Bike theft is an everyday occurrence in cities. As a cyclist, having your bike stolen is obviously inconvenient, but then so is the amount of locks, chains and tools that you have to carry around with you everywhere in attempt to keep your ride secure.
Owners of second-hand bikes never really escape the nagging sensation that the bike they've just bought through Gumtree or Craigslist wasn't already stolen, and no amount of local police force initiatives ever seem to fully address the problem of bike theft.
As a security device, the Lock-Off bike lock from Cheeky.com claimed to be "near-indestructible". Cheeky.com is an online retailer that specialises in unusual but useful inventions that challenge accepted conventions of purpose and design. As such, the most noticeable feature of the Lock-Off is the unmistakable message it sends to would-be bike thieves: Lock-Off is the only bike lock to give thieves the finger.
Opportunities to demonstrate the effectiveness of a bike lock are somewhat limited in traditional media. Manufacturers can make any number of claims about the strength and effectiveness of their product, but to the cyclist who has had their bike stolen needs some more concrete proof that their new bike lock is the ultimate protection from thieves.
To prove just how good the Lock-Off was, agency The Social House attached a bike some railings in a part of Dublin that was notorious for bike theft. Confidence in the Lock-Off was so strong that cutting tools were also chained to the bike. A sign with the words "steal me" was the final addition to the bait. A camera was left set up to record the stunt, and the footage used in a demonstration video hosted on YouTube.
Results
Full results to follow. Within 3 weeks of upload, the Lock-Off video had been viewed more than 8,000 times.
Demonstration videos and infomercials can often be quite boring for the viewer. Here The Social House have risked a product demonstration in a very public environment, which makes for entertaining viewing and a compelling case for the product
It's clear to me now that to develop true brand experience you have to integrate social media. The formula for { brand 3.0} =Experiential marketing+ Social media marketing.
The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has launched interactive murals to inspire Americans to book a Canadian vacation. These murals have taken over the streets of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles this summer - pulling content from Twitter to display real-time updates from and about Canada.
The digital storescapes celebrate the CTC's comprehensive social media strategy, and follow its 2009 Marketer of the Year award from Marketing Magazine.
The Canadian Tourism Commission can be found on the following social channels:
Interesting technique and nice realisation for Nokia. This beamvertising makes interaction possible. The campaign adverts for navigation function of Nokia mobile phones.
Eichborn, the German publishing house, used flies to get the word out on their exhibition stand at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse). Eichborn’s logo includes a fly so it made sense to use flies to carry the logo in a “fliegenbanner” with the words, “Eichborn, der verlag mit der Fliege” (the publisher with the fly). Ultra light miniature banners were attached to 200 flies with natural wax. The flies, carrying an extra load, tended to land on people for a rest, getting the attention of people all over the display area. The Jung von Matt team behind the campaign tell us that flies were not harmed in the process. After a short time the banner dropped off by itself.
Credits
The Flyvertising campaign was developed at Jung von Matt/Neckar, Stuttgart, Germany, by creative directors Jacques Pense and Michael Ohanian, art directors Benjamin Beck and Thomas Lupo, copywriters Norman Scholl and Lennart Frank, account managers Daniel Adolph and Christine Seelig.
Augmented reality has a tendency to either be very gimmicky or very utilitarian. Here we have an example of the technology being truly married to the brand message in an engaging and accessible way.
Israeli water brand Neviot recently added a range of "super-waters" with added vitamins and minerals to its existing product range. To promote the new line, a campaign was required that drew attention to the health benefits of the enriched water, called Neviot Plus, and positioned the brand as a sports and fitness drink.
Brands have used computer games as marketing vehicles since the early days of the medium, but advances in augmented reality (AR) technology mean that brands can now make their physical product a key element for game play. In this case, Neviot devised an AR based tennis game, which used bottles of Neviot Plus as the "rackets".
The technology has been created by Israeli technology firm CamSpace. Visitors to the Neviot website download a program to their computers which activates their webcam. The camera reads a code on the Neviot Plus bottles, and players can control their on-screen rackets accordingly, in a style similar to the Nintendo Wii.
