Brand Development

I was recently at an old stately home in Hampshire and in their kitchen were a variety of old branded food items from times gone by.

I couldn’t help but notice this one for Cadbury’s and see how the brand itself is still recognisable over 50 years on!

Any good brand should stand the test of time, being developed and refreshed to remain contemporary whilst remaining recognisable. If you think your brand could use a refresh.. give Marian a call on 0161 236 5395.

Designing to sell on a large scale – Tips for marketing your property

Property agents and developers rely heavily on marketing to sell or rent their buildings (and land) and this starts from the moment the plans are drawn up and the planning application is submitted. From gaining the support of local communities through to branding the building itself, the site signage, and the glossy brochures have to sell, sell, sell.

Whether its industrial, office, retail or residential everything is aimed at achieving ROI, to fill empty properties, increase footfall and raise the sites profile for the client; You are encouraging people to part with a lot of money, so how do you ensure that your brochure / signage is marketing your property in the best possible light?

Whale have put together our top tips for marketing your property:

· Branding – Make sure you get the name right from the start and create a brand which is desirable. A good brand gives a site personality and should make people connect with it, they should feel like they could live or work there. Your brand should reflect the selling points of the site and be punchy … gaining their attention at the first hurdle.

· Design – Make your building stand out whether by its signage, the promotional emails you send out, PR, brochures and the website - appeal to your target audience. There should be a synergy running through the creative, if someone receives a brochure sees the signage and clicks on the website they know they’re in the right place.

· Copy – Be creative with your copy and link it to the branding. Build up excitement by promoting the lifestyle, the opportunities it offers and sell benefits not just features.

· Imagery – Make sure you have the best shots available of your property and take different angle shots. If you are selling off plan, creative inviting floor plans along with 3D impressions of how it will look will add to the feel of the marketing. Using aspirational people based imagery will persuade your target audience to buy into the lifestyle.

· Call to action / invitation – What do you want people to do after seeing your material? Book a visit? Request information? Come to a launch? Don’t forget to ask them!

· Contact Details – Make sure you offer various methods of contact to appeal to a larger audience, some people will just want to email for information and others will want to call and ask questions. Don’t alienate potential renters or buyers by not offering them their preferred means of contact. You can also offer the brochure to download on a website which they can get by entering contact information, this then adds to your database of potential clients to follow up with.

· Launch Events – Placing an ad can be quite expensive and not too cost effective, ask yourself, who do you want to see the ad? Gather a list, be specific, invite them to a launch event, whether its breakfast or lunch with your tailored captive audience you’ll find it will be more cost effective than an ad.

If you need help with marketing your property, we work with Peel, Knight Frank, CBRE, DTZ, Cushman & Wakefield and King Sturge so contact Marian@whalemarketing.co.uk who will be happy to speak to you about your requirements.

Product placement now live on a TV near you

Nescafé has become the first company to use new product placement regulation last week.

Nescafé created a buzz in the media (The Telegraph, BBC, Marketing Week, The Drum, Metro and How Do amongst others) by becoming the first company to take advantage of the new product placement rule.

This Morning - Via Metro - www.metro.co.uk

Ofcom agreed in December 2010 to introduce product placement, allowing brands to "paid-for placement of products, services and trade marks in TV programmes". Expecting to boost revenue further, the new rule comes in following a year-on-year decline in 2009 but a rebound in 2010 according to New Stateman.

Product placement will allow advertisers to increase their "front of mind" presence by clever positioning on targeted programmes.

Will product placement increase brand loyalty by associating and linking products to popular programmes?

Mass exposure, brand affinity, brand awareness and brand loyalty are some of the results advertisers might expect from strategic placements.

Think Coca Cola on the American Idol - Who can miss those giant size containers!

Photo from American-Idol

With a positive outlook on TV advertising spends, commercial programmes and brands will hopefully work hand in hand to feature product placements with integrity and without excess.

This is the first step towards very exciting opportunities for brands to create and develop new forms of loyalty towards their products.

The incredible shift in TV watching habits in the last few years means advertisers can tailor their advertising to very targeted audiences; mobile TV, digital recorders, TV On Demand online, You Tube brand sponsored channels and other video sharing websites to name but a few offer those facilities.

Whilst this is still in early days, the UK is offering potentially fantastic opportunities for brands - TV history in the making!