Cool Marketing Thoughts

A little while ago, a new club opened near my town. For their opening they asked an agency in Antwerp to come up with a nice idea. So, since the club was named ‘Burn’, what better way to be remarkable than to set the flyer-boy on fire while he was handing out the flyers? Using a ‘consumer generated’ quality of film, they taped it and sent it out on the web, where apparently some people thought it was real. Discussions in the comments of the site where the clip was leaked show however that not everybody was happy about the fact ‘their’ site was being used to drop a viral. Thing is, you’ll never be able to please everybody. I don’t see this as an abuse of a site, I see this as a nice way to promote a stunt.

Besides the discussion of the fact that virals still make a chance out there, I still think this is pretty cool. If they pull off the stunt a few times in a more crowded area, I’m sure it will lead to the needed word of mouth advertising scenarios. This is, and remains, something you do not see every day, and so it’s good enough to grab the attention of the people who see this happen. They will beyond any doubt accept the flyer and read it. They might not hold on to it, but they’ll read the message. And in a world where you have to deal with an overload of boring advertisements and commercials, standing out of the crowd is the first issue to work on. Mission accomplished, I’d say.

Agency: DuboisMeetsFugger
Made by Wendy Wauters & Karl Magnus
Filmed by Toon Mertens

If you thought you’ve experienced it all and advertisement could no longer shock/bother/make you think anymore (pick one), then here is quite the eye-opener for you. To protest against whale hunting, a poster of a whale has been hung against a wall, the whale is sliced open so that its guts come out (apparently a normal procedure), and below the poster on the floor are… some remains of intestins. I hope this ad ran in well-ventilated areas only, and I also hope that there was no restaurant nearby. These concerns put aside, this thing comes smashing in your face like a fly on a bicycle ride. And if you have my kinda luck and the fly happens to be right there when you’re talking and flies right in your throat, the effect would most likely be the same.

Done for IFAW, the international fund for animal welfare.

Agency: Republic of Everyone/Happy Soldiers, Sydney, Australia
Creative Director / Art Director / Copywriter: Happy Soldiers
Photographer: Adrian Lander
Retoucher: Electric Art
Released: December 2007
Via: AdsOfTheWorld

Would you like to earn a life long calling credit of € 150 amonth? Or maybe one year of free flying with Air Europa? Would you sacrifice your phone for that too? If the answer to all of these questions is a loud and clear ‘YES I DO’ the dig up your finest Spanish and surf your funky behind to Haz volar tu móvil?, a small microsite far a campaign by Pepephone, a Spanish mobile operator. Participants in the contest are invited to put their clips on YouTube (of all places) and if you’re the lucky bird, you might even win € 5000 for your entry. That should be enough to buy you a brand new phone. Thing is… if you don’t win… :-) Ah well. You’ll win, right?

Video: Blow Up Your Phone
Via: BuzzingBees | Bajo La Linea

T-post is a wearable magazine. Subscribing to T-post is a lot like having a subscription to a magazine but instead of receiving magazines in your mailbox, you receive T-shirts. As a subscriber you receive a new t-shirt every six weeks based on a current news item. The topic is interpreted by select designers and the written story printed on the inside.

“What’s fascinating about T-post is the interaction. Nobody asks you about the article you just read in the bathroom. But if you’re wearing an issue of T-post, people tend to ask what it’s about. The next thing you know, you’re talking about the ethical treatment of robots or some bank robbers in Brazil who got away with 45 million bucks, you’re forming your own opinion, getting someone else to think about the topic, and it just keeps going. That’s what’s magic about this media, it gives everyone a chance to interpret a news story and communicate it in their own way.” said Peter Lundgren Editor-in-Chief at T-Post.

This is yet another superb idea, to convert people into living billboards. If you find people ready to do this, then I guess there is some sort of market for it. But I’m also guessing it would be limited to some sort of countries/seasons. I mean, looking at Belgium… how many months are there in a year in which you are ‘just’ wearing a t-shirt, and not a pull-over too. I’m thinking, june-july-august and maybe september too. All the other months… I’ll be dressed with a little more than a t-shirt (apart from shoes and pants, obviously). That said, it’s weird to see this sort of innovative trend come over from Sweden, since I assume it is even colder there than it is here. Still a good idea though. Could appeal very well to fashionistas.

Here is their latest issue: Sexual Confusion by FormaFantasma

Capture quote:

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