Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Free Access To Disney For A Day
In a bid to inspire people to show more care to those less fortunate then themselves, as well as boosting traffic to Disney theme parks in the US, Disney has announced an initiative called "Give A Day, Get A Disney Day"
Disney will be partnering with HandsOn Network to highlight a variety of volunteer opportunities with participating organizations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Starting 2010, those who contribute their time need only have it verified by HandsOn; then, in exchange, they'll get a voucher from Disney which will allow them one day admission to a Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme park.
Via - Disney Parks
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Football Gets Big
EA Sport's latest football-related communication campaign, called "How Big Can Football Get", aims to bring together football fans from around the world through the power of Twitter.
EA Sports has developed a new application, released on beta which uses data driven by an estimated two million Fifa10 games played each day, encouraging players to share their opinions, passions, and dedication for their team.
Fifa Earth uses data from Twitter, tapping into tweet mentioning keywords or hashtags such as goals, football, soccer and uses geotagging, to show how the world talks about and plays both real and virtual football. The application also aggregates game score from Fif10 matches, creating a live interactive competition. The better a user plays in Fifa10, the higher the team's ranking on Fifa Earth.
Via - Brand Republic
Audi's New Car Configurator
Audi has launched an interactive car configurator with Microsoft Surface as the main hardware to run the program.
For the initial launch, Audi will allow multiple users to configure and customise the A4 of their dreams in an immersive 3D environment. Through simple hand gestures or motions, one can virtually alter everything on the car. It'd be interesting to see whether the brand will make use of this latest technology in their dealerships, as opposed to the more traditional brochures.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
30 Years Of Hip Hop And Still On Top
Thirty years after the first mainstream rap song, Rapper’s Delight, hit the US charts, 13 October 2009, Hip Hop has become a dominant culture that has influenced the creation and advancement of many brands. In thirty years this genre of music and culture is a Multi Billion industry and includes: TV Shows, record sales, beverages, films, record sales, endorsements and clothing labels.
50 Cent and Jay Z, prominent hip-hop artist have collectively made $ 180 million in the last twelve months alone. How this brand of music has influenced the world of marketing is particularly interesting, brands like Ciroc Vodka and Patron have been launched on the back of Hip Hop mogul support such as P Diddy.
The culture not only promotes music, but also has been influencing hip-hop culture purchases and brand development for the past thirty years and Counting. "Despite the economy, hip-hop is just as powerful as it's ever been in the endorsement and licensing world," says Ryan Schinman, chief of Platinum Rye.
Via:BBC.com
Monday, October 12, 2009
Work On Your Guns With Your iPhone
Here's another innovative iPhone app which will no doubt contribute to iPhone owners' sense of superiority!
For a fee of £1.79, iPhone owners can download the REPS app which promises to turn your phone into a mobile Nintendo Wii. Users can set weight loss targets and view their progress via a real-time rep counter, which calculates how many calories have been burnt and alerts users to how many reps they have completed by vibrate or sound. Users can also use the app while listening to the iPod music on their iPhone.
There are also motivational audio clips from a personal trainer to further keep you motivated.
Via - Revolution Magazine
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Levi’s: Back To The Future
New York based adverting agency Wielden & Kennedy has created a digital game that aims to link the past with the future. This game blends real and virtual worlds as the player goes on the ultimate treasure hunt across America.
The games narrative revolves around a historic character named Grayson Ozias IV who left message recordings in the 1890’s and the aim of the game is to hunt these messages and can ultimately win the $ 100,000 fortune Ozias buried. This campaign entrenched the heritage of the brand and celebrates the brands roots.
via:brandwise.com
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Tap Water Resurgence?
Bottled water has been a marketing phenomenon over the past decade or so and will no doubt one day go down in marketing history as one of the cleverest new products - alongside tobacco marketing. The ability to have consumers willingly pay disproportionate amounts of money for a commodity is the holy-grail we're all after and perfected by various bottled-beverage companies world wide.
However, with fears of global warming and the negative impact the bottled water category has had in it's contribution, the past few years have been far more difficult for the industry with various projects aimed at discouraging consumers to purchase bottled water.
It would seem a similar initiative has recently started in London. The city will install various "hydrachills" - essentially water fountains - that will allow people to purchase 500ml of water for a nominal fee of 20p, a fraction of what's charged traditionally by bottled water brands. The 20p charge will go to a charity organisation called Waste Watch, whose aim it is to change people's perception and use of natural resources.
Via - Gemma Charles' Green Blog, Brand Republic
Surprising Service
PSFK provided an interesting new idea for restaurants who are looking to increase their word-of-mouth recommendations.
The restaurant in question is called Ogori Cafe in Japan. Apparently an innocuous enough looking cafe with an interesting difference in the way patrons experience their orders.
According to the post, "you get what the person before you ordered, and the next person gets what you ordered. Thus, if you’re in on the game, you can choose to be either a generous benefactor, and treat those that come after you – or try your luck at being cheap. Either way, it’s an interesting experiment that explores surprise, kindness and encourages interactions."
