MediaCom Blink #5 - The Passion Issue

BLINK #5

#5 Media Trends Consumers Published by

MediaCom has developed nine key rules to ensure your sponsorship activity delivers business results.

the passion issue

be passionate!

(Above you have rule number seven.)

To find out what the other eight are – and to get a lot more detail on how to put the ideas into action – read our new white paper, Can Sports Sponsorship Deliver?

the Passion issue

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Visit “News & Insight” at mediacom.com to learn more or simply scan the QR code below.

Pelé

The man and the superbrand the brand olympics

London 2012 was the first social media Olympics, but how did the official sponsors fare?

mobile platforms

Why it's the best medium for passionate people

philosophy of brands

Interview with Professor of Formal Philosophy, University of Copenhagen

mass market emotions

Mass market reach or niche market richness?

Why not both?

INTRO WELCOME

Why is the greatest footballer the world has ever known on the cover of our magazine?

Let me explain.

MediaCom recently announced that it would be helping the great man establish new partnerships with brands around the world. For us, this relationship heralds an exciting evolution of both the agency and our sports division, MediaCom Sport. I was delighted to welcome Pelé to our MediaCom HQ in London a few months ago, and unsurprisingly, everyone was far more interested in Pelé than what I had to say about our expanding capabilities. But that’s alright. The continued interest in a 71-year-old man (who hasn’t played in decades) is indicative of how passionate people are about football – and about sport.

We saw that passion this past summer, as huge crowds in London came together to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympics. The optimism and fan excitement were palpable, even to TV viewers. Why? Because sport exemplifies the power of passions to ignite and excite a city, a country and the world. As consumers become increasingly critical of the hard sell, we believe that authentically leveraging consumer passions – such as sport – is a powerful way to break through.

#5 Winter 2012/2013 MediaCom Global 124 Theobalds Road London WC1X 8RX UK

Tel.: +44 (0)20 7158 5500 Email: blink.magazine@mediacom.com Web: www.mediacom.com Editor-in-Chief: Signe Wandler, MediaCom signe.wandler@mediacom.com

Design & Layout: Propellant, www.propellant.dk Art Director, Martin Dahlbeck

Cover: Tinko Czetwertynski

Printed By: Vilhelm Jensen & Partnere

And that’s another reason why Pelé is on our cover and profiled in this book (page 20): because this issue is all about passion.

We learn what it takes to become a brand that consumers are passionate about (page 6) and what happens when brands get it wrong (page 8). We explore how TV viewing has been transformed into an active, passionate experience (page 46), while we debate using passion as a new way of segmenting consumer audiences (page 44). And just to be a bit controversial, we’ve asked a Professor of Philosophy for his take on brands’ increasing responsibilities in a challenging world (page 30).

I hope this issue of BLINK helps you appreciate and think about using the power of passion, whether it be for sport, music or another consumer favourite.

As for me, I can only hope I look as good and have as much energy at 71 as Pelé. Maybe passion keeps us young.

Regards, Stephen Allan MediaCom Worldwide Chairman and CEO

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ISSN: 1903-5373 The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors.

Minor textual contents may be republished as long as the original author and publication are cited.

Find BLINK in the “News & Insight” section at www.mediacom.com

contributors

Peter Walshe

Andrew Curry

Vincent F. Hendricks

European Strategy Director, MediaCom Everyone’s passion is ultimately personal: respect that and add value to it.

Global BrandZ Director, Millward Brown Brands must understand that giving yourself away is a passion killer. “Come and get me, I’m cheap” is not reason enough. “Wow, I’m worth a try because the barrier to entry is low [good price] and your experience will convince you what a great value I am” is a much better strategy.

Director, The Futures Company People have been predicting since the invention of the World Wide Web that it will, sooner or later, get taken over by commercial interests. But fans and fandom still drive the business of the internet, not the other way around.

Philosopher and logician Philosophy is in the business of premises, reasons for conclusions and the framing of arguments. Branding is in the business of framing, so philosophy may actually inform brand efforts and ambitions.

illustration Ann Pajuväli

Matthew Mee

behind the scenes To truly understand a global icon, you need to meet him for yourself.

We talked to Pelé at the scenic Hotel Unique in São Paulo during Brazil’s long hot summer. As always, he was in a good mood and looking forward to the world’s attention turning to Brazil for the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2013 and the Summer Olympics in 2016.

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#5

Contents 06

Characteristics of a Passionate Brand

08

5 Engagements That Went Horribly Wrong

12

Mobile: Access, Participation, Social

14

Mass Market Emotions

18

The Passionate Shortcut

20

Life Lessons from an Enduring Icon

28

Infographic: Sports Sponsorship

30

The Philosophy of Brands

34

The Heart of the Matter

38

Case Study: NERF

39

Case Study: Loewe

40

M:Files: United by the Big Event

42

Building a Future Proof Mobile Strategy

44

Passionate and Precise

46

Getting Active

48

Infographic: Brand Olympics

50

Advertorial: Celebrating the World of Creativity: A Brief History of The Festival of Media

28

40 44

46 4

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06

Characteristics of A Passionate Brand

By Peter Walshe, Global BrandZ Director, Millward Brown Why should brands care about passion?

Research shows that the way consumers feel about a brand is a key indicator of sales performance.

08

5 engagements that went horribly wrong Matt Mee, Strategy Director, MediaCom EMEA It is inevitable that brands will seek to use our passions as a way to become relevant.

Sadly, too many get it wrong.

20

Life Lessons from an Enduring ICON

By Erich Beting The world’s greatest footballer talks about the influence of his father and the sporting passions that will erupt in Brazil over the next four years.

30

The Philosophy of Brands How would a philosopher approach today’s brand challenges?

Copenhagen University’s Professor of Formal Philosophy talks about brand ambition and the need for a wider agenda.

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background brands & passion

Characteristics of a Passionate Brand You might wonder why brands care about passion. Why not simply focus on sales?

The truth is that the way consumers feel about brands is a proven driver of sales.

By Peter Walshe, Global BrandZ Director, Millward Brown

One of the indicators we use at BrandZ to determine how passionate people are about a brand are the words they use to describe the brand’s personality. Choosing to describe a brand as “rebellious”, “fun” or “creative” from a medley of adjectives that also includes softer options such as “innocent”, “kind” and “friendly”, for example, is a clear indicator of the greater or lesser passion elicited by the brand.

All four areas are active, positive actions that embrace powerful and passionate descriptors of relationships with brands. We know from experience that there is a huge

Our key measure also assesses whether a brand polarises consumers. The greater the BrandZ “clarity” score, the more a brand divides opinions. It might seem counterintuitive, but polarisation is an important measure of passion; after all, products and services that are all things to all people are generally bland and less distinctive: an unhappy position, as far as brands are concerned.

disparity between brands in the degree to which these words are mentioned. This shows us that passion is not something that is just casually given, but rather something that is earned by brands that are meaningfully different and deserving of such accolades.

Four areas of passion So what exactly do consumers think about when they rate some brands more passionately than others? Our studies suggest that there are four key areas: 1. Adventurous/Rebellious 2. Desirable/Sexy 3. Playful/Fun 4. Creative

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Polarisation is an important measure of passion

As a recent publication of Millward Brown Optimor’s Top 100 Global Brands shows, there are clear frontrunners in each of these four areas: Adventurous/Rebellious: Red Bull, Nike, Apple Desirable/Sexy: L’Oréal, BMW, Apple Playful/Fun: Disney, Coca-Cola, Apple Creative: Google, Intel, Apple

Passion does not only result in sales. The brands that are the most passionately rated are also the ones that earn the most online buzz (which, in turn, feeds sales and brand value).

Is this connection surprising? I think not. The social space is where we interact freely on matters of interest, consequence

More passion equals more sales or fun. Brands that participate in this space (without disrupting or interfering with the party) are engaging freely with willing audiences.

Finally, a key learning from our studies is that low price does not buy passion. Instead, our data clearly shows that consumers with the greatest passion for a brand name price as their least powerful influence. Only those lacking a passionate relationship put price at the top.

A passionate affair 10 key rules

2012

1. A distinctive brand is more likely to attract consumer passion.

2. Passion adds value to a brand.

$511bn

3. Building a single-minded brand promise entails understanding which passion to emphasise.

4. Tone of voice is vital to underline passion in an interesting way.

5.

Media selection not only plays a part in targeting relevant consumers, but also implies the character and passionate nature of the brand.

6. Brand relationships are built on personal experience.

7. Being true to yourself as a brand is essential to a passionate experience. A brand’s entire value chain must deliver on this truth to ultimately affect customers.

Passionate users are a brand’s best advocates and should 8. be cultivated.

9. Do not worry about polarising your audience – passion is not about being all things to all people.

10. Think about the brands that inspire your own passion and consider what personal insights can be applied to your brand.

Buzz means money

value

earned buzz

$112bn

2006

Brandz BrandZ is the world’s largest brand database of consumer opinion. It includes interviews with more than two million consumers and business-to-business customers in more than 43 countries about thousands of brands. To learn more please visit www.brandz.com

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point of view 5 engagements

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engagements that went horribly wrong It is inevitable that brands will try to leverage ‘passion points’ as a way to create meaning and relevancy for brands. However, it’s not always as easy as it looks.

By Matt Mee, Strategy Director, MediaCom EMEA Illustration by Jack Hudson

At the most simplistic level, connecting with passion points is an attempt to garner attention in a time-starved world. There are, after all, a huge range of brands with similar functional and emotional benefits.

It could also be a way that brands attempt to leverage key “cultural moments” in the hope that such an attachment will become fixed in the minds of consumers.

And finally – at its most sophisticated – this drive for connection can also be a search for values that can be profitably transferred from a cultural entity to a brand.

Sometimes all three factors propel brands in their push to become part of the cultural conversation.

