At Retail’s Big Show 2010, presented by the National Retail Federation in New York City earlier this week, one booth that drew attention belonged to a company called Swagg. Swagg, owned by Qualcomm, wasn’t trying to attract people with its offerings, solutions, or technology. It drew them with an open bar and lounge. What the company actually does remained a mystery. Something with mobile?

One of Swagg’s booth attendants told us they were “trying to get the name out.” Presumably, the idea is to pique people’s interest in the brand before revealing a much-anticipated product or service.  

On its website, the company’s entire “About” story says: “Swagg is brilliant, ingenious, revolutionary, and awesome. It lives on your phone and acts like your best friend. Trade gift cards, share points and get hooked-up everywhere you go.” That’s it. The only tangible takeaway is that somehow it helps you trade gift cards and share (loyalty) points. 

Some companies hesitate to say what it is they do in a clear way. They fear that if they do, they will box themselves in and lose potential customers. In actuality, a company loses potential customers when its offerings are not clear. If customers don’t know how you can help them, they won’t ask you for help.

Today, people are more discerning with how and where they spend their money. Most customers are not going to spend on sheer hype. People are distrustful of advertising, no matter how much a product “acts like your best friend.”

As a new company, Swagg is presented with an opportunity. The brand has a lot of energy and drive. But, it is easier starting with a clearly defined idea, rather than reverse-engineering one further down the road.

The risk of not defining yourself is that someone else might provide a definition for you.

According to The San Diego Union-Tribune: “Qualcomm’s Swagg is a software application. It allows the bar code for a gift card to pop up on a cell phone screen so it can be scanned by retailers.” Maybe Swagg doesn’t think that’s “brilliant, ingenious, revolutionary, and awesome” enough.

The Super Bowl is the biggest television marketing event of the year. This year, for the first time since 1987, Pepsi will not be airing any commercials during the big game. Instead, the beverage giant is investing millions in a cause marketing program called the Pepsi Refresh Project.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is a grant program that will fund people’s ideas to improve their local communities. The purpose is to align Pepsi’s brand with social responsibility and build brand equity.

Starting January 13th, individuals and organizations can pitch their project ideas on Pepsi’s site, RefreshEverything.com. Based on the pitch and supporting media, site visitors vote on which ideas they’d like to see funded. The projects that receive the most votes will be awarded Refresh Grants, ranging from $5,000 to $250,000.

Each month in 2010, Pepsi will donate a total of $1.3 million to as many as 32 projects. Projects can fit into a wide variety of categories, such as Education, Health, and Arts & Culture. Want to start a local film festival or build modular homes? Get enough votes, and Pepsi will help you make it happen.

“The Super Bowl broadcast can be an amazing stage for advertisers if it aligns with their brand strategy; however, brands should not blindly anchor themselves to history,” said Frank Cooper, a senior VP of PepsiCo Americas Beverages, in a statement. “In 2010, each of our beverage brands has a strategy and marketing platform that will be less about a singular event, less about a moment, more about a movement.‪”

Thirty seconds of Super Bowl air time costs advertisers $3-million. Once the spot runs, it’s over. The impressions stop. The Refresh Project, on the other hand, will reach people on a longer term. Throughout the year, there will be new projects pitched, new grants awarded, and new Pepsi-backed community improvements affecting people across the country.

Teary-Eyed Fans say goodbye to the A1 Thick & Hearty Burger.

Pop-up stores get attention through urgency. They’re open a few days or weeks, and if customers don’t act, they miss out on a unique experience. Pop-ups, however, aren’t the only way companies are building urgency these days. Whataburger, a Texas-based fast food chain, got attention for the way it dealt with one of its menu offerings: the A1 Thick & Hearty Burger.

The A1 was discontinued in December. Rather than just cutting it from the menu, Whataburger held the burger’s funeral. The headline on the eatery’s website, www.a1supportgroup.com: “Need help coping? You’re in the right place. Let the healing begin.”

On the site, fans shared their grief in a number of ways:

They uploaded photos and videos, wrote notes on a digital “Going Away Card,” and recorded audio goodbyes by calling 1-877-A1-Support.

A funeral for a burger is clearly meant to be funny. The site let customers in on the joke and gave them ways to create their own content and interact with the brand and each other.

The North Face company wanted to promote its brand and increase foot traffic in its Manchester UK store. They knew a tried and true way of getting attention was to give potential shoppers something fun to do, so The North Face created an interactive snowboarding game.

The game, called “The North Face race,” appeared outside a busy train station on a nine-story high digital billboard. A message on the screen encouraged passersby to dial a local-rate number from their mobile phones. Once connected, a recording asked that they use their keypads to select one of three characters. The race then started and characters sped down a digital slope.

