Old, new, borrowed and blue - or purple

 

One of my favourite German ads from last year was this 1980s extravaganza from Perwoll. And little did I know it last March, but this heralded a rather nifty “practice what you preach” trend in the ad world. Ad recycling. 

Mars went all-out for it with their Healthy Planet Productions Campaign , where well-loved ads for M&Ms, Twix and Bounty have been repurposed to draw attention to the carbon impact of advertising and get some new messages across about climate change. All while saving on production costs to client coffers and planet. 

The other bit of good news about this is that System1, suppported by Mark Ritson, have long been casting doubt on the marketer’s bugbear of “wearout". If an ad is any good, it might still do your brand good 19 years later, rather like one of the Princess Royal’s outfits, which never seem to wear out.

Recycled and repurposed items made it onto the Christmas wish list for many responsible citizens. And responsibly-minded clients got recycled ads. If not the specific execution, then at least the idea - such as Cadbury’s extending their previous year’s campaign into OOH media.

And then there was the heartwarming recycling of the Shake ’n’ Vac song, or Double Diamond works wonders and other jingles from the past as reminiscence therapy for dementia patients via Heart radio and The Wayback Project. 

And the trend shows no sign of abating. This rather wonderful film from Cadbury’s (again) is not really a direct recycle, more a mix of old, new, borrowed and blue. Or is that purple?

What’s clever here is that it not only reinterprets the original Cadbury’s Mum’s Birthday ad ... but it also borrows from a rich school of “heritage” ads - something that the Brits do particularly well:

Some may bemoan the lack of creativity and originality here, but I beg to disagree. Choosing exactly the right combination of familiar and surprising elements for these films is an art.

Could 2024 be the year of the Circular Adconomy?

RETROWURST: Drogerie Wars January 2006

 

I’ve just done my first shopping trip of the year in dm - I couldn’t quite face all the eager beavers buying groceries just yet. Maybe - as I wrote in this piece 18 years ago - there is indeed something calming about the dm shopping experience that’s just right to get you back into the swing of things.

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To start off the New Year, my first Extrawurst for 2006 will take the theme of “drugstore wars”. Before we get into the armies involved, I probably need to just say a little bit about German drugstores themselves. First of all Drogerie or “drugstore” is a bit of a misnomer. A Drogerie is really not the place to go looking for a quick way to deal with that New Year Schnapps-induced hangover as the strongest drugs one is likely to find in these places are herbal teas. Drogeries do not sell anything classed as a medicine, although they do sell a very wide range of herbal remedies and teas.

 

The main product categories on sale in a Drogerie in addition to the herbal remedies are beauty products of all sorts, household goods, paper goods, baby foods and pet foods. In addition, you may also find baby and children’s clothing, seasonal knick-knacks and decorations, toys and some food and beverages. There may well be shop-in-shop stands, such as Tchibo or services for films and mobile phones.

 

Now, you may well be thinking “Aha! Boots!” but somehow the Drogerie has much less of a feeling of competence and trust than Boots and more a feeling of a sort of health-and-beauty bazaar. Even Superdrug has a more serious feel to it than these German Drogeries as they at least have some element of pharmaceutical competence. Because anything to do with medicines comes under the very serious business of the Apotheke, the German drugstores have an image more akin to their supermarket cousins.

 

Of course, most large supermarkets have a section where one can buy all the products one would normally find in a Drogerie but many people prefer to do a separate shop at the drugstore as a greater range is offered and, quite often, lower prices. Drogeries can be found in both high street/shopping centre and out-of-town locations.