There's also an interesting account of their personal experience when they visited Ogori on the post which definitely makes you realise that unexpected generosity is possibly the easiest way to bring joy to those around us.
Via - PSFK
Friday, October 2, 2009
How To Spend It (If You Have It)
The UK Financial Times publication will be launching a standalone website targeting the well-heeled on the 3 October 2009, coinciding with the brand's 15th anniversary.
Howtospendit.com will offer advertisers microsite opportunities and has already secured several launch advertisers, the most prominent of which being Rolex. Included in the offering will be regular postings has well as weekly video bulletins highlighting the latest in the world of technology and gadgets.
In an environment where luxury brands are facing increasing cynicism from consumers in their brand messaging, the FT believes that they will meet the advertising requirements to an interested and targeted audience.
We'll wait and see.
Via - Brand Republic
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Drive The New R8
Audi, in conjunction with Sony's Playstation 3 platform, will soon enable the average man on the street to enjoy and experience the newly launched Audi R8 E-Tron electric car.
Audi capitalised on the PS3's ability to go online and has created a virtual universe called Audi Space, where one can test drive the new R8 concept around a track. Presumably a safe enough environment so that their precious concept vehicle does not get damaged...
The game goes live in December for all those lucky enough to own a PS3!
Via - Top Gear
Beck's "Music Inspired Art"
Becks has launched an interesting interactive initiative in promotion of their campaign, dubbed "Music Inspired Art".
The beer brand has installed interactive billboards all around London that invite passers-by to plug in their MP3 players and view their selected tracks in the form of visual displays. The interactive poster generates a graphic display from the music that is being played on the iPod. Once the track is over a still is taken of the display and uploaded to becks.co.uk/flickr.
Uploaded pictures are tagged to the various posters sites, which completes the interactive circle for participants.
Via - Talking Retail
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Cadbury's Believes In Reciprocity
In celebration of 101 years of trade between Cadbury's and Ghanaian cocoa farmers, as well as highlighting the brand's commitment to fair trade, the confectionery giants launched a campaign in the UK, which debuted late last week.
Campaign elements feature print ads designed and painted by Ghanaians using traditional Ghanaian techniques, as well as a viral spot filmed in a Ghanaian village.
The soundtrack is provided by one of Ghana’s biggest music stars called Tinny features in the video, along with High Spirits, regarded as one of the country’s best dance troupes.
The music track is also available on iTunes, with the proceeds of the sale going to Ghana's cocoa communities.
Via - Brand Republic
Around The World In 225 Days
In a first for Coca Cola and FIFA, the beverage company is taking the authentic FIFA 2010 World Cup trophy to 86 Countries in 225 days. The original trophy is seldom seen by the general public, and Coca Cola’s campaign will be the first of its kind.
The Worlds most sought after soccer possession, will travel 134,017 kilometers around the globe, the trophy will visit every nation in Africa, giving the fans a once in a life time opportunity to get a picture taken with the prestigious award. "Through this event, we are really engaging football fans on a global scale, giving them the unique opportunity to have their picture taken with the most prestigious prize in world football and to embrace the excitement surrounding the FIFA World Cup," said Sep Blatter on the FIFA website.
via - FIFA.com
Monday, September 21, 2009
Expensive Garbage
Packaging matters... and no other example quite illustrates the point as well as New York-based artist Justin Gignac's initiative started back in 2001.
To prove his point to a colleague that packaging design is integral to increasing the value of a product, he began an experiment which saw the artist collecting and re-packaging trash found on the streets of New York city into specially designed cubes - each signed and dated by the artist.
8 years down the line, New York City Garbage has sold over 1200 items. The collection also boasts "Special Edition" cubes such as 'New Year’s Eve Times Square 1-1-08', at a price starting merely at $100.
Via - PSFK, NYC Garbage
Castrol Speaks To Drivers In Traffic
Castrol launched a campaign in the UK earlier this year highlighting their wide range of product offerings, allowing the consumer to find the right oil for their individual vehicles.
The campaign was supported online, as well as via a simple mobile app which allows consumers to send in their vehicle registration details. Castrol then checks the registration with the department of transport, thus allowing the brand to know the details regarding your vehicle before sending the user their recommended Castrol oil.
The brand has taken it a step further this week. Castrol has set up registration plate number recognition cameras at five slow-moving traffic sites in London, and once the registration details has been verified on the database, the correct oil recommendation for the vehicle is displayed on adigital billboard further down the road.
It's a clever use of technology which will allow the brand to add a highly relevant touchpoint for potential consumers.
Via -Brand Republic
Thursday, September 17, 2009
New Marketing For Retro New Balance
New Balance is making their latest limited edition offer enticing for consumers by combining interactivity with a feeling of exclusivity.
Those who purchase the New Balance 574 has a polaroid taken and are invited to the online portal - 574 Clips - which features a short video for each of the shoes sold, where owners can match their polaroid to the video about their particular pair of shoes.
Once a match has been made, the user can "claim" the video and have their name featured at the end of that clip.
Via - 574 Clips
Burberry Ventures Online
Luxury brand Burberry has ventured online in their latest shift of resources to online engagement.
