Highway 101 Blog

Now there’s a question for you to ponder. For decades, manufacturers and marketers have been thinking big: first, they come up with a popular product and then brief the agency to come up with definitive big campaign idea.

However, today the notion of the big ( USP – based ) idea is changing fast – new mediums allow us to think smaller, with the ability to speak more directly and perhaps more honestly with our target markets.

Instead of selling hard, we have new options – we can allow consumers to decide what product they want, or don’t want, involve them in the product testing process, give them a voice, speak to them more personally, allow them to comment and share their views ( and discuss ) with other consumers.  In the “old” days, it was called soft sell, although now it might be more accurately described as personalised marketing.

This has also allowed manufactures to expand their bases, chasing new customers who might have been beyond the one size fits all approach. In addition to the mass market products, they now have the opportunity to experiment more, broaden their ranges and discover a new breed of customer.

One example is Mountain Dew, who invited customers to comment on the colours and flavours of a new range of drinks.  And, a recently launched Victorian brewer, did much the same thing and allowed beer drinkers to effectively become part of the product testing team and decide what the final beer, called Nelson, should taste like.

John Willshire of, Head of Innovation at PMD Media in London, recently discussed some interesting ideas on this subject in a talk  – “How Do You Socialize Production?”  He explains how technology is really turning our notion of big idea thinking., upside down.

Naturally, this means that we creative marketers have to really think outside the square, more than ever. If we don’t have to talk to everyone at once, we can speak to a few more intimately.

In other words, I think it’s time to start thinking small.

Posted by Ian Minter

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It looks like Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs might have sought the advice of sniggering schoolboys to create their latest ad campaign.

How else can you explain the screaming headline “Join for Fox Sake” ? Featured not just on their website , but on massive outdoor posters!

It’s a wince -making pun, it’s not funny (unless you’re male aged 12 – 15), it’s un-original and, worst of all, it’s likely to alienate their potential clients, which I’d imagine are likely to be adult females, probably aged 25 plus.

Or, more likely, 35 plus.

Even if you ignore the sad pun, the sentiment that you should, in effect, join Fernwood for F**k’s sake, is offensive all by itself. We could follow this up with “Join Fernwood or fox off”, or “Join Fernwood or get foxed”. The possibilities for schoolyard creativity are endless.

While not a keen observer of Fernwood’s marketing communication strategy, I seem to recall that it’s always looked a bit stuffy in the past and maybe someone thought it was time to lower the target market demographic (the MD’s son perhaps?).

To be honest, it’s all a bit cringe -making.  How many women still describe themselves as “ foxy” (other than Kath and Kim)?  Then again, maybe their customers are so old they still use words like “foxy”, groovy” and ”far out”

This campaign is so wrong, it’s hard to believe that it exists at all. Really, Fernwood’s, what the Fox  were you thinking?

Posted by Ian Minter