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June 30, 2009Yubari City Attempts to Promote Its Way Out of Debt
Yubari City is a Japanese coal mining town with 12,000 residents and $353 million in debt. They went bankrupt in 2007, so they hired an agency and came up with an awesome plan to turn things around:
The city worked with Beacon Communication to promote Yubari, reenergize its citizens, and help make the city economically viable once more. The Beacon creative team focused on the fact that Yubari boasted the lowest divorce rate in the whole of Japan and created the idea, “Yubari, no money but love”, with two mascots, a couple called “Yubari Fusai“. “Fusai” means both “debt” and “married couple” in Japanese.
Genius! And apparently, it is working. With the exposure their campaign created, they've attracted 10% more visitors, creating $31 million in additional revenue annually. It looks like Yubari City could be out of debt by the couple's anniversary! (via The Inspiration Room)
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June 29, 2009Magic Salad Plate
Had enough of health fanatics hassling you into eating balanced meals? Tired of those disapproving looks you get when you're at a social event and all you eat are meat pies? Australian pie company Four 'n Twenty has a solution for you: the magic salad plate. Perfect for holding your pie, it has the salad built right into the plate. Perfect for looking at least a little health conscious while making sure no actual vegetables inadvertently touch your food. Apparently, their gambit worked: they sold 25,000 plates in the first two weeks and pie sales went up about 30%. (via Direct Daily)
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June 28, 2009Mohawk-vertising
Wesley Watt was named "Probably the Best Mate in the World" by "Probably the Best Beer in the World" Carlsberg. And we add mohawk-vertising to the list:
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June 26, 2009Zubbles Are Go!
After years of development, the first colored bubbles are now available from Zubbles. Think of the branding opportunities! Also, just think about how cool it is to have colored bubbles. Around the world there are hopefully thousands of other tinkerers working to make already very cool things even cooler.
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June 25, 2009Travel Beans
| Zuji, which is a Travelocity company, wanted to help people save money so they could go on vacation, which they could book through Zuji. So, they had to come up with a promotion that would increase brand awareness, while also helping potential customers save some cash. With this in mind, they did what any organization in this situation would do: they started manufacturing private label baked beans and selling them for ten cents.
The musical fruit made sweet marketing music, driving up their web site traffic by 38% and getting them featured on 3,550 blogs in Australia (which must be pretty much all of them). Kudos to Zuji for showing many disheartened folks that there was still hope for a vacation through the magic of beans. (via Direct Daily) |  |
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June 24, 2009Sexy Clube's Got Your Back
Computer monitor mirrors were a popular product a few years ago. But what were they really for? Why has their popularity waned? Are there fewer people sneaking up behind us while we work these days?
Sexy Clube, which is apparently an adult web site in Brazil or somewhere, gave out monitor mirrors as a promotion, presumably so office drones could browse their site safely while at work. I suppose it is a cute idea, although by printing "Sexy Clube" on the mirrors they reduce their super secret-ness. Also, according to Direct Daily, these "don't get caught" mirrors were mailed to the homes of subscribers in order to prompt them to renew. Allegedly, the products were designed to solve a major problem in their customers' lives, getting caught watching adult content. I can only imagine they created a major problem in their customers' lives, receiving mailings that clearly indicate you are a paid subscriber to adult content. How subtle. Like being hit over the head. With a sexy clube.
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June 23, 2009Dollar Menu Hits Ad Agencies
The 99 cent pizza slice place near us has a line around the block, and even ultra-fancy restaurants like Per Se are adding low-priced bar menus. It was only a matter of time before ad agencies jumped on the bandwagon. After all, they are often perceived as expensive regardless of how valuable their service may be. Grey Amsterdam created this tiny direct mail piece to highlight their new "Lite" offering: small projects at small prices to accommodate the budget-minded client. What's next? Corporate law firms slashing their hourly rates? Corporate CEOs rolling back their salaries to mere tens of millions instead of hundreds of millions? (via Direct Daily)
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June 22, 2009Quality Counts
| Raise your hand if you're against quality. Probably no you didn't raise your hand, but anyone in business now is also really concerned about cost. Andy Sernovitz thinks that United made a mistake by offering an amenities kit in a nylon drawstring bag, which was clearly not as nice as the case that Delta uses for their long haul flights. I would agree with Andy that the difference between the two cases was maybe a dollar, but I also think there is a legitimate question: once you've eliminated unnecessary costs by optimizing your business, where do you start cutting corners when you need to? |  |
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June 19, 2009Quick Reference Buttons
| The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an organization dedicated to online freedom, from privacy to free speech to intellectual property laws and more. Since their organization covers a number of specific issues, it seems they have created some issue buttons. I think this is a good idea. Sure, the issues they support are complex and nuanced. On the other hand, one of their issues is transparency. I think if you can sum up your stand on an issue on a button, that's a pretty good start. |  |
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June 18, 2009Holding Things Together
| Here is a shirt that was sent out with Startup Schwag packages at some time in the past. I have a friend who says that all tools either bring things together (e.g., tape, thread) or break them apart (e.g., scissors, knives). Presumably the product that is advertised on this shirt brings things together, probably online. |  |
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June 17, 2009A Pair of Shellphones
| If a Corona can change your latitude, I'm sure shellphones can as well. These were created to promote Club Med as a relaxing vacation getaway. I think they're interesting in that they buck the current trend towards useful promo items. Then again, I guess Club Med itself runs counter to the current trend of being poor and worrying about money. At any rate, it is a striking item that makes its point instantly, an excellent execution of a creative idea that perfectly reinforces a brand message. That said, if they killed molluscs to make these, I'm pissed at them. |  |
