Well this ambient ad is interesting, one of the few examples of ambient where a real consumer problem is sought and relevant advertising delivered to the consumer at the right time.
Zuritel is a car insurance firm trying to push a policy which covers damages up to 3000 Euros. The strategy they adopted was to find cars, with little dents across town and just sticker them with a "what a pity" symbol as shown in the photograph below.
This is as targeted as you can get in the offline world. Let me know your verdict
Well Happy New Year to all of you. I have been a little busy holidaying the past couple of weeks. On New Years, I was contemplating the conventional "Happy New Year to all my readers" but stayed away because I wanted to start this year by doing something different (Not wishing my readers seemed logical :)).
I couldn't ultimately think of anything different because I had a hard time waking up and staying in my senses, but what I do have this year is an innovative marketing attempt from a Recruitment Consultancy below.
These guys have used New Year Resolutions as an innovative way to advertise their offer. They shot an email which was eventually forwarded to me. The mail has been appended below - go through it and subscribe to their email groups if you are in India. I will be doing so.
Hi,
Wishing everyone a very happy new year. May god bless you with a great personal life. As goes good professional life and career, Green Rootz would surely like to make some contribution.
For all those who have made any of the following resolutions, we are always there to support you:
1. I will not work till late hours 2. I will maintain work life balance 3. I will not succumb to unnecessary pressures of management 4. I will no more accept that "Boss is always right" 5. I will look for jobs with better designation 6. I will look for designations that really mean something and aren't just fancy ones 7. I will look for profiles that justify the designation 8. I will look for companies that put me on high trajectory growth 9. I will no more do monotonous mundane boring work 10. I will move from sales to marketing 11. I will move from marketing to content acquisition 12. I will move from content acquisition agency side to client side 13. I will move from content acquisition client side to movie production house 14. I will look for more strategic oriented profiles 15. I will look for assignments that provides international exposure 16. I will double my salary in the next 12 months 17. I will look for responsibilities that aren't restricted by geographical boundaries 18. I will look for assignments that requires understanding of multiple functions 19. I will not make more than one presentation or pitch in a week 20. I will no more waste time checking and approving artworks 21. I will work for companies with enough cash reserves to support ambitious business plans 22. I will invest more time reading and updating myself with the happenings around the world so that I can explore better opportunities 23. I will not work for companies that don't have employee friendly culture 24. I will not work for boss who is less intelligent than I am 25. I will not work in the company wherein I have already learnt what I could learn.
Go on and make more such resolutions. We will try our best to make sure you keep them.
To keep yourself updated of vacancies in Media, Entertainment & Telecom sector, register with Mediajobs Googlegroup created by Green Rootz. It takes 30 seconds to register if you have gmail id. Click on the link below for the same: http://groups.google.com/group/mediajobs
Thanks & Regards,
Harish Jain Green Rootz Manpower Consulting 2nd Floor, C Wing, R.R. House, Mathuradas Mill Compound, Opposite Kamla Mills, Near ICICI Bank, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel Mumbai 400 013 Email: harish.jain@greenrootz.com Phone: 022 32465007 Mobile: +91 9819 511 007 http://www.linkedin.com/in/harishjain
"We call ourselves Green Rootz because Green is the color of life and Roots are the reason for growth. Thus, all the endeavors of our company are focussed on Growth of Life. 'Z' at the end of Rootz signifies 'new-age; with the time' attitude of the company. Thus, relevancy is at the core of our beliefs"
So everyone has seen signboards & direction boards for restaurants, shopping centers and cafes? Of course you have, and you probably think that its been so done to death, that nothing can be done differently...
Traditional advertising is trying to break clutter more than ever before. An ad on a new medium is always likely to attract attention for a while, but gradually consumers develop a blind spot on this medium.
The purpose of many marketers and this blog is to break through this blind spot. The means to achieve the end is - either use innovative media, use existing media differently or create clutter breaking ads. The ad below uses the second option and innovates on existing opportunities to reach the consumer.
Source - Ads of the World
This guerrilla marketing was initiated by Soma Coffee House in Canada. The primary objective was to advertise the addition of a wine bar to the coffee house. The secondary objective was to direct people in the vicinity to the venue.
Not only did they advertise the Wine Bar addition using a sign board / direction board, but also coupled it with footsteps which took consumers to the outlet doorstep. The beauty is that the footsteps were little drunken footsteps, in sync with the added wine bar.
In India and probably the world over, branding opportunities have been exploited on trains & buses. Opportunities with taxis have been largely sidelined. I am not talking about printing "Wong's Restaurant - Great Chinese Food" on the door, but looking at branding opportunities inside the taxi.
Taxis lend themselves to Point of Sales merchandise, sales material and sales itself. I have been extremely bored (and hungry) on many a journey undertaken. These moments can be used by brands to communicate significantly more than what is possible on a hoarding or other outdoor media. Costs are relatively cheap as your only spend is on brochure material - which will be carried along only by interested consumers. Some fixed fee has to be paid to the taxi operator
Why : People have nothing better to do on journeys apart from read or eat. Its extra income for the taxi and there is no other avenue to get the consumer to read as much about your high involvement/knowledge intensive product. Many consumers will in fact like to catch up on the latest in investment options.
What to sell : Its ideal for sales material on real estate projects, insurance, investment options, New mutual fund launch, IPOs, Magazines etc. The consumer is well defined as a corporate traveler and likely to be on the lookout for such info.
You might just be able to extend it to sales of FMCG products like Chocolates / Gum / Snacks by using the available space on the dashboard near the windshield to stock limited merchandise
Which taxis : Those used by Corporate travelers. Taxi operators who have tie ups with large companies
How many brands : Very limited space implies very few brands can be stocked - so hop on immediately
Operationally : Sell it to the taxi operator who distributes it amongst his taxis. He is also responsible to train drivers on creating awareness amongst Corporate travelers.
Brand PR : Good for the first guys who jump on
Brand Awareness/Knowledge : Builds not just brand awareness, but also brand relevance and preference
Is Sales Significant : Yes, since its high value and low effort. Also all those who read are favorably impacted.
Just make sure the driver does not push for sales, as that would become frustrating. The driver should just inform the consumer of brochures and magazines available. Can the driver slowly be upgraded into a role of a consultant on the various investment options available?
Just checked out some cool promotion gimmicks at entrepreneur. "Sign Spinners" as they are called, involve using acrobats and balancing artists to twirl sign boards around their fingers. These stunt men are typically located on high traffic junctions and twirl signboards around their fingers. It is a display of great skill.
Reports have it that it has had some serious car stopping effects, and is bound to generate tremendous buzz value for the first brands to attempt it. Its very low cost and involves getting permissions (from the government - All the best!!) at some key vantage points but no major additional expenses.
Of course the message being communicated should be minimalistic and I see only a brand name communication as possible. It automatically has a great fit with website traffic generation & communication of discount offers. Theme message communication looks difficult. There should be more ways to use this medium - Maybe two spinners, also doing a juggling act...
