Mars launched a new campaign for its pet-food brand Whiskas. The campaign was aired in October on over 5000 poster-sites across Germany and marks one of the biggest OOH drives in the history of the brand. Created by the Berlin office of TBWA, the campaign will run across Europe in markets including Ireland, Belgium and Portugal.

“This European Whiskas campaign is an excellent example of a disruptive approach for a brand that exists in a market driven by conventions,” says Stefan Schmidt, Creative at Large Europe at TBWA.

Many translate the insight that “people love cats” into conventional advertising featuring cute cats only. But cat-lovers understand that their appreciation of cats is something very individual: it’s all about THEIR cat. Executed in a simple and beautiful way, the campaign will create an iconic landmark for the brand and leaves plenty of space for cat-owners to project their unique relationship with their pet.

For any comments or suggestions, send an email to Ulrich Proeschel.

The biggest challenge for Big Ideas today is where they take root. Big Ideas with no means to reach people are nothing more than Intellectual Property.  They are only useful where we can use them. I’d like to propose five guidelines for adapting Big Ideas for the new media landscape.  

 1.  It’s More Important To Have A Point Of View Than A Line. 

Activities thrive better than ads in the new media landscape.  So the most useful Big Idea is a point of view than can inspire activities.  John Grant refers to this as a Marketing Enthusiasm: a point of view on the world that is bigger than the brand or the product.  Persil’s ‘Dirt Is Good’ is more than an eye-catching line.   It is a marvelously rich point of view about how children develop through play.  For example, its website currently promotes a list of 33 things to do before you’re ten.  Contrast this with Samsung’s alleged Big Idea: ‘Imagine’.  There’s no point of view there, nothing to engage with. So ‘Imagine’ ends up shoehorned in as the opening to its line of copy.  Russell Davies nicely mocked what happens to meaningless Big Ideas online:   “It was OK when a Big Idea had to support three TV scripts and some posters, but its flatness shows when the poor digital agency has to turn it into an immersive, online experience, not just a silly game of whack-a-mole with the brand mascot.”   Read more…