In addition to the online version, Neviot has also taken the concept to the public, by creating a mobile gaming station that travels around shopping malls and popular town centre locations.
AR branded gaming was recently used by Nestlé, where the back of a cereal packet turned into a gaming environment when viewed through a webcam. Adidas also recently unveiled a range of sneakers that contained codes which gained entry into an exclusive AR world in which the shoes became the game controllers.
BRAND: Neviot
BRAND OWNER: Neviot
CATEGORY: Drinks (non-alcoholic)
REGION: Israel
DATE: 2010 - ongoing
MEDIA CHANNEL: Ambient,Experiential,Digital,Online
Branding. In event marketing it’s more than plastering your logo on a pen, sponsoring a lunch or hanging the largest banner allowed by show management over your booth. To truly build a brand that leaves an indelible imprint on the hearts and minds of audiences, event marketers must adopt a more strategic, holistic approach. Think of it this way. People build perceptions through five lenses: emotion, reason, knowledge, personality and experience. It is exceedingly difficult to effectively address these through logos, signage and the like. To truly build a positive brand impression requires the building of trust and relationships. Here are 13 ideas to help you build your brand through broader and deeper audience engagement at your events. Everything Matters: Every touch point with your audience has the opportunity to make or break their perception of your brand as well as your relationship with them. Take nothing for granted. Booth Layout: The look and feel of your booth is a good starting point. Remember, what’s not in your booth is just as important as what is. Keep it open, inviting and comfortable. Signage: Use messaging as a strategic weapon. Adopt a messaging hierarchy for your presence. Consider what your messaging strategy is, and what high level and detailed messaging you will include to draw people into your booth and entice conversation with your staffers. Hint: you don’t have to tell the whole story from across the convention center. Also, the amount of messaging, fontography, and integration with pictures and video is critical. All elements need to work together simply and seamlessly, to tell your story. You have 3-5 seconds. Go! Experiences: Given that one of the key foundations of building perception is experience, you should really focus on this one. Make your events authentic, engaging, interactive and immerse your audience and you’ll go a long way to bolstering brand perception. Storytelling: Use case studies and stories to build positive brand impressions from an audience perspective. Using guest speakers on panels or use video both at the event and online to draw your audiences in and show how your brand addresses their needs and makes them a hero in their own story. Trained Demonstrators: It is true that no one in your company knows your products better than the folks who created them. It is also true that delivering demonstrations based on audience needs (not product features and benefits) presenting ideas effectively in a public forum and engaging audiences in meaningful conversations, is a skill in it’s own right. If your staff is trainable (meaning they could pass as a professional speaker or demonstrator) by all means train them. If not, use them as company and product experts after the pros energize, excite and engage the crowd. Educational Sessions: Whether you are participating in a third-party tradeshow, conference or planning a proprietary event, it’s important to add value to your audiences. In many cases this means offering some sort of education. The tracks you participate in, the type of knowledge you impart, the number of sessions, the quality of the speakers and the breadth and depth of content you provide all say something about your brand. Also, keep in mind that any educational session should be designed so it is entertaining, easily digestible and shareable beyond the session itself. Think about how audiences will use this content in social media. Speaking Opportunities: Like educational sessions, speaking session should be treated as critical for appealing to the emotion, reason and knowledge lenses of your audiences. Work with show producers to secure the most prominent speaking session(s) possible whether through purchasing sponsorships, or building such a reputation in the marketplace for excellence, the mere presence of your rockstar executive will draw crowds to the event. Private Meetings: The most important audiences are those who align themselves with your organization. This is true for prospects, customers, and loyal advocates. Holding special off-floor activities just for them will make them feel special and validate their affinity with your brand. Make sure these activities are of the highest quality, valuable, entertaining and allow for networking with peers. Audience Generation: Aside from “just do it,” remember the type and frequency of touches you have with your potential attendees before the event creates an important brand perception. Here you have an opportunity to show you care about these audiences, which activates emotional triggers. Promotion: Although niche themes for your event can be fun and all, try to resist the temptation of going way off brand. Whatever promotions, gameshows, sweepstakes, giveaways, contests, booth themes, etc. you choose, they should be first and foremost designed to add real value to your audiences. Secondly, they should be aligned with your core brand values and messaging. The promotion should never outweigh the prominence of your brand. here’s a simple trick. Try saying the promotion name with your competitors brand and message as part of the slogan. If it works, it’s not for you. Follow-Through: The speed