We have a lot of opinions over here!
Posted by
Dave
Sun Tzu quote, from the Art of War, more than 2000 years ago.
If you liked that, you'll like some of this work…
Posted by
Haley
After drooling over the creative workings of the Cannes Lions (International Festival) winners throughout the past few weeks, it got me thinking of my favourite campaigns and advertisements. Of course there are the classics, such as Volkswagen’s “Think Small” and Wendy’s, “Where’s the beef?” that have captivated audiences, both past and present. The fact that I am learning about their campaigns in lectures (decades after they have launched), proves the success of the brand in itself. This brings me to brand recognition.
As a consumer who has been on both the outer and inner workings of an agency, I have been able to recognize the reach and effectiveness of certain ads. In today’s society it’s a struggle to even catch consumers’ attention, never mind create brand recognition. The most successful campaigns (in my opinion) are quirky ones that consist of creative and witty, copy and design. The ability to create a reaction (i.e. laughter or disgust) from the consumer or audience is the key to building brand awareness.
Here are few campaigns that caught my eye:
Historically Hardcore
Although this was a fake campaign created by a couple university students, it created a lot of buzz. With hopes of encouraging youth to visit the Smithsonian Museum and gain historical perspective, creators, Jen Burrows and Matt Kappler compare popular modern day celebrities with past American presidents. Whether or not the Smithsonian approved of the fake advertisements, the controversy surrounding it increased traffic on the Smithsonian website and to the museum itself.
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UNHATE Foundation
The UNHATE Foundation gained instant attention in November 2011, when they released controversial photos which featured world leaders kissing. The ads (obviously photo shopped) were part of a guerilla marketing effort to spread awareness about the UNHATE Foundation. They used “kissing” as their main focus for the campaign, and edited famous faces together to create a reaction from the public. They used creative initiatives through print, TV, social media and guerrilla marketing across major cities throughout the world. By doing this, they to urged the public to “create a new culture of tolerance” and “combat hatred”. With recognizable faces such as Obama and the late Kim Jong-Il, the campaign reached audiences young and old, of all nationalities. The result of the ads had both good and bad feedback, but ultimately the campaign served its purpose and got people talking.
To upload your own kissing photo visit the Kisswall at, http://kisswall.benetton.com/
Google Voice
Naturally when you see something out of the ordinary it causes you to take a second look. Well this is exactly what Google was/is hoping to accomplish with their campaign for Google Voice. Using rotating images on huge digital billboards to display words divided by syllables and their pronunciation, Google is not only getting people’s attention, but is stopping them in their tracks.
[check] [it] [out],
Posted by
Dave
MarkingProfs is offering a free seminar on "The Top Inbound Metrics for B2B Marketers" on Tuesday, January 26, 2012 at 11am CST. It will last about 60 minutes and it should provide some insight into cost effectively driving high-quality leads and growing your sales pipeline.
It is often difficult to demonstrate the effectiveness and ROI of inbound marketing efforts, while inbound leads from social media, SEO and PR often cost less and are easier to convert than efforts of traditional outbound campaigns.
Mark this date down and join experts Morgan Stewart and Uri Bar-Joseph to discover the top metrics you need to track to ensure that your efforts are as effective as they can be. Or talk to us at Fusion and we'll help you figure it all out.
Presenters: Morgan Stewart, Uri Bar-Joseph
Sponsor: Optify
When: Tue., Jun. 26, 2012, 12pm ET (9am PT)
Length: 60 minutes
Posted by
Dave
We recently had the wonderful experience of having graphic designer Alyssa Love Pangan join us from Red River College for her three-week practicum experience. She fit into our company culture very easily and we enjoyed working with her and eating her tasty noodle dish at our monthly potluck. She has a great career ahead of her judging by the work she did for us and particularly the work she has done for herself at school.
As usual, we ask students to present their portfolios in the lounge and we gathered around for a presentation of some very excellent design and some exceptional promotional execution. I asked her to write an article for our website blog about the guerrilla marketing campaign that she had produced and implemented. She created the blog, "Wear it Like a Penguin", as a project to track website hits and, therefore, the success of her unique guerrilla promotions. She produced a beautiful and informative 32-page online book about the project that you can see on the first page of her blog. Click the "Guerrilla Marketing Book" icon. Quite amazing.
Here she is, writing incognito, in the vein of her incognito campaign...
Like fashion icons, Penguins are always so neatly dressed. Wear It Like A Penguin is a recently launched fashion blog in Winnipeg that started out just as a college assignment for Campaign Strategy. The blog is known more for its guerrilla marketing techniques than anything else and was created to keep track of pageviews.
Here are some of the creative guerilla marketing techniques that the student used to spread the word.
BOOKMARKS: Bookmarks with the blog url were inserted into popular Fashion Magazines at grocery stores in Winnipeg.
SHOP-DROPPING: Price tags with the blog url were left in pockets of selected clothing in retail stores of popular shopping malls in Winnipeg.
LOST WALLETS: Wallets were left empty with an attached price tag with the blog url on benches and coffee tables at shopping malls and coffee shops in Winnipeg.
LOST HANDKERCHIEFS: Handkerchiefs were sewn with price tags attached and were left on benches and coffee tables at shopping malls and coffee shops in Winnipeg.
WASHROOM ICON OUTFITS: Men’s paper jeans and women’s paper dresses were cut out with an attached price tag and were applied onto men and women’s washroom icons at shopping malls and colleges in Winnipeg.
PURSES & TIES: Purses and ties with attached price tags were hung on jacket hooks in washroom stalls, elevator and staircase railings, and everywhere it was possible.
Within one week and a few days from distributing 175 marketing pieces she was able to reach 998 views online and three followers! This fun campaign definitely was one of the highlights of her year at Red River College. She says “Guerilla marketing is always fun… when you don’t get caught!”
– Isla Penguin
Posted by
Dave
Friends of friends of friends of friends. And such.
Ad agencies are not getting good grades in evolving and providing value in the age of social networks, online advertising and the awesome new capabilities in web development. This according to a post in Marketing Profs, which was quoting a study by the CMO Council.
They say that such firms will be challenged in their retention efforts: 48% of senior marketers said they are hiring specialized digital marketing providers to implement social, mobile and interactive strategies in 2012. 47% say they want to do it in-house.
Here's a chart.
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This study took me by surprise. I guess we live in a bit of a vacuum, never knowing what our competitors are doing and thinking they must be doing what we do.
We started into web development, social networking and online advertising just about as soon as was possible. We tested it out on ourselves and, later, on my own social networking company, and now are implementing programs for our clients and teaching them how to effectively manage their digital presence themselves.
I think we are ahead of the game. We are certainly ahead of the agencies that these senior managers are referring to. We were fortunate enough to have partnered with IBM in the United States to build elaborate websites for Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Elizabeth Arden, among others. Partnering with a company thay pays 600 PhD's to go deep on how people use computer interfaces and which ways are the best to build, helped put us on the bleeding edge in the early days of creating a brand's online presence.
Web design, architecture and content development, and online social management and execution are fast becoming the most sought after practices at Fusion. We have spent a great deal of time and effort, in many internal meetings, evolving our direction and setting course for what we see will be our future. The web, and Apple and Google, and Facebook, and LinkedIn and Twitter have changed the way the world works and have decimated entire industries. We don't want to be broadsided like the music industry, the movie industry, the publishing industry, the travel industry, the TV industry, and too many more industries to mention.
We want to, and must, stay ahead of the game.
If you liked that, you'll like some of this work…
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