A Tiger at 60: How Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger is Changing for a New Age
AdWeek

Like most 60-year olds, Tony the Tiger has gone through his share of changes over the years. He once got a facelift to round off his football-shaped head and even changed his eye color from green to yellow. Yes, even the fiercest of felines has a bit of vanity.

Tony's purpose in life, however, has never wavered—sell Frosted Flakes to kids and grocery-buying moms. But now, as the food industry faces a crackdown on advertising to children, Kellogg Co. has found a new target for Tony: Dads.

In a new campaign by longtime agency Leo Burnett, Frosted Flakes is reaching out to fathers with TV ads that show a dad, son and Tony tossing a football in the backyard. The trio then heads to the kitchen for some post-game Flakes, as the voiceover intones "share what you love with who you love." Kellogg, which ran a similar ad featuring baseball last year, is going all-in this fall, adding as a spokesman ESPN sports anchor (and dad) Rece Davis, who is featured on an ESPN microsite sponsored by the cereal.

The campaign is meant to tap into the growing trend of dads buying groceries. More than half of men ages 18 to 64 identify themselves as the primary shopper in the household, but only 22% to 24% feel that packaged-goods advertising is speaking to them, according to a recent survey of 2,400 U.S. men by Yahoo. Also, Kellogg and Leo Burnett say they have found that more dads are eating Frosted Flakes along with their children.

"Dads love to share the things that he is passionate about with his kid and Frosted Flakes and sports are two of those things," said Kellogg Senior Marketing Director AnneMarie Suarez-Davis.

The campaign—which will air during adult programming on networks including ESPN—comes as Kellogg and other food advertisers face a new proposal by the federal government that would all but eliminate kid-targeted ads for sugary cereals such as Frosted Flakes. The industry, led by the Better Business Bureau's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, has countered with rules that are less strict, but still tighter than the initiative's current guidelines. Indeed, the industry's proposal—which would take effect in late 2013—would bar Kellogg from running Frosted Flakes ads to kids unless the cereal is reformulated to lower its sugar content. The cereal now has 11 grams of sugar per serving, while the new rules would prohibit child-directed ads for breakfast cereals that have more than 10 grams of sugar.

Levin: Branded Entertainment Key To Viewer Engagement
Marketing Daily News

Branded entertainment media deals have been in a lull recently. But big booster Jordan Levin and his Generate company believe they shouldn't be—especially in this rapidly changing media marketplace."Twelve to 18 months ago, these deals seemed to be gaining momentum," says Levin, CEO of the 5-year-old Generate, part management/talent agency, part straight-ahead TV producer, and part branded entertainment shop. "But largely in the last three to six months, it has begun to pull back."

Coming out of the recession, TV marketers believed they needed to take chances in order to succeed, such as doing big branded entertainment deals. That focus has lessened, according to many observers, including Levin. TV marketers have seemingly gone back to what they believe works best: traditional TV and media marketing.

"In 2010, you might get fired for not trying new things," he says. Now things have returned to somewhat older ways: "No one gets fired for buying 'American Idol.'"

But Levin believes this is a mistake—that in an age of fractionalization of media and tremendous shifts from baby boomers to younger consumers, many marketers—especially with legacy, older brands—need to invent new ways to get viewers engaged.

Still, Levin says a number of companies are forward-thinking when it comes to branded entertainment, for traditional media and new digital platforms. This includes Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Pepsi, Clorox, Coke, and some of the spirits brands like Grey Goose, to name a few.

Moving to engage consumers—especially young consumers—was a major part of The WB network, where Levin was CEO, as well as its programming chief. The young-skewing mini-network eventually became the CW. His network experience was the impetus to form Generate.

Over the past three years, Generate has produced 30 multiplatform branded entertainment campaigns, plus entertainment projects for cable.

Six Ways Retailers Are Using Mobile
AdAge

More consumers are turning to tablets and smartphones to shop, but this back-to-school season major retailers are using mobile to drive traffic to stores, not necessarily to encourage online transactions.

That's not to say that brick-and-mortar retailers don't allow for purchases in mobile apps—Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has seeded shopping in its mobile app, as have JC Penney, Target and others. Yet mobile commerce doesn't seem to be a major theme for the back-to-school season. Instead, retailers are using mobile marketing to help customers once they're at physical locations rather than to encourage them to buy through mobile devices.

