Rory Finlay: Building Brands People Want to Talk About

Rory Finlay, Beam Global's CMO, was part of an Economist Marketing Forum discussing word of mouth and new models of marketing. To find out more watch the video below:



It's great to see our vision of Building Brands People Want to Talk About being talked about. It's like meta talkability.

Hennessy 44

From Hennessy's press release:

"In recognition of one of the most defining moments in American history, Hennessy is introducing a limited edition bottle honoring the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States. In honor of this momentous occasion and furthering Hennessy’s long standing commitment with the urban community, a percentage of proceeds from the Hennessy 44 Limited Edition bottle will be donated to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to help cultivate a new generation of leaders."

The Hennessy 44 Limited Edition bottle will feature a redesigned label, black capsule, and a special 44 seal featuring the date of the inauguration. Only 180,000 (750ml) uniquely numbered collector’s item bottles have been produced and will be available for sale in Washington DC, Maryland, Illinois, Metro New York, and Georgia from January 12th, 2009.

During the inauguration weekend Hennessy will join the celebrations at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund reception, the Radio One Inauguration Gala, the NNPA Gala, and the Hip Hop Summit Action Network Inaugural Ball. Celebrities will be invited to autograph commemorative bottles for a later auction to create additional funds for scholarships through the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

The limited edition bottles will be individually numbered and will be line priced with Hennessy V.S. For more information on Hennessy V.S Limited Edition Inauguration Bottles and the Thurgood Marshall College fund, please visit www.hennessy.com or www.thurgoodmarshallfund.org. "



And here are my thoughts - great idea to tie in with the biggest story for a long time. It links to success and the urban community. Piggybacking is always an easy way to gain publicity.

It has undoubtedly been picked up and talked about very widely. Just google Hennessy 44 and you are flooded with hits.

But... the reaction hasn't been entirely positive.

Some comments on Jump the Turnstyle:

"Uggh- I can’t read the small copy, but it looks to be all worded in such a way where where Obama’s name is not mentioned specifically , therefore it doesn’t have to be licensed- big time crapitalism"

From New York Mag...

""Hennessy’s roots in the urban community"

When will companies just come out and say "the black [or African-American] community" instead of using "urban" as a code word?

Also, does a Digital Underground shout-out fifteen years ago really count as "roots"?"

....

"Disgusting stuff.

Dewars for the win."

....

"The idea that a smooth customer like BHO would ever drink Hennessy is beyond ridiculous. The only way I can imagine that happening is if for some strange reason Michelle left him and, crazed with grief, he drank everything else in the bar and Hennessy was all that was left. THEN, maybe. Otherwise, no."

....

"Obama needs to get some Laphroaig Quarter Cask or Lagavulin as his presidential drink of choice. If you can't smoke in the White House you might as well drink something that tastes like smoke."

....

"Obama strikes me as having subtle, complex tastes. No cloying, easy Hennessy for him. I suspect his brandy is Germain-Robin - and it's American, so it's patriotic to drink."

....

From One Plus Infinity:

"The president-elect isn’t much of a drinker, but if anything’s going to drive you to the liquor cabinet, it’s being the leader of the free world. He might want to find a different brand, though: North Korea’s Kim Jong Il is said to be a huge Hennessy fan."

It's interesting that they never mention Barrack Obama in the copy. The reference to 44 is far more subtle and no doubt avoids a few lawsuits and usage costs.

You can buy your very limited edition of 180,000 commemorative Hennessy 44 on ebay here.

Negativity and bitterness to one side... the idea has been well executed and has been talked about far and wide strengthening Hennessey, and by dint of them being category leader, cognac's, roots in the African American market.

Berocca's Blogger Relief Pack is a great idea...

so long as I get one!



"Blogging can be stressful. We live in a world where millions of people
read and demand new content from websites every day.

The Blogger Relief Pack comes to the rescue of those tired minds. Be part of the Blogger Relief campaign to rescue those we rely on to feed our insatiable hunger for the weird wide web.

If you’ve got a blog, fill in your details and you could receive a Blogger Relief Pack from Berocca. Keep on blogging and we’ll feature some of the best blogs we see on this page in the coming weeks."

It's a great mechanic and a very well targeted initiative. Seth and co would be proud.

Visit Berocca's site here.

CC getting the word of mouth it was after

All from The Scotch Blog back in October 2007. Not quite sure how I missed it?!

"Canadian Club, a product of Beam Global Spirits* is about to roll out a new ad campaign.

The concept of the campaign? Your Dad was much cooler than you are.

Yep that's right - they are saying it's cool to drink whisky BECAUSE your dad drank it, not despite it.

They are also saying that your Dad was probably more of a man than you are.

