I have a real love/hate relationship with those emails that pop into my inbox before I even open my eyes in the morning, tempting me to must-buy experiences, weekends away and 10 vibroplate sessions.  These emails may appear harmless, but the promise of self-improvement and gourmet food just proves too hard to resist for me!  And such is the reason for Groupon’s success…

The name Groupon comes from the term “group” and was developed by now CEO, Andrew Mason in 2008.  It grew out of a website called The Point, where you can start a campaign and ask people to participate and deliver action because of the strength in numbers.  Just as the campaigns need a ‘tipping point’ of people to become viable, Groupon needs a certain number of buyers to make the deals valid.  This collective buying gives us the access to the deals which just seem too good to be true.

To date Groupon serves 500 markets and 44 countries.

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Foreign restaurants are an absolute goldmine for bad spelling. Most of us have enjoyed a giggle at the ‘innovative’ dishes that pop up on menus in exotic climes… like the ‘friend eggs and tose’ I had for breakfast in Thailand, for example. Delicious it was too.

In this context, typos are funny, endearing and completely forgivable; they don’t negatively affect your opinion of the restaurant or the quality of the service you expect to receive. But what about when you visit a new business online? If you’ve got no prior knowledge of the company, how do you feel if you open their website and it’s full of spelling mistakes and bad grammar? Bet you’d be more suspicious than I was tucking into my friend eggs… Read more…

How do you feel when you see an established brand name baffle you with a new product? One that’s not associated with the infamous brand name you know and love?  Well, you either trust the brand name enough to love the product, or you’re completely baffled, wondering how on earth the product has anything to do with the brand name!

Sometimes, even the most tenuous link between brand and product can actually work rather well – who would have thought that a musical instrument manufacturer Yamaha could become such a successful motor vehicle company?  Or that Coca-Cola lip balm would really take off?  But with every successful idea that sends a product soaring off the shelves comes another brand’s dismal failure at extending their name into a new field – welcome, reader, to the fabulous world of brand extension.

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Oscar night. I hate Oscar night. Why? Well it reminds me that I failed in my dream of one day becoming a Hollywood filmmaker and attending lavish parties attended by the great and the good of the silver screen… a dream that I know is shared by many people who work in the advertising business.

In fact it’s safe to say that there are creative departments up and down the country that are filled with frustrated movie directors and screenwriters… some (like me) still tinker away writing scripts in their spare time, hoping to one day strike gold… others make that brave leap and become commercial directors in the hope of achieving their dream of directing a movie.

So since it is Oscar night, I thought I’d write a blog that celebrates those in advertising agencies that escaped to better things in the hills of Hollywood and almost ended up picking up that prized golden statue!

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After all the pigging out over the festive period, lots of us are worrying about our expanding waist belts, cursing the extra mince pies on our hips and making New Year’s resolutions to hit the gym and get our bodies back in shape in time for our Easter holiday. But looking around, maybe we don’t need to keep striving to achieve that washboard stomach. Maybe fat is the new thin? Maybe it’s time you discovered the world of Marketing to the larger lady.

It seems like curves are in fashion all of a sudden. We’re seeing a growing trend in the use of plus-size models on the runways, in magazines and as part of advertising campaigns. And according to Yildiz Blackstone, the president of Luca Luca, “fashion is cyclical, but this is a trend that is going to stay… it is healthy to have curves.”

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A recent Facebook update by a good friend of mine got me thinking a great deal about the creative mind. His update simply said that he was looking forward to reading his son’s story entitled ‘The Adventures of Captain Potato and the Bin of Time’.

I also had with my 11-year-old son stay over this weekend, and again was amazed at how his mind works, how he is intrigued about everything, and is capable of such bizarre trains of thought that lead to some incredibly daft conversations.

With both my son and my friend’s son there will no doubt come a time when the most common phrase they hear will be ‘grow-up!’ They’ll hear it from their teachers, fellow classmates, other adults and as they get older, their colleagues…. Which if they are not careful, could hinder the creative sides of their brains.

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Back when I was a student, there were a couple of songs that everybody seemed to go gaga over. The first was by a band called Stiltskin entitled ‘Inside’ and the other was by an act called Babylon Zoo whose song was called ‘Spaceman’.

Both of these songs are notable for the fact that they became so well known in the UK because they were first aired to the British public via Levi adverts. In the case of Spaceman, the interest in the track resulted in it going straight to number one, where it stayed for five weeks. The track also went to Number 1 in the single charts in twenty-three countries and at the time Babylon Zoo held the record for the fastest selling single for a UK debut artist.

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Imagine it’s a Monday night and you’re sat on the sofa watching Coronation Street. Roy Cropper is cooking up 2 Walls sausages on Warburton’s bread with a dollop of Heinz ketchup for Steve McDonald. Normally we wouldn’t know which brands Roy uses in his cafe, nor see any brands at all on the street – except for fake ones like Newton & Ridley ale in the Rovers Returns! But this could soon be the future of your favourite soap thanks to the new ruling by the Government to allow product placement on UK television.

Product placement is a form of advertising that uses branded products or services placed in a context devoid of adverts – like a TV programme or a film. Previously the government had always denied commercial broadcasters the ability to take payment in return for placing products on screen; however earlier this year Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw announced that the Government would be allowing it for the first time in television programmes.

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As we all know, in any relationship, it’s the small things that matter. Yet what many people don’t realise is that it’s not only in our personal relationships that small things can have a big effect… they can also have a similar result in the relationships marketers, brands and companies have with their customers or business partners.

And why do small things matter? Well, as anyone who has ever bought a girl flowers knows; something small but effective can have a kind of result that is absolutely out of proportion to the cost.

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When I was a kid I had a friend who lived next door whose dad was in the Territorial Army. The best thing, as far as I could see, about having a dad in the Territorial Army was that he would come home on a weekend in an old Army Land Rover… an Army Land Rover that was perfect for firing-up our boyhood imaginations.

You see, this was not just any Land Rover in our eyes… it was a Nazi Land Rover! A Nazi Land Rover carrying the Ark of the Covenant to a secret lair where it would be opened in some bizarre ritual. Cue then lots of walking down the side, sliding underneath and jumping on top of this battered old vehicle as my friend and I took it in turns to be in intrepid archaeologist… Indiana Jones!

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