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?"

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.)

1. Pop up stores build urgency.

By having a limited lifespan, pop up stores motivate people to act fast. Otherwise, they could miss out.  

Nike's LeBron Zoom IV NYC Pop Up.

Nike launched a pop up store in Soho to promote its LeBron Zoom IV NYC basketball sneakers. The shoes were only available at the store, which was open for a mere four days. With that small a window, sneaker aficionados didn’t sit on their hands.  

2. Pop up stores turn unused spaces into vibrant places.

The economy has left many retail spaces empty. Shoppers see signs of failure and deadness - stripped spaces, empty shop windows. Then, suddenly there is sound, color, and energy. 

The Doodle Bar, a London-based pop up bar, lets customers draw on its walls, furniture, even its bartenders. The interior of the bar and café is a constantly evolving, community art project. Initially slated for the summer only, the bar’s success has led to an extended stay. The owners have taken an abandoned space and turned it into a creative space that hosts drawing contests and yoga classes.   

3. Pop up stores focus entirely on the customer experience.

Popping up cuts down on the financial commitments of store ownership, like long-term leases and ongoing payroll. Brands can offer customers an experience that’s more extravagant.

 At Alcoholic Architecture, another London-based pop up bar, patrons don’t drink their gin and tonics - they breathe them in. Upon entering the space, visitors are fitted with protective plastic suits and led into a room where a humidifier vaporizes drinks, creating a walk-in cocktail cloud. 

Alcoholic Architecture

Pumping drinks into the air probably isn’t the most cost effective way to run a bar, but Alcoholic Architecture was only open for a few days. As a result, the curators of the event-meets-space, jelly makers Bompas and Parr, were able to focus on a buzz-worthy experience without getting too hung up on their bottom line.

4. Pop up spaces offer a firsthand experience of a brand.

Customers experience retail brands inside the store. For companies whose products don’t headline a traditional retail space, pop ups allow them to bring customers inside their brand.

vitaminwater promoted new flavors with a Manhattan-based pop up store. In the store, customers could try free samples of the fresh flavors, check their email, play foosball, and hang out in a lounge that hosted a revolving cast of DJs. The store connected customers with vitaminwater’s brand more than they ever could have in the grocery aisle.  

5. Pop up spaces show off exciting, unseen products.

Often, brands use pop ups to gauge customer interest on a small scale. For visitors, the space gives them the opportunity to see what’s new and be the first to try it out. After all, who doesn’t want to see things first?  

In 2004, French fashion brand Comme des Garcons opened a pop up store in Tokyo. The company teamed with Apple to create a Comme des Garcons branded iPod, which was only available at the location.  According to allbusiness.com, the six-month run of the specialty iPod was expected to generate $1.1 million in sales.

Photo from Bompas & Parr

Alcoholic Architecture was a London-based pop up bar that gave patrons the option of drinking a cocktail or breathing one in. The bar used a heavy-duty humidifier to vaporize gin and tonic. The result was a walk-in cocktail cloud.

Patrons lucky enough to score reservations for the four-day affair were escorted from the street into a bar decorated with giant limes and straws. The interior was designed to look as if they’d just dived into a gin and tonic.

Upstairs, they grabbed a drink and were fitted with plastic suits to protect their clothes from the boozy vapors.

Downstairs, in the basement, they pass through a plastic flap door into a room transformed into the cocktail cloud. The small misty room fit about 25 people and guests were led out after 40 minutes. The limited time period helped ensure that guests would actually remember the unique experience.

The pop up was created by Bompas and Parr, a company that creates jellies and curates innovative culinary events.  

The company was also responsible for Scratch n Sniff Cinema, where a Valentine’s Day film screening was paired with a scratch and sniff card. The card featured aromas like rotting meat and old books that corresponded with scenes in the film.

Thanks to Anthony DeBono for pointing us to this story.

Improv Everywhere is a New York comedy group that, according to its website,  creates “scenes of chaos and joy in public places.” The group may best be known for its annual “No Pants! Subway Ride” prank, in which troupe members go about their subway commutes without wearing pants.

In 2002, the prank started with seven participants. This year, 1,200 people participated, and the prank made news. Companies like T-Mobile took notice.

In January, T-Mobile promoted its “Life is for Sharing” campaign by using a Improv-Everywhere-like flash mob.

At Liverpool Street Station in London, people were going about their daily commute when music blared through overhead speakers. 400 dancers in street clothes and station uniforms broke into a choreographed dance. They bopped for three minutes, and casually dispersed.

Using hidden cameras, T-Mobile filmed the event and aired it as a TV commercial, which has been viewed on YouTube over 13 million times.

Buoyed by the success of the train-station dance, T-Mobile created another crowd  event which was recently held in Trafalgar Square. 13,500 people gathered to sing “Hey Jude,” “Summer Lovin’,” “Say a Little Prayer for You,” Hit Me Baby One More Time,”  among others. T-Mobile passed out microphones to the crowd, and a huge screen displayed lyrics and video of the crowd itself.

Again, T-Mobile filmed the event, ran the “Hey Jude” segment as a TV commercial, and uploaded it to YouTube. The company hoped that the thousands of participants would disperse it among friends.

The sing-a-long video has been up for about a week and has received almost a quarter of a million views.  

Thanks to Vanksen Culture Buzz, and their excellent blog, for alerting us to this story.

Photo courtesy of Sande Edwards

Scent is an often overlooked aspect of the customer experience. But not for NCP, the UK’s largest parking garage company.

According to a blog post from The Guardian, NCP conducted an online survey of 2,000 people. One-third of the participants said they were unlikely to use a parking garage that had a foul odor. Two-thirds identified the stairwells as the worst smelling parts of the garage.  

NCP decided to take action on their findings. Thanks to new technology, they are able to pump pleasant odors into the stairwells. But before they do, they are asking customers to vote on the scents they’d like most. Possibilities include: roasted chicken, cut grass, roses, mint, leather, and wood fire.  

Once votes are counted, the scented stairwells will have trial runs in garages in London, Birmingham, Leeds, and Cardiff.