brand-e

By Simon Fuller. Movie media. Last week, we took a look at how comms strategy group Naked Comms had set up its own branded entertainment division to roll out engaging pieces like the film The Forest Guard, a documentary following the adventures of a bunch of Californian kids who have invented a device for the quick detection of forest fires
Well, Sony Europe green-lit the film and commissioned it. So we thought it only right to have a chat with Sony about the project, and about why brands in general are beginning to turn to moviemaking to get their messages over to consumers.

By Hugh Jordan. Crowd creative. Crowdsourcing may not sound the death knell for creative agencies, but co-creation could be a catalyst for real change. ‘Adapt or die’ is the message coming from Andrew Needham, who has just launched London’s The Co-Creation Hub, a collaborative resource for brands seeking long-term, meaningful engagement with consumers.
So, what is co-creation and how does it differ from crowdsourcing?

Lab works. Power to the Pixel is looking for folk to come along to The Pixel Lab, a cross-media project open to European media professionals. The Lab has a particular focus on the creation, finance and distribution of cross-media properties to create sustainable European media businesses.
PttP will select up to 40 European participants – 20 producers with cross-media projects, and 20 audio-visual professionals without.

Social savvy. So, just how important is social media to bands? “It’s the fans who are driving the distribution of music,” Susie Moore from BrandRock said at yesterday’s Music 4.5 event in London. … We should embrace it.
“The band will be a total business of people, with maybe a few people working on that band’s music, what that band believes in, its identity and values. It’s like any brand marketing exercise.”

By Steve Mullins. Brand demands. Millward Brown has come up with a new brand metric – the TrustR Score – which sets out to measure how effectively brands meet the more demanding expectations of the post-recession consumer.
More demanding expectations?
Well, Millward Brown believes the world is now populated with more sceptical and less acquisitive consumers and that, for brands to succeed in this environment, they need to understand and respond to consumers in a new ways.

Says Natasha Kizzie*. If I were to suggest that pop-up stores were getting fashionable, you might retort I’d missed the curve on this trend. Indeed, brands as diverse as HMV, Marmite, Nissan and Orange have already indulged in opening temporary mini-me shops with no sign of any slowdown in uptake.
Yet, for me, one fascinating aspect is how designer fashion brands are getting in on the act. This month we’ve seen a plethora of up-and-coming and established fashion brands embrace the pop-up concept – such as those designed to coincide with the biannual media frenzy that is London Fashion Week.

Good doers. Brands seem rather keen to do good right now. Take Virgin Atlantic, for one. The airline recently launched its first iPhone app in the US and, rather than do something tiresome like track flight arrivals and departures, the little gizmo has been developed to help fearful travellers.
The Flying Without Fear app boasts an in-flight explanation video, relaxation and course therapy, breathing exercises and quick tips. There’s also a personal video introduction from Richard Branson – but hey, no one’s perfect.