and authenticity of your follow-up activities with your audiences after the event also have a tremendous impact on brand perception. make sure you have a plan for how to manage hot, warm and cold leads after the event. Ensure any information captured on site about the audience is shared with the sales or field staff responsible for post-event contact strategies. Audiences should be contacted as close to immediately after the event as possible, or they will shop your competition, and you have lost an opportunity to build deep, meaningful relationships, not to mention negatively impacted your return on investment. Social Media Integration: Think beyond the event in terms of audience, content and relationships. Social media activities and audience engagement should be planned for and executed before, during and after the event. An event is a point in time, a relationship lasts far longer. Make sure you participate where your audiences are already congregating. Do your research. It may not be where you think. An event is the best place for audiences to look a company in the eye and become immersed in a ‘brand experience’. Second to this is the pervasiveness of the digital channel in providing interactive ‘brand experiences’ for many audiences. Outside of events, digital marketing provides an experience which engages audiences in a two way conversation with a brand. This often leads to a transaction that is immediately measurable. However, this transaction is far less indelible than a face-to-face conversation which helps build a long term relationship based on shared experiences, a mutual exchange of value, and the building of trust. ------------------- Technologies For Events
Human communication is evolving. What attracts us and motivates us is constantly changing. The way we interact with each other, our communities and the companies we do business with is increasingly complex. Technology is everywhere and can become an insurmountable distraction or a useful tool to help us in driving indelible experiences which last well beyond a single moment in time and spark long-term relationships.
Here are six game-changing technologies that will help experiences and events make more of an impact on audiences and brands alike.
Augmented reality combines visual, three dimensional environments with virtual information creating a hybrid view of the real world and relevant data. Several companies are running to create augmented reality applications for smartphones that will add information to maps, landmarks, people and the like. The most compelling vision of augmented reality however is not from a mobile device, but a wearable computer from MIT. Imagine interpreting attendee, product, brand, speaker, subject matter information instantaneously through an personal projection onto any surface. Other versions could involve audio cues delivered through headphones, or heads-up displays built into eyeglasses. Very cool stuff. Pretty soon, we won’t need to remember anything. First the calculator took away our ability to do simple math, then along came the GPS so we can’t find our way out of the driveway, and now this…
This system uses a camera and facial recognition software to determine the gender, ethnicity and emotional reaction of audiences to advertisements shown on an interactive screen. Using this data, the system can serve up different advertisements based on the audience standing in front of the monitor. Samsung is just scratching the surface here. Imagine using this technology for product demonstrations at a tradeshow, showcasing the most relevant products, features or benefits based on audience demographics or physical reactions. Imagine an entire experience being customized to a single member of your audience based on the same technology. What about speaking sessions? Or interactive virtual events where participants have their webcams on, giving the virtual event producer the opportunity to customize content based on the same information to each screen. Amazing stuff.
As an experiential or event marketer, if you haven’t heard of Kaon Interactive or their V-OSK solutions you may be missing out on some pretty amazing technology. Kaon creates high definition, three-dimensional product models and system demonstrations to help sales and marketing teams illustrate product features and benefits. The V-OSK solution is basically an interactive touch screen that allows users to interact with a virtual product, process or solution. Demonstrations can be self-guided or hosted by a staffer. Key features and benefits can be programmed into each layer of the high-definition, three-dimensional image which can be taken apart or otherwise manipulated to obtain just the right view. This is ideal for use in corporate lobbies, museums, executive briefing centers and tradeshows. I once heard someone define drayage as the best way to move freight the shortest possible distance, at the slowest possible pace for the highest possible cost. A Kaon solution virtually eliminates the need to ship or store products both large and small to events. A game-changer for companies who sell anything from consumer appliances to servers to manufacturing equipment, food processing machinery, medical equipment, or anything else that drives up the cost of floorspace, shipping and drayage. I can see this solution saving some companies millions. Their V-OSK presenter is a great tool for in-depth, interactive presentations for both simple and complex products alike. This can be used for speaking opportunities. Their solution is transferable to the web and e-literature, so once the models are built the ROI on multi-channel distribution is huge. Finally, everything a used does while using a V-OSK is tracked and measurable, helping you to design and develop the most effective demonstrations.