But if it’s clear what brands get out of it, a successful positioning must deliver a value exchange that works for all the parties involved: the brand, the property and the people.

There is a détente that has to be observed in order for everyone to come out ahead. It is a delicate balance that brands get wrong entirely too often.

In fact – like any unwelcome party guest – such mistakes can be classified into one of five categories.

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point of view 5 engagements

The overbearing bore We have all met them. You and your friends are having a great time when a loudmouth barges in on the conversation and won’t stop talking about himself. Everyone makes a mental commitment to escape at the first opportunity, and the host is criticised for his poor handling of the guest list.

In the UK, the Premier League’s Newcastle United has played at its stadium, St James’ Park, since 1892. For the people of Newcastle, the club and the stadium were irrevocably connected. It’s understandable, then, that the re-naming of the ground to the “Sports Direct Arena” did the brand no favours.

The tight-fisted party-goer If someone is kind enough to invite you to a party, the unspoken rule is that you bring a gift (a bottle, a box of chocolates) that helps everyone have a good time and feel appreciated.

The Olympics is an inclusive celebration of sport that should inspire and unite visitors from around the world, but Visa’s contribution to this party was to prevent fans from buying tickets or using ATMs unless they used a Visa card.

The company suggested that “the easiest way to obtain a Visa card is to contact your existing bank… Alternately, anyone can purchase a Visa prepaid card from a Visa card issuer, which can be used immediately. Please visit the Visa website for details.”

I hope that this was effective at driving down their cost per acquisition, but what it didn’t do is deliver the desired “sweet spot”: a positive value exchange with the fans.

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The one night stand It all seemed to be going so well. You met, found that you had quite a bit in common, spent a little quality time together and then… nothing. S/he didn’t call.

Here’s a little test for UK readers: who sponsored the FA Cup before Budweiser? Who has taken over the League Cup? In other markets, simply change the name of the competitions and ask yourself the same questions.

Building connectivity with consumers requires long-term commitment.

The naif You like fancy dress and your more glamorous friends said it was going to be a fun party. You arrive and discover that everyone else is dressed in rubber. You make your excuses and leave.

The problem with popular culture is that it can be unpredictable, which causes huge problems for brand management. Whether it’s Tiger Woods or Kate Moss, brands need to be comfortable with not only the opportunity, but also the risks of working with figures and topics in popular culture.

Although Cristal Champagne saw sales shoot through the roof because of its association with hip hop aristocracy, the CEO’s comment that he regarded the phenomenon with “curiosity” led to a high-profile lambasting by Jay-Z. Know the rules before you decide to play.

The Disco-Dancing Dad After alcohol has set to work on your initial party inhibitions, you decide to take to the dance floor and “bust some moves”. A close friend eventually points out that the other party-goers are regarding you with incredulity rather than admiration.

Electrolux may have worked hard to activate its sponsorship of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, but the response from most observers was “?”. The fit between the world’s most glamorous film awards and the global white goods giant may have been a bridge too far.

The opposite faux pas is being over-dressed for an event.

Teaming Elizabeth Hurley and beef jerky – even if it’s organic – is another partnership that simply doesn’t fit (yes, this really happened).

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background MOBILE

MOBILE ACCESS PARTICIPATION SOCIAL Access, participation and social are core attributes that enable mobile to enhance or tap into consumer passions.

By Stefan Bardega, Managing Partner, MediaCom

ACCESS

People who are passionate about a sport, band, game or film want access to the latest information or content 24/7. The smartphone offers this exact kind of constant connectivity: it’s the last thing switched off at night, the first thing checked in the morning and it is rarely more than two feet away from the owner.

British broadcaster Sky has been a pioneer in this area with the launch of its Sky Go mobile app, enabling fans to watch sport live on their mobile devices. For the launch of the Sky Go app, MediaCom targeted sports fans using geo-targeted mobile messages to tap into fan interests when they are at their height: during the games themselves. The ability to access exclusive content at the exact “moment of passion” prompted five million streams among consumers in the first three weeks at launch.

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40%

PARTICIPATION

The mobile platform offers a way to motivate deeper, more immersive consumer participation by virtue of its ever increasing and often unique technological attributes.

The features built into smartphones today includes location detection, image and video capture/distribution, social media integration, audio playback, voice recognition/control and near field communication (NFC), to name just a few. All of these services mean that participation can be not only more immediate, but also multi-sensory, resulting in a more rewarding fan experience.

of consumers at concerts use Facebook to share their experiences.

Source: Live Nation

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 56% of people watching the Super Bowl in the U.S. this year planned to use mobile during the game to access game stats, find information within Super Bowl apps, post game-related social media updates and photos and discuss the event live with other fans.

photography Thomas Hawk

won't leave home without their smart phone.

Source: Our mobile planet

SOCIAL

Think about consumer passion as glue. Today, people who attend concerts, football matches or conferences connect for a short period of time, thanks to temporary geographic proximity and shared interests with other like-minded people.

But in the future, mobile will generate connectivity long before and after events using social capabilities to connect people in the digital social space. Companies such as Zappacosta are developing smart mobile solutions that connect event wristband passes to your social profiles. Each time you enter an event or pass a kiosk, the wristband triggers an automatic message or photo push to your social profile, seamlessly connecting the real and digital worlds via mobile.

Some believe that this kind of application underpins a consumer “interest graph” (as opposed to “social graph”), but we think it’s going to produce something more akin to a “passion graph”, with mobile at the core.

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background business models

MASS MARKET EMOTIONS Businesses no longer have to choose between mass market reach and niche market richness. They can have both, argues Andrew Curry.

By Andrew Curry, Director, The Futures Company

In the past, organisations that followed people’s passions were considered “niche”. Some weren’t organisations at all, really, but groups of fans and hobbyists doing some trading on the side. The Internet has changed this entire dynamic. Instead of having to choose between “mass” and “niche”, passion now has mass market potential.

a far larger museum today, with a far larger and more engaged audience. Similarly, the Internet enables businesses to reach passionate consumers far more easily: such brands are “pulled” into the conversation by consumers in communities of interest, rather than having to “push” themselves using conventional marketing.

That’s what Philip Evans and Thomas Wurster argue, anyway.

So how do we understand this in terms of proposition?

One tool is a simple model that explores levels of engagement by provider and by customer.

Originally created by The Futures Company for a report published by Coca-Cola, the model indicates low engagement on the part of both supplier and customer in the bottom left. This is a passion-free zone, occupied by retailers such as Poundland in the UK and other budget stores focused on piling high and selling cheap.

Passion is about experience, knowledge, and connoiseurship, and there are strong consumer trends which suggest these are all on the rise. One thinks of the professionalisation of the consumer world. It is no longer enough to be an expert cook; one needs to have the same knives a professional chef expects to find in the restaurant kitchen. Or consider the average cyclist, now following a professional training programme, recording training sessions via a heart monitor and uploading the data for analysis when he gets home.

In many previously high-investment areas (think of music editing, video production), the cost of the technology needed for a professional-looking job has plummeted. The knowledge and tailoring that true expertise required used to limit reach. No more.

The knowledgeable fan or enthusiast is the curator of

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The bottom right sees low engagement by the customer, but not by the provider. This is a zone of necessary but lowinterest goods, provided by relatively high-engagement providers. One thinks of a supermarket such as Carrefour, for example, whose proposition is underpinned by hugely complex logistics upon which the shopper must rely.

The passion in this quadrant usually lives behind the scenes, though it sometimes surfaces in positioning

high

curators

friends

customer engagement

high

low supplier engagement

transactors

paddlers low

statements (e.g., “passionate about the freshest cauliflower”) that seem like a good idea but largely pass consumers by.

The top two zones are more interesting. The top right is the expected area for the passion-filled “rich” proposition, in which high-engagement providers and high-engagement customers meet in a passionate embrace. The Body Shop, L’Occitane and Innocent fruit smoothies live in this category. Operating successfully in this space is expensive, but offers premium returns.

been colonised by enthusiasts, and it has encouraged this colonisation in the same way a gardener might design an area knowing that it will attract bees or butterflies.

Likewise, eBay created a market where none existed before: the online equivalent of the yard sale and the flea market.

In categories that have not been so easily leveraged, there is an opportunity for retailers beached by the Internet. Fans love access. And while every music shop

The internet builds opportunities for businesses able to speak the same language as fans and enthusiasts to reach them far more easily.

In the top left hand zone we see a passion sleight of hand. Customers are engaged, but suppliers are not.

This is the space in which online providers leverage enthusiastic communities to break the dilemma of reach and richness, offering depth and scale. An example in this category is Amazon, which first selected books not out of passion, but because they were the simplest products to source, store and ship. What Amazon has done brilliantly, however, is to build a space that has

can’t have the enthusiasm of London’s iconic Rough Trade, the high street or main street retailer can break out of the mindset of logistics and stock management by moving online. Curators can thrive here, linking the knowledge and commitment that exist in both the physical and digital worlds.

Source: 1Philip Evans and Thomas Wurster (1999), Blown to Bits.

Harvard Business School Press.

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ARE YOU CONNECTED? TV is changing.

It’s no longer just about what’s broadcast on TV – increasingly, it’s about the content consumers select.

Sometimes dubbed Connected TV or Smart TV, the new world of TV allows viewers to plug – literally or wirelessly – their new set into the Internet. It will radically change the way consumers use their TV and creates both opportunities and challenges for advertisers.

MediaCom Beyond Advertising has created a short film explaining how Connected TV will allow brands to enhance the effectiveness of their branded content, create new distribution channels and develop true targeted advertising.

Scan the QR Code below to view the film or go to www.mediacom.com/mediasimplified.

Let our experts help your brands navigate the Connected TV future.

