brand marketing plans beginning immediately. This will be followed in the second year of the agreement with Turner showcasing his own Li-Ning branded footwear and apparel product line, available globally.

Since becoming one of the leading sports brand enterprises in China, Li-Ning has been actively looking to ramp up marketing activities globally, particularly since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when the company was able to make a first-hand impression to athletes, marketers and other businesses. The company has its US headquarters and a retail store in Portland, which is the long-time home of Nike and Adidas. (more…)

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…)

Microsoft is unveiling its biggest international marketing activity to date for the launch of ‘Halo: Reach’, the fourth in the Halo series for Xbox.

After teaser shots launched in spring, the campaign will ramp up this week to become Microsoft’s biggest game campaign in the marketer’s history, according to Michael Stout, global product manager for Xbox.

The campaign will primarily use television spots and online marketing tools to drive purchase intent. A website launched yesterday through which users can operate a real-life robot located in an undisclosed San Francisco warehouse.

Television ads and online films will feature live action, rather than the game footage typical of advertising in the gaming sector “We’re trying to tell the story in broad strokes and universal themes that people know all around the world. And get our core fans even doubly excited,” said Taylor Smith, director of global marketing communications for Xbox.

Xbox is using an international retail marketing strategy to reach an even wider audience. A partnership with PepsiCo marks its biggest brand integration to date. From September, limited edition Mountain Dew bottles and Doritos bags will feature ‘Halo’ packaging. Microsoft is also due to roll out an integrated promotion with the Ultimate Fighting Championship event. (more…)

Levi’s has unveiled its first-ever product launch outside of the US, marking an innovative implementation of marketing strategy for the company.

As reported on campaignasia.com yesterday, the Denizen brand developed specifically for the Chinese market debuted in Shanghai. The brand will then launch in Beijing and the rest of northern China before becoming available in selected western markets.

Some 50 Denizen retail stores are scheduled to open across China, South Korea and Singapore by the end of 2010. The Shanghai store opening is planned for early September.

“This is the birth of a new history for Levi Strauss & Co in Asia,” said Aaron Boey, President of Levi Strauss’ Asia Pacific division.

Denizen is a combination of the English word ‘denim’ and the Buddhist concept of ‘zen’. The brand targets the lucrative Asian middle-class population, aged between 18 and 28. (more…)