Your Story Alive: A Live Communications Blog

May 21, 2013 12:54 PM

Coca Cola Happiness Without Borders

Posted byAdam Sweet

This is a really beautiful experience; helping to unite two groups of people who may not interact at all, yet are similar on so many levels.

Interestingly, it has almost nothing to do with the brand or product, and everything to do with the user and lifestyle.

Enjoy this soulful video. More information: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/happiness-without-borders

Tags: Brand Stories, Cool Stuff, Consumer Electronics, Global Design, Advertising, Guerrilla Marketing, Innovation, Interactives, Media, People, Pop Culture, Product Launch, Promotions, Pop-Up Retail, Special Events

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February 15, 2013 7:43 AM

Using Retail to Grow Brands - Organically

Posted byKatie

Photo via lithemethod.com

The New York Times featured an interesting trend this month. Specifically, SoulCycle, a group cycling chain, has turned a gym experience into a ‘lifestyle’ brand – selling everything from scarves to luggage tags and nail polish.

One frequent member of the class and avid retail purchaser said that of the organization, “It’s like any other luxury brand.”

Another fitness based organization, Lithe Method, sells food, leggings and much more, with product sales accounting for 30 percent of the business and requiring that they have retail space available in their gym space.

While many brands today are evolving products into experiences and services, it’s interesting to see that experience-based companies – like your local gym – are also moving in reverse. While consumer brands and products may have more opportunity than those in the B2B space, it still appears that we’re seeing a growing trend toward and investment in merchandising.

Tags: Brand Stories, Retail Environments, Pop Culture

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February 08, 2013 2:51 PM

What We Can Learn from the Super Bowl Blackout

Posted byAlisha

photo by: newdiscovies.com

With the phenomenon that is the Super Bowl, the producers and team have a backup plan for just about anything that could go wrong. Well, this past Sunday viewers across the world were able to see that backup plan when the power went out in half of the Superdome.

While 108.4 million people watched Super Bowl XLVII at home and another 72,000 people waited patiently in their seats within the dome, crews scrambled to get power back up and running. Thirty-four minutes later the game resumed, but not without talk of how the power outage changed the whole momentum of the game. Just before the lights went dark Jacoby Jones of the Baltimore Ravens returned a history-making 108 yard opening kickoff, continuing the Ravens’ domination into the second half. After the blackout the Ravens only scored six points for the rest of the game, while the 49er’s gained 25 points.

With all of this drama that surrounded the Super Bowl it is important to point out how you can ensure a power outage will not happen during your event – pending any natural disasters. In an interview with Tony Barras, President of EWI Worldwide’s The TERM Group, we discussed the main points that need to be covered in order to help ensure your event will happen without losing power, based on his 25 years of experience working thousands of shows, exhibits and events:
1.   Do your due diligence to ensure you have all of the information about the venue that is needed
2.   Communicating venue information to the proper people, including managers, technicians, etc.
3.   Do not cut corners, answer all questions and have a backup plan; i.e., have a surge protector to ensure that the “abnormality” that happened at the Super Bowl will not happen at your event.
4.   Have skilled technicians on hand to handle any emergency situation. Usually the venue will provide you with a team.
5.   Before you choose a specific venue for your event run through this simple check list:
a.   Site Inspection
b.   Look at electrical capabilities
c.   Check the weather
d.   What is your back up plan?
e.   What are all the pitfalls?
6.   Have insurance to cover catastrophes. Murphy ’s Law states, “Anything that could go wrong, it will.” Prepare for the unexpected and address all problems before they get worse.

The goal to holding an event is to have it be successful in all aspects. The most important factor that needs to be considered is who you partner with for the show. The more experience, the better and the questions you know to ask the more successful the show will be.

Tags: Exhibits, Pop Culture, Special Events, Technology

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January 31, 2013 1:57 PM

Super Bowl Integration

Posted byAlisha

In a matter of days the Super Bowl will be upon us. With every Super Bowl comes the influx of companies vying for a spot within the four hour telecast. 2013 is another year for the highest priced 30-second spot at $4 million. This is forcing companies like Coca-Cola and Audi have to improve their promotions in order to drive up the number of impressions and influence sales. There is no better way to do this than a fully integrated marketing campaign.

Coca-Cola and Audi are using the pre-game hype to get consumers interested and invested early. This week, Coca-Cola released a minute-long teaser trailer of their “Mirage” campaign. It features cowboys, showgirls and badlanders racing through the desert towards a very large Coca-Cola bottle. The bottle ends up being a billboard with a sign attached it to saying “Coca-Cola, 50 miles.” The commercial then prompts you to go to their website to vote for which group you want to ultimately win the race.

Audi’s campaign features a young boy going to prom by himself. To brighten his spirits his father gives him the keys to his Audi S-6 sports sedan. The car transforms the young boy to a confident and daring individual. Once at prom he steals the principal’s parking spot and kisses the prom queen. Audi has created three different endings to this scenario and has prompted its customers to go online and vote for their favorite. The winning commercial will be featured during Sunday’s game.

