2013 Trends – Consumer :: Media :: Technology

2013 Trends :: Consumer : Media : Technology from Savannah Strategies

AdZookie: Paint My House!

I was intrigued by AdZookie‘s marketing idea, promoting themselves with unique spectacular billboards … and reaching out to their small business target at the same time. Says AdZookie: “We’re looking for houses to paint. In fact, paint is an understatement. We’re looking for homes to turn into billboards.”

It definitely speaks to the times that the incentive is mortgage repayment …

Here’s their blurb: “Adzookie is a FREE mobile advertising network. If you have a website and want to increase your visibilty we can help. We place free advertisements for your business where ads get noticed the most … on smartphones.”

Their website is here.

Related articles

• Are You Brave Enough To Have The Exterior OF Brooklyn New York Home Turned Into A Billboard While Having Your Mortgage Paid During The Time The House Is Painted In Bold Ad Colors? (cadogan1.wordpress.com)
• In exchange for mortgage payments, consumers’ homes painted with ads (springwise.com)
• Mortgage Troubles? Try a House Billboard (blogs.wsj.com)
• Turn your house into a billboard, get free mortgage (money.cnn.com)
• Would you turn your home into a billboard for a free mortgage? (sfgate.com)
• Looking for someone to pay your mortgage? (findwell.com)
• Life Inc.: A colorful way to avoid foreclosure (lifeinc.today.com)
• Would you turn your house into a billboard to live mortgage free? (thenextweb.com)
• Questionable Marketing in the Age of Desperation (blogs.forbes.com)

Experiential: The National Pop Up

The National pops up …
In-demand indie band the National helped build buzz for the release of their fifth album, High Violet, by taking a page from the pop-up retail playbook (WSJ.com 5.8.10). For five nights starting the day of their new album’s release, the Brooklyn band and various artsy pals took over a previously vacant storefront on East Fourth Street, redubbing it the High Violet Annex. The 150-person capacity space was transformed into a free-flowing event featuring rotating live music performances, art exhibits and movie screenings. Details of just what was going down in the space on any given night were purposely kept scarce to maximize the need-to-be-there factor and build up word-of-mouth buzz.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The National and Other Music present the High Violet Annex in May (timeoutny.com)
• The National: High Violet, CD review (telegraph.co.uk)
• High Violet by the National | CD review (guardian.co.uk)
• This was the worst week for album sales since 1991. Is this why indie bands ‘chart’ in the top 10? (altreport.hipsterrunoff.com)
• Phillyist Playlist Giveaway: The National at Factory (phillyist.com)
• The National: High Violet Out 5/11 (jambase.com)
• CD Review: The National, “High Violet” (popdose.com)
• The National Preview New Songs in Brooklyn (idiomag.com)
• The National’s High Violet Annex opens this week (here is part of the schedule) (brooklynvegan.com)
• New York Times Streams Full-Length Album: The National’s “High Violet” (mashable.com)

Marketing: SoBe Ditches Creative Agency, Nissan Goes Experiential

SoBe Ditches Creative Agency in New Marketing Approach

The PepsiCo brand SoBe is developing a marketing strategy with digital agency Firstborn, public-relations firm Weber Shandwick and promotional group TracyLocke. “We’re not tied to the old methods,” said a brand official, noting that no creative agencies were considered as SoBe looks to content rather than advertising.PepsiCo-owned brand had been working with Arnell Group to produce TV spots that ran during the 2009 Super Bowl and last spring, but while the ads generated “a ton of awareness,” the company said they didn’t deliver the engagement the brand was looking for. “The passionate fans weren’t saying the things we thought they should be saying,” said Angelique Krembs, director-marketing for SoBe. “Going forward we needed to get to engagement. That’s why we evolved our approach.”

Nissan shifts marketing budget to experiential projects
Japanese car manufacturer Nissan is shifting its communications strategy away from traditional advertising, towards a greater emphasis on experiential marketing. It follows the marque’s decision to become the official automotive partner of The O2, replacing BMW, and the announcement that it is to set up an interactive brand centre at the East London venue.

Charmin – Enjoy The Go

Charmin “Enjoy The Go” … are they taking the piss? Charmin are building their customary toilets in Times Square, and adding a Social Media spin. They are seeking staff to “Greet and entertain bathroom guests then blog about the experience. All candidates must really, really enjoy going to the bathroom”. Christ!

Do I detect the hand of Ryan at Gigunda in all this?

