British retailer de-brands products to provide "quiet" to consumers

Selfridges, a British department store chain, wants to give customers a break from the overwhelming "noise" of the modern world.

According to their "No Noise" campaign site:

As we become increasingly bombarded with information and stimulation, the world is becoming a noisier place. In an initiative that goes beyond retail, we invite you to celebrate the power of quiet, see the beauty in function and find calm among the crowds.

This idea of an oasis of calm in the middle of retail madness is actually as old as the store itself. When Selfridges opened in 1909, Harry Gordon Selfridge created a Silence Room where busy shoppers could "retire from the whirl of bargains and the build up of energy". The store will soon have a new Silence Room, designed by Alex Cochrane:

But the campaign gimmick of most interest to me is "The Quiet Shop," in which iconic products by Heinz, Beats by Dre, Levi's, Marmite and others have provided exclusive "de-branded" products to promote the initiative.

I love it. And it's really impressive that these classic brands — run by marketers who you would expect to be extremely protective of their established standards and equity — would be willing to participate in a project that basically admits our world is over-branded.

Ahhhhhh...

You can buy the limited-edition products online.

Tip via The Drum

Have you ever had a bad time in Levi's?

Via Retronaut

In my early copywriting days, I was taught that it was bad form to write a headline in the form of a question. "It makes the audience feel obligated to answer," I was informed, "so think of the worst possible answer they could come up with, and that's how they'll read the ad."

That said, how could anyone have a bad time in such festive pants? Levi's struggled to remain relevant in the '70s, before briefly regaining their dominance in traditional bluejeans in the 1980s.

I spent most of my teens and early 20s in those latter Levi's, and I can say that I did, in fact, have a few bad times in them.

More ads from the campaign here.

Bum lookers!

Here is a very clever viral ad from New Zealand (filmed in LA) that aims to prove that men and women alike cannot avert their eyes from a really well-turned bum in a good pair of jeans:



You might have laughed. You might have been offended. But do you feel like buying a new pair of jeans? And which brand?

This video was produced by Levi's,  designed to promote Levi's Curve ID range for curvy women. But you don't know that, unless you read marketing blogs or mainstream media, or cared enough to follow up on Google.

According to SMH, Levi's doesn't even know if it will work:

"The aim of this campaign is for people to connect with the brand and walk away feeling good about their body,'' said Levi Strauss senior director of public relations Alexa Rudin. ''We need to look at how we convert that into sales. We have to be strategic and long term about it.''

That is certainly sound. But The Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi, while not offended by the ad, thought it was a little too "stealth":

"Personally I think it's a great idea and an entertaining video. It's just a pity that Levi's didn't have the guts to put its name to it to begin with. Even now the jeans company is quick to point out that the clip, created by the New Zealand agency Colenso BBDO, was an "experiment without any creative direction from us". To me, that translates as, er, we're not sure how people are going to react, so we're keeping a safe distance. But if a safe distance means that everyone misses the fact it was a Levi's ad, then the exercise was pretty much futile."

What do you think? If the content was branded, would it have been more effective as marketing? Or would cynical viewers have been less likely to watch if they felt they were being "sold to"?

Or, do you just want me to shut up and embed the "making of" video?



Have a happy and safe weekend.

In other words, "watch your ass..."

Only the parents will identify with these...

And although some may find them creepy, I think they're cool. My Ladman often seems to have multiple grabbing appendages...

The copy reads "For little monsters with big imaginations."

Campaign by BBH Singapore. Via I Believe in Advertising.