After the race, players received a congratulatory SMS-text message containing a gift voucher code that was redeemable at The North Face store. Even though the store was a fifteen-minute walk from the screen, a healthy 88% of those that played redeemed the voucher.

The game ran in October for two consecutive Saturdays. Each day it appeared on the billboard for four hours. During the first Saturday, people engaged with the screen for 10% of the total run time. During the second Saturday, the rate increased to 26%. This increase was accomplished without any marketing beyond word of mouth.

Some brands try so hard to broadcast at potential customers that they forget to think about what people want. In this case, The North Face successfully engaged people and influenced their behavior by focusing on the basics. What do people like? Fun, games, and prizes. Sometimes, it’s just that simple.

(Thanks, Rob Edwards of Canditv)

LA Kings' Ice Rider

Many brands create exciting in-store experiences with design and entertainment. Unfortunately, some of them fail to convert that excitement into sales. Often, it’s because the point of purchase is hidden or disconnected from the otherwise engaging in-store experience.

To sell hockey tickets, the Los Angeles Kings knew they had to make their point of purchase more visible. They created a branded ice cream truck that is one part road show, one part traveling ticket booth.

The truck, called the Ice Rider, is decorated with flashy team logos and graphics. It parks at public events and attracts people with free ice cream and entertainment. On one side of the Ice Rider, there is a giant plasma screen where visitors can play Xbox. On the opposite side, mounted flat screens air Kings’ highlight footage. There is also a green screen photo booth operated by a street team. People who have their photo taken receive it in an email that links to a branded website.  

Amidst the entertainment, the truck lets fans buy game tickets from an on-board kiosk. There is no separation between the point of purchase and the entertainment. The Ice Rider gets fans excited about the Kings, and gives them the opportunity to buy right then and there.

Comedian and filmmaker, Mark Malkoff, is no stranger to promotional hijinks.

In 2007, he made a purchase from each of the 171 Starbucks in Manhattan — in a single day.

In 2008, while his apartment was being fumigated, he spent a week living in an IKEA. 

This past June, Malkoff, in order to get over his fear of flying, logged 135 flights on AirTran and set a Guinness World Record. 

Now, the comedian is driving around the country in a Ford Fusion Hybrid, convincing mayors to hand over the keys to their cities.

The project, called Keys to the City, started when Malkoff realized that “in New York City, Mother Theresa has a key and so does Dolly Parton.” This got him wondering: What are the criteria for earning a key? And, what would he have to do to earn himself 100 keys?  

Soon, he developed a treatment for the project and pitched it to Ford. “I really, really liked what Ford was doing with social media,” said Malkoff. “They think out of the box.”

According to Ford Car Experiential Marketing manager, Jeffrey Eggen, the project fit “in well with our strategy to raise awareness of our new Ford vehicles by getting real customers behind the wheel and letting them tell their own story.”  

So far, on day 15 of the quest, Malkoff is halfway to his 100-key goal. Many of the cities he’s visiting have never given away a key, but Malkoff tells mayors he’s working on a video project that will feature their city in a positive light. For each key, he also does community service.

In Lancaster, PA, he cleaned up after police horses. In Clifton, VA, he served firefighters ice cream while dressed as an ice cream cone. In Fairfax, VA, he donned a wetsuit to retrieve the coins from the town fountain.

His adventures are being chronicled through posts on Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. In addition, he and his five-person film crew are shooting videos of every mayoral challenge. (See video of Fairfax, VA challenge below).

The project is mutually beneficial for Malkoff and Ford. The comedian gains the resources to pursue a project he’s passionate about, and Ford promotes the fuel-efficient Fusion through several social media platforms.

Malkoff’s initiative ends November 1st. Follow his progress on www.markmalkoff.com/keystothecity.

Want to effect your customers’ behavior in a major way? Make the thing they’re striving towards fun.

As part of its new campaign “The Fun Theory,” Volkswagen converted the stairs in a Stockholm subway station into functioning piano keys. Each step played a different note. Walking up the staircase became an opportunity to play a little ditty. The result: 66% more commuters than usual used the stairs instead of the escalator.

Another part of the campaign included equipping a trash can with cartoon sound effects. Every time someone threw out a piece of trash, a high-pitched whistle sounded (think Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff).

The sound effect got people curious. They wanted to hear the odd whistle again, so they picked up litter off the ground and threw it away. In one day, the Fun Theory trash can collected 90 more pounds of trash than any neighboring trash can.

Both initiatives nudge people towards a positive behavior — not because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the fun thing to do.