Global: paul.chard@mediacom.com APAC: angela.rapley@mediacom.com EMEA: james.morris@mediacom.com North America: adam.pincus@mediacom.com

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point of view sponsorship

The passionate shortcut By contributing to big sporting events, brands can endear themselves to fans, says Rory Maxwell.

By Rory Maxwell, MediaCom Sport

The ambition of many sponsors is to create an emotional connection with their target audiences via a shared passion.

Whether it be sport, music, art, fashion or causes, such shared interests is often an important part of consumers’ lives: something in which an individual invests time, money and emotional energy.

Brands that can contribute to the way people enjoy their passions are in a strong position to secure positive sentiment amongst consumers. Research shows that audiences will be more receptive to brand messages from and more likely to think positively about a brand associated with their passions: especially those brands that can actively enhance the experience.

Sponsorship is unique Though elusive, brands continue to seek this magic point of engagement, given that an emotional connection is more likely to break through over more intrusive – or, conversely, passive – forms of advertising.

Sponsorship marketing is unique, because it can be targeted to a specific community and deliver flexible assets that allow

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brands to create a dialogue with that target audience. Implemented correctly, sponsorship can deliver a credible and authentic message across all of the channels in which a passionate consumer engages. Those that do it well can endear themselves emotionally to that audience.

Sponsorship assets can be used not only to deliver brand awareness, but also

and consistent brand values will help create the desired connection with consumers.

Sponsorship has power across sectors By sponsoring teams or events, a brand can tap into the passion felt by their fans and, in turn, create passion for its own brand.

As a fan’s relationship with, for example, a sports team develops and deepens, so

The strength of sponsorship is underlined by the fact that it is widely used by brands in low interest consumer categories. consumer-facing experiential events, product integration initiatives, point-ofsale promotions, hospitality experiences, CSR initiatives and digital content platforms.

All these assets allow brands to deliver enhanced experiences and tangible value or benefits to the fan.

But successful sponsorship requires sound business planning and clear objectives. A clear vision, thoughtful creative execution

will their feelings toward those companies associated with the team over the long term.

Sponsorship hasn’t always been given the credit it deserves, but its power is now clearly recognised.

One of those who changed his point of view is David Wheldon, now Global Director of Brand at Vodafone Group. “I certainly spent the 1980s thinking sponsorship was a waste of money – a chairman’s indulgence

'Best Job' P&G London 2012 Olympic Games Film

incapable of driving brand engagement, brand equity or any of the other advantages I now know sponsorship can deliver. I’m a total convert to sponsorship as a marketing platform,” says Wheldon.

Brands that have long known about the power of sponsorship include Red Bull. The brand’s strategy has been to support and create extreme sports and lifestyle activities that connect with its brand values of revitalising body and mind and increasing performance, concentration and energy levels. The brand has created an avid fan community around this lifestyle by sharing unique content with a huge, passionate audience.

In much the same way, Coca-Cola’s World Cup sponsorship single-mindedly focused on football’s moment of greatest emotion: the goal. Whether reminiscing about the greatest celebrations in World Cup history, recording a World Cup celebration song or touring the FIFA World Cup around the globe, the company has fuelled fan emotion.

It’s easy to argue that Red Bull and Coke are sexy brands, but the power of sponsorship is also used by numerous brands in low-interest consumer categories.

Take npower’s sponsorship of the English Football League – the leagues below the Premiership – and E.ON's role as a former sponsorship of the FA Cup. Both energy companies are not only using sponsorship to establish brand visibility, but to drive a greater emotional relationship with their Premiership by bringing the fans closer to the competitions that matter to them.

London games, illustrates the power that the company feels a movement like the Olympics can bring to its brands, many of which could be classified as low-interest FMCG products.

In particular, P&G has used the Olympic spirit to tell a moving story aimed at engaging a powerful audience: mums of Olympic athletes.

“You can’t manufacture emotion. It’s already there. When you find it, just find a way to trigger it: tap into it, fuel it and watch it grow into something remarkable".

Mark Harrison, Chair of the Canadian Sponsorship Forum The insurance sector has also been a strong player in the sponsorship industry for the same reason: to drive more brand loyalty and advocacy amongst customers by communicating with them via the emotive environment of sport.

Perhaps the case for sponsorship is best made by those who seek to undermine it.

Many brands try to ride on the coattails of official sponsors with ambush techniques: if sponsorship was ineffective, would these brands work so hard to replicate sponsorship’s effects?

On an even more high-profile level, P&G's global Olympic Sponsorship as an IOC partner, which commenced with the 2012

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story Life lessons

Life lessons from an enduring icon

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story Life lessons

Life lessons from an enduring icon While most ageing icons eventually fade from view, Pelé remains at the centre of it all: an influential, universally recognised and respected personality around the world.

How has this enduring legend thrived in today’s “I want it now” culture, and what can marketers learn from him?

By Erich Beting Photography by Tinko Czetwertynski

The closing ceremony of the London Olympic Games featured an unmistakably Brazilian twist. To mark the symbolic passing of the Games from London 2012 to Rio 2016, the stage was suddenly awash with vibrant colour, spectacular dancers and pounding samba drums.

And while that was enough to get the sell-out crowd whooping with excitement, it was the emergence of a certain 71-year-old man that truly sent the 80,000 in the stands into a frenzy.

That’s because the 71-year-old in question was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, Brazil’s favourite son and the “King of Soccer”. Even the least ardent football fan can understand the scale of Pelé’s accomplishments: the youngest-ever winner of a World Cup, the only player to win the trophy three times and the only footballer to score more than 1,200 professional goals. FIFA has named him Footballer of the Century, and he is the International Olympic Committee’s Athlete of the Century.

Pelé is a rare breed: one of the world’s last living icons whose timeless story still inspires people across the globe. Fifty-four years after helping Brazil win the World Cup, he’s still able to draw crowds of screaming fans and pick up honorary degrees from universities he’s never attended: mostly for what he’s doing today, not his past achievements.

Not bad for a commercial superstar whose family was so poor that – as a child – he had

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to play football with a ball of bundled socks and string.

When the BLINK team met Pelé at the Hotel Unique in São Paulo, it became clear that passion is the key to his enduring appeal. We asked him to share his advice on staying relevant at a time when attention is short-lived and fads are abundant.

Lesson #1: Be kind and respect everyone

When you meet him in person, the one thing that stands out about Pelé is his star power. But despite being a sporting legend for more than half a century, the man is also remarkably humble, emanating an easy-going charm and openness that puts everyone around him at ease.

As a child, Pelé found joy and escape in football and became dedicated to the game. As he grew older, he was the one who practiced while others went to the beach.

“Since I was young, I knew that I needed to stay in good shape to be a good player,” he says.

Pelé credits his father as being a big influence on his approach to the game, making sure the young player combined his competitiveness and excellence with compassion.

"I used to play football with the kids on the street, and my father used to watch. Once, I played some tricks on some kids, and my father told me, 'Listen, this is not good. The gift you have to play football is a gift from

Sporting Legend, Cultural Icon & Passionate Humanitarian Indeed, before we start our interview, Pelé is more than happy to chat with our crew about the teams they support and ask for their thoughts on the latest developments in international football.

God. Don't tease the kids. You must teach and help them. You won't become anything if you are not a nice person'".

Lesson #2: Don’t think you’re the best

He is also keen to be part of the group.

Upon seeing the huge throne that we had prepared, he quietly asks: “Do you have a smaller chair? Because this one is too big…”

Pelé’s attitude toward his gift, his teammates and even members of competing teams quickly won him lifetime fans around the world.

Pelé knows how far a throne is from his impoverished beginnings in the district of Três Corações, Brazil.

Football, he argues, is a global game because it can be played by anyone. “What makes football so special”? he asks. “It is

Why Pelé? Why now?

Pelé is the most famous and most successful footballer of all time. His skills have amazed the world, his story has inspired generations and his fame transcends cultures.

But Pelé is more than just an incredible footballer; he is also a humanitarian and an icon of cool. He is an exemplary spokesperson for Brazil, a role model for kids and a tireless social campaigner. He has the kind of wide-ranging appeal that few can touch.

Now, when all eyes are turning to Brazil – the world’s sixth largest economy and host of the Confederations Cup in 2013, the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 – Pelé is more relevant than ever. As brands look for ways to activate sponsorship deals in the lead up to this busy time, it’s difficult to think of a better spokesperson.

MediaCom its

Sport

partnership

is with

proud

to

Legends

announce 10,

Pelé’s

exclusive global agent. This partnership offers MediaCom’s new and current clients exclusive access to a legendary, global superstar and – most importantly – a unique opportunity to enhance future marketing strategies.

Marcus John Global Head of MediaCom Sport

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story Life lessons

a pastime for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are small, strong, fat – everyone can play football. You have the pros, but it’s a game everyone can play.”

Pelé was intensely aware of this, and worked on his fitness when many others thought he would ride on his glory. “That’s another lesson that I learned from my father. God gave me the gift to play good football, but if I’m not in good shape, I will fail,” he says.

Pelé continues to apply this philosophy in his business dealings today. “You can use this for sport or for business; I think it’s the same. First of all, respect people. Secondly,

"I always think that, if I stay as an example to young people, that will be good. A lot of players think only about how they can make money right now. I think that this is my example, to encourage the next generation."

Lesson #4: Remember where you came from

Even while playing professionally, Pelé used his celebrity to draw attention to global issues, keeping his focus on those efforts that could affect real change. As an active player for Brazil’s professional team, Santos Futebol Club, his star appeal was so powerful that it triggered a two-day truce in Nigeria’s civil war. Fighters on

In 1967, both sides of Nigeria’s civil war declared a two-day truce so they could watch him play in Lagos don’t think you are the best, because if you do, then you start to lose. This is the same for any condition, any profession,” he says.

both sides agreed that there was nothing more important than watching Pelé play in Lagos.

