radioxkiss Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 This is for one of my advertising classes. I need to get other people's feelings on this besides mine .Thank you!THE venerable theme for Timex, "It takes a licking andkeeps on ticking," looks to be taking a final licking. The Timex Corporation, in a campaign from its new agency,Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners in New York, is dropping the"licking/ticking" slogan - introduced in the 1950's andbrought back in the 1990's - for a theme intended to helpupdate its image. The goal is to freshen the Timex appealwith consumers ages 18 to 34, whose wrists are increasinglysporting other watch brands like Kenneth Cole, ESQ, MarcEcko, Fossil, Guess, Swatch and Swiss Army that they deemmore hip. The theme change, to "Timex. Life is ticking," is part ofan advertising makeover after Timex left its agency of 16years, Fallon Worldwide in Minneapolis, part of thePublicis Groupe. (THE NEXT SENTENCE SAYS ALOT ABOUTADVERTISING.)........The new campaign, with a budget estimatedat $6 million, is indicative of efforts by marketers offamiliar products, especially in competitive categories, tofreshen once-powerful pitches that are now perceived to beworking about as well as, well, a stopped watch. "This is not to dis anything we've done in the past," saidMark Shuster, senior vice president for marketing and chiefmarketing officer at Timex in Middlebury, Conn., who joinedthe company five months ago, "but we have an opportunity totake the brand forward." " `It takes a licking and keeps on ticking' was veryconsistent with a durability message, and was veryeffective," Mr. Shuster said. "But durability is now almosta given because as technologies have improved, people havecaught on to it. Our thought was, is there a way to evolvebeyond durability, to look for that something that capturesmore of the spirit and mindset of today." There are of course significant risks in replacing"licking/ticking," which ranked No. 40 on a list of the top100 campaigns of the 20th century compiled by the tradepublication Advertising Age. Timex, the United States watchmarket leader - the Swatch Group is first worldwide - wouldbe poorly served if it were to give up the benefits of theprevious theme, like the awareness and recall the longtimeslogan has among consumers, without achieving improvementsin measurements like modernity or relevance. "I don't want to be negative, but I am underwhelmed by theconcept," said Timothy R. V. Foster, the founder of acompany in London called AdSlogans Unlimited, when askedhis reaction to the new theme. " `It takes a licking and keeps on ticking' is brilliant,because the slogan says the benefit," Mr. Foster said."With `Life is ticking,' I have a tendency to want tocomplete the slogan; it doesn't sound like it's finished." (SHOWING THE BENEFIT OF A PRODUCT, IN THIS CASE THE WATCH IS STRONG AND WON'T BREAK EASILY...ISVERY IMPORTANT...WE WILL LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS IN CLASS...)Needless to say, Timex and Kirshenbaum Bond, part of theKirshenbaum Bond Creative Network, plan to work assiduouslyto convert critics like Mr. Foster. That will be the aim ofprint ads in the "Life is ticking" campaign, to appear inSeptember issues of magazines with younger readers likeDetails, Entertainment Weekly, FHM, InStyle, Jane, Lucky,Marie Claire, Men's Health and Transworld Snowboarding. The ads seek to draw attention by illustrating Timexproducts and features in eye-catching, nontraditional ways.For instance, a watch with a heart monitor is promoted witha photograph not of a fit runner but of a heart attackbreakfast of bacon, three eggs and fried potatoes. TheIronman Sleek watch is promoted with a photograph not of atrim triathlete but of a bulging belly. An Ironman Data Link watch with "reminder" features ispromoted with a photograph of a reminder missed becauseTimex was not there: a dead goldfish floats in its bowl,the "Feed fish" message unseen. And a shock-resistant watchis promoted with a photograph meant not to absorb shocksbut to create some, depicting a flasher in a raincoatunveiling himself to passers-by. "The brand is so iconic, but sometimes `iconic' can seemdated," said Rob Feakins, an executive creative director atKirshenbaum Bond. " `It takes a licking and keeps onticking' is one of the greatest tag lines in terms ofmemorability, but it's no longer relevant." After all, Mr. Feakins said, "most people with a watchexpect it to work." In the review for the Timex account that ended in Decemberwith the selection of Kirshenbaum Bond, "we presented twocampaigns they didn't buy," Mr. Feakins said, referring toTimex executives, "but they liked our thinking, so we wentback and did a huge exploratory on the slogan." "We wanted to create a point of view for Timex that wasn'tabout telling time anymore, but was more about what youmake of that time," he added. " `Life is ticking' isattached to the old tag line, but it's done in a moretongue-in-cheek way that's more relevant to this audience."In tests of the new "bolder, more pointed" tack the printads are taking, Mr. Feakins said, consumers said "they feltthe brand could go there." The plans for the campaigninclude a commercial to run in movie theaters in the fall,he added, with television being considered. Mr. Shuster praised Kirshenbaum Bond for coming up with acampaign that the initial tests showed could "help changepeople's perceptions about the Timex brand." The agency haswhat he called "a terrific history for taking brands andmaking them more contemporary and relevant," listingexamples like the Target discount chain owned by the TargetCorporation and the Liberty Mutual insurance company thatis part of the Liberty Mutual Group. Timex is one of several recent assignments gained byKirshenbaum Bond, which is being closely watched by itscompetitors to see if it can deliver results. The othersinclude the Song low-fare airline being started by DeltaAir Lines and Jergens skin-care products sold by the KaoCorporation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xpander Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 Seems pretty good at a glance. What's the objective of the paper? Because it reads like an article more than anything else.My 2 cents on the whole Timex issue:Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but it seems to me Timex haven't really been doing too good of a job maintaining their brand image; traditional, hip or otherwise. My perception may be skewed living here in the city, where the watch adverts that I see tends to be for the "newer" brands such as Swatch and Tag Hauer (mainly outdoor/promotions versus indoors/print media); regardless, I just don't recall the Timex brand vividly, even its traditional "takes a licking/keeps on ticking" slogan.Is "Life is ticking" a good slogan? I can't say. But where "hipper" watch brands have been associating themselves with image(s), be it trendiness/athletics/what have you, Timex seems to have focused exclusively on the product itself (as you can tell from the paper). I think it might have been a good idea for them to at least try to propagate their original slogan with an improved brand image before they went on and changed it altogether. "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking" was a pretty damn powerful image, and I'm just not all that positive that the new slogan can go so far.Nice paper, but potentially bad move on the part of Timex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
someclown Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 It is too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therunner Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 Originally posted by someclown It is too long. werd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximman Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 Originally posted by radioxkiss "This is not to dis anything we've done in the past," saidMark Shuster, senior vice president for marketing Did the senior vice president for marketing just say, "dis"? I agree with Xpander, it does read like an objective newspaper article rather than a report for a class. It is very informative, however. The print ads that they're suggesting would make awesome TV commercials. Starting with an extreme close up of the watch and then zooming out really fast with the totally unexpected images that they describe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majinbuu Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 keep the old slogan!i dont need to be reminded that life is ticking....what are they trying to say? by showing you their watch with a fat guy, or the "heart attack breakfast" are they trying to tell me exercise? wtf? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crowina Posted September 3 Report Share Posted September 3 too long for me..but to say "Timex. Life is ticking" is not smart. we know that life has to end at some point we just don't know when. how would you like to buy a watch that may be like life, can die at anytime you just don't know when. i'll go to canal and get a knock-off thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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