Innocent Smoothies

Innocent Smoothies have started a campaign to raise money for Age UK. As Innocent is a brand that is mainly targeted to a younger audience, knitting is not something that would be associated with this generation. However, Innocent have put some thought into bringing the family together, by having patterns and a design platform on their website - for all ages to interact with. 

About the campaign: 

(Information from: http://www.thebigknit.co.uk/) 

Fancy knitting some little hats and helping us raise money for Age UK? It's fun, it's easy and it's for a great cause. Every time we sell a little bottle wearing a hat, we donate 25p to Age UK to help keep older people warm and well over winter. The colder months can be tough for a lot of people - as many as 25,000 older people's lives are at risk because of the cold. But we can help. Thanks to knitters like you, we've raised over £1.7m so far. 

This campaign is unique to Innocent and reflects their company values. They relate well to their customer base and appear to have a moral and social conscience. They use humour as a way of marketing their brand, encouraging a loyal customer base.

Sensory Marketing

Consumers show more attachment to a product or brand if they get to interact with it, marketing has evolved from just viewing a poster or billboard, now companies are trying to reach customers in different ways, by using all five senses.

Coca Cola introduced the 'Hug Machine' back in 2012, as a way to market their product even further. 

Their description: "The Coca-Cola Hug Machine. You hug it, it returns the favour with a Coke. Because vending machines have feelings too. #hugmecoke"

John Lewis Christmas Advert

On Friday 6th November 2015, the high end retailer, John Lewis released their TV Christmas advertisement. 

In 2014 the advert was a emotional story of Monty the penguin finding love at Christmas, with the slogan "Give someone the Christmas they've been dreaming of." Once this advert was released John Lewis saw record number of sales on a stuffed penguin. 

Could this advertisement back in 2014 top 2015 ?

In my opinion yes... However, the main consumers will probably have the emotional attachment to this year's advertisement with the slogan "Show someone they've loved this Christmas."

  

Looking at this advertisement from a marketing perspective, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs can be applied, for example it relates to Maslow's stage of 'Belongingness' and aims to give the consumer a warm feeling of love, family and friendship. It also falls into the category of 'safety' as both the man and the girl are in secure homes and are protected so no harm is coming to them. 

Without the retailer being named at the end, it is impossible to recognise that this is a department store advertisement. Even though there are actually over 100 John Lewis products placed within. However, the advert being criticised because it cost £7,000000 to make and it has been suggested that the money could have been given to charity at Xmas to address social isolation in the elderly. Furthermore, it  reflects a certain stereotype of class and race and people do not fully understand the meaning until it is explained to them. Nevertheless, the fact that it has encouraged discussion means that it is getting attention and thus advertising be it subtly.