Make Marketing Obvious.

B&Q's unloved room is a great example of a genuine insight. Something that resonates with all of us, something that was unseen in plain sight and something that B&Q can directly address. My one concern would be whether or not B&Q has tied the insight exclusively to them as opposed to just encouraging people to renovate their unloved room.

The absence of in-store design consultations and personalised product packages seems like a missed trick to me, but maybe such integrated marketing is in the pipeline. Given how keen marketing people are on "ownership",  it's surprisng how often they fail to follow through on the idea.

 The campaign also got me thinking about another unloved room - the garage. Specifically, the tendency of people to use theirs as store-rooms for unloved stuff at the expense of leaving their expensive automotive asset parked on the driveway or in the street.

This sort of actual behaviour is exactly what companies and agencies should be looking out for and acting upon. A joint-promotion between storage businesses and insurance companies would be an obvious option and one that would benefit both industries and simultaneously position them as problem-solvers in the minds of customers.

Reminding people that there are cheaper places to store their stuff and that garages are designed to protect cars from weather, damage and theft is marketing communication made easy because you're preaching to the lapsed believer rather than trying to convert the indifferent.

There will be many such examples out there, but I'm not sure enough of us are looking for them.

Responsive Marketing Not Always Responsive.

Too many people are getting over-excited about responsive content. Oreo did it very well during the Superbowl though, as I've asserted before, they got lucky with the power outtage, but now every time a topical ad appears, people start claiming that it's all down to social media.

No it's not. This sort of thing has always happened. Social media just allows it to be published quicker. It's not really responsive, it's anticipated. Nothing wrong with that, but if you think Adidas's work above was not pre-prepared, I'd suggest you take a look at the aftermath of his victory and note when he was wearing a cap, when he threw away the racquet and then the sweatbands.

Tea-Time Marketing.

My friend Amanda tweeted this picture the other day. A cafe that lets you know how long your tea has been brewing.

A business that shows its customers that it knows what's important to them and thaat they really think about quality control.

As ever, you see something like this and wonder why everybody doesn't do it.