Magnet #19

Autumn has finally begun so grab a hot chocolate and settle down with this week’s edition of magnet.

Enjoy.

Campaigns: Buzzing to be back

A new digital campaign has  launched this week, targeted at encouraging workers to return to Manchester city centre as lockdown restrictions have eased.

The campaign is titled ‘Buzzing to be back’ and is led by Marketing Manchester and developed with the support of partners from the Greater Manchester Tourism Industry Emergency Response (TIER) group.

It’s targeting residents from Greater Manchester with ads across social media including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, and direct users to a website filled with resources on returning to workplaces in the city.

The creative for the campaign has been developed by creative video and animation agency What Media. It follows the working day of three characters, ‘living’ animations of Mancunian characters, landmarks, street art and features illustrations from Stanley Chow, an artist from Manchester.

It is in alignment with the messaging of the Safely Reopening GM campaign, an initiative to provide employers and employees across Greater Manchester with advice to work and travel safely.

Sheona Southern, managing director at Marketing Manchester, said: “We hope this campaign inspires and motivates workers to both feel safe in their city and to be reminded of everything they love when working in it, as well as supporting city centre businesses from all sectors to help employees transition back to the workplace where they are returning.”

Research: Are brand mascots the key to success?

According to new research, it’s been revealed that brand mascots will send your profits and emotional connection soaring. Brand mascots and characters can increase profit and emotional connection with customers by up to 41%. The same research found that campaigns without a mascot or character were only 29.7% as likely to increase market research share gain.

Further evidence demonstrated that long-term campaigns featuring a character can increase profit gain by 34.1% , compared with 26.2 of campaigns without.

Overall, campaigns that are deemed emotionally led will generate almost double the profit of those that aren’t over the course of 3 years.

Campaigns: Real Magic with Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola unveiled “Real Magic,” a new global brand platform, this week following the company’s pandemic sales slump and amid its $4 billion global creative and media agency review.

The new brand platform, which is Coca-Cola’s first refresh since 2016, includes a “Hug” logo, inspired by Coca-Cola’s packaging. The curved logo, designed by Wieden+Kennedy London, KnownUnknown and Kenyon Weston, wraps around Coca-Cola’s bottles and cans, mimicking an embrace: this imagery is meant to highlight moments of togetherness while sharing a Coke.

To launch the new platform, Coca-Cola released a campaign, “One Coke Away From Each Other,” which taps into the gaming world. In the film, players battle it out during an esports competition. When one player cracks open a Coke, the game’s characters stop fighting and come together.

Coca-Cola is also going to kick off a code hunt for people to win prizes, including gaming sessions with celebrity gamers, starting on October 11. Fans can search for 25 codes hidden in the “One Coke Away From Each Other” spot. Coca-Cola partnered with the Brand Partnership Studio at Twitch for fans to unlock another 10 codes during gaming creators’ livestreaming on their Twitch channels.

The “Real Magic” brand platform launches as Coca-Cola undergoes a global agency consolidation review. In 2020, the company’s sales dropped 28% as restaurants, bars, sports stadiums and other venues temporarily closed during the pandemic.