Lesson #3: Keep a clear eye on what you really care about

Today, Pelé tirelessly directs his passion to charity work, inspiring others by demonstrating the power of individual potential and displaying an infectious optimism.

By the 1970s, Pelé was officially retired and thought he’d stay that way. Then he got an offer he couldn’t refuse: come back to help get football noticed in the U.S. To Pelé, this wasn’t about playing again – it was about his tremendous desire to bring more young people to football.

Having never played football outside Brazil in his entire life, Pelé signed with the New York Cosmos in 1975 and helped raise the game’s profile in a country where it had previously been all but ignored.

Fundamentally, the secret of Pelé’s long success on and off the pitch has been to make choices based on what he believes is truly important. Indeed, conscious of his position as a role model, Pelé looks for commercial opportunities that allow him to engage younger generations.

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Pelé was appointed as UN ambassador for ecology and the environment in 1992 and has worked as a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador since 1995. He also helped pass legislation in Brazil, intended to reduce corruption in Brazilian football. The law became known as “Pelé Law”. Earlier this year, British Prime Minister David Cameron asked him to help promote the international campaign, Race Against Hunger.

Pelé is equally passionate about promoting his home country at a time when it will soon host the biggest sporting events on earth: the Confederations Cup in 2013, the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016.

"I worked for the World Cup Committee in 1994, 2002 and 2010 in other countries.

Now, it is time to do something for my country – I have to do something! These events are very important for the country.

The next four years will be important in changing people's perception of Brazil."

Pelé’s work will focus on promoting what Brazil, the world’s sixth largest economy, can achieve. "Brazil was always the best on the field, but now we must show that we are also the best off the field ," he says.

Lesson #5: Do good now. don’t be satisfied with past achievements

Certainly the next few years will create a vibrant legacy for Brazil, but – for Pelé – the future is about what he can do now. He explains clearly that he would prefer to be remembered for his role in changing lives, not just for his sporting achievements.

“The future is now. What you do now for the future is the best thing,” he says.

“Remember me not as a great player but as a human being and for what I have tried to do for future generations.”

After our interview, Pelé thanked everyone for their time, making a point of shaking hands with everyone in the room. It’s only a small gesture, but one that sums up the man perfectly.

For all the cups and medals he has won on the football pitch, Pelé is still the kid who grew up in Três Corações, playing with a ball made of bundled socks tied with string.

Pelé in his own words

me not as a great player but as a human

On modesty

being and for what I have tried to do for

"I used to play football with the kids on

future generations.”

On the wide appeal of football

the street, and my father used to watch.

Once, I played some tricks on some

“[It] is a pastime for everyone. It doesn’t

On Brazil

kids, and my father told me, 'Listen, this

matter if you are small, strong, fat –

"I want to help my country off the field.

is not good. The gift you have to play

everyone can play football. You have the

I worked for the World Cup Committee

football is a gift from God. Don't tease

pros but it’s a game everyone can play.”

in 1994, 2002 and 2010. Now it will be

the kids. You must teach and help them.

in my country – I have to do something.

You won't become anything if you are

On celebrity and hubris

We take this very seriously and have to

not a nice person.'"

“The future is now. What you do now for

work very hard to deliver."

the future is the best thing. Remember

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story Life lessons

Becomes the youngest ever World Cup winner at age 17

Born in Três Corações, Brazil

1940

26

Helps Brazil win their second World Cup

1958 Declared a "non-exportable national treasure" by the Brazilian government

1956

1961

Scores his 1,000th goal

1969

Receives the International Peace Award

1975

1970

1962

oins the football J club Santos, becomimg the youngest player to join Brazil’s First Division and the league's top scorer

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Helps Brazil win their third World Cup

Emerges from retirement to play for the New York Cosmos in the NASL (North American Soccer League)

1978

Plays final game for Santos

Plays his final career match on 1 October at Giants Stadium in NYC

1972

1977

Represented Brazil in Olympics closing ceremonies and welcomes the world to Rio 2016 L'Equipe names him Athlete of the Century

Named Extraordinary Minister for Sports, Brazil

1981

1995

Appointed UN Ambassador for ecology and the environment

1992

Awarded Brazil’s Gold Medal for outstanding services to sport

Named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and Reuters News Agency

1995

Receives lifetime achievement award from the BBC

1999

Awarded an honorary degree from University of Edinburgh

2005

2012

Appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

Receives honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Received honour of FIFA Player of the Century (shared with Maradona)

Named Brazil Ambassador for 2014 World Cup

1995

1997

2000

2011

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27

L

WOR

IDE

S

PE

Sponsored industries

DW

rship so n ND

f spo o e

e valu h t

infographic sponsorship 2010

$46.3 Bn

HIGHEST PAID ATHLETES, 2011

beer 98 deals with a value of $1 BN

kobe bryant

LeBron james

53M

48M

Clothing 98 deals with a value of $1.568 BN

Deals by category

automotive

(% of reported deals) or ts

MEDIACOM - BLINK #5

%

na

ts

3% ri

gh

re

er

h ot

2%

5%

28

g

in

m

84

sp

6%

br oa dc a st

108 deals with a value of $718 million

&

lt u

Telecom

a

s rt

cu

194 deals with a value of $958 million

most SPONSORED

MOST IMORTANT FACTORS WHEN CHOOSING PARTICULAR SPORTS PROPERTIES

SPORTS

1

soccer

2

american football

Connection with athletes

Online reach

Global reach

CSR/Community reach

3

27%

27%

formula 1

38%

North Latin America Europe America

9%

Asia Pacific

other

Sources: Forbes.com, Sports Business – 2012 Sponsor’s Survey, TWSM 2010 Annual review / IFM Sports Marketing Surveys, TWSM 2012, IEG Sponsorship Report, 4 Jan 2011

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Q&A brand Philosophy

30

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The Philosophy of Brands How would a philosopher deal with the brand challenges that marketers face every day? Matt Mee, European Strategy Director at MediaCom asks Vincent F. Hendricks, Professor of Formal Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, about brand ambition and the need for a broader agenda.

By Matthew Mee, Strategy Director, MediaCom EMEA Illustration by Adam Hayes

Matt Mee: What does a brand mean to a philosopher?

lifestyle. And that goes for many other well-established brands, as well.

Vincent Hendricks: To me, brands are signal exchanges between a company and a designated part of the public.

No brand wants to come across as being unattractive. So you tell a story, establish a narrative and frame a message in such a way that you hope has public appeal.

Basically, branding is a signaling game; if you use a Mac, you are creative, successful and a free thinker; if you drive a luxury auto, you are successful in business and perhaps in your personal life, and so on.

These signals can be very strong. What Apple is also selling is a lifestyle, or the impression of a particular kind of

unique, fulfilling their own individually defined goals, being attractive and interesting, etc., and social media comes in handy for boosting these kind of signals.

Matt: So while social media lets us pretend that we’re all individuals, the role of brands as social currency undermines that?

But at the same time, everybody is subscribing to or converging on the same values. We have never been so alike in our actions and decisions. Everybody wants a Burberry, Mac or a Gaggenau kitchen.

But why?

Vincent: People seem more narcissistic now than they ever were, and social media plays a crucial role here. Everybody wants to present themselves as being original,

It all comes back to the signaling game.

If success is presumed to be expressed by buying a new car, then in order for me to show everyone that I am successful, I have

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31

to acquire the signal itself. It’s like with currency: I only accept the currency that everyone else has agreed upon and accepts.

It’s unequivocally demonstrating my success, so everybody feels uniquely successful, and yet everybody is the same because that’s how the signaling game works. Brands are in the business of signaling success.

Matt: So a successful brand is one that attempts to emulate or deliver those signals, to the point where it becomes a kind of societal norm?

Vincent: That’s right, but many brands don’t quite get that far. For the ones who do, the signal value is massive.

Matt: At the crux of what you’re saying is that brands need to create signaling effects. How do they do that?

Vincent: The majority of firms are in the business of making money. That’s fine, but I would like companies to be more ambitious than that. They need to support things that are important to society, like properly formatted and presented information: information that could be used for decision-making.

The financial crisis has shown us that when people get the wrong kind of information, they may make terrible decisions, get caught in bubbles, lemming effects, echo-chambers and so forth.

Brands need more ambitious agendas that we value in this world. Wouldn’t it be something to see a fragrance brand sponsor peacekeeping missions in the Middle East? A global societal ambition for an otherwise vanity-driven business: now that’s novel and innovative!

Long-term commitment needed Matt: How can this happen in a world in which corporations are becoming increasingly short-term in terms of their outlook?

Vincent: Substantial ideologies are never implemented overnight. You have

Vincent F. Hendricks Vincent F. Hendricks is Professor of Formal Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Elite Researcher of the Danish State. He is the author of many books, among them Mainstream and Formal Epistemology (Cambridge University Press 2007), Thought2Talk (Automatic Press/VIP 2007) and The Convergence of Scientific Knowledge (Springer 2001).

He is also the author and editor of numerous other papers and books, and is Editor-in-Chief of Synthese and Synthese Library.

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MEDIACOM - BLINK #5

Q&A brand Philosophy

to change people’s mindsets, you probably have to change some of their value set, outlook, perception, incentives and so on.

There are many preconditions to making such a change work, but it’s not impossible.

Most branding needs to be short-term: you want to get people right here and right now, but that need mustn’t preclude longerterm ambitions.

There’s a sort of prisoner’s dilemma with these things: if everybody is out to maximise utility for themselves, then everyone may experience a suboptimal outcome. No country in the world is going to be able to solve the climate crisis alone.

No country in the world is going to be

able to solve the financial crisis alone.

No company can make a global social difference alone. These fundamental problems can only be solved if we all move and work together.