In an interview with Harvard Business School’s online publication Working Knowledge, HBS professor Sunil Gupta discusses why companies shouldn’t buy advertising on social networking sites:

“The click-through rate of ads on social networking sites is extremely low . . . because people don’t go to these sites to seek information about specific products.” They’re there to look at photos and communicate with friends. So, rather than looking to older advertising-based models of reaching people, like static ads, companies should try viral campaigns that focus on active things, like contests and giveaways.

Say, for example, Dell wants to promote a new laptop on Facebook. Dell can pay to advertise and accept that most people won’t notice the ad. Or, they can give away free laptops to several fans on Facebook. The cost of the computers is probably less than the cost of advertising, and the giveaway is much more effective at getting people talking about the brand within the network.

The lesson: Use the cash you would’ve spent advertising your product at customers and put the money towards something that directly benefits them.

The wine company, Carlo Rossi, is holding a contest with a $10,000 grand prize. Information about the contest can be found on the company’s Facebook page. To win, people have to read a little bit about the company’s “legendary” founder. They have to answer a few quick questions, like what’s their favorite sport or TV show. Then, contest entrants have to write a one hundred word essay about why they should be chosen to lead “the Carlo Rossi Posse.”

The contest lets people interact with the brand, generates entertaining content, and gathers information about what the company’s customers like. The approach is more valuable to both Carlo Rossi and its fans, and is more cost-effective.   

(photo via Wired)

"The Taste of Yellow Chocolate" spokesman, Josh Winger

Last year, New Zealand’s yellow pages, known as Yellow, created a publicity stunt that got people talking. The company built a tree house restaurant only using businesses found in its listings.   

Now, Yellow has launched a reality TV-inspired campaign with a similar premise. The campaign, called “The Taste of Yellow Chocolate,” stars 27-year-old spokesman Josh Winger. Winger, a former photocopier salesman, will have six months to create, manufacture, advertise, and distribute a chocolate bar that “tastes like yellow.”

Josh has no related experience, but was selected for his “Kiwi ‘can-do’ attitude.”

On the campaign’s website, he asks for feedback. Should his chocolate have more conventional “yellow” influences like honey or vanilla? Or, should it taste like a sunset or a VW Beetle? 

The website also features blog posts, pictures, and video updates. Videos show Josh behind the scenes touring his new office, contemplating how to fix the toilet, and buying a computer. He also posts updates on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

The campaign adds relevance to the phone book as a printed artifact. It also adds value to Yellow’s customers by listing every business Josh uses on the entertaining website.

“If your business isn’t in Yellow,” Josh says, “then people like me won’t be ringing you.” Clearly, the company is banking on its spokesman’s likability.

Like a TV show, the campaign draws people in with plot, character, and conflict. Will the public like his chocolate? Will he rise to the challenge? Will he complete the project in time? Stay tuned to find out.

Children learning to drive at ten years old? That’s the goal of the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy.  

Located in the UK, the academy offers kids as young as ten a variety of packages designed to teach them car handling and road safety. There’s also a package designed to give parents the confidence and patience to teach their child how to drive, and a program that prepares older teens for their licensing exams.

The academy’s website serves as an additional resource for young drivers. There, they can find out information like what to expect from their driver’s test, how to book it, and the cost.  

For those that have already passed the test, the site offers tips such as what to do in case of an emergency and advice on buying a car.

The site advises: “It’s really great to get a car similar to the one you learned or are learning in. You will be familiar with the car and you will have become accustomed to parking and turning, for example already.”

Beyond this strong hint, the driving academy doesn’t explicitly push its students to buy Mercedes-Benz. Rather, it embeds the Mercedes name in their memories and establishes the brand as an authority that can be trusted.

People don’t want blanket messaging. They want information that pertains directly to them. To provide this, marketers are using more “invasive” approaches.

For example, a new billboard for Castrol Oil in London offers motor oil recommendations, whether you asked for them or not.  

Here’s how it works.

As you’re driving, a high speed camera snaps a photo of your car’s license plate. The plate is matched to your particular vehicle through a database maintained by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Two seconds later, the roadside digital billboard broadcasts your license plate number and the proper Castrol motor oil for your vehicle.

The sign will help people protect the health of their cars while saving them time choosing the right (Castrol) product in the automotive aisle. According to dailydooh.com, the personalized message is only broadcasted for 7.5 seconds and no plate information is recorded. Still, the tradeoff of privacy for personalization could be unsettling for some.

The definition of privacy is changing. Will people be willing to sacrifice a degree of privacy for more helpful, customized messaging?

"Thanks for the recommendation, billboard. Now when should I rotate these tires?"