 

So, onto the combatants in the drugstore war. First we have the Drugstore King- Schlecker. Schlecker celebrated 30 years of business in 2005 and is among Germany’s Top 25 family-owned businesses. The billionaire owner, Herr Anton Schlecker is up there in the ranks with Germany’s other kings of discount- Theo and Karl Albrecht (Aldi) and Dieter Schwarz (Lidl). Herr Schlecker, who collects exclusive sports cars in his spare time, started his business 30 years ago in Baden Württemburg, South Germany, on very clear low cost principles to which he has remained true to this day. The business has grown to a €6.55 bn turnover concern employing 50,300 people. Schlecker have been awarded a Superbrand 2005 award from N-TV and Handelsblatt, presumably based on their uncompromising “no-frills” approach.

 

Schlecker’s principles all relate to a philosophy of “low cost at (almost) any cost”. Schlecker rent out the cheapest of locations for their stores, often snapping up unattractive locations that other retailers have turned their noses up at. The stores carry a range of only 4,000 articles and constantly kick out lines that don’t sell. Walking into a Schlecker store, you will probably be reminded of the Eastern bloc in the bad old days: everything is basic, from the stark blue/white logo to the chilly warehouse “atmosphere”. Schlecker are frequently pulled up on accusations of not treating employees particularly well and not making much effort towards a pleasant working environment but Herr Schlecker’s retort is usually that he is continually providing 1000s of new jobs in Germany and other parts of Europe while others are laying staff off.

 

Although Schlecker pioneered and developed its Home Shopping service ahead of many other retailers, the website remains a horror for the eyes. You can marvel at this for yourself on www.schlecker.de and see that that lack of aesthetic sensitivity in the stores is translated into the website. However, for the loyal customers, low prices are worth the somewhat unpalatable “shopping experience” and Schlecker is estimated to hold 41% of the Drogerie market in Germany.

 

Times have begun to change, however, and Herr Schlecker found, some 18 months ago that his low-cost business model was not always so resistant to swings of consumer fortune. For the first time ever, last year, Schlecker began to make some compromises in the face of increasing competition, particularly in the high street/shopping centre from competitors with higher margins and a more pleasant shopping experience. Among the strategic changes that were made, smaller stores under 200 m² were closed, the food ranges were phased-out (“Lidl do that better”- Anton Schlecker) and payment with plastic (EC or direct debit card) was introduced. Meanwhile, Schlecker continues its rapid expansion outside Germany, primarily to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

 

Whether these changes will be successful is yet to be seen but maybe we should take a look now at the main pretender to the throne who is giving Herr Schlecker these headaches.

 

“dm” is another drogerie chain that has been going for slightly longer than Schlecker and is about half Schlecker’s size in terms of turnover, outlets and employees. The first dm store opened in Karlsruhe in 1973 and the chain is currently in a phase of rapid expansion, both within Germany (where it took over REWE’s “Idea” drugstore chain in April last year) and throughout Italy, Austria and several Central/eastern European countries including Czech republic, Slovak republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia.

 

A more different retail concept to Schlecker would be hard to imagine. dm’s slogan “Hier bin ich Mensch. Hier kauf ich ein:” (I am human here. I do my shopping here.) is the key to dm’s approach. Walking into one of dm’s stores is a very different experience to walking into Schlecker. You may not be able to put your finger on exactly what it is, but the dm stores are intricately designed to make people feel well and even inspired, at all times of year. Careful attention is given to lighting, colours, the width of aisles and the heights of displays to make everything feel “just right”. It is not too far to say your soul may even feel uplifted, too.

 

For dm have some pretty lofty philosophy on their side. Rather than the “low cost at (almost) any cost” philosophy of Schlecker, the founders and board of dm are followers of Anthroposophy. Now, I have no intention of giving a huge discourse on Anthroposophy here – suffice to say that Anthroposophy is a philosophy that has had an effect on many areas of life in Germany over the last ninety years or so including architecture and education. If you are really interested, you can do a search on Rudolf Steiner, who was the founder of the whole thing (and I would be interested if anyone could send me a potted idiot’s guide to what it’s all about, because I can’t fathom it out!). The Anthroposophy movement does seem to have its critics - although not a religion, or a science, but rather a “spiritual science”- it does seem to have a sort of Kabbalah or Scientology feel to it!

