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Case study: The film, the brand and the message

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:31 +0000

By Simon Fuller. Movie media. Last week, we took a look at how comms strategy group Naked Comms had set up its own branded entertainment division to roll out engaging pieces like the film The Forest Guard, a documentary following the adventures of a bunch of Californian kids who have invented a device for the quick detection of forest fires
Well, Sony Europe green-lit the film and commissioned it. So we thought it only right to have a chat with Sony about the project, and about why brands in general are beginning to turn to moviemaking to get their messages over to consumers.
“[The Forest Guards film] was a piece of activity that was genuinely happening in the business,” says Emily Young, general manager of environmental comms at Sony Europe. “We thought that it was interesting from an internal communications perspective, and also it was embodying our message, so we thought, let’s document it.”
The film charts a genuine relationship in which Sony was involved – the company’s engineers work with the kids to transform their forest fire detection idea from prototype into working reality. But Sony doesn’t have a weighty presence.
“It was not heavily branded,” says Young. “Stories are things that engage people, rather than tell the same message over and over again. People don’t want to be shouted at. But stories can be discovered, learnt from, and [form] a testimony to the work [of the children and engineers involved].
“I think the reach [of the film] is a benefit. With a piece of advertising we don’t know how effective it has been, who has seen it and so on. We wanted a piece of content to use in lots of places, for example online, or that could be cut into small pieces and seen that way, or [that] you can watch as a whole thing. It was very flexible in that way as a piece.”
And with the likes of McDonalds cooking up its own branded film, Dreaming In Mono, could we see brands and films becoming something of a winning partnership going forward?
“Filmmaking is increasing as a movement, because we know the media landscape has changed, and people pay less attention to straightforward ads,” says Young. “Brands need to think of different ways [to engage consumers] – subjects that mean something to the audience. [They need to] find something that consumers are interested in already.”

Case study: The pop-up car shop

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:00:23 +0000

By Simon Fuller. Retail Cubed. Pop-up stores were a highlight of last year’s festive season, with big names like Red Bull and Marmite setting up shop in London. One brand that made a splash in the capital – and elsewhere in Europe – was Japan’s Nissan, seeing a neat opportunity to promote its Cube model – then on the verge of being released – via a Cube Store.
The shop, on Brick Lane, was a collaboration with cutting-edge Parisian concept store Collette, and featured a raft of work, 60 pieces to be precise, from Japanese designers. These included kitchenware from Tate Otama and Yuento’s Music Balloon, a rechargeable USB speaker – in the shape of a balloon – which plugs into the portable music device of your choice.
The inspiration for the Cube shop stemmed mainly from the nature of the Nissan Cube, itself something of a design novelty.
“The idea for a pop-up store came from the need to position the Cube in an environment that was outside of the normal mainstream automotive,” explains Mark Kinnard, category manager for Nissan city cars and the Cube. “It also allowed us to reach a new audience and convey more messages about the product and design. The items were selected by Collette on our behalf – they chose items that reflected the Cube’s Japanese roots.”
The Cube Store wasn’t limited to being just another retail space, however. It also played host to a variety of events during its lifespan, with the focus being on the creative, fashion and art sectors. One such event was Redesigning Life, a creative forum which saw some of the UK’s experts in sustainability and cultural innovation discussing the role of culture in a sustainable future.
So why did Cube so many pop-up stores spring up towards the end of last year? The economic climate, perhaps?
“There is a degree of truth in that,” says Kinnard. “But in reality, they are just more accessible due to the amount of vacant space available. It is more to do with a strategy than accessibility or cost. The store allowed us to be more flexible with our messaging and allowed people to interact with the brand in a different way.”
The Cube Store, along with its fellows in Paris and Berlin, was open until the end of December.

Case study: Harnessing the AR engine

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:30:44 +0000

By Simon Fuller. Augmented iPhone. More brands – and their fans – are set to get a piece of augmented reality action, thanks to a new AR engine from UK-based mobile tech outfit Yuza Mobile. SKAN – Private Label, for the iPhone, combines cutting-edge augmented reality with a content management system to enable brands to quickly get involved on the AR app scene. Though not at ridiculous prices.
“I think the benefit of SKAN is that it offers an affordable route into the AR space,” says Richard Skaife, CEO at Yuza. “It’s a way of unlocking access to info.”
What these apps can do really depends on the needs of the individual brand – and its consumers. For example, a hotel might want to put SKAN to good use by letting guests know just what attractions and offers are around in the local area, providing a handy service to their guests, and improving consumer relations in the process.
And music festival organisers might use it to give gig-goers directions around the festival site, or to allow them access to virtual message boards. And Yuza’s image recognition tech can take the experience further, enabling iPhone users to SKAN their new favourite bands and check out everything related to them on the Net.
Yuza says the SKAN engine is pretty flexible, with various modules available including the abovementioned image recognition, as well as features such as location tagging.
“It’s customisable, in terms of the features set, the icons, the menu – so hotel guests will have different apps from [consumers] at a festival,” explains Skaife. “For example at a festival, we’re integrated with iTunes music, so people can access [the music of a] band they’ve just seen direct from the icon. The user interface will differ on different partner’s platforms.
“[Brands may be] looking at it as a free app, or at the monetary value,” continues Skaife. “Festival organisers might use [an app] for its revenue potential, increasing the festival experience… in terms of info, [for example] directions, info that’ll make life easier for people at a festival. What’s fundamental is the unlocking of info. AR is about [that] extra level of information that can be given, and that’ll differ [from brand to brand].”