"By and large, the majority of retailers at the moment are using mobile to add to the in-store experience," said Geoffrey Handley, co-founder of Meredith Corp. mobile agency the Hyperfactory.

Consumers are expressing interest in shopping on mobile devices, especially when it comes to tablets. (Though at this point, it's pretty much an iPad-only game; even Google, whose Android software competes with Apple's, launched its new Catalog app on iPad first.) The National Retail Federation found that nearly 40% of college shoppers and 30% of K-12 shoppers with tablets say they plan to use them to purchase products for school this year. That's a greater percentage than those who said they would use the device to compare prices or conduct product research, according to the survey of more than 8,000 respondents.

But with smartphones, it's a different picture. Consumers are less enthusiastic about making purchases: Nearly 20% of K-12 shoppers and 17% of college shoppers say they will make purchases with their smartphones. But more than 30% in both camps saying they will compare prices with those devices.

Wanted: Retailers Making Emotional Connections to Consumers
MediaPost

New data released by Motista suggests that retailers should look beyond the traditional set of holiday emotions and themes of the season, such as family and giving, to understand what's really motivating consumers to spend more. The study also reveals different ways in which consumers interact and connect with retailers... useful, says the report, as retailers plan their holiday marketing campaigns.

According to the report, overall awareness and familiarity with 10 major retail brands tracked were high, but only 18% of consumers indicated an emotional connection to their retailer and only 24% of consumers indicating they would make their next relevant purchase with the retailers they frequent today.

Key findings in the survey illustrate that building deeper connections with consumers can help drive higher levels of purchase intent, response rates, online engagement and advocacy.

The Top Ten Back-to-School Ads: Tech Up, Apparel Down
AdAge

Back to school is a big business, with nearly $69 billion in sales at stake. That makes it the second-biggest selling season next to the winter holidays, as well as a huge marketing period for brands and retailers.
But despite the fact that apparel, shoes and school supplies are must-buys for the majority of students, those categories had a poor showing when it came to the season's top TV ads. Only JC Penney's "Pennies from Heaven" cause campaign and Crayola landed on Ace Metrix's list of top back-to-school ads. Instead, technology brands such as Microsoft and Dell and retailers such as Best Buy dominated the list. Even one of the top Walmart ads focused on technology, promoting a smartphone.

"Retailers go into announcement mode, and for the most part those don't resonate well. Retailers aren't developing [apparel] creative stories particularly well, and they're missing out on an opportunity," said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. "What really resonated well this year tended to be tech-oriented. Those ads either had an interesting product or an interesting new message."

Ace Metrix measures ads' creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV ads. The company tracked consumers' reactions to ads throughout the summer, measuring for attributes such as relevance, persuasion, watchability, information and attention. Each ad is tested with 500 consumers who are geographically and demographically balanced to reflect the U.S. census.

Series-Branded Clothing Ranges Add Extra Dimension to TV
Marketing Week

As Banana Republic’s new Mad Men-branded clothing range hits the rails, will it pave the way for a flood of TV-endorsed clothing lines on the high street?

TV and character-branded clothing lines are typically the realm of childrenswear, with logos and images from youth favourites adorning clothing as far back as I can remember - my most treasured items of clothing when I was 11 were my Beverly Hills 90210 and Ren and Stimpy t-shirts. These days it’s more along the lines of cult childrens hits such as Ben 10, Dora the Explorer and Hannah Montana.

But the launch of Banana Republic’s Mad Men branded clothing line this month shows that there is room for this kind of tie up in the adult clothing space. The collection taps into the cult following the series has amassed, alongside the show’s continued ability to turn heads in the fashion world thanks to the talents of its lead costume designer Janie Bryant. Bryant in fact even collaborated on the Banana Republic tie-up, lending a real sense of authority and credibility to the range.

Licensing a brand name is a much bigger investment than simply creating an inspired by line. While marketing might be made easy, the brand risks being bigger than the product, which as we all know, turns customers off and risks damaging a brand.

Let’s hope fans are as impressed with Banana Republic’s Mad Men line as they are with the show itself.