An inspiring campaign "Dance (RED) Saves Lives", that Coke and Red have launched together was a movement to raise awareness of AIDS/HIV in the lead up to World AIDS Day (1st December). What other fun and great way to do this other than through dance, which was the main element to this campaign. It encouraged consumers to join the dance movement and upload their own video in support of the fight for an aids-free generation. It included the official video of Tommy Trash's remix of Empire of the Sun's song "Celebrate", that featured a few infamous dancers that many of the younger demographic have connected with on social media; meanwhile, showing a simple signature dance that consumers can follow and feature in their own music videos, also using the featured song. Harry Shum Jr, Jabbawockeez, Brian Puspos, and Les Twins all in one video, yes! The movement also reached Sydney for the dance music festival "Stereosonic", where live-streaming of the 2-day event was available on danceRED.com.
It is a known fact that safety video instructions on flights can be dull and boring. Virgin America have launched a new safety video that have the entertainment and creative elements to it, that is, using dance and music. Of course, this makes it more exciting and enjoyable to watch and listen.
I also found that this video had spread viral though my social networks. Lots o' Love, Linda
Ensemble were the geniuses behind the creation of the MagnumPleasure Pop-Up store at Westfield Sydney. With pop-up stores in other cities including New York, Milan, Shanghai and Toronto as part of a global campaign, the 6 week promotion created quite a buzz! I was fortunate to experience this on its final day, even though I had to wait in line for what seemed liked ages. It was definitely worth it! Designing your own magnum ice cream from a range of toppings and then seeing it being created before you is something you can't let pass. I'm sure everyone can relate to the feeling the pop-up store gave, which was making everyone feel like a big kid again at a candy store or close to being at Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. And of course, an experiential marketing campaign cannot do without integrating social elements. IPads were provided on location where consumers were able to share photos of their aesthetically pleasing creations on social media.
Nike's slogan "Just Do It" celebrated its 25th anniversary with their new campaign "Possibilities" featuring LeBron James, Serena Williams, Gerard Pique and Andre Ward.
For the first time, Nike is using their classic tagline as a hashtag (#justdoit) on social media to inspire viewers to participate in Nike+ challenges including Nike+ Running and NikeFuel challenges using the Nike+Running app.
Happy 25th Birthday, you're just as old as I am! Made famous by Dan Wieden (founder of advertising agency, Wieden+Kennedy), the very first advertising campaign in 1988 featured 80 year old, Walt Stack. Clickhereto check it out the original commercial.
A few months ago (late May to be exact), I was fortunate to see Johnny Earle present at Vivid Sydney Ideas , Co-Create the Experience. I've been following Johnny since 2010 via Twitter, so I was super excited to see and meet the mastermind of the Johnny Cupcakes brand, all the way from Boston. He was named as Business Week's number one Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008 at the age of 26. He spoke of how he turned a simple idea into the successful business it is today. He spoke how he thinks his concept is strange, but strange is good. Strange is important. And, I can tell you, his entrepreneurial mindset was really inspiring to say the least. And, I certainly learned a lot about marketing during his key note presentation. I came to learn about Johnny Cupcakes in 2010 from Twitter and followed him since then. Of course, at first, I thought it was just a cupcake brand, but it wasn't. It's actually a t-shirt brand, with physical stores decked out to look like bakeries. A lot of his brand awareness came as a result of word-of-mouth. Johnny spoke about how he did not advertise his brand, but the beauty of word-of-mouth of his brand, to his surprise, spread not only domestically but internationally. And this was because of the following;
Packaging
Experience
Keep people talking
Travel
Network
Build a community
Re-invest into the brand
Keep positive
Thrills and surprise
Further important notes I took from this session are:
Approach people you know AND don't know
Leave social circle and meet new people
Don't worry about getting broke
Everyone should have a business card
Do more of what makes you happy!
Johnny Cupcakes Pop-Up Store in Sydney
The little gift he hid under our seats as a 'surprise' strategy.
Meet & Greet! I was tired by this time while carrying heavy textbooks, but I was real happy to meet him!