The luxury label will soon launch an online portal called Art Of The Trench which will invite consumers and fans to send photos of themselves in the brand's iconic trench coat. The portal, Burberry hopes, will offer a consolidated brand experience for those who might not otherwise have had that much exposure as yet.
It will be interesting to see how this latest online engagement from a luxury brand turns out when the website launches. In the meantime, interested consumers can sign up for an automated update from Burberry.
Via - Brand Republic
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Pepsi Max Crowdsources Global Campaign
The creative direction for Pepsi Max's next global campaign rests solely in the hands of fans and budding digital creatives.
Pepsi Max is calling on entrants to submit a proposal for a 90-second ad under Pepsi's ethical banner 'Refresh Everything', with the eventual winner being granted budget and guidance to produce a Pepsi Max digital advertising film that will be rolled out in early 2010.
The added incentive is that the ad will also be played on the big screen before the gala premiere of British actor Clive Owen's new film, Boys are Back, at the London Film Festival.
If you think you have what it takes, download the brief online here.
Via - Revolution Magazine
Breathing Life Into Toys
A new online platform developed by US company ToyBots is about to revolutionise the way children interact with their toys in future - or rather, how their toys interact with them.
ToyBot's new platform will essentially provide the online software for toy-manufacturers to build their "hardware" around. With internet connectivity and GPS tracking enabled on potential future products, a teddy-bear could ask it's owner for a hug or even learn some catch phrases and talk to their owners.
According to Revolution Magazine, "Other innovations include being able to "tickle" -- say for example -- your Barbie online and it will giggle in the real world or a grandmother would have the ability to record a story that the toy can read to her grandchild hundreds of miles away."
An interesting application which the platform also allows for is the connection to social networks from the physical toy - which would allow children to have a physical avatar to their online presence whilst interacting with each other.
Via - Revolution Magazine
Halaal Make-Up
Canadian make-up artist Layla Mandi - who converted to Islam - spotted a gap in the market and has accordingly aimed to fill the lack of supply for Halaal cosmetics with her new range called OnePure skin care products .
Her products products contain no pork extracts and no alcohol, allegedly both common in standard make-up ingredient. The range has been certified by a Malaysian Islamic authority, which has verified that everything down to the fluids used to clean the production equipment is Halaal.
According to Springwise, over 70% of Muslim women worldwide live by the Halaal code - and the stamp of authenticity should ensure the range's appeal to many of these individuals.
Via - Springwise
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
"Intelligently Combined" Audi
German agency Kempertrautmann GmbH was responsible for the latest Audi commercial, called "Intelligently Combined". The spot features a giant perspex Rubics Cube with various car parts in it. As the cube is turned and manipulated, the car is slowly put together in a precise and beautiful way. There's also a very fitting sound-track to boot, making for an amazing and eye-catching commercial.
GM: May The Best Car Win
GM's current number one priority, no doubt, is to win back the trust of the millions of consumers they have let down in their home market over the past year. In their first push since GM Re:Invention, the American car manufacturer has launched a 60-day money back guarantee, underlying just how much the brand believes in their own products. Below is the TVC featuring the new GM Chairman, Ed Whitacre.
Via - AdWeek
Connecting The Old Fashoned Way
Whilst Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube have been considered essentials for any marketer worth his or her salt in the 21st century, it'd seem that one of the most established communications tool is making a comeback and offering an older, but perhaps more effective way of connecting with consumers.
A small company based in the Silicon Valley called SayNow has been offering a free service allowing stars to connect with their fans (65% of whom are teenage girls) via voicemail over the past few months. The approach has been gaining in popularity, with the service claiming that it averages 10 million fan calls per month - equating to one million voice minutes per day.
Callers can also leave voice messages of their own, many of which are then made public on SayNow.com. Callers can sign up to get text alerts when stars like Selena Gomez, of “Wizards of Waverly Place,” or the Jonas Brothers (22 million SayNow calls from fans and counting) record a new message.
Artists can also choose to chat on live conference calls, as well as returning calls for one-on-one conversations that can be broadcast to the entire group. Part of the value-add SayNow provides to it's users is the ticket sales alert, allowing fans to be the first in line to purchase tickets to see their favourite artist in person.
With cellphone penetration ever increasing worldwide, SayNow's business model is certainly one worth keeping an eye on for brands.
Via - NY TimesMonday, September 14, 2009
Lots Of Product-Related Tweets
Having analysed over 500 000 tweets, Pennsylvania State University researchers Jim Jansen concluded that around 20% of them disseminates some kind of product-related information.
Jansen and his team looked for tweets mentioning a brand and why the brand was mentioned - to inform others, express a view on the brand or something else - and found that people were using tweets to connect with the products.
According to the press release, "with about six million active users daily and predictions of more than 20 million users by the end of the year, Twitter has become the next big thing on the Web."
With businesses starting to make profits from the use of Twitter - both in terms of sales and as a brand-building tool - the micro-blogging tool could see increased adoption in future. Imagine your brand reaching a potential of 6 million per day, can any brand afford to ignore this free channel?
Via - Penn State University
