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ABROAD – Let me entertain you… Burger King and Virgin Mobile team up
Well this was a pretty interesting article! Burger King and Virgin customers can now whilst buying a Value Meal at any Burger King across the US can get the latest ringtones from leading artists on their handset for only $1.
The concept came about through a need for providing perceived increased value to their clients along with providing entertainment whilst in their stores.
Ron – Brand Manager at Burger King mentioned. “With prices going up on everything from gas to food, our customers are always looking for ways to save anywhere.”
He goes on to say, “We’re constantly looking for innovative ways to provide value and entertainment to our BURGER KING® guests.”
The campaign is supported by in store advertising, and imact promotions across the usual channels. It gives us a really good idea though of integrating fast food with mobile technology, and adding value to the clients experience whilst visiting their locations.
Doin’ it digital at the Melbourne Motor show…
Recently whilst in Melbourne I treated myself to the Melbourne International Motor Show for a quick squiz of the latest and greatest toys to be released. Am disappointed that I
didn’t take my camera, as the Ford display was absolutely fantastic – their use of digital marketing and new media concepts was first class!
Avid b*Fresh (our monthly report) readers will remember past issues where I have raved on about Bluetooth marketing via localised hot spots – some may recall the example I talked about when Trans
formers was released in Australia, using localised hot spots in shopping centres. Well Ford have introduced these ‘touch’ panels on their motor show displays whereby people can come up and receive the latest information, photos and wallpapers direct to their handset.
The line up of fellow Gen Yers along with Xers using this technology was a testament to this campaign element’s success.
Further to this, they had an interactive panel/game on the floor whereby people can kick Ford ‘footies’ across a white screen to display an image of the latest Falcon. Whilst in the US this form of interactive advertising was reasonably prevalent at shopping centres and as
well at places like Universal Studios. It’s an innovative way of getting your advertising message across!!
User generated advertising
Are my fellow industry members going to be out of a job in the future?? The rise in user generated advertising – ie. encouraging a brands users to create and develop their advertising is rising! Recently, Sony ran a competition with the launch of their Alpha A100 camera to encourage budding photographers to submit their photos to the Sony gallery, of which the best photo would feature in the Sony advertising.
The campaign was incredibly successful reaching over 3,000,000 people and
achieving click through rates (CTR’s) 4-6 times the Australian average. In addition, the average website view stay time hovered around 13minutes with 35% of visitors submitting their photos!!
So what do all these analytic measures mean? Well, a fantastic result backed off a shoestring budget! More and more we realize that by throwing ‘dollars’ at your advertising problem won’t necessarily sell products or change opinions – campaigns that rely on creativity and uniqueness along with user interaction is what get’s people hooked!!
Reaching a virtual audience… game advertising
At June 2007, the Australian cinema box office did approximately $200m in turnover whilst the Australian games industry cracked a little over $1bn! Internationally, US males between the age of 18-34 spend on average 41.7hrs playing video games each week. We don’t have available recent data from Australia, but would assume we’d be a little less, somewhere around the 30- 40hr mark one would assume.
To give you another idea of how much loot the gaming industry is generating here in Oz, when Spider-Man 3 hit screens, it did $150m in its first weekend compared to when Halo 3 was launched which did $170m in the first 24 hours.
In- game advertising is an area that is starting to emerge more in Australia, with some specialist agencies from abroad stepping into this space, but as a result, data on its effectiveness here in Oz is still quite limited. US data is quite romising though, brand familiarity increased by 64% with average purchase consideration up by 41%, same as ad retention.
The big benefit of in- game advertising is the captivity that it creates – on average Australian users spend between 1-3 hours on each game they play, playing at least three times per week – there’s no risk of channel hopping so you’ve got a captive audience.
Essentially, the main opportunity presented by gaming is ‘in- game’ advertising using billboards, brand placement and other signage. With the integration of the internet into gaming consoles, these ads can be refreshed and updated just like we find in advertising conducted online.
UK education group: keep the Wii out of PE class
ising to hear that the Wii was being integrated into the classroom as part of a physical education program in the United Kingdom. However, that integration has come under fire by education campaigners who claim that the Wii is merely a “gimmick” that is “pandering to the physically idle.”
Late last year, five schools in Worcestershire, England began to integrate an award-winning program that used the Nintendo Wii “to improve attitude, behavior and attendance in schools across the partnership.” The program specifically targeted children who missed out on physical education, as well as those who opted out of participating in after-school clubs.
“School Sport Partnerships across the country are doing some ground-breaking work to increase participation levels amongst young people which is vital as we work towards our target of offering all young people five hours of sport a week. We’re proud of the way Droitwich and Worcester City School Sport Partnership are engaging young people to do more sport,” Steve Grainger, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, told the Worcester News last December.
However, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, Nick Seaton, has openly criticized the plan to Channel 4 News. “It looks like another gimmick. It’s pandering to the views of the physically idle,” he said. “Pupils would be far better doing serious competitive sports and games than this sort of thing.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health responded, saying that the government “welcomes the positive impact that innovations like these can have as a first step towards getting people to participate in a broader range of physical activities and to enjoy the many benefits of a physically active lifestyle.”
A recent study out of Nintendo’s United Kingdom marketing arm Cake suggests that although there is a slight increase in energy spent during a game of Wii Sports, the increase is not significant to “contribute towards the recommended daily amount of exercise.”
Nevertheless, the thought of video games during gym class is one that many young students could get excited over. Previous integration of games like Dance Dance Revolution in physical education programs has had positive results, and the flexibility of the Wii as a platform could lend itself to further opportunities—especially when used in tandem with software like Nintendo’s upcoming Wii Fit, which includes exercises that run the gamut from old classics like push-ups to modern yoga and dance.
While active video gaming may not be the ultimate solution to physical activity for youngsters, it’s certainly a way to get them started.
Unconventional recruitment strategies
Many of you will know as a Generation Y based marketing firm we duck and weave the topical ‘HR’ styled questions surrounding how employers can improve their retention of their younger staff members. However, I was forwarded this linksurrounding the increase in ‘Unconventional recruitment’ using Facebook and word of mouth etc (thanks goes to Kate from Fresh).
The article (based on a study by the Recruitment & Consulting Services Association (RCSA)) goes on to discuss the ongoing trend in using unconventional medians to fight the ongoing ‘war for talent’ that employers face in a fiercely tight labor market. It says that 90% of the respondents time and resources were spent on unconventional acts.
Furthermore, three of four niche job boards offer ‘refer a friend’ type incentives as the popularity of passive recruitment through friends increases.
The report also highlights the trend in recruiters turning to social networks such as LinkMe, LinkedIn and Facebook to help network jobs with potential candidates. This area represented about 37% growth.
It certainly affirms that ‘flicking through the Saturday paper’ isn’t the sole way to reach employees – and that maybe more emphasis should be placed on developing these non-traditional methods.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
Adam Penberthy
How to reach teens? It’s all about the brand!
Teens and early Generation Yers have always had a love – hate relationship with brands, whilst they can be brand loyal, many believe they are savvy enough to know they are being marketed too. Nearly 46% of teens surveyed believe that they tend to stick to brands they really like, with 52% believing that brands were purely created by marketers to generate money.
From the research, Apple iPod was announced to have the strongest brand, and was referred to by many of the survey participants that it was not only their favourite, but a brand that defined their generation. Further into the research, brand names were particularly important when it comes to; clothing and apparel, mobile phones, shoes and computers.
Marketers need to understand this progressive teen dynamic, yet must not overlook one of the major influencers of teens purchase decisions – their parents, especially, for those ‘big ticket’ items.
Adam