This moment will go down to one of my highlights of the year. To learn more about Johnny Cupcakes, watch this video;
What's a kid to do when they are abused by an adult? They are vulnerable and wouldn't know what to do, who to tell or where to go.
A clever designed campaign by ad agency, Grey (Spain), for ANAR Foundation(Ayuda A Ninos Y Adolescentes En Riesgo or Help For Children And Adolescents At Risk) was launched in Spain with the aim to increase child abuse awareness and encourage child abuse victims to reach out for help by making a phone call in discreet.
The outdoor poster ads have two seperate messages for two target groups; one aimed at adults and the other aimed at children. Each target message were designed to be visible only for the intended target group, made possible by knowing the average height and using a lenticular lens.
The message made visible to the adult is a general child abuse awareness message. It also displays an image of a clean face of a boy from the adult's point of view.
Whereas, the other message aimed at children displays the same image of the child but clearly appears to have wounds and bruises as a result of violence. The important message of making a phone call along with a number are also displayed and visible only from their point of view.
In celebration of Mother's Day 2013, Google launched a campaign to honour the mothers of the world called Here's to the Moms. There is also an additional digital page to allow users more ways to celebrate and thank their mothers by using Google products (keep in mind, I'm Australian, hence I use "mums" instead of "moms"). They are able to create a Mother's Day card using Google Doodle; share videos from YouTube; search Google Maps for florists near by for flower deliveries; use Google Plus to create circles and hangouts; and Google Offers for last minute gift shopping just to name a few.
If you were on the Google homepage on Mother's Day, you would probably have enjoyed the fun Google Doodle of creating a Mother's Day card. To have a play with it if you haven't already or to read more of behind the scenes of the project, click here. Here's another touching video that I've found byFamily Share.
To the mothers of the world, never forget how special and important you are. Your hard work never goes unappreciated. The world wouldn't be where it is today without you all. And of course, to my very own mother, thank you so much for everything you have done and continue to do. I'm a pretty hard and stubborn kid. You have spoiled me with too much in this world and I can't imagine how it feels to raise someone like myself. Thank you so much for being brave, hardworking and never giving up on me. And not to mention, you are hilarious! The weird habits you have make the funny and awesome person that you are. Everyday is another episode of what I like to call it, "Keeping Up With the TRANdashians" and I can't imagine it otherwise. Thank you. I really mean it. I LOVE YOU!
I've mentioned in a previous post about how genius the Pixar team is at experience marketing by creating auniversity website to anticipate the upcoming Monsters University film, and it never stopped from there. The marketing geniuses behind Pixar places more social media to clever use by creating a 'student-run' Tumblr blog called, The Grumblr. It's an easy blogging tool that allows for quick posts of photos, memes, GIFS, videos and reblogging posts that tickle your fancy. And, it's a great way to connect with Monsters Inc fans in the Tumblr community and for them to have a taste of the life of MU students. To make it even look more realistic, some images have been posted as 'instagram' style photos. Here are some instagram pics posted on The Grumblr, cause any active Tumblr user knows that instagram pics are commonly posted.
Being a woman, I know how hard it can be sometimes. I am also very aware of how critical we can be to our own selves. Afterall, we all seem to be our own worst critic and enemy. And most of all, those criticisms all stem from how we perceive ourselves...on theoutside.
There's always some kind of flaw that we pay the most attention to or are most self-conscious about. Ask any girl and she will tell you what they dislike about their image. Even the most gorgeous looking people will pick out some kind of flaw in themselves. I guess it's also hard cause people are always talking about people's looks. We start making comparisons and feel insecure about ourselves because we don't feel that we weigh up to society's standards. This is not to bash on girls but every now and then, I do hear and read harsh comments from other girls saying stuff like "she's not that pretty", "she's ugly", "she's disgustingly skinny", "her teeth are ugly", or "she's got no ass".
Dove is a brand that is always on the mission to inspire women to embrace their own beauty. Agency, Ogilvy & Mather (Brazil) were the geniuses behind Dove's 'Real Beauty Sketches' campaign that went viral after its release more than 2 weeks ago. It's a clever social experiment that challenges how women currently think about themselves and to remind us that we are indeed beautiful the way we are.
