I don't know how i didn't heard of this campaign before but thanks to my good friends Jesus and Ferran I've seen the light because I think it's fantastic. ZUJI is an online travel company who wanted to be positioned as a company that helps holidays happen. And they did this to make it possible:
You can read the whole case study about this campaign (done by The Hallway and Happy Soldiers) here.
These days there is quite some buzz around the LichtFaktor crew, a group of German light graffiti artists, whose work is rather impressive.
Color + Design blog has an interview with them, where they share some insights about their technique.
Below you can watch a video called Star Wars vs Star Trek they have been recently doing in the UK for Sky Movies.
And if you're interested in the commercial side of light graffiti, have a look also at Vincent's blog, where he talks about a recent Sprint campaign in the US.
Turn off the lights, and get ready to play tennis at night with Sony Ericsson. No, it's not an advergame, but it's a cool party concept they've launched in Spain last year and they recently replicated in Miami. It's called "Night Tennis" and it consists of a tennis court transformed into a disco or, the other way around, of a disco transformed in a tennis court.
Dark atmosphere, fluo lines, and two tennis players who try to it hit the ball in the dark while DJ Paul Oakenfold plays the music. The balls, court and net along with player’s shirts, skirts and shoes are fully UV reactive, and each game is highlighted by beats and light shows.
Sport meets technology meets clubbing, a perfect combination to hit the cool-young target. As you can easily understand from the tone of this post, I love the concept, and I'm happy to see creativity applied to presence marketing. This is definitely something you can call emotional marketing!
Apparently the answer is yes, according to this French campaign Jean has recently posted about. The Association des Fromages de Terroires has launched a promotional calendar featuring 12 types of French cheese and 12 sexy girls. Cheese lovers (and not only) can order the calendar online.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing
BBC News reports Coca-Cola will introduce a new marketing campaign based around the slogan "the Coke side of Life".
The soft drinks giant will start using the slogan in North America from February to coincide with 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.
AdAge explains the new concept, developed by Wieden & Kennedy, aims to drive consumers to consider the brand as the only beverage option after years of viewing it as simply another beverage option.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing
In the UK, food advertising to children using cartoons characters and celebrities might soon be banned. Brandrepublic (sub. req.) reports the Department of Health believes role models for children should not be used to endorse nor promote products high in fat, salt or sugar.
Can you imagine Kellogg's without Tony the Tiger? (but are cereals junk food?)
If a law will pass, we can definitely foresee big problems for food brands which are also often promoting their products in co-marketing deals with movie releases.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing
Pepsi is working on a branded content campaign that will involve 12 countries on the way to the World Football Cup in Germany next year. They are planning a football reality Tv-show called the "Pepsi Max World Challenge" which will count on a 4 million pounds budget, and will debut in April.
Twenty-four teenagers (two each from 12 countries) will take on a series of football challenges at grounds around the world, including Manchester United and AC Milan, with soccer stars such as David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing
The Peace Campaign is a public service campaign created by a group of Israeli and Palestinian advertising professionals to promote mutual understanding and peace between their two peoples. As Ian explained me, in the winter of 2003, The Peres Center for Peace and the Palestinian Economic Forum, together with Maurice Lévy of Publicis Groupe, gathered more than 80 media, communications and advertising professionals from both sides to create a campaign to help end the Middle East conflict. The public service advertising campaign will be produced and broadcast to Israeli, Palestinian and neighboring Arab populations in the beginning of 2006. If you want to learn more about The Peace Campaign, just the visit the website supporting the initiative.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing
My friend Mike sent me an excellent article published on Bandt which unfortunately I cannot link because it requires a subscription. It's about what (Australian) women really want, and it's written by Catherine Heath, strategic planner at Young & Rubicam. Among the other things, Catherine writes:
"The new woman is a complex combination of smart, focused and radical, traditional, committed and feminine. She is rewriting the rulebook on how brands can to talk to her. (...) Women want the same things as men, last year in Australia, women bought 60% of iPods sold. (...) Women’s need to share is fundamental and applies equally to consumer behavior as to life. (...) A woman won’t complain about a bad experience—she’ll simply leave. Ninety-six per cent of women will discard a product or service without complaining."
If you're really interested in the topic, last March Fairfax Digital published a similar article which just requires a free registration to be accessed.
BrandRepublic reports reward-based consumer website Pigsback.com is giving away anti-stress piggies to London commuters. At Tube and railway stations field marketing teams dressed in pig suits are looking for 25-35 years old women who represent the target audience for this campaign.
The idea (by Tribe) is to generate brand awareness and curiosity, driving traffic to the website.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing
Dominic Basulto on Corante New York points to a very interesting article on the WSJ discussing the importance of in-store product placement. According to Proctor & Gamble shoppers make up their mind about a product in three to seven seconds, just the time it takes to note a product on a store shelf. This time lapse is called (by P&G;) "first moment of truth" and it's considered the most important marketing opportunity for a brand. To give you an idea of how it's relevant, just consider that P&G; created a position 18 months ago, "Director of First Moment of Truth" to produce sharper, flashier in-store displays.
To tell the truth, Paco Underhill has been talking about the importance of in-store product placement since years. His book "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping" is a must read not only for marketers, but for anyone interested in the aspects of shopper/store interaction. It is one of the first marketing books I read, and it's amazing the lessons you learn from it, both as a marketer and as a consumer. Read it, and then your supermarket shopping experience will never be the same...
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing
This is really weird: Hollywood has started advertising at churches. For example, The Walt Disney Co. is currently marketing "The Greatest Game Ever Played" to faith-based groups, saying the film is about values (family, courage, dreams) which reflect secular virtues, potentially Christian virtues...
ABCnews points out the approach reflects the next step in Hollywood's attempt to capitalize on the business lessons of "The Passion of the Christ," a surprising blockbuster last year thanks to unprecedented marketing and mobilization in churches. Anyway the whole thing is more complex than you might think because, for their part, churches recognize that just denouncing violent or sexually explicit films doesn't influence their content so their members are using buying power to support films that reflect their values.
Personally, I find it inappropriate, but I live in Italy, not in the US, and the approach to church and religion in the two countries is very different.
Apparel maker Levi's is about to launch the Andy Warhol Factory X line hoping to attract young (and wealthy) customers. The new collection will be presented next week in Las Vegas, and will include $250 jeans and $300 jackets. The LA Times explains in 1984 Levi's commissioned Warhol to create art for its "501 Blues" ad campaign. Quoted in the article, Joel Wachs, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York, commented:
"Levi is synonymous with American culture in the same way that Warhol is. Levi is an iconic brand and Andy Warhol is an iconic artist."
I don't know if this is going to work, but it looks like a smart commercial partnership. Warhol was a commercial artist when he was alive and he continues to be successful even after death. Too bad he cannot enjoy the money.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Offline marketing