Continuing my ramblings about things I love, I thought I would share my obsession with the Stella Artois “She is a Thing of Beauty” campaign. More specifically, my fascination began with the first iteration that features a classic image from famed photographer Bert Stern. The ad shows a man enamored with a woman who is drinking Stella Artois beer. The tagline is: “She is a thing of beauty.”
I have to admit that I was not familiar with Bert Stern’s photographs of Marilyn Monroe in “The Last Sitting” collection before researching this campaign. Therefore, I feel like Amanda Fortini of New York Magazine provides a more illustrative description of the iconic photos:
“In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos of Marilyn Monroe that have collectively come to be known as “The Last Sitting.” Taken during several boozy sessions at the Hotel Bel-Air, the photographs are arguably the most famous images ever captured of America’s most famous actress: Monroe, sleepy-eyed and naked, sips from a Champagne glass, enacts a fan dance of sorts with various diaphanous scarves, romps with erotic playfulness on a bed of white linens.”
As seen in these photos as well as this billboard, Stern has the ability to excavate and preserve the poignant beauty of women.
Created by Mother New York, the campaign positions Stella Artois as “the most premium beer in the world.” The first iteration recreates Stern’s Deborah Dixon Vogue photo shoot.
The understated image campaign for Stella Artois 5% is complimented with a commercial, La Preparation:
Michael Ian Kaye, a creative director at Mother, told BrandWeek that the campaign “came from the work we’ve done in the U.K. It’s really about a brand that has been established with a sense of luxury. We were tasked with creating a U.S. print campaign that brings that notion to life.”
The ads are also meant reflect Stella Artois’ target consumer: a more sophisticated beer drinker.
My opinion: The campaign, similar to the beer, has an end result of perfection.
BU alum @djcap aka DJ Capobianco visited AdLab yesterday to share his insights on digital strategy. As an Assistant Digital Strategist at one of Boston’s largest advertising agencies, Hill Holliday, DJ outlined the importance of digital strategy in a rapidly changing media landscape.
To recap his presentation, let’s begin with the basics.
What does a digital strategist do?
Keeps the clients, the agency and its constituents smart about what’s going on in digital.
Informs clients on what they need to do to be successful in the digital realm as opposed to throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Informs creatives about the appropriate digital platforms. In the way that a creative strategist makes sure the message is on brand, the digital strategist makes sure the platform and the idea work.
Works with analytics team to finish off monitoring and management.
Presents the final analysis to the client.
Why is digital strategy important?
Technologies have changed behaviors and expectations for consumers. Media has become increasingly pervasive, and the way people consume media within the digital channel is rapidly changing. Media consumption is growing. According to DJ, “It’s not really growing apart, it’s growing together and that’s where digital strategy comes into play.”
How to develop a digital strategy
Examples of companies using digital integration effectively
MTV
This visualization is from the 2009 VMAs. MTV worked with Radian6 to analyze the content and to aggregate what was being talked about. They would bring up the pictures of the celebrity or the topic as it got more popular.
DJ’s opinion: It’s an interesting way to ensure that people are still engaging with the MTV brand even when stuff isn’t on the air.
ABC
ABC and the Oscars developed an iPad app where you could go behind the scenes during the commercials and learn more about the Oscars. You could tweet about the Oscars, and you could post about the Oscars. Cameras were in the green rooms and make-up rooms.
DJ’s opinion: This year it was unbranded but imagine if Revlon were to be the main sponsor of this app next year. How can you make sure your audience knows that you understand what they are interested in? How can you align with what they want to talk about and be relevant? You can still have paid media and be authentic. You just have to make sure you aren’t misaligning.
ABC built this iPad app. ABC is the one empowering consumers to throw up a wall in between their eyes and those tv spots during commercial breaks. ABC is the one encouraging people to look down during those broadcasts. That’s a pretty big leap of faith that they have content across their screens that is compelling enough that they won’t lose peoples’ attention, even though they are creating more places to experience it. Through this app, they got a lot of engagement.
Audi
Audi did a great job with branded integration through this Super Bowl commercial:
Notice the hashtag present with no URL:
DJ’s opinion: Their whole brand positioning is “rebellious luxury”— luxury but for the youth. They thought, “We know that the people we are going after know how to get to audi.com. How can we make this spot work harder for us?” They had a social media campaign that backed up what they did on TV (a very expensive Super Bowl spot). The way they amortized that cost was to buy a promoted tweet with #ProgressIs. They pulled out paid support and it’s still going. People are talking about what progress means, and Audi is capitalizing on that conversation because all the Audi tweets are naturally at the top.
They figured out how to get people talking about their brand without talking about “I love that feature within the Audi.” They’ve gotten people into the funnel. They focused on getting in minds, becoming relevant and showing off the brand in really cool way and hopefully getting people to engage over time.
#TVNext: The Convergence of Mass Media with Social Media
Hill Holliday explored how TV got portable, connected and social with their TVNext Summit. Through this event, they show the best examples of media outlets and entertainment franchises doing these three things. Hill provides this compelling example of an entertainment franchise effectively integrating social media and television:
Thank you for an incredibly informative, engaging presentation DJ!
Although not the typical booze cruise most envision when I say the phrase “Senior Year Spring Break,” I, along with 11 other ad junkies, ventured to the big city to explore the glitz and glam of Madison Ave.*
In an effort to spot a Don Draper look-a-like, I flip cammed most of the trip. After meticulously reviewing the footage, I concluded that Don Draper flew to Punta Cana with the rest of BU for the week. Sad days.
Good news though! As a result of my quest, I stumbled upon some great advice from ad industry insiders as well as my classmates’ reactions to the agency visits. Take a look!
*Disclaimer: None of the agencies were actually located on Madison Ave, but the spaces were super swanky and creative. More on the decor in my next post.
While a southern girl at heart, I ventured to the Northeast to study advertising at Boston University. With the last name Stokes, I often encounter people asking me if I'm stoked? As you'll see by reading this blog, I'm "stoked" about marketing, advertising, emerging tech, content creation, Skittles, Starburst and all things Glee.
