Every year, magazines announce new fad diets. And each time, the conclusion is the same…it does not work. To lose weight effectively and permanently, one must adopt a balanced diet, drink water and do regular exercise.
So Contrex a mineral water brand owned since 1992 by Nestle Waters, decided to create an ambient campaign that shows how losing weight can be fun…
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But if Volkswagen Canada has their say, beauty will be in the hands of the person who’s stealing it. At least that’s the idea behind their latest ambient meets social campaign for the new Volkswagen Jetta GLI.
Since the beginning of October, agency Red Urban has created a series of pop-up art galleries across major cities in Canada, that feature “Light Paintings” made by the movement of the Volkswagen Jetta.
While the frames in the exhibits have been hung for all to admire, they haven’t really been hung that securely, allowing more daring admirers to claim the artwork for themselves. The thieves were also being asked to share their stolen items via Tweets and Facebook posts. Volkswagen Canada’s Facebook page has already started receiving photos from fans decorating homes and offices with the eye-catching imagery…
Last month Ikea in Sydney, Australia ran a four-day trial of Manland. They created a dedicated area in the store which men with short retail attention spans could use to escape the pains of weekend shopping at Ikea. In simple words it was a day-care for husbands and boyfriends who wanted to take a break from the shopping. The store offered free hot dogs, Xbox consoles, pinball machines and nonstop sports action on TV. Ikea even gave a buzzer to remind girls to stop buy to pick-up their men!
As a result Manland got tons of international press coverage…
Carlsberg beer stands for tradition, quality, great taste…and making the right choices. To reinforce this in the minds of the people in Belgium, ad agency Duval Guillaume Modem proposed an experiment.
In Kinepolis a Belgian cinema, some innocent couples were made to sit amongst a theatre full of not so friendly bikers. Their reactions were recorded and made into the below viral video…
“Take action in your life and reALISe your dreams” was the intention when Albert Hatchwell and Isabelle Hammerich established ALIS in 1995. From 1995 until now ALIS has evolved from a small underground movement in Christiania (Denmark) to a company that creates opportunities and inspiration.
In a recent fun and well-thought of guerrilla marketing activity for their company in Denmark, ALIS has taken original Danish election posters and added a few new elements to them. The message at the end being “more skateboards on the agenda.” 😎
Check it out…
I was at the IAA 2011 this Saturday, and I got a glimpse of our automobile future! It was truly awe inspiring to see where the automobile industry is headed – almost all electric, fully computerized with interactive dashboards and window displays as seen in the below picture…
But while I looked at all the cars with amazement, I kept a close look out for innovative implementations of “todays” cutting edge technologies. I was curious to see how cars makers would use Touch Displays, Social Media, QR Codes, Augmented Reality etc to engage visitors at such a humongous event.
Here is a quick photo report of what I found interesting and innovative at the show…
The Volkswagen Blue Motion technology was presented through a huge “motion based” interactive display. The visitors did not need to touch the display, but just use various gestures to navigate through the various menu options.
Visitors were able to use the motion based interactive display to learn more about Renault Twingo – one could change the colors of the model, watch demo videos etc.
The main draw at the Hyundai stall was the “Dream of Sand” show by Svetlana Goncharenko and Natalya Netselya who created vivid pictures in realtime on sand (as seen above)! For a non Hyundai branded sand demo click here.
Hyundai was also one of the only car brands trying to connect their stall with Facebook. Consumers needed to “Like” their Facebook Page in order to be part of a lucky draw that would give them a chance to drive their Hyundai dream car. Important details like Fan Page URL and more contest infos were not available or just not easily accessible? 😕
Skoda was giving its visitors Augmented Reality Pins! The Junaio AR app needed to be used to scan the pin and activate the augmented reality. Most of the pins were gone by the time I got there. So I just scanned the above info card to see if I got some cool three dimensional messaging. But it turned out to be just 9 different regional videos.
At the Citroen Eco Drive simulator, visitors could take the car for a 3D test drive!
iPads were being used by majority of the car manufactures to interactively share model specifications, videos, brochures and also take automated enquires from high potential buyers.
Opel had used the Microsoft Surface technology to share infos on their cars. It was my first live experience with the surface technology. I found it to work exactly like the Apple touch interface, even though it was not as sensitive and smooth.
Ford just like Citroen and Volvo had also set up a car simulator at their stall (as seen above).
They also engaged the visitors with a small “collect the stamps” game. The game made the visitors goto each section of the Ford stall, correctly answer some easy questions related to the car / technology, collect the stamps and get nice Ford branded water bottles. Additionally visitors could play further and win 2 tickets for the UEFA Champions League Finals in 2012.