Obviously, there has been a lot of conversation about the duties of commercial organisations to pursue an agenda of positive social consequence, and the need for their foundations to be moral or ethically correct. But corporate social responsibility should not merely be a point on the company agenda – it has to be an ambitious societal agenda.

Matt: Ultimately, what you’re saying is that too many brands have been pushing the status quo in the short-term, without really looking at what’s coming around the corner or acknowledging problems that require long-term collective action.

Vincent: Each behaves as if it’s the maintenance guy, which is fine. But maintenance does not mean progression for the better: maintenance means maintenance. If your brand wants to be more influential, you need to have an ambition worth something. That’s innovative. Ambitious brands produce what consumers don’t expect, not just more of what they do.

Matthew Mee Matthew Mee is Head of Freshness and Strategy for MediaCom EMEA. He is a sought after global speaker, and has written numerous articles including “The Age of Dialogue”. Matt is based in London and holds a degree in English literature and drama.

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point of view great cases

Beats by Dr. Dre has extended Interscope Records and Dr. Dre’s relationship with the fans.

The heart of the matter There are lessons to be learned from brands that have looked to entertain.

Kate Rowlinson highlights campaigns that have embraced consumer passions.

By Kate Rowlinson, New Business and Marketing Director, MediaCom EMEA

“‘Hey man, my lawyer wants me to sell sneakers,” and I looked at him straight and I said to him, ‘F--- sneakers, let’s sell speakers,’ and he said, ‘Oh man, that sounds right.’”

relationship consumers have with both of them. Beats by Dr. Dre on Facebook has 2.8 million likes and 118,306 people are talking about it right now.

This was an exchange between Dr. Dre and his business partner and CEO of Interscope Records, Jimmy Iovine. The exchange led to the creation of Beats by Dr. Dre – audio equipment for the hip hop connoisseur.

Beats creates products which allow the music aficionado to listen to music as the artist intended: products that afford the discerning listener – the “real” fan – access to the nuances of recorded music: the studio licks and tricks that go unnoticed with lesser equipment.

It may be easy to drive a deeper connection with music fans when you’re already in the music business, but Dre has tapped into an audience far beyond his own fan base, and Universal, Interscope’s parent, is reaping the rewards, the acclaim and the credibility.

This verbal exchange between Dre and Iovine took seconds. The company now claims revenues in excess of $500m.

As examples of tapping into passion points go, this is a pretty good one. A record company executive and an artist create a product line which extends and deepens the

34

MEDIACOM - BLINK #5

Beats by Dr. Dre is one small part of the bigger journey that has transformed Universal Music from a “record company” to a “music company”: a transition that is in full swing. In 2001, record sales accounted for almost 100% of Universal’s business.

In 2011, a growing and meaningful percentage of income comes from ancillary, non-recorded music revenue streams, with most artist deals now including some additional rights. Not bad for a company and industry allegedly unable to adapt.

And as a passion point of choice for brands, sport and music tend to top the bill – sport actually accounts for 87% of global sponsorship deals, according to a recent TWSM report. Not surprising when you consider that sport and music offer up two of the most emotional experiences you can have as a human being, be it as a participant or spectator. At the recent Cannes Lions festival, there was an array of award entries from brands forging links with both sport and music. In fact, there was a whole sub-category devoted to the “best use or integration of music”.

Does it sell?

ASOS has tapped into the current passion for street dance, its insight being that young guys take their style cues from this scene rather than “fashion” experts. It produced a film in which amazing dancers performed wearing ASOS clothes: the neat trick being that you could click and order the clothes directly from the video.

Hyundai did something entirely different with music in scale and ambition. Project Re:generation is a bold undertaking from Hyundai in the US for its Veloster model.

The Veloster is on a mission to target the “creative class”. It’s not entirely clear why this car will appeal to the creative class (I always thought they liked vintage Mercedes…), but it might be something to do with its hybrid ability to combine the “style of a coupe with the functionality of a hatchback”.

Hyundai invited five famous DJs, one of whom was Mark Ronson, to recreate and reimagine five traditional styles of music, from classical to New Orleans Jazz. This resulted in a feature-length documentary that premiered at the SXSW Film Festival.

Hyundai also secured a partnership with the Grammys, an endorsement in Rolling Stone and live performances on Letterman and a raft of other chat shows and, ultimately, at Coachella. So far, so credible. In terms of an entertainment property which spoke to and earned the admiration of hardcore music fans, Project Re:generation was an unmitigated success. According to its creators, the film will earn $130m dollars in advertising inventory alone from broadcast and digital streaming.

Absent from the conversation, the promotional literature and the award entry, however, is any mention of Veloster sales. Did the huge effort drive business for Hyundai? The lesson from Project Re:generation must surely be the importance of ensuring that your passionfocused efforts sell stuff.

Be brave. Aim high!

The sport association that stuck out for me at Cannes was the South African Breweries Grand Prix winner, showcasing how Carling Black Label persuaded South African football to agree to let fans create and manage its professional teams via Facebook. Ridiculously brave in its scope, this partnership saw football fans deciding on the team roster and voting for live substitutions via their mobile phones during the game. More than 10.5 million votes were submitted. The message from Carling Black Label is: be brave, aim high!

Deep Consumer Insight

Let one passion drive another

Majestic Wine, the UK wine retailer, wanted to position itself to a broad audience as an accessible, unintimidating purveyor of wines. But how would it do this on a relatively low budget and in the most impactful and meaningful way?

Lauren Luke famously built a business and career by posting “how to” make-up videos on YouTube. Part of the genius behind Lauren’s posts was that she targeted her audience’s passions and interests in order to maximise viewing levels. If she knew that teens would be searching for the latest Britney Spears video, she would do a “Britney” look and tag her films so they turned up in searches for Britney.

MediaCom unearthed a deep consumer insight that conversations about wine tend to start with food. This consumer truth led to the development of the “Perfect Pairings” strategy, which provided Majestic Wine suggestions alongside recipes, food articles

and programmes at a time when consumers are thinking about their favourite food or planning a meal.

This association has been successful for a client relatively new to above-the-line advertising, with consumer research showing uplifts in spontaneous brand awareness and well above-average responses on key brand metrics such as “good at recommending the right wine for you”.

There is some extraordinarily good work going on across the globe right now, which roots brands firmly in the arena of people’s loves and passions. It’s fair to say, though, that there is a major congregation around two big passion points and – with 87% of global spend in sport – this comes with a hefty price tag. So what of other passions and ways into them?

Targeting people by their interests is nothing new, but data and the Internet will

increasingly allow us to target big, expensive passion points through cheaper ones, a bit like Lauren did. Converse recently targeted teenage boys super cheaply by paying very little money for hugely voluminous search terms such as “how to kiss a girl”.

The searches led to mini-Converse content initiatives, hence using one passion to drive to another.

Whatever a brand does around a passion point, some simple truths remain:

1. Make sure it sells stuff 2. Be brave, aim high and 3. Make sure there is real consumer insight at the heart of it.

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SS: Let me mention this term you’ve coined– this idea of “Brandwashed”.

It seems to me that you’ve devoted a considerable portion of your life to helping the consumer become Brandwashed - steeped in brands from the earliest age – even from in the womb you suggest – are you in some senses now feeling guilty about the world you’ve helped to create?

Martin Lindstrom HARDtalk is the flagship programme on BBC World News that asks the difficult questions. In this special series of interviews for Blink, Stephen Sackur, one of the BBC’s most respected journalists, adapts the same uncompromising style with moguls and figureheads shaping the worlds of advertising, sales and media. This issue, Stephen goes head to head with Martin Lindstrom a brand marketing consultant and the author of Buyology and Brandwashed. He is the founding partner and chairman of the board of Buyology Inc, a strategic marketing company, and director of the London-based BRAND Sense Agency.

ML: Yes. I think it comes back to the fact that I’m just as much of a consumer as a marketing guy. And I love to build brands – I find it fascinating. And in many cases I think it can be incredibly rewarding, not just money wise but rewarding in the sense of giving people a sense of choice and credibility.

But the reality is, that in the world now where companies are desperate to increase share prices and sell even more, they become too desperate.

The reason why I wanted to write Brandwashed was mainly to say to them – fine, we all love brands but you go too far right now and you forget that at the end of the day you are consumers too and that means that whatever you do to consumers, you are actually hurting yourself as an individual as well. So mainly what I’m trying to say in this book is to get companies to wake up and start to realise that if they go too far now, the consequences could be so dramatic that it could tear down their brand. So they have a period of time now where they have to get their house in order, in terms of their ethical code and in terms of privacy. A lot of companies today have not realised that they are living on very dangerous ground.

SS: You say in your book at times you are disturbed by the psychological tricks used by companies to sell their brands. I just wondered specifically what are you disturbed by right now?

ML: Just to give you one example, I’m sure you’re aware of something called the ‘super cookie’? The cookie, as you know, stores information about us but the super cookie is a programming code that is stored and placed on our hard discs which is engineered in order that consumers are not able to find it. It recovers all the data of where we went to and what we did online and sells it to third parties. All the advertisers that are signed up have more information about the consumers so they can make things more targeted.

What some of us are realising is that all of this data obtained by the super cookie has never really ticked the right legal boxes. And this is going so far that they will be able to tell what websites you went to before and what it means for the products they want to promote to you right now, and we’re starting to get into a very blurry field. And that makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable because what it means is that consumers have no way to get out of this. So what I tend to say to companies, because don’t forget I’m a marketing guy, is that it’s fine to take information about consumers but give the consumer the option to see what information you have gathered about them and give them the option to delete it, or at least to see the benefits if they decide to let the company use those details. But don’t do what many companies are doing, which is to keep the data and not tell the consumer.

What some of us are realising is that all of this data obtained by the super cookie has never really ticked the right legal boxes.