What?! Toy blocks for events?! Yep. These are interactive blocks or cookie-sized computers with motion sensing, neighbor detection, graphical display and wireless communication that can be programmed with calculators, dictionaries, music, etc. Kid’s play, right? Well, partially. I can see Siftables being programmed with more complex data. For example, molecular, atomic, genetic, physics, chemistry, pharmaceutical, biological, ecological, geological, astronomical, electronic, or business-process data. Now we have something very interesting for business and events as a result. Imagine using these interactive blocks as a demonstration or learning tool to tell a story to attendees about what happens when different elements of a (gene, pharmacutical drug, business process, etc.) are moved around or reordered. Add a projector and you can address a mass audience in a very compelling and entertaining fashion. Attendees could each carry around their own siftables and engage in collaborative ideation or problem solving. The possibilities are endless. I am watching these guys closely.
Sure, we’ve all heard of using RFID to track whether or not attendees are sitting in our breakout sessions, but the power of RFID is so much more than that. AllianceTech’s ‘Intelligent’ series of products allows brands to understand attendance, manage leads, create surveys, understand booth and demonstration visits and durations, drive attendee networking and even tie into signage that can be customized for each attendee. What’s more, is I’ve heard AllianceTech is doing some very interesting things tying onsite behavior to pre and post event activities, including social media monitoring for some clients to give a true 360 view of audience behavior. Now that’s powerful. Real-time data which can be used to customize experiences on the fly, and longer-term analytics to create predictive models to drive real, consistent brand performance. I’m looking forward to when RFID is fully integrated into complete event experiences, well beyond intelligent signage. Imagine customized one-to-one signage, demonstrations, sound, video, lighting, temperature, scent, carpet pile, you name it.
Ambient noise is a huge problem at events. Booth theater, speakers, product demonstrations, magicians, gameshows, even the attendees themselves add to the noise pollution and detract from the experience for everyone in the audience. Imagine sound being delivered exactly to the ears of the specific attendee you were targeting. The person to their left or right would not hear the demonstration, only them. Pretty amazing stuff. I’m waiting for active noise cancellation technology to be more effective and efficient in three-dimensional spaces (beyond the more traditional noise-cancelling headphone). It will be very cool when we can step off the tradeshow aisle carpet into a booth and experience total silence.
These are just six of some of the most interesting technologies with event applications I’ve come across. Of course, there’s virtual reality, photo or video activation, mobile applications and many others as well.
BRAND OWNER:Carlsberg Group
CATEGORY:Drinks (alcoholic)
REGION:Canada
DATE:Apr 2009 - Dec 2008
Carlsberg was looking for a campaign to enhance brand awareness as it launched in Canada, building on its brand slogan “Probably the Best Beer in the World”.It wanted to engage with a primarily male target and link the brand to sociability. Carlsberg came up with a nationwide competition akin to the Canadian Idol phenomenon. Competitors are required to show what makes them the “Best Mate” and why they can lay claim to the title. The competition looks for “the guy that can make every situation better, is always connected and never lets anything stand in the way of a good time. Visitors to www.bestmate.ca can enter to prove that with pictures, stories and videos that they are the best Best Mate. The 30 top “Best Mates” will be given a new Sony Ericsson W705 Walkman phone with integrated Facebook and YouTube applications. The finalists will then be encouraged to record events and interactions as they build their case demonstrating their “best mate” skills. A final winner will be selected and announced in June. The big prize is a VIP trip for the winner and three mates to Las Vegas. The advertising declares “Sinners needed for Vegas” and was created by GJP creative team Louis Duarte and Craig Burt. The initial phase to invite contenders will be supported using a combination of outdoor, radio, online, video and social media tactics to cast a wide net.