One hundred and twenty pairs of running shoes were arranged in a colourful heart as the cover image of the May issue of Boston Magazine. These shoes belonged to some of the participants at this year's Boston Marathon. The issue also features a piece of individual photos of 15 pairs of runners with each their own story of their response to the tragedy.
Within 18 hours of its release on Twitter, the image was re-tweeted 1,063 times. A digital page was also launched so more people from around the world are able to post photos of their shoes and share their own story in relation to the Boston Marathon.
There has been a great deal of kindness, support and resilience from people around the world for the people of Boston. Hope these are inspirational.
Here are some of the individual photos of shoes and stories:
Many of us, especially those who were there, may still be making sense of the recent tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombings. While this post is not going to recount of what happened on April 15th, this is more so about the response to it, particularly in the community and media. As a marketing student, I was also really interested in the social media response and PR activities involved. Where were you when the Boston bombings unfolded? Or HOW did you find out about the Boston bombings? Me? It was early Tuesday morning (Australian Eastern-Standard Time) on my commute to uni when my Twitter timeline was bombarded with tweets mentioning "Boston", "Boston Marathon", #prayforboston and #bostonstrong. All of the information I was receiving came from no other than the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. I did come across a couple of posts on Facebook, but those were only a fraction to the continuous developing updates and action on Twitter. Whether it be links to articles from official news services or tweets from actual witnesses who were there at the time of the marathon. Pretty much, most of the tweets on the timeline had a mention about it. Perhaps, it had a lot to do with the majority of my "following" list being Americans, but Australian journalists were also tweeting about this as the news developed. It's fair to say that Twitter was the preferred source for readily accessible information when it comes to developing and breaking news. According to Mashable, Michael Sippy (Twitter VP of Consumer Product) revealed that 'Boston' received an increase of 20,000% of mentions on Twitter in response to the tragedy. Twitter users quickly made re-tweets, but most of us don't stop to think before we hit the re-tweet button. We don't assess whether the information we're reading is correct or whether the source is valid and reliable, nor whether the charities that pop up in response are legitimate or scams. For this reason, comes lots of complications and challenges when it comes to utilising Twitter as a news platform. There are many flaws and interesting things to think about in terms of journalism which are also well discussed in the following articles; Simon Rickets (The Guardian), Hank Stuever (SMH) and Mathew Ingram (Paid Content). Ever since the FBI revealed blurry images for the public to help identify the suspects, I was following the coverage via Twitter up until the final capture of one of the two suspects. I was glued to Twitter, and noticed a lot of the mistakes that were being made by journalists and social media users, as the interplay between the two was intriguing but also very conflicting. Journalists were competing with each other to be the first to report the news. Even mainstream tv news broadcasts seem to have failed to respond as quickly for news delivery in comparison to digital media. Of course, we all know that journalism is a business but reporting without verifying the information first can be damaging to the investigation and those affected. This was particularly evident in the case of Sunil Tripathi. An innocent Brown University student who had been missing for a whole month, was speculated as a bombing suspect on Reddit. Some journalists I was following also tweeted this information immediately without confirmation because they heard the name on the police scanner. NBC's news reporter, Pete Williams was praised as the hero reporter for his careful and accurate reports and challenged the speculation that was already being reported such as the case of Tripathi. Unfortunately, Tripathi had recently been found deceased and had nothing to do with the Boston tragedy. My thoughts are with his friends and family. RIP. While digital news is on the rise, and many flaws that come with them, they are still valuable. It's not all bad news when it comes to social media and it can't entirely be dismissed. As shown in the case of a higher-resolution photo of one of the suspects was supplied to assist in the suspect's identification. And Watertown resident, Andrew Kitzenberg who captured photos of the shootout in his neighhourbood and documented them onto Twitter. His first hand account is available on his blog (Get On Hand), in which he kindly asked news and media outlets to make a contribution to The One Fund Boston upon using his images. Only mistakes that are continually made without acknowledging them will cause the journalist and news organisation's brand to lose credibility. Lots o' Love, Linda
Alicia Keys and her team have integrated social media into the marketing of her fifth concert tour, 'Set the World on Fire' as a way of personally connecting with her fans. This included creative uses of Tumblr, crowd-sourcing, Twitter and Behind-the-Scenes clips. Tumblr: Tumblr users were selected to document her tour as it unfolded. This meant that users were encouraged to post content, take photos, create gifs and collages. As a bonus, a photo pass, two show tickets and two meet-and-greet tickets were given to the Tumblr users involved. Keys is also an active user (www.thekeysofalicia.tumblr.com) on Tumblr and is also able to connect with fans by 'liking' and 'reblogging' posts.
