Dear Editor,
The post-champs talk this year was not about the repeat of the historic '4peat' by Calabar High School, my prestigious alma mater. Instead, the media is blazing with the now famous two words "be extraordinary".
I do not recall a moment in the business history of Jamaica when a marketing campaign was so short, so striking, and so effective. Digicel, who was not a sponsor at the 2015 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys'& Girls' Championships, ended up collecting all the attention of social media, talk radio, and headline news. This is the dream of every marketing manager, everywhere in the world.
Some see Digicel as a brand bully. LIME, on the other hand, is like that child we feel we need to protect from the bigger boys. Whenever there is a showdown between the two, the talk on the street tends to reflect these two streams of feelings.
Now, Digicel looks like the villain, and LIME the victim, but let us not be fooled; this is about business, not beatitudes. The ethics may be borderline, but guerilla marketing was never mainstream nor a part of the orthodoxy of marketing strategies. So, if we set aside the 'holier than thou' attitude for a bit, we may appreciate this textbook case.
I am someone with a keen interest in marketing and business strategy. I was very impressed with that extraordinary move. Just as I was shocked with its boldness. As a long-standing LIME customer, my unsolicited advice is, don't play the victim card. LIME needs to shed this 'vulnerable one' image as they have been guilty of aggressive marketing tactics themselves.
We can recall the 'Forget di gimmicks' campaign with the famous comedic duo washing a car. And certainly, some of us will never forget when, a few years ago, Digicel mobilised a flash mob to do their 'Summer Promotion' in New Kingston and LIME seemingly timed the event perfectly to do a helicopter flyover with a counter promotion with plenty of noisy excitement that stole the show. That was, perhaps, one of the few times people saw LIME flexing its marketing muscle in a daringly belligerent way. Nowadays, we all find it amusing how LIME TV ads fact-check and ridicule 'Mr B' with his red-and-white paraphernalia. These are more or less different versions of marketing that competitive businesses keep in their marketing toolbox. They're certainly not new in Jamaica.
What Captain Calabar did after his record-shattering run to 'bare his chest' created a new test case for the marketing textbooks. Event planners and promoters, including ISSA, are now forced to take stock of this marketing unorthodoxy. These creative marketing people might have just kick-started the establishment of a modern regime for events promotion and sponsorship rights in Jamaica. This could very well be the legacy of Champs 2015.
Rohan Bell
rbellemail-toshiba@yahoo.com
Don't even start playing victim, LIME!
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The post-champs talk this year was not about the repeat of the historic '4peat' by Calabar High School, my prestigious alma mater. Instead, the media is blazing with the now famous two words "be extraordinary".
I do not recall a moment in the business history of Jamaica when a marketing campaign was so short, so striking, and so effective. Digicel, who was not a sponsor at the 2015 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys'& Girls' Championships, ended up collecting all the attention of social media, talk radio, and headline news. This is the dream of every marketing manager, everywhere in the world.
Some see Digicel as a brand bully. LIME, on the other hand, is like that child we feel we need to protect from the bigger boys. Whenever there is a showdown between the two, the talk on the street tends to reflect these two streams of feelings.
Now, Digicel looks like the villain, and LIME the victim, but let us not be fooled; this is about business, not beatitudes. The ethics may be borderline, but guerilla marketing was never mainstream nor a part of the orthodoxy of marketing strategies. So, if we set aside the 'holier than thou' attitude for a bit, we may appreciate this textbook case.
I am someone with a keen interest in marketing and business strategy. I was very impressed with that extraordinary move. Just as I was shocked with its boldness. As a long-standing LIME customer, my unsolicited advice is, don't play the victim card. LIME needs to shed this 'vulnerable one' image as they have been guilty of aggressive marketing tactics themselves.
We can recall the 'Forget di gimmicks' campaign with the famous comedic duo washing a car. And certainly, some of us will never forget when, a few years ago, Digicel mobilised a flash mob to do their 'Summer Promotion' in New Kingston and LIME seemingly timed the event perfectly to do a helicopter flyover with a counter promotion with plenty of noisy excitement that stole the show. That was, perhaps, one of the few times people saw LIME flexing its marketing muscle in a daringly belligerent way. Nowadays, we all find it amusing how LIME TV ads fact-check and ridicule 'Mr B' with his red-and-white paraphernalia. These are more or less different versions of marketing that competitive businesses keep in their marketing toolbox. They're certainly not new in Jamaica.
What Captain Calabar did after his record-shattering run to 'bare his chest' created a new test case for the marketing textbooks. Event planners and promoters, including ISSA, are now forced to take stock of this marketing unorthodoxy. These creative marketing people might have just kick-started the establishment of a modern regime for events promotion and sponsorship rights in Jamaica. This could very well be the legacy of Champs 2015.
Rohan Bell
rbellemail-toshiba@yahoo.com
Don't even start playing victim, LIME!
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