What to say about Philips Norelco's latest "arbor-themed" campaign for its line of body-grooming devices? That it's quite silly? That it's effective? That it was probably fun to write copy for?

The brand's multi-pronged "Shave Everywhere" campaign for the Philips Norelco Bodygroom Pro really has it all.

Quirky, interactive element? Check. Connection to a do-gooder campaign to make purchasing a device a philanthropic undertaking? Check. Humor? Check. A contest? Check. Crowdsourcing? Check. Sexy female appeal to men's sense of vanity? Check ... out Carmen Electra's pitch, after the jump. Continue reading...

Talk about a great name for a brand of sleek Bluetooth headset device: Jawbone. But is Jawbone's latest brand-building endeavor on par with the brand's overall character?

Launched by manufacturer Aliph in 2006, Jawbone Bluetooth devices quickly captured the heart of design nerds and technical sticklers with its eye-catching, one-of-a-kind forms and top-of-the-line functionality.

The brand positioned itself as the buffed, image- and quality-conscious Bluetooth-user's Bluetooth device. Its branding continues to perfectly communicate this aesthetic.

That said, we're not convinced by Jawbone's new "Funny Video Contest."Continue reading...

Lacta, a chocolate brand native to Greece, was bought by Kraft in the 1980’s. And today Lacta is the best-selling chocolate brand in Greece, thanks to the quality of its ingredients and marketing strategy. The brand's tagline says it all: "Lacta is the sweetest piece of your life."

Kraft recently crowdsourced a branded film, asking participants to create the storyline, choose the style of the piece and the actors, and cast it. Together with OgilvyOne Worldwide in Athens, the campaign, entitled "Love in Action" began with an invitation via television spots, to submit real love tales to be used in a short film: 1,307 stories later, the 27-minute branded entertainment debuted and is a hit.

A story of about a meeting on a train between two strangers -- a young soldier and a musician (tip of the hat to Alfred Hitchcock) -- won, hands down. Polls online let voters decide on screen tests, names of characters, and costumes.Continue reading...

Can you guess how long Keds has been peddling its humble brand of footwear? Try 94 years. Now the brand that gave us the term "sneakers" – its rubber soles allowed "sneaking" around – is looking to break out of its humble mold and attract a new generation of customers. History and that "sneaking" thing are key to the strategy.

In a new campaign the brand is reminding consumers that Keds is the first, authentic sneaker. The campaign, titled "The Original Sneaker," targets the millennials, a generation in love with stylish footwear. Unfortunately (for Keds), it is also a demographic that cannot even remember the 1980s, the last time Keds were wildly popular. Through advertising and a website stressing hip, modern energy, it's clear the brand hopes to recapture some of that heady, 1980s popularity. Continue reading...

When a brand introduces a new product, it looks for a way to communicate that new product's special attributes to potential consumers. Sometimes, the most successful messaging is bold. Very, unapologetically bold. Take the Duluth Trading Company's new jeans campaign, for example.

"Climb, crouch, stretch and work in compete comfort. (The hidden crotch gusset is the secret!)" That's the pitch for Duluth's "Ballroom Jeans," which promise "crouch without the ouch." The brand currently has ads in heavy rotation nationwide bringing attention to its "Ballroom" jeans. One such ad plays over the radio and is hilarious: "Tater tots lodge?"Continue reading...

From lead-tainted toys and poisoned milk products to deadly dog food, the reputation of quality control standards for the "Made in China" brand has taken a severe beating.

Now, one brand is exploiting the brand's sullied image by making the panic over "China-made" into the pillar of its brand-building strategy; but is it too much?

Opurity vitamin ads are turning up on various blogs across the web. The first I saw was on a right-wing political blog. It probably would not have stood out except that the ad featuring a horrifying image of a factory spewing thick pollution into the sky with the eye-popping copy "Don't trust your health to China... Warning: Multivitamin companies entrust your health to vitamin ingredients made in China. Do you?..."Continue reading...

To put it bluntly, prune juice is a great laxative. Everyone knows it, and that reputation has always posed some branding challenges for Sunsweet Growers – one of the largest bottlers of prune juice. Now the California-based brand wants to capture the growing ranks of boomers who may be increasingly in need of the the product's digestive properties.

Nevertheless, Sunsweet has been working hard on ways to draw younger American consumers to its plum and prune products. A few years ago it launched PlumSmart, a juice made from the plums that become prunes when dried; it is lighter than prune juice and possesses much “lighter” regulative properties. It’s selling at about a $20-million annual clip, according to Sunsweet.Continue reading...

Nestlé’s Kit Kat is the No.1 candy brand in Japan, and over there, it comes in 19 variations. Staple flavors are green tea, soy sauce, and miso, but other choices mirror local products and regional tastes: yubari melon and baked corn from the island of Hokkaido; green beans and cherries from Tohoku; yuzu fruit and red potatoes from Kyushu island; sweet potato, blueberry and kinako (soybean) flavors from the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo.

Specific to the Japanese market, the three-year-old campaign is a national hit. The newest variety is wasabi-flavored white chocolate, but soy sauce is the winner nationwide.Continue reading...