Case study: Zippo recaptures that concert moment

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:00:02 +0000

By Simon Fuller. App lighting. The Virtual Zippo Lighter mobile application recently hit the 5 million-download mark, a milestone the company claims makes the Lighter the most popular free, branded app to date.
Launched last year, in collaboration with mobile content outfit Moderati, the app was built to recapture those classic lighter-swaying moments at arena concerts, and the app makes the iPhone do everything a common-or-garden lighter could do – apart from provide you with real fire, of course. You flick the iPhone to open the Lighter, use the wheel to light up, and then move the handset around to control the flame. Hours of fun, no burnt fingertips.
“For the longest time, dating back to the arena rock era of the 1970s, people had raised their lighters as a tribute to their favourite band,” says Brent D. Tyler, manager of event marketing and promotions at Zippo. “It was a phenomenon coined the ‘Zippo moment’ by music critic Ann Powers. With the influx of cell phones at the turn of the century Zippo began to take a back seat to those devices. We saw the iPhone as a device that could help us recapture that phenomenon.”
Why has it been such a great success? Well, Zippo reckon there are a few basic elements to a fine branded iPhone app – and the Lighter ticks the right boxes.
“[People look for] an app that uses the technology inherent in the device,” explains Tyler. “The Virtual Zippo Lighter takes advantage of the accelerometer, microphone, qwerty keyboard, etc. Future iterations of the app will utilize even more of the device’s capabilities. An app should [also] be entertaining, informational, or provide a solution to a problem, [as well as be] something simple.
“We’ve seen significant increase in traffic both to our website and web store from Apple devices since the launch of the app,” adds Tyler. “Our success with the app has given us a case study status that has created fantastic PR value. [Finally], a halo effect of the app has also brought some attention to our other marketing endeavours like our Zippo Encore program and some of our social media efforts.”

Case study: Miele’s Inspirience experience

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:30:24 +0000

Marketing appliance. Miele has created an ‘Inspirience Centre’ in the Netherlands to showcase its high-end domestic appliances. Whether it’s cooking, washing, chilling, warming, baking experiences the consumer is after, it seems Vianen is the city to go to get them.
There’s more than 3000 square meters of Inspirience to tackle, and the centre contains a range of custom furniture, lighting, brand-enhancing visuals, signposting, info channels, sounds and scents ‘all collaborating in a centrally managed way’ to provide visitors with a ‘seamless total sense experience’.
Inspirience delivers more than 100 screens offering over 40 channels of Miele branded content – all in HD quality, of course. This programming runs either dynamically, or is controlled by the visitor.
And everyone is accompanied by an iPod Touch – stuffed with personal data – as guide, with the portable electronics offering all kinds of information about Miele products and services. Plus GPS plots visitors’ progress and is able to pin them down to the very last square metre.
And everything gets rather personal. ‘A decision engine” also analyzes the relationship between the visitor type and the area or product category they are in to refine the experience by adapting the media to suit their preferences,” says the brand. ‘So advanced is this process that at any point in the store, the system can adjust local lighting, aroma/scent dispersal, audio type and levels, and the digital content that appears on screens close to the customer, within a matter of a few seconds.”
“The Miele Inspirience Centre is so much more advanced in terms of its form and function than most existing implementations in retail that you could argue that one day, all retailers will embrace experiential digital marketing in some form in-store if it means we can make the experience more relevant and helpful for that customer,” says Oscar Elizaga, vp EMEA for Scala, the digital signage outfit working on the project.
Other Inspirience partners include House of Media Experience and Troades.

