Category: Experiential

Generosity. Wikipedia defines it as “the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return [...]“

It is a desirable character trait in a person but you hardly come across generous brands. I think these times may be changing.   As social media and social business redefine how brands and its customers interact, we see more and more generosity from brands. Giving back to consumers and adding value to their lives is BIG in social business- in fact it is the key to a successful social business.

But what do brands gain exactly by being generous? Well, let’s have a look at this fine example of generosity (aka random act of kindness) from Denmark:

Anthon Berg, a chocolatier in Denmark recently opened a pop up store for one day only selling its chocolate. The twist: you can’t buy the chocolate with money. Customers could only get their hands on the delicious chocolate by promising a good deed to a loved one. Suggestions for good deeds were attached to all chocolate boxes and people could “buy” the chocolate by promising to serve breakfast to your loved one, don’t talk behind your friends back for a month, etc. Thousands visited the store that day and happily queued to get into this innovative pop up store.

Customers who “bought” chocolate recorded their keeping their promise on Facebook and also the recipient of the good deed was selected via Facebook. Customers later posted their loved ones fulfilling their promise on the Anthon Berg Facebook page and thanked the brand for the yummy chocolate.  This kept the buzz around the brand going for a long time after the store had shut.

So what’s in it for Anthon Berg? How does generosity pay off for a brand?  The pop up store generated a lot of buzz internationally with heaps of blogs picking up the campaign. From a PR perspective, it could not have been better. If you looked at some hard metrics such as brand awareness, brand sentiment as well as sales, I’m sure Anthon Berg saw some rather impressive results.

Trendwatching, the leading independent trend firm for consumer trends, agrees with brands’ generosity. It says that “for consumers long used to (and annoyed by) distant, inflexible and self-serving corporations, any acts of kindness by brands will be gratefully received. For brands, increasingly open communications both with and between consumers (especially online), means that it’s never been easier to surprise and delight audiences with R.A.K.: whether sending gifts, responding to publicly expressed moods or just showing that they care”.

So next time your customers needs you to be a bit generous, just do it. It can pay off big time!

P.S.: another generous brand is Red Balloon- watch the video to find out how generosity is part of the brand values:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXKMGjbjhoY&feature=youtu.be

Sources: http://www.psfk.com/2012/03/buy-chocolate-with-good-deeds.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cNfX3tJonw&feature=youtu.be

Yesterday I saw and appreciated this crochet wrapped around a tree in Greville Street. More enlightened people than me (thanks Steph) told me this is an example of yarn bombing.

My appreciation came from how the crochet made me re-evaluate an everyday object and reinforced a sense of an active local community in Greville Street.

Also yesterday the local council had a conniption and decided to ban all chalk street stencils plus threaten to fine shop/restaurant owners if they seek to beautify or ‘engage’ passersby. Reported

 in the Stonnington Leader  check out the comments. I think they are mildly disturbing….could they come from council  spokespeople?

That any attempt by a local community, such as Greville Street, which has built a draw-card reputation for being irreverent and eclectic should be penalised for the very reason that has attracted visitors and shoppers for years seems nonsensical.

As businesses increasingly strive to differentiate themselves and become more ‘social’ it occurs to me that local councils have a front foot responsibility to sensitively manage the very essence of neighbourhood communities. Stonnington Council might consider this.

One of the key challenges for businesses in becoming more social is that they are more often than not socially inept. This stems from never having the need to engage, add value, differentiate or just be different. As high street retail continues to be challenged so the need to give people a reason to get out and about to seek originality becomes more vital

One of the ‘neighbourhoods’ on the newly launched Chapel Street site is “Greville Village.” Part of the description says

Greville Village is returning to its heyday; truly coming alive during the golden hours of the afternoon. That’s not to say that a refreshing cider or glass of vino isn’t close at hand when the sun goes down. Though intimate in size, the area will see you effortlessly whiling away the hours. Amid a tight-knit hub of boutiques, cafes and bars is a place to wander.

