Most often of not, it is not easy to have the immediate amount of engagement or the mechanism to trigger your consumer for an action. But, there are a lot of ways we can achieve so depending on the kind of promotion or the product that we are selling. In this case, music being an integral part of our lives is a good boost to trigger music fans for an action. Billboard Magazine wants to reward real music fans. They created a magazine dispenser machine that would instantly reward you with a free magazine. All you need to do is to prove that you are a fan of the artist on the cover of the magazine. How do you prove your devotion then? All you really need to do is to plug your phone to the machine. You don’t even need an app. The machine scans your library and almost instantly decides if you have at least 20 tracks of the artist on your phone. Then you either walk away with a free magazine or empty handed.
Foolish way to show bush
Let me guess. Is this one of those provocative ads for your local bush trimming salons or some overrated condom ad? Apparently not. Julyna (Canadian Cancer Society) had created this rather loud campaign to garner public awareness about cervical cancer. Together with Cossette, Toronto, they came up with these ads encouraging women to take on a different style to their pubic hairstyle in an effort to raise money for cervical cancer and HPV research. The accompanying message: “What’s your style? Show your support and join the fight against cervical cancer'”. While I must agree that controversial messaging sparks debate, it is vital not to overdo it. This in my opinion, appears to be “too forceful”. What do you think?
Feeling tired? Try yawning
Have you ever had that craving for coffee so strong that your yawns cannot be accounted for? Douwe Egberts, a South African coffee company agrees that most of the people who yawns need a wake up beverage and it had to be their coffee. So they install a rather interesting coffee machine at the O.R Tambo International Airport. The demand for coffee here is extremely high and through the use of this machine, many had a chance to try the coffee. All they have to do is, YAWN at it. Yes. Just open your mouth and yawn and the machine would immediate dispense coffee for you. It is that easy and it is FREE. How neat is that? The machine is equipped with face recognition and it will know when you are actually yawning. All in all, this “Bye Bye Red Eye” machine has rewarded 210 yawns with their coffee. And what it receives in return is yawns and lots of smiles.
Putting up the brave front
As we all know, one of the top causes of death in the world right now is Cancer. It is extremely tormenting and scary. While it is fatal and dreadful, there are some who had survived. I think a good way to show support for cancer is to create more awareness for it. AMV BBDO launched an outdoor guerilla billboard featuring four cancer survivors – Anna, Parminder, Adam and Linda. These four brave souls used their bodies to blend with the background of the billboard. By painting their bodies with paint, they were able to blend with the sign behind them. Thus, allowing commuters at London’s Victoria Station to witness this brave act of expression in an effort to create awareness for the Cancer Research in UK. To fight against cancer, one does not simply depend on will power alone, it is imperative that there is both social and financial support. The headline, “Beat Cancer Sooner” reflects a lot on communicating the message across. I would say props to the four brave souls for shouting out to the public.
Ugly babies
There has been quite a bit of hype on the royal baby of Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton. Paddy Power, an online gambling company, took this opportunity to create a guerilla activation effort to boost their brand awareness as well as encouraging people to bet on the hair color of the royal baby. A rather amusing way of gambling yet very provocative. I am quite sure this is bound to spark controversy and fuel conversations. Very bold and daring approach to create the media tension. Now, imagine this, they had four grown men all decked to look like ugly-looking babies and having them parade all around town! They appeared in the London Tube as well as make appearances in the public. Not forgetting Buckingham Palace of course. If your idea has the potential to garner media attention, then it has definitely spread it’s worth your audiences as well.
Shine that soccer field
A truly brilliant idea by Nike to have soccer fields marked by laser beams and projecting it onto the streets of Spain. I particularly love how Nike is taking the game to the streets. It creates a stronger brand presence. Nike had a specially designed van and crane which would help to project the laser soccer court. And the best thing is, you can send your request for their projection through the use of your smartphones. This is definitely an amazing idea as it not only combines the love of the sport with Nike branding, it is also keeps people entertained.
