Breaking News: Blockbuster calls in administrators

No even the time to publish the post related to HMV yesterday and today there is yet another announcement. Yet again the latest high street casualty is related to the same trend in customer movie consumption and the shift towards online consumption.

This time the big name is Blockbuster UK.  The chain has been in trouble these last few years with more people switching to only movie consumption and the credit crunch, however the chain still had 528 stores and employs 4,190 staff.

 Blockbuster UK’s announcement comes just after the announcement of HMV which also fell into administration and Jessops which closed doors just last week.

As usual administrators will try to get the most of out the business and try to secure the jobs were possible and pay off as much of the creditor balances as possible.

Breaking News: HMV closing down

HMV is the latest casualty in this crisis and the biggest since Woolworths closed its doors. The demise of HMV although it has been probably helped by the current crises can be linked to a number of other reasons.

Basically the chain has been very slow to react to changes in customer wants. Less people were demanding physical copies of cds and dvd. In todays digital era, people are choosing to download music and movies so the brick and mortar formula was out dated.

Another issue that affected HMV might have been the lack of direction. It is very difficult and time consuming to change the product focus of a successful store and HMV has just run out of time. There could have been a number of other opportunities which HMV could have worked on, including partnering with famous artists and produce clothing wear, become sole retailer of a number of upcoming gadgets etc. However this could now be history. 

All this things have led the 92-year-old music store to become the latest high street casualty. Unfortunately as in other cases, those most hit are it's own employees (4,350 jobs are at risk if the chain closes) and it's smaller share holders who saw their share price drop from 274p in 2005 to less than 2p yesterday.
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This puts more pressure on the economy as these lost jobs are added up to the jobs lost in the recent collapses of camera trader Jessops and electrical retailer Comet that together cost more than 8,000 jobs. 

According to different sources, the appointed administrators will keep the profitable “core” of stores operating. However, bad news might be on it's way for customers who have bought gift cards or have received them this Christmas as it is understood that HMV has emailed all stores telling staff not to accept gift cards.

The 4-fingered chocolate battle

Have you ever thought about KitKat's shape in the form of 4 fingers and how that came about? Nestle, which owns Kitkat, has just won a trademark battle against Cadbury in a European-wide ruling re-instating that the four-fingered and three-dimensional shape of the KitKat is exclusive to Nestle. What this effectively means is that no confectionery manufacturer can produce and sell chocolates in the form of the KitKat's 'four-fingers'.

The original KitKat manufacturer, Rowntree in Yorkshire, launched KitKat in the 1930s after an employee's recommendation that the company should produce "a chocolate bar that a man could take to work in his pack up". The result was the four-finger chocolate bar as we know it today. It was an immediate success and was then rolled out all across the UK.

Much later, in 2006, Nestle registered the shape of the KitKat as a trademark, but rival Cadbury then won an appeal that invalidated the registration. Now Nestle has emerged again as the winner. 

While many seem to have had similar foresight and registered their shapes, imagery, colour etc as unique trademarks, e.g. Ferrero Rocher's golden paper-wrapped chocolates and Hershey's kisses, significant fortunes must have been lost by failing to register trademarks on time, such as the recent case of the chocolate Easter Bunny.

One could argue that because we now live in a time where image is everything and anything can set a company apart from its competitors, such rulings would enable companies to protect their competitive advantage. Do you agree with this ruling? Can it lead to anti-competitiveness?

Some of the best commercials of 2012

We thought it would be good to close off the year showcasing what were in our opinion some of the best commercials we’ve come across during 2012.

1.   John Lewis – The Journey

A heartwarming ad that features a snowman embarking on an arduous quest to buy a present for a special someone, who is only revealed at the very end of the commercial.

2.   P&G - Best Job

This ad promotes P&G’s Olympics sponsorship, and celebrates the role that mums play in raising Olympians. The commercial has been very well received and has won a commercial Emmy Award.

3.   The Guardian - Three Little Pigs

An ingenious and well produced commercial, where the Three Little Pigs tale is rehashed having the pigs burning the wolf alive. The Guardian is there to cover the rest of the story is at unfolds. The ad won multiple Cannes Lion awards.

4.   Chrysler - Halftime in America

Starring Clint Eastwood, this inspirational commercial is about rallying Americans to work together to rebound from a tough ‘first half’. Despite being one of the adverts that stood out most in this year’s Super Bowl, it has drawn political criticism as it was seen to be an endorsement of the Obama administrations’ bailout of Chrysler and General Motors in 2009.

5.   Nike – Find Your Greatness (Jogger)

Although Nike wasn't an Olympic sponsor, it successfully ambushed the Olympic games this year with this brilliant yet simple commercial. The commercial was filmed in a single, unedited take and features an unknown, overweight teenager as he shuffles uncomfortably down a lonely road. Even though obviously struggling, he never gives up.

