Bus-shelter Advertising. BYO wetsuit...

These days its hard to sit at a bus shelter without seeing someone with headphones in their ears, taking a call or glued to their phone texting frantically in order to pass the time. The times when people talked and interacted at bus stops or train stations has gone and now people would prefer to look busy and avoid eye contact with other rather than enjoying a 5 minute break or have a chat with a fellow public transport user.

A few weeks ago in class Wags discussed the concept of Bus Shelter interactive marketing strategies. I thought the idea of the side of a bus shelter dispensing free fruit juices was brilliant so I had a further look into the idea of interactive marketing at tram, train and bus stops, and some of the results were truly inspired!

Here are a few engaging creative and innovative techniques used for bus shelter across the world.

Guarana Sports Drink, soccer net shelter in Brazil.

Virtual Oven to keep commuters toasty warm while they wait.

Everyone loves choice!

These innovative advertising strategies are genius! Rather than advertisers putting capital into mediocre print advertisements that end up vandalised with a black graffiti tag covering their main message, it is far more successful to execute an eye-catching and engaging marketing creation. These bus shelters may only be one-off developments however the media attention and social buzz that can occur from having even just one of these, can be far more successful than an average print advertisments plastered on the sides of countless bus shelters. Take the in-text photos for example, Teens take photos and upload them to Facebook, adults enjoy a nostaligic experience of kicking a soccer ball while trying to aim at the sports drink brand (reinforcement) and commuters may even change their regular route  to the oven bus shelter to keep warm in the colder months. All of these post experience actions reenforce the brand, the product and the image.

 The bus shelter I want to focus on for the purpose of E-Marketing is a highly interactive electronic marketing tool designed by 'Inwindow Outdoor', advertising the Monterey Bay Aquarium in San Francisco. This virtual fish tank is a transformed bus shelter that in fully decorated to simulate an underwater scene, including a fake kelp roof. It also allows people to virtually experience a 150 ft dive into an underwater world! Along the virtual dive they see different creatures an at the end of the descent a prompter asks you to pose for a photo which is then electronically sent as an underwater postcard to your email or Facebook. The results from this campaign were phenomenal with 32,000 unique interactions were recorded and over 43,000 people posed to have their photos taken. And the best part, only 13 bus shelters were used.

I would absolutely love to see more fun interactive marketing techniques like these around. I think they are a brilliant way to communicate the brands image and increase the likelihood of brand recognition.

Let me know if you have seen anything like this around, I would love to check out some more :)

Bob Dylan, 71 years young...

Bob Dylan, 35 studio albums and still full of surprises!

An influential music icon for over 50 years proves that he can still create a buzz. Bob Dylan’s thirty-fifth studio album, Tempest was released September 10 2012 however fans were able to have a sneak peek or listen to his new tracks. 

In 10 countries around the world, certain locations were marked on a map and released on a website named www.listentobobdylan.com. At these locations fans were able to stream the new tracks direct to their mobile devices using the smart phone app ‘SOUND GRAFFITI’. Only when fans are in the “Tempest-Tagged” geographic area, can they stream a random track as well as pre-order the full album. 

The Tempest locations around the globe are painted with an artistic street piece of his album cover (as featured below). The Tempest locations can be found in the US, Australia, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

This innovative sales technique may be a creative new way for artists to get their music out there. An engaging marketing idea may solve the issue of closing physical CD stores such as Sanity, as we have seen online music sharing, downloading and online music stores such as iTunes take over the music industry.

Although some may say that Bob Dylan’s fans are not part of the tech-savvy generation, he has found a means to reach out to younger fans in a ground-breaking new way. His first, self-titled album was released in 1962, and after 35 studio albums, 13 live albums, 58 singles and 13 compilation albums he still has music to share, and sharing he is.

Raising awareness, re-inventing his personal brand and continuing his music career, the 71 year old artist is far from laying his guitar to rest. He has proven that he still deserves the spotlight and I hope he is paying his marketing team well because this campaign is brilliant. 

I might have to go for a stroll in the city, because 289 Wellington St, Melbourne has his name on it, and I’m all ears.

Can anyone catch Coke?

Coca Cola, one of the greatest marketing firms of all time. Still holding the number one position as the most valuable brand in the world, valued at $77.9billion.

We saw the share a Coke campaign go viral in the supermarkets and online. If you couldn't find your name or a friends name on the shelf in Coles or Woolies, you could jump on Facebook and generate a virtual personalized can to share instead. The campaign saw a 7% increase in sales and roughly 18,300,000 mediaimpressions, making 2011 summer the most successful summer on record for Coke.

We eagerly anticipated what would be the next campaign for Coke, and it's here. The Share a Coke, Share a Song campaign is an interactive mix between drinking and singing. Each coke bottle now features labels with ayear from 1938-2012, (1938 was when Coke was introduced locally). The label also features a URL link or a QR code (that can be scanned using a smart phone) that links to 50 songs from that year, which you can stream and then share to your friends.  

In an age where music file sharing is so popular, why not jump on the bandwagon and do it with a Coke in your hand. To make this possible Coke have partnerd up with Music Sharing site, Spotify.

