I am a proud Canadian who’s spent an eye-opening few weeks experiencing my first Winter Olympics through the lens of American media – ironically, a Games hosted by my native land.
It would be far too easy as a smug Canadian to use this blog as a forum to mock the “gee whiz” tone of Today Show segments on poutine (“Canada’s national dish!”) or Brian Williams’ travelogue about bear-watching in the Arctic.
But I won’t. Instead, I’ve been thinking a lot about the brands of the teams from my native country and my adopted one.
Brand Team USA has an overwhelmingly dominant share of voice in the US media – and if that seems completely unremarkable to you, you’ve probably never watched the Olympics on TV from a living room in a “challenger brand” country like mine.
Even in winter sports, Canada can’t historically compete with the superpower athletic teams from Russia, Eastern Europe or America; as a result, Canadian media tend to paint a more dispassionate picture, dividing air time and column inches among all countries’ notable athletes.
It’s got me thinking about all our various brands at MMC. Many are leaders in their category. When those brands enter the PR conversation, “showing up” as the big cheese has both assumptions and implications riding on it.
What if one day a challenger brand turned the tables? I’m reminded of a call I had last week with a cool, smaller client; they came into a PR strategy discussion assuming that humility was the only brand character they could own. I talked to them about Team Canada, who decided to make “Own the Podium” their mission statement in the countdown to these Olympics. Beyond the literal push (to get more Canadian athletes up on the medal podium), it was a seismic shift in brand communication. It was a new call to action for us quiet Canucks: wave our red mittens! Scream at the hockey rinks! Cry at the skating rinks! Sing “O Canada” from the mountaintops!
Own the Podium has attracted a ton of attention and media ink – and yes, it’s made Canada a target of a little trash-talking, as clearly the Americans will own the podium at the conclusion of these games (cue the “Canadian time share” jokes here). But overall it’s been a fascinating conversation ignited by a big, bold, unprecedentedly patriotic branding move – and my favorite part of these Games to follow.
Post a comment on your favorite Olympics media moment here!
On February 12th when my coworker Scott walked into the office, I immediately bombarded him with the question “Did you hear about McQueen?!”. Scott, having lived in London and being its biggest fan, thought I was telling him that the Queen of England died – not what I was talking about. Although, the person who passed away was just as important to me, Alexander McQueen.
Alexander McQueen is one of those great artistic minds. 2006 was the first time I was exposed to his genius and since that moment in time I have never been able to pull myself away. I look at every show, analyze every red carpet outfit and make frequent visits to his store on West 14th. It’s always been a dream of mine to own a McQueen look, unfortunately I’m still young and don’t have the extra cash to spend on it. But will my burning desire to own McQueen last now knowing that he wasn’t the mastermind behind it?
McQueen took fashion to the next level, particularly with his runway shows. He used the runway as a venue to perform through videos, interpretive performance and outlandish accessories/beauty. He wanted to bring his Spring 2010 show to the masses by live video streaming his show. Interestingly this wasn’t the first time I had seen this, since Priscilla of Boston here at MMC had been streaming their show online for the past two seasons. Not many high-end designers believe that a mass audience would understand a high-end fashion show, but McQueen had faith and since I’m not invited to the show – it was a dream come true.
McQueen died on February 11, 2010 just weeks before his Fall 2010 show, but his final show will go on — being shown in Paris on March 9th and 10th via private salon sessions by invitation only.
We are not shy in the Well-Being Group at MMC, so when Kimberly-Clark’s Poise brand posed the challenge of de-stigmatizing light bladder leakage (LBL), we didn’t think twice.
LBL is probably the last women’s health taboo, and it’s more common than you would think. One in three women of all ages and life stages experience LBL, but many women are too embarrassed to talk about it. Interestingly, focus groups conducted by K-C showed that although women were first reluctant to admit experiencing LBL, once the conversation was started among several women, they couldn’t stop talking! One of the other observations from the groups was that humor truly opened the dialogue around this often uncomfortable topic and women were relieved to hear they weren’t alone.
Drawing from these insights, MMC worked with K-C and their digital and advertising agencies to spark a national dialogue about LBL using a light and humorous approach. The integrated campaign, “1 in 3 like me,” included new advertising and the launch of a Web site about LBL that establishes how common it is and helps women embrace the issue and solutions. The brand also enlisted Whoopi Goldberg to star in a candid Webisode series that would make women laugh and open up about LBL. Go to www.1in3likeme.com to check them out.
MMC launched the campaign with a dynamic consumer event in NYC where women were invited to watch Whoopi unveil the Webisodes, learn more about LBL and be among the first to start the conversation! The next day, Whoopi, along with the founder of Women’s Health Foundation, Missy Lavender, continued the conversation on The View.
