Comments on: Brandwatch: Marathon (and on and on)

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:20:44 +0000

Calm down dear, they’ve only registered the trademark :)

(in fact I wonder if it’s not just a trademark protection thing anyway, like the way Marvel Comics has to do a Captain Marvel series every few years whether or not anybody wants one.)

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:17:10 +0000

WHY OH WHY is SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION MARATHON WRAP not available in fashionable TESCO EXPRESS store in hot, hip FULHAM is this just for over-trendy HOXTON HOOSIERS?

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:07:54 +0000

But I think it would be unwise to take Wispa sales as a projection for relaunches – there really isn’t a bar quite like Wispa in texture on the market, whereas Marathon and Snickers are obviously the same thing.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:06:55 +0000

Apparently very successful – it’s now back permanently.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:02:47 +0000

Does anyone know how successful the (seemingly similarly motivated) Wispa re-launch was?

By: fivelongdays

fivelongdays — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:25:33 +0000

I think it’s interesting that they appear to be getting into what amounts to a nostagiafest for 30somethings – Marathon became Snickers when I was about 7/8, so it appears as if they’re appealing to people who are – at the very least – in their late 20s.

By: CarsmileSteve

CarsmileSteve — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:28:53 +0000

mars’ better marketing thing this summer is the “oh shit we’ve got 100,000 footballs and now england aren’t in euro 2008, what can we do with them???” promotion, somebody should totally win an award for that…

By: DV

DV — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:30:19 +0000

What would Morrison do with a Marathon? maybe he could produce a chocolate bar that came to the realisation that it was a chocolate bar.

By: Andrew Farrell

Andrew Farrell — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:37:02 +0000

I’d be surprised if Morrison hits nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia, though, his ideas tends to have actual ideas in them.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:13:48 +0000

(it’s also a near complete projection on my part too! but it does seem to lie beneath the surface of some of the marketing and ad blogs I read – obviously most people want effective AND creative though)

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:10:41 +0000

Ha ha, you can ask for Bulmers though – and be paying a different company.

Nostalgia can be worth lauding, if the alternative is a faceless monoculture.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:10:36 +0000

Ask me that again when I’ve read what Grant Morrison does with Barry Allen, Andrew!

I generally think that there’s no difference between “effective” and “laudable” in marketing as long as you’re not stepping over ethical boundaries (which in this case plainly nobody is). The marketing and ad industry’s image of itself as some kind of garden of creativity continually forced to lower itself to the whim of cruel Dame Commerce is a complete joke.

By: Andrew Farrell

Andrew Farrell — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:05:05 +0000

Yeah, but nostalgia and parochialism may be effective, but they’re not worth lauding, surely?

not-parochialism-but-it-looks-like-it: “Magners, the Irish Cider! PS please do not ask for it in Ireland”

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:11:50 +0000

They have recently done a limited edition retro rebrand Opal Fruits as well.

I have always found this urge for the global brand vs local an interesting one – compare and contrast with the previously identified anomaly around Walls / Heartbrand: same logo, different name in every country.