I have a confession to make.
At 5pm I went for a walk into town, just for a break, as I was at my desk at 8 this morning, and I still have some stuff to do this evening.
Anyhow, and this is the core of the confession, I bought myself a Maltesers choc-ice on a stick – I don’t know what the ice-cream industry jargon is.
It was very good – recommended, in fact.
But the bizarre thing is that the lolly stick has been branded with the Maltesers logo. Are they mad? Is a rather badly printed brown Maltesers logo or two going to increase my loyalty to the Maltesers brand?
I’d love to know the story behind the decision. Did the marketing department really dream the thing up, or was it a creative sales pitch from the lolly stick company?
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I doubt if they are trying to increase brand awareness with you, but think about all those impressionable children who will see your discarded sticky stick and be subliminally prompted to beg for one of their own!
However, if you disposed of your stick in a conscientious and tidy manner, their dastardly plan has been thwarted.
Martin.
It crossed my mind that this may be some kind of dastardly viral/litter marketing hybrid.
But I dismissed the thought because I thought the ‘please dispose of this can thoughtfully’ mindset would apply to Messrs Mars and their wares; they wouldn’t want to be seen to be promoting litter …or even promoting through litter.
Also, as the branding is on only one side of the lolly stick, there’s only a 50% chance of getting the brand recognition and resultant pester power they may be aiming for.
I’d recommend they print on both sides for maximum leverage, and choose a more child-targeted frozen confection.
An ad generally only appears on the back of a magazine, but it doesn’t stop publishers charging a premium for it!
And as for not believing that Mars would stoop to promoting litter – how refreshing it is to see someone so uncynical!
Perhaps they are counting on you to be an avid collector of those sticks, and you will then, in turn, create a massive structure out of their sticks which will be free advertising for them. All right, that was just stupid…but it’s early and I haven’t had my coffee. *grin*
That’s as plausible explanation as I’ve seen so far, Mac
Hello, my boyfriend is currently in his 4th year at Napier university studying design futures as I too am a very poor student I thought rather than coughing up (and probably choking myself) for a Christmas present I would collect together some research for his dissertation. He is planning on studying litter as a form of advertising / branding and the comments about the lolly stick have been a great help just wondering if anybody had any views on his chosen subject. Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.
Thank you
Dani
Sometimes to obvious is the one to go for – if someone is eating the lolly and a passer-by sees them enjoying their frozen snack they might wonder what it is.
There on the stick is a cheap way of telling people what is being eaten. It looks a little scrappy because, well, how much would YOU spend to make it look pretty and do the same job? Not much I bet!!