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Our obsession with augmented reality continues; this time with Tesco!

For those of you who haven't noticed yet, we're big fans of Augmented Reality and the affect it's having on the marketing industry! At the end of August, we wrote about Smart Phone Augmented Reality in our post 'An addiction prediction' which took a look at Cadbury's new partnership with Blippar to turn their chocolate into an addictive game. This month, it's time to look at the latest Blippar partnership... with Tesco!

Blippar is a reality app that can be downloaded to a smartphone or a tablet and used to turn ordinary objects into interactive masterpieces. I hasten to add it doesn't work on everything, but it does work on a lot! You download the app, log on, search for a 'type' of object e.g. food, drink etc., then point the camera and an interactive element will appear. The interaction will vary according to the object, so you'll have to point and see!

Blippar-Tesco Partnership

Rather than a specific object, Tesco has chosen to create interactive print adverts to get their customers buzzing. Labelled 'the Big Price Drop', Blippar has been engaged to add interaction that enables users to get store location information and free recipe ideas, whenever they point their smartphone at an advert; Tesco claims this will help add a 'personal touch'!

Whilst clearly not as addictive or fun as a Cadburys, this could prove to be a useful element for consumers. It is likely to depend on their need at the time (personally I'm not bothered by the recipes). Then again, searching for a local store isn't massively different to the Supermarket apps you can normally download!

If I'm honest, I love the sentiment and visually it's fantastic, but in this case I'm not sure I'm bothered by the content in reality! I'm a big fan of Blippar, but I'm not convinced it works with everything. For the Tesco Partnership, I'll watch this space and check out the stats when they are released, to see just how effective it's been! Is this a case of enhancement for the sake of it?

For those of you who want to see how it works, you can watch the video here:

Collective marketing - A superpowerful combination?

In Marketing Week from the 25th August, there was an interesting case study on Proctor and Gamble, looking at their collective marketing strategy in their bid to save money. Interview available here...

Collective Marketing is an initiative whereby parent companies bundle their complementary brands together into one advert in a bid to target new audiences and save money. On occasion there will also be a cross-company initiative if the products complement but don't compete with each other. Marketing Week identified three main types of collective marketing/brand bundling including

1. Executive Bundling - using your buying power across brands to save money on advert slots
2. Big Idea Bundling - cross-company selling of complementary products e.g. washing machines and washing powder
3. Endorsement or co-brand bundling - adding an additional brand to your product in a bid to sell more and split the cost e.g. PG Tips and the Rainforest Alliance.

As a consumer, I had never noticed/been conciously aware of this process, other than the obvious Supermarket adverts. Since reading the article however, I've been on the look out for these collaborations, from both a personal and industry viewpoint.

The first obvious example I see? Collective marketing of the new Jalapeño Doritos and Citrus Pepsi Max by parent company Pepsi Co. The advert combines a cartoon strip theme, with the 'Firefinger' crisps and 'Icefist' drink turning two 'regular Joes' into superheroes. The two products are hailed as a 'superpowerful' combination with the aim of persuading consumers to buy both products at the same time. Visit the website here...

So how will Pepsi Co benefit?

• Monetary value - Pepsi Co will have saved money by making one advertising slot work twice as hard, using the same space to promote two products that complement one another.
• New audience generation - the advert is aspirational and implies that the two new products are the coolest/best on the market, enticing people to buy them.
• Cross-audience promotion - this type of collaboration will potentially target new customers for the company, from their existing consumer base; loyal Doritos consumers may be enticed to buy the drink and vice versa.

I like what Pepsi Co did here; ok, so I won't be rushing out to buy the drink because personally I can't stand fizzy drinks, but the advert did do its job! It made me watch, it successfully marketed two products (both of which I can remember) AND it combined two products into the same space.

This method isn't without risk; picking the wrong products and combining two brands with opposing values could be an advertising nightmare. At the same time, unless handled carefully, this method also dilutes the messaging of the individual brands and runs the risk of reducing the overall effectiveness of the advert.

Thanks to Marketing Week for highlighting Collective Marketing and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more examples in the near future!

Watch the superpowerful advert here...

Brilliant use of social media/twitter!

 
Having a little browse around the internet today for innovative marketing campaigns and happened to stumble across 'project reindeer'. Project Reindeer is a fab use of social media (particularly twitter) by GAP in the US.