BBC WORLD NEWS is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation, © BBC 1996.

to relax a little bit more and we let our guard down. And I think that’s the reality for any consumer is that they will read an article like this and say ‘I have to be more careful now’. And then we relax. We need a constant reminder and if that’s not happening then we just go back to scratch again.

SS: You’ve described in detail how businesses now use neuroscience to get deep inside peoples’ brains to understand how best to access their most basic instincts. You’ve described how companies reach out to the youngest of children to implant messages that become important later in their lives when they get cravings and desires for particular brands. How much further can all of this very manipulative work and science go?

HARDtalk presenter, Stephen Sackur SS: Why should we trust business to be responsible with the data they are collecting about us that we are not even aware they are collecting?

ML: I don’t think we should trust them right now and that’s the problem because we are in the transformation phase where it’s not selfregulating. I think we are stuck in a limbo between government regulation and marketing guidelines; and self-regulating laws that have been established by the industry. And then you have the third type of regulation – the consumer regulated law. I think what will happen in the future most likely is that we will move away from government regulation and move towards more consumer-regulated activities; where consumers increasingly stand up and say “hey – this is not right – I’m going against a brand”. Brands are incredibly sensitive so that the fact that consumers might stick together and go against a brand is probably the worst thing that can happen for them. I also think we will see a Wikileaks in the future – a Wikileaks for brands. It will see independent organisations – either established by competition or established by independent parties that have an interest in this – where they would share the type of information that companies have about consumers.

I think we will see that more and more. I think that fear in the marketing community will start to be prominent because so many people will be against a brand that the most clever marketers will say “I don’t dare do this anymore”. And I also think that we will need to see ethics included in the training of those marketing guys, me included – no one has learnt about it.

SS: On a personal level, how careful are you now about the way you consume, the way you use the internet and the way you react to some of the multinational corporations that have given you a very good living over the years?

ML: I’m slightly schizophrenic whenever I buy stuff because on one hand, I really like brands. And then I have this internal fight with myself thinking “that trick they’re using there is probably going too far”. Sometimes when it goes too far I step out of it and think “that’s too ridiculous”.

I am more cautious online because I do know that most of the stuff we do online is more easy to track than a person can know. But we’ve become pretty lazy as consumers. We’ve become so lazy that maybe we’ll be aware of an alert for half a year, but then everyone else starts

ML: Much, much further. But I think there are two questions – how much further can it go and how much further will it go? I think the ‘will’ part realistically will be dependent on the reactions of society and what individuals ethically are comfortable with. From the neuroscience point of view, we will see a steady evolution - that whole area will definitely start to explode over the next couple of years. On the other hand as consumers get more clever then the marketing community will become more clever and you will have a game of cat and mouse . But I do think we will get to stage where you can predict many of the steps that consumers will make before they are aware of them from a conscious point of view. Which in turn will mean that in principle consumers will become more vulnerable and at that stage there are some serious decisions to be made from an ethical point of view, from governments’ point of view and from the individual consumers’ point of view.

I think that fear in the marketing community will start to be prominent because so many people will be against a brand that the most clever marketers will say “I don’t dare do this anymore”.

SS: Is that a world that you want to live in - that you are happy to live in? Because to me it sounds thoroughly frightening.

ML: No, not necessarily. I think that’s the reason I decided it was a good time to write a book about this. I wanted to make a black and white statement in order to create a more direct debate between consumers and companies. That’s not because I’m going against companies, because I’m not – I’m still working for companies – but it does give me some sort of good ammunition to start a debate internally within companies and make a change from the inside.

Martin Lindstrom conversation with HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur, 19th June 2012 For further information on advertising and sponsorship on BBC World News and bbc.com please call +44 208 433 0000 or e-mail internationalsales@bbc.com

Advertising feature sponsored by BBC World News.

cases office wars

Office Wars Helping Germany have fun at work NERF Blasters are colourful toys that fire foam darts or disks, but this type of play is not always seen as appropriate for German children. How do we sell them?

By Markus Großweischede, Marketing Director, Hasbro Deutschland GmbH and Matthias Hoeppner, Group Head, MediaCom Beyond Advertising, Germany

We found two clear insights that helped us identify and connect with a new target audience for NERF. First, we realised that toy blasters were perfect for young men who hadn’t really grown up.

Second, we knew that young men just starting their working lives could find sitting at a computer screen frustrating. They needed to let off steam.

This led to our solution: Office Wars – five minutes of great fun – before getting back to some serious hard work.

new passion. The key to success was to ensure that the connection between the NERF Blaster and the show was seamless. Our savvy audience would see through anything inauthentic.

The next step was to use search, partnerships and social media to turn this engagement with the product on-screen into sales. We supported each episode with a smart search strategy, driving consumers to Amazon to buy “the Blasters from Stromberg” during and after each broadcast. We also sold NERF Blasters via the official “Stromberg” shop, reinforcing that they were a real part of the show.

In addition to the success for our client, the campaign has won internationallyrecognised creative awards from The Global Festival of Media and Cannes Lions.

“Working for our branded play division, we at Hasbro feel greatly honoured

and

encouraged

by

the Lions to continue to deliver

How we conquered the new target group

We identified “Stromberg” – the German equivalent of “The Office” in the US – as the must-watch primetime show for our target. The fifth season was in production after a two-year break, and the anticipation was massive.

In close collaboration with the production house Brainpool, we embedded the NERF Blasters into the entire series. We kicked off a national craze for office warfare and started a

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MEDIACOM - BLINK #5

Finally, we connected via a Facebook page where 500,000 fans got a message from the main character himself, Bernd Stromberg, who said he didn’t want his staff fighting anymore, so fans should try to win the Blasters from the show.

immersive brand experiences to our

consumers

We not only earned massive social buzz and free media coverage, but also doubled the sales on Amazon in the the all-important pre-Christmas season.

anytime

Markus Grossweischede, Marketing Director, Hasbro Germany

Internationally recognised success case

–

anywhere.”

and

cases loewe

LOEWE A matter of personality Loewe was challenged to find a new communications approach for its new product line – the Connect ID. How could we articulate its premium brand values to a broader audience?

By Henrik Rutenbeck, General Manager at Loewe Opta GmbH and Michael Knezevic, Unit Director at MediaCom Germany

Loewe is a premium brand within the competitive and price-focused Hi-Fi TV category. Since 2003, Loewe has managed to strengthen its premium position by owning a list of very clear and unique brand values: minimalistic design, meaningful innovation and exclusive individuality. But for customers to fully understand these values, they must be expressed at every point of contact.

about pursuing objects of beauty – objects that reflect his own personality – and associate Connect D with those moments.

2160 ways of telling: “this is me” In 2012, the company launched a new smart TV product line called Connect ID, with the objective of reaching a larger audience.

It was crucial that Connect ID’s lower prices not denigrate the company’s core values, so Loewe promoted the new line as offering the consumer 2160 ways to design the Connect ID television so it expresses the buyer’s own style and personality.

LUMAS Galleries was that partner.

The product is the star and so is the customer In addition, an exceptional customer experience in flagship stores and specialist retailers is a Loewe hallmark.

How could the concept be extended to new channels selling Connect ID? The answer was to look at other occasions in the shopper’s life when he is passionate

Pictures at an exhibition Research revealed that art browsing and buying provided such opportunities, so Loewe began looking for an art partner that reflected its own values while also reinforcing Connect ID’s lower pricing.

LUMAS offers museum-quality art photography at price levels more accessible to a broader (particularly younger) audience. Likewise, LUMAS galleries and exhibitions are presented with the greatest of care, and the art buyer receives advice on how to personalise his purchase. It was the perfect combination for Connect ID. To create buzz, Loewe invited specialty retailers and a group of consumers to special LUMAS events in select German cities. A broader swath of consumers was also invited via regionally-targeted online campaigns created by MediaCom. The online activity drove overall interest in the events while enabling consumers to self-select and register for the exhibitions.

Integrated brand communication of its own The reaction from both consumers (particularly those found through the online campaigns) and nationwide and international press was overwhelmingly positive.

Loewe was credited with creating a unique connection between Connect ID and a seemingly unrelated life experience – art buying – at a time consumers would be in a state of mind to appreciate beautiful things that helped express their own personalities (at an affordable price). The opportunity to get competent and credible advice was specifically pointed out as a “new and most welcomed value.”

Consequently, Loewe has extended the idea of getting the best of both worlds into its next Connect ID communications campaign, establishing a collaboration with high-end German magazines and Internet portals.

Together with its partners – Philipp & Keuntje, MediaCom and Brandoffice – Loewe once again proved its ability to not only promote innovation and individuality, but to also break new ground in the home media and entertainment system category.

Premium positioning, indeed.

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M:files the big event

United by the big event Families can connect virtually, but physical family time has become a precious commodity.

By Virginia Pino, SVP Market & Consumer Intelligence, MediaCom Canada

What defines quality family time in a world where families are in transition? Divorce, delayed life events and globalisation have all put pressure on the family unit. The way that families talk to each other has also been transformed, thanks to digital devices.

MediaCom set out to deliver an understanding of how Canadians interact with their digital devices by using our Real World Street tool. We talked to families with children up to 18 years of age, paying them several visits and engaging with different household members each time. Our Real World Street families were all digitally savvy despite some having moderate incomes. We sat in their family rooms and explored all their devices and how they were used, interviewing the older kids separately to discover what they did when their parents weren’t watching.

The first big “AHA!” moment was our discovery that family digital behaviour was not impacted by income, number of children or the part of Canada where they lived. The key factor was the age of their children.

Younger children were more excited and more comfortable with technology (as were their parents), but as children got older, parents developed a love/ hate relationship with technology – not dissimilar to the sentiments surrounding TV when it first became the centre of family life. However, despite this rancour and older children’s obsessive behaviour with their devices, parents continued to bring new technology into the home.

