Vintage adverts!

Just looking back at adverts 50, 40 even 20 years ago and you really can see what a fast-changing industry advertising is. I have become a little fascinated with vintage advertisements and honestly, some of them are pieces of art!

Now a days, I would never dream of putting any of the posters on billboards you see on bus stops or billboards in my house, but I truly think these are worthy of an artistic accreditation!

Here are two of my particular favourites:

Can you believe this is for toilet roll! It looks angelic and the height of luxury. Of course, people who buy the product won't receive this beautiful lifestyle, however the product will make them feel like they have a tiny part of it. I think it's beautiful and extremely eye catching without being too in-your-face!

I looked at this advert for such a long time as I love the detailing in each shoe! I think it's an awesome example of appealing to female emotion and delight and taps into that feeling you get when you try on a beautiful pair of shoes! 

I think modern day advertisers could take a leaf out of our ancestor's books when it comes to the beauty within advertising!

Steph

Genius Revolution in Advertising from British Airways

Check out one of the most innovative adverts I have seen from British Airways:

As part of the #LookUp campaign, BA set up a billboard in Piccadilly Circus which tracked flights and named them as they were passing. What an amazing attraction which is not only interactive, fun and interesting but allows consumers to engage with the brand on a real-time basis.

It ignites the imagination and child-like curiosity in people and for those who imagine where the plane they see up in the sky, they can find out instantly! It is inspiring and an absolutely phenomenal piece of innovation within advertising. 

I believe the campaign could also be extended through various platforms such as a smartphone app and to give British Airways phenomenal coverage and brand experience!

The ad was created by Ogilvy!

Dylon Print Ads

Check out these beautifully creative ads from Dylon fabric dyes by Grey Paris

The campaign was titled "Give clothes a second chance" and I love the adverts! They are totally unexpected for such a low involvement product. I feel as though the emotions in the adverts are conveyed extraordinarily and are humourous! 

The ads give the viewer an emotion towards the brand and are very memorable! 

Great job! 

Back to student life, event management and experiential marketing

I'm in a bit of a strange position at the moment, I finished my placement year at IBM and my summer internship at Vet's Kitchen back in August and since then I've come back to university to finish my degree. I'm in a weird place as I really miss the real marketing world of work and I find that studying now at university isn't really challenging or testing me so I can't wait to graduate!

However whilst I'm studying I am working part-time Freelance with a number of marketing agencies and experiential agencies representing so many different brands! This has given me the chance to really get experience in executing marketing campaigns and it's so interesting to see the strategy and planning behind them (the area I want to get in to)!

Here are a few of my favourite campaigns I've worked on recently:

Diet Coke:

 

Cheeky sampling day in Swindon & Chippenham pic.twitter.com/utGwHHWOSI
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) October 2, 2014

I worked with Diet Coke on their 'hunk' campaign which you might remember from a few years ago.... The background of the hunk campaign can be found here

They released a new TV ad with the strapline "Diet Coke Break" and featuring a lovely hunk! They then executed a Diet Coke sampling campaign and we set up in Swindon town centre with our hunk in-tow! He had photos with members of the target audience aka 17-30 year old females which were shared on social media and they were free to enjoy their Diet Coke break!

I really liked the campaign as it really translated from TV advertising to the brand experience, an important concept when bringing brands to life and translating the brand image across channels.


Kraken Rum:

I love my job 😆 pic.twitter.com/IzdRohCOO4
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) September 20, 2014

We were given the exciting chance to work with Kraken rum, a brand which has recently launched in the UK on working on their nightclub tours.

The Kraken is a mythological creature resembling a giant squid which lives 3000 feet beneath the sea. By playing on this brand 'story' we were able to engage nightclub goers with the brand and it's heritage. We also had our deep sea diver character which allowed a photo opportunity which could then be shared on social media, in addition we gave samples of the rum and provided discount codes for an 'Ink Bomb' at the bar. Then the 'Ink Dolls' provided a fire breathing performance assisted by a celebrity DJ and our very own deep sea diver!

I thought the way that the brand told a story was very impressive and allowed a talking point around delivering the shots and ultimately allowed the target audience to remember the brand. The brand is already huge in the US and they are fastly becoming one of the leading rum brands in the UK. Their website is absolutely brilliant and paints a perfect picture of the brand here.