Visitors could scan the QR code on the floor to view a short Chevrolet Volt specs video.
The Volvo Open 70 Simulator, gave visitors a first hand experience of what all the Volvo Sailing team goes through when they go sailing in the ocean…
On taking the ride I could not help but slide steeply from left to right on the seat. There was also non stop wind blowing on my head with regular splashes of water! It gave a great 4D kind of experience to the whole thing.
Additionally visitors could also try to hoist a virtual sail! On my second attempt I managed to hoist the sail in 12.3 seconds. The current record was set at 9.03 seconds by one of the previous visitors…
I really enjoyed visiting the Mini Cooper stall. Their displays were just amazing! A beautiful Mini surrounded by a bright circular display was seen on entering the stall…
Mini’s in all colors were on display with various digital displays on the walls…
They were also showcasing their new iPhone app for their car which claimed to be the intelligent link between the driver and his Mini. This new Driving Excitement App had features that helped the driver perfect an even more sporty and precise driving style…
I also spotted Lancia, Fiat and Alfa Romeo promoting their iPhone apps via simple leaflets.
A nice souvenirs section also greeted visitors on the first floor of their stall.
In the end I got to drive my own Mini. 😉
The BMW stall was the biggest in terms of size and digital displays! Two of the most stunning concept cars from the whole of IAA could be seen here.
The car from the above photo has been used in the new hollywood blockbuster “Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol.”
Above is the BMW i3 Concept city car. At its stall I found an interactive telescope (seen below) through which I could watch various videos and product demos. To select a video I had to move the telescope around and point it at the desired video…
I spent 7 hours at IAA! It was totally awesome! The only car stalls I could not visit were that of the Mercedes and Audi…there were just way too many people crowding their stalls, and if I had waited, I would have missed at least half of all the other things I saw during my time there.
I look forward to the next Internationale Automobil Ausstellung in 2 years. Till then this is Sunil Bahl signing off from IAA 2011. 😎
Utility rates for heating and energy keep growing. In turn people in Russia waste huge amounts of money through windows that cause heat loss during the cold Russian winters. Rehau windows however prevents such heat loss and considerably saves expenses for heating. So ad agency Voskhod decided to demonstrate how people waste money, by literally throwing it out of their low-quality windows.
The promotion generated public excitement. More than 200 media channels covered the story, including the most popular TV channels, broadcasting stations, newspapers and web-sites. Throwing out 240,000 rubles (US$7000) got Rehau free media that reached over 40 million Russians and their message of “Heatonomy” spread all over the country.
The Buffer Busters are the new Ghost Busters from Vodafone Germany. The telecom giant has launched an augmented reality mobile application that transforms German cities into a video game arena!
Starting from the brief “Vodafone is the fastest mobile network in Germany”, ad agency North Kingdom Stockholm has created a digital story revolving around so-called Buffer Monsters that represent everything slow in our everyday surroundings.
Users who play the game have to capture these monsters by using their iPhone or Android smart phones. When 50 monsters have been captured, the user needs to visit a near by Vodafone Store to dump them and continue playing. The best Buffer Busters will win a lifetime plan from Vodafone! 😎
The TVC supporting the initiative is also very well done…
Publicis Israel and e-dologic are back with a new campaign for Prigat, a leading company in the Israeli fruit juice market.
This time they have used innovative digital billboards called “Smile Stations” to send real time messages at various train stations. The aim was to get passers by to smile, and like their message.
People walking by could approach the screen and press a physical “Like” button. This in turn would broadcast the video of the moment back to the user who sent it via the Prigat Facebook Page. Users who generated the most smiles won a prize.
There were over 10,000 messages sent to screens at train stations around Israel and thousands of people responded by hitting the like button…
The sales of Durex Taiwan were on the decline. To increase condom purchases they needed to remind their young audience of the risks of unprotected sex. This was effectively done in other markets via sampling. Given the cultural taboos in Taiwan, regular promoters in the streets were not being able to achieve the daily contact goals.
OgilvyAction was given the challenge to find a new and more effective way to get the Durex products into the consumers hands and start a conversation. The insight Ogilvy had was that all Taiwanese frequently consult fortune-tellers to know their fate in wealth, health and especially love. With a very limited budget they created an unbranded fortune-teller machine called “Xerud” and placed it in bars, nightclubs and karaoke bars.
“Xerud” handed out predictions related to one’s sexual life and relationships together with a sample condom based on the forecast and the product benefits. The sample pack also contained educational tips about safe sex.
On an average a street promoter hands out 23 samples an hour. “Xerud” handed out an average of 77!
