As 2012 is a jam packed year for Britain with a number of large events, we’ve been taking a look at how brand marketing has become more patriotic. From the Olympics to the Queen’s Jubilee and even the Visit Britain campaign all over our cinema screens, 2012 is set to be a great year for inbound tourism and provides numerous opportunities for brands large and small to get involved. Many brands such as Kelloggs, Heinz and Marmite (Ma’amite!) are commemorating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee using vintage packaging, with both Kelloggs and Heinz using designs that were around when the Queen ascended to the throne.
Brands are also teaming up to mark the “British summer to remember”. Schweppes and Diageo are set to promote drinking Schweppes with Pimms and Gordon’s gin – complete with union jacks in the promotional images of course!
But how many union jacks is too many?!
A recent study by Coley Porter Bell shows that most London based professionals don’t mind when marketers, advertisers and PR’s play on Britishness, just as long as it’s subtle!
Vicky Bullen, the CEO of Coley Porter Bell said, "Our main finding is that the British are being very British in their attitude to Britishness. They are happy for brands to be patriotic, but they want brands to act with dignity and restraint when it comes to using the flag and other icons of Britishness. Fewer than one in five respondents felt that overt patriotism is acceptable."
Outspoken journalist Charlie Brooker has recently written a blog for The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/22/olympics-thank-god-for-sponsors) focusing on sponsorship for the Olympics and particularly how it is overused. Given the investment these brands have made, it is understandable they want to maximise exposure and exploit the opportunity, but is it too much?
Charlie goes on to say, “The official Olympic iconography has become just another bit of background visual noise – like the Keep Britain Tidy icon, or a barcode.” This is a fair comment which not only applies the Olympics, but also to The Queens Jubilee. The more we see union jacks, the less attention we are going to pay to them!
Although the idea is lovely, and it is great that Britain is having such an eventful year, all this play on ‘Britishness’ will become too much for us and will soon lose all meaning. This is similar to the recent issue with products claiming to be ‘green’, resulting in us being ‘greenwashed’ so green credentials no longer hold much meaning to us. What’s more, jumping on the bandwagon to raise awareness of products has resulted in the ASA clamping down on false claims being made towards how sustainable a product may actually be.
Will the same apply for British patriotism for marketing non-British products? For example, Heinz is an American company, but is using the Queen’s Jubilee to market its products in the UK. Does patriotic marketing mask actual British products and make us associate these big brands with being British? The fact that Heinz is supporting the Queen’s Jubilee makes us associate it with being British, although the brand never actually claims to be.
Mary Portas’s ‘Bottom Line’ has created ladies lingerie from materials 100% manufactured in the UK, using British suppliers and staff. It’s a great concept in providing for the British economy, but with the amount of ‘British marketing’ from non British companies, this uniqueness has been taken away as everything appears to be British these days. It’s something that the ASA has not yet picked up on, and depending on the extent of the issue it probably never will. But it does make us question how much is too much? And what effect is it having on real British products.
Flying the flag for the environmental sector in Gloucestershire and supporting our friends at Compass Holidays, the whole team at apt got involved with an Open Day to promote new electric bikes on offer from Compass.
We invited Vision 21 along for the two Cheltenham businesses to join forces to raise awareness of the environmental and health benefits of swapping four wheels for two and notified the regional press for coverage in the lead up the event, which brought in a steady stream of people throughout the day.
Compass, a holiday tour operator of walking and cycling holidays, was introducing a new range of Freego electric bikes and encouraging visitors to take them for a spin. Our marketing team was on hand to Tweet photos and updates throughout the day and the PR team looked after photographers and journalists who attended.
It was great to see all the new signage up that we created for the front of the site and the station platform especially for the event. We’re happy to hear the company sold a number of bikes on the day and is continuing to get interest about the bikes days after the event.