Macmillan Cancer Care:

Come and run the marathon for @macmillancancer outside the arndale 😊 pic.twitter.com/EN7mWUHRHi
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) September 13, 2014

Macmillan set up a marathon track along Manchester's Market Street and encouraged members of the public to run a small percentage of the race which would all ad up to the 26 miles in a marathon. To run they were to donate £3 by text and their photos were shared on the Twitter page.

The event was an absolute success and we raised hundreds of pounds for the charity, engaging lots of people and creating a buzz around the city! I think it was a great way to encourage donations and create awareness of the brand without having pestering fundraisers or simple collection bins. It was a really creative idea which I thought was really effective!

Vanarama:

#vanarettes at Bristol rovers today!!! pic.twitter.com/bzIKXzaCJG
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) August 9, 2014

Vanarama are the new sponsors of the Conference league and for the first match of the season we wanted to create a huge buzz around the brand as it was appearing on BT sport so it was a great opportunity for the brand to gain some coverage!

We positioned ourselves as cheerleaders spelling out the letters in Vanarama and engaged with fans, cheered for the cameras and gave out merchandise.

The brand also offered a deal that with every purchase of a Vanarama van, £100 would go back into their club so it was great to speak to fans about the offer. The campaign had a lot of reach and highlighted the brand in a great light for the start of their sponsorship!


As you can see, experiential marketing is an amazing industry to work in and can be so varied from sampling to brand awareness to sponsorship! It has given me exposure to the marketing world and how these campaigns are executed and the thoughts behind them! I can't wait to continue working in the industry!

Stephanie

You can market ANYTHING.......

Recently, I saw a piece of advertising that made me think you really can put a value to ANYTHING with the correct marketing in place.

This is 'Smart water'- an "electrolyte enhanced water" which is being plugged by none other than Hollywood's finest- Jennifer Aniston.

The marketing's great and she looks great- there's nothing to fault with the advertising.... do people really believe that by drinking smartwater they will be as angelic and youthful looking as J.A?

I absolutely believe Glaceau water made the right endorsement choice with Jennifer, there is constant media speculation as to the reason behind her youthfulness.

However, I really don't believe that marketing a basic human need, a product which provides no value other than survival- can really be Jennifer Aniston's "secret".

"tasty" water.....

I don't know about you, but I think I might stick to my Bristol's finest tap water!

You really can market anything

I will be interested to see how well the smart water campaign does.

Mysterious Ape

You may, or may not have seen Southern Electric's new advertising campaign. If not here's a few of their outdoor advertisements:

Consumers are hitting social media to express their confusion and humour at the ads. Some people even thought the adverts were a mistake! You can read some of the tweets here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/everyone-is-confused-by-the-sad-looking-ape-in-these-energy

As SSE responded to questions of the relevance of the ad to their organisation/ consumers taking the piss out of an ape at a music concert/ country side/ over wind turbines, they said the outdoor ads were to continue the story of their TV ad about "looking at energy through fresh eyes"

Here's the ad:

To be fair, I actually like the ad and come to think of it I think I have seen it on TV before, however I think SSE/ adam&eveDDB need to learn from the following mistakes made in this campaign:
1) Consumers don't always have a high recall rate Even if people have seen the ad, it may not be in the forefront of their mind and the character doesn't automatically spring to mind and therefore the link between the TV and outdoor advertising cannot always be made. 2) You cannot 'create' a character's novelty or likeability It is only through consumer word-of-mouth and other earned media sources that characters are known, loved and remembered.... take compare the meerkat, it was the brand who created the character, but the consumers who developed his legacy 3) Don't just PRESUME that the consumer will have seen the TV ad Not only is it slightly arrogant to think that your marketing methods are going to have that kind of reach, but if your whole campaign is resting up on it then you're bound to fall at the first hurdle. 4) Don't create an ad that appears completely out of context on it's own I'm all for integrated marketing communications and with better planning and a more intelligent outdoor advertising message, the whole campaign could have been a success. Yet, the current outdoor ads are as described on twitter "a bit crap", it's almost as though their entire budget went on the TV ad, so they got the work experience boy to create the outdoor ads
All in all, at least SSE got huge PR out of this! And their ads have gone viral..... maybe not for the reasons they had hoped......

Steph

Cough drops advertised in Finland- a little different!

Check out this epic ad from a Finnish cough drops brand by ACTIVEARK JWT agency.

A great example- I doubt anyone could have guess what was being advertised before the cough drops appeared! 

I love this ad as it brings a story to life, thinks outside the box and creates something shareable, memorable and funny! It breaks all boundaries of standard 'pharmaceutical' advertising- we should take a leaf out of Finland's books when it comes to advertising!