Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S4E14 - Limited Edition Brands

Episode Date: April 5, 2015

Many marketers often release special-edition products of their mainstream brands. It may be a special limited-time flavour, or colour, or it may be a kooky version of their usual product. It’s an interesting marketing strategy, because marketers create limited-edition brands for very specific reasons - to generate new attention, or test-drive a new product or to celebrate an event. Some work, some don’t - but the stories behind them are often fascinating. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. From the Under the Influence digital box set, this episode is from Season 4, 2015. You're so king in it. You're lovin' it in an instant. Your teeth look whiter than noon, noon, noon. You're not you when you're hungry.

You're a good ham with a heart of meat. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. Back in 2008, a painting entitled Keep It Spotless was sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York for $1.8 million. Another piece by the artist entitled Simple Intelligence Testing was sold at Sotheby's in London for $1.2 million. A mural painted by the same artist on the side of a house in Bristol, England, was put up for sale through an art gallery. It was listed as a $300,000 mural that came with a free house. Incredible prices are being paid for works by an unusual artist.

Unusual because nobody knows who he is. He is known only as Banksy. Based out of the UK, he's a graffiti artist and political activist who straddles the world between street art and fine art. Nobody knows his real name, or if he is a she, or if he is actually a group of artists. But I'll call the artist he for now. As the story goes, Banksy was being chased one night by police for vandalizing a wall with graffiti, and while hiding under a garbage truck, he noticed a stenciled serial number.

That inspired him to begin stenciling, as it allowed him to create hundreds of works of street art quickly without being caught. His work has a subversive sense of humor wrapped in a political statement. For example, a sign he painted on a wall said,

quote, Sorry, the lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock. In another found opportunity, a huge tree had fallen on a car, and Banksy wrote, On another wall, he painted a doctor holding a stethoscope up to the heart on an I Love New York poster. A comment on New York City. Many times, cities don't know what to do when they discover a Banksy mural on a wall.

Is it graffiti that should be taken down? Or valuable art that should be protected? In one of his most amusing stunts, Banksy set up a pop-up stall in New York City and hired an older gentleman to man the booth. The stall had dozens of small spray art paintings for sale at $60 each, signed on the back by Banksy. The canvases were actually worth $30,000 each, and the street value of the entire booth was half a million dollars.

But with no art world hype, no sign saying the artwork was done by Banksy, the stall opens at 11.30 a.m. and gets no traffic for the next four hours. A video camera set up across from the stall shows the first sale at 3.30 p.m. A woman buys two small canvases for her children, but negotiates a 50% discount. At 4 p.m., a girl from New Zealand buys two canvases. At 5.30, a man from Chicago buys four canvases, saying, I just need something to put on the walls of my new house.

Total take for the day? $420. When the art world later discovered the paintings were by Banksy, two of those canvases sold at auction for $214,000. The stunt was Banksy's comment on the world of art hype. While most people can't afford an original Banksy's comment on the world of art hype. While most people can't afford an original Banksy, many art galleries sell limited edition prints. Signed prints can start at $16,000. Unsigned can be had for about $5,000 and up.

The world of marketing has its own version of Banksy limited edition artwork. They're fun or subversive limited edition brands. Like Banksy graffiti, they show up quickly and are only available in limited numbers. And like Banksy pieces, they have a strategic mission. Sometimes limited edition products exist to bring fresh attention to a brand or to test drive a new product, or to make a statement.

They may not be as valuable as a Banksy, but to marketers, they're money in the world of marketing to entice you to buy. There are sales, loyalty programs, rebates, celebrity endorsements. There are pricing strategies, weather strategies, emotional strategies, and fear-based strategies. And when a brand suffers product fatigue, or if it needs to generate a fresh reason to get you to look at it again, one of the most interesting strategies employed is the use of limited edition brands. Defined as when a marketer releases an unusual version of an existing product in limited amounts for a limited time only, usually designed to attract quick attention.