 

Getting back to the more mundane subject of drugstores, you can see where the ideas of “levels of perception” or “asking questions” or even “artistic expression of perceptions” come into dm’s presentation. The store design is very well thought-out and a lot of thought is put into the design of dm’s products. The website www.dm-drogerie.de is a contrast to that of Schlecker, with information about the company’s numerous CSR activities and working environment well upfront as well as useful advice of the sort “where do dark rings under the eyes come from?” or “why does the skin get wrinkled after a bath?”.

 

So, the philosopher is challenging the discounter. We don’t know as yet which way the drugstore war will end up but it will certainly be interesting to see ultimately whether German priorities are on price or shopping experience for this retail category as this may have implications for other high street-and out-of-town-retail names.

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Who came up smelling of roses? No contest - it was the philosopher beating the discounter into bankrupcy in 2012. Schlecker is no more on the German retail landscape.

Although dm does have to keep on its perfectly manicured toes. Rossmann is pretty well neck-and-neck when it comes to the 2023 drugstore crown.

Time for altered images?

 

The last couple of times I’ve signed on to my internet banking with Commerzbank, I’ve had a lovely little seasonal surprise. The visual, above, drawing my attention to the bank’s Christmas charity drive. They have partnered with brotZeit e.V , an organisation that provides free breakfasts for schoolchildren. And, sad as it is, there are plenty of children in Germany at the moment who could benefit from this charity.

Why am I commenting on this? Well, the visual itself is striking and eye-catching, with its healthy snacks in the guise of seasonal characters. Pictures do paint a thousand words and fun, hope, cheerfulness, children, health, colourfulness, yumminess, friendliness, cosiness, kindness, imagination and creativity are just a dozen to start with. This is so much richer than the type of visuals that usually confront me on opening the website.

Typically in the last year, these will either be the usual grinning plastic people looking thrilled and excited over their laptops. Or pairs of said plastic people smooching. I’ve written about these plastic people here, and I don’t think it needs repeating. 

What I wondering is - in the obsession with representation, diversity and “people who look like me”, have we forgotten the power of the abstract and the symbolic? Long, long ago, we handled the Commerzbank account at Saatchi. We created a striking look, and from what I remember, there were no visuals of human beings. Everything was symbolic, from squirrels to oak trees. And plenty of less expected, yet rich, evocative imagery, too. 

Why does everything have to be so literal? Surely communication works harder when the visual is not merely a reflection of the text? The problem with using the thrilled and excited plastic people is that everyone else is using them too. Within the banking category and without. 

Advertisements from the golden age of posters are now regarded as art. 

Isn’t it time to give the thrilled and excited plastic people and their laptops a rest?

Everything, everywhere, all at once

 

According to Interbrand, Amazon is the world’s third biggest and most valuable brand. Next year, the company will clock up 30 years in business. I’ve watched it grow from an “internet bookstore” (how quaint) through a destroyer of the small and local to a paragon of customer-centric brand virtue (according to Interbrand). And back and forth again. Amazon nows occupies a position of what I’d call uneasy ubiquity.

My own relationship with Amazon illustrates this perfectly. I resist Amazon as default, in the same way that I avoid booking.com. And yet - I’m trapped with my Kindle. And sometimes, Amazon is the only practical option. 

This is what Amazon have understood. And it’s what they understand by customer-centric (rather than people-centric). When people are in customer mode, when there’s something they really, really, want, and they want it quickly and cheaply, reliably delivered, noble principles go out of the window. Amazon understand the power of “make it easy, make it convenient.”

So, when you already offer “everything”, where can you go from there to make things even easier? You try at “everywhere”. So people don’t even have to leave their favourite social media app, let alone their armchair for (almost) instant gratification. Amazon have partnered with Meta, as well as Pinterest and Snapchat to link your account and shipping address for a check-out without checking-out of the app. 

