Having tested packaged McCafé coffee in select markets last year, McDonald's and Kraft Foods Group are now planning to roll it out nationwide, starting in early 2015. McCafé will be sold in single-serve cups, as well as ground and whole bean varieties, in grocery, mass market, mass merchandise, club and drug retailers. McDonald's has been focusing on coffee as one strategic key to reinvigorating its sales growth, and views packaged coffee as a way to drive in-restaurant coffee sales, as well as to derive revenue from the retail channel. Its executives have pointed out that most coffee is consumed in-home, and that McDonald's' in-store coffee sales have increased by 70% since it introduced the McCafé brand in 2009, with its positioning as high-quality coffee at value prices. “We understand there is huge demand for at home options and we’ve built great success with our McCafé coffee in restaurants," said Greg Watson, SVP, McDonald’s U.S. Menu Innovation, in announcing the bagged McCafé rollout. "So, it was a natural next step to provide customers with McCafé coffee to enjoy in their own home.” For Kraft, this is a second opportunity to partner with a powerhouse restaurant brand. Starbucks ended its packaged coffee partnership with Kraft in 2010 (prior to Kraft being split into Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez International), asserting that Kraft's marketing had not lived up to the deal's terms. Late last year, an arbitrator ruled that Starbucks must pay $2.7 billion for improper termination of the contract (fees that went to Mondelez International, not Kraft Foods Group). During the dispute, Kraft said its marketing drove sales of the Starbucks CPG coffee line from $50 million to $500 million between 1998 and 2010. Kraft also has been marketing the upscale Gevalia brand at retail since 2011. “In a competitive category that is growing rapidly and changing every day, this new partnership with McDonald’s represents a whole new era in the world of at-home premium coffee,” said Kraft Foods VP of coffee Nina Barton, also in a statement in the announcement. “This partnership will allow us to leverage each company’s best-in-class capabilities...By tapping into the loyal McCafé fan base already built by McDonald’s and leveraging our deep coffee category expertise here at Kraft, we have the ability to reach a larger audience than ever before, really giving this brand room to thrive.” No specific details about the marketing plans for the rollout are available yet.
Sony Electronics is taking the maxim of “Show. Don’t tell” to heart with a new campaign promoting its 4K Ultra High Definition electronics, with a little help from its Sony Pictures Home Entertainment division and Spider-Man. The promotion, which is designed to send consumers into the Sony Experience areas of Best Buy stores and Sony Store retail outlets, uses a 30-second spot playing during National CineMedia’s “FirstLook” movie pre-show, showing outtakes from the recent “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” in their ultra-high-definition glory. “National Cinema Media reaches consumers where they are already experiencing Sony 4K technology -- in the cinema,” Alex Magin, vice president of marketing at Sony Electronics, tells Marketing Daily. “The Sony Stores and the Sony Experience at Best Buy are the best places to experience Sony 4K technology for the home.” The commercial shows action scenes from the most recent Spider-Man hit, while a voice over explains that the same technology that enables Sony’s 4K projection in theaters is available in the home with Sony’s 4K televisions. “With four times the clarity of high definition, everything will look more amazing,” says a voiceover, before encouraging audience members to “swing into” Best Buy stores to experience the technology themselves. “We['re using] ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ as the hook for this experience because it is the most current example of a hit Hollywood film that shows how Sony develops films in 4K, projects them in cinema with 4K Digital Cinema Projectors, and makes them available in 4K Ultra HD for our 4K Ultra HD TVs,” Magin says. “No other company can provide this experience and technology to consumers.” Using cinema as the venue for this advertising helps ensure an audience that is interested in films and entertainment, who are already experiencing the 4K technology, and may want to bring it into their homes, Magin says. “Movies are also the first form of content that will be available to consumers in 4K Ultra HD for the new format of televisions,” he says. This is the first campaign specifically aimed at driving consumers into the Sony Experience at Best Buy locations. The company announced the retail space, which is meant to show off the entire Sony ecosystem, earlier this year. “The space was designed for consumers to shop and compare TVs; to learn about the technologies and see for themselves the difference these technologies make,” Magin says. The spot will run in the 3,600-theater network, as well as through NCM’s Lobby Entertainment Network, through Sept. 25. The campaign will also be supported with in-store events and online media advertising.
Newcastle Brown Ale is soliciting photos from its fans that the beer brand can digitally manipulate and turn into ads. While the brand is not the first to crowdsource its advertising content, “Newcastle definitely is the best at turning those photos into obvious, exaggerated, poorly executed ads,” the company says, tongue in cheek. The effort, called #NewcastleAdAid, was introduced earlier this week in a 90-second video on Newcastle’s Facebook page and on Twitter. “This lazy, branded content isn't gonna make itself,” according to the video’s caption. “We need your help. Submit any photo with #NewcastleAdAid and if you’re lucky, we’ll turn it into a Newcastle beer ad. Rules in video apply.” The reason the brand chose to go the user-generated route is pretty simple, says Quinn Kilbury, brand director, Newcastle Brown Ale. “Newcastle spent a significant portion of its marketing budget on celebrity talent we used to get more people to watch our ads earlier this year,” Kilbury tells Marketing Daily. “Those ads won a lot of awards, but now we kind of have to go on the cheap. Everyone knows user-generated content is just a ploy to get fans to do our work for us, and we're just calling it like it is. So thanks in advance to all of our fans who’ll send their mediocre photos to us!” The celebrity ads -- featuring Elizabeth Hurley, Stephen Merchant and Zachary Quinto -- satirically imagine how great America could have been if England had won the Revolutionary War. The effort, called "If We Won," was the follow-up to the beer maker’s "If We Made It" Super Bowl program, which also starred celebrities, Anna Kendrick and Keyshawn Johnson.