“Returning to its heyday” is possibly ambitious as the Station Hotel soon closes to become more essential units and of course the lifeblood of individualism potentially attracts a fine.

Once upon a time Greville Street even had a Sunday market.

By the way the yarn bomb has yet to be fined.  Check out this guy out too. He plants pot plants in pot holes.

I wonder how the council would cope if random acts of character were to appear?

IKEA is marketing in full force and doing a great job at involving its brand advocates in its campaigns.

Just recently a UK store held a fun sleepover for 100 brand advocates found on Facebook.

Meanwhile in Paris, IKEA created 54 square metres of livable furnished space and had five people (also recruited from the Facebook fan page) crash there for 6 days.

From January 9th to the 14th, frequenters of the Auber metro station in Paris were given a glimpse into the daily routines of five fellow Parisians who actually lived in the little pop-up apartment. Passers-by were able to get a good look at how small spaces could be transformed and comfortably lived in with IKEA furniture – the occupants made dinners, had a party, did Zumba… Just the novelty (and maybe the voyeuristic thrill, too?) was enough to attract onlookers. Could there be a better live product demonstration?

This campaign is not only effective in attracting attention and interest in products, but it also rewards the brand lovers with a unique experience and connects them with others in the brand community. The question is – is it too creepy?

This isn’t the first time IKEA’s done something unusual in public spaces, although involving people does attract more attention and interest:

IKEA park bench – real park bench was decorated with IKEA products

IKEA apartment in a box – campaign for the opening of IKEA Brooklyn

IKEA train – Kobe Monorail train in Japan was converted into a moving IKEA showroom

Starbucks U.S is launching its first major augmented reality app leading up to Christmas that will allow customers to animate their coffee cups with their smartphones!

The app will work by pointing your phone’s camera at the special cups and 47 additional objects, such as bags of coffee, on display at Starbucks retail locations.

Doing so will produce animations involving five characters and it also allows you to interact with the characters.

The app also includes traditional and social sharing capabilities

Sunday saw Melbourne’s first ‘The Sunday Age City2Sea’ 14km running event. 13,000 registrants showed at the NGV for kick-off at 9am. With a prompt start, we were off…

Okay so I didn’t quite keep up with the female leader (who managed to finish in 49:56mins) and a few pit stops were needed, but an 1 ½ later I was done! Conditions was near perfect and the best part for me was the post run festivities…

Movember were the main beneficiaries and was great to join their MO Tent afterwards for some nourishing food and beverages.

Congrats to those who participated and thanks to those who have donated towards the Movember cause.

Well this is definitely a unique one! Who would have ever thought a smartphone app could be the answer to those who are out and about and ‘desperate’ for a bathroom. Soon this will be made possible in the U.S via ‘CLOO’ (Community + Loo) which will connect those in urgent need of a toilet with those in the community that are willing to share one!

CLOO is a community of registered host members who are willing to share their bathrooms in exchange for a small fee. After downloading the CLOO app, those in need of a bathroom will be able to use it to see the registered hosts nearby. Along with basic details, the app will also indicate whether those hosts share any social networking friends in common with the user, as well as the host’s community rating and the price of their toilet. Users can then send a request to see if the host is home; if they are, the user is then invited to use the host’s toilet and payment is deposited into the host’s account. Afterwards, ratings for each party can be submitted through CLOO.

Not sure if this is something I would partake in, but heck when you gotta go you gotta go!

Technology is really helping brands to run chills down their customers’ spines by opening up the possibilities to new forms of product showcasing by delivering big on the wow factor. It’s getting harder and harder for brands to stand out and brands need to go the extra mile to get noticed and build buzz. Here are some examples that might just blow you away:

Nike Jordan Melo M8

Last week, the Jordan Brand officially inaugurated the Jordan Melo M8 in New York City with its Flight Event at Pier 54 by the Hudson River. Attendees were treated to one of the coolest advertisements ever for a sneaker – in the form of a holographic video displayed on water and amazing 3D projection mapping onto the background buildings.

