Monthly Archives: June 2015

by | Tuesday, June 30, 2015 · 11:15 am

Books Double as Subway Tickets in Brazil

Books

To promote reading and celebrate World Book Day, Brazilian book publisher L&PM Pocket created an innovative line of mini-books that had an unusual twist – the books doubled as free subway tickets in Sao Paulo. The campaign was part of a program to encourage more reading; on average, Brazilians read only two books/year, finding it hard to have the time to read. The solution: read while riding the subway.

The books were distributed in Sao Paulo subway stations and contained a built-in RFID card that could be read by subway turnstile scan systems. People picked from 10 different book genres, including cartoons, romance, poems, classics, and mysteries. Each book came charged with 10 free subway tickets. The books are also re-usable, capable of being recharged online and then given to another rider to enjoy. In all, more than 10,000 books were distributed and the program is expected to expand to additional cities in Brazil.

What are you reading on the subway?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: How much do they read? How much do they think people read in general?
  2. What are the obstacles to reading more books?
  3. Show the video: https://vimeo.com/agenciaafrica/ticketbooks
  4. Divide students into teams: Have team develop an innovative campaign related to a public service need such as reading, conservation, safety, or similar topic.
  5. Have each team present their campaign and debrief the exercise.

Source: Ad Age Daily, Creativity Online

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by | Friday, June 26, 2015 · 11:10 am

Pizza and a Movie To Go

Pizza

Everyone loves dinner and a movie. And, everyone likes to have food delivered. But, once your food arrives, do you have a movie on hand, too? Well, you do if your food is delivered from Pizza Hut (and you are in Hong Kong). The company’s innovative packaging combines pizza and a movie by cleverly turning a pizza box into a film projector.

The Hong Kong campaign features a pizza box that has a special lens included in the pizza-saver disc that sits in the middle of the box. Punch out the hole on the box side, place the lens in the hole, then project short films through mobile phones via a special app.

The client’s brief for the promotion was simple – bring innovation to life in a way that captures consumers’ attention and gets them talking. The movie options include several genres such as action, romance, horror, and science fiction. And pizza lovers aren’t limited to a single app; the device can project additional content from phones as well.

Sounds like the greatest thing since slice pizza!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss fast food eating habits, particularly pizza.
  2. Show the video: https://youtu.be/wLfz0Pq-70Y
  3. Divide students into teams and have each team select a product or service.
  4. Give them the same client brief – bring innovation to life in a manner that captures attention and gets people talking.
  5. Debrief the exercise after teams have created an innovative campaign that uses existing packaging. (Check out McDonald’s tray bag article on this site for additional ideas.)

Source: Ad Age Daily, Time, other news sources

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by | Wednesday, June 24, 2015 · 9:10 am

Viral Videos – June, 2015

Video

Who loves puppies? And, who is fascinated with drones? All of us. Now, combine both of these and the result is a puppy drone delivery system ad from the Humane Society. Or is it? This ad is one of the viral hits in June, promoting the dangers of buying pets from puppy mills. A little unusual, but very effective.

Every week, Advertising Age publishes a list of the week’s top performing videos. The weekly chart highlights viral video ads that appear on online video sites. Each ad measures viewership of brand-syndicated video clips as well as social video placements that are driven by viewers around the world. True Reach™ quantifies the total audience that has been exposed to a viral video campaign. There are three key factors for viral video success:

  1. Reaching the tastemakers.
  2. Building a community of participation.
  3. Creating unexpectedness in the video.

Regardless of the type of product or service, the country of origin, or the importance of the message, what matters is reaching the audience in a way the both entertains and informs. Check out this week’s top videos and discuss what makes them “go viral.”

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Bring up Ad Age’s weekly Viral Video chart: http://adage.com/article/the-viral-video-chart/viral-video-chart-051815/298678/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1432656669
  2. Have students examine how the ads are measured by Visible Measures.
  3. Divide students into teams. Have each team select an ad on the top video chart and analyze the ad.
  4. What is unusual?
  5. Who will it interest?
  6. What