"Snogging is good for you!"

After my long absence from this blog due to the heaps of Uni work I have been facing, I come to you with some delicious news!  I have just returned from a fun afternoon in London- made even more fun with a Snog! I can all hear you shouting: "Please spare us the details!" and "That's already too much information!" but put your mind at rest I am only talking about the frozen yoghurt type of Snog! 

Before I continue writing, I want to make sure you know that is NOT some kind of paid advert, nor does it carry any personal benefits. This is simply a brand I just encountered which made me go all gooey at the knees with excitement! And of course who better to share with than with our lovely followers??

I had never tasted frozen yoghurt before- the thought never really made my mouth water- I mean let's face it, it's just natural yoghurt which looks like ice cream only it has all the bitter/sour taste of yoghurt, where's the fun?! So what made me try it this time, you may ask? Simple! Try the name Snog! When something promises to be as good as a Snog, you just have to at least taste it! 

My friend and I went into this tiny parlour, and in itself it looked great! Not just the colourful wallpaper and decor but also the arrays of toppings you could add to the yoghurt, all displayed indulgently next to each other... By now my expectations had risen to an all time high. Their Big Idea was executed impeccably, from postcards showing the three flavours of frozen yoghurts (Natural, Green Tea and Chocolate) and the ideal topping to accompany them, complete with messages on the actual yoghurt cups- never letting you forget that what you are ultimately doing is "Guilt-free Snogging". 

This, for me is a brand, which is tapping the full potential of the big idea. They also have a feedback card named "Tell us about your first snog". The brand is as fun and cheeky as the name suggests and certainly cuts through the noise! It manages to promote and provide the consumer with a full-fat experience, whilst enjoying a healthy, fat and sugar free frozen yoghurt. 

AND even, better than all of this, is the immaculate taste of Snog frozen yoghurt! So the product actually lives up to (and in my case completely exceeded) the initial expectations it sets with its Xtra Cool Factor. But there was more. I simply had to check out its online presence before I ticked all the boxes in favour of this brand. 

The website is simple yet fun, highlighting the brand values of Health, Individuality and People. It clearly explains what the product is and its benefits, promotes the latest addition to its range of toppings, and introduces the new cookbook, Healthy Treats: http://www.ifancyasnog.com/.They are also present on facebook with slightly over 6,800 likes to Snog's name: http://www.facebook.com/ifancyasnog?sk=info. Snog is also active on Twitter with over 2,300 followers and displaying quite an active approach: http://twitter.com/#!/ifancyasnog. I wonder how in the past three years they did not manage to convert more people to frozen yoghurt. However, 2011 has seen the opening of more stores in Dubai, Kuwait, Brazil and Colombia- so they must be doing it right!

This brand could really stand as an example for others aspiring to promote healthy food. Find an interesting and exciting Big Idea, stick to it and execute it to perfection- that and the "yummy" factor of the product may spell the recipe for roaring success. So I guess, Myth Busted! Whoever has been saying that exciting brands do not exist any longer, has certainly not been Snogging enough! 

Are you sure you're showing your love to the right people?

It's that time of the year again when RED takes over our world: Red roses, Red cards, Red hearts, Red lingerie, Red wrapping paper, Red cupcakes... you name it and it's Red! Before I continue I do want to add a tiny disclaimer to make sure you do not, at any point, think of me as a bitter singleton who is simply jealous of all the lovers out there. In fact, this is my first valentine's day in which I am a very happy, claimed for woman. 

Unlike many, I am in a relationship which refuses to celebrate V-Day. No, it is certainly not because it saves me the money or the torture of finding a gift. It is also not attributed to lack of romance, passion or love. Actually, it is quite the opposite. Let me tell you how Lexie sees it: So Valentine's Day comes but once a year, just like Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, Anniversaries and all the other mini-traditions we have come to respect through time. Now, as much as most of these feasts celebrate and mark a special event commemorated on a specific day, Valentine's Day is tied to love- an emotion which can be expressed in many ways upon each and every one of those 525,600 minutes. 

