Marketing

TikTok has given a name to people who are friendly on the outside but feel like outsiders on the inside. Otroverts. This article looks at what that label really describes, how it fits with existing models of personality and values, and why it matters for brands, spaces and workplaces.

Its been known for a long time that too many choices can have a negative impact on sales. A study done at Columbia University in 2000 showed people confronted with 24 gourmet jam jars vs 6 showed that whilst the larger selection increased the likelihood of people stopping and looking, it reduced purchasing. In that […]

I love creative use of alternative media and this example from Germany takes the cake this month. A German book publisher Eichborn attached small ultra-light advertising banners to 200 flies using wax. The banners fell off after a few hours so no harm to the flies except of course that it made them easier targets […]

Uniqlo’s same-store sales in October were up 35.7% over last year in Japan, following falling temperatures, the launch of the +J collection and other promotional campaigns. The number of customers in these stores rose 24.6%. Total sales increased 47.7% compounded by new store openings. The +J range has proven extremely successful for the brand who […]

Another similar concept to Planeshop (although not in airports) has opened in Holland and have plans to spread. BrandNew Stores are basically creating a chain store concept around pop-up retail, taking permanent stores in premium locations and then allowing brands to temporarily present themselves within this space. Their immediate plans involve expansion to Groningen, Den […]

I might like alternative media and applaud creative marketing concepts but I think this one goes a little too far perhaps. Right Guard developed a campaign using “Pitvertisers” who wore shirts with small video screens in their armpits.  When they lift their arm to expose their armpits it plays an advertising message about deoderant.  These […]

Its good to see a brand take a marketing campaign so thoroughly into its store presentation. Diesel recently launch its “Extreme Weather” campaign and quite literally subjected its Carnaby St Store to the concept, almost destroying it.  Some say it looks just awful – personally, it makes you stop and look and isn’t that a […]

British Caledonian Airlines were around in the 70’s & 80’s. Originally the Scottish charter airline Caledonian airlines, at the time Britain’s second largest, wholly privately owned airline, took over British United Airways, at the time the largest independent British airline.  The takeover enabled Caledonian to become a scheduled airline and with time the merged entity […]

Its a problem in regional areas and also in small airports, convenience stores aren’t cheap to run and in many locations convenience can’t be achieved cost effectively because of small volumes. In these markets small farmers get caught in a catch 22 – do they sell to the supermarkets with low returns or do they […]

The much awaited 46 storey, 400 room Trump SOHO is due to open somewhere around the end of the year. There is no “official date” though they are accepting bookings from Feb 2010 with prices starting at USD389.  They’ve also launched their countdown marketing campaign being led by Ivanka Trump and her twitter account (@IvankaTrump)- […]

The 2007 incarnation of Tourism New Zealand’s marketing Firstly the launch video Then the commercial shown in Australia

The Tourism Victoria jigsaw campaign “you’ll love every part of Victoria” really became the tourism campaign against which most tourism bodies in Australia measured themselves.  It was an amazingly subtle and beautifully crafted strategy and ad campaign which still continues conceptually today.  The campaign itself started in 1993 and the adverts & logo were created […]

“Harmony Between Man, Nature and Machine” is the Prius promise – something we’ve all heard before but rarely has it been better executed than in Prius’s new marketing campaign. Basically the premise is that this machine (ie the new Prius) enables you to get what you want in a car whilst enabling nature to get […]

Holiday Inn this month “launched” their brand “relaunch” which involves refreshing over 3,200 hotels by the end of 2010, new brand standards, touchpoints and of course a new logo & ads. Whilst Holiday Inn perhaps hasn’t grown as fast as other IHG brands in the last few years, there are over 1,000 Holiday Inn & […]

There are many uses for people tracking in retail areas, from simple people counting to determining customer flow, dwell time etc. This weekend at a rock festival in Brussels, bluetooth technology is being used to observe the movement of tens of thousands of festival goers. They have set up 36 bluetooth scanners across the site […]

