By amazing coincidence, I heard a bit of Rush Limbaugh this morning, philosophizing on the reason the Olympics attracts a female audience, and his theory was that the Olympics is a hugely ‘chickified’ event filled with stories of rags-to-riches and oppressed people overcoming the odds. They dig it not for the sports, but for the emotion, he went on. Limbaugh is famous for this kind of nonsense, but he’s going to feel vindicated because of how Kleenex plays into this angle.
I’ll leave it to Rohit Bhargava, my guest blogger from Beijing to take it from here.
If you are one of those people that gets in front of the television every evening with a box of tissues to get ready for the melodramatic overload that is the American television coverage of the Olympics, then you’ll be thrilled to know that as part of their sponsorship of the US Olympic team, Kleenex commissioned a documentary to take an inside look at some of the most powerful tear-jerking moments in the Olympics over the past few years. The film is mostly focused on the US (to match their sponsorship) and takes you on a hosted journey with a nameless host who plays the part of “good listener” as past and future hopeful US Olympic athletes are interviewed on a blue couch about their Olympic moments and aspirations.
I had the chance yesterday to go the film premiere at the USA House here in Beijing and it was a well attended affair with lots of recognizable US Olympians, including Julie Foudy, Scott Hamilton, Lenny Krayzelburg, and a few others (see my photos on Flickr). The venue was “homebase” for USOC team members and lots of American gear was available for sale. It was the perfect venue for the premiere and a well put together event. The film itself is a really nice piece of branded entertainment and does well to promote the role of Kleenex brand in the Olympics and in each of our lives, encouraging people to “let it out” without being overly branded. Great job by brand manager Anya Schmidt and the rest of the Kleenex team to keep the branding soft on this project.
I am a fan of Kleenex brand, but I do think that they have a larger strategic problem that likely won’t be solved by a campaign like this or even through an Olympic sponsorship. One of their biggest challenges surely must be the commoditization of their brand. The fact is, people call every kind of tissue a Kleenex. They own the category, but need to continually explain to people why it matters that you buy Kleenex instead of the cheaper store brand. Just once I would love to see them take the road of comparing their brand’s superiority to cheaper imitations. I can already picture the thirty second spot. Guy and girl on a first date go to see a sappy movie. Girl is crying and guy tries to be smooth by handing her a “Kleenex.” She blows her nose, the tissue rips and she messes up her expensive “first date dress.” The ad ends with her looking at him angrily as the tagline fades in: “Kleenex … Because Everything Else Blows.”
Damn, I’m good. I should do this for a living.
PS – Check out the trailer for the film below – its actually really good and will be premiering for a limited engagement in theaters in 25 cities starting August 13th across the US. It will also be available on www.letitout.com from August 14th.
To read more real athlete’s stories, visit Lenovo’s Voices of the Olympic Games!
There’s a ‘billboard’ outside 
“He brought wit, grace and a great love of country to his work.”
The former is 95 years old, and the latter is just two! One has utilitarian value the other cult value. Whereas more than 25,000 people pass through Grand Central each day, thousands of people come to the Apple store on 5th Avenue to go nowhere fast. They caress the iPods and gaze at other cool people.
It struck me that like the station, there could very well be a ticket counter, and the people would pay to get in. Not that this is even necessary. Apple devotees are actually paying to be there –with their attention. Today. In a time when people are largely ignoring brands and blocking out branded messages, getting people to walk in (opt-in?) to an environment that’s eighty percent logo is pure genius.
“Today, it has become an economic, environmental and brand liability for the company.”
This execution from Honda Accord in the UK is admirable, because it tries to demonstrate the tagline (“The power of dreams”) and the slogan “Difficult is worth doing” using not the logo but the brand name.
Hoipolloireport 