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June 15, 2009Google Gadgets
| As the world slips into what is at least a severe recession, even some of the most successful companies are taking some precautionary measures. For starters, Google has laid off a small number of workers, most recently a couple hundred sales and marketing folk. They've also cut back some of their generous cafeteria and child care offerings. The tricky part may be figuring out how to take these cost cutting measures without destroying some of the goodwill they built up. One trick may be to use cool employee gifts, which have a high perceived value, but cost a lot less over the long run than serving up food all day. |  |
| Having events that explicitly celebrate the workforce, like this Sum of Google event (photos on flickr, via Search Engine Land). Again, having regular events to celebrate employees is probably significantly less expensive than providing other perks day in and day out. Commemorating events with t-shirts and other items can also probably extend the lifetime of the goodwill they generate. There's also the added benefit of having a more explicit message, a celebration of their employees, rather than simply a perk that turns into something they take for granted. |  |
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June 14, 2009For My Awesome Idea File
| No one likes to wait around. Right now, if you walk into a shop and need to take a ticket, you probably sigh and maybe just walk back out. But what if the ticket was...candy? Actually, though, why stop there? You could probably make these with hand sanitizer or aspirin. Or little pieces of jerky. I guess candy is probably best after all. |  |
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June 12, 2009We Made Some Magic Happen
| I mostly avoid writing about ePromos here, but we did do something pretty cool. We made 13,000 superman capes in 4 days and flew them in from China for last night's NBA finals game. For anyone like me who does not follow the NBA, Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic is nicknamed Superman because he's the league's top dunker. The capes were distributed to fans so they could show their support. |  |
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Economist Promotion is Full of Bull
Here are some images from an outdoor promotion done by The Economist in Dallas, Texas. It is very cute and would seem to tap into local traditions. It's definitely an amusing promotion, and The Economist has come up with some clever promos in the past. However, as a statement about the current state of the market, perhaps it would be more appropriate if they set up a boxing ring and let people could stay in there with an angry bear.
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June 11, 2009Pill Popping
How do you get the attention of teenagers so you can sell them your product? Do something gross, and try to help them with their terrible acne. This promotion from Clearasil clearly does both. The copy on these sample packs says "May this be the last time. The end of Acne starts with Clearasil." I say, may this be the last time I see packaging designed to simulate pimple-popping.
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June 10, 2009Brand Power
Andy Sernovitz points out that "you know a brand is great when it lives beyond the company". In this case, Pan Am merchandise is still on sale almost 20 years after the company went out of business. As a point of contrast, both Pan Am and Eastern Airlines went out of business in 1991. Good luck finding a store that sells Eastern Airlines t-shirts.
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Buddy Bag
A couple months ago, we featured a free bag offer from PADI, the world's largest scuba diving organization. It seemed like a very appropriate giveaway to entice divers who might want to subscribe to their magazine. A couple months later, we received this offer, which is cute, because you typically dive with a dive buddy. (For safety!) It's also, perhaps an economic indicator that shows it's getting harder to get divers to shell out for a magazine subscription.
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June 9, 2009Awesome Medical School Library Schwag, Part 1
| I actually don't necessarily anticipate there being a Part 2 (or 3, etc.) to this post, but I would love it if someone would prove me wrong. Anyhow, here's a promotional mug announcing the library's extended hours with a Spinal Tap reference: "It goes to eleven, five nights a week." Bravo! |  |
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June 8, 2009Wordpress Promos
Everybody loves Wordpress, right? So what could be a better combo than Wordpress and free stuff?
While one giveaway offer had to take a break due to overwhelming demand, it seems they are coming out with some new gear. They even have a flickr photo pool for Wordpress Apparel. Does your brand not generate this kind of interest? Perhaps you should develop some kind of incredibly useful free software.
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June 5, 2009Wes Anderson Film Festival Promos
Today I'm featuring a variety of appropriately twee promos designed for the Wes Anderson Film Festival (which does not actually exist). Why on earth would someone do this? School project. Presumably his professor knocked him down at least two full letter grades when he cut the Darjeeling Limited quote from the conference poster and "changed it to a Fall Out Boy lyric that possessed the same dry wit." Still, clearly put an awful lot of work into it.
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June 3, 2009Heavy Duty Promo Frisbees
Summer is the perfect time for promotional Frisbees (or Frisbee-type flyers or flying discs), for both man, and dog. In this case, dog food maker Iams created these barbell plate-style Frisbees for dogs as a way of showing just how strong they are with the right diet. Very cute, and a very good way to position their brand right in the middle of the fun part of the dog-owner relationship!
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June 2, 2009Yo-yo Promotes Antacid
This promotional yo-yo was created to market a product that prevents heartburn. It's a pretty cute promo, with the tagline "Don't let food repeat on you." I believe this is an Italian brand, so perhaps something is lost in the translation. Next year, boomerangs perhaps?
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June 1, 2009Musical Fruit?
Here's a cute promo for GasX, a balloon-filled french fry container that says "Desinflate" on the front. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that means deflate in Spanish.While this is really cute, it strikes me as something that would be incredibly difficult to produce. Imagine inflating 8-10 balloons per piece, which would presumably have to be done pretty soon before giving them out. Very creative, but too difficult to execute on a large scale, I would guess.
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