Advertising in London Underground

1. Never have your logo placed too low on the ads esp. for hallways posters or for the platform ads where passengers sit or stand with their backs facing the wall (high dwell areas).

2. There is no point making verbose ads as no one has the time to read while they are catching trains untill and unless you have bought space on the wall facing platform.

3. The ads should be visually striking to get attention

4. The hallway ads should never be used as the only medium for making announcements. They should be just reminder ads for the main campaign. People never stop in hallways to read ads but they do stop at the platform.

5. There are professional companies like CBS which have precision packs to plot consumers by demographics and psychographics for different stations in London. Just what a marketer needs!

She..

She regularly lied to me
She regularly lied about me
She backstabbed me
She screamed at me
She stifled my progress
She was jealous of me
She abused me verbally in public
She was ugly, an eye sore!
She was real, no imaginary figure from a movie

And I kept quiet and never protested, I still don't know why.
Its one of the biggest regrets of my life.

She was no one but my boss at Canon. I was too new for HR to believe me.

But I feel it taught me a lesson. To value and respect good people and never to put up with malicious and scheming people.

I decided never to work under female bosses. Just when I met my current boss, I realised how wrong I was.

(You become poetic when in pain :-)), and it is a pain which I will never forget)

Rules of advertising in London's free dailies

Technorati Profile

Why should the rules be any different from any other newspaper? The answer lies in the tabloid format adopted by these free dailies. If its not clear still, travel by tube at peak office hours and you will get the answer which I presume most of the marketers don't.


The peak hours when the tube is packed, and people are jostling for space while trying to get a grip of the latest news or celeb gossips, there is little space for anyone to open both the pages of the newspaper and read it as you would expect them to. The newspaper is folded and at times folded twice so that the visible part is only half of the page or even less. Just imagine your computer screen cut into 4 parts horizontally because the space around you does not give you the luxury to read it wide open. Or even if a person is comfortably sitting and reading the newspaper, there still is a space constraint because reading it wide open means you open your arms as much which is not possible.


In such a scenario, a full page ad is ignored for convenience sake. Although it does catch attention first time but people are more interested in quickly getting a gist of all the newsy stuff before they get to work and prefer moving on instead of browsing through your full page ad the second time it comes.


Now for an announcement value ad, you would want to go for a full page ad like you do in any other print media but the same is not applicable to these tabloids. Whereas a smarter and smaller size ad which may not give a 'mega' feel, can get better attention. And if it is absolutely important to go for a bigger size ad, go for a 3/4 page ad with some news around it for people to stop by to read the news and in the process get exposed to your ad.



A good example is Lufthansa full page ads which have been appearing regularly in all of them - Metro, London Lite and London Paper and seem to be a waste of money. The fact that its neither an announcement ad to attract attention and nor is it smartly planned front loaded campaign, it gets ignored where as a Wilkinson Sword ad with smart layout and format gets noticed and talked about.



Its only common sense and needs small observation on part of the marketers but if ignored reduces the ROI and effectiveness.

The MAC Cosmetics Story

Founded by Frank Toskan of Canada in 1984, Makeup Art Cosmetics company is one of the few companies which has used innovative PR and unconventional marketing to create a niche for itself without spending millions of pounds in advertising.

The company began by giving away their cosmetics to makeup artists that worked with top models and actresses. MAC developed products that helped artists achieve the right look for stage lighting conditions. It is one of the few brands on the market which has colours to match every skin tone and colour.

Working on a simple all encompassing Brand Positioning of Makeup for All ages, all races, all sexes, its brand values project MAC Makeup as attitudinally hip, artfully irreverent, dedicated fully to the art of self-decoration and the realization of the Individual.

The Brand personality is cosmopolitan, innovative, irreverent, Original, which has almost created a Cult like following. Loved by women of all ages, it is one of the few fashion brands which truly transcend age.

From the very beginning the marketing strategy was to created makeup for makeup artists for fashion, movies and theatre. Endorsement through word of mouth was generated by giving away cosmetics to makeup artists who worked with top models and actresses in the early years of the Franks venture.

Over the years MAC has built a reputation for itself by unconventional and innovative marketing, breaking away from the safe and obvious. Since its philosophy is to create makeup for all ages, sexes and races, it has never shied away from affiliations with controversial artists and personalities.

In 1994 MAC started retail industry’s first charity called MAC AIDS fund. In 1994, Mac was one of the first to bring charity to retail sector. They started MAC AIDS fund for men, women and children affected by AIDS. The same year they launched VIVA GLAM lipstick.

MAC decided that every cent of the selling price of the VIVA GLAM lipsticks would go to the M·A·C AIDS Fund. VIVA GLAM’s first lipstick was red in colour which symbolizes the fight against AIDS/HIV throughout the world.

With a total of six shades of Viva Glam lipstick and two shades of Viva Glam ‘lipglass’ now sold worldwide, and through the annual Kids Helping Kids Card Program, M·A·C Cosmetics has provided over $95 million (US) to date for the M·A·C AIDS Fund. MAC pays for the ads and its production, the packaging, the shipping and of course their lost profit margin out of their own pocket.

It worked wonders for the MAC brand as the offer was refreshingly straightforward “Every cent of the selling price of MAC Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass is donated to the MAC AIDs Fund to support men, women and children living with HIV and AIDs.”

MAC holds Viva Glam gala and fundraiser annually to raise funds for its charity and VIVA GLAM lipstick has become one of the fashion world's most glamorous and successful fundraising initiatives of all time.

