Daianna Karaian, Brand Strategy Manager at EDF Energy and blogger at Sexy Or Susty sums up our latest Green Think Tank.
It was one of those ‘I was there’ moments when you get the feeling great things are going to happen. A room full of leading marketers. A palpable buzz. A flurry of flip charts. An early morning breakfast discussing sustainability? Indeed.
Things kicked off with Malcolm Evans of Space Doctors talking us through the evolving semiotics of sustainability, the way ‘communication codes’ are changing as sustainability matures.
As part of our partnership with Haystack Online, each week we showcase penetrating marketing campaigns. With the Olympic Torch arriving in the UK this week and beginning its marathon journey around the UK next Saturday, we take a look at two of the Olympic related case studies on haystackonline.com. First the BBC Ident for the torch relay followed by the poster campaign promoting free sport during London 2012 through to the end of the ‘Summer Like No Other.’
We are told the Olympic torch will come within 10 miles of 95% of people in the UK, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. It will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers, all of whom inspired others and were therefore nominated by them to carry the Olympic torch on its historic journey around the country, before lighting the Olympic Flame at the opening ceremony on 27th July. This Ident, created by RKCR/Y&R takes the 8000 holes in the torch symbolising each of the torchbearers and animates them to a striking score by Elbow, who won the Mercury Music Prize in the year of the Beijing Olympics.
During 2011, Steve Henry and Alex Gullandset themselves the task of exploring the controversial and complex subject of The Future of Advertising. The pair interviewed a wide range of high profile opinion formers, within the industry, who were asked their views regarding the future for advertising in general. This week our president, Amanda Mackenzie Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Aviva Plc, answers the question ‘does she find the constant proliferation of the advertising industry perplexing’ and talks in general about the direction the industry is taking.
Joss Davidge, Business Director of brand experience agency BEcause, continues his weekly search for innovative marketing ideas that get people talking. This week IKEA and Lynx go out off their way to keep fun secrets that go on to get plenty of attention.
Lynx Anarchy behind closed….screens
Lynx Australia came up with this great experiential campaign, dubbed “The World’s First Invisible Ad”, to promote the new scent “Anarchy”. All the windows in a house, situated in a bustling district of Sydney, were replaced with large LCD screens. To the naked eye there was nothing special about these screens. But when wearing a pair of polarised glasses the screens revealed their content – kissing couples, flooded flats, a clapping baboon and various other off-beat activities, all illustrating the anarchic side of Lynx’s new fragrance.
Martin Hayward, Founder of HAYWARD Strategy and Futures, explores relevant communications to consumers.
If there are any actuaries out there, (they’re the ones who found accountancy too exciting), I have a fun challenge for you.
As we enter the second internet boom and bust cycle, it would be telling to add up the amount of ‘personalised’ , ‘location based’, and ‘SoLoMo’(Social, Local, Mobile) revenues that are being predicted in the business plans of the current wunderkinds of the digital world, and to then compare this with the current total advertising spend worldwide. My guess is that for all these new business models to work, total advertising spend will almost entirely be migrated to mobile devices, which looks fanciful.
Jason Cross, shares three more shiny internet nuggets.
So, no sooner is a drought declared and a hosepipe ban implemented (how about fixing the leaking pipes, instead??) than the heavens open almost non-stop for a month, it appears. If the long-range weather forecasters suggest we get the BBQ’s out in August I’m loading up my PaddyPower app (other betting services are available!) to put a bet on breaking rainfall records during an Olympic Games!!
Did you know, April this year marked the 20th anniversary of the invention of the text message? Seems like only yesterday one of my techie friends at BT tried to convince the rest of our graduate circle that tapping the keypad three times to get to the letter C into a message was “the future”. Oh, the abuse we dished out. Oh, how wrong we were!! To commemorate the humble SMS, Moleskine, modern day bastion of handwriting chic, have brought out a special edition notebook, featuring it’s very own Moleskine Shooting Message System. I can see teachers everywhere getting annoyed at the return of this modern day ‘spitwad’ as bits of paper fly across rooms… Mine is already on order!
Marketing Society editor, Elen Lewis reviews the papers for need to know highlights, from the end of the world to Keith Rupert Murdoch and football music
England manager Roy Hodgson plays the harmonica.
Some 22% of Americans believe the world will end in their lifetime.
Rupert Murdoch’s first name is Keith.
54% of doctors think the NHS should be allowed to refuse non-emergency treatment to patients who do not lose weight or stop smoking.
The wealth of Britain’s 1000 richest men and women rose by 4.7% last year to a record £414bn.
During 2011, Steve Henry and Alex Gulland set themselves the task of exploring the controversial and complex subject of The Future of Advertising. The pair interviewed a wide range of high profile opinion formers, within the industry, who were asked their views regarding the future for advertising in general. This week Keith Moor, Director of Brand and Communications Santander Plc, talks about the importance of the art of listening and how the discipline of marketing is viewed within his industry.
Joss Davidge, Business Director of brand experience agency BEcause, continues his weekly search for innovative marketing ideas. This week he looks at two inventive ways brands encouraged consumers to make discounted purchases.
Vouchers and discount offers are everywhere these days. Simply offering a discount on products often isn’t enough to encourage shoppers to take advantage of it. This week I’ve come across two interesting campaigns that get consumers to engage with a brand in order to receive a discount with very positive results.
Puma Faas: The World’s Fastest Purchase
Inspired by the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, Puma’s Faas trainers are designed for speed. To raise the profile of the shoes and encourage consumers into shops and out clutching new purchases, Puma ran a campaign in Mexico that allowed customers to receive discounts dependant on how quickly they made their choice! If an eager shoe-buyer made it in and back to the counter with shoes to purchase in less than 3 minutes then they received a 20% discount, less than 5 minutes and that discount dropped to 10%. During the promotion the store sold 20 shoes per hour and consumers saved, on average a whopping £25 per purchase! It pays to be speedy!
Last night, we were proud to host our Annual Lecture with Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever who shared his vision and inspiration for sustainability. As the world’s population passes seven billion, and the effect of our consumption becomes more obvious, the business world has recognised that it is time to take action. Paul Polman told us how this can be done. We heard all about the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and put our questions to the CEO of one of the world’s leading businesses. He gave us tips on why businesses have a big role to play in responsible business. It’s a chance to step back and think again.
Members of The Marketing Society will have access to the full video of the lecture in our video library soon. In the meantime read a condensed version of Paul’s tips on how business can lead the frontier for sustainability below:
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Daianna Karaian, Brand Strategy Manager at EDF Energy and blogger at Sexy Or Susty sums up our latest Green Think Tank.