I won’t be joining in, as I’m old and contrary. But I doubt that’s of much concern to Amazon. They are probably more perturbed that, at this stage at least, TikTok aren’t playing ball, either.

Trad and all that jazz

 

I’ve said it once and I’ve said it again - I’m a little bit queasy about the idea of brands “owning” anything. But if there’s a UK brand that has a claim on Christmas, it’s John Lewis.

The agency - and strategy - has changed this year. The retailer is moving from “thoughtful gifting” (or is it giving?) to “let your traditions grow.” Whether or not you’re a fan of the festive Venus Fly Trap, you have to admit this is a clever strategy. It’s the perfect mix of the personal and the collective.

One part of the campaign is something for market research nerds like me - The John Lewis Festive Tracker  . This investigation into the UK’s tinsel, turkey and traditions has been put together with YouGov.

Fascinating festive facts on what’s changing - “two-tree” households, all day pyjamas and combining celebrations from other cultures with Christmas. And what isn’t - family & friends, baking & crafting, board games and watching films. And, I presume, church and carols, although these are a strange omission in the report.

There’s also a little look into history so you can see that John Lewis did “do” Christmas prior to 2007. In the world of advertising, memories are very short!

Penny for your thoughts?

 

I’ve been writing an article for one of my clients about Christmas advertising. Because it’s for an international audience, most of the focus is on ads from the UK and other English-speaking markets. In Germany, Christmas advertising is a thing, but not such a colossal humongous thing (literally, in the case of this year’s John Lewis ad) as it is in the UK. 

You can see what I mean if you scroll down this article about German supermarkets’ Christmassy commercials. Apart from Edeka’s slightly weird meaty mumblings, there’s nothing really unexpected and many of the ads are a little lacklustre and conventional. 

There’s cuteness, kids,  magic and animals with Lidl and REWE. Some “get the tissues” from Co-op. And a bit of fun and nostalgia from Aldi with grown-ups behaving like big kids.

But that’s me with my London ad person hat on (also looking a bit lacklustre these days, to be honest). Time and time again, we hear that the ads that do well at Christmas are those that do all the cuteness, tears, smiles, entertainment and general warm fuzziness. And do it well.

So what the heck were Penny thinking? Over 3 minutes, entitled “The Kids” with the message “It’s our future, please listen to us.” Four youngsters, discontented, sad and angry about the grown-ups in their immediate family, or society in general. A girl forced into ballet when she’d rather dance freestyle. A little chap who can’t bear his mum’s social media obsession. A young lad upset by all the “six-pack” bodies he sees on his phone. A junior environmentalist striding around the house switching lights and appliances off.  

Then a montage of sulky glum faces, school protests, “Fridays for Future”-style activism clichés accompanied by a children’s choir rendition of a song from P!nk (I think).

Maybe it seemed like a good idea when the agency made this back in the Spring or Summer. But at this time of year, and given the news of the last few weeks, it feels completely tone deaf. As I said last year, no-one wants to be reminded of misery, hate and division. Especially not now. 

A long time ago, when I worked on P&G, I’d often have to steer the clients away from anything that felt like finger-pointing. I’d remind them that new mums often felt inadequate and hopeless enough without ads suggesting that if they didn’t use the new-improved super-ultra-Pampers (or whatever), they were a crap mother. Especially if they couldn’t afford better than Aldi.

That attitude from advertisers and their agencies is sneaking back into commercials, and this is a prime example. Finger-pointing, parent-shaming (if you like) manipulative stuff to make people feel lousy about themselves. Backed up by some sort of agency bullshit that they’ve “got out there” (where is “there”, anyway?) and listened to “real” children’s wishes. Well, I have my own experience of that.

I quoted an article from Richard Huntington in my last post and this was one of the stand-out sentences for me:

Everyone is trying in their own way to be a good person living a good life.

In the end, it shouldn’t be more complicated than that.