From the beginning the brand has targeted the premium segments with its pricing. Regular introduction of new trendsetting ranges and colours kept the excitement alive like the latest one is 'Antiquitease' inspired by antique look.

MAC has done some Periodic ads featuring unlikely celebrities such as flamboyant entertainer RuPaul and Elton John. In 1995, RuPaul was signed to a modelling contract for MAC cosmetics, making him the first drag queen supermodel. M.A.C has never shied away from affiliations with controversial artists.


PR strategies used by MAC:

Apart from traditional media, MAC regularly gives out new launched products to be reviewed by various beauty websites and beauty blog owners which is one very powerful SEO tool and increase the credibility of the brand. A few examples are as below:

http://beautybanter.blogspot.com/2007/10/praying-to-god-of-mac.html

Off late MAC has started heavy usage of PPC advertising. Search for cosmetics or any beauty related term on the Internet and you can see MAC all over the Internet.

Marketing Tactics used by MAC over time:


1. Halloween: 25 different looks for Halloween—from ghoulish to feminine to downright scary— highlighted on its Web site, Maccosmetics.com and at all M.A.C. counters.

2. Back to MAC: "Because we share your commitment to the environment, M·A·C accepts returns of its primary packaging through the Back to M·A·C Program. By returning six M·A·C primary packaging containers to a M·A·C counter or M·A·C Cosmetics Online, you receive a free M·A·C Lipstick of your choice as our thanks to you.

3. Barbie colours cosmetics line of cosmetics: MAC has teamed up with Mattel to launch a Barbie line. The line is intended for adults, and comes with its own limited-edition MAC-themed Barbie doll

4. Temporary websites dedicated to a particular new launch like http://www.barbielovesmac.com/

5. BoomBox – BoomBox is London’s first free for all Fashion Club in East London. BoomBox isn't serious, posey or full of egos; it's fun, inclusive and unpretentious club unlike fashion which is meant to be exclusive. The fashion ethos at BoomBox is simple: if all else is luxury brands, don't try and compete – be different, be brilliant on your own terms, create something out of nothing and feed off the sense of community surrounding you. Its frequented by fashion celebrities and is said to have revived London’s fashion scene and London Fashion Week. MAC has tied up with it in smart way by selling MAC and BoomBox co-branded T-Shirts.

MAC Distribution

1. MAC is sold in 66 countries across the globe in 1000 outlets.

2. MAC’s founder says "I don’t have the luxury of communicating with my clients, so therefore my salespeople are the link between my philosophy and their customers." This is the reason why MAC assistants on shop counters are trained to advice customers on makeup techniques, formulas, and latest trends.

3. MAC is present in 53 stores across UK out of which 8 are MAC’s flagship stores proving the fact that the brand pull is so strong that consumers flock these few stores to buy MAC cosmetics giving it a cult like following.

So when a mass market brand like L'Oreal or a premium brand like Clinique spend millions on advertising, a brand like MAC does it all by inspiring its stakeholders in non intrusive and subtle w ays without spending a fortune on advertising.

What is wrong with City A.M.?

An introduction to the newspaper in their own words -

‘City A.M. is London’s first free daily business newspaper - covering news on the markets, global and local business news as well as contemporary lifestyle features. City A.M. is read by over 100,000 professionals throughout The City, Canary Wharf and other areas of high business concentration.’

While it seems to be a good idea to have started such a publication yet it doesn’t seem to have taken off. What makes it obvious is the fact that nobody opts for it even when there are City A.M. promoters handing it out at strategic locations like Canary Wharf station. You would expect most people coming in and going out of Canary Wharf to be more interested in business newspaper but you see most of them bend their backs and pick up a Metro instead. While the advertisers are supporting City A.M. right now, I don’t foresee a long term growth for it. A lot of unread newspapers from the previous day are lying on the stands every morning as there are no takers.

Now one reason can be before people get into the rut of work stress, they prefer reading Metro which is probably a welcome change and offers a quick round up of the general news and entertainment. But a bit of thinking makes you feel that there are other reasons.

FT is the preferred financial daily and is respected a lot more. City A.M. is trying to woo the same target audience with its content. There is no significant differentiation from FT except the format. In fact, City A.M. has lot lesser to offer. So even if it is free, it has not been patronized by people unlike Metro.

I wrote an email to City A.M. a few days ago saying that their newspaper is very newsy and a business daily cannot afford to be news lead publication only. It has to have analysis to get credibility and bang in the next few days they added editorial in the inside pages. I was happy to see how fast they adapted but again it will not help. Well I could not predict it coming myself but the truth is that you cannot expect an average person travelling by tube to get to work to read serious business news analysis on his way. It’s just too much to expect from him.

So where did City A.M. go wrong?

Firstly they did not research the market well to be able to foresee such situations. An in depth study would have thrown up the fact that nobody has the time to read serious business newspapers while commuting to work except those few who would rather read FT than City A.M.

It is not that there can be no competition to FT. But you cannot compete with a well entrenched and serious player like FT with a similar positioning until and unless you invest heavily in buying consumer mind space which may not be possible for City A.M.

The answer lies in positioning the paper differently. They need to create a new and differentiated personality for City A.M. Do things not explored by FT or any business magazine yet. Increase interactivity with the readers. Look at lighter side of this profession or just whatever that works to change long term fortune for this publication.

But I do want to sincerely wish them good luck.