Retail: Odin

It’s been a busy season for the guys at Odin: a new collection of colognes, a collaborative line with Duckie Brown, and a little retail-space musical chairs. The new West Village shop is now open in Oliver Spencer’s old Greenwich Street digs (and Spencer’s up and running on East 11th Street). Here’s a peek inside: From the look of it, grabbing brunch at the neighboring Spotted Pig just got a lot more dangerous for your bottom line.

Experiential: PARK(ing) Day, McDonalds Coffee

PARK(ing) Day 2009

Originally created by Rebar, San Francisco art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks. Anyone can participate in PARK(ing) Day, though it is strictly a non-commercial project, intended to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play.

Pouring one giant cup of morning joe

Some people (notably my sartorially-challenged chum Piers, and internet planning luminary Russell Davies) are not fans of what thery refer to as Urban Spam. I on the other hand have a soft spot for these special builds. The stream of coffee on this piece of “ambient” media is actually a curved lamppost. The faux carafe is attached to the top of the post, around the light, and the cup, brown with the signature yellow McDonald’s “M,” is wrapped around the bottom. “For two weeks they were giving away free coffee. Our job was to say it in a big way with ads that got noticed, encouraging people to grab a cup,” says Bryan Collins, vice president and creative director at Cossette, the Vancouver-based agency that came up with the idea. The agency wanted to target morning commuters on trains, in cars and on the street with an alternative element that would also showcase McDonald’s new cup design.

Pop Ups: Jack Spade in L.A., Prada in Paris, Anna Sui at Target

I think experiential marketing can be particularly effective for the right situation, and now I read about a Jack Spade Pop Up in LA:

“The hardworking brand’s latest pop-up is now open in L.A.’s Apartment Number 9, where it is offering a full range of accessories and making the West Coast debut of its first apparel collection. A wide range of contributors and collaborators from secondhand hounds like Reference Library’s Andy Beach and our buddy (and Spade alum) Mister Mort to comedienne Phyllis Diller have curated a selection of vintage goods, including, in the spirit of fun, comedy albums and Halloween costumes. Spade stays in residence until, appropriately enough, October 31. Jack Spade at Apartment Number 9, 9877 Little Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.”

Well done to Matt and the team!

Finally, Parisian Pop Ups

This summer, however, Pop Ups popped up in Paris, something of shock in a traditionalist culture like France, with openings by Maria Cornejo and Uniqlo, though the store of the moment was very much Prada’s remarkable “Brief Boutique”. Inspired by Pont Mirabeau, the store’s huge photo facade features the same charming rusty green arches of the 1893 steel bridge on the Seine. Its entrance door is flanked by a photomontage of two of Mirabeau’s key statues – Le Commerce and Abundance, by sculptor Jean-Antonin Injalbert. The brainchild of architect Roberto Baciocchi, the store will close late December, when Prada’s Left Bank flagship, also by Baciocchi, reopens after renovation. Prada also opened a one-week version last year for Art Basel and created London’s coolest temporary nightclub, The Double Club, a restaurant-bar-dance-floor, created by the Italian label’s special events maestro Jan Kennedy, where 75,000 hipsters came to dine in just six months.

Anna Sui x Target Pop-Up Shop

Amid all the complete and utter chaos that was yesterday’s Fashion’s Night Out, Anna Sui’s pop-up shop for Target (featuring designs inspired by characters on Gossip Girl) might have faded into the background of all the fashion Bacchanalia. However, there was no sign of that as people waited in line throughout the day for a glimpse of what can only be described as a goth meets Alice In Wonderland themed girl’s boudoir.

Related: Prada’s new temporary store inspired by poetry (telegraph.co.uk)

Event Marketing: Big Bank Stealth

Big Banks Corporate Event Stealth Spending
During the U.S. Open golf tournament at Bethpage Black, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley all brought clients to the Heritage Club, an exclusive corporate hospitality center. Hundreds of thousands of dollars (presumably originally Govermnent/ Public money) were spent on tables but those responsible could not be identified, logos on tote bags and polos were no more. According to The New York Times the gatherings are sometimes so well disguised that even the event planners might not know whose event they are working on.

Experiential: Sony Fashion Week

Sony Uses Fashion Week to Promote P-series PC
Watch out for texting mannequins later this week at Grand Central Station. In a bid to show off its stylish side in the run-up to Fashion Week, Sony wlll position well-outfitted “live mannequins” on New York streets accessorized by its sleek, colorful and tiny Vaio P-series computer. “It’s an innovative product that really deserves to go to market in an innovative way,” said Alberto Escobedo, director-brand messaging, Sony Electronics. The P-series “lifestyle notebook,” which made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, is a diminutive 10 inches by 5 inches and weighs 1.4 pounds.