We were also surprised by the number of devices in each of our Real World Street households. In a home headed by a single mom with two children over the age of 10, there were at least seven digital devices,

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despite the fact that the head of the family had a modest income.

On average, we estimated that Canadian families now have 5.3 digital devices per home based on just 2.3 people per home. What we realised, however, was that family behaviour had not actually changed that much.

Parents are still driven to protect and kids are driven to explore. The only way to protect younger children is to have them in close physical proximity; at this age, digital devices serve to educate and enable exploration in the home. As children get older and start to explore on their own, they physically and emotionally separate.

Digital devices help parents “keep an eye” on them while not stifling their need to seek out and grow on their own.

The explosion of mobile devices means that families are no longer bound by physical limitations. They can interact with content across many platforms while not even in the same room. Conversely, they can be in the same room while viewing different content (a behaviour most notable in households with one of Canada’s three million tablets).

In the 21st century, however, families unite around content. Not only do we live in a global village where we have friends and colleagues around the globe, we also have multiple schedules within one family. Years ago, we lamented the fact that the traditional “family dinner” was disappearing. Now we lament the lack of physical contact between family members. “She comes in from school, drops her bag and runs to her room; she even sleeps with her mobile under her pillow!” said Michelle, a mum to both a 4-year-old and a 12-yearold, who is in a constant struggle to bring her family together, in one room, at the same time.

1 Before

One > Many 4.1 people

Now

Many > One 2.3 people

5.3

The truth is that as our relationship with technology may continue to shift from love to hate, our interdependence on it will only grow. It serves more than just a pure entertainment function. Today, small screens are our personal assistants. We schedule our days, we create our “TO DO” lists, we text our kids to make sure they are safe and we stay in touch with the office at all hours. We are always connected, at least virtually.

So how did our Canadian families connect physically?

The solution that our Real World Street families have found to the dangers of digital disconnect is the “Big Event”. We recognised that one of the devices that families referred to with the most nostalgic enthusiasm was gaming devices. Parents have realised that the only way to stay connected with family in real time was to find common ground around content. The traditional board game nights become “the Big Event”: familycreated nights where only one screen is allowed.

photography getty images

Creating such an event is the perfect opportunity for many brands to connect with relevant content and gain the receptivity required to recall commercial messages. This understanding has helped us identify a partnership with Microsoft Advertising for an exclusive video partnership linking client brands such as Starbucks and Diageo to their XBox platform.

Put simply, we wouldn’t have understood the opportunity of the “Big Event” if we hadn’t spent time with our families, in their homes, talking about their devices. It’s this kind of insight that demonstrates the power of Real World Street.

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background mobile strategy

Building a future proof mobile strategy Companies need to develop a mobile strategy if they hope to future proof their businesses. This may involve adapting an existing digital strategy, or developing an entirely new mobile-first digital approach.

By Stefan Bardega, Managing Partner, MediaCom Illustration by Mike Lemanski

We all know that smartphone ownership is increasing.

50% of the UK population owns a smart phone. Google is forecasting 25% of its search clicks will come from mobile this year, and we are told that 22% of the UK population can only access the Internet via mobile. Not only is mobile finally here, but it is happening faster than many marketers anticipated.

We have created the following framework to help businesses develop a mobile strategy.

1I

insights will uncover diversity of mobile usage Understanding the diversity of mobile habits is a critical exercise. We often uncover polarising mobile attitudes and behaviours during qualitative research.

People that look identical in every traditional form of segmentation may reveal mobile habits that are radically different. This is most extreme when it comes to mobile payments. In London, we see more awareness and acceptance of mobile payments, thanks to Olympic sponsors such as Visa pushing adoption. Further north in the UK, we see much less interest in mobile payments. Businesses need to build solutions that cater to multiple levels of sophistication, and make it easy for learners to move up to more complex services.

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2I

identifying a clear role for mobile All too often, the role of mobile may not be well defined. This leads to a lack of clarity when it comes to execution, and can result in a business simply taking its existing digital properties and miniaturising them for mobile. Brands should think about the unique attributes of mobile, and consider whether they create a new opportunity. Many of the most successful mobile brands have different mobile strategies based on the computer being used; Starbucks’ desktop site is predominantly a digital version of the menu, while mobile helps get people through the queue. It does this by enabling customers to use their phones to pay for coffee and to accumulate loyalty points. At the same time, the company gathers valuable data. Both parties win.

3I

mobile platforms should determine your mobile properties Mobile is a fragmented market with a multitude of platform distribution opportunities, so having a clear view of what you really need is important. Amongst other things, brands need to decide whether to build an app, a mobile site or both. For most businesses, the starting point should be a mobile optimised website. The app

market is extremely cluttered – a victim of its own success in some respects. To get regular use, any app needs to give high-frequency utility or, if entertainment-driven, requires regular content updates.

that all offline communication channels provide a mobile opportunity to interact. This may be a QR code, near field communication, audio recognition or augmented reality.

4

5

DISCIPLINES SHOULD BE STRATEGICALLY DEPLOYED

AND INTEGRATED The selection of which mobile disciplines to deploy – be it mobile search, display or SMS, for example – should be determined by matching the strategic benefits of each to the business objectives. If your objective is to drive traffic to a mobile website, the most cost-effective route will be using mobile search to harvest people already searching for your brand or product.

If you need to distribute a complex ad message in an engaging way to as many people as possible, then mobile rich media advertising is the best way to go. Made possible by the rise of HTML5, rich media for mobile enables brands to create mobile experiences similar to Flash ads on desktops, but with more unique mobile features like accelerometers and GPS positioning.

Develop mobile measurement approach Your KPIs for mobile should be directly linked to the role that mobile is playing, and your measurement framework should be built around those KPIs. If the role of mobile is to reduce churn and retain customers by increasing usage of a loyalty app, for example, ensure that the tracking is set up in advance to enable you to track user engagement over time. In this case, you would need to insert the tracking code into the app before submission to the app store, so be certain you understand all of the intricacies of whatever action you choose to take.

Whatever mobile disciplines you decide to use, they must be integrated into the customer journey, along with your other media. At minimum, be sure

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Football

Football

Heavy Metal

Percentage of TV viewers who watched Euro 2012 final: 90% Number of people who play football videogames: 2M+ Average attendance at La Liga matches 2011-12: 30,272 per game Number of Facebook fans for the Spanish team: 316,000

Number of UK viewers for the final of the 2010 World Cup: 20M Total attendance at Premier League matches over a season: 13.1M Number of people who play football once a week in England: 2.1M Total number of people who are members of a club in England: 370,475

Number of responses to Google search for “Heavy metal�: 51M Total number of worldwide Black Sabbath album sales: 70M+ Peak audience for The Osbournes series 1 in the US: 7.7M Total number of venues played in 2010 Ozzfest global tour: 8

cycling

MUSIC

fishing

Total global TV audience for the Tour de France: 1bn Daily TV audience in France: 3.9M (first two weeks of 2011 Tour) Total roadside audience for all stages: 15M Percentage of French citizens who cycle as their main daily transport: 3

Total number of music tracks sold in 2011 (all formats): 1.6bn Total number of digital track sales in 2011: 1.3bn Top selling US album in 2011: 21 by Adele: 5.8M Total global attendance at all concerts promoted by LiveNation in Q1 2012: 4.9M

Audience for Extreme Fishing with Robson Green: 1.1-1.3M Number of rod licences sold by Environment Agency: 1.5M Total number of fishing clubs in England: 93 Readership of Angling Times: 331,000

American football

Champions league final

Total US audience for Super Bowl on TV: 111M Number of tweets during the match: 5.7M Most retweeted tweet: 2,999 retweets Number of visitors to host city Indianapolis: 150,000

Total global TV audience: More than 300M Total number of unique users of sports sites in 10 European markets: 177M Total Chelsea followers on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Google Plus: 12.7M Total number of Bayern Munich members: 130,000

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infographics passonate & precise

Passionate & Precise Illustration by Ester Aarts

Many brands try to connect with consumer passions, but it’s tricky. You have to be very specific. They ‘like’ football or they ‘like’ music but real people don’t just like football, they are mad about Manchester United, they love playing Fifa 2012 on Xbox or they are aficionados of Hip Hop. There will always be a broad audience that is vaguely interested in sport or music, for example, but the most important people are those who are truly passionate.

For brands that want to connect, it is these subgroups that hold the key to engagement.

Brands need to make the journey from generic interest to precise passion.

The cross fertilisation of passions And none of us is passionate about only one subject; all of us have multiple interests.

Media research is characterised by the search for such overlaps. Are viewers of HBO in the US more likely to buy whisky?

Do regular Chinese Weibo users download more apps? Are German football fans more interested in Audi or VW vehicles?

The overlaps can sometimes be surprising and show the way to alternative engagement or very specific target groups.

like Tony Hawk, 27 times more Whitney Houston fans like Serena Williams and 9 times more fans of Whitney like Miami Heat. 4 times more fans of Adele like Chicago Bulls (all affinities are measured against the Facebook base.)

Sources: comScore, Exacttarget.com, socialbakers. com, Hollywood Reporter, Facebook, Twitter, UEFA, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, CNN, PR Newswire, Reuters, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, mediauk, ESPN, Nielsen Company & Billboard, Wikipedia, Blabbermouth.net, Angler’s Mail, Environment Agency, fishingnet.com, European Commission, CrispSocial

People show their interests on Facebook and that can be analysed. An analysis will show that 21 times more Black Sabbath fans

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background social tv

Getting active Watching our favourite shows is no longer a passive experience, and brands need to create content that engages if they want consumers to talk about their ads.

By Ivan Fernandes, Global Director, MediaCom

Once upon a time, TV was a passive experience. You sat on the sofa and watched.

No longer.

things: the way broadcasters market their programmes and the way brands leverage event TV.

