The past 7 days has thrown up a lot, from 1,700 Tesco managers being demoted, to Claudio Ranieri being sacked and an immense gaff at the Oscars!  But what news articles really speak to us marketers?  I’ve picked the top three stories that we here at ib3 have taken something from.

Doris certainly had her day

A weather bomb?  I’d never heard of a weather bomb before, but Doris certainly made her present felt.  Up here in Yorkshire we felt the winds and the rain but nothing too extreme!  The naming of storms certainly has drawn more attention to the weather and added character to these weather fronts. Can we take learnings from this as marketers?  Most definitely!  Bringing personality to elements of marketing plans where there once was none must be of benefit.  A prime example of this was our work with H+H and their Aircrete blocks.  Changing the perception of products and services are what we are all about.  We made grey, almost forgotten Aircrete blocks into fun, super heroes with a personality of their own, to great affect!

And the winner is…

La La Land, Moonlight!  A mix up of epic proportions.  You have got to feel sorry for the losers, equally what an under-whelming way to receive an award.  What a response though! Breakfast TV, global news network broadcasts, twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn all blew up.  The Academy Awards certainly do not need any more exposure, but what a great way to get your business or message out there.  Is all publicity, good publicity?  Within reason, but I think the perfectionist within all of us wants our public opinion to be a good one based on successes rather than short-comings.

I used to love Snake

The Nokia 3310 is coming back!  Everyone had one of these back in the days when you could only store 20 texts on your phone.  Is this a launch that’s rooted in nostalgia?  Most definitely, but there is a market for the simple approach to communicating.  This is the phone for no-nonsense users who want to call and text.  They don’t want to tweet, watch videos of cats or  catch Pokémon whilst they’re out and about.  They want to call home or chase a dot around a screen with a line that represents a snake.

So to answer my original question, the common theme is simplicity. Whether it’s giving something a personality, creating a buzz, or bringing back a favourite, they’re all simple but extremely impactful.

The simplistic approach is alive and well in marketing.  We are firm believes in the simple and practical approach to marketing.  Find the objectives of a campaign or the needs of a business and aim to achieve them.  Simple.  Who do you want to speak to and what’s the best way to contact them.

Thanks for reading,

Adam