According to the press release:

The thought-provoking campaign challenges consumers to embrace their dads classic masculinity, most visibly expressed through their choice to drink Canadian Club whisky cocktails. In launching Damn Right, CC invited Beam Global employees to search through their photo albums to submit images that epitomize the campaign."

And here are some of the comments. It's certainly getting talked about. But for the right reasons? You decide.

"Bravo to Beam for missing two HUGE problems in one ad campaign!
The first, more obvious one, is that the modern drinker barely resembles the drinker of the 60s and that's a good thing. Today's drinking culture in the 25-40 range is way more realistic about how alcohol fits into their lives. My dad's generation of drinker drank for a lot of the wrong reasons and attempting to make nostalgia from that is, well, pathetic.

Second huge problem is further alienation of the female whiskey drinkers at all ages. How many women want to idolize their fathers when he was aimless and drunk? It's not so much that this ad campaign isn't tartgets towards women... that's 95% of all drinks advertising. It takes an extra special effort by a drinks company to insult female drinkers with an ad that's misogynistic today and nostalgic for more misogynistic times in the past.

Oh, and a small aside. What the hell is that lime wedge doing in that drink? Are they implying that drinkers from the 60s drank CC with a wedge of lime? Maybe Darcy from Art of Drink can help us figure that one out.

Posted by: Brian | October 25, 2007 at 08:29 AM

- Your Dad didn't hug you because he knew what a baby you'd grow up to be anyway

- Your Dad didn't have AAA

- Your Dad smoked while pumping gas

- If Dad was doing the dishes, it must have been Mother's Day

- Dad is the reason they call Vegas "Sin City" now.

Posted by: Rick | October 25, 2007 at 03:01 PM

Love this story, but the campaign is totally off the wall (even if I might get a little 'respect' from my kids!). What were the CC guys smoking when they signed this off?

And why does the ad only show the top half, and not the body copy when you click on it?

Posted by: Ian Buxton | October 25, 2007 at 04:31 PM

My Dad drank wine.

Posted by: Japanesewhisky | October 25, 2007 at 08:33 PM

"Your Dad wasn't your Mum's last."*

*A new neanderthal nostalgia styled Ad for white wine spritzers?

Posted by: Japanesewhisky | October 25, 2007 at 08:46 PM

If the expression "this is wrong in *so* many ways" didn't exist, it would have to be created for this ad.

Posted by: James Campbell Andrew | October 26, 2007 at 03:50 AM

How original. Another ad campaign that reinforces stupid ideas of masculinity and femininity. CC, it is disappointing that this is the "best" that you can come up with. Indeed, I have thought more about CC in the past 24 hours than ever before, but I will not be stopping for long, and, yes, I will be "drinking smart."

Wendy
Ontario, Canada

Posted by: Wendy | October 26, 2007 at 09:12 AM

Your dad sometimes hit your mom.
Your mom was kinda slutty.
Your dad didn't cry at the end of grays anatomy.
Your dad did cry at the end of cheers.
Your dad was a homo.

Posted by: pat vipp | October 26, 2007 at 10:24 AM

Your dad's crewcut had your mother's blood in it.

Posted by: Bob | October 26, 2007 at 03:35 PM

Well, one thing's for sure: in advertising there's no such thing as negative publicity. The campaign hasn't even officially started, has it? Yet it is being blogged all over the place. They don't need to pay Playboy to run the ad, who will love it BTW, we're running it for them. The word of mouth of it will be great. The underage crowd, who are also a huge market for them, will eat this stuff up. Sure beats their pretend Russians ordering CC ad.

Will it make me buy CC? Um, no, not before and not now. Will it make me drink whisky cocktails? Um, no, not before and not now. Will it make me buy faux wood paneling for my basement? Well, actually I like faux wood paneling but that's beside the point. I don't want my old skinny leather tie back either... but it is an effective ad as it makes you think and Real Men(TM) are back for sure today. Tough is back. Will and Grace are off the air.

My real problem with the Canadian Whisky market today is that they are being rewarded for 'innovations' such as $150 no age Canadian Whisky. Crown Royal XR started it and now Wiser's Red Letter is next. I would never buy them even if they came with a coupon for fake wood paneling.

Posted by: Harry Pulley | October 27, 2007 at 07:12 PM

Ian- You have to change the zoom level to 50 or 75%.

Posted by: docholiday | October 28, 2007 at 11:41 AM

Thank you, docholiday. I found the little critter and now it works fine - you learn something new every day!
I've got real wood panelling in my study - well, traditional painted tongue and groove, but not as 'groovy' as the swinging cat in the ad.
And love that copper galleon - where can I get one of those?

Posted by: Ian Buxton | October 28, 2007 at 01:45 PM

Remember an ad is aimed at a target audience, they don't care about what anyone else outside the target audience thinks. Therefore, I think it's a successful campaign because the demographic they are aiming this campaign for is going to eat it up and love it.

