1. Case studies
Poundland
The re-branding of Poundland began in 2007 when Poundland signed with BOTTLE as
their ad agency. Since then BOTTLE have made an effort to change the public perception
of Poundland to try and make it diverse enough to attract customers from all classes.
This effort was made much more difficult because of a decision not to use advertising,
and to rely solely on social networks and being featured in newspapers. This is an
example of Poundland intentionally pushing for positive publicity, as featuring in
broadsheet newspapers is a key target. This is because BOTTLE believe it could
potentially lead to Poundland finding future investors.
BOTTLE’s marketing strategy was to place Poundland alongside big name supermarkets
in the hope that it would lead to Poundland becoming part of a consumer’s weekly shop.
They also attempted to create an online presence by regularly posting on Facebook and
Twitter whilst coming across as a friendly user rather than a faceless company.
With constant and accurate communication with media outlets, BOTTLE attempted to
‘manage the message’ by making sure they were well received on all fronts. By inviting
journalists on an accompanied tour with their CEO Jim McCarthy, they have shown that
they have nothing to hide and are attempting to create a positive public image and
reputation.
They have attempted to cater to their target market by organizing an event in which
Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley opened a new store in Grimsby. They ran
competitions on social media for fans to open the store alongside Catherine. Catherine
stated in an interview: “Opening the new shop has been a pleasure. The store will make
a big change to the area and really help local people.” As a credit to their successful
social media efforts, Poundland now amass over 26,000 fans online.
Tesco horsemeat scandal
In January 2013, news broke that Irish investigators had found three frozen Tesco beef
burgers to have contained horsemeat. In the aftermath of this, Tesco released an
apology, took up adverts in printed newspapers, and attempted to defend itself and
sometimes shift the blame to other companies that weren’t originally in the public eye.
In the process of all this, many PR and marketing techniques were used. One of the first
PR techniques to be used by Tesco in the aftermath was ‘spin’. Tesco attempted to shift
the media spotlight on to fellow supermarket LIDL, and as well as this they tried to place
a large portion of blame on to their suppliers.
“We and our supplier have let you down and we apologise.”
This was done to try to prevent bad news and damage to the supermarkets own
reputation, which initially failed with a huge drop in shares and sales. However, this spin
failed to prevent Tesco’s own health and purchasing policies from being scrutinized by
its consumers and the media.
Another technique used was damage limitation in the form of an apology letter. Without
this, Tesco could have taken a massive hit to their image and sales. Whilst they didn’t
take all of the responsibility, the excessive use of the word ‘we’ shows they are happy to
admit it is completely their problem and are taking efforts to 1). Find out how it
happened and 2). Stop it from happening again.
2. Red Bull
Red Bull started solely as an energy drink firm in 1987, and after years of trial and error
throughout Europe creator Dietrich Mateschitz decided to fire all of his staff and hire a
marketing firm in an attempt to successfully target nightclubs and students. After
achieving success in using a marketing strategy called ‘buzz marketing’ where they had
students driving around with free samples strapped on top of Mini Coopers. Although
Red Bull’s appeal grew significantly, they were still struggling in certain countries in
Europe.
Mateschitz soon realised that he had to develop the Red Bull brand further, and decided
to push it into the sports market. Before long Red Bull were sponsoring over 500
extreme sports athletes and began staging events like the Red Bull X-games and Red Bull
Air Races. Mateschitz was mastering brand promotion and along with it came the well
renowned tagline “Red Bull, it gives you wings.”
In 2005 Red Bull bought out an Austrian football team called SV Austria Salzburg. This is
just one of many sports teams to take on the Red Bull brand name. Others include New
York Red Bulls, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull Leipzig, and Red Bull Brasil.
Red Bull also sponsor one off events, and on 14th October 2012 they sponsored Austrian
skydiver Felix Baumgartner as he set the world record for skydiving after jumping from
24 miles. This event was called ‘Red Bull Stratos’.
With these investments Red Bull were bringing in massive yearly profits, and in 2011
posted figures of €4.253 billion in revenue.
http://robinmorris.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/red-bull.pdf
Suffragettes – United Kingdom
The Suffragettes were a national movement prominent in the UK that sought for equal
voting rights for women. Many actions of protest were taken by the group, including
hunger strikes by female prisoners, the unintentional martyrdom of Emily Davison, and
the gender imposture of Lady Constance Lytton. This eventually led to equality in
women’s voting rights with the Representation of People Act of 1928, which gave
women the ability to vote at the age of 21, like their male counterparts.
Lady Constance Lytton was instrumental in the reformation of conditions in prisons.
The pivotal part she played in the protest helped lead to the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ in April
1913, which allowed hunger striking prisoners to be released if their health was under
threat and re-arrested when recuperated.
The Suffragettes made their cause more recognizable with the adoption of the colours
purple, white, and green. This could help protests be easier to attach to the Suffragettes
and highlighted their cause in the national press with further ease.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_Kingdom
