Gym Pack
Nice example of letting people create their own behavioural incentives
“Make a flexible personal commitment that will get you to the gym. Set the number of days per week you want to exercise, and the monetary stakes you’ll pay if you don’t.”
Mirror to yourself
Personalisation works:
Intel’s ‘Museum of Me’ – More than 440,000 people created their own museums in the three days following launch. More than 150,000 users took advantage of the built-in one-click sharing mechanisms, by publishing their exhibition catalogues directly to Facebook. In total, more than 21 million impressions were recorded on the social network.
Touch the truck
I’ve just come across this campaign from Peugeot, Sweden:
You have to keep your mouse pressed down on the car for as long as possible (and occasionally perform random tasks like ‘press the T button now’ – to check you hadn’t taped your mouse button down and wandered off). 9000 words of heavy sales copy is thrown at the player while they sit there. The prize is getting to drive it for a week.
My gut reaction to this is that it represents what I really don’t like about participative marketing. Yes it’s an old-school salesman technique but, considering what a pointless thing it is to ask people to do (and with all the technological opportunities in the world) it seems pretty lazy to me to just replicate it online. What does that say about the type of brand you are? And these cars look like the more expensive in the range – is this game meant to reach and appeal to the potential buying audience?
…I would be interested to hear if anyone thinks i’m being overly critical and this is a good way to reach warm leads, delivering them with loads of reasons to buy.
Re-positioning the humble carrot
I love this campaign from the US. Rather than harp on about being healthy, Bolthouse Farms decided to make a sensible (but rather boring) product, feel exciting by re-positioning it as ‘fast food’:
Virtual demonstration
Organise your computer files using virtual shelving systems. You can buy the physical equivalents in-store, fusing ongoing value with product trial:
The magic tablet?
I’m excited about tablet advertising. Unlike desk and laptop, it’s a truly mobile experience. It’s (often) touch screen. And, because of screen-size, I think it could prove much more fruitful for advertisers than mobile.
But despite the iPad being around for almost a year, so far, i’m yet to see a truely brilliant use of advertising space on the platform.
I haven’t got an iPad myself, so i’m willing to be proved wrong, and yes, some brands have created great applications for the device. But from what i’ve read / experienced on others’ precious machines, the advertising within apps (such as the Telegraph) has been as static as the ad offline.
Most ad folk now flinch at the idea of ‘making the poster move’ online, so it surprises me that they don’t even bother doing this on tablet…
One example I have seen which shows a bit of creative thought is Ford’s ad for their Mondeo model…you can wipe the ad with your finger, in much the way you wipe steam from the shower glass, enabling you to see the inside of the car. It appreciates what’s native to the platform: touch, and helps bring the car to life.
I’ll be keeping my eye out for more examples because, in my mind, this platform holds great potential and adland’s only just getting started.
11 Consumer Trends for 2011
Consumer Trends and Insight agency, Trendwatching, has released their yearly ‘briefing’ – a list of 11 consumer trends which they believe will shape the year ahead.
Despite the jargon, there are some excellent brand case studies in the report, which are well worth a read. If you’ve only got time for a quick overview, however, here is a summary of what they predict is in store this year:
1. RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
Companies to monitor consumers’ public moods and spontaneously act upon them with random acts of kindness…
2. URBANOMICS
Catering to city-citizens in these vast urban entities requires a local, dedicated approach in products, services and campaigns that mirror if not surpass the usual country-specific approach.
3. PRICING PANDEMONIUM
Flash sales, group buying, GPS-driven deals: this year, pricing will never be the same…
4. MADE FOR CHINA (IF NOT BRIC)
Expect an increasing number of ‘Western’ brands to launch new products or even new brands dedicated (if not paying proper respect) to consumers in emerging markets.
5. ONLINE STATUS SYMBOLS
This year, you can’t go wrong supplying your (online-loving) customers with any kind of symbol, virtual or ‘real world’, that helps them display to peers their online contributions, creations or popularity.
6. WELLTHY
The ‘consumerization’ of health means that more consumers will expect to share, compare and discuss their personal health issues with other consumers via medical social networks and choose products with embedded health benefits that are actually well designed, and desirable.
7. SOCIAL-LITES AND TWINSUMERS
The rise of ‘brand me’ means that we can expect even more consumers to become curators: broadcasting, compiling, commenting, sharing and recommending content, products, purchases, and experiences to both their friends and wider audiences.
8. EMERGING GENEROSITY
Brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (yes, especially China) will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize versus just sell and take.
9. PLANNED SPONTANEITY
Fragmented lifestyles + denser urban environments + smartphones = a generation who have little experience of making (or sticking to) rigid plans, and instead rely on facilitating spontaneous activities via services that allow for endless and almost effortless mass mingling.
10. ECO SUPERIOR
When it comes to ‘green consumption’, expect a rise in ECO-SUPERIOR products: products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way.
11. OWNER-LESS
This could be the year when sharing and renting really tips into mainstream consumer consciousness as big brands and governments put their weight behind this cultural shift…
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