Interesting Manhole Covers

PR Company Saatchi & Saatchi took Guerilla Marketing to a new level with these unique, eye-catching and interesting manhole covers. The steam from the sewers in New York pass through the coffee design to create, what looks like, a hot cup of your favourite brew.

Billboard and magazine adverts can easily be skipped, but these adverts are certainly one you won’t miss. Thumbs up for this idea!

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An Introduction To Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is a fairly new phenomenon that uses pre-existing social networks to produce rapid increases in brand awareness and is a marketing strategy that suits multiple businesses.

Viral marketing was intially kick-started by word-of-mouth via MySpace messages or Bebo comments, but as new media pushes the boundaries, viral marketing has adapted into video clips, interactive flash games, eye-catching images or even text messages. The idea is that someone shares something entertaining and this is passed on to the receiver’s friends and so on until it snowballs to thousands of users who all share it.

The goal of viral marketing is to create a quick buzz through media channels that receive a lot of exposure. Viral marketing is also much cheaper than traditional means. For example, you may pay thousands to get a half page ad in a newspaper once but you can spend less than £1,000 making a hilarious video that is online forever and receives millions of views.

Unfortunately, viral marketing is heavily exposed to spam. For example, you can buy “Stumbles” that will see your page/video given the “Thumbs Up” by users you have paid. This can help achieve a high number of visitors but it also means users are prone to irrelevant media that quite frankly, pisses them off.

As new media excels, I would strongly suggest companies begin to publish podcasts and videos that can be shared. Sometimes long blog posts can be boring and you have to try harder to entertain your customers, especially in saturated markets.

I love viral marketing

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Flight Path Guerilla Marketing

As the engines roar and the plane begins to take off, many passengers are consumed with the experience that they notice very little. However, once in the air, one begins to relax and takes in the scenery all around them. Flight Path Media, an outdoor advertising specialist, noticed the opportunity to advertise and capitalised on the guerilla marketing idea that lay in farming fields surrounding runways.

After negociating with local land owners, Flight Path Media proceeded to use special paints to create eye-catching and appealing adverts that would generate huge media interest. I have chosen two fantastic examples…

Lap dancer for MyPrivateDance.com - Taking 8 people 3 days to produce, a lap dancer that spread over 100,000 square feet was painted onto a runway field parallel to Gatwick Airport. The result…

GammonLife.com board - A backgammon portal managed by Player International Ltd commissioned Flight Path Media to create the worlds’ biggest backgammon board in preparation for the first Millon Dollar Backgammon Tournament in the Bahamas…

If you can afford it, want to create a huge buzz about your product/service and gain media interest, Flight Path Media can certainly help. I love these ads!

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Anger and Support at “Chav Free” Holidays

A tour company has sparked controversy by sending out a marketing e-mail offering “chav-free” holidays. Activities Abroad ran “chavvy” names through its database to confirm none had ever been on one of its activity holidays. They discovered that no Britneys, Dazzas, Biancas, Chardonnays or Candices had ever been on one of their trips and proceeded to tell 24,000 people this via e-mail.

A wave of publicity and controversy followed after some customers were left offended. One woman argued, “How dare you define and typecast people by their name?”

However, Mr McLean, an employee of the company, advised “If you start going to various newspaper websites and the comment pages, we’re getting some absolutely fantastic feedback, an immense amount of support and it kind of looks like a lot of people agree with us as well“.

So, is all publicity good publicity?

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Interesting Facts and Figures

This video, found on YouTube, highlights changes that are occuring all around us that we probably don’t even realise. From a marketing perspective it focuses on the power of new media, for example the internet, and how this is taking over traditional means.

I am a firm believer in harnessing the power of the internet as people are searching for you…you are not going to them!

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Impact Advertising

Whilst there is no strict definition of  Impact Advertising, I’ll give it a go: Impact Advertising involves using strong, eye-catching media as a form of generating a reaction from the consumer and forcing them to think about the advert in question.

In plain English, this means using a shocking advert that often has little boundaries to make people think, and often speak about it. A great example of Impact Advertising is anti-smoking campaings….

What they used to use as an advert…

What they now use…

Quite naturally, the latter catches your attention and forces you to think about the consequences of smoking. The unfortunate gentleman in the photograph is real, no doubt in pain and a former smoker.

Now, if you were a smoker, which advert would catch your attention?

Impact Advertising is there to break the boundaries, to go the extra mile and often shock the viewer. It is much like Guerilla Marketing but often uses shock tactics instead of humour. By utilising Impact Advertising you are generating an interest and making people think through unconventional means.

I firmly believe Impact Advertising works, especially in campaigns involving disease, illness or upset.

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Virgin Atlantic Guerilla Marketing

Virgin Atlantic, the airline, wanted to promote their all-round superior service and not just the in-flight benefits you may receive when flying with them. A cheap guerilla marketing tactic was set in place that used open-top cartons of eggs carefully handled through-out the baggage handline process.

