Selfridge’s ‘No Noise’ Campaign- Proving the power of branding?

A screen shot of the 'no noise' website.

Have you been watching ‘Mr. Selfridge’ on ITV1? It’s been fascinating to learn about the rise of the department store, and about the characters that you could have found there. Harry Gordon Selfridge was a pioneer of his time, bringing the UK a retail experience they had never had before. It even included a bargain basement.

Selfridge strip it back to basics

Fast-forward to now, 113 years later, and Selfridges is still aiming to inspire and capture attention, the same way that Mr. Selfridge himself did when he installed the first aeroplane to cross water in the department store in 1909. That stunt attracted over 150,000 visitors! 

When Selfridges originally opened, Mr. Selfridge included a silence room for shoppers to escape from the hustle and bustle of the store. This year this room has been reinstated as part of Selfridges ‘No Noise’ campaign. Selfridges believe that we are becoming more and more bombarded with information such as advertising and branding, and have therefore collaborated with some of the world’s most recognisable brands. They have asked these brands to remove their logos from some of their best-known products in order to create a ‘Quiet Shop’, a shop free from branding.

Successful silence? Or screaming louder?

Still looks branded to us!

Although this is a great idea, and it is indeed true that we are now constantly attacked by information left, right and centre, we can’t help but question the success of this campaign. Sure, it’s lovely to have somewhere to relax on a busy shopping day, and escape from the crowds, but is buying a tin of beans that doesn’t say Heinz, yet still has their signature image on, sticking fingers up at branding? We think not.


It’s branding and novelty that make this campaign interesting. You wouldn’t go out of your way to buy an unbranded tin of Value beans, so why would you pay £1.99 for a Heinz tin? Brand recognition, that’s why. You look at the Heinz tin and think, “oh that’s quirky, it might even be collectable one day”, and that’s because it’s a recognised brand! It doesn’t have to say Heinz for you to know what it is; the Levi’s 501s they are selling don’t have to say they are Levi’s, because you already know.

Can you tell if this one is Heinz?

Good branding brings power. All the brands involved in this campaign can still be recognised without their logos, it wouldn’t work if it were any other way. So to say these products are ‘de-branded’ is not strictly true. It’s not just the logo that makes your brand, it’s the colours, the shape of the packaging, the graphics; it’s everything. And that’s what all these brands have in common, you recognise everything about them. Strip it back to a plain old can and then tell us if you can spot the difference! You couldn’t, and that’s why they won’t. 


Don’t get us wrong, we think this campaign is fun, different, and has certainly served it’s purpose, it captured UBD’s attention and got us talking about it. But rather than making things ‘quieter’, it’s really only proved that the information we are bombarded with really does stick, and taking the logo’s off a few products isn’t going to undo that. It’s just going to make people work harder to challenge, and be as successful as, the ‘big guns’, so one day they can take their logo off their product and the masses will recognise it too. And that keeps us in work!
What do you think, serious campaign or a fun and quirky way to get people talking even more about branding?


Information and images from:
http://www.selfridges.com/en/StaticPage/Our+Heritage/
http://www.georgianhousehotel.co.uk/london-shopping/selfridges.asp
http://nonoise.selfridges.com/
http://www.sxc.hu/