So what is it that makes many go all gooey at the sight of a bunch of red roses and a box of chocolates on this day? Well, besides the fact that many rely on V-Day to actually show the appreciation to that special someone, it is the social perception and idolisation of this day. What we have come to experience is pure commercialisation of love. I am so sorry if this is taking you back to day your parents revealed Santa Claus is not real, but maybe if we sweep away the rose petals, hoover the glitter and switch the light back on for a minute, you will see what I mean.

How much does it cost you to say "I love you" on an average day? Excluding long-distance phone calls or texts, the actual price is usually £0.00. But what happens on the 14th of February of every year? FACT: British people spend around £1.6bn on Valentine's Day with an average £70 spend per person. Shocked much? So what exactly is the difference between an "I love you" on the, say, 13th of Feb compared to one day later? Are you ready for the answer? Brace yourselves...! You're simply saying 'I love you' to us marketeers other than your loved ones. 

I mean we love you, we do, but it is incredibly overwhelming for us to see you make such an effort to create this new tradition were we can boost our sales and dance around as if another Christmas just landed on our company's balance sheet! TA!

Take our beloved ice-cream brand Wall's. Their whole re-branding strategy was set around this made up holiday! Starting from their heart-shaped logo, their launch of new flavours and their campaigns. Wall's have made history just by strategically opting to associate themselves with a day where everybody, apparently, feels the love.  

Allow me, however, to take my claim of price-tagged love (or lack of it in this case) to the next level. So us marketeers realised that more people are staying single for longer whilst others have grown to hate  V-Day due to heart-breaking experiences. Never fear, we slowly but surely introduced a new range of, how should I say this... appropriate products: Voodoo Dolls, Anti-Valentine t-shirts, mugs, chocolate boxes, stuffed animals, underwear, aprons, magnets and what not. Don't believe me? Check it out yourselves: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/anti+valentines+gifts

Before you start accusing marketeers for tricking you into this fantasy world, run to your closest mirror and take a long look at the person staring back at you. Unfortunately, yes, you have brought this upon yourselves. You see, us marketeers are not the evil people everyone makes us out to be. We propose new things, but it is you consumers who give us the feedback and response to whether you like them or not. We simply anticipate and fulfil your demands. It's as if we're your fairy godmothers or godfathers, you say the word and we make it happen. 

Therefore, if you do not feel like equating your love to money, please do not feel obliged. We will get the message and move on, like we always have. But if you think that the 14th of February has to be the day you equate your love to special, expensive treats, then that would give us more of a reason to hate it as people but LOVE it as marketeers-who-love-their-bonuses-at-the-end-of-the-year.

So, here's to all of you who spend so much money on Valentine's Day; A Big Thank You from us Marketeers out there. Thank you for making it our special day, for showing us your love and appreciation and for giving us the strength and hope to go on. For this occasion, we have also created something for you:

This comes in all shapes and sizes, both for females and males at the special price of £31.75 from zazzle.co.uk. I mean, you have to give us some credit... we do think of everything!

 Happy Valentine's Day to you all from us all! 

M&M- Soulmates or a Necessary Evil Alliance?

Let me start by pinpointing that, no, this blog is not sponsored by the M&M's candy. Even though I am quite positive that a fraction of you lovely followers will be left craving for a packet of our favourite decadence by the time you get to the end. This blog is about the complex relationship between two of my passions in life: M&M... (Am I pushing it? Sorry but I guess you'll have to work a bit harder to get to where you want!)

Yesterday I went for a glass of Rosé at a pub in London, where I had the greatest pleasure of meeting songwriters and musicians from all the parts of the globe. So much stimulating conversation went on in that tiny place just opposite the main PRS building; some shared their thoughts about the workshop they had just come out of, some exchanged tips and experiences, others reflected on the travelled roads that led them to where they currently are. What I found highly fascinating about this explosion of talent and passion, was the frequent mention of the word Marketing. Not only in terms of the industry but also as a past career. 

So there I was thinking I would have to be the listener for the night, until the connection between Music and Marketing started becoming lucidly enticing- too much, I must admit, for me to keep my mouth shut. This revelation, of course, stayed with me throughout the night and I couldn't help but taking these observations to the next level. 

