How Has Shakespeare Influenced Modern Marketing?
Much ado about marketing
I have always had a deep interest in Shakespeare Studies with Jonathan Bate’s “Genius of Shakespeare” and A.D Nutall’s “Shakespeare the Thinker” being some of my favourite books (forgive me, I studied Literature). However, as Tuesday was 450 years since the playwright whose words and phrases we use daily, was born. I have decided to highlight how relevant Shakespeare is for modern Marketing and how Shakespeare has become one of the biggest brands in the world.
Shakespeare as a business.
When we think of Shakespeare, we generally don’t attribute his works to large marketing campaigns or millions of impressions, we think of fair Verona or a Prince talking to a Skull. However, Shakespeare is one of the most powerful and recognisable brands in the world. Every year the Royal Shakespeare Company perform his works in over 20 different languages and his work is used to sell everything from clothing brands to chocolate. Thousands of tourists flock to Shakespeare’s Globe (previously the Globe theatre) and the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) has a whole host of famous actors on their previous cast lists. Tickets for their recent production of Macbeth with Kenneth Branagh sold out in minutes. Furthermore, Valentines Day cards directly referencing Shakespeare’s Sonnets continue to be printed year on year.
I’d love to take this opportunity to discuss some of my favourite Shakespeare related campaigns from the past and present that succeed in using Shakespeare’s work or ideas to help market their product or ideology. It’s incredible to see how digital agencies are using his work to help brands use it within their digital marketing strategies.
Similar Emotions
This advert uses an instantly recognisable passage from “As You Like It” voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch to advertise Google+, the sequence shows you snapshots of ‘Tom’ the Google+ user’s life, from finding the love of his life to adding his grandchild to his circles. The spoken passage closely matches the events taking place in Tom’s life and the two work together to portray a happy and eventful life, captured on Google+ to be later reminisced with the closing text enforcing that “A life lived and shared…That’s a plus”.
What do Google do well? Google Tom shows how Shakespeare’s works can still be understood and attributed to a whole host of applications within modern society, “As You Like It”, the play used in this example was written around 1600, yet a video made in 2013 is able to convey word for word the emotions spoken by the melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VII.
Improving your image
Gordon’s ‘Shakespeare’ was one of their first videos from the popular ‘Shall we get started?’ ad campaign and portrays two characters, played by Philip Glenister and Emilia Fox, quoting different Shakespeare plays and drinking Gordons Gin whilst waiting for a play to start. The advert uses a number of different devices to accomplish a great marketing campaign. The characters are presented as people to aspire to, they appear intelligent, cultured people who are quoting Shakespeare, this gives the impression to the audience that we should be too. Furthermore, the advert doesn’t exclude people hindered by social or economic boundaries, referencing a popular Footballer, Eric Cantona.
What Gordon’s do well? Gordon’s have used quotes from Shakespeare, in the game the characters are playing to improve the appearance of their brand to great effect. Attaching the iconic quotes from King Lear or Hamlet adds positive connotations to their brand, they appear sophisticated and expensive. The advert is presented in a mature way and is quick and to the point. Out of interest an interesting juxtaposition to Shreddies for example who’s target market is completely different but achieves similar results by using Shakespeare for comedic effect.
Anti-Fit
When I first saw the Levi 501 Anti-Fit advert when it aired back in 2005 I instantly marked it as one of the best adverts of all time. The scene is from Act III Scene I of Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Nights Dream’ where Levi’s recreate a modern setting for Bottom and Titania’s famous scene. With modernised language and some condensing of the plot, Levi’s have moulded the text around the advert in order to create an excellent retelling of this scene. In reality they are trying to sell you a pair of Levi’s 501s Anti-Fit Jeans but have done this in such a way that you are too enthralled in the 90 second narrative that you don’t realise until the end, an excellent example of a brand portraying Shakespeare’s work in a revolutionary way to market their product.
What Levi’s do well? Levi’s have applied the plot of this scene in ‘Midsummer Nights Dream’ (Titania waking from her sleep to Bottom’s a changed man and falling in love) to their brand and modernised Shakespeare for todays society. With the focus planted directly onto Bottom’s new jeans (the focus of Quince’s intrigue ‘Bottom thou art changed’) and the waking of Tatiania who is drawn to Bottom as an audience we feel that new 501 Anti-Fit jeans would help us attract a partner.
To fly or not to fly? That is the question
The ‘Red Bull Gives you Wings’ campaign has been a great success over the years and I remember this one as being extremely successful and well thought whenever I spoke to anyone about it. Through one of the most famous Hamlet passage’s (Act III Scene I) Red Bull portray Shakespeare as a Genius because of his energy drink and when ‘this exlir’ is taken away by Anne? he cannot continue ‘Genius doth suffer without Red Bull.’
What Red Bull did well?
More recent campaigns
EasyJet’s Shakes on a Plane
Another interesting campaign for Shakespeare’s birthday is easyJet’s ‘Shakes on a Plane’ campaign. Yesterday morning easyJet performed Romeo and Juliet onboard a flight to Verona. Why you might ask? EasyJet backing the petition to have Parliament honour the 23rd of April as National Shakespeare Day, the petition currently holds around 700 signatures.
#Shakesonaplane (the hashtag they’re promoting) is arguably for a noble cause, the promotion of National Shakespeare Day, personally I would love to see this. However, if we look at the campaign as what it is, a marketing campaign, easyJet have created something unique, clinging on to the success of Shakespeare as a brand and have managed to succeed in creating something which is cool and engaging. Even if it’s plastered all over the side of a bright orange Boeing
Images taken from http://www.easyjet.com/en/ShakespeareDay. All rights reserved
I’d love to hear if you’ve found any other campaigns I might have missed which do something special with Shakespeare’s works or ideas. Also, the odd book suggestion wouldn’t go a miss. Feel free to get in touch with me on Twitter or drop Parallax a line.