Arguably the most inspired marketing campaign of the last 18 months has been the creation of Aleksandr Orlov, the meerkat from the Comparethemarket.com website. Since the adverts first aired in January 2009, the website has seen visits rise from 50,000 a month 3 years ago, to more than 2 million a month. The latest extension strategy includes the release of Aleksandr’s autobiography and, based on pre-orders at Amazon, the sales are outstripping that of books by both Tony Blair and Cheryl Cole.
For Christmas 2009, Aleksandr toys had proved very popular, with Harrods selling 5,000 units alone. BGL, the company that owns the website, has filed trademark applications for a series of merchandising products, such as cosmetics, stationery, video games and even a smoking jacket. There is also an iPhone application where Aleksandr can be made to say many of the catch phrases from the television and internet campaign. All of these revenue streams highlight the importance of advertising campaigns via different media channels. The ability to create brand awareness and then profit from not only the core business but other areas too is something that many businesses can only dream of.
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