The campaign was run a few years ago in Johannesburg, South Africa. BBDO, the agency behind the campaign, placed open cartons of eggs on an airport baggage carousel, partially encased in a wrapper that said “Handled by Virgin Atlantic.”

This not only highlight the message that Virgin cared for their luggage as much as their passengers, the marketing tactic was also eye-catching and amusing. Lukily, the eggs didn’t break.

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Slogan Translations Gone Wrong

Slogans are popular in achieving Brand Awareness and spreading knowledge of your product/service further afield. However, when moving into new regions, countries and cities…this can go terribly wrong.

• Coors, the beer producer, moved into the Spanish market and had it’s “Turn it loose” slogan translated…unfortunately it read “Suffer from diarrhea.”
• Clairol, the beauty products manufacturer, launched a their “Mist Stick” curling iron in Germany, only to find out that “mist” was slang for “manure.”
• Schweppes Tonic Water was launched in Italy with the translation “Schweppes Toilet Water“.
• China first rendered Coca-Cola as Ke-kou-ke-la. After thousands of signs were printed, Coca-Cola discovered the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect.
• Kentucky Fried Chicken followed suit when their “finger-lickin good” slogan came out as “eat your fingers off.”

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An Introduction To Brand Awareness

Brand Awareness is a term that I often hear when business owners want to expand their market share and become a name people believe in. But what is Brand Awareness and how can you measure it?

Brand Awareness is the extend to which a brand is recognised by potential customers and is correctly associated with a particular product. For example, the blue and white BMW logo is easily associated with the car manufacturer and the cars in which they produce…this is brand awareness.

Gaining Brand Awareness is not an easy task, especially in a competative or saturated market. In recent work with a double glazing firm who wanted to gain brand awareness, I offered them two options - Spend a lot of money through multiple media channels or offer a USP - a unique selling point. Double glazing is extremely competative and the market is full of companies offering lower grade products in an attempt to capture the un-educated customer.

Stand out from the crowd with a USP

The company decided to go with option two, promoting their USP. Due to my employment contract, I cannot highlight what their USP was but I can touch on the current marketing strategy they have adopted. In short, we are heavily promoting their USP which should provide spin-off trade to other parts of their business. If I know my local pet shop sells the best dog food at the cheapest price, I’ll probably return their for a dog bowl, mat, lead and so on…the pet shop promotes their USP (selling the best but cheapest dog food) and gains trade from the spin-off custom (me buying the mat, lead, bowl etc)

If you have a USP that people believe in, use it to your advantage - remain unique and one step ahead. As James Caan’s father said, “Observe the masses and do the opposite“. In competative markets, if everyone was the same then customers wouldn’t know who to choose and generally go for the cheapest.

Going back to cars, the difference between a Mercedes CLK and a Fiat Punto is the quality, the finishing and the performance. Potential customers have been educated that a Mercedes will out-live a Fiat, retain a higher resell value and is far more reliable to name a few points.

Take Brand Awareness one step further and you’ll notice Ferrari have defined their USP as being performance. Some Ferrari models don’t have in-built cd players or massage chairs…but they are faster than every other car except rival performance manufacturers. Ferrari have defined their USP and concentrated on it - they don’t try to gain multiple market shares or build multiple models to suit every driver, they stick to what they’re good at.

Gaining Brand Awareness can be achieved in many ways, it is up to you to explore (or employ someone to!) avenues to gain entry to a market, target consumers within that market and achieve a market share. Here are three handy tips to get you started…

1. Define your vision - Who are you? What do you offer that people will want? Why will people chose you? Where do you want to be in 1, 3 and 5 years. Write down your mission, values and targets.

2. Build a brand - Don’t rush in blind, take your time. You have to crawl before you can walk. Start off with word-of-mouth, followed by local advertising. Complete each transaction with perfection from start to finish. Slowly but surely expand as more work comes in. Don’t be afraid to go looking for it, get your name out into the business world but do it with caution. Be ready for the challenges ahead and ensure you are always prepared.

Ensure small details are given the same importance as large issues. For example, your business logo has to be attractive without being complicated, creative without being off-putting and something you won’t get bored with in a few years.

3. Listen to your customers - Pay attention to all feedback given, as ultimately, every customer is a marketing tool. Word-of-Mouth advertising is the most effective way of gaining business as there is an element of trust - Would you consider a recommendation by your neighbour after viewing the good work that has been completed in her house or would you ignore it and find the first tradesman you can find?

It is easier to retain an existing customer than it is to attract a new one, so ensure your customers are happy without giving them everything for nothing. You are running a business but show compassion towards the product or service you offer. Trust is a major factor in gaining new business and building a reputable brand…your customers are the best people to market your reputation but they need to trust you first.

Good luck!

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Durex Condom Guerilla Marketing

Durex, the internationl condom manufacturer, assigned McCann-Erickson to promote their latest line of ribbed and knobbed textured condoms in guerilla-styled-ads. Using special paint that washes away, condom outlines were painted on sidewalk paving stones according to their pattern.

McCann Erickson did a fantastic job at raising awareness for Durex and literally painting the company in a fun and innnovative new light. Definately a winning job.

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