Marketing Strategies 93 | SunMatrix Ramble

Ben & Jerry’s #CaptureEuphoria: Instagram OOH

Ben & Jerry’s jumps onto the Instagram wave with a photo contest that challenges fans to capture their “euphoria” towards the brand. Winners from around the world are then featured in special Ben & Jerry’s advertising, including local print, bus station placements and billboards that appear near their homes.

The mechanic: a hashtag that turns into local visibility

The idea is straightforward. Fans post Instagram photos that represent “euphoria” and tag them with #captureeuphoria. Ben & Jerry’s curates a set of winners, then brings those images into the real world by placing them as local advertising close to where the photographer lives.

This is hyperlocal out-of-home (OOH) as a reward. Instead of giving people a generic prize, the campaign gives recognition that is geographically personal.

Recognition-based rewards are the better default when the goal is to deepen community, not just spike entries.

The real question is whether your reward shows up in the participant’s physical world, not just their feed.

In global FMCG marketing, the strongest social contests create an offline payoff that feels personal, not promotional.

Why it lands: recognition beats “stuff”

Most contests promise products, vouchers, or a one-time win. This one promises status. Your photo becomes the ad. Your community becomes the audience. That flips the usual relationship between brand and fan, and it makes participation feel less like a transaction and more like belonging.

Extractable takeaway: A social contest gets more powerful when the payoff is not only online. It is something the participant can physically encounter in their own neighborhood.

What Ben & Jerry’s reinforces by calling it “euphoria”

By anchoring the idea to a feeling rather than a product shot, the campaign invites more creative submissions and a wider interpretation of what “Ben & Jerry’s moments” look like. The brand gets a stream of fan-made images that reflect joy and personality, and the best of it becomes media.

What to steal for your next community-first contest

Reward participation with identity, not only incentives. Public recognition can outperform discounts when the brand has true fans.
Make the submission format native. A hashtag plus a photo is a low-friction action people already understand.
Close the loop in the real world. If you can turn online creation into offline visibility, the story becomes more memorable.
Keep the brief emotionally clear. “Capture euphoria” is an instruction people can interpret without overthinking.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Ben & Jerry’s #CaptureEuphoria?

It is an Instagram photo contest where fans post images tagged #captureeuphoria, and selected winners have their photos featured in local advertising near where they live.

Why is the offline ad placement the key twist?

Because it turns participation into public recognition. The reward is visible, personal, and rooted in the winner’s own community.

What makes this different from a standard user-generated content (UGC) contest?

Instead of only reposting winners online, it converts fan content into out-of-home and print media, which raises the perceived value of being selected.

What should a brand be careful about with hashtag-based submissions?

Moderation and curation. If the hashtag stream is unfiltered, off-brand or disruptive content can hijack the gallery effect.

How do you measure success for a contest like this?

Track volume and quality of submissions, unique participants, sentiment, earned reach from reposting, and the lift in brand engagement during the campaign window.

Ushuaïa: Update Facebook with Fingerprints

Last year in August I had written about how Ushuaïa Beach Hotel in Ibiza had become the world’s first hotel to use RFID-enabled wristbands to engage with its guests. Then in June 2012 they rolled out a biometric payment system that pushed the boundaries of cardless payments.

Guests who wished to use the new PayTouch system, a fingerprint-based payment setup linked to a registered credit card, were required to register their credit card details along with their biometric data of their right index and middle fingers with the hotel. After that, payments at all facilities at the destination were done by simply pressing the guest’s fingers against a fingerprint recognition device.

Now for 2013 the hotel is gearing up to replace its 2011 RFID-enabled wristbands with the above touch technology. Special touch screens are going to be installed around the hotel that provide guests access to their Facebook profiles by simply placing their fingers on a biometric sensor. However the updates on Facebook will be limited to a selection of automated actions like taking a photo, updating their current location and liking the hotel’s ongoing event.

In hospitality environments where guests move quickly and often, biometrics are attractive because they compress payment, access, and sharing into one repeatable gesture.

Ushuaïa Beach Hotel is truly setting an example for others in the hospitality industry by using technology to improve customer experience and spreading the word about their hotel.

Why this move is interesting

The value is not the sensor. It is the way a single biometric gesture can authenticate you repeatedly across payment and social touchpoints. Because the same biometric gesture can authenticate you repeatedly, paying and sharing become faster than switching cards, apps, and logins. The real question is whether guests experience this as convenience or as creepiness.

