After proving successful in Korea, supermarket operator Tesco has launched it’s first virtual store in the UK at Gatwick Airport. While in some ways it’s just another way to shop, given the innovative and effective use of technology and the reaction from the public this can clearly be viewed as a form of brand experience as well. Read more about the UK launch and what they’ve been doing in Korea here.
And it’s not from New Zealand! That’s a bit of a shock with a name like Rugbeer but once you get past that this is well worth a watch:
The Levi’s Curve ID College Tour is heading around the US at the moment encouraging female students to be fitted for jeans in an open-sided tent in front of their peers. Hair and makeover touch-ups from a professional make-up artist and a photo by a fashion photographer help incentivise participation, along with $10,000 for either an arts, academic or athletics group at the campus with the best turnout from each of five pairs of campuses chosen based on traditional rivalries. They’ve been averaging 325 fittings per campus, it would be interesting to see if kiwi students would be so keen to put their butt centre stage or if any local marketers would stump up this sort of investment to generate those numbers…
More details here at Promo Magazine and pics here on the Levi’s blog.
Jointly presented by the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group and the Marketing Association, PR and experiential marketing come to the fore with a forum focusing on global trends, best practice case studies and the demonstration of effectiveness through practical and credible ROI measures. April 5 is the date and the Crowne Plaza the venue, click here for registration information and read on for the speakers and their topics.
Based on a survey of 147 of the country’s leading marketers, New Zealand businesses are planning to spend more on marketing this year. And PR and experiential came out as the big winners over more ‘traditional’ forms of advertising. But difficulties around ensuring accurate measurement are still hampering the sector’s growth.
Commissioned by the CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group (MLG) and the Marketing Association, the Buzz Channel survey asked respondents how they planned to split their marketing budget in 2011 (29 percent of respondents had a marketing budget of $100,001-$500,000, and 44 percent had a marketing budget of over $500,000). Read more…
PR and experiential marketing have long been valuable tools for marketers. But are these disciplines gaining prominence in the marketing mix? And if so, how is this affecting more traditional channels? The CAANZ Marcomms Leadership Group and the Marketing Association, with the help of online research company Buzz Channel, decided to find out. But they need the help of New Zealand’s marketers.
Respondents to the ‘PR and Experiential, how much?’ survey, which closes on 28 January, are asked what share of budget is apportioned to PR and experiential versus other elements of the marketing mix, why it is being used and how the effectiveness of this investment is measured. The results will be analysed and shared at the CAANZ/Marketing Association Brand Engagement Forum in April 2011.
Click here to fill in the survey, All those who oblige will go into the draw to win five prize packages of two bottles of Daniel Le Brun nectar. And there’s also one ticket to the Marcomms Forum to dish out to one lucky respondent.
I could write a really detailed explanation of this rather cool effort but it’s waaaaaaaaaaaay more impactful to watch the video (it’s only 2 minutes).
“Customized geolocation-based iPhone application” is far from the sexiest marketing term ever coined but Pepsi’s Loot app that debuts in the US this month is quite nifty. Not only does it show every restaurant that pours Pepsi in the area (200,000 across the US), consumers’ purchases earn them loyalty points that can be used to download music and the like, while QSRs (quick service restaurants) are able to offer exclusive Pepsi Loot discount coupons to drive foot traffic.
Read more about it at Mobilemarketer.com.
London-based social media specialists We Are Social and Splendid Communications put together a nifty campaign to build buzz around the launch of Unilever’s extra strong Marmite XO. Playing on both its Victorian past and the Dan Brown inspired explosion of interest in secret societies, they created the Marmarati Society. 40 bloggers were invited into the society (the “first circle”) for product testing and then a “second circle” of fans had to prove their love for the brand to gain entry to the society. Members were able to attend special events allowing them to taste the product and meet fellow afficionados pre-launch. You can read more about the launch at Contagious Magazine.
Honda’s new UK campaign for the CR-Z, touted as the first ever sporty hybrid, seeks to co-create and crowd-source a documentary based on journeys people submit to the website. To quote Honda – “We’re interested in those journeys we say we’ll go on, but never do; the journeys that take us somewhere new, somewhere scary, somewhere fun, somewhere different.” As well as providing the car, the winning entrants will also have the company of an award-winning documentary maker so the doco won’t be made up of shaky footage taken with one hand on the wheel! Definitely a campaign with potential tho’ the pick-up in terms of entries, facebook fans and the like hasn’t been huge in the first week or so. A quick read of some of the “journeys” submitted was sadly a bit of a yawnfest, we’re sure kiwis would come up with some far juicier ideas for roadtrips given the same opportunity!