In my eyes as a marketeer, the relationship between these two M's, was obvious- music is the product, fans are the target segment, the musician is the brand. But to many musicians such a depiction comes as a cold, stark revelation- almost like a rationalisation of their artistic expression. Blasphemy!

However, the interaction between the two is so intrinsically intertwined that even my initial theory had to be put to the test. I realised that this relationship is not simply an acquaintance, it is so much more. Those few who left marketing to become musicians, said "Marketing wasn't for me", but I beg to differ. Marketing might have not been their life-calling, but the experience gathered was the key component in shaping the way they go about promoting their music- the channels they choose, the strategies they adopt, the segments they address. It is much more than brand awareness and profit-making. It's a lifestyle. 

Love it or hate it, in order to succeed in the music industry, one has to strike the fine balance between Music and Marketing. They are equally important. What I found extremely interesting were the views on the subject. Some regarded this as sacred and showed commitment to the concept, others almost reluctantly mentioned the two in the same sentence. So I wonder, is this connection a match made in heaven or is it an evil, yet undeniable necessary, alliance? 

Does Marketing commercialise Music? Does it take the artistic out of the creative? Does it mean that what arrives to us, can only be attributed to good Marketing and not talent?

Wow! Deep stuff don't you think?! There's bad news and good news... The bad news is that anything that is backed up by a huge marketing budget will get to us first and will pollute all the channels for as long as money can be squeezed out of it.

BUT! (thank God for the but!) Thanks to New Media, any talented artist can get a huge exposure and share their pot of gold with the rest of the world. So finally, the balance between artistic talent and fame is being restored again. Case in point: Ingrid Michaelson- a name nobody had heard of until her song was chosen to be played on the hit series Grey’s Anatomy after being discovered on MySpace. Cheryl Cole’s “Parachute”? It’s Ingrid’s orignal! The song played on the new Vauxhall Meriva advert? Yes, Ingrid’s as well!

So there you have it, Music and Marketing. Maybe it's because Valentine's Day is coming up, who knows, but in my eyes these two are soulmates- a puzzle-perfect match. It's just like an M&M after all: Colourfully sugar coated on the outside to catch the eye, only to savour the most mouth-watering filling. It takes the perfect combination of both parts to create such a legend!

I apologise if this was a long one, but this actually was just a short summary of all that went through my head- they are my passions after all. Please share your thoughts! I'm very interested! To leave you on a sweet note, here goes nothing... :) (consume responsibly!)

Do CoolBrands make CoolPeople...?

2011- New Year, New Opportunities. Everyone is excited to see what this year will bring with it. As marketing budgets are on the increase again, I'm trying to keep my composure as my mind goes on a field trip imagining all the great and not so great brand initiatives we will get to share and discuss!

But before that, I want to go back to 2010 one last time. As you all know the list of CoolBrands 2010/2011 has been published, so I decided to take a look at the Top 20 brands and see what they all have in common. Aston Martin topped the list followed by iPhone and other big names such as Google, YouTube, Alexander McQueen, Jimmy Choo and Dom Perignon amongst the rest. It seems obvious to me that what gave these brands the cool status was a list of assets endlessly discussed on different blogs and papers worldwide. They are unique in concept and aesthetics, usually come at a premium price (and quality), make good use of social media, have a strong brand identity and story, have a loyal following, are proactive with trends and have a brand name which is as overused as the term sliced bread. 

Of course there are other factors which may have brought about such popularity, which set me thinking about a particular idea. When we think of cool people, we could easily picture them owning products from these Top20 CoolBrands. But is it the cool status of the brands that make these people cool or is it these cool people who give brands that edge over others?

Take Aston Martin, for example, we are all familiar with the exquisitely fabulous cars, but could it have possibly acquired the cool brand accolade because of its priceless association with 007? What about Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Jimmy Choo? The latter two were not even in the list in the previous years. So could an association with movies such as Sex and The City and other celebrities, boost the status so much as to make a brand generally perceived as cool?