Powered by a healthy demand for tools and seasonal gardening products and a shift in its marketing strategy, the Home Depot reported sales and earnings that beat expectations. And it’s raising its forecasts for the remainder of the year. The Atlanta-based home-improvement chain says sales rose 5.7% to $23.8 billion for its second fiscal quarter, propelled by a 5.8% gain in overall same-store sales, and a 6.4% gain in the U.S. On a conference call with investors, company executives say gains came in every geographic region and across every store category, with sales in tools, millwork, outdoor garden and kitchen showing special strength. And net earnings jumped 14.2% to $2.05 billion, up from $1.79 billion last year. While consumer demand helped drive these results, with a record number of transactions in the quarter, the company says its continued transition to online sales and digital marketing are also key. “We’ve shifted to more targeted personalized messaging to become more relevant to customers, and as a result, costs attributable to print advertising are down 60% since 2010, and have been shifted to more efficient advertising,” says Craig Menear, president, U.S. Retail, in the call. He says the company is using these digital transactions across all departments, and “we believe this shift of how we communicate is a piece of what’s been driving our results.” Print now accounts for less than 10% of its advertising budget, “while digital is 36% and trending higher. We like the ROI,” says CFO Carol Tome. The company continues to be well ahead of its sales plan, despite mixed signals in the housing market, says CEO Frank Blake, with some gains attributable to its full rollout of its buy online and ship to store program. About a third of its online transactions now culminate in the store.
Buzz Aldrin wore them, though probably not during the moon shot. Gen. George Patton may have worn them in the midst of World War II. Jockey's new campaign, “Supporting Greatness,” mentions those two greats, plus Babe Ruth, in a heritage campaign breaking this week. The campaign -- comprising a humorous TV spot, print, and digital -- depicts Babe Ruth hitting a home run, Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon and George Patton leading his men to victory. The ads show them in action, in real footage from the waist up, and in Jockeys from the waist down (thanks to lower-body models). The big question likely to be on the minds of just about anyone who encounters the campaign is whether the depicted greats actually wore Jockey products. Dustin Cohn, CMO of Kenosha, Wisc.-based, privately owned Jockey International, says they did indeed don them. Babe Ruth, he notes, actually appeared in a Jockey print ad in the 1940s. The brand, he says, also provided underwear for soldiers in WWII, and NASA tapped the company’s technology for real-world testing. "One key objective was to leverage our heritage,” says Cohn. “Many people don't realize Jockey has been around since 1876. As we spoke to Millennials, this idea of supporting great men in history was of great interest to them. So we wanted to create an emotional connection through history and humor and at the same time give rational, functional reasons to believe," he says. All told, the campaign comprises a TV spot, three print ads, and a "pretty healthy digital" campaign, notes Cohn. CBS sports online is the digital partner, and social elements are forthcoming. Cohn tells Marketing Daily that digital legs (no pun intended) will extend the icons-from-history, but also present-day American greats. He says the NFL TV ad buy is through ESPN. "We launched the spot last night on Monday Night Football and got lots of positive feedback on Twitter." New York-based Droga5 handled print, digital and TV; Chicago-based GRP Media did the media-buying duties; and New York-based Zeno Group did PR. Print titles includes Esquire, GQ, and Sports Illustrated. "It's our largest campaign in a long time," says Cohn, who adds that until now marketing for the brand has been product-focused. "So this is first brand campaign that we have had in long time, and it is introducing what we think is an ever-green [brand] position." While the campaign is focused on core products, "what we love about Greatness is that it can encompass other products, whether current or in development."
“Lips so laughable, un-photographable.” Back in the '50s, ever other crooner's song said something about lips, maybe because lipstick was lustrous and thicker than ship primer. In case you haven’t seen photos of Taylor Swift lately, '50s lips are back, and the market is driven by young women. Sales say it all. Chicago-based marketing research firm Mintel says nearly one-third (32%) of lip product users ages 18-24 are looking for intense lip colors, compared to less than 20% of respondents ages 25 and over. "This trend-driven and cyclical nature of the category has elevated the status of lip makeup, making it a 'must have' item for many women," says the report. Lip cosmetics in general, whatever the shade or purpose, are used by the vast majority of women, with nearly 90% reporting that they apply it. And while lip cosmetics are the smallest percentage of color cosmetics, it is the strongest performer in the segment. After a 2% decline between 2011 and 2013, the sales are glossy, gaining nearly 9% between 2012 and 2014. Sales are on track to hit $1.4 billion this year, per Mintel. Facial cosmetics, for example grew 6.4% to $4.8 billion this year, and eye makeup rose 4.2% to $3.4 billion in the period. In terms of overall market penetration, lip balms lead, with 60% of women using them, followed by lipstick at 58%. That's also true among younger consumers, with the lip balm to lipstick ration among 18- to-24-year-olds at 72% versus 50%. The study says 44% of highlighter/illuminator users purchase from a prestige brand, compared to only 24% of lip gloss users who bought prestige. “Facial cosmetics, in general, are viewed as higher-risk purchases -- women want to be sure that products are appropriate for their skin type and tone and therefore rely on in-store samples and consultants for guidance," says the study, which says lip cosmetics, especially lip balm, are more inclined to purchase from budget brands in comparison to users of facial and eye cosmetics. Lip products are likely perceived as low-risk purchases, driven in part by their lower prices in comparison to face and eye make-up. Overall, the cosmetics category has been on a strong growth curve -- gaining 17% over the past five years to reach $9.6 billion, partly because of a big boost in prestige-brand area. And Mintel is bullish. The firm sees 19% gains through 2019. The leading brands are the big mass brands, L'Oreal, P&G and Revlon, which account for three quarters of revenue per Mintel.