Posted by: Rod | December 25, 2007 at 12:31 AM

Not sure I agree with your idea that ads like this are aimed at a target audience - as far as I can tell This ad was meant to be placed in a variety of periodicals (Not just "Guns & Ammo")

But even if it were a true statement, how can you measure the success of an ad like this? If self-proclaimed misogynists start buying more CC?

Posted by: Kevin Erskine | December 28, 2007 at 09:08 PM

Great advertising! Provocative, runs against standard PC, and brings all the 'hate-male'rs out in force! Sod 'em, I love it (but then, I liked my Dad, too).

Just needs a little more irony to be truly cool.

Posted by: Stuart Mackay (a Scot) | January 22, 2008 at 06:04 AM"

The advertising has tapped into something of a zeitgheist. Let's see what impact it has on sales and how it gets activated in bars and on the internet and outside of the USA etc.

Chile Seeds from Wahaca

When we went to Wahaca in Covent Garden we filled our pockedts with what we thought were prettily coloured boxes of matches. But joy of joys they turned out to be little cardboard sticks with chile seeds attached to them.

I didn't take a picture of the seed book from Wahaca but I have found a website called Matchstick Garden which does them. They make a great alternative for restaurants and businesses instead of making boxes of matches.



So we planted our chile seeds about 2 weeks ago in some vague hope that they might sprout. And shock of shocks... they've only gone and sprouted! Our office is rapidly developing into a tropical garden with a bird of paradise, 2 Sauza agave plants, a small succulent and 8 nubile chile plants. In only a matter of months we'll be harvesting our crop of chiles!





Well done Wahaca. What a great example of new marketing. Essentially they have given away something surprising, interesting, relevant, good and talkworthy. On object of sociability that gives Wahaca a feeling of authenticity, goodness and engagement. Keep an eye out for updates on how the little chaps are getting on.

Clue Train Manifesto

Conversations.... conversations... conversations...

Which is what Tony Blair said when he came into power in the late 90s... or was that something else?

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Sylvester Stallone at Everton

Whichever PR came up with the incredible idea of sending Sylvester Stallone to the Everton vs Reading game last Sunday deserves a medal. Sly was the main feature not only at the pretty mundane game but also on Match of the Day 2... what better way is there to tell a few million of your target market all about your film?

Very canny.

It certainly got talked about; by 30,000 people at the game, the commentators, the press and the presnters on Match of the Day 2!

Word of Mouth is king

From Buzz Canuck via Glue Planning:

Here's Buzz Canuck's top five killer bee stats:

"1) 67% of all consumer decisions are primarily influenced by word of mouth (McKinsey) - That's right - word of mouth governs 2/3rds of our economy and yet the Wall Street Journal doesn't have a page dedicated to it, I've never met a VP of Word of Mouth and I've not yet seen a marketing budget code that was labelled "word of mouth or buzz". Egads.

2) 1 out of every 7 social conversations are word of mouth based (Northeastern University) - Think for a moment from a media perspective - how valuable is a two way, in-depth, interactive medium from a trusted source which answers all your questions and validates the way you think about a product and is something we tap into 14% of the time we talk. Ching $! Ching $!

3) Only 3.4% of face to face WOM conversations are stimulated by a marketing organization's promotional efforts (Journal of Services Marketing) - It's not that it can't be done by a marketer, it's just that we refuse to heed the cardinal rules of word of mouth. Involve your consumer, don't carpet bomb everybody and their cousin, identify the right early evangelists, create a hard edge that stand out in your product, be honest...and a number of other word of mouth road signs we tend to drive past blindly as marketers.

4) 90% of customers identify word of mouth as the best, most reliable and trustworthy source about ideas and information on products and services (NOP World) - It just makes sense, we tend to believe things when we receive information from a trusted source - be that friend, family or colleague. People lay their reputations on the line when they recommend something to somebody else. The currency word of mouth is thus enhanced by its most valuable characteristic - "honesty" - which makes it the purest marketing form we have.

5) 44% of consumers claim to avoid buying products that overwhelm them with advertising/56% of people have stopped doing business with a company that doesn't respect them (Mood and Mindset Study Canada) - The consumer in 2006 has three extreme scarcities that are creating diminishing returns from mass marketing and leading to a consumer exodus - no time, no attention and no trust. Think of advertising and word of mouth as two of your best friends - who do you want to hang with - the friend who is flashy but brags to the point of lying, doesn't listen, doesn't even let you speak, interrupts what you like doing and makes you pay a lot to be with them or the friend who you trust, has the same interests, listens to your concerns, is there when you need him, introduces you to stuff that isn't widely known or available and gives just as much as she takes. Cheers to my best drinking buddy - word of mouth!"

For the whole range of stats click here.