Perennial bloomers

 

The older I get, and the more years I notch up as a one-woman band here in rural Germany, the more amusing I find the antics of some of my marketing and advertising partners-in-crime. It’s that slight shake-of-the-head, roll-of-the-eyes kind of amusement with a muttered “what planet are they on?” under my breath. 

I heard a marketing director speaking on a panel discussion yesterday, who was (I think) seriously suggesting that the following could be a good idea. AI could, in the future, “serve” an ad featuring a person of the same skin colour as the recipient - presumably all in the name of personalisation, diversity and “feeling seen.” 

Where do I start on how wrong this is? What next? I’ll be “served” an ad featuring someone of exactly my age, so I don’t feel ancient, left out and invisible? What a ghastly notion!

Whenever I’ve ventured onto LinkedIn these days, there do seem to be plenty of people (at least in my feed) talking about bursting bubbles and getting back to reality. A recent WARC article by Richard Huntington is titled The Future of Strategy 2023: Marketing is in desperate need of a reality check. 

Richard makes the point that we both work and live in a parallel universe he calls Marketingland. I’d rather use that nasty, twee “Adland” moniker. By the way, when did that creep into the language? It’s not the word itself, it’s the way people use it, as if it’s some exclusive place to be proud of. Whatever, this universe is populated by the well-educated, metropolitan, relatively young middle class.

And why do people not just work but live there, too? Because this world is conjured-up “through distaste for the real one with all its ugliness, mess and complexity.” Richard then takes aim at various of Adland’s favourite tools (so to speak), including “the stinking edifice of generational marketing". This is described as “a charlatan’s business” and “should be given as much credence in sensible organisations as astrology.”

I’m with him. The whole Generations stuff, beloved of lazy journalists and denizens of “Adland,” is more full of holes than a Boomer’s string vest. Or was it the lot before them that wore those? Not only do the generation years chop and change as often as the UK cabinet, but the whole thing is utterly US-focussed. Where you are born is just as important as when, as Ipsos show. And I’m quite tickled that “GenZ" are refusing to behave as many marketers want them to, as Nick Asbury points out.

What to do? Richard Huntington makes a call to “love and respect the people we serve”. I’d leave out the love part, personally, but respect and value their perspective (even if you don’t agree) - I’ll take that. As Richard says, “Everyone is trying in their own way to be a good person living a good life.”

Another perspective on the generations thing is to Adopt the Perennial Mindset as in this article by Tara McMullin. The thinking is based on a book by Mauro Guillén: The Perennials: The Megatrends creating a Postgenerational Society. This challenges the idea of linear lives, moving from play to learn to work to leisure/retirement, and “age-appropriate activities.” Getting rid of the concept of “milestones” beyond referring to babies and child development. A Perennial is defined as someone “not constrained by their age and what they’re ‘supposed’ to be doing at any given stage of life.”

Despite being a Planner, I’ve never been that great on planning my own life. I recognise the inevitability of change and the unexpected. But I liked what this article had to say about a broadened definition of work whereby people can stay active and connected to friends - work more along the lines of mentoring and support as one grows older and hopefully wiser. Tara writes that “the idea of retirement feels elusive to anyone under, say, 55 today.”

Well, that just proves a point. It’s a while since I was 55, and although I do have a bookmarks file of “retirement jobs” (mentoring, teaching, pivoting) the idea still seems pretty elusive to me!

I know this way of thinking can’t be a replacement for all that generations guff. Or indeed for media planning based on age breaks. But I do like the principle of getting away from pigeon-holing and rigid categories of age, life-stage, or when exactly you were born. Away from the sequential model of life. And from many of these frameworks when they are too strictly applied. I have said here often: The Map is not the Territory.

And, back to that panel discussion and what AI can do. One point that does give me hope are the increasing opportunities for contextual media planning. Catching me in the right mood, at the right place and the right time is going to be far more effective than “serving” me some old bag with pasty-white skin who doesn’t look a bit like me.