Jubilee comment - I'm alright Jack

Darren Keen, managing director of MARS\Y&R offers his thoughts on the current marketing spree by brands eager to jump onto the Jubilee bandwagon over the extended UK weekend Holiday, but adding Union Jacks to their packaging.

Our planning director, Paul Porter, has recently carried out a review looking at how UK plc has largely exploited the commercial opportunity presented by the triple-event summer due to go live any day now: if I was being blunt the short answer is, 'slap a Jack on it'. It’s Union Jacktastic everywhere on everything. And we’re not just talking about the Jubilee.

Two things immediately spring to mind:

1. Everything is VERY quickly becoming noticeable by being the same. The smart brands may actually turn out to be the ones that have called upon that most useful of strategies - do nothing – both to their packaging and campaign backdrops. Ironically that might cut through the red, white 'n blue clutter.

2. With so much forced visual-Britishness, it makes me think that the smart money for immediate post-Games brand activation cut-through will be to scream 'somewhere else.'

So around week two of September - just after the evergreen Back-to-School event, look out for sales promotions to far flung lands, new and exotic brand variants and dreamy (very eastern or southern-looking) campaign executions.

That is of course unless there's a brand who really is one step ahead of the pack and really goes its own way. You read it here first.