For the newer celebrities, on the other hand, wearing and owning cool brands is what ups their status, features them in the press and sky-rockets their public recognition and reputation. It is also what makes people belong in social groups in everyday life. If being in possession of an isomething (pod, pad, phone) means you are 'in' for some, not having a blackberry means you are out for others. 

So I guess the conclusion I came to is that there is a cycle where brands become cool due to their associations and endorsements by people who in turn, are cool due to the brands they own. 

Before I leave you, here's the complete list of the Top20 2010/2011 CoolBrands and a link to the full list of 500 CoolBrands for different categories: 

http://www.coolbrands.uk.com/_assets/files/CB2010-11_official_results.pdf

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year, full of what I hope will be, interesting, funny and insightful blogs from me to you. 

When Bra Sizes and Musical Notes Cross Paths...

Whoever thought that one could learn all about bra types and sizes by associating them to musical notes? Well, LaSenza's latest initiative certainly proves that it's possible! 

Let me introduce myself first: My name is Alexia Francesca Grech, but unless you happen to be my mother  upon finding out something bad I did or rather something I omitted to do, please, feel free to call me Lexie. I come from the splendid, sunny island of Malta, strategically situated just below Italy and above Libya. 400,000 people inhabit this land, and unless you count our sea territory (which would take you all the way to Greece), then you can literally cross the island from north to south in approximately 45 minutes by car.

So there you have it, I'm the only Malteser amongst a vast flock of nationalities making up the business student community at University of Bedfordshire. 

I am positive you'll get to know more about me than you'd ever imagined, or wanted to as it may be, as this blog space grows, therefore enough with the self-centred stuff and on with lingerie talk. So, amidst all the final ongoing preparation to hand-in our assignments before the festive break, I had an interesting chat with a fellow friend of mine, who stumbled upon LaSenza's newly launched Christmas creation. They chose 7 gorgeous women of different shapes, representing bra cup sizes from A to G (which is what their product range usually offers) and got them to sing the musical note their bra represents. 

LaSenza created a stand alone website for this, to which I'll share the link at the end, or else I'm sure you'll get stuck on it and fail to read my lovely blog till the end (What a cheek!). What it does, is mainly promote a video introducing the women and their first song "Deck the halls" which is interpreted using solely the notes and expressed in a, how to put it diplomatically, let's say, climaxing way. This kind of initiative appeals to both women, who can view a variety of lingerie styles available in store, and men, who besides admiring the beautiful women, can get a better understanding of lingerie in general and above all, cup sizes. 

But! There is more! After you listen to the actual initial song (which you can skip through after the first viewing), you can use your keyboard to make up your own tune and record it! I actually spent about 15 minutes upon discovery, playing "Doe a Deer"(yes, my musical knowledge is limited). With every note pressed, the name of the collection the girl is wearing appears and with it comes the option to purchase. 

Time to Empty the Mug, however, as LaSenza have not been the pioneers to implement such an idea. In fact, this fun application already existed on another web address (link at the end) with sunburnt women saying 'AY' every time they're clicked on, forming a tune (not sure of the purpose though!).

Even after such a discovery, nonetheless, I believe LaSenza's execution of this is fantastic and even though they lose points on the originality bit, I do think they deserve a mug-full of very hot chocolate this Christmas!

Dead curious? If you have managed to wait and resist the temptation to Google it, you get extra brownie points! So go ahead and play along at http://cupsizechoir.com/ and if you still want to check out sunburnt ladies in bikinis here's the link: http://www.oooooouch.com/

Hope this has warmed up your day! 

Lexie 

Steel Charitable Trust Bursary

Greg, Alin and Lex were awarded the Steel Charitable Trust Bursary for academic excellence and to help financially in their final year studies.

Steel Charitable Trust Bursary

Flux500 Winners!

We're extremely happy and delighted to all be members of the winning team of Flux500 2010! The University Of Bedfordshire beat close to 40 other UK universities for the title! As if the accolade and experience was not enough, we each pocketed a cool £500 (invaluable as students!) ;)

The 2011 website will be live soon: Flux500
The main sponser of the event was Experian, it was held at Nottingham Trent University and based around a business solution for Remploy.