Archive for August, 2009
And the 2009 Award in the Mobile Category Goes to… Sprint
Via Gesturetek.com
Recently, the closet artist and designer in me led to a growing interest in the art of Data Visualization. It turns the usual bland data and graphs that we all run into as business professionals day to day into artistic visuals that are far more pleasing to the eye as well as attention getting. They are all over our media these days, from TV to online, and now, in the digital out of home / out of home words.
When the first of the new Sprint Network advertisements came out this year, the ability to show many different data in a fun and exciting way; there was no doubt that Sprint understood the effectiveness of data visualization, and the capabilities of them. Sprint utilized motion graphics and data visualization as their basis for their campaign and used them incredibly well. They started to roll them out and blasted all the media with its goodness. “Welcome to the Now Network.” Some examples:
Of course, the discussion is not complete (at least in this site…), if it does not related it to the experiential marketing, mobile, out of home, and / or digital out of home world. The initial thought when these commercials aired on TV was “”how well or great this would work in these four medias…”
Well, it seems that Sprint and the agency thought the same way, as Digital Signage Insights covers in its Inwindow Outdoor Launches Sprint Interactive Storescapes, as well as well as GestureTek’s work. Between these two: the overall campaign is a culmination of what is possible today in the D / OOH, Mobile, and interactive worlds, and an absolutely stunning use of media, content, integration strategies, and ad planning and buying to hit us in all senses.
Whether Sprint and their Palm Pre can beat out the duopolies that are At&T / Verizon, and the IPhone / BlackBerry is yet to be determined (and probably still not doable at the end of the day unfortunately..), but with such a great campaign; there is no doubt Spint has turned some heads and gained at least some market share from the two-headed monsters.
So far, in 2009: the award in the mobile advertising category no doubt goes to Sprint and their agency.
Socially Conscious Meets OOH / Alternative Advertising
Image from Springise
Here is an example of how a brand can be socially conscious as well as take advantage of moment of crisis in order to generate a positive brand perception as well as some free PR. About the campaign:
Aircel’s billboard, erected by outdoor agency Primesite near Mumbai’s Milan Subway, bore a large, inflated dinghy along with the line, “In case of emergency, cut rope.” And on July 15, such an emergency did indeed arise when monsoon floods made the Milan Subway virtually impassable. The rope was cut on Aircel’s billboard, the boat was released, and stranded pedestrians were ferried to safety. The result? Near constant local media attention for Aircel, even including the headline, “Aircel did what [government agency] BMC did not.” Reportedly, Aircel now plans to implement something similar in Delhi and Kolkata as well, according to afaqs.
The interesting thing about this particular campaign is that it begins as a simple billboard / Out of home campaign, but the when the right moment hits; in this case, an expected monsoon, the full potential of the campaign is unleashed where the street team effects kicked in as well, and probably save some lives.
The thoughtful planning of the campaign resulted in receiving tons of positive coverage in print and online, and certainly a positive brand image for the telecommunication company in India. More details and pics on the campaign here: http://www.aircel.com/Mumbai_sails_through_aircel/
GOOGLE “Out of Home” at work
Various sites are buzzing about the new Google Out-of-Home advertising campaign which is focused on getting Microsoft Office users to switch to GOOG’s online business communications and applications. What seems pretty significant is that Google; notorious for its lack of marketing and advertising, seems to be starting to open up their Very large wallet slowly, but surely. Not sure if the lack of marketing and adverting strategy derives from their strong brand and market dominance; both of which were pretty much organically built up so far, but with their numerous applications / services, and factors such as the rise of Microsoft’s Bing, it is certainly good to think that Google can finally be perceived as an actual sales target instead of being an “untouchable.”
The campaign, themed “Go Google,” is being held in New York, Boston, San Fran, and Chicago markets, and will have daily creative switches (what a headache for AdOps 
). A great by-product is that the vinyl being used as the billboards will be recycled to make products such as shopping bags, which is good to know. This is not just an Out of Home campaign either; more of an integrated campaign, where online (https://sites.google.com/a/googleapps.com/go-google/), as well as Social media (@GoogleAtWork) are being combined in the overall campaign as well. Effective media integration / mix is always a welcome strategy here.
Whether Google will be able to take on Microsoft in the Office suite war is yet to be seen, but at least the least; Google’s marketing strategies seems to be shifting in a manner that is beneficial for the advertising, marketing, and branding worlds.
LEGO Augmented Reality: Totally AR; Totally DOOH/Retail Marketing
Growing up on LEGOs and still collecting them here and there; the LEGO brand has been some thing that is near and dear. The “Augmented Reality: My Kind of Reality” was one of the most read post in this blog by far in just a few days (thanks to all the readers!), and it’s pretty obvious that people really like this media technology in terms of how the content is delivered as well as its potential in many different fields of marketing and advertising.
Anyway, @metaioUSwas kind enough to tweet an Excellent example of the message the previous post tried to convey (thanks you very much also!), which was Augmented Reality’s potential in the Digital Out of Home / Out of Home spaces in addition to the other media / advertising spaces. Anyway, without further a due; watch how LEGO is utilizing AR in a retail store. Perfect example of Augmented Reality meets DOOH!