Burberry Beijing

In Burberry’s Beijing catwalk, 3D holograms and real models are mixed together = only six of them are real! Can you find them?
It’s great to see a clothing brand show turn runways into more than just models strutting down the stage, but a piece of performance art, almost. Adding this innovative element of performance helps strengthen the idea of their clothes as art.

Adidas France

3D projection mapping has been around for a while, but the scale of this project by Adidas and the intensity of the images are rather impressive. The campaign is called “Adidas is all in” and was launched earlier this year in Marseille, France.

Samsung

Samsung uses intricate 3D projection mapping to draw attention to the feature of its – you guessed it – 3D TVs.

The Tourist

This building projectio was to promote the movie “The Tourist” starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. The Joule Hotel in downtown Dallas hosted a party with this 3D architectural mapping projection art show.

Today’s business climate is harsh and businesses have to find new and unique ways to attract and retain customers. It is the only way to ensure survival and growth in times where globalisation, financial crisis, more customers, heavy competition, new technologies and distribution methods push many businesses to its limits.

The customer of today is a lot more sophisticated with higher expectations than ever before. In its quest for better products and services for less money, today’s customer creates a very competitive business environment which forces businesses to operate different.

Some business rise to the challenge and come up with the most unique, quirky, helpful and innovative ways to provide a competitive edge. Check this out:

Flash mob on demand at the Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort in Florida

via PSFK

Ever wanted a flash mob for your birthday celebration or to help you propose? Well just head to Florida’s Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort and they can help you arrange a flash mob for any occasion. The service is described as “the gift for someone who has everything” and also comes with a video which captures the surprise moment and the flash mob.

I think it is a really cool idea and I would love to get a flash mob for my next birthday. Fingers crossed this service will also hit the Australian shores soon… (via PSFK)

via brandflakesforbreakfast.com

Another brand offering a bit more than the competition is outdoor gear and clothing brand Patagonia. The company has teamed up with eBay to create a used Patagonia clothing marketplace called Common Threads Initiative.  Under the motto “buy less buy quality”  Patagonia encourages its customers to buy less and to recycle its clothes by selling them via eBay to customers who otherwise cannot afford the clothes.

via http://www.aurorafashions.com/

 

 

Ikea: Go happy to bed app

 

via PSFK

Ikea has developed an interactive app which allows you to log in with your Facebook account. The app takes data from Facebook, asks about your living situation and then customizes a bespoke 3D bedroom fitted with clickable IKEA items. Each bedroom design is personal and tailored to the smallest details, such a s photos from the user’s Facebook album hanging on the walls or in frames. (via PSFK)

 

 

Tesco’s virtual store in Korea’s subway

Tesco has put QR codes to clever use in its virtual store in Korea on the outside of subway trains. It helps time poor customers order the items they need on the fly by simply taking a photo of the QR code of the item. It certainly helps avoid the crowded stores and also Tesco did not need to buy an expensive brick and mortar store (via http://adsoftheworld.com)

 

via ads of the world

 

Traditional advertising is becoming more and more fragmented and expensive and many brands are wondering if it is all still worth it. More money is therefore spent on experiential and social campaigns that do not go on about how great a product is but instead tell a story or are just funny. The campaigns sit (mainly) online instead of TV or radio to save money to put into engaging content. More money is spent to produce quality content rather than 30sec advertising messages. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying go without traditional media. Just be inspired by the following examples to maybe cut down on traditional media and do something different for a change. Check out the following examples I’ve come across this week and let me know what you think:

Carlsberg

Beer adverts usually are not very original and feature cold beer, sports and hot chicks but this Carlsberg guerilla campaign is original and funny. It has had so far 1.6m views on YouTube alone and is a massive success for Carlsberg.

Audi

Audi has launched a series of 2 minute mini TV action dramas called “Untitled Jersey City Project” to launch the new Audi A6 Sedan. Each episode will get the viewer closer to solving the puzzle and understand the story line. It is a bit like 24 but with a hotter main character and car. More info here.

