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Our favourite ad this week: 

Another in TBWA\Paris's surreal (almost nightmarish) images for Sony Playstation

New Snapshots

State Farm is America's biggest auto and home insurance group, now expanding rapidly into general financial services. The company covers approximately one out of every six cars in the US, and one out of five homes. Click here for an Adbrands Snapshot of State Farm (subscribers only). 

Advertising: Who handles advertising? Click here for agency account assignments from adbrands.net.

Competitors: See Financial & Insurance Sector for other companies. 

Lowe's is the world's second largest home improvement retailer (after Home Depot). Even as the #2 in the sector, Lowe's remains a massive business, one of America's 50 biggest companies, with revenues well over $40bn and more than 1,230 stores spread across 49 states. Click here for an Adbrands Snapshot of Lowe's (subscribers only). 

Advertising: Who handles advertising? Click here for agency account assignments from adbrands.net.

Competitors: see Retail Sector index for other companies

Recently Revised Profiles and Snapshots

In the news this week: Advertisers

Ford Motors is reported to be developing plans for a new reality show, provisionally titled Made in Detroit, in which the company itself will star. According to reports in the New York Times, one concept in development puts would-be car designers in competition with each other to design a new vehicle for the company. Each week a judging panel would review the designs, eliminating the weakest entrants. The project has yet to be signed up by a network, and is one of a number of ideas being considered by Ford to boost its profile as part of a major new marketing campaign under the banner "Bold Moves".

Food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer was reported to be considering a rebrand of all stores under the "Your M&S" name and logo used in its current marketing. One of the main London outlets (in Edgware Road) for the upscale retailer is being converted to the new name as a test. Meanwhile, the new AT&T (formerly SBC) confirmed plans to drop its mobile brand Cingular in favour of a resurrected AT&T Wireless branding before the end of 2006.

In a further reduction of its operations outside Europe, French supermarket giant Carrefour sold its 32 stores in Korea to local fashion retailer E.land for around E1.5bn. Last year, the group also pulled out of Japan, but still has a presence in China as well as several other Asian markets. In Spain, telecoms group Telefonica sold its controlling stake in TPI, the country's foremost supplier of print and online telephone directory services, to British group Yell for around E3bn. In the UK, Premier Foods was said to be involved in talks to buy parts of United Biscuits, as well as Campbell's Soup's food businesses in the UK and Ireland. EMI's opening bid to acquire Warner Music was rejected by the US company. Unilever sold its Finesse and Aqua Net haircare brands in the US and Canada to UK-based Lornamead Brands. 

Best Brands Poll: we asked you - Olay, Nivea or Dove? Nivea won with 55% of the vote, followed by Dove (33%) and Olay (11%). How about this one: General Motors, Ford or Toyota? Vote here or on-site on several high-traffic pages throughout the site including the free-view pages for P&G and BBDO.

In the news this week: Agencies

WPP expanded its Group M media services division with the acquisition of IEG, a leading information services and consultancy company specialising in the sponsorship sector. Meanwhile BBH took steps in a new direction with the launch of a new "brand invention" unit Zag, which will create products which can be licensed or sold to third party manufacturers. BBH will take its remuneration in the form of a percentage of future sales. The business is led by Neil Munn, former global brand director at Unilever.

The biggest account review announced this week was Wal-Mart's $570m account, creative and media, both currently held by GSD&M, supported by Bernstein-Rein. Not far behind in billings was Progressive Auto Insurance, whose business was reportedly resigned by incumbent Doner. Also in the US, tax services supplier H&R Block reappointed Campbell Mithun after a review; Kmart shifted media to MindShare; and Home Depot handed direct marketing and interactive duties to Digitas.

Agencies Poll: currently we're asking you to select your most admired specialist creative agency. At the end of the third week, Bartle Bogle Hegarty continues with a clear lead and 23% of all votes. Some way behind is Crispin Porter & Bogusky (16%), followed by Deutsch (10%). The poll will run for another week. Vote now from our home page or by following this link.

Regards


Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands

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Recommended Reading

UK users

One of the founding partners of St Luke's, now a successful brand strategy consultant in the UK, John Grant's third book is an articulate and well-argued investigation of current directions in brand management. One of the cornerstones to the book is the belief that traditional marketing tools such as USP or "brand essence" are out-dated. Central to brand success in the 21st century is the idea of lifestyle change. Many of the hottest brands today offer a distinct and quantifiable alteration to the users' day-to-day life. Starbucks has established itself as a home away from home, the comfort zone in the high street. iPod has changed the way we listen to music. Zara delivers the latest designer fashions faster even than the designers themselves and at a fraction of the price. eBay has given us access to a vast world of new and used consumer products from the everyday goods to hard-to-find collectors items. These are brands which consumers come to "love" because they add something completely new to our daily culture. 

By contrast, Grant argues, older brands such as Levi's or Coca-Cola still rely on the traditional values of non-interactive brand image. In truth of course that's also largely because they aren't new any more. Levi's and Coke both changed consumer culture plenty in their day, even as recently as a decade ago. Now, however, they constitute the establishment, not the challenger. Starbucks, Zara and iPod could well to face exactly the same challenges in another 10 years, if not before. They can be saved, says Grant, by adopting the new thinking. Nike, for example, largely another image brand, won back its audience with events (such as Nike London local sports tournaments) and personalised products (Nike ID). 

The core of the book is supplied by a periodic table of 32 "brand elements", which currently provide the engine either for new brands, or which have helped add extra oomph to existing products. These are collected into 8 main groups ("new traditions", "herd instincts", "luxury", "proactive" etc) of four separate sub-elements, each of which is illustrated with up to 10 different examples. So for example, the New Traditions category is broken down into sub-elements of "habits" (illustrated by Nando's, Haagen-Dazs and Ikea), "spectacle" (Sephora and Selfridges, as well as Cirque de Soleil and Disneyland), "leadership" (Chanel, Apple, Virgin) and "organisation" (Pret a Manger, Honda etc). Some of the examples may seem to stretch the point to snapping in order to make a fit, but the concept is clever and effective. 

Overall, this is an intriguing and thought-provoking book, which at the very least will have you re-examining the "brand molecules" of your own favourite brands.

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