That Works Weekly provides an alternative take on the week’s marketing and branding news. In Episode 10, Elon Musk causes Bitcoin slump, Cadbury run out of Flakes, Tesco change names for no reason and John Lewis come out of Christmas retirement.
Musk sparks Bitcoin drop
Tech mogul and impossibly rich man Elon Musk has been making business news this week after his one-word Tweet supposedly caused Bitcoin to drop to its lowest value for three months. Now, I’m no guru in the field of crypto-currency, but one that can be influenced so easily by one man’s social media profile sounds about as dependable as a one-legged chair. Musk’s Tweet in question simply read “Indeed” – not in response to someone asking which website they should use to find a job, but to a Tweet which suggested his firm Tesla had sold all of their Bitcoin holdings. He then replied to a separate post saying “To clarify speculation,” (caused by himself) “Tesla has not sold any Bitcoin”, rendering the whole story, and arguably this paragraph, absolutely pointless.
99 problems and Flakes are one
Cadbury has announced that unexpected volumes of ice cream sales this Spring have caused a shortage of mini 99 Flakes. Who’d have thought that, of all the cravings people would have after lockdown, especially during a May where we’ve had around three hours of sunshine, a cheap Mr Whippy would be at the top of the list. Rather than attempting to lump the blame on Brexit, Coronavirus, the Suez Canal blockage or Brits being a little strange, Mondelēz, the company which owns Cadbury, have said the shortage is simply down to a supply and demand issue. A radical solution here, but just… make some more?
Tesco’s name game
In direct competition with Elon Musk’s Bitcoin fib for the week’s most anti-climactic story, Tesco have decided to drop the ‘Metro’ tag from 147 of their stores across the UK. Other than sounding half-catchy, Tesco Metro branches have been deemed unfit for purpose following research which found that customers were using the stores for smaller shopping sprees than expected. Might that have something to do with their size and product offering rather than the pointless name that appears on the front of the building? Described by one newspaper clearly enduring a slow news day as a ‘dramatic shake-up’, the branches will simply be renamed as either ‘Express’ or ‘Extra’ stores, which most of us thought they were all called anyway.
John Lewis’ value launch
The retailer John Lewis has launched their first advertising campaign highlighting their new, affordable ‘Anyday’ range. It’s good to see John Lewis actually selling products again, following a length hiatus where they just made Christmas TV adverts about nothing in particular with a melancholic cover of a pop song underneath. Their new range includes a £70 outside furniture set and a £299 sofa-bed – I appreciate it’s a sofa-bed and a not a packet of microwavable noodles, but there’s something about a £300 item being included in a ‘value’ range that doesn’t quite sit right, pardon the pun.
Unilever crack down on toothpaste waste
In ‘semi-good news’ this week, Unilever has announced that its toothpaste brands will change their packaging to recyclable tubes… by the year 2025. They do know that’s four whole years away? I find it very difficult to believe that it takes one of world’s richest companies up to 1500 days to create a toothpaste tube made out of recyclable plastic and squeeze toothpaste into it. Especially when Samir Singh, Unilever’s executive vice president of global skin cleansing and oral care, is of the view that “Plastic pollution is undoubtedly one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time.” Almost as big a challenge as rolling out that job title every time he introduces himself, I imagine.