Back when the last recession was beginning to stir in late 2008, Krispy Kreme in the UK did a survey of 1,000 workers. They discovered 72% of those workers felt seriously stressed on a daily basis. When prodded further,

81% said that a simple walk in a park calmed them down. So Krispy Kreme decided to put out a limited edition product to help stressed out people instantly relax. They created the world's first grass flip-flops. Picture a flip-flop with grass on the sole. And here's the best part. Not fake grass, but real growing grass.

The soles contained grass seed. When watered, the 5,000 blades of grass would take about three weeks to grow. And if watered regularly, the grass would last the entire summer. The donut company only made a limited number of grass flip-flops and gave them away for free. Now, what is the connection to donuts, I hear you ask? Well, here's how Krispy Kreme explains it. They try to cheer people up with one-of-a-kind donuts and wanted to cheer people up with a one-of-a-kind summer flip-flop.

As Krispy Kreme said in their press release, it gives people a way to escape the concrete jungle and walk around in their own, quote, mobile meadow. Hilarious. It's not easy to generate attention in the donut business, but here was a limited edition product that made people happy while generating press. Mission accomplished.

Every July, Collingwood, Ontario holds their annual Elvis Festival. It's a fun couple of days where over 100 Elvis impersonators converge to perform and compete. There's Gospel Elvis at the arena on Sunday morning, and some special Elvis guests make appearances. Last year, Priscilla Presley was there. It's the biggest Elvis festival in North America. And during the festival, Collingwood Tim Hortons locations create a limited edition menu item.

Elvis Cookies. They're made of gingerbread, complete with a high collar made of icing, an Elvis hairstyle, and his famous lip snarl. It's a fun way for Tim Hortons to be part of the festival, and it's a limited edition treat that sells out every year. When the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013, they won it in Boston. So the Blackhawks wanted to do something special for their fans to celebrate. Just before the last sheet of championship season ice

was taken up at Chicago's United Center, a portion of it was saved and melted. Then, 2,000 vials of melted ice water were made available to fans at a cost of $99 each, complete with a collectible box and a letter of authenticity. The promotion was called Own the Ice, and the $200,000 in proceeds went to charity. It gave the Blackhawks some nice publicity,

money went to a good cause, and it was a way to give something to their biggest die-hard fans. And the 2,000 limited edition vials sold out in one single day. You can still find a few on eBay, selling for over $350 each. And we'll be right back. In case nobody's told you, weight loss goes beyond the old just eat less and move more narrative. And that's where Felix comes in. Felix is redefining weight loss for Canadians with a smarter, more personalized approach to help you crush your health goals this year.

Losing weight is about more than diet and exercise. It can also be about our genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix connects you with online licensed healthcare practitioners who understand that everybody is different and can pair your healthy lifestyle with the right support to reach your goals. Start your visit today at Felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X.ca. If you're enjoying this episode, why not dip into our archives, available wherever you download your pods. Go to terryoreilly.ca for a master episode list. In the marketing world, it is believed that North American families buy the same 185 products over and over again.

Those 185 items make up about 85% of their daily household needs. That's great if your brand is on that list, but what if it's not? How do you break in? One of the ways is through limited edition products. The novelty of limited edition products attracts attention. The packaging is usually bolder than regular brands. There's usually a tie-in that's intriguing, maybe enough to get you to try a product for the first time.

And if you like what you see, one of the 185 brands on your list just might change. The world of cosmetics is famous for limited edition brands. When Dolce & Gabbana released their limited edition Animal Ye bronzer in a spotted leopard package, it became their fourth best-selling item in 2011. And here's why limited-edition items are important to Dolce & Gabbana. Over 65% of the people who bought Animal Ye were new to the brand.

Releasing limited runs of unique products is a tactic that has little risk when you consider the potential upside. A limited edition product can attract new customers. It can generate buzz. It can act as a halo, drawing people back to the original brand. And if a limited edition really takes off, it has a chance of becoming a part of the regular collection. In other words, it's a great way to test drive new products. Cosmetic brand MAC has a long history of interesting limited edition items. For example, back in 2003, it teamed up with cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard to create a collection of cosmetics called Sexy.