By releasing these commercials a week in advance it gives the company longer exposure time and helps to increase the hype of the product featured. Both ad campaigns also feature a call to action from the consumer and takes advantage of the use of second screens. Most consumers have more than one screen in front of them while watching TV; the TV itself and a mobile phone, tablet or computer. This makes the consumer more likely to follow through with the call to action by going to the website and voting for their favorites, ultimately making the campaign more successful.

Tags: Advertising, Brand Stories, Media, Pop Culture

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January 23, 2013 11:04 PM

How To Make History Happen

Posted byAlisha

Image from Getty Images

As an American there are few events that happen in the US that make you more excited than a presidential inauguration, regardless of your political affiliation. As a marketer there are few things that get you more excited than seeing an event use every resource available – reflecting the broad spectrum from live to digital - in order to reach the desired audience.

2013’s inauguration was able to get more people involved than any other. And here’s how:

Launched a free downloadable app days before the event that included a schedule of events, maps, volunteer opportunities, a feed for social networking, behind-the-scenes videos and photos and live stream video the day of the event.
Launched a Facebook page more than a month before the event.
Created a Twitter hashtag that generated 1.1 million tweets during the inauguration. (#inaug2013)
Multiple different twitter handles connected to the event.
Live streaming coverage on every major television network website.
Live coverage on every major television channel.
Coverage in every newspaper in the country.
Held event in a venue large enough to hold hundreds of thousands of people.

All of this adding up to what is believed to be the most talked about inauguration in history. The amount of online traffic far surpasses any other inauguration. While the television ratings have not been released yet it will be interesting to see if the online presence affected them. Regardless, the amount of exposure this inauguration was able to achieve is a perfect example of how to saturate a group of people successfully and get a message out across multiple different mediums.

Tags: Media, Mobile Marketing, Pop Culture, Social Media

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January 03, 2013 12:23 PM

Make me! Hacking The Human Body: Meet Daito Manabe

Posted byEli

Intruging and creepy. The new human interface.

Tags: Cool Stuff, Creative Inspirations, Interactives, People, Pop Culture

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October 31, 2012 10:56 AM

#DressLikeFlo for Halloween?

Posted byKatie

With Halloween upon us, everyone is abuzz about what they are going to be for that one night of the year where you can dress in whatever you want and no one can say anything.

Progressive Direct is a car insurance company with a very famous face. Flo, the Progressive Direct girl, is arguably the most popular insurance company icon today. In a list compiled by Ad Age magazine, Flo was voted one of the top 10 female ad icons of all time; joining the ranks of fictional women such as Betty Crocker, Rosie the Riveter and Miss Chiquita. Flo is the only advertising icon of the last 25 years on the list.

This week, Progressive sponsored a #DressLikeFlo trend on Twitter, trying to get people to dress like Flo for Halloween. With thousands of Tweets regarding the event, one would assume it was a successful attempt to incorporate Flo into a seasonal event for fun and entertainment. Some Tweets are regarding how fun and creative their costume was at Halloween. However, people are also tweeting about how dressing as Flo for Halloween is “so two years ago.”

Most advertising professionals would think there would be no downside to Progressive’s attempt at reminding the public of how cool their spokesperson is. However, Flo has been a popular costume for years now. This new trend on Twitter isn’t a new trend in society.

The whole point of Halloween is to be original and daring; most people I know won’t even tell their best friends what they will be for Halloween until the big reveal at a Halloween party. By Progressive making it a popular trend on Twitter it made the idea less popular.

Progressive did a great job at using social media as a means to increase a sense of community and a fan base for Flo, reminding the public of just how fun insurance can be. They even included a new section on their website regarding easy tips and tricks to be Flo. Facebook and Twitter featured multiple posts about the event, with pictures to match, and it looks like everyone who participated had fun being their favorite insurance girl.

This campaign seems like a perfect way to give a friendly reminder to the social media sphere about where to go if you’re looking for car insurance. The success of this campaign can only be measured by Progressive themselves. It would depend on what their goal of the campaign was. The idea of being Flo for Halloween is old and outdated however, the campaign did bring light to the more fun aspects of car insurance shopping, which are hard to find.

Tags: Brand Stories, Pop Culture, Social Media

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October 03, 2012 9:26 AM

The Daily Twist - by Oreo

Posted byKatie

Examples of brands that have integrated marketing campaigns are something we are constantly on the hunt for - which is why we were excited to see that Oreo took their online Daily Twist campaign live yesterday in NYC.