Crowd-sourcing: Alicia Keys' "Illuminate Me" video that was played during each show used a crowd-sourcing component. This meant that attendees at each city were given the opportunity to feature in the video at the concert when they submit photos of themselves as part of a "Keep Moving - Your City, Your Video" initiative.
Twitter: Using the hashtag #AliciaDedicates on Twitter, fans tweet their section, row and seat number for the opportunity to have a song personally dedicated to them by Keys. Click the link to view the campaign video since it's an unlisted video on YouTube. Behind-the-Scenes Clips: Videos were also released on YouTube prior to the tour to create anticipation of her tour. Eg:Rehearsals Part 1. I believe these ideas are clever and creative ways for a recording artist to collaborate with fans utilising social media to facilitate with the marketing of upcoming tours. For more information on the projects, click here. Lots o' Love, Linda
What wonderful things you may find as you go for a walk! I found my name literally in concrete! I guess I was bored enough to pay close attention to the ground I was walking on, but hey, I was pretty excited when I spotted this!
This is for those curious to know what the world searched for on Google in 2012. Here's a Google Zeitgeist video that not only sums it up but also inspires us.
What is Google Zeitgeist?
zeit·geist
Pronunciation: 'tsIt-"gIst, 'zIt
Function: noun
Etymology: German, from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit)
Date: 1884
Meaning: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.
"Zeitgeist" means "the spirit of the times," and this spirit can be seen through the aggregation of millions of search queries Google receives every day. The annual Zeitgeist report reveals what captured the world's attention in the past year - out passions, interests and defining moments as seen through search.
Explore the most recent Year-End Zeitgeist, or take a trip back in time by looking through the archives.
When was the last time you gave someone a compliment? Let it be for a loved one or even for a complete stranger, we all know that a compliment will always lift up someone's day. I think that in a world where everything seems to be fast paced and everyone's busy chasing their dreams, we forget to seize for a moment to let someone know how much they are appreciated.
Actor, Rainn Wilson, created this video called "Street Compliments" for his Soul Pancake online project where by-passers took a moment to give their loved one a compliment. Hope this video inspires all of us to give compliments, especially when they are unexpected.
Not to mention, another inspiring video that I've found from the Soul Pancaketeam is this one called "Take a Seat - Make a Friend?". Awesome is the word I can use to describe this whole concept! As I've mentioned, living in fast paced world, we don't often pay attention to strangers in public nor even feel that we need to. Technology has made everyone more attentive to the online world via their laptops, tablets and smart phones and to just keep to themselves. I don't blame them though, I'm also guilty of this. Talking to a complete stranger out of the blue can be pretty nerve racking because we are afraid of the response. However, if you take a moment to unplug and connect in the real world, who knows what kind of weird things you may find in common with a complete stranger (also a potential friend) as you will see in this video.
Someone bring these things to life in Sydney, please?
Ooops! I was supposed to post this video by Jubilee Project yesterday given it was Valentine's Day. I guess I got too distracted from watching too many videos that fit into this theme of "romantic love". From music videos, wedding proposals, prom date proposals, wedding videos, short films, to even some scenes from tv shows and movies (wow! I need to get a life!). All of which are inspiring or even heartbreaking. To me, Valentine's Day is just another day. But, seeing other people in love makes me happy and gives me a sense of unrealistic hope. Valentine's Day or not, we all know that love really does make the world go round and can certainly make us do crazy things. However, never forget that the most important love is self-love. Love yourself first to make giving and receiving love that much easier. Generosity Day: What is Love?
And, I thought this song "Valentine" by the beautiful Kina Grannis would also be relevant. I dedicate this song to everyone out there.
