Extreme is the word! Check out this awesome marketing effort from The North Face, Korea. I love how they build suspense and anticipation! Innored, South Korea, had a pop-up activation in Seoul where they position in the middle of a mall, a south pole camp set up. The experience first start off with the user being given a visual teaser with a VR glasses as they sit on a dog sled. This gave them an assuring impression that they were merely just simulating a virtual tour. Before you know it, the action starts off with the huskies literally pulling the sled, slamming through those snow walls! The ride gets really fast as the user now dashes across the mall and is given the opportunity to grab an awesome jacket from The North Face! Just check their facial expressions! Excellent!
Check my ride!
I have seen engaging billboards that moves and interacts with the public. But this one beats the roaming food trucks or mobile advertising trucks. This is actually one hell of a truck from Kagulu, a Taiwanese company in the automotive business. Their truck parks beside you and scans your vehicle. A huge projection screen then reveals your vehicle’s manufacturing date and its current price! So it either prompts you to change to a new ride or post a positive comment on your current one! While some people might find this a rather sensitive data to reveal, its actually a rather innovative and creative execution. Nice idea but we really do need to consider business practicalities and ground sentiments. With these factored in, it would definitely be a brilliant initiative.
Giant lunchbox
One of the commonly used creative approach for outdoor advertising. The ‘bigger-than-life’ approach to create attention. McDonald’s restaurant in Sydney, Australia has executed a large scale stunt where they erect a giant size kid’s lunch box done up with vivid colours and an amazing facade! DDB Sydney headed the project and has implemented this outdoor activation to move around Australia. Major cities like Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne will see this big lovely lunch box hitting their streets! This surprise is actually another exciting pop-up restaurant to give McDonalds fans another interesting dinning experience.
Talking to me?
Always a big fan of outdoor activations, I enjoyed seeing how powerful ideas turn to life together with the amount of joy and laughter it elicits from people. What we have here is an interesting mirror that actually talks to people who passes by. Originated from Brazil, bread brand Nutrella created the ‘friendly mirror’ which aims to make your day by singing praises and talking. Creepy, some might say, but the tonality has simply made it a rather amusing experience.
BMW DriftMob
Awesome. We have seen human flashmobs, their boisterous and exciting experience is now challenged by a flashmob of BMW M325i Coupes. Hows that? The ‘Driftmob’ features the BMWs drifting across Cape Town, creating a rather loud appearance. We see five BMWs dashing and spinning around the road, completely taking the public by surprise. This act was beautifully orchestrated by Hollywood director Mic Rodgers. The result was a truly magnificent performance. With 5 million youtube views and counting, this has definitely spurred more online viewerships than its physical tractions. Well done Interone Germany.
Save the Sundae!
For a start, this might seem lame to certain people. However, the idea of interactivity and engaging consumers is clear in this execution. Mc Donald’s ‘Save the Sundae’ campaign came as a brilliant idea that addresses to the brand’s eagerness to engage their followers. Good job from the boys from Leo Burnett.
POP amazing ART
There is always opportunity for creativity as long as we don’t stop ‘imaging things‘. I actually love a lot of nice installations that reverse public’s perceptions through provocative imagery. Most often or not, these visual works tend to create something out of another. Like in this case, Irish graffiti artist, Maser, transformed a gas station in Limerick City, Ireland into a beautiful art installation. Are you fond of huge art installations? This might just be your thing. He called it No.27 – A Nod to Ed Ruscha. It is very much an inspiration from pop artist Ed Rushca. It is pretty awesome I would say. For people who indulge and immerse in an artistic environment, they would definitely not miss this one. As much as I love activation and outdoor creative work, this really looks pretty amazing. Looks like this might be an idea for some creative campaign. Hmmm….
Maser said, “My work often boldly juxtaposes old and new, past and present in the architectural elements, the visual grammar and choice of pallet. I hope to create work that surprises people and questions their relationship with the familiar and the norm and also how dissociated we are from the space around us.”
Santa goes undercover
I never stopped believing in Santa. I think he is magical and that his existence is purely one to be felt during the festive season. As a child, we were told of this big white bearded man carrying a big bag of gifts and would slide down the chimney sneaking into our house only to surprise us with lots of gifts the next day. He keeps us remembering the magic of christmas and these vivid memories of childhood remains beautiful today. However, not every child enjoys that same growing up journey. There are many young children in Peru that were forced into working on the streets since early childhood. To some of them, Santa might never have existed. The magic of this holiday season never seemed to appear. Worse of all, they might even stop believing in him. Advertising agency, Conectart Group, Lima decided to create this magical Christmas with their “Santa Undercover” campaign. Santa goes undercover and approaches these kids asking them to polish his boots only to reveal a secret message. The kids then gets a surprise gift from a nearby gift kiosk. Santa would give them a nickel and they can retrieve this magical gift by pulling down the lever. A well thought campaign that is both simple and meaningful.
Live billboards
I have always wanted to create an outdoor activation like this. Ikea has recently came up with an interesting billboard advertisement where they feature real actors inside their billboards. We see the actors going about their usual daily routines in the public, while being featured inside actual billboard. This was done up in Gare St Lazare station in Paris, France. The ‘live billboard’ is erected a few feet above ground level but were a comfortable gaze from eye level. The result is an extremely attention seeking feature garnering the likes of the public. Of course, it comes natural with voyeuristic attention. Ikea’s message was a straight and blatant one: “At last a bathroom that rises above the rest.”
Born to trade?
When you bring an activation idea into reality, the effects can sometimes be rather passive. This time round, SGX explores that with a little experiment and to my surprise, the result turn out to be rather interesting. You see people getting approached and they go into a negotiation. Hmm, does this sound like the recent Heineken activation? Well, this time round, its about the last bottle of beer. So long as you bargain your way out for something, you are a born trader. Best of all, this campaign was brought over to Hongkong, Thailand and Malaysia. Check it out!
Zack Chia 