marketingbypete.com

By Peter O’ Brien

Jaguar recently made a decision to go for a complete relaunch of its iconic Jaguar logo. Jaguar was first born in 1922 in Blackpool, England. Jaguar was positioned as a luxury car brand with a unique jumping jaguar animal as its logo.

Late in 2024 Jaguar debuted its new logo and slogan “Copy Nothing” and ran a promotional video featuring androgynous models in trendy outfits featuring really bright colours. Jaguar was attempting to pull away from the past and reposition itself as a brand that more people could afford. But was this the right Marketing move, or could it prove to be disastrous for Jaguar?

The problem with a new relaunch of a brand like Jaguar is what is called the erosion of brand equity. Since its launch Jaguar has built an image of being very English portraying an image of dependability and prestige. In turn this has led to customers who stay loyal and have the financial capacity to spend big money on new and classic cars. This relaunch could really upset these customers and turn them towards other luxury car brands.

Jaguar have also made the decision to do away with the jumping Jaguar logo and have gone for a new text Jaguar logo. This move will further erode brand equity built up over many decades. Consumers are more likely to register logos in their minds than text logos. Look at Nike and Adidas. Nike is known worldwide for the Swoosh logo and Adidas is known for the 3 stripes performance logo.

Jaguar would have been wiser to keep the jumping Jaguar logo and still gone with a text change. Then that move would appeal to their older market and attract new buyers to the Jaguar brand. This relaunch is only in its early stages but time will tell if the move is disastrous for Jaguar!

The Voice campaign failed last year with a 32 % result. The referendum was a Marketing campaign because unlike a state of federal election there was no reliance on preferences! Over $500 million of taxpayer money was spent on The Voice. If the Voice were a consumer product, then only 32 % of the stock was sold which was a Marketing disaster! There were fundamental Marketing strategic errors executed during the 6-week campaign that included the following-

A WEAK GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN

Many community events were held during the 6-week Voice campaign. The majority of these events were held in community halls and gyms throughout Australia. Crowds at these events were predominately made up of Yes voters who had already made up their minds. Not enough undecided or potential Vote No voters were being reached. These communities really needed to go door to door in their local communities if they were going to sway voters to Vote Yes!

THE TVC CREATED WAS TARGETED TOO NARROWLY!

The TV ad that was run by the Vote Yes campaign was too narrow in its targeting. The ad was aimed at potential undecided voters who were white Anglo-Saxon middle aged and older men. The campaign completely disregarded first- and second-generation migrants who had lived in Australia for most if not all of their lives. This segment of the population was forgotten in the Vote Yes strategy. Later research proved that a high percentage of regions that Voted No had a high concentration of migrant voters. The Vote Yes campaign ran a hurried campaign targeting migrants in the last week of The Voice campaign, but it was all too little too late!

USING CELEBRITIES TO PREACH TO PUNTERS

The Vote Yes campaign wheeled out celebrity dinosaurs such as Kerry O’ Brien and Ray Martin. These so-called celebrities were flown around Australia at taxpayers’ expense to push the Vote Yes vote. All these celebrities did was look down at potential voters and tried to preach to them. But in the end, all they did was piss off punters with their elitist attitudes. The biggest learnings from this celebrity campaign were that punters don’t like being told what to do and how to think.

IN SUMMARY

The Voice campaign was a monumental failure that was riddled with strategic Marketing errors. Major Australian companies backed The Voice and put their names and logos up to support the referendum. Like Australian taxpayers, Shareholders from these companies who backed The Voice should be outraged at the amount of company and taxpayer money that was wasted on the worst Marketing campaign I have seen in 30 years!

The short answer is Yes!

Slogans can be used to effectively grab the attention of the audience it is trying to reach. A catchy slogan can effectively draw attention to the brand and its products.

A phrase with a meaning strikes more of a chord with the customer than just the brand name alone. A good slogan not only gives the customer a signal that your brand is in it for the long haul but tells them what the brand stands for.

Examples of some catchy slogans

Nike-“Just DO IT”

Hungry Jacks-“The burgers are better at Hungry Jacks”

Mc Donald’s-“I’m lovin it”

KFC-“Finger Lickin’ Good”

How do you measure how effective a slogan is?

I believe the best way to measure a slogans effectiveness is to evaluate how much mind share the slogan commands and how effective the slogan actually drives the brand.

To explain this further I use the example of Nike. When I worked for Nike Australia in the early 1990’s the slogan was Just Do It! Nike was a rapidly growing brand at the time but wasn’t strong enough to stand alone. The brand needed a strong slogan to drive effective cut through on the world stage and the slogan “Just Do IT’ provided that brand leverage for Nike.

Today the Nike brand with the “Swoosh” logo stands alone.

