Infographics

So Ive finally sent my dissertation to print, the thing that has been driving me crazy for the past few months. I mentioned in my previous post that I was looking at ways in which brands could use location based advertising to target customers passing by. To be honest I have actually really enjoyed writing about it, although slightly sick of it towards the end the idea of geofencing could be the future of marketing. This might not make complete sense as you've not read my dissertation but here are some infographics I designed to sum up my whole idea. Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts!

Hijack

So for the past couple of months Ive been writing my dissertation on the use of geofencing. For those of you that don't know geofencing is location based promotions sent to your phone via text. Quite a few brands have started using it like L'oreal, Starbucks and the North Face offering coupons, discounts and brand information. As Ive worked on my report Ive realised how successful geofencing could actually be in the future, however one thing that Ive noted is if brands want to move forward with the idea they need to be different. 

In South America Guetamalean shoe brand Meat Pack have set the path for all those considering location based marketing.The shop chose to use the app Hijack to create a much more innovative way to earn discounts. Every time a customer entered a competitor’s store, they would receive a message with a timed discount, starting at 99% off and slowly ticking down until the customer raced to the Meat Pack store. According to marketing blogger Mark Brill, ‘The campaign saw over 600 people ‘hijacked’ from stores and the fastest to get there managed to received an 89% discount.’ The idea of not only taking potential customers out of competitors stores but actually lurring them into your store with a timed discount is genius. Possibly one of the cleverest ways Ive seen a brand increase footfall and in return sales. 

Wimpys Braille Burgers

As sad as it sounds one of the things I look forward to at christmas is getting books for my course, I cant justify spending my own money on them so its nice to get them as presents. This year I got the book Goodvertising, which is literally like an encyclopaedia of advertising. Ive already managed to read it back to back, and found so many new things. Starting with the Wimpys braille burgers.

Wimpys aim was to let visually impaired people know that they offered braille menus in all of their restaurants. So to spread the word with the help of Metropolitan Republic, they built braille burgers using the sesame seeds on the buns. Reading '100% pure beef burger made for you', they sent them to three of the biggest blind institutions in South Africa and let 15 blind people finally see what they were eating. When I read about this I instantly thought how powerful and simple the idea was, although as mentioned in the video it was only small gesture, its executed brilliantly and brought together with a genuinely moving video. Nice to see fast food chains finally doing something sincere with their marketing. 

Its the motherhood, its another hood.

For a while now Ive been meaning to do a blog post but time has been limited with the large amount of work I have to do. And probably down to the fact that every time I sat down to write a post, I had nothing to write about. Listening to music on youtube I came across one advert I chose not to 'Skip' and actually watch. Known for their witty and funny approach to advertising, Fiat have released the Motherhood rap advert. Listing everything a mother has to go through from spending three months in pjs to swapping your sexy handbag to a snot stained sack, the advert features a range sharp lines with a catchy tune. Clearly targeting the everyday mum, Fiat barely promoted their car throughout the ad and focussed on appealing to a potential consumer. Really refreshing way for a car company to engage with its audience, hats off to Mother for creating what is being described as 'viral video gold'.

War Child

As I started watching the video I felt like I could predict what was coming next, the machine gun hold ups, hidden land mines and the grenade explosions. But each scenario didn't quite play out how I expected. The bloodshed was replaced with crayons, bubbles and children's laughter followed by the campaign slogan, 'Where Childhood thrives, war does not'. Canadian ad agency, John St teamed up with the non profit organisation War Child to launch its new campaign 'Jam', which aims to raise awareness of the thousands of children affected by war globally. Every time I watch the video I cant help but feel relieved by its ending, with the combination of a powerful concept and stunning cinematography the campaign comes to life and creates an immediate impact. 

#FirstWorldProblems

In a new advert for Water is Life, the charity features Haitian children and adults reading out tweets that used the #firstworldproblems hashtag. The 1-minute video features "complaints" such as "I hate it when my neighbors block their wifi." and "I hate when my phone charger won’t reach my bed". The video's concept of taking what has become a popular theme within social media and using it to expose the irony of the #FirstWorldProblems Twitter hashtag is brilliant. Not only does it make you cringe as they repeat the tweets you know you have posted this week, it makes you realise what is actually going on outside the not-so-crazy world of social media. DDB delivers one of the first campaigns that opts to eliminate the hashtag rather than encourage people to use it. What makes the whole campaign that bit more moving is the personalized responses in which various Haitians console those who have used the hashtag on Twitter. I think this is probably one of the best responses I have ever seen a charity create in order to raise awareness of those who are struggling to gain even their basic needs.

Helpless

For the past few months I have been exploring the ways in which brands use shock tactics to raise awareness and looking at how effective they are. This short film 'Helpless' is the definition of an extremely effective use of shock tactics. Telling the story of a man who's diagnosed with cancer, undergoes treatment, and lives, only to choke to death at a family gathering because no one knows basic first aid that could save his life. The campaign was developed after a recent study by St John's Ambulance discovered that over four times as many of us think more people die from cancer than a lack of first aid. St John Ambulance is now appealing to people to obtain a free pocket-sized guide featuring first aid skills that can help in the five life-threatening situations by texting HELP to 80039. The execution of the idea has been handled with such sensitivity whilst getting across the hard hitting statistic that 140,000 people a year die in situations where first aid could have helped. A very impressive approach to an issue that many people dont consider.