GAP has set-up a 'live-feed' of a herd of 8 reindeer, to bring you five days of deals. You can then 'track' the reindeer on their journey around their pasture. Each reindeer has been given a name (Emma, Zoe, Cooper, Stella, Chloe, Toby, Duke & Bailey) as well as a daily 'special offer' attached to them. For example, today Zoe has 40% off all women's clothing. The reindeers are then set a challenge; yesterday it was the longest distance travelled, today it's the fastest speed over 24 hours. To help them win the challenge, all you need to do is 'tweet' your favourite reindeer (using the link) and then the one with the most tweets is the winner. That offer is then available on the GAP website, with a special discount code being released.

The process and website is a little complex and it isn't immediately clear what you're doing, but once you know, you have to admit it's a pretty clever use of Twitter! Brilliant! See the website here...

Look out for the new T-Mobile advert tonight...

T-mobile flash mob landed in Heathrow Airport on earlier this week, with dancers and a human orchestra performing throughout the airport, from check-in desks to boarding gates the madness was everywhere!

It was the first time such an event has taken place at a UK airport so security restrictions were a top priority. Logistics behind shooting were extensive because of the temperamental location, with negotiations made to allow secret cameras to capture the action.

The 500 dancers, ranging from the waiting public, taxi drivers, cabin crew and baggage handlers, were packed into a 3 minute commercial which will be uploaded to Facebook, Youtube and shown on every major UK commercial TV channel tonight. Some poor folks were oblivious to the madness, whilst lucky t-mobile customers were texted, or warned!

 

With T – mobiles flash-mob style advert at London’s Liverpool Street Station already winning the TV commercial of the year and with 12.1 million views, there is much hope for this second commercial to have the public hungry for more.

Note to Gloucestershire County Council:

We have a team of experienced proofreaders here at apt...

Old Spice is back and taking the social media world by storm!

If you had asked us last week what Old Spice was, we would have either said ‘a fragrance that my granddad wears’ or ‘pepper that you haven’t used in a while’ and up until yesterday that’s probably the response most of you would have given.

However yesterday all that dramatically changed...Old Spice launched one of the most outstanding social media campaigns we have witnessed since the age of...well, since the age of social media!

The campaign started with an ominous tweet from the Old Spice twitter account which said “Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into twitter, or maybe the Old Spice man shows up.” And show up he did!

On Tuesday, Old Spice man Isaiah Mustafa began collecting questions posted at him on sites like Twitter, Reddit and Yahoo Answers, and answered them with personalised YouTube video responses. (He even proposed to someone on a commenter’s behalf!) This of course then created amazement as within minutes they could watch their response, which were then blogged and tweeted like wild fire – everyone wanted their own Old Spice video!

The campaign has been, and still is, such a success because they made personal connections with influencers. They reached out, by name, to prominent media, celebrities, news outlets and the general public who should be aware of Old Spice, addressing them with personalized messages that they’ll remember. As a result Old Spice is now the third most watched video on youtube.

Have you got your personalized message? We are joining the thousands by trying to get ours!

World Famous Sculptor Selling Cheltenham Home

Selling your house can be a painful experience, especially when estate agents are involved. Which estate agent do you register with, how much commission will they take and what do you do if they don’t make a sell? It makes you wonder if the ‘middle man’ is really necessary...

Ian Norbury, the world famous wood sculptor and artist has decided to take the mammoth task of selling his Cheltenham home of 30 years into his own hands after ‘having had a disastrous experience last year with an agent who will remain nameless’ The property has its own blog (click here to view), and those who are interested can contact the couple directly to organise a tour or to find out more information at no extra cost. 

 
As you would expect from a high profile artist, the interior is remarkable and stunning; carved furniture, stain glass windows and original Norbury woodwork makes this property an opportunity not to be missed.

Here at apt we are huge fans of the property, the artist and his wife and their unusual approach to selling. If we had £500, 000 spare we would definitely make an offer! 

Goodbye Bush!

A mastery of product placement, this ad is enjoying rapid global spread via office email, blog posts, tweets et al. Thought we'd share in case you've been hiding under a rock.

The viral reach this has generated undoubtedly far outweighs the ad's initial impact. Veet have certainly found a way to make their budget stretch that bit further. For that, we salute them!