It will be interesting to see how this campaign performs against last years figures. Will people find it a hassle to get online and follow up or will it be another success story for the genius brand we call Coca Cola?

Justin Bieber - King of Social Media

Hey all,

Here is my informational video for E-Marketing.

I have used the example of  Justin Bieber to explain how brands can create and deliver value to consumers using Social Media.

Enjoy and let me know what you think :)

E-Shopping

We all know what online shopping is and no doubt the majority of us have purchased something online. Whether from ebay, asos or carsales.com, the way we shop is changing and it is becoming much more dominant and convenient to shop online.

However a new revolution in online shopping is almost here. What is called 'The 360 Mall'  is Australia's first virtual online shopping mall where a person is actually able to navigate through a virtual shopping mall to visit all their favourite stores using their mouse and keyboard. This cutting edge technology is quite remarkable and it will be facsinating to see how Australia reacts to it. 

On October 1st the online shopping mall will be unveiled to the public and without even leaving the comfort of our desk chairs we can be inside the shopping mall in just a couple of clicks.

In South Korea Virtual stores have already been a hit however they are not online. These stores are physically located around Seoul, the first virtual store being set up in the subway. These stores do not stock any physical product, they display life-size photos of the products and barcodes. Customers use an app in their smart phones to take a photo of the barcode and enter the details of when and where they would like it delivered. Brilliant idea for people who don't have much time for grocery shopping in their busy lives. The video below shows how the stores were created and the amazing results from this innovative idea.

This idea of virtual stores was a hit in South Korea, I wonder the impact that the 360 Mall will have on the Australian market.


Virtual shopping centers...Who knows what they will think of next?

E-Fitness

Who thought sitting on your computer, phone or tablet could inspire you to get fit and active? A whole new generation of fitness inspiration is here, E-Fitness. 

Sportswear brands like Lorna Jane or fitness instructors like Michelle Bridges are developing online fitness and health networks to create a motivating and inspirational place for individuals or groups to track their fitness and encourage many other likeminded indivudals as well.

The Lorna Jane free iPhone app allows users to use a gps tracking system when running, walking or cycling to track distance, speed, calories burned, total active time and pace. By reaching out to people through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the message sent through to consumers is Move, Nourish, Believe. 

This YouTube video is from the Lorna Jane website promoting their 'Now Move It' campaign.
@lornajaneactive

Michelle Bridges has a facebook site called ‘Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation’, which links to her website where you can sign up and make a payment for full meal plans workout plans etc. The facebook page however builds fan loyalty and increases users trust in her and her plans. She frequently posts recipes, inspirational quotes and motivating advice as well as keeping Australians up to date with fun runs, and activites, and all of this is on her Facebook. 

These health networks allow for individuals to post updates and photos of their progress and transformations to receive extra motivation from other network users and provide inspiration to others.

Instagram is another social media site that indivudals and companies are using to inspire and motivate others to get fit, active and healthy. 

Instagram currently has over 1 million photos posted with #fitness attached, 93,000 photos at #fitspiration over 1,3 million with #healthy attached and brands such as Lorna Jane, Nike, Puma and Asics are all using Instagram to connect with and inspire consumers.

So are these health networks targeting the wrong people or are they inspiring more Australians to get off the computer and get active? What do you think?

Nike E-Ambushing

Nike.

Where did the famous sportswear provider’s name originate from? Until a couple of days ago I along with half of Australia had no idea, until a broadcast of Sally Pearson’s medal ceremony at the Olympics on channel Nine. The camera zoomed in to have a good look at the shiny gold medal hanging from Sally’s neck and while discussing the design embossed on the medals the winning athletes were sporting they drew attention to the Greek Goddess featured on one side, who was it you ask? The Goddess Of Victory, Nike. While this was an interesting realisation for me I wondered how happy the people back at Adidas, the Official Olympic Sponsor, would be about the link of their major competitor to the most symbolic icon of the Olympic Games. 

Obviously Nike has a strong congruence with the Olympic Games just as their competitor Adidas does, but they saw no reason to fork out $60 million for a Sponsorship contract when there was a clear alternative, Ambush Marketing.

Cheaper, easy to articulate with the congruent nature of Sportswear and the Olympic Games, however Nike weren’t opting for the tacky option of bombarding viewers with commercial after commercial in the ad breaks of the Games broadcasting. No. They wanted to outwit their competitor, and do Ambush marketingwith class like a snide comment. 

So Nike launched a YouTube Ad highlighting the town, village or City of ‘London’ and the athletes who live there, however we’re not talking London, England. 

The clever ‘Find Your Greatness’ campaign highlights the average athlete, the one who isn’t a superstar or in a place with bright lights and people making speeches, but the athlete who can achieve Greatness in any place, in any country, anywhere around the world. With over 4 and a half million hits on YouTube, Nike has succeeded in a clever Ambush Marketing ploy to link themselves with The London 2012 Olympics. And the odd 1 or 2 athletes sporting Nikes doesn’t hurt either.