Case study: Rooftop Runner’s game play

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:12:17 +0000

By Simon Fuller. Run it. Gamers with a need for speed might get a kick out of advergame outfit Matmi’s latest offering, Rooftop Runner, which sees players ripping through cities at breakneck pace in aid of Cancer Research UK.
The charity tasked Matmi with encouraging participation in its Run 10K events – more than 40 of which are slated to take place around the country in the autumn – and the game gets players navigating their way past famous British landmarks to collect ‘donations’, all the while racing the clock in a bid to make it to the start of a race on time.
“What you’re trying to do [with a charity game] is to make people aware and make them think,” says Jeff Coghlan, md at Matmi. “It’s about raising awareness, getting people to click-through. The click-through rate [for Rooftop Runner] is 10% at the moment, so we’ll have to see how that goes.
“Ideally we want e-mail addresses, to get people to pass it on,” he adds. “So other people take part in the game but also in the run. So they think ‘I can do this’ and take part. What we want to do is to get everyone to feature the game, not just games sites, but to get ISPs to feature it, get it into the press, to spread it.”
Matmi hopes to further the appeal of Rooftop Runner by utilising a neat little piece of tech – dynamic content modules. Deployed before on the popular Lily Allen advergame, Escape the Fear, this feature allows the company to change the content within games. In the case of Rooftop Runner, this means being able to update billboards seen in the game with the dates and locations of upcoming Run 10K events.
Even with all this nifty technology though, is it tougher making a game for a charity client, over any other type of brand?
“It is difficult as we’ve got to be more careful with charity guidelines,” explains Coghlan. “[You’ve] got to think how people will perceive it. When they play the game, they see the charity.”
But Matmi, whose previous work includes titles for Comic Relief, is keen to make the platform more appealing. “[Entertainment is] massively useful to [charities],” says Coghlan. “In the future, we’d like to do games that have in-game ads, but are not advergames as such. We’d get other [brands] to pay for ads within the game, so the [brands] are paying for the game and not the charities. And the brands get their mention in the game.”

Case study: Walk personalized with the Walkman

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:30:03 +0000

By Simon Fuller. Tacking trio. When mobile phone giants Sony Ericsson and Vodafone UK wanted to promote the new W715 Walkman model, they opted for The Inside Tracks, an online destination offering London-based audio tours, as well as personalised maps from a trio of the music scene’s brightest young things.
The campaign is all about shining the spotlight on the W715’s Find & Go service, which hooks into the handset’s GPS capabilities. So, after downloading each tour, users can, for example, listen to singer Eliza Doolittle chat about her experiences of Camden, while walking the Camden Inside Track walk.
Also featured are Amy Studt and on-the-up singer-songwriter Zarif, both of whom are ready to share their London memories as well as point out all the hotspots.
“The idea was to bring the capital which is already renowned as [a] trend-setting, culturally rich music hub – to life with a youthful, unique experience,” says Richard Dorman, Sony Ericsson’s senior marketing manager for the UK & Ireland. “The Inside Tracks online site is about reinvigorating the traditional with something fresh and bold.”
With the brands involved hailing the campaign a success, will the series expand?
“We’ll continue to look at new and innovative ways to make our handsets stand out,” explains Dorman. “Will the audio tours be back? Yes, I think there is scope to re-use it, but we’d have to find a fresh angle to make it stand out.”
Sony Ericsson has an ear for music – and a good moniker. Not so long ago the company rolled out a online destination, The Inside Track, offering news, reviews and other musical goings-on in association with FHM among others.
This time, it’s all about the little details. Fancy finding out about the boutique which inspired Eliza Doolittle’s fashion sense, while learning about the latest phone gadget? You know which track to take.

Case study: Paddy Powers up players

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:00:55 +0000

By Simon Fuller. Bath time. Paddy Power turned to both social media and the nostalgia of football fans during a campaign to develop its new TV ad, Pass Me The Soap.
The UK bookmaker asked Facebook and Bebo users to pick which one of half a dozen footballers should feature in an ad showing him in the bath. There was no David Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo on offer. Instead, creative agency Karmarama featured memorable players from the near past. Peter Beardsley, Neville Southall and Bruce Grobelaar, among other old favourites, each had a Facebook page dedicated to them, and gained a vote every time a user became a ‘fan’.
“We didn’t use really famous footballers, but these footballers are more obscure, and more interesting,” says Josh Herdman, account director at Karmarama. “They are fringe players but people definitely remember them.”
And this nostalgia trip triggered an emotive response from social-media users, with Facebookers using each player’s page wall to voice memories and comments. Membership on each player’s page varied hugely though – Beardsley’s star still shone with 152 members, but Viv Anderson garnered a mere five fans.
Nostalgia is what made these particular footballers right for this kind of vote. “[These players] have an underground cult following,” Herdman says. “For example, Carlton Palmer was never that famous but is known for his World Cup performances. He’s more famous for being a bad player perhaps.”
For Karmarama, key was that the campaign combined entertainment along with an explanation of the advantages of betting with Paddy Power. “The way to help explain quite a difficult concept – concession betting – in a simpler way was to use these footballers in extraordinary situations,” explains Herdman.
The results of the vote, featuring the winning player, ex-England international and football pundit Carlton Palmer, were shown on TV and on the campaign’s minisite.