6.   British Airways - London 2012

In a tongue in cheek ad where a 65-metre wide Boeing 777 is seen motoring around London, we see BA telling it’s potential customers to stay at home and support team GB instead of flying.

7.   VWPolo – Dad

An emotional commercial, which opens with a couple bringing a newborn baby girl home and follows the development of the father’s relationship with his growing daughter. The commercial ends with the father giving his daughter a VW Polo when she leaves home heading off for university.

8.   NSPCC - Sh*t Kids Say

A heart-breaking campaign launched by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), that urges the public to trust their instincts and report anything that seems suspicious.

9.   Adidas – Take the Stage

A simple yet striking commercial focusing on top British athletes and the challenges of competing at the highest level on a global stage.

10. Audi – Vampire Party

Piggybacking on the latest trends relating to vampires, here we have a large group of young vampires being accidentally burnt by the LED headlights of an Audi S7.

What do you think of these commercials? Are there any others that you would add to the list?

New Anti Smoking Campaign launched today in the UK

Following Australia's world-first laws on cigarette and tobacco plain packaging, other countries could start becoming more aggressive in targeting tobacco company products with new legislation and publicity campaigns.

The UK could be the first to move as the department of health is set to invest £2.7 million in an integrated marketing campaign that will focus mainly on online and outdoor advertising. The ads being created are an attempt to “shock” smokers into quitting, the Dare-created spot explains that smoking 15 cigarettes could cause a mutation that leads to cancerous tumours.

This shock campaign is aimed at the generation of smokers that have not been exposed to hard-hitting campaigns but have grown up in an environment less accepting of smoking as a result of the 2007 smoking ban in public places and last year’s display ban in supermarkets. Although not as aggressive as the Australian approach (where all cigarette companies have been forced to replace their traditional packaging for uniform packaging with a generic drab olive green covering, gruesome pictures of diseased body parts and depictions of children and babies made ill by their parents' smoking), the campaign should be a very bold one both in terms of the message and the visuals used. (view video about Australian action below - WARNING: The Advert contains strong images)

In fact the campaign has been handed an “ex-kids” rating, which means it cannot be shown during children’s programming but could still be seen by children watching television with their parents and hence a number of complaints are expected to be received by the  Advertising Standards Authority from adults claiming the spot is upsetting to children.

The campaign launches today (28 December) and will run until mid-February. View the advert in the video below. (WARNING: The Advert contains strong images)

Brands adopting games as a mean of increasing recall

Specsavers' "angry chef" online game will be accompanied by an MSN homepage takeover on 12 March. It will subsequently be available to play via Specsavers' Facebook page.
The game, created by the brand's in-house advertising department Specsavers Creative, features a man who mistakes a kitchen for a sauna and is chased through a hotel by an angry chef.

Graham Daldry, creative director at Specsavers Creative, said: "Gamification gives our memorable TV commercials life beyond the TV screen while providing an entertaining and highly effective way for consumers to engage with our popular advertising."
The MSN takeover will see the homepage covered in steam as a man in a towel walks across the screen, with the steam then clearing to reveal the "naked hero" with only a "call to action" button covering his modesty.
Viewers can click on the button to play the "sauna" TV ad and launch the "angry chef" game.
During the game players have to jump over obstacles, pick up items and avoid food being thrown at them by the angry chef as they try to reach the safety of the sauna.

Specsavers will seek to encourage competition by allowing Facebook users to share their score with friends.
Follow Matthew Chapman at @mattchapmanUK

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk

More High Street Stores Go Under

2011 has seen a number of high street brands go under and the end of 2011 has not spared surprises...Deloitte, administrators at Barratts Priceless said they had failed to find a buyer for the shoe chain's concessions business.

In a statement, Deloitte said that regretfully they have to make approximately 1,610 full and part-time employees redundant, given that they didn't manage to find an appropriate buyer.

Barratts, which is the second time that has called in the administrators in the past two years, ran almost 400 concessions in large stores, mostly Dorothy Perkins. It is hoped a buyer will still be found for the shoe firm's 191 shops.

The blow came as bosses at retro-gifts chain Past Times said it was going bust.

Barratts was not the only store which went into administration, toy store Hawkin's Bazaar confirmed it had also appointed administrators. The Sun, has also reported that experts are also fearing that lingerie chain La Senza, which has 2,600 staff, will go bust within days.

Such events risk putting more pressure on the economy as almost 4,000 full-time and temp jobs could be lost with all these closures.

The high street has been badly affected this year by Internet shopping and a squeeze on spending, as more and more people become price consious and start looking out for bargains. Big names including TJ Hughes, Jane Norman, Alexon, Habitat and Focus DIY have all collapsed.

Is the retail world as we know it changing to a more price conscious model?