Posts Tagged ‘Guerilla Marketing’

07.22.10

A Lesson in Brand Building from George the Giant Groper

Following the tradition of tourist towns the world over, Port Douglass in Far North Queensland, Australia has an embarrassment of restaurants and bars – it’s a wonder how they manage to keep business ticking-over during quieter times. Fair to say, competition between the restaurants and cafes for the tourist diner is fierce and unrelenting. So you can imagine our curiosity when I came across one restaurant, seemingly identical to all the others, that was bustling every afternoon. At 5pm each day when most restaurants would be fortunate to have a table of six, why was ‘On the Inlet’ bustling with more than 60 customers.

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07.16.10

Discovery, the new advertising for brands!

More and more brands are foregoing the big chest beating advertising campaigns that attempt to broadcast their presence to the world. This is particularly the case for those wishing to position themselves in the  cool end of the market. The onus is on savvy shoppers to find them, particularly when it we are talking fashion and bars. Certainly this was our experience on a recent visit to Berlin.

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04.30.10

Big Ideas, not Big Budgets are the Best Way to Make a Big Brand Impression

Working in the creative industry (in fact any industry for that matter) the one question that always seems to crop up at the start of any project is “what’s your budget?” Just once we’d love the client to say “hell, I don’t know – whatever it takes”  but those clients and those budgets are few and far between. The ‘budget’ question is not without merit. If we know how much we have to spend (or don’t have to spend) then we can direct our creative juices towards the appropriate solutions. However, sometimes I wonder whether an awareness of budget restricts the creative brainstorm activity.

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12.11.09

Another Bloody Blank Canvas – Cut Through Brand Design

Mission Impossible
Could there be a more difficult market segment for brands to differentiate themselves than water. On the surface it would seem to be brand mission impossible, but over the last fifteen years we’ve seen water become a hotly contested market place. In this time we’ve seen an evolution from water brands battling on the purity of their product both sparkling and still based on geographic heritage, then water brands positioning around brand personality, and most recently the launch of a new category of Vitamin waters.

Another Bloody Water
A new competitor launched into the fray a few years ago with the apt brand name of ‘Another Bloody Water.’ Launching with a brand strategy that included a bold brand personality and the lovable brand personality attribute of being able to laugh at itself and the market it belongs to, Another Bloody water successfully grabbed a share of the retail bottled water market.

Another Bloody Water

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10.23.09

Increase your Marketing ROI with Blank Brand Canvases

The Mystery of the Blocked-out Store Window
I was on my Sunday run the other morning, looking for any distraction from the headache of the night before, when I came across a familiar urban retail sight; the empty store with windows blocked-out by newspapers. Almost universally it seems, once a retailer takes a lease, before they even begin their fit-out, the first thing they do is cover the windows – often with old newspaper.

Blank Brand Communication Canvas Read the rest of this entry »

10.07.09

Microsoft Launches Windows Phone Brand

htc-touch-diamond-Window's Phone

Global Marketing Push hits the Streets
Just hours after the launch of the new Microsoft Windows Phone, teams of orange-clad Windows Phone Warriors have hit the streets of Paris talking New Phone Technology to anyone who’ll listen. The Windows software debuts today on 30 different phone models made by Samsung, HTC and LG. The phone’s operating system includes Microsoft Office, Outlook, and applications sold through an Apple iPhone-like ap marketplace.

The Revolution has been Postponed
Three years ago this system would have been the kind of revolutionary masterstroke Microsoft are looking for to regain their flagging market share. But following the success of the iPhone, this looks like another reminder of the fate of brands who spend too much of their energy focussed on the competition and not enough on revolutionizing the marketplace. The feedback on the web has been generally critical of the new OS for being too little too late. A review on Gizmodo blog opined: “Windows Mobile 6.5 isn’t just a letdown – it barely seems done … It’s an interim product and a vain attempt to hold onto the thinning ranks of people who still choose Windows Mobile despite not being somehow tethered to it until the tardy Windows Mobile 7 comes out, whenever that may be. And it won’t work.” Unfortunately for Microsoft, the Windows Phone looks less like the answer to the iPhone, and more like a me-too product.

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09.07.09

Unlocking the hidden code of your brand’s Visual Language

The hidden codeGrill'dBurger
All brands project an image through the visual language of their brand identity. Customers and markets use the code contained within their visual language to make logical and emotional associations that drive their responses to trust, lust, aspire and desire the brand… or not. A well designed brand identity utilizes the visual language code of its market to pin-point the positioning it wishes to own in the hearts and minds of its customers.

When we talk about a brand’s visual language we refer to its brand mark (logo), brand colours and typefaces, and every visual expression of the brand on-line and off including; advertising campaigns, packaging, store design, product names, web site, uniforms, and marketing and shareholder communications. The scope of visual language is unique for every different brand. Read the rest of this entry »

08.31.09

The Six Golden Rules to Brand Extension

Building your business through brand extension
During tough market conditions, brand or product line extensions might just be the best way for your business to stay healthy, especially if they’re not something you spend much time thinking about. When done right, brand extensions can either be a positive way to build stronger and more profitable relationships with your clients and customers. When done poorly, brand extensions can be expensive experiments that drain cash flow and confuse your market’s understanding of your business’ proposition.

Loyalty and Trust
One of the greatest benefits of building a strong brand is the loyalty and trust that you build with your clients and customers. As purchasers of products and services, people will always prefer to deal with someone they have a trusted relationship with, over forming a new relationship without established trust. Adding a product or service offering to your brand that is relevant to the needs of your customer can not only have a positive effect on revenue, but also further enhance the relationships your customers have with your brand.

Real estate agents extends themselves
Melbourne real estate agent; Marshall White recently developed a value-add service for clients preparing their homes for sale – huge removal and self storage trailers. Parked out front of a house sporting an ‘upcoming auction’ sign, the over-sized blue and gold trailer not only drew attention to the house on behalf of the vendor, but also provided a high traffic billboard – all for the benefit of Marshall White.

DSCN0592

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07.23.09

Get Ripped

Get Ripped

HP recently ran a memorable guerilla campaign created for them by Publicis Malaysia for their high quality photo paper. Like all great campaigns – guerilla or otherwise – the creative brilliance is laser honed to the product proposition – HP produce high quality photo paper that in their words gives ‘true to life image quality’. Publicis created a series of stand-up posters that looked like a hole caused by someone walking through a huge sheet of paper. The posters were strategically placed in a variety of locations to create the optical illusion of real-life being printed on an enormous sheet of paper – blurring the line between what is real and what looks real to their eyes.

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07.23.09

Like a Sex Machine…

What's going on here?

We often talk about memorable brand experiences not having to cost the earth. This was well and truly demonstrated recently by the ‘Erotika Sexy Shop’ in Milan who attracted all kinds of interest with a low-budget guerilla marketing idea. Parked in the street outside their store was a car which appeared to be doubling as an orgy on wheels. Pedestrians and passing drivers alike were greeted by the sight of bare buttocks and faces in the throws of orgasmic excitement pressed against the car’s windows. On the side of the car was a sticker with the name of the store and the headline;
‘TOYS YOU CAN’T WAIT TO USE’.

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