 

Women drinking traditional chicha.

We recently wrote about Bompas & Parr’s historically-inspired Architectural Punch Bowl. Another example of a company drawing from history is Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.

Brands often look to the future for new ideas. But sometimes the past is the best place to find inspiration.

Ten years ago, the Delaware-based company created Midas Touch beer. The beer’s recipe was pieced together using the molecular analysis of residue found in an ancient drinking vessel. The vessel was excavated from the 2700-year-old tomb of King Midas.

Talk about endowing a product with a story.

Now, Dogfish Head is looking to history again with its latest creation, a traditional Latin American corn beer called chicha.

Chicha is not made the way most beers are made today. The chicha-maker chews up corn in his or her mouth and forms it into small cakes. The cakes are left out to dry while the salivary enzymes go to work breaking down the corn’s starch. As reported in the New York Times, the founder of the brewery chewed up some of the brew’s purple corn himself.  

For many, no amount of boiling could make a spit-crafted beer sterile enough. But for the more adventurous, the potential gross out factor adds to the story. It gives them something to tell their friends, and that story is strengthened by tradition and historical context.

We wrote about the British company Bompas & Parr when they introduced the world to the walk-in gin and tonic. Now, the culinary events company is taking immersive cocktails one step further with a drink so big you can row a boat across it. It’s called the Architectural Punch Bowl.

The Architectural Punch Bowl follows the lead of England’s admiral Edward Russell. In 1694, Russell, the First Lord of the Admiralty, threw a party for his fellow officers. To impress the guests, he filled his garden fountain with 250 gallons of brandy, 125 gallons of wine, 1,400 pounds of sugar, 2,500 lemons, and 20 gallons of lime juice. A boy filled guests’ cups from a row boat.  

Now, Bompas & Parr, in association with Courvoisier, is holding a contest to find the best cocktail recipe made with VSOP Courvoisier Exclusif cognac. In November, a panel of judges will select the winning recipe, which will be used to fill an enormous punchbowl inside 33 Portland Place (pictured to the left) in London.

As of right now, the actual size, design, and materials of the massive punch bowl are still in the works.

Bompas & Parr are working with the University College London to answer questions like: How do you make a building food-safe? And, what technology could be used to keep the enormous beverage chilled at the right temperature?

The Architectural Punch Bowl will allow the public to have a cup of punch and step on-board a row boat for a quick paddle across the biggest punch bowl ever made.

The event will raise money for the architectural charity Article 25, which provides building expertise to aid agencies and communities in need.

The Architectural Punch Bowl demonstrates that experiences can be temporary. A temporary installation can pop up, generate customer excitement, and then disappear before becoming old hat.

(thanks to Sam Bompas for the photos.)

Today, Target unveiled six massive vinyl billboards in Times Square. The billboards were designed by four emerging artists, and according to Target, “capture the enthusiasm and vibrancy of New York and the Target brand.”

The billboards will come down at the end of October, but they won’t be dragged off to the landfill. Instead, the vinyl will be repurposed into 1,600 Anna Sui-designed handbags. The bags are selling for $29.99 on Target’s website, where buyers can choose which artist’s work will adorn their tote.

Target has found a clever way to recycle and repurpose its marketing dollars. It’s found a way to do more with less. 

In today’s social media world, people have become addicted to sharing. They want to share information and opinions. They want to tell one another what they’re thinking and doing. Digital signage can play a role.

As an example, look at what Coldwell Banker did. To promote its realty service, the company erected an interactive billboard in Times Square, which prompts passersby to use the board as a real-estate search tool.

Viewers dial an on-screen phone number, text the word “homes,” and add in the zip code of the geographical area they’d like to search. Soon, house listings and photos from that area appear on the billboard. Their search goes public. Conversations and debates begin. Coldwell Banker is suddenly in people’s heads.

This principle is all about sharing in public. To incorporate it into your experience, think about the choices your customers have to make – especially those choices which prompt discussion (Obviously, nothing too sensitive). How can digital signage help your customers think things through with others?

Travelers Insurance is using redundancy and impressionistic digital imagery to get customers’ attention.  

At the Minneapolis - St. Paul Airport, the insurance company has installed four screens. Each screen bears an identical image – the company’s trademark red umbrella. When the airport hallway is empty, the screens look like carbon copies. But, as soon as people walk by the images morph and interact with them in a fun way.  

The big digital umbrellas scatter into hundreds of small leaves and slowly reform, until somebody else passes by.

If there was only one screen, it would easily be ignored. People would walk by and not notice. By having four screens, Travelers has an enveloping presence. In addition, the umbrellas send the message that Travelers’ coverage is flexible and responds directly to customers’ needs.

