All I want for Christmas is an own-label tablet

As retailers enter the tablet market with increasingly cheaper, own-brand devices, Dominic Mills asks what – or who – is coming next – and whether there’s logic to other non-retailer brands doing the same…

First Tesco’s Hudl at £119, then Argos brings in its MyTablet for £99. Now I see one coming in at £29.

All we need now is the Iceland version of the tablet.

Or maybe Poundland.

Well, why not? Retailers are going mad for own-label tablets, so it’s only reasonable to ask who’s coming next. More retailers? Or is there a logic to other, non-retailer categories entering the market?

It’s not an easy question to answer. The first test is whether the organisation in question has a vested interest in pulling the consumer into some sort of corporate eco-system where the tablet facilitates the purchase of multiple products, preferably with a high frequency and, just as importantly, stops you going somewhere else.

The Hudl and the Kindle clearly fall into that category (which may explain why Amazon is said to lose money on the Kindle itself, but make it all back with the sales it generates).

The Hudl is also designed to draw us into Tesco’s connected world and, presumably, keep us there as long as it can. It’s pre-loaded with apps that drive you to Tesco online shopping and the retailer’s burgeoning media empire (Blinkbox, Clubcard TV, music streaming and books store). Job done then.

The Hudl website even talks about the device as the entry point into the ‘world’ of Tesco – too Big Brother for me, but no doubt a comfort for some.

On this test, what is the world Argos wants us to join? Well, Argos’ parent also owns Homebase, but that’s about it for now. And if it can save printing copies of its monster catalogue, that could be a hefty saving.

But the key must be a world where Argos plays a wider, facilitating role in the world of digital shopping – perhaps providing services for other kinds of e-tailers. It’s just that it’s not here yet.

Other multi-product retailers aside – such as eBay or John Lewis – you could also see that banks and financial services companies (including price comparison sites) have a world they’d like to get us into and keep us in. But the reputational risk would be enormous.

And what about the likes of Expedia? A tablet pre-loaded with its app might lock me into its system such that I booked all my flights, holidays and hotels through it.

The second test is to ask: who wants my data? The short answer is everyone, but the list of organisations that can do meaningful, value-added, useful (and money-making) things with my data is short as yet.

In this respect, the retailers remain ahead of the pack, which is why they’re leading the way.

Other categories may catch up, but given tablet penetration, and the onslaught of low-cost tablets this Christmas, there won’t be many households without one soon.

Which leads us to another pertinent question: can own-label tablets keep up with the technology of the branded variants? If they can’t, they’ll just drive consumers to trade up.

One last thought: how many purchases of tablets this Christmas will be funded by PPI compensation? Every silver lining has a cloud…

Once-iconic clients review – and no-one cares

So, Levi’s and Wieden and Kennedy have split and judging by the reaction in adland, no-one seems to care very much.

It’s an eloquent comment on how far Levi’s has fallen. Once the darling of the ad industry, thanks to a stellar body of work from BBH, last week’s news has raised barely a ripple.

Back then, any agency would have killed to have Levi’s on its client list. Today, Levi’s feels like a ho-hum client with a small budget and a big problem in that no-one knows what it stands for.

No surprises there really: it’s been through three CMOS in the last few years, and took 15 months to replace one of them.

You can also put BA into the same category. It called a review in August, putting incumbent BBH in the spotlight.

Like Levi’s did for BBH, having BA added considerable lustre to the status of its long-time agency, M&C Saatchi and on the rare occasion it came up for review, sparked ferocious competition.

But these days, most agencies would rather work for either a low-budget carrier (they’re ballsy and more likely to go for something unusual) or one of the Middle Eastern carriers with global ambitions and massive budgets.

But what does BA stand for now? It clings to the vestiges of establishmentarianism, without realising that the game has moved on or that, scale-wise, it is now smaller than Ryanair.

Nor are the budgets what they were.

However, with the right agency, both reviews mark an opportunity for Levi’s and BA to put themselves back on the map as relevant, credible brands.

So agencies ought to be falling all over themselves to get a piece of the action.

As an agency, it’s more stimulating and rewarding to work with challenger brands than it is with long-established ones. There’s everything to gain, and less to lose.

That is the position both Levi’s and BA find themselves in. The question is whether they see themselves like that.

And that may be the biggest challenge for the winning agencies: to change the client mindset.