Your passport please
Are you proud of being a Canadian? Well, you should be! After seeing this interesting work by advertising agency, Rethink, Canada, it sure does feel good to be a Canadian! What they did was to build a beer fridge filled with Molson Canadian and have it move across Europe. It garner a lot of attention from passer bys and many seek ways to open this fridge. It stood still and tight. Your only key to release your treasure is none other than a Canadian passport. It is not frequent that an opportunity like this come by where you are handed a really interesting product to be marketed using such guerilla tactics. However, whenever possible, as creatives we should aim to always add that surprise element into the work we produce. Guerilla advertising is a really good way to create hype, engagement and social attention with limited marketing budgets. Well, everyone had fun isn’t it?
Lemonade, Sir?
In my last post, I mentioned the launch of an outdoor ad by Stella Artois Cidre which is powered by a weather detecting device that triggers the ad when temperature rises. Targeted advertising does in a way, ‘instill need’ for the audience at a more effective pace as compared to traditional advertising. Minute Maid lemonade brand Limon Y Nada just did a promotion with a really awesome idea that allows consumers to purchase the beverage at a lower cost depending on the weather conditions. Giving away discounts is a good way to bring in crowds. The creative idea packs both price points and climate conditions together, giving the ultimate ‘thought’ package to the consumers. Imagine this: the weather is hot and you really need a beverage. You go to the supermarket, and you realize there a couple of drinks on the rack. You then compare them on their price tags, flavors and brand integrity. And then you realize that the price for Minute Maid has gone down. What does it show? It could come across that the brand actually cares. It would also bring about the habit of shopping for the same brand every time the weather turns hot. This would effectively instill the mentality for someone to purchase the advertised drink even though it might be slightly more expensive than the rest on the shelves.
Momentum Madrid, installed 18 vending machines in water and theme parks all over Spain and plans to offer those drinks at a lesser cost whenever the temperature goes up. As I mentioned earlier, this is definitely one way targeted advertising would prove to be even more effective now that it is not only positioning its need at the correct time and location, it also instills and builds a new set of consumer behavior at the same time.
Weather operated Ads
No one can truly guarantee the results of a good media placement. Speaking of which, when it comes to targeted advertising, Stella Artois Cidre has just launched a weather-detecting ad campaign by working together with creative agencies Posterscope and Liveposter. Now, that’s something to raise eyebrows. Marketers who seek to get the best results by stretching every dollar they invested in their advertising efforts would definitely find this a good idea to garner results.
They came up with a creative idea: Create a system that would detect the weather on a real time basis and deliver the digital ad: a nice visual of apples with a chilled Stella Artois Cidre as the hero image. The fun part is when the device detects an increase in temperature, the cider ad flashes. Thus, churning the desire for a great summer beverage. If the temperature drops, the ads shall not appear.
Andy Logan, marketing manager for Stella Artois Cidre said: “This summer, Stella Artois Cidre, will deliver the most sophisticated summer of refreshment, right on cue when the temperature rises.
It is through these innovative technologies that we are revolutionizing the way we position and advertise our products. This has lead to yet another powerful tool we can leverage on to create more interesting advertising campaigns that are more targeted.
The World’s most advanced Street Sign
One of the things that fascinates me the most is the creation of great technological inventions that enriches our lives and make the world a better place to live in. Breakfast New York has just created this really cool work which they can be proud to say it is The World’s most Advanced Street Sign. The project which they themed ‘Points’, is a street sign with really cool features. It also has a rather sleek look to it. The street sign is actually socially connected, which means it can display pretty much information from the social world and transmit that information on the street sign itself. So now, it not only brings you information, it also gives you directions and adjusts itself as the day goes by. You can even select from the menu on the street sign for tweets, coffee or dinner! Impressive technology with display from 16,000 LEDs across the 3 full directional arms.
Will there be more features to come? This question pops up as I was admiring the work through the video. I began to ask if there could be more added features. What if the street sign could be a wifi point for people to tap in and surf their smartphones? What if there were a power point for cyclist to charge their electric powered bikes? What if it is placed in the middle of the business district and it displays the current stock xchange? There are still a lot to be done and more creative ways to execute this interesting idea. This is after all, a great idea that opens up many possibilities for us.
Zack Chia 