Branding Biologique

New laser marketing regulations in the EU allow for laser tattooing of commercially available fruit. Gone are the "Super Food" Chiquita banana stickers that decorate the tweener generation's MacBooks. Too wasteful. These sticky labels requires wood, water, adhesive, and ink, hallmarks of an industry lagging in the tech curve. This new technology, developed by the intuitively named Spanish company, LaserFood, uses none of the above. They explain; “The Laser Mark System does not burn the surface of the fruit, instead removing a microscopically small area of fruit skin that discolors rather than burns the product without touching or harming cells in the skin surface." This opens up a whole realm of possibilities for visual marketing. 

Obviously, this is good news for the produce industry. Companies can set their design teams loose with creative license to pimp out pomegranate with indelible branding. But what are the ramifications? 

For one thing, it opens up the possibility for brand name produce. We all recognize a Chiquita banana, or a Dole pineapple, but that's about where brand recognition begins and ends in the produce aisle. Could this usher in a new age of boutique branding for peas and carrots? There is certainly demand in our culture, with the consumer's newfound culinary enlightenment, for quality goods. A grower or supplier who can associate his brand and branding with the do-good, social conscious, buy local ethos could sink his teeth, and his logo, into a healthy market share with a consumer base willing to pay a premium for high-end produce. 

Another boon? Advertising revenue. All of the heretofore unblemished fruit flesh could be sold to advertisers to promote their product. Sound atrocious? Consider this: would your 4 year-old eat zucchini or artichoke? Perhaps not. But what about Spider-Man spinach, or Batman bananas? Now you're talking. The potential is real. 

But could there be a backlash? Will people resent having advertisements emblazoned on their apples? I think so. The restaurant industry, for one, will not willingly toss a salad of "Your Logo Here" tomatoes for paying guests. And consumers who might not mind a tastefully branded tangerine might feel differently when fruit and veggies become ad space available to the highest bidder, as it undoubtedly will in an arena with no immediate regulation. 

But the technology is at our doorstep. The question is not if we adopt it, the question is who will do it smartest? The consumer will adapt and accept. The restaurant industry operates largely independently of commercial grocery stores and has enough collective buying power to ensure it gets what it wants. And who knows, maybe Applebee's wants and exclusive relationship with So&So produce, and won't mind tossing that tattooed tomato salad after all. The issue, then, is really one to be tackled by Marketing and Advertising teams, so a word to the food industry; brand your berries now while the market is fresh. 

Check out more here:

http://mobile.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/06/21/laser_food_etching_technology_turns_fruit_and_vegetables_into_works_of_art.html

http://www.designboom.com/technology/laser-tattoos-will-replace-sticky-labels-on-fresh-produce/

Shazam does it again

This week at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, media engagement mogul Shazam announced the launch of a new TV advertising engagement service which will measure an advertisements effectiveness, not only by its penetration with standard Gross rating Points (GRP's), but by audience engagement as well.

Shazam broke onto the marketing engagement scene and made itself a household name with it's music identification app. Shazam users can tap a button and let Shazam listen along to a song they can't quite place. Shazam then uses it's magic algorithm to match that song to it's title, artist, and album, all in just seconds. Users can also "tag" a song on Shazam, much like "liking" a photo on Facebook.

The app was a huge success, with a reported 50 million users worldwide.

Now they're back. This time, with a back-end product to let companies nail in the bang for each advertising buck they spend by matching audience reach with second screen participation. Shazam takes viewer data, or GRP, and combines it with audience participation data through the Shazam app to let advertisers know how many people saw their add, and how many responded through their mobile device. Here is how the author of this article from Business Wire breaks it down it:

The Shazam Engagement Rate is defined as Shazam tag volume for each spot that airs divided by the gross rating point (GRP) for each of those airings. Shazam licenses this GRP viewership information from Nielsen, the global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, specifically for Shazam for TV performance reporting and generating insights. Shazam takes the industry-standard Nielsen viewership data and uses it to provide perspective and context to Shazam’s consumer engagement data.

When a viewer sees an add on TV, they can "tag" that add through their mobile device using the Shazam app. This brings up additional information and promotional material from the advertiser directly related to their product. By telling advertisers when and where their ads are not only viewed most often, but also engaged most frequently through second screens, advertisers can tailor advertising spending with surgical accuracy. Shazam CEO Rich Riley explains: "Now, we are able to help brand marketers measure the impact of their ad campaigns using powerful data-driven insights never before available, making it possible for companies to optimize their ad spend."

This is a new frontier for marketing. Where else can marketing pioneers bridge the gap between media and devices? Shazam has shown us TV to mobile. QR codes link print to mobile. What about radio to mobile? What about film to mobile? Fashion to mobile? Food to mobile? Who knows? If someone is creative enough, they may just be the first.

Try and Follow This

There is just something about the Fiat 500 Abarth that no other car in its segment has. It's out-gunned by the VW GTI, out-luxed by the Mini Cooper S, out-roomed by the Honda Fit, out-everything-ed by the Ford Focus ST, and out-teched by just about everything. Then why would I have this over anything else? It all comes down to style. Nothing about this car is conventional or conservative. It's hardly even practical, but it's Italian, it's sexy, and it's impossible not to smile when you are behind the wheel. Trust me, I've tried. It took three days to wipe the smile from my face after I test drove one of these.

But there's another reason I would choose this car over the infinitely more practical and refined VW GTI, or any other segment competitor; scarcity. I can't drive five miles without seeing half a dozen GTI's racing around, but as of the 500 Abarth's American launch nearly a year ago, I have yet to see a single unit anywhere but on the dealer's lot. If I had one, I would be the only one, and that's cool. Cool for me, but not for Fiat. As much as a want the mystique, I also want Fiat to succeed because I love what they do. But people don't see the 500 Abarth the same way I do. They see it as too small, too different, or they don't trust the brand because it hasn't been in the States for 30 years. So what can Fiat do to boost their image amongst potential customers? This is the ironic part.
Fiat's marketing team has launched a new campaign that tries to sell you a car that, from my observation, no one else has, by telling you that you can't have it. Not only can you not see a 500 Abarth on the road, because there aren't any, but you can't even follow one on Twitter. I mean it, you literally can't follow it on twitter. See for yourself.
Here's a look at the Abarth's twitter page, (Abarth 500) @Abarth500_DE.

Try and click the "Follow" link and you receive a message that you have been blocked from following the Abarth by the administrator. From a Marketing standpoint, I love this. It's creative, it's different, it's funny, and it's generated tons of buzz online. Good news for the Abarth. I just hope it has the desired, and coincidentally the opposite, effect on sales. As much as I want to be the only Abarth whizzing around the streets of Denver, I want the Abarth to succeed. I want more car companies to build cars that ooze style and smiles. The roads are full of boring, responsible, reliable cars. And there is room for those too. But I'd rather smile on my way to the shops.