At the end of the post I concluded that Oprah was going to be way more effective in putting bums on seats, and when polled, 100% of Maloney on Marketing readers agreed.

Oprah at Australian Opera House

Well in December, Oprah came, saw, and brought the city of Sydney to a standstill. Then, this week The Ultimate Australian Adventure episodes aired in the US, and the results are almost hard to believe.

Tourism Australia today reported “Qantas Vacations in the US has seen a 250% increase in visits to its website, a 25 per cent increase in phone calls, and a 30 to 40 per cent increase in quote requests.”

This campaign is rumored to have cost $3 million Australian taypayer dollars, but with early results like this it should pay for itself in no time.

I’m sure Tourism Australia will be checking every possible stat that it can, and when it compiles them, may it win every advertising award that it enters.

Anyway, after I had bought my crappuccino, I noticed the sign for the Coffee People shop I was at.

I was rather taken aback by the sub-head “Good Coffee – No Back Talk”.

Since when has “back talk” been a problem at a coffee shop?

Are baristas talking behind my back? They don’t even know me.

I didn’t bother to ask the cashier, mainly because like the rest of the employees he was dressed in a tie-die shirt for some unknown reason.

So I checked out the website, and was left even more confused about the branding.

Coffee People Website

From a branding point of view these guys are a hot mess.

Yes they are bold, but they seem to be more like a rebel without a cause.

Fortunately, I discovered that in 2006 Starbucks bought out the Coffee People chain, and thank God converted all the locations to Starbucks.

Except of course for the Portland airport locations, where the Coffee People brand is still alive and serving up cups of branding confusion, when all we want is a cup of coffee.

I never thought I would say this, but thank you Starbucks for restoring some sort of branding sanity.

As an Australian, where we drink more beer per capita than any other country, I should know. And no Fosters is not “Australian for Beer”.

Fortunately, in the last few months I spent living in Oregon I was able to find some great microbreweries, stopping me from getting back on a plane down under as soon as I could.

But one day I was sitting at a bar checking out the drinks menu, when I noticed something strange.

Right under Dom Perignon there was a beer in the sparkling wine section – Miller High Life.

Why? Because it is the “Champagne of Beers” of course!

Miller High Life on the Sparkling Wine List

I asked the barman if this was a joke, and it wasn’t. Americans aren’t big on sarcasm.

Apparently, Miller High Life has been using the “Champagne of Beers” tagline since the 50s. (Note the women drinking beer in this ad, a clear strategy for expanding the market)

So I decided to try this “Champagne of Beers”.

To Miller’s credit the tapered neck bottle did kind of look Champagne like. And it did have a high level of carbonation, kind of like Champagne.

Miller High Life Bottle

But in the end it didn’t really taste like Champagne. Or beer for that matter.

This was just a case of brilliant positioning that got me to try the product.

So cheers to the marketing team at Miller for a job well done!

Now all you need to do is fire the product team….

Why?

Because during World War I, to supply all of its troops the U.S. government ordered 3.5 million disposable razors and 36 million blades from a new company called Gillette.

Gillette World War I Razor

This meant that small player Gillette had to work shifts around the clock and hire over 500 new employees.

From a marketing perspective, this deal introduced a massive chunk of the target market to the Gillette disposable razor, and indeed self-shaving. And when they returned from the war, they needed new blades to fit the razors they had been issued, and so a captive market was formed.

Gillette Safety Razor

Then again during World War II, almost the entire production of Gillette razors and blades went to the military, and they needed blades when they returned. And so the growth cycle continued.

In summary, Gillette have a lot of reason to thank the US Armed Forces.

To show their thanks, Gillette have now launched limited edition, Armed Forces special issue razors that support the United Service Organisation, a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the military.

Good on you Gillette for recognizing who your core customers are! Now if only we could shave down Bin Laden.

Gillette Armed Forces Razors

Here is one I spotted in Walmart, and should have bought. Check out the thickness of that handle, its battle ready!

Gillette Limited Edition Armed Forces Special Issue Razors