With the summer BBQ season in full swing, booze brands get a natural boost—but what makes a consumer pick one bottle over another? While personal recommendations from family and friends are the biggest influence, research company Crowdtap found that alcoholic-beverage consumers are also very brand-focused.

A brand’s history and tradition was the second biggest influence on a purchase, and more than 90 percent said they would personally engage with a brand.

Here’s a look at Crowdtap’s other findings, along with the most valuable alcohol brands worldwide.

Originally sourced from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/infographic-recipe-successful-booze-brand-165971

When it comes to creating a successful logo for your brand, it seems simplicity is key.

Udemy, an education marketplace, examined logos from 50 brands on Fortune’s 2015 World’s Most Admired Companies list to figure out what their beloved insignias have in common.

The infographic below, Deconstructing Successful Logos, breaks the designs down by color, typeface, shape and a few other criteria. And here are some key findings: Of the 50 logos analyzed—for brands including Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Facebook and Walt Disney—red and blue were the most popular colors. Also, 43 of the top companies use no more than two colors in their designs.

“There are only so many design ideas under the sun as far as logos go,” said Shannon Hughes, senior director of marketing for Udemy. “Logos don’t end up being that different for top companies. A simple design is most easy for consumers to understand.”

Udemy also polled 1,000 people about the top 25 brand logos from Fortune’s list. The survey found that consumers’ favorites include Amazon, Apple and Starbucks, while most respondents preferred round logos (like BMW’s or Target’s) over square logos, even though square and rectangular logos are more common.

Find out more design tips in the infographic:

Originally sourced from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/heres-what-most-popular-brands-logos-have-common-165884

At last year’s awards, Hannells came tantalisingly close to winning the Derby Sales and Marketing Award. This year, it went one step further by carrying off the title.

Hannells is perhaps one of Derby’s most recognisable home-grown brands. Founded in 2003, this independant estate agent has a well-earned reputation for service and innovation. It also has a well-defined marketing strategy, something which has helped sales rocket as the recovery in the local housing market has taken hold.

For almost a decade, Hannells has been Derby’s top selling estate agent – and its effective marketing that has helped the business stay at the top of the tree. The Derby Telegraph Business Awards has actually played a part in Hannells ongoing success. At last year’s awards, the business got talking to a fellow awards finalist, WDA Branding. The two firms got together, with WDA leading on the successful re-branding of Hannells, which has thrust the business forward to home buyers and sellers alike.

This commitment to marketing has translated into sales, with Hannells enjoying activity levels last seen since before the recession hit in 2008.

Over the past year it has seen a massive upturn in business, with turnover almost doubling – a great achievement in what is a very competitive market.

While many brands spend millions of pounds across the globe in a crusade to make consumers fall in love with them, Mars is bucking the trend and is instead trying to resonate with its shoppers on a more human level.

Speaking to The Drum global chief marketing officer Bruce McColl called the expectation of consumers to love a brand “one step too far” and admitted that Mars is “not a big believer” of love and loyalty.

“For most people out there buying our brands they don’t love us; we just have to accept that,” he said. “It goes against some of the popular stuff out there, [but] it’s hard enough to have relationships with real people. If you think about the people in your life; your family and friends how much time do you have to really connect with them? To ask consumers on mass to have that kind of relationship with brands is one step too far.”

McColl said the real challenge comes in accepting that you won’t be loved and then realising how the insight might shape your marketing strategy.

On the flipside the opportunity is that while consumers don’t necessarily love Mars, “They don’t reject us either,” added McColl. “The real challenge is they don’t really think about us – nobody wakes up and thinks ‘what does Snickers have to say today?’”

To address this Mars is trying to generate ideas that resonate with consumers on a more human level and layer it up with emerging technologies to “make that explode”. For example Mars’ recent advertising for Snickers has focussed around the tag line You’re Not You When You’re Hungry, a simple insight that the FMCG company realised could be used to create engaging adverts.

Mars is currently working with vloggers for a YouTube digital campaign and has just launched a Tinder marketing push which tells you how hungry you’d have to be to match with a person on the dating app.

Mars is also continuing to explore how it can use technology not just as a communication tool but as a way of serving its consumers after the successful roll out of Petfinder, a website that helps people adopt cats and dogs.

With over 23 million Facebook video views in less than a week, this new ad from Kleenex is helping to make sure that the Kimberly-Clark brand’s plot to keep America crying into its tissues is going deviously well.

The latest video in the “Someone Needs One” campaign by VSA Partners was created by Vimby, and it combines dogs and disabilities—two of this year’s successful Super Bowl ad themes. It’s more than a tear-jerking testament to our love of a good cry. It’s proof that Facebook is still a viral sharing force despite cluttered feeds and an algorithm that seems to block a lot of branded content.

Vimby, working in partnership with VSA and Facebook, is creating all the online videos for the “Someone Needs One” campaign by leveraging its local documentary filmmaker network to collect the actual content. But the tale of an adorable dog who got a second chance at life by finding the perfect home has become a standout.

Perhaps more interesting than the story of how yet another tear-jerking inspirational video went viral is the story in the comments. People who have adopted special-needs pets have been sharing pics of their own animals who got a second “Chance.” It’s one thing to be inspired, but it’s another to be inspired to share your own story. It’s that sort of word of mouth that gives this video its wow factor.

So, give it a chance and see if you can keep from shedding a tear.

Sourced from: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/chance-wheelchair-bound-dog-will-inspire-you-tears-kleenex-ad-165647