TWO LITRE OF MILK TOPS The difference between 2 Litre containers of Clona and Dawn Milk is quite fundamental. It is extremely difficult to open Clona cartons and easy to open Dawn cartons. The Clona milk carton requires the use of a knife like implement to cut and perforate the joining between the plastic ring, that surrounds the neck of the bottle, and the carton top it is attached to. This discourages old people and small children from using it, as it is difficult and dangerous. Dawn’s equivalent has no such annoying attachment and is therefore more easily opened and more functional for the consumer.

MOBILE PHONES All mobile phones currently on sale for the Christmas market will be obsolete by March. The new “wireless application protocol” enables one to dial up a Net connection from a mobile phone to deliver news, sport and mail. Come next March one will probably be staring balefully at the Christmas phone wondering whether or not to buy a replacement as it will not be equipped with WAP compatible chips. These chips cannot be retro fitted.

BACARDI BREEZER This is rum. Plain and simple, rum. Rum to which has been added lemonade and colouring and a blizzard of sexy advertising. This is rum, which muddy builders haul themselves out of burst sewage trenches, to gulp down. This is rum, which ravenous fishermen home from the high seas and stinking of rotten fish greedily devour. This is rum, which is a best seller in the trendiest of nightclubs and coolest of bars to beautiful trendy women, scarcely dressed and exuding sexuality and to the hippest of Calvin Klein clad men. How the hell do Bacardi do it? Advertising that embodies Mardi-Gras style partying. Cool young beautiful people partying with gay abandon. Long John Silver would turn in his grave. There are three different flavours: lime, citrus and orange which are coloured green, citrus and orange in bright long-neck bottles that jump out at you from the bar cooler. The Advertising insists that “There is Latin Spirit in Everyone”. Bacardi Breezer is the key to the release of this Latin Spirit, which transforms one into a party animal, beautiful, central to attention and yet impervious to everything. Bacardi Breezer are also cashing in on the Latin craze at the moment where Latino dancing is taking off in much the same way as Line Dancing and pop stars Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Lee Martin are topping the charts week in week out. Bacardi Breezer transforms you from your boring façade to society into the person you really are, what all 18-15 year olds want to be – liberated, cool and just God Damn Perfect. This miraculous transformation may be aided by the alcohol content of 5.4%and abetted by the smaller than usual bottle and more expensive than usual price, yet it is lapped up by the new party generation. In Bacardi’s ads, they do not actually mention one tangible quality of the drink which would differentiate it from other products such as price, range or taste, therefore it is the Latin Spirit which one wants to go out and experience. People thus want Bacardi Breezer, not for its taste, not for its price, but for something artificial. According to Mr. Paraic O’Regan, proprietor of The Western Star it all works, as sales of Bacardi Breezer are now third in the bottled market, only behind the Bulmers Pint Bottle and Long Neck Budweiser. This position is due to what the product signifies and not its tangible qualities.

RED BULL These people have concocted an acceptable form of ecstasy tablets for the dance, clubbing culture. The can is moulded in the shape of a flare canister. A flare is held in the hand like a can. The top bursts off and the flare explodes out of the can with a burst of energy and a flash of light. Red bull comes out of the can; a concoction of liquidised explosive energy to burst into your body and take you to a higher level of mind and body energised stimulation. It saves and rescues the mind from exhaustion just as a flare can save you in other ways. A common feature around U.C.C. and Washington Street in Cork outside the main student pubs is a Mini with a can of Red Bull acting as a rocket launcher ready to explode into action. Again signifying the powerful and explosive nature of the drink. In this era of nightclubbing culture, dance music is getting faster and faster and beats per minute are ever intensifying and increasing. This coupled with the clampdown on, and the decreasingly cool image of ecstasy led to a market opening for a legal energy substance, to fuel young ravers all night long. (Even after the music has stopped!!!) The copy on the can reads “stimulates metabolism*increases physical endurance*improves and increases concentration and reaction speed*” i.e. an all singing, all dancing, sort your life out solution. The can also states that this product has been “especially developed for times of increased stress or strain”, thus preying on the inadequacies and unstable emotions to sell them the solution to all their problems. The metaphor in the advertising of “Red Bull gives you Wings” allied to the imagery of the name Red Bull which conveys an image of a raging bull full of red energy, emphasises these statements. The label shows two bulls squaring up to each other, with the silver and blue colouring focusing on the bulls. The lines are slanted mirroring a slight hint of danger and abnormality. Mr. Eric Sheehan, manager of The Washington Inn states that Red Bull is hugely popular. It’s association with vodka as a mixer has increased vodka sales by at least 33%.

