News & views on advertising: Dove, Hermès and more

My weekly list of curated ad campaigns is here. The ideas that stood out and some related posts & articles got me thinking. So here's a quick roundup:

Dove: Get Unready

'Real Beauty' has been a hugely successful platform for Dove. Many executions have driven home the idea that that physical appearance should be a source of confidence and not a source of anxiety. They found an 'enemy' in the unnatural, toxic 'beauty standards' set by society and digital platforms & technology. A new outdoor campaign, released on Jan 1, 2025 in the US introduced 'Get Unready' as a theme. It cues that we put on a show for New Year's Eve and can revert to our natural self later. I like it. It may not be a direct extension of the 'Real Beauty' idea but adds to the brand's stance of unfiltered beauty. Agency: Ogilvy.

Distinct brand assets: the missing piece in marketing?

The benefits of a brand being associated with a unique property - be it a tag line, colour palette, a mascot or any other design element should be apparent to all. But very few brands invest consistently in such. Why so? Maybe because it is hard work and the temptation to 'do something new' triumphs over the mindset to build on something that has already been created ('not invented here' syndrome?). The attraction of 'moment marketing' and participate in every news event or occasion forces brands to give up on a 'thematic' campaign. Watch 15 ads of brands over 6 months and we could be left wondering if there is a central brand idea.

I was reminded of these when I saw the new work from Kellogg's UK. Aside from the distinct font and packaging, the brand owns Cornelius the cockerel, the brand’s mascot since 1958. The ‘K’ of Kellogg’s has probably dominated our mind-space (thanks to the packaging) as compared to Cornelius. A new theme film simply has the cockerel strutting about the town adding to the visual identity of the brand. How many of the legacy or new age brands invest consciously in distinct brand assets? An opportunity wasted.

Hermès: sweet wonders

Luxury marketing is a lot about creating irrational desire. Visual design and ‘presentation’ plays a critical role. We can see why in these set of static creatives for Hermès.

Dell: there is something called too much choice

So we have the news of Dell announcing a streamlining of their product portfolio in laptops:

At CES 2025, Dell Technologies unveiled a comprehensive rebranding of its PC lineup, introducing a new naming convention: Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. This change phases out well-known brand names like XPS, Inspiron, Latitude, Precision, and Optiplex.

Via X.

This proves again that there is something called too much choice and it is not always beneficial to brands when they assume they have spoilt the consumer for choice. Also, being everything to everyone - offering an imagined solution to every audience segment may end up confusing customers.

Celebrity PR and toxic social media

It is common knowledge that 'celebrity management' attracts big bucks and competition is huge among such agencies. Many spot budding talent and sign them up early in the hope of maxing out soon. 'Social media management' seems to be a key offering of such aside from brand endorsement deals. Such agencies post on behalf of the celebrity on Instagram and X mainly.

Very often the 'fakery' of such posts shines through. Cricketer's from humble backgrounds, known to be comfortable in only Hindi or their mother tongue will have posts written in highfalutin English - making it obvious that it's ghost written. At least make it sound credible. That's only the tip of the iceberg. India's recent defeats in the Border-Gavaskar trophy and the announcements from celebrities unleashed another kind of PR campaign on social media.

I guess the agencies employed by them assume that 'trending posts', hashtags and sheer volume of posts is a measure of campaign success. Metrics that they can show as proof to the 'brand managers'. I guess the celebrity is not consulted on such and is unaware of the damage these can do brand reputation.

Do share your views on any of the points above. Thank you for reading.