Have a great day in Marketing

Pete

Being a proud Melbournian I could be bias and say that when it comes to the battle of brand recognition on the world stage that Melbourne is the winner! As a professional marketer I have to be as objective as possible to give a true account of this world branding positioning between Melbourne and Sydney.

Melbourne is known as the true sporting capital of Australia with world class events such as The Australian Open Tennis, the AFL Grand Final, Formula One Grand Prix and of course the world famous Melbourne Cup. All of these events are world class putting Melbourne on the world stage.

Sydney however rules when it comes to the the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Both are seen as true Australian landmarks are are recognised around the world. As branding assets showcasing Sydney and Australia they truly rule in this area.

Melbourne, although busting with world class events has missed the landmark opportunity. There isn’t one true optical image that defines Melbourne on the world stage. Sydney, although it pains me to say has a distinct advantage over Melbourne when it comes to brand recognition around the world.

Have a great day in Marketing,

Cheers

Pete

Starting my marketing career as young assistant Product Manager at Nike Australia ( John D. Trading) in 1990 it was very clear that Reebok was the dominant brand in Australia due to the strength of the aerobics market at the time.

I was quickly became aware that Michael Jordan was growing in stature and prominence and the Air Jordan brand was growing daily. The brand Michael Jordan was not only the Air Jordan basketball shoe but was growing beyond that category and in a sense was transending basketball.

After spending a year or so in the Marketing Department I ventured out on to the road as a Nike rep. Before my eyes the Michael Jordan brand continued to accelerate. I remember attending a weekend buying conference for a national sports retail chain where we had a really large booth displaying the latest Nike footwear, apparel and accessories. Strategically we had set up a corner area with a Michael Jordan theme. As the buying conference began it was becoming apparent that retailers were very interested in buying anything with the Michael Jordan logo on it. That included footwear, sweat tops, singlets etc. Even smaller regional stores were coming to the Nike stand asking to buy anything related to Michael Jordan.

From then on the rest is history with the partnership of Nike and Michael Jordan.

Although I no longer work at Nike my love for the Nike brand and Michael Jordan will live on forever.

I have loved watching The Last Dance on Netflix ( I have already watched it twice) and those fond memories of my years working at Nike started flooding back!

Have a great day in Marketing,

Cheers

Pete

A USP or Unique Selling Proposition is the stand out benefit exhibited by a company, service, product or brand that allows it to stand out from its competitors.

The USP is that unique feature that makes you better than your competition.

A USP should be unique from you competition and valued and appealing to your target audience but you need to be able to deliver it day in and day out!

Examples of USP phrases

THE NORTH FACE-“products that last a lifetime”

TIFFANY & Co-“The right one is worth waiting for”

SADDLEBACK’S LEATHER-They’ll fight over it when your dead”

COCA COLA-“It’s the real thing”

BMW- “The ultimate driving machine”

GILLETTE-‘The best a man can get”

A company’s USP is like the marketing pinnacle in that it will ultimately drive customers to your door.

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY YOUR USP?

You really need to work out what the market wants and identify what areas your competitors are not addressing and ultimately deliver to those areas.

Have a great day in Marketing,

Cheers

Pete

@marketingbypete

Really important I think!

Look at some of the major brands in the world and how they utilise and protect there brands. After a period of time really high profile brands start to drop the slogans and just concentrate on the actual brand and it becomes like a stamp on everything they present to the world….apparel, stationery, motor vehicle wraps etc.

Major companies really do it well and a really effective method for utilisation is a really extensive style guide.

Years ago I was working for a corporate apparel company specialising in corporate neck ties and scarves. One of my clients I was selling to had a contract with a major Telco to supply corporate apparel. We designed and produced a range of neck ties with the Telcos corporate logo.

I remember each time I presented a sample my client would get out his ruler and measure the actual logo on the tie to check whether the actual size was 100% accurate. If it wasn’t I would have to go back to the drawing board and start again.

Although sometimes I would feel like pulling my hair out with frustration i started to understand that the regulations within the style guide were actually protecting the integrity of the brand

Have a great day in Marketing

Cheers

Pete

You had better believe it!

How many times have you been somewhere and heard a song and suddenly memories of what you were doing in your life when that song was first a hit come flooding back.

It’s the same with a really good jingle. Although at the time you might have found it repetitive or annoying it still is cemented in your mind . As a middle aged guy I sometimes see brands that were launched from the past and I can still remember the jingles they used although they have long been shelved in the advertising archives.

Having worked in radio advertising for many years clients used to always ask me…Should we outlay money and develop a jingle? My response was always a positive “yes” especially if they planned to have a long relationship with radio listeners.

I believe jingles are an effective form of advertising because jingles reinforce positive aspects associated with a really strong brand image.

Have a great day in Marketing,

Cheers

Pete