If you're not familiar, as part of Kraft's 100th anniversary campaign, Oreo's had its own approach - the Daily Twist, which was promoted through their Facebook page. The Daily Twist, which lasted for (appropriately) 100 days, was essentially the Oreo cookie refashioned to reflect what was happening in the pop culture world that day. For example, when the refs ended their lockout, the Facebook page featured an Oreo in trademark black and white stripes. And, you may have seen this campaign nab headlines during Pride Month, during which the Oreo of the day was a stacked rainbow filling, which caused a stir in the media (linked and above).

For the finale, Oreo converged online, media, traditional and live elements to crowdsource ideas and vet, create and post live the last Daily Twist in Times Square. The resulting Oreo was a celebration of the anniversary of the high five, rumored to orginate between Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 2, 1977, according to today's article in Adweek.

Although we could probably list 100 reasons why we think this campaign has been successful, here are our top five favorite things:

Creativity. At its core, it was art in the medium of a cookie - simple and clean.
Beautiful execution. Creating and promoting something daily - and getting a village to agree on what that might be each and every day - demonstrates that Oreo has a well-aligned team and brand identity.
Well-timed. Both literally and culturally. Oreo had some that were pre-planned, but others were meant to reflect what was happening that day. One of my personal favorites was the Mars Rover landing (see image above).
It took advantage of all channels, not just social media. This was part of Kraft's 100th anniversary, generated multiple media stories and bridged some advertising messages as well. It seemed to be a campaign that was born from social media, but was adaptable enough to live through other channels.
It aligned with the brand's existing messaging, culture and brand. Oreo's ads have historically been focused on highlighting how this cookie bridges generations through the pure joy of the Oreo Twist and Dunk. According to Jill Applebaum, creative director at Draftfcb, which was one of the agencies involved with the project: "There's so much bad news out there all the time.Through the Oreo filter, we get to deliver a piece of happiness, a piece of kid-like delight. I think people just feel joy when they see it."

I am interested to see if other brands will try to replicate what Oreo has done - and if they'll do it as well.

Tags: Brand Stories, Media, Social Media, Pop Culture

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August 17, 2012 9:52 AM

Digital Storytelling

Posted byKatie

With today's news that Grand Rapid, Mich.'s own talented duo, Rob Bliss and Jeff Barrett (see Rob from last year's TEDxDetroit here) would be joining up with Pure Michigan and Chrysler for a 50-city tour to produce a Michigan tourism video, I thought it might be fun to share my favorite lip dubbed and choreographed videos from the past year. Happy Friday, and enjoy!

Tags: Brand Stories, Cool Stuff, Music, Pop Culture

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July 27, 2012 10:53 AM

Twitter at the Olympics

Posted byKatie

With the Olympics Opening Ceremony taking place today, it is a good time to look at how the international organization is handling something near and dear to the marketing world - social media.

All organizations - big and small, public, private and non-profit, regardless of industry - are challenged not only with managing public opinion of their brand in the social media world, but also the way their teams, employees, partners and other affiliates represent themselves.

The Greek Olympic Committee's recent decision to expell an athlete is the latest and one of the most high profile examples of the issues many are facing when it comes to setting the 'rules of engagement' for those involved in an organization.

A little background: This past Wednesday, Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from the Games for Tweeting the following:

“With so many Africans in Greece... the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!!!”

According to The Guardian, "The Greek Olympic Committee condemned the comment as 'contrary to the values and ideals of the Olympic movement.'" The decision - which cited The International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s "Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants and other accredited persons at the London 2012 Olympics Games" - also caught headlines for how quickly it was made.

Not only has this set a precedent for other athletes and future Olympic Games, but it can also serve as a reminder for any organization looking to stage a team event, or simply to communicate with their employees about appropriate rules of behavor.

Let's take a look at some key lessons:

When dealing with your internal ambassadors (team members, partners, etc.), it's a whole different ball game than dealing with customers. Setting separate 'rules of engagement' and how you'll respond for each of these audiences will help reduce confusion down the road.
Get everyone on board. The social media policy was handed down by the IOC - not it's communications team, its PR agency, or by individual countries or participants. Make sure you are all playing for the same team (no pun intended).
Do it early, and be specific. By putting the rules out before an issue was raised - and having every Olympic hopeful commit to it - not only were the participants accountable, but the organization had a clear outline for its actions.

I'm sure there are many other lessons we can take here - and I am personally excited to see how the rest of the Games unfold and if anything else comes up. For those of you keeping up with the games online, be sure to follow these handles:

@London2012 (the official handle for the Games)
@NBCOlympics (your go-to network for news
@USOlympic – Manned by the U.S. Olympic committee.
@RyanLochte – Just because it's fun.

Enjoy!

Tags: Brand Stories, Cool Stuff, Creative Inspirations, Pop Culture, Technology, Social Media, Special Events

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Your Story Alive

YSA

EWI Worldwide

This is a really beautiful experience; helping to unite two groups of people who may not interact at all, yet are similar on so many levels.

Interestingly, it has almost nothing to do with the brand or product, and everything to do with the user and lifestyle.

Enjoy this soulful video. More information: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/happiness-without-borders