BRAND OWNER:Diageo
CATEGORY :Drinks (alcoholic)
REGION :Canada
DATE :Jan 2008 - Feb 2008
Chinese-Canadians are a significant minority. They are also keen whisky drinkers – particularly as part of their New Year celebrations. The challenge for whisky brands is that they prefer to be communicated to in their home language – adding to costs – at a time when many are still recovering from the expense of pushing their products at Christmas.
Research indicated that while this group liked the finer things in life – making it a perfect target for Johnnie Walker – they also love giveaways and value add-ons and actively seek out such offers.
Johnnie Walker created Fai Cheun stations inside the biggest Chinese shopping complex in Toronto to offer our own branded version of the red wall/door posters traditionally used to offer new years greetings in homes, stores and restaurants.
Consumers who arrived at our calligraphy stations were greeted by traditionally dressed models speaking Cantonese and Mandarin and given branded Fai Cheun. They also had the chance to speak to a world famous calligrapher and get unique personalised Fai Cheuns on branded paper.
Finally they were given a chance to sample Johnnie Walker and green tea in a nearby liquor store.
Chinese-Canadians were happy to display the branded Fai Cheuns and the activity was covered by Toronto’s two largest Chinese dailies. Twenty-three per cent of Toronto’s Chinese Canadian population participated in the promotion.
Sales via liquor stores grew 44% in January and February year on year.
BRAND OWNER:Western Union
CATEGORY:Financial
REGION:China
DATE:Jul 2008 - Oct 2008
Western Union’s money transfer service relies on brand awareness but also brand familiarity to drive usage.
Consumers need to trust Western Union to use the service.
In China a key target was people living in villages around tier 3 and 4 cities who tend to be older with lower educational attainment. Reaching these consumers is hard because there are few targeted media options, printed materials may not be effective or understood and they are also conservative when it comes to testing new services.
The key way to earn their trust, however, is recommendation from family and friends and the communications solution was to create a family event in their villages and use the occasion to personally explain the Western Union service.
It created a tailor-made event in 95 different locations, promoted via posters, offering villagers the chance to see a relatively recent movie.
Before each screening a 10-minute video about Western Union was played with representatives on the ground also giving out leaflets and one to one explanations.
The event was totally branded with Western Union yellow stools, banners, event and leaflets.
Research carried out after the event showed nearly everyone questioned said they would try Western Union products for future transfers. The activity is being expanded for 2009.
BRAND OWNER :The Coca Cola Company
CATEGORY :Drinks (non-alcoholic)
REGION :Germany
In 2008, Coca-Cola was one of the official sponsors of the UEFA football championships (Euro 2008) and wanted to reignite the World Cup spirit that had taken over the country during 2006.
Coke decided to act as a facilitator, uniting people in their love for football and for the national team.
The idea was to get Coke to bring even opponents together.
The key target audience was 18-29 year olds who were used to communicating via social networks. Usually people in communities search for people with similar interests, but Coke wanted to turn this idea on its head so that people could connect with people who are very different.
Coke partnered with social community StudiVZ – 4 times bigger than Facebook. We integrated a Coke EURO platform with a new and unique fan-profile generator called the “Mismatch Generator”.
The users had to answer 9 questions about their lifestyle. These profiles run into a database and weekly every participant got 3 opposite mismatches allocated, for example a meat-lover would be matched with a vegetarian, but they were unified by their love of football. Then each week one pair of mismatches won a fan partner championship ticket.
The Mismatch-Generator was pushed by standard online advertising as well as personal addressing and viral components in the community.
Some 100.000 fans in the target-group were activated by the campaign and over 530.000 different mismatches were created. In the end, the activation program contributed considerably to Coca-Cola becoming the Euro 2008 advertiser with the highest awareness and likeability for its Euro communication.
BBDO Guerrero in Manila used guerilla tactics to promote Krispy Kreme donuts during the running of a marathon in The Philippines.
