The London Riots: should brands carry the blame?

A recent independent report into the riots last summer has claimed that 'aggressive and excessive' advertising by brands is one of the underlying reasons for disorder. The report included a survey that found 85% of people asked felt that advertising puts pressure on young people to own the latest brands. Young people define themselves through brands and that half of the offences during the riots were through greed claimed the report.

I agree that younger generations are becoming more and more materialistic and a lot of the unrest was caused simply by opportunist looting. However, to claim that brands have played a part in the cause of the riots is ridiculous.

The report recommends that brands do more to help a repeat of the riots in the future by incorporating community support schemes into their CSR policies. Regardless of the riots I think this is something that brands should take the initiative to do anyway. The problem is, many of the brands that are so highly valued within youth culture are luxury American brands that will have no interest in associating themselves with could-be rioters. At a time where the government are encouraging spending our way out of the economic crisis - I don't believe this report will have an affect on the way brands advertise to young people but I hope it does encourage organisations to do more to benefit local communities.

After all, it's personal.

Starbucks is the largest coffee house company in the world with 19,435 stores in 58 countries. Due to Starbucks mass-scale success they have often been the subject of negative PR. During Starbucks rapid growth in the early 2000s, they were criticised for driving out smaller coffee firms with fierce tactics. Starbucks have suffered from many controversies since they started business which is why they now know the importance of PR as a strategic business function.

Starbucks latest strategy is to ‘listen’ to their customers and then coincide this with a marketing campaign. Through customer feedback Starbucks found that UK coffee drinkers liked their lattes stronger and decided to put an extra shot of coffee in every latte. This move has gone hand-in-hand with in store promotions claiming ‘it’s personal.’ Starbucks now write every customers name on their cup and promise to make the drink perfect, if it isn’t they will make it again until it is.

Listening is an important aspect of business and making customers feel special will make them come back again and again instead of going to one of Starbuck’s competitors. This strategic move will no doubt add to Starbucks continuing success as the world’s largest coffee shop.

Game Over

The struggling high-street shop GAME has announced that it intends to go into administration.

The gaming industry has had a tough 12 months, with no new console releases and no reason for gamers to hit the stores, what has been described by GAME as a "cyclical low point in the industry." After buying out 'Gamestation' in 2006, the company have 1,275 stores worldwide, including 600 in the UK. GAME was reaping the benefits of new game and console releases, with fans queueing over night to buy 'Call Of Duty' and other block busters until the market came to a halt. It is now predicting an underlying pre-tax loss of about £18m for the year to the end of January.

The latest big-selling game release was 'Mass Effect 3' yet GAME were unable to stock it as supplier Electronic Arts would no longer do business with them. The company have admitted that buying into Game Station may have been an over expansion in hindsight.

It's not just GAME that have been struggling on the high-street, many other shops are being threatened by online websites such as Amazon and Play.com and supermarkets pose a real threat with their discount prices. Gamers are opting to download games instead of owning a physical copy, following the footsteps of the music-industry. The gaming industry will need to look for a solution where they can embrace the digital world and use it to their advantage.

Visible Children

The YouTube video Kony 2012 made by the charity Invisible Children has received over 80 million hits since it was posted less than two weeks ago. The purpose of the video is to make Joseph Kony, a Ugandan warlord famous in order to create awareness and stop his recruitment of children into his rebel group. The video targets young people, policy makers and celebrities to raise awareness by sharing the video on Twitter and Facebook. Celebrities such as Rihanna, Bill Gates and Nikki Minaj have all shared the video to their fans through social media.

The video itself is cleverly made and is very powerful, even to the most cynical of people (me). The narrator of the video Jason Russell talks about the first time he found out about what was going on in Uganda and explains the situation to his son. He has used powerful imagery and music as long with brutal pictures of Ugandans with facial wounds caused by the child recruits.

The video specifically targets young people and how they can make a stand together - there is almost a cult-like feel about the video - images of hundreds of young people raising their fists in the air and chanting in unison '...we will not stop, we will not fear, we will fight war' made me feel a bit uncomfortable.  It almost feels like a propaganda video.

Nobody can argue that the video hasn't managed to raise awareness around the issue - not many people had heard of Joseph Kony before - but 80 million views have changed that.

The criticisms of the video are that it has over-simplified the issue and could actually do more harm than good. Kony is no longer believed to be operating in Uganda and he has an army of hundreds of followers - so just stopping the bad guy won't stop the whole situation that has been going on for years. The video does not encourage viewers to seek more information about the problem, but asks them to make a stand by going plastering cities with stickers and posters with Kony's face on them. Ugandan journalists have argued that the video paints a bad picture of Uganda, as it was seven years ago and that they have progressed since.

Whether or not the video highlights the right issues - it is probably the most powerful and fast-growing viral video there has been to date and Invisible Children have definitely succeeded in raising awareness of their cause. We will have to wait until April 20th to see what happens - but I have a feeling it may become part two of the London riots.

Three Little Pigs

I love the Guardian's new TV advert - a great way to show the sheer speed of communications in our society.

The evolution of a logo

This is what Morrison's logo looked like up until 2008. The strong blocks of colour and the use of yellow and black together, it looks more like a petrol station than a supermarket chain. It was only a matter of time until Morrison's would need to change their logo to something friendlier and greener. 

Morrison's now use the logo below - replacing the colour black for green and making the letters softer and less harsh. The change of the logo represents the change in society's demand on supermarkets. We want healthy food and want to feel that the chain we shop at is friendly and ethical. Morrison's decision to change their logo was very important to stay ahead.
 

It's interesting how company logos can evolve with the times - some of the subtle differences between the logos mean that you can almost guess the decade it was designed in. I have posted some examples below of how Ford and Shell's logos have changed since their original designs.

Shell