The signage is more about leaving an impression than explicitly stating facts. You don’t always have to tell customers that you’re there. Sometimes you can subtly show them. 

(Thanks, Scott.)

Want customers to know you’re listening? Give them a soapbox and let them talk.

On Monday, HSBC, “the world’s local bank,” launched an online forum called Valuessoapbox.com. The site, created by the British bank and New York Media (parent company of New York magazine and nymag.com), encourages visitors to post their opinions on the topics of education, jobs, technology, and water. Each topic features key questions to get customers thinking, such as: Tapped water or bottled water? What’s more important – arts or sciences? How do you feel about your job in this economy? Five frequent commenters on nymag.com were hired to get the conversations started.

The online soapbox initiative follows on the heels of a real world soapbox event. In July, HSBC set up ten branded platforms in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park. People were invited to step up and share their opinions on suggested topics, such as immigration, marriage, and fast food.

Each of the 668 participants was filmed and the footage will be used to gain consumer insight and create web video content. A few people were also chosen to appear in similarly-themed HSBC TV spots (like the one posted above).

The soapbox initiatives are part of the bank’s “Different Values” global campaign. The campaign started last fall, but HSBC is now focusing its efforts on New York state, home to 380 of the bank’s 470 US branches.

HSBC’s goal is to better understand its customer’s values, so it can better meet its customers’ needs. “We recognize that when people talk about money, they are really talking about the things they value,” reads the website.

It used to be that companies talked at their customers — telling them what, when, where, and how to buy. Now, it’s the customers’ turn to talk and smart companies aren’t just listening, they’re building the forum.

Mumbai residents paddle Aircel raft through Monsoon-flooded street.

In mid July, a monsoon flooded the area around the Milan subway station in Mumbai, India, stranding commuters. Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait for the water to subside or for a government agency to airlift them to safety. Instead, they were rescued by a billboard.

The billboard, created for the mobile service company Aircel, read “in case of emergency, cut the rope.” Attached to the rope was a full-size inflatable raft. When the company installed the sign before monsoon season, it didn’t make much sense. But as soon as citizens were rowing the raft to safety, the message was clear: Aircel’s customer support had gone beyond cell phone reception.  

The story is an excellent example of using cause marketing to build customer loyalty. Rather than selling a service, Aircel’s marketing provided real value when it mattered most, not just for their customers, but for all customers. The goodwill effort brought in new customers and built a deeper emotional connection between the brand and its existing customers. Not to mention, the unpaid media coverage the initiative received.

Aircel went above and beyond peoples’ expectations. They created, what we call, “meaningful wow.”

(via Springwise)

Daffy’s, the clothing retailer, specializes in low prices. But so do other clothing retailers. What to do? If you’re Daffy’s, you draw attention to your low prices by helping customers save money on something you don’t even sell: a Manhattan apartment.

Daffy’s has a contest going. The winner will get a furnished, $7,000-a-month, West Village condo for $700 a month. Not free, but a substantial savings (just like Daffy’s clothes).

To enter the contest, shoppers at select Daffy’s locations can use an in-store video booth to create a 30-second film, which explains why they deserve the lease deal of a lifetime. The retailer will post the videos on its website and let people vote on their favorite.

Daffy’s will advertise the contest in several ways. They’ll be staging a pop-up store inside the condo building itself (at One Seventh Avenue South). They’ll also list the apartment on Craigslist, and festoon city telephone poles with handwritten apartment-for-rent fliers. 

The campaign uses several smart tactics to garner publicity and invigorate Daffy’s brand. Low cost and seemingly high cost approaches work together to tell customers the same story about Daffy’s discount prices.

The above video showcases the work of EasyWeb, a French company that creates “Monumental Video Projections.” To produce the projections, EasyWeb first maps the building’s exterior using architectural plans, photographs, and laser quotation. The laser quotation process allows them to calculate distances and map minute details of the structure.

Once the mapping is complete, they recreate the building’s exterior on a PC using 3D software. 3D software is also used to create the dynamic effects and graphics of the projection show.  

Finally, light “beamers” project the 3D effects onto the façade.

“Our technology is ‘very handmade,’” says EasyWeb’s PR & Project Manager, Pierre Caulet. “Like fashion designers, the production team creates unique video shows [which play] with volumes and architecture.”

EasyWeb’s goal is to create a new event marketing approach. The company delivers a spectacular visual experience sure to attract crowds and get people talking. We look forward to seeing how brands will use emerging video projection. What will they say and do for their customers once they’ve gotten their attention? A question like that’s important to answer ahead of time.  

(Thanks, Shawn T.)