Glass has been around so long it has become commonplace. Riding an environmental and healthful tide, Owens-Illinois, which crafts glass containers, is launching a global advertising campaign to remind people -- primarily business leaders -- about some of the qualities of glass: it comes from nature, doesn't affect taste and is a sustainable resource.
The campaign, from Omnicom agency Doremus in New York, uses notables such as Celine Cousteau, an environmentalist and granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau; Stefano Agostini, chief executive officer of Sanpellegrino S.p.A.; and Sean O'Neal, president of Bookbinders Specialty Foods. In the campaign, which includes print, video, direct, online and social elements, the notables speak of the different qualities of glass.
One print ad, for instance, features Cousteau holding a glass bottle full of water with an oceanic backdrop. Under the headline, "Glass is Life," the ad explains that "environmentalists know glass loves the sea" because it is made of sand, limestone and soda ash, is recyclable and is "safe for human life and ocean life." An ad featuring Agostini says glass adds "sparkle" to any meal.
"There's no one who dislikes glass, they just actually don't think about it. We're in the beautiful position to already talk to people about something that they fundamentally like," Evelyn Neill, co-executive creative director at Doremus, told Marketing Daily. "There's nothing bad about it, but they've let it grow dusty in their brains."
The campaign also includes a testimonial from two mothers of young children, who say they prefer serving food packaged in glass because it is a natural, recyclable product. While the campaign is decidedly business-focused, the agency hopes some of the appeal -- from the mothers in the ad to stories accumulated on the campaign's Web site GlassisLife.com -- will spill over into the consumer market.
"We're hoping the digital and social presence will begin to drive some consumer visibility in hopes that one day there might be a consumer push," Neill said. "What's good is we've been able to aggregate a lot of [consumers' passion for glass] on GlassisLife.com, and if we can start to build that socially, we can start to begin to talk with consumers."
The campaign, which will appear in 12 countries and seven languages, doesn't overtly push Owens-Illinois, other than some branding, which touts the company as a maker of "pure, sustainable ... glass packaging." However, Owens-Illinois controls more than 50% of the global glass packaging market, Neill said, so anything that benefits glass as a whole will benefit the company.