Despite a snow storm on the day of the event (even Whoopi was snowed in but we Skyped her into the event), the campaign is off to a great start! Until now, light bladder leakage has received very little media attention, with most press avoiding the topic altogether. As a result of our work, outlets including People, More and Parents covered the campaign and trade press has touted Kimberly-Clark as a marketing force in AdAge and MediaPost. And this is only the beginning!
Attendees at the event told us that after watching the Webisodes and being around other women with LBL, they felt more comfortable discussing it. The View’s discussion boards have been buzzing with conversation and women have been calling K-C’s consumer hotline just to say thank you.
Although we faced quite a challenge when we developed this program, we couldn’t be more excited by the results and the conversations that we see taking place. Of course, our work doesn’t stop here. We’re now busy preparing for 1,000 parties nationwide with House Party™, taking place on April 10, where women will have the chance to continue this important discussion (and laugh a lot!) with their friends.
What’s the next conversation MMC Well-Being should start?
One of my favorite things about living in New York City is that twice a year the city is host to Fashion Week. The inspiration and creativity hits a high point during these weeks each September and February, and I was thrilled to be a part of Secret’s participation this past weekend. MMC worked to secure the title sponsorship for my favorite deodorant Secret at a New York Fashion Week Media Mixer for Online Influencers. Yes, deodorant can be fashionable!
We launched three new products to key online influencers and industry insiders, as well as communicate the brand’s equity of being “Fearless” by enabling one lucky attendee’s fearless life goal. Some examples of entries included overcoming a fear of flying by taking pilot classes or finally running a marathon with help from a trainer that Secret would provide.
For Secret to be able to add to the inspiration that Fashion Week brings to the New York air was an amazing experience and one that I will not forget soon. Secret is tackling fears one woman at a time.
In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading to India for vacation and with almost no research done, I mainly just have my infallible sense of adventure to get me pumped up. Well, and I also have a bunch of fragments through WOM to help me paint a very conflicting picture of India.
P.S. After I decided on India as my next destination, friends came out of the wood work proclaiming, “yes, I’ve been there too!” All of a sudden, India is the new mecca for off the beaten track tourism.
This is what I have pieced together so far:
- Indian food is delicious
- Indian food will get you sick
- Mumbai has the potential to be very dangerous: guide might be needed
- Goa, the beaches where most Bollywood films are shot, is a must see and hippies abound
- Some parts of India are still very old school and despite the 100+ degree weather, women must wear long sleeves
I have no idea what to expect. But come April, I’ll report back on the awesome adventure that I’m sure to have
If the current shows in NYC give any indication to Fall 2010 beauty trends then come next September we’ll be sporting tons of “greige.” Marc Jacobs declared it the color of the season which falls somewhere between beige and gray. We’re seeing it on the eyes, contours of the cheeks, lips and, of course the nails.
In other beauty news, and in greige-like manner, taupes, camels, chocolate browns are showing up as smoky, iridescent eye looks. Awesome time for CG Smoky Shadow Blast! Lips are matte yet “lubricated” as noted backstage in subtle grape, plum and ashen pink.
Major look of the season has been dubbed “destroyed” for that “lived in” effect. We’ve seen that before where hair is blown out and then tugged at to create unfinished, loose ends. Eyes are smudged in and quite imperfect seemingly as if the wearer had a long night out—and never washed up! But we love it anyway and Pat McGrath makes it beautiful.
Here’s a simple — almost poetic — example of how a simple explanation can change people’s expectations.
Last Friday, as millions of Americans gathered around their television sets to watch the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics, there was one question on everyone’s mind: “How are the Canadians going to top what the Chinese did in Beijing in 2008?”The Beijing Opening Ceremony was a super-spectacular, eye popping extravaganza watched by 2 billion people. There were 15,000 performers and a budget of $100+ million vs. Vancouver’s paltry $25 to $30 million. Can you imagine what the guy tasked with creating the next Olympics’ opening ceremonies a mere two years later was feeling after Beijing?
Apparently just fine. As Vancouver ceremony mastermind David Atkins told Today Show’s Matt Lauer on the Friday morning before the Big Event, when he saw the ceremonies in Beijing he actually felt relieved. Relieved, he said, because he intended his design to go “in a different direction.” It would be more “intimate,” “personal,” and “emotional.”
He told viewers he wasn’t going to even attempt to out-do Beijing. That completely changed my expectations of the event, which, as promised, was beautiful and intimate and emotional (K. D. Lang’s rendition of “Hallelujah” is still playing in my head). By resetting expectations, Atkins totally diffused my “can you top this” outlook on the Opening Ceremonies. Maybe it was spin. Maybe it really was how he felt. But Atkins compelled viewers to see the event with a fresh perspective, on its own merits, without making comparisons to something he could never achieve.
