Tuesday, September 8, 2015

What does it take to break into US? Top 5 Ads & A great PR initiative (not mine!)



What does it take to break into the US?
This week Primark (Penneys) opens its first US store – in Boston.  It’s a massive move for the company and it must be hoping it avoids the fate of Tesco, Sainsbury and M&S who all failed to make it stateside.  The choice of Boston is considered a good one because of its big student population and younger Americans are more open to buying international brands.  Also opening just one store is considered smart as slow expansion is working for Ted Baker, Topshop and Boden in the US.  Topshop sold a 25% stake in its business to a US private equity firm so it would have US expertise on board. A state by state or focus on key cities is recommended in this article for Primark.

Top 5 Ads
This is the Guardian’s current Top 5 and a couple have dubious starts but turn out to be good ‘uns!  The 5 featured are Honda, Pot Noodle, Gatorade, Under Armour and McCoys crisps.  Synchronicity seems to be in vogue with both the Honda and Under Armour ads using impressive displays of it but I still found both ads a bit cold.  The Pot Noodle one is good – had me all riled up initially as was thinking of link between nutrition and sporting achievement – but it sends itself up very nicely.  I really like the Gatorade commercial as it features comments from a very young Serena Williams (pictured) – I won’t give a spoiler re the ending but it’s great.  The McCoys one is just simply funny!  See for yourself……

A Great PR initiative
Hats off to whoever came up with this angle to promote houses for sale in Delgany – I can imagine plenty of copycat attempts!  The interior designer for these Wood Group homes, a woman called Eily Roe, imagines characters and their lifestyles living in her show homes and designs for them.  So an Irish Times journalist was invited for a sleepover in one of the homes and this article was the result.  Nice one!



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