BONNE MAMON (i.e. Good Mother) Bonne Mamon conserve, with its exclusive original packaging ( made in France), elicits through that packaging that it is home made. The labeling is very and cheap – two simple white stickers with black print on a chunky glass jar. Its lid has the traditional homely red and white checkered design associated with a plain traditional tablecloth or apron. Next to ‘more fancy’ jams on a shelf, it is differentiated by the values of wholesomeness and tradition only found in a kitchen. Its very name suggests that it is home made.

ENERGISER TORCH ‘Ever ready’ have hit the shelves with a torch for the millenium, preying on potential ‘Y2K’ victims. Its supermarket positioning jumps out at the consumer from corners and the packaging contains the copy “Be prepared for 2000 with Ever ready”. The torch is physically large, therefore easy to find in the dark, and shaped like a futuristic Star Wars weapon. Ever ready instills a tangible fear and makes one believe that you will need this torch at midnight on 1/1/2000 when all systems crash, giving you the solution to a fake fear, and allowing you to survive.

BRYLCREEM Brylcreem was dead. The product of the 1960’s, associated with old men and greasy grey hair had rapidly declining sales. The owners, ‘Sara Lee’, pumped a huge investment into repositioning the brand, jumping on the boy band perfect hair and Manchester United popularity bandwagons. The packaging became bright and more sexy, David Beckham advertised promoted it and the brand had a popularity upsurge.

“THANK YOU VERY MUCH……” STARTED BY Cadbury’s Roses – the ‘Thank you’ chocolates. Cadburys used an advertising theme, consistent throughout the life of the product, associating themselves with the solution to the problem of how to say thank you, more than words. This also differentiates Cadburys Roses from other chocolates on the shelf, in its brand category. All the products have equivalence but one does not buy Quality Street to say thank you. The association is so effective that when one wants to say thank you – Roses come into one’s mind, as the immediate solution.

THE DARINA ALLEN PHENOMENON This wholesome, wonder-cook and wonder-mother arrived on T.V. screens a number of years ago, promoting the joys of home cooking and natural foods. She also ran the expensive and exclusive Ballymaloe Cookery School. So when Ballymaloe Relish and Darina Allen Homemade Ice-cream appeared on our shelves, they were immediately and inextricably linked by consumers to quality and health, goodness and wholesomeness even though they are made in Dublin.

BULMERS CIDER Cider is traditionally not a rich man’s drink. The problem for cider companies was that the less well off people have less money to spend. Bulmers set about repositioning cider through advertising. Their “nothing added but time” ad campaign conveyed the qualities of tradition, heritage, quality, care, etc. The award winning ‘Jules Leotard’ ads continued this with the feelings of grace, athleticism and dedication, forever altering the position of Bulmers in consumer’s minds. The happy parallel for Bulmers is the phenomenal increase in sales, proving the repositioning worked. Sales of Bulmers are now up to 50% of the leading market drink Heineken.

NIVEA FOR MEN Men seem to have been like prehistoric creatures as little as years ago. The thought of men using moisturiser and face balm was as far removed from reality as Homer Simpson! Nivea saw an opportunity and made it acceptable by writing the words “for men” on their labels. They tapped into the phenomenom of “ the new man”, a softer more caring and ‘in touch with his feelings’ man, who was as concerned about his appearance as most women. Products such as ‘Nivea for men sensitive after-shave balm’ are now very successful. Nivea have continued to push out the boundaries of male acceptability of such feminine products with their new ‘Nivea Clear Pore Strips’.

BORU VODKA Internationally Ireland has built up a good brand image in the world of spirits. Paddy, Powers, Jameson, Baileys, and Hennessy. Now, into this category has come ‘Boru Vodka’, - the Irish Vodka. Vodka, traditionally linked with Russia, has been adopted by an Irish company and ironically is centering its entire image around one of Ireland’s great heroes – Brian Boru. The packaging of the bottle immediately confers a competitive advantage on Boru over its competitors. The bottle is misty and cloudy in appearance. This ties in with historic character of Brian Boru, as one appears to be looking back through the mists of time and seeing the cloud coloured battlefields of 1014. When one thinks of the date they are instantly transported into a totally different world, a world without pollution, where everything is natural, no artificiality, what you see is what you get. When we look through the misty bottle we are lost in its mystery, its magic, we are transported back to a natural era and ironically this product is new. As well as the packaging associating itself with going back over the mists of time it also has another capability. The packaging is almost transparent and the labeling is in black ‘old writing’ style print, giving it a very natural look. It does not have the flashy, ‘jump out at you’ red label slapped onto a contrasting clear bottle. With this packaging Boru Vodka claims “there is no purer vodka in the world today”. Not only is this new vodka boldly associating itself with Ireland’s deep heritage but it is immediately challenging the glorious Russian vodka stronghold. A most rebellious act worthy only of Ireland’s first king Brian Boru.