Client:Krispy Kreme
Agency:BBDO Guerrero, Manila
Creatives:David Guerrero, Simon Welsh, Joel Limchoc (Creative Director)
Brandie Tan (Art Director)
Tin Sanchez, Meggy de Guzman (Copywriter)
Other Credits:
Print Producer: Al Salvador, Cielo Laforteza
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars wanted to generate excitement and awareness with luxury lifestyle and business media in North America
Insight: • Capitalize on limited tour of new Phantom EWB and 101EX Experimental Coupe to introduce the “new and invigorated” company
• Leverage upcoming vehicle introduction to demonstrate the performance, craftsmanship and luxury that has made Rolls-Royce the standard for excellence in any category
• Highlight features of U.K. headquarters to give journalists inside look at what makes Rolls-Royce special
Action: • Arranged first-ever visit by U.S. journalists to Rolls-Royce corporate U.K. headquarters
• Created targeted media campaign aimed at luxury lifestyle publications and relevant national and regional press
•Spearheaded media relations in support of vehicles in select cities
Outcomes:
• Exclusive story with CNBC that set the broadcast strategy for Detroit Auto Show
• Features in luxury lifestyle publications including Celebrated Living, Palm Springs Life, POST USA and Malibu Times Magazine
• Lengthy local broadcast stories in select markets that were picked-up across the U.S.
Drinks company Whyte & Mackay wanted to raise awareness about its whisky brands and its red lion logo, while driving people to visit pubs to sample its sprits.
It decided to launch a treasure hunt spanning online and offline, entitled ‘The Whyte and Mackay Safari Hunt’, giving people the chance to win bottles of whiskey if they find the Whyte and Mackay lions in bars and pubs.
The premise is that the lions will be hiding in Glasgow and London bars moving from bar to bar until they are caught.
If the tweet clue is ‘If this lane was made of ash it would weigh a ton’, then the location would be Ashton Lane in Glasgow’s West End.
Amongst the bottles of whisky on offer will be 19-year-old and special Whyte and Mackay. After the bottles have run out, anyone managing to find the lions will have a drink bought for them. Once the lions have been spotted - they will be placed on the bar of each pub/bar - all the person has to do is walk up to them and touch them. They will then receive a bottle of whisky or drink after revealing their Twitter ID.
The alcohol company has been a keen supporter of Twitter and other social media for a while, believing drinking whiskey to be a suitably social experience. The hunt starts in Glasgow, before moving to London and then other cities.
BRAND :Pogo
BRAND OWNER :ConAgra Foods
CATEGORY :Food
REGION :Canada
DATE :Mar 2008 - Jul 2008
Pogo is a Canadian brand of corn dog – that is to say a frankfurter sausage on a stick, covered in batter. Pogos weren’t considered particularly cool by teenagers, so the challenge was to make a latent brand likeable among teen boys, and remind them to look in the freezer or ask their parents to buy some.
Pogo decided to incite the competitive nature of boys with a unique campaign idea: “Be proud of your wiener”. The somewhat puerile double-entendre clearly resonated with the target audience. Teens were challenged to hold their Pogo high for as long as they could and whoever held it up for the longest was crowned “The Proudest of their Wiener” in an event they named the Mega-Pogothon.
The campaign launched unbranded to create intrigue and excitement, with guerilla activity seeing the Pogo icon seeded in unusual places including on stickers on street signs, on t-shirts and in chalk art in high teen traffic areas. Pogo “sticker” poster pads were wild-posted in popular teen hangouts. The target engaged with the brand by peeling off the stickers and sticking them on everything around them Pogo also infiltrated the airwaves on popular teen programming, flashing the icon throughout after-school shows and planting teens in the audience holding his Pogo high.
The activity culminated with the Mega-Pogothon, held in an amusement park and aired on TV.
Some 63% of teens were aware of the campaign and sales increased by 10%, a market share increase of 29%.
Visitors to 
The key target audience was 18-29 year olds who were used to communicating via social networks. Usually people in communities search for people with similar interests, but Coke wanted to turn this idea on its head so that people could connect with people who are very different. 