Extractable takeaway: If you connect identity to customer actions, keep the action set small, high-frequency, and reversible.

It removes friction in two high-frequency moments. Paying and sharing become quick, repeatable actions.
It turns identity into a service layer. Your fingerprint becomes the “key” across facilities and social touchpoints.
It keeps social posting controlled. Limiting updates to predefined actions reduces risk while still enabling sharing.

Guardrails to steal for biometric social

Biometric sharing should be strictly opt-in, narrowly scoped, and easy to switch off.

Make consent unmistakable. Explain what is collected, what it enables, and what happens when someone opts out.
Keep actions bounded. Predefined posts are safer than free-form posting when identity and social are connected.
Provide a simple off switch. Guests should be able to stop using the system instantly without losing access to the experience.

A few fast answers before you act

What is PayTouch at Ushuaïa Beach Hotel?

It is a biometric payment system where guests register a credit card and fingerprints, then pay on-site by pressing fingers against a recognition device.

How was the hotel planning to use fingerprints for Facebook in 2013?

By installing touch screens that let guests access their Facebook profiles via a biometric sensor and post only predefined actions such as photos, location updates, and likes.

Why replace RFID wristbands with fingerprint touch?

Fingerprint touch reduces the need to carry or manage a wearable token, and it can unify access and payments across the destination.

What is the main risk with this type of experience?

Trust and consent. The system needs transparent opt-in, clear limits on what gets posted, and an obvious way to disable participation.

What should a similar system include from day one?

Clear opt-in, tight limits on allowed actions, simple account disablement, and a straightforward way to stop using biometric identification without friction.

The Live Tile Experiment: Oslo Live Tiles

Microsoft has been heavily advertising the new Windows 8, Surface RT and Windows Phone 8 along with their respective features. In Norway, Microsoft partners with Norwegian electro rock band Datarock to bring the experience of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Live Tile functionality to unsuspecting residents of downtown Oslo. Live Tiles are interface elements that surface changing, real-time information before you click.

A giant lit-up “tile” appears on the street outside a seemingly closed-off venue. When a passer-by steps onto it, the wall drops and the hidden party spills into the street, with Datarock performing live. The result is an evening to remember.

What the stunt makes you understand about Live Tiles

Live Tiles are designed to feel active, not static. They are not just shortcuts to apps. They are meant to show “something is happening” before you even click. This activation dramatizes that promise by making the tile itself the trigger for real-world content. Because the tile is both preview and trigger, the promise of “something is happening” becomes instantly believable.

In European city-center launches, the most effective experiential stunts translate a UI idea into a single physical action people can trigger without instructions.

Why the surprise mechanic works

The build-up is visible. You hear music, you see a barrier, you notice something glowing at your feet. Curiosity does the recruiting. The moment of commitment is tiny, just stepping onto the tile, but the payoff is oversized, because the environment changes instantly around you.

Extractable takeaway: If you want people to understand a product behavior fast, design a tiny, obvious trigger that unlocks an outsized change in the environment.

What Microsoft is really selling here

Specs are not the message. The message is a feeling: Windows looks alive. By turning a UI element into a street-level “switch” that unleashes a live experience, the campaign makes the feature memorable even for people who never touch the product that night.

The real question is whether your feature can be felt through a simple trigger before it is explained.

This kind of launch is the right move when you want the feature’s behavior to become the story people repeat.

Trigger-based patterns for feature marketing

Convert the feature into a trigger. If the benefit is “real-time,” make the audience activate something in real time.
Make the payoff disproportionate. A small action should unlock a big reveal.
Stage it for bystanders too. The crowd reaction is part of the content.
Keep the story tellable. “I stepped on a tile and a concert exploded” is easy to repeat.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “The Live Tile Experiment”?

It is a street stunt in Oslo that turns the Live Tile concept into a physical trigger. Step on a giant tile and a hidden Datarock performance is revealed as the wall drops.

What product feature does it communicate?

Live Tiles, the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 interface element designed to display changing, real-time information and content.

Why use a concert reveal instead of a traditional demo?

A live reveal creates an emotional memory tied to the feature idea. It shows “alive and dynamic” faster than any explanation.

What makes the activation easy for the public to participate in?

The required action is obvious and low effort. People only need to step onto the tile to trigger the outcome.

What is the key lesson for feature launches?

Do not describe the benefit. Stage a moment that behaves like the benefit, so people feel it immediately.