JetBlue showed again its brand integrity, spending money on what matters to customers & saving it on what doesn’t. This week it decided to promote its first flight into Los Angeles International Airport by packing YouTube celebrities in the plane to document the ride. Basically the strategy was simply – give away tickets to a […]

The Singpore Agency for Science & Technology & Research has developed new technology that can identify the gender of a person. The technology uses complex algorithms to differentiate facial features of males & females. So what, I hear you say … well consider the application for marketing & for retail. What if you could change […]

Carspaze have created a new advertising platform for car park walls. It uses relatively new (dev 3 years ago) technology which allows high quality images to be printed onto specially developed fire retardant materials. Using these “posters” areas of the carpark can be strongly branded. The posters can run around 20 car spaces wide and […]

Everybody knows how much I love vending machines, particularly for airports and hotels. They take up very little space, have little or no staff costs, can delivery huge entertainment value and very importantly can deal with the peaks & troughs in airport or hotel traffic. So here are some new vending machine ideas I’ve seen […]

A few months ago, Oakland Mall in Michegan announced they would be offering small startups & minipreneurs access to low cost/no cost kiosks as a way of creating a sense of excitement in the mall. The 12 72ft square kiosks are provided for the tenant and include display cases, counters & shelves. All the tenant […]

Travel is down, we all know that, and few are being impacted as much as the cruise lines. Everyone is trying to come up with interesting & compelling new promotional ideas to get bookings. None however are quite as bizarre as TUI Cruises in Germany who is offering a refund to brides who become pregnant […]

Only in China would Barbie become a mixture of high end luxury fashion & a lifestyle concept. For most of us, Barbie is something we believe we leave behind in childhood however the reality is that those Barbie Doll fantasies continue with us. Anyone who has been around a bride, particularly those from less affluent […]

Whilst most airlines are increasing charges for overweight people, bags, pets and anything else they can think of, JetBlue is taking the opposite tack and incentivising people to bring their pets on holidays. JetBlue’s new JetPaw’s programme gives passengers an extra two TrueBlue points each way if you bring your four-legged friend with you.  You’ll […]

The newspaper industry has for many years said that newspapers are an effective advertising medium. Now, for the first time, the industry has the quantitative evidence to prove it. The Newspaper Works today launched a new advertising effectiveness metric designed specifically for the unique attributes of newspapers and to measure the impact of advertising in […]

Cultural experiences, good customer service and exotic destinations key factors in helping determine extra spending March 26, 2009, Singapore – Experiencing other cultures or receiving quality customer service are high on travelers’ lists when on holiday and they are willing to pay extra for it according to the Visa and the Pacific Asia Travel Association […]

Fitness First wanted to drive membership in the Netherlands to its gym chain. They picked winter/spring when people were looking to lose some weight in time for summer (though not sure bikini’s are that big in Rotterdam). Anyway what they did was target people at the bus stops while they were waiting to catch a […]

Blending social media with viral marketing, JetBlue’s new campaign is another in a long line of triumphs. Why? The subject matter is topical and the timing is brilliant.  That not only increases how often its spread but importantly how often its used in blogs online Humor – it always works but when times are tough, […]

Word of Mouth campaigns are becoming increasingly common for many reasons. Consumers are becoming more distrustful of advertisers, marketing budgets are tightening, and the internet (and hence the capacity to run more structured word of mouth campaigns) continues to spread. At the same time, advertisers are increasingly requiring their campaigns to deliver measurable ROIs – […]

Sharp has unveiled a stunning 26-foot-tall Christmas tree made of 43 Aquos LCD televisions in New York’s Grand Central Station.  Sizes of the TV’s range from 19 to 52 inches and are interspersed by pine brances.  The patterns on the screens have been designed by Japanese video artist Tsuyoshi Takashiro. Sharp TV from gizomodo.com.au Many […]

That’s what the Morgans Hotel Group are saying in their headline for an aggressive new marketing & advertising campaign aimed at treating the recession with defiance and optimism. They believe the attitude of many of their customers is to treat unpleasant things with this level of contempt, with the recession being no different.  Interesting approach, […]