Now interacting with lots of new partners

It would be unfair to describe Nivea consumers as diet-obsessed, chain-smoking single women with little success with men. Yet many of the consumers which the personal care brand wants to target do seem to have a fascination with the struggles experienced by Helen Fielding's character Bridget Jones. In fact, more than 6m women in the UK within Nivea's core demographic are predicted to watch the movie Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason when it opens in UK cinemas on 12 November.

This is why Nivea is placing the film at the centre of a new integrated marketing campaign which starts this week. Nivea's marketing manager, Samantha Wright, is one of a growing number of marketers demanding her media planners think differently and work more closely with above- and below-the-line agencies to engage consumers and bring a brand story to life. The term ‘media neutrality' has been bandied around for a while within marketing circles, but for many marketers it is becoming reality.

To hit the target these days, brands need a thorough understanding of how and where their consumers are likely to interact with them. The traditional media planning ideal of shouting the loudest to reach the greatest number of people is no longer enough. And planners need to do more than simply demonstrate that they can allocate funds to different media without overloading the audience or busting the budget. Today, the role is much more about building a media schedule around a consumer's interests and tastes, making the brand more relevant. ‘Clever media planning is a way for marketers to extend their thinking. Today's planners must be able to take a conventional media schedule and then ask the right questions so different ideas can be bolted on,' says Alison Hoad, planning partner at Campbell Doyle Dye and a convenor of judges for this year's IPA Effectiveness Awards.

Carat Media is project managing the Nivea campaign, but Wright briefed all her agencies at the same time, including the creative teams at TBWA and FCB London, making sure that everyone had bought into the integrated concept. Red Baron Media, a creative partnership agency, helped Nivea's owner, Beiersdorf, to sign up the brand as one of Universal Studios' official marketing partners for the movie. Initially, Nivea wanted product placement in the film, but research revealed its consumers would not see this as a credible link for the brand. Instead, consumers will see promotions and traditional advertising linked to the movie through various touch points, including at retail outlets, on the Web and via mobile-based promotions to complement the glossy magazines and outdoor ads.

Carat's communications planner, Ciaran Challis, accepts media planners must be multifaceted these days. ‘Planners must look at the bigger picture and understand the value of other disciplines, such as PR, and know how to use them. It is essential to develop media opportunities around the interests of the target market. If consumers like going to the movies, then that is where we need to talk to them,' he says. Media fragmentation is adding to the pressure on media planners to think smarter. Take the music and dance phenomenon created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty for Lever Fabergé's toiletries brand Lynx Pulse.

As well as booking traditional media, the plan involved releasing the single ‘Make Luv' by Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham, which topped the singles chart for four weeks selling 325,000 copies. The campaign included an interactive element with a website and screensaver, while events such as Pulse parties were held in clubs. Planning agency Naked was established on the belief that brand owners must move away from the old media planning model and that planners need to understand how to build excitement around a brand by focusing on a consumer's preferences. Naked helped boost awareness of directory inquiries brand 118 118 by getting its runners to interact with the public and through guerrilla tactics. ‘We are at the beginning of a restructuring of the communications industry.

Media is increasingly being seen as a place to showcase your creative message and demonstrate how your brand interacts with consumers. It is no longer just about having a single grandstanding piece of creative work or a factory producing TV commercials,' says Naked partner Will Collin. Indeed, advertising agencies that have traditionally insisted on being guardians of the brands they represent are accepting that they must work more closely with other marketing services companies. They realise that it is as important to reach consumers when they are shopping or in the pub, as when they are watching Coronation Street.

The British Heart Foundation's fatty cigarette campaign has been one of the most memorable of the year. The activity is being managed by advertising agency Euro RSCG London, which wanted to ensure that the image of how a person's arteries clog up and ooze with fat every time they smoke is in their mind when they are having a cigarette. As well as booking outdoor and television space the BHF worked with different agencies to produce beer mats for pubs and to create a micro website carrying advice on how to give up.

During the first burst of activity in January, the BHF helpline received almost 13,000 calls and the website attracted more than 250,000 visitors. It is estimated that around half that number will go on to give up the habit. BHF launched the second phase of its campaign last week, with new elements such as text and email support, interactive TV and a Tetris-style computer game, Fatris, which can be played on a mobile phone or the BHF website.

Says Malcolm White, executive planning director at Euro RSCG: ‘This is an example of where the client is providing the integrated glue for all the marketing agencies to stick together. Clients are becoming reluctant to buy all their media services from one group and are preferring to purchase the best facilities from different places, so that they can be the force that ensures that everyone works together in a way that brings the most benefit to the brand.' Source: Steve Hemsley (2004) Financial Times, 12 October. Reprinted with permission.

Question
1. ‘To hit the target these days, brands need a thorough understanding of how and where their consumers are likely to interact with them.' How can marketing research help firms to get to grips with this problem?