Check your Twitter feed at a concert on a Saturday night or during a big sports match and you can see what your friends are thinking about the real-time action. Now the biggest events occur as much in the Twittersphere as they do on the big screens in our living rooms.

Actions for broadcasters

It’s the use of second screens, particularly mobile – not connected TV, as some forecasted – that has made the traditional distinction between lean-back TV entertainment and lean-forward interaction online irrelevant.

Location, too, has become unimportant.

While the “social” aspect of TV watching was predicated on the other people in the room with us (or at the water cooler the next day), now many of us instantly activate our viewing via status updates on our mobiles. Apps, video calling and texting have also become increasingly important: YouGov research in the UK found that 43% of consumers had commented or discussed a TV show with people based elsewhere.

Among women, it was one in two.

The shift from active to passive changes two

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other online. Users log on to Sound Off using their existing Facebook or Twitter accounts, and have the option to communicate there or share their thoughts across other social media platforms.

At its simplest level, this means broadcasters should make sure that all viewers use the same hashtag or @accountname when they tweet. Hence, the profusion of Twitter calls to action at the start of each programme.

Actions for advertisers

France Télévision leveraged social TV during the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual primetime showcase for Europe’s best singers, by not only tweeting live but also showing consumer tweets on an online Twitter wall during the broadcast.

Such techniques are also being applied by advertisers with their own content to promote. Great creative is no longer unveiled in the middle break of the Champions League Final or during the Super Bowl: instead, a complex pre-game release programme helps spread the excitement.

Broadcasters also believe that social chatter before a programme airs will enhance viewing figures. This summer, USA Network launched six sponsored campaigns designed to provide fall viewers with additional content, including new episodes, behindthe-scenes films and a crowd-sourced crosscountry treasure hunt.

Others have created whole social platforms designed to take the experience even further.

Pepsi leveraged its sponsorship of the X Factor in the US by creating Pepsi Sound Off, to allow fans of the show to interact with each

The aim of such social TV campaign is to build up the chatter ahead of the broadcast.

For the launch of the Passat in the US in 2011, VW’s Super Bowl ad was released on YouTube a few days before the game. By seeding the spot and harnessing the buzz about Super Bowl ads, it became the highest rated video of all time in the global Autos & Vehicles Category. Online viewing has become a massive driver of campaign reach, much like an airing on TV. Other brands are taking such a process further by trying to be the place where consumers talk about all TV, not just a single show.

Two great social TV campaigns

Coke gets social with Paul McCartney

DANIELLE ARCIdIACONO

@Daaannii33

1m

Watching Big Brother and ordering dominos #happygirl

A good example is Orange, which has brought the gaming mechanics of Foursquare to the field via a new social TV app called TVcheck. The app, which has been launched in France and the UK, enables users to check in to their favourite TV programmes and connect with friends, unlock games, earn badges

Get the latter right and people will find your ad.

Second, creating great content ideas is just the start of the engagement journey.

The way you seed that content and create incentives for consumers to engage with it is as important as the content itself.

The world-famous soft drinks brand encouraged music fans in Mexico to tweet and post status updates during live streams of key music events.

Working with social software company Thismoment, the brand offered fans the chance to watch Paul McCartney and the Vive Latino music festival via the new bespoke broadcast channel, Coca-Cola TV. Viewers – around 500,000 for the former and 750,000 for the latter – took part in the conversation around the content via Twitter and Facebook.

“The way that you seed content and incentivise consumers to engage with it is now as important as the content itself” and chat about favourite programmes on social networks.

TVcheck uses the iPhone camera to recognise what show the user is watching and automatically checks in the user. Other examples of social TV apps include Zeebox and IntoNow. Fundamental changes to marketing

Such examples showcase two fundamental changes in marketing and the way brands use TV, in particular. First, the goals have changed – it’s not so much about the ad anymore, it’s about the social engagement.

Brands need to become more focused on content (and not just 30-second slices of content), and invest in the specialist resources needed to exploit the opportunities that stem from the online activation of TV. Social media enables brands to extend the brand experience, but they need to recognise that they can only push content that is relevant to their audiences.

Content will ultimately dominate the future communications landscape, but brands and broadcasters must simultaneously focus on the need to add value to any social experience.

Suits content asked audience for help The USA Network show, Suits, asked viewers to become part of the storyline this summer. The idea was to let the audience become part of the team via a Suits Recruits application that ran on phone, tablet and laptop.

The app integrated heavily with Facebook, and offered fresh content that linked to what was actually happening on the TV show.

The aim was to create a hub for Suits-related conversations and chat.

Suits Recruits was sponsored by Lexus, which also advertised within the TV broadcast.

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BRAND OLYMPICS This past summer, MediaCom analysed Twitter mentions related to Olympic sponsors during the Games. What we found demonstrated that social media activity is not simply about total follower or reach; instead, the ultimate success of a sponsorship should be judged by engagement and the sentiment that people express for the brands.

SIX KEY WAYS TO SUCCEED WITH DIGITAL ACTIVATION

1. Talk to your consumers 2. Distribute effective content 3. Be passionate 4. Create great experiences 5. Remain relevant 6. React to negativity

2m

1.5m

1m

OLYMPIC TWITTER TRACKER RESULTS

GENERAL ELECTRIC

P&G

ADIDAS

5 0 0k SAMSUNG BRITISH AIRWAYS 0

COCA-COLA

-5 00k

1m

-1 . 5 m

MCDONALD’S -2 m

-2 . 5 m About the tracker: The tracker consolidates all social media mentions of the 25 Olympic sponsors that took place on Twitter in the UK. The performance score for each brand is calculated to measure influence: Performance score = POSITIVITY of comments x ENGAGEMENT by the people commenting x Potential REACH of those comments.

-3 m

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WEEK 2

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INFOGRAPHIC OLYMPIC ANALYSIS

TOTAL FOLLOWERS

THE HEADLINES

ILLUSTRATION MIKE LEMANSKI

McDonald’s had the largest Twitter following of all the Olympic sponsors, but was the least successful brand in our study. There was a consistent, negative conversation during the games and the company made little effort to counter it by promoting its positive contributions to the event.

For Adidas, too, it wasn’t all fair sailing, but its team worked at it. The brand faced extensive negative feedback due to its severance pay to Indonesian workers. At the start of the Olympic period, Adidas was at the lower end of the rankings, but the brand successfully used its #stagetaken campaign to redirect the conversation and positively change the nature of the discourse.

Similarly, P&G ran a very successful digital campaign with an inspiring and emotive piece of content entitled “the hardest job is the best job”. Research showed the advertisement to be the most shared piece of sponsor content across all digital channels.

British Airways was another successful sponsor, fuelling patriotism for the Games and Team GB. It used the hashtag #homeadvantage, and supported it with a widely-hailed TV advertising campaign and integrated digital initiatives.

When successfully managed, such conversation can be very positive. General Electric was the top-performing sponsor as a result of direct conversations with fans attending the Games.

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advertorial festival of media

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A brief history of the Festival of Media

Celebrating a world of creativity The Festival of Media is the world’s first festival dedicated to media creativity and innovation. Created by C Squared, the event brings together the brightest minds in media for two days of inspiring conference sessions, exhibitions and one of the most influential awards competitions in the industry.

Launched in Venice in 2007, the Festival was an instant hit with the international media community’s most senior directors. Today, it is one of the most anticipated dates on the media business calendar.

in Singapore, the event welcomed over 600 attendees, over 40 speakers and more than 50 of the world’s biggest brands in a region at the forefront of change and global influence.

“The Festival of Media agenda is designed to address the challenges we face as an industry,” says Charlie Crowe, Founder and CEO of C Squared. “We share insights from global visionaries and reflect on the new opportunities that enable innovative, effective media communications around the world.”

In 2012, The Festival of Media Global relocated to a stunning new location in Montreux, Switzerland, where it attracted more than 700 delegates from over 40 countries including global advertisers such as Coca-Cola, 20th Century Fox and HSBC. The awards competition, which continues to go from strength to strength, received almost 1,000 entries from over 50 countries.

After more than doubling its audience in two years, the Festival moved to Valencia, Spain, to launch its global awards competition. The Festival of Media Global recognises excellence in media thinking around the world and celebrates campaigns that push boundaries and achieve business solutions for brands – often in innovative and ground-breaking ways.

Extending The Festival’s appeal, the brand has since expanded into the world’s fastest-growing regions, with annual events in Latin America and Asia. The first of these, The Festival of Media LatAm, was held in October 2010 in Miami, Florida, to much fanfare.

The inaugural event was a complete sell-out, and attracted more than 550 industry leaders from across the Latin American region.

In 2011, the Festival also rolled out in the Far East with the launch of The Festival of Media Asia. Held

This year, key winners included MediaCom, which collected six awards including Campaign of the Year.

The agency was also named Global Network of the Year: its second Network title in three years.

“Winning The Festival of Media’s Global Network of the Year award is tough,” said Stephen Allan, MediaCom’s Worldwide Chairman and CEO. “To do so twice in three years is an incredible achievement and a sign that the whole MediaCom network is producing consistently excellent work.

We really value these awards because we know they are judged by some of the cleverest minds in the business.”

As The Festival of Media’s reputation continues to grow around the world, its status as the industry’s preeminent media event will only increase.

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#5 Media Trends Consumers Published by

MediaCom has developed nine key rules to ensure your sponsorship activity delivers business results.

the passion issue

be passionate!

(Above you have rule number seven.)

To find out what the other eight are – and to get a lot more detail on how to put the ideas into action – read our new white paper, Can Sports Sponsorship Deliver?

the Passion issue

And sign up for our Insider programme, which will ensure you have exclusive access to all of MediaCom’s thoughts on the issues that matter.

Visit “News & Insight” at mediacom.com to learn more or simply scan the QR code below.

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Mass market reach or niche market richness?

Why not both?