Note: It was never my intention to offend any parties, particularly smokers regarding my article below. View it from an optimistic point of view. Have a pleasant read! 🙂
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Round, irressistilbe eyes. Goofy smile. Captivating giggles. I can go on & on. Words like these immediately popped to your mind when you see babies or children. Often, objects associated with them are Fisher Price’s toys, iPads & colorful balloons. (Okay peek-a-boo too, if you must.) These are reflex, stereo-typed associations people have when it comes to kids.
BUT, (There’s always a but, isn’t it) can you associate smoking with children? Yeah, thought so. One tiny little revelation? I can’t stand cigarette smokes. What more the people who smokes? (Does cigar count? Hmmm)
-> I stumbled across this amazing, eye-opening advertisement. The advert’s message was simple: To discouraged people from smoking. Thai Health Foundation hired Ogilvy & Mather, an advertising, marketing & PR agency to help raise awareness regarding the danger of smoking. Personally, from a non-smoker standpoint, I think this concept was down-right brilliant!
Every adult reminded their children that smoking is bad. But, did they forget something themselves?
Ogilvy & Mather’s campaign gives a fresh, new method on conveying their message. (C’mon, everybody’s tired of seeing the same anti-smoking ad on TV. No one gives a shit) It worked too. According to the Huffington Post, The ads had resulted in a 40% in Thailand’s quit smoking hotline.
Check out the video for yourself. You’ll be appalled!
I put a lot of thought on what I’m going to post on my first ever blog. After what seems like an eternity of skimming, scrolling and browsing through endless websites and basically every marketing pages ever, – it then hit me. Why not I write something that I’m obssessed passionate about? At least, that is one way I can think of to jump-start my blogging activities!
Passion. Football (or soccer) immediately comes to my mind when I hear the word. Yes, stereotypes everywhere would automatically have a preconceived notion about me. How is it that a mere girl like moi likes football? Not just that, but passion? While I can start a whole new blog altogether on how I lay an interest on football, this blog is after all, strictly about digital marketing.
-> I stumbled across this article years ago while Manchester United was on a sponsorship deal with Turkish Airline. Widely known among football fans everywhere, Manchester United is famous not just for its impressive records (who can forget the legendary treble of 1999?) or its status as the world’s richest club (excuse my bias tone) but its is also known for a base where legends were born. Iconic figures like Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham all started their careers first at Manchester United before going on and earn their celebrity status at a different football club.
With 8 million registered fans and over 55 million likes on Facebook, a recent study showed that over 80% of the world’s household with television have access to Manchester United. That is, approximately 1 in 20 people on the planet support Manchester United.
Sensing a whiff of lucrative deals, (ka-ching $$$!) Turkish Airlines has come to an agreement of a 3 and a half-year sponsorship contract with the football giants. Turkish Airlines make use of the club’s rising stars to promote their on-air services & other special offerings via non-other than digital marketing. Here’s one:
What really grabbed my eyes is how they, instead of the normal, boring, i-know-the-procedures-already airplane safety features, Turkish Airline has decided to make the safety videos more interesting – By featuring the players. (Who can resist watching the Da Silva twins?)
Despite all its crowning glory, questions were raised on how the Glazers family (United’s sole owner) manipulates the club’s fame to lure in sponsors for the sake of making more money. Rumors circulated that United’s brand image is surreptitiously taken a turn to disaster.
Rigorous emphasis on marketing activities has led to millions of dollars being spent on advertisements instead of signing on new deals. As a result, United’s performance in the league has been poor. A significant level of investment will be required to restore United’s playing squad to the standard needed to challenge at the top of the English and European games.
An article by Sports On Earth explains this situation further.
There’s still a lot of unanswered questions at United. Whether it is being manipulated to make big bucks is an entirely new story. What’s clear is that Turkish Airlines is one of the many leading examples of how a brand can be marketed digitally through the influence of celebrity figures with only one reason in mind: To lure consumers’ attention.
johaniz7 