As MAC stated at the time, the Eddie Izzard line reflected Max's diverse take on beauty. It sold out immediately. As one cosmetics expert stated, limited edition cosmetics are beauty's answer to fast fashion. Consumers are trained to come back to retailers like H&M on a weekly basis to see what's new. The cosmetic product cycle doesn't allow for that, so limited-edition items help generate new reasons to shop.

MAC also did a fun Venomous Villains limited edition line of cosmetics. Instead of fashioning a line based on heroines, it chose to go to the dark side. The limited edition cosmetics featured famous Disney villains like Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians and The Evil Queen from Snow White. The packaging was eye-catching and highly unusual, as were the colors, described as, quote, shadowy for a bad girl vibe. Lipsticks were named Innocence Beware and Toxic Tail.

Eyeshadows were Vile Violet and My Dark Magic. The blush was called Bite of an Apple. And all the shades were based on the original Disney character sketches and Pantone colors. Auto manufacturers often make limited edition cars. Fiat recently put out a limited edition model in collaboration with GQ magazine. It was an interesting strategy because Fiat sometimes struggles with being seen as a woman's car. So, branding the Fiat 500C GQ Edition with GQ logos was not just a tactic to get attention,

but to subtly reposition the car as male-friendly. One of the more daring limited-edition cars to come down the road in a long time was the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro Special Hot Wheels Edition. Camaro was one of the original 16 Hot Wheels toys launched in 1968. And it's surprising that it took a carmaker this long to link a full-size model with the Hot Wheels brand. The Camaro had Hot Wheels logos embossed on the leather seats, as well as logos on the front fenders, deck lid, and steering wheel.

It even had red striping around the rims like the original Hot Wheel toys. Here's the Camaro design director describing the attention to detail. When people see this car, it's automatically recognized as Hot Wheels. It's the chrome-like paint, the hood scoop, it's the red detail around the wheels, it's the red detail around the front and the rear graphics of the car. Intakes, the air induction on the hood, very reminiscent of Hot Wheels models. Obviously, the Hot Wheels badging and the details that we put in the car are the obvious cues. But really, it looks fun. It looks fast.

It's a toy for adults. At the Canadian International Car Show, it was displayed on a giant orange Hot Wheels track, of course. Chevrolet also created a Twitter-activated vending machine that dispensed one of two Hot Wheels Special Edition toys in exchange for a tweet. It's kind of fun watching people when they see it for the first time, because you don't expect it, but then it also brings back some memories of their Hot Wheels experience. The strategy was to engage kids, thrill baby boomer dads who had grown up with Hot Wheels, leverage the 97% awareness the brand enjoys among moms, excite auto enthusiasts, and create

media buzz. It was a win-win. Camaro generated over 5 million media impressions and Hot Wheels reached an all-time high for Twitter followers. New year, new me. Season is here and honestly, we're already over it. Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise.

It can be about tackling genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix gets it. They connect you with licensed healthcare practitioners online who will create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a little extra support. Start your visit today at Felix.ca. That's F-E-L today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. Artist Andy Warhol created quite a stir when he unveiled his series of Campbell's soup can paintings back in 1962. The inspiration for the artwork came from a habit he had of eating the same lunch every day for 20 years.

That lunch was Campbell's Soup. When Campbell's heard about the 32 silkscreen paintings, it considered taking legal action because Warhol had not sought permission to use its trademark. But the company decided to take a wait-and-see approach. It was a smart move. The paintings became a phenomenon, and Campbell's realized it had a free marketing campaign on its hands. The relationship paid off for both parties. Campbell's became one of the most recognized brands around the world, and the artwork kicked

Warhol's fame into overdrive. Warhol had been a successful advertising illustrator and therefore had a great sense of pop culture and celebrity. His most famous quote was, In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes. Though he passed away in 1987, Warhol's influence on the art world is still felt. In 2010, one of his soup paintings sold at Christie's for $23.9 million. And by the way, you could have bought one for $1,500 back in 1962.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Warhol's Campbell's Soup artwork, Campbell's Soup, the company, released four limited-edition cans bearing Warhol-inspired artwork. Priced at 75 cents each, the Warhol edition soup was sold exclusively at Target stores, and the entire 1.2 million can collection sold out within days. As a respected art magazine recently said, the Warhol-Campbell soup relationship is an interesting story.