Mini

Mini is sending its new Coupe on a road trip to launch it in line with its “Another Day, another Adventure” motto. The adventure is also documented online and upon completion will be featured in the Matter magazine. More info here.

If you think about your next outdoor campaign, have a look at these three awesome outdoor executions:

PANASONIC: Nose hair trimmer billboard

Source: www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com

THE BEACH: Movie to promote clean beaches

Another great execution is the “One Beach” movie billboard which is made up of rubbish collected at the beach:

Find out more about this movie here.

WARNER BROTHERS: Movie Contagion

And another movie outdoor execution that has attracted quite a bit of interest is for Contagion. The creative heads here have infested a billboard with fungi and bacteria to spell the word “Contagion”. Seriously creative and gross at the same time. What do you think?

OK Go has always made incredibly entertaining videos that you just want to watch over and over again, before you demand that your friends see it too. Their last video for This Too Shall Pass in 2010 reached 3 million views in its first few days, generating over 30 million views so far. Now, the highly imaginative group have teamed up with Google to create an interactive HTML 5 music video for All Is Not Lost –  experience it here or watch it on YouTube (non-interactive):

Not only is it a spectacular video, but in the HTML 5 version, viewers are able to add a phrase into the video and thus choreograph a dance for a bunch of men in tight spandex suits – something everyone needs to see at least once in their lifetime. You can imagine how interactivity and engagement is a huge help for spreading word of mouth and creating an element of novelty or surprise – something that lots of brands lack these days.

You might not have known about it (I didn’t know about it until recently!) but all these possibilities in creating amazing, interactive online experiences are largely due to the implementation of HTML 5 programming. HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Langue is the most widely used code for the web. Would you believe that it has been nearly 20 years since HTML started defining how we saw and used the web? It has just been given its fifth revision, HTML 5. HTML 5 is an attempt to meet the needs for rich, dynamic and interactive multimedia content. It enables new models of web experience, allowing developers to directly embed audio and video in web pages, replacing (costly) Adobe’s Flash plugin and allowing for a greater range of differentiation in website and advertising. HTML 5 is cheaper to implement than Flash and thus allows for differentiation limited only by one’s imagination.

Many companies that deliver content and services on the web are strongly supporting HTML 5 and touting it as the way froward for building interactive web applications and deploying media rich experiences. Video, in particular, is becoming increasingly popular on the web for demonstrating ideas, products, and for creating share-ability.

All the Internet browsers are readying themselves for  the future of online media consumption which will be HTML 5. Safari and Chrome are further down the path than the others, but everyone is trying to get themselves HTML 5 ready. The future of the web experience lies in interactivity, immersion and engagement. We have some way to go before HTML 5 becomes ubiquitous but in the meantime, there’s lots to look forward about!

This is what happens when you head off to Bali for a week and leave your plant in the hands of your FRANk colleagues – Sorry Leanne!

However, help may be at hand thanks to a recent campaign initiative from Madrid. A shopping centre there has proven they understand “serving is the new selling” with their free full-board hotel service for plants, providing love and attention while owners are on holiday.

Across July & August, travellers who are concerned about the welfare of their plants can take them to Hotel Para Plantas, a designated floor at Isla Azul where they will be looked after by a team of professional botanists. All “guests” are given personal treatments tailored to suit their needs, including water, light, pruning, spraying and irrigation. There are even security cameras so customers can rest assured their pots aren’t neglected, and audio downloads available that stimulate plant growth and deter pests.

The campaign itself aims to drive more visitors to the shopping centre by responding to a real problem, building a customer database, and creating positive PR and a service with longevity after the campaign ends. There is also an incentive to win EUR 500 worth of vouchers when shoppers register their details.

Hotel Para Plantas is a creative, but functional solution that ticks all the boxes when it comes to building trust with consumers. How could you better serve your customers’ needs and keep them coming back for more?

You’ll be pleased to know that not all was lost with Leanne’s plant, with 24 hours of intense watering and plenty of sunlight prior to her return it was resurrected and is now thriving!