The Open Day also had the thumbs up from Vision 21, a charity organisation working with local companies to promote a sustainable future for Gloucestershire and both companies now plan to work together to promote a greener Cheltenham.
Another busy, busy month for apt PR!
Although it has been previously posted, it’s still worth another mention that the Montpellier Bar Racing Evening was a big success in November, raising £670 for the Cedars Amethyst Trust.
On the same day as the Racing Evening, we also attended The Inn at Fossebridge to take part in their annual Christmas fair. This event raised almost £500 for local charity Hop Skip Jump, which provides day care for children who require special support.
The event was the first of its type to be held at the Inn which proved to be very popular! It was good to see local businesses getting involved such as Funky Diva Designs, The Stripy Company and Biba Designs as well as demonstrations from Head Chef Matt Wardman, Makeup artist Emily Tarrant and Florist Caroline McShane.
Staying on the theme of all things Christmassy, Cedars Health and Beauty Centre held their Christmas Shopping event in their salon in GL1 Leisure Centre on 29th November. The evening was another success which raised £550 for the Cedars Amethyst Trust, the charity founded by the owners of the salon. apt’s very own Jake Stavrinides was at the event offering reflexology treatments to the guests.
We are also pleased to announce that we are now the PR Company for The Wyastone, a gorgeous family run hotel in Montpellier. We have our first event coming up with them next weekend, a Winter Time art exhibition by local artists, Karen Dove, Jon Edwards and Fran Browne. The event will be taking place Saturday 17th (6-9pm) and Sunday 18th (1-4pm) December. apt will be there and to make sure the event is an absolute success and, of course, to enjoy the complimentary glass of wine being offered to guests!
With The Open at Cheltenham Racecourse just around the corner (or over the fence!), the apt team have been rubbing shoulders with an array of famous faces from the sporting world at The Montpellier Wine Bar Racing Evening earlier this week.
Alan Lee, the Racing Correspondent from The Times newspaper hosted the evening, interviewing Grand National winning Jockey, Jason Maguire who spoke about his big win on Ballabriggs and the unfortunate, recent incident of breaking his neck!
As the event got into full swing, guests enjoyed a gorgeous duck dish in the main restaurant area followed by a cheeseboard with an assortment of Cheltenham’s finest cheeses.
Kim Bailey also had a Q+A session with Alan Lee, as he did with several other racing legends, each discussing their wins, future plans and their tips for upcoming events.
Not forgetting that the event was raising money for the Cedars Amethyst Trust, the apt ladies were on a mission to sell as many raffle tickets as possible! Raffle prizes included a professional golfing lesson, three pairs of tickets to Cheltenham FC, several beauty treatments and gift hampers from La-De-Da among others.
An auction raised £250 for a painting which was kindly donated by Shezan Restaurant, and following the sales of the raffle tickets, £420 was raised, meaning the total amount raised for the evening was £670.Not bad for an evening’s work!
It's been award season for our team at apt after putting forward clients for both the South West Business Awards and the Taste of Gloucestershire Food and Farming awards which both took place this month.
The team attended the glitzy Taste of Gloucestershire awards ceremony at Cheltenham Racecourse to support two of our clients and were delighted to see SOHO Coffee Co. scoop the prestigious award for Food Business of the Year.
As well as schmoozing at glamorous award events we have also been rubbing shoulders with celebrity sportsmen at The Montpellier Wine Bar Rugby World Cup Breakfasts! For each of the big games we joined the likes of Bryan Redpath, Phil Davis, Dean Ryan and Andy Goode at the iconic Cheltenham venue to watch the games over a traditional English and glass of fizz.
Keeping our fingers firmly on the pulse of issues effecting businesses in Gloucestershire, we joined Expectations! Recruitment to discuss the new Agency Workers Regulations and the effect they could have on organisations nationwide over a coffee and a Danish pastry. The breakfast briefing was a great success and hugely informative to all business in the area who attended (and the cinnamon swirls weren’t bad either!)
