Inkeeping with my fast-approaching midlife crisis [ha] … I bought some Converse shoes at the weekend [in camouflage of course!] and the thing I really loved was that on the side of the box, were a couple of the lace-hole ringlets that are inherent in all Converse shoe designs.
I know it’s a little thing, but it’s a little thing that reinforces the brand – which ultimately makes you feel you are buying something abit special, something that has been made with care, attention and passion, something worth paying a ‘little bit more’ for.
Of course treating packaging as a marketing device is nothing new … but given this is on a pair of relatively cheap sneakers, you have to question why some of the bigger – supposedly more aspirational brands – don’t do it.
It’s not hard … it’s just about an appreciation of what your brand is, both to the company and to the consumer … but I guess this goes back to the point that too many marketing departments are filled with underqualified people and/or too focused on the bigger things [the stuff they can show off about] even though it’s the miniscule things that can make all the difference. At least to the consumer.
Something that is interesting is that Singapore Airlines have just awarded [after 30 odd years with BATEY] their whole advertising business to TBWA – even though the team that handled the pitch actually work for the below-the-line division, Tequila.
I think this is brilliant … not just because Tequila are a fantastic agency who are doing some of the best work around Asia at the moment [and I include ATL agencies in that declaration] … but because it implies Singapore Airlines want an agency who will pay attention to the small things as well as the big – which might give above-the-line agencies a much needed kick-up-the-arse … because for all their talk about being media neutral and 360 thinkers, the reality is they tend to focus the most energy on the ‘television spot’.
Well done Converse … well done Singapore Airlines … well done Tequila!