It's a rare instance where an artist uses a trademark without permission to create an artwork, the company considers suing, then years later the artwork is repurposed into a marketing campaign for the original company. A rare full-circle art-to-marketing moment. But just because Campbell's was okay with Warhol commandeering its trademark doesn't mean that's always the case. In 2008, Campbell's sued a New York fast food company called Popburger

for posting a wall-length mural of Warhol's soup can paintings. They claimed copyright infringement. Yet, interestingly, the Warhol Foundation didn't sue. Maybe that's why the poster still hangs at

Popburger, and why the lawsuit went away in about 15 minutes. One of the most active categories for limited edition products is the alcohol business. Not long ago, distilled beverage maker Pernod Ricard launched a limited edition vodka-based liqueur called Odka. One of the flavors was freshly cut grass. It's described as, quote, fresh, citrusy, sweet, and refreshing.

If that doesn't pique your interest, there is a salty caramel popcorn flavor, and even one called wasabi, named after the Japanese horseradish found in sushi restaurants. As strange as those flavors may sound, Pernod Ricard has a strategy when it comes to limited edition brands. They want to broaden their footprint in the vodka category, get more shelf space, and attract attention by releasing highly unusual flavors. Plus, they get to minimize risk by test-driving flavors before a national rollout. Back in the 1940s, Frank Sinatra asked Jackie Gleason to recommend a drink that would get him, quote, smashed.

Gleason said Jack Daniels was a pretty good place to start. Over the years, Sinatra became a big fan of the brand. In 1955, the Jack Daniels distillery sold 150,000 cases. The next year, Sinatra began calling it, quote, the nectar of the gods while sipping a glass of Jack on stage. Sales doubled. The chairman of the board's endorsement helped make it America's best-selling whiskey. Yet the company never paid Sinatra to do it. So in recognition,

Jack Daniels recently released a limited edition version called Sinatra Select. Frank Sinatra was a man. No, he was the man. And he loved Jack. No, that's Jackie. Jack as in Daniels.

On stage every night. Three rocks, two fingers, and a splash of water. Selling for a pricey $175 US, the whiskey comes in a package trimmed with Sinatra's favorite color, orange, along with a book entitled A Timeless Story of Friendship. The slogan for Sinatra Select is, quote, They were inseparable, and as it turns out, they still are. Now, you may be wondering what they still are means,

considering Old Blue Eyes has been dead since 1998. Well, it turns out there's a good reason for it. Sinatra was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniels. There are many strategic reasons for limited edition products. Sometimes brands suffer from the blaws and need a boost to reignite interest. Like good old Campbell Soup did with their recent Warhol collection. Sometimes a brand needs to tweak its appeal, as Fiat did by teaming up with GQ magazine to get a limited-edition fill-up of testosterone.

Sometimes a marketer wants to test-drive a new product in a risk-adverse way. Vodka's fresh-cut grass-flavored vodka didn't make the cut. But Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select is still on the shelf. And sometimes a limited edition item is created for the buzz. Like a vial of melted Chicago Blackhawks ice or a pair of Krispy Kreme Mobile Meadows.

Hilarious. But every time you see a limited edition product, know that it's serving a bigger marketing purpose. It may just look like fun, but it's really trying to dislodge one of the 185 products you buy over and over again when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. Oh, hi, Terry.

Listen, I enjoyed the episode today. Hey, you know what? I've got an idea for a new limited edition product for your radio show. A whiskey called Under the Influence. You get it? Because whiskey is... Well, you get it. Under the Influence was recorded at Pirate Toronto.

Series producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound engineer, Keith Ullman. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Research, Tanya Moryusef. Follow me on Twitter at Terry O'Influence. Um, do you wear clothes when you listen to our show? If so, have we got a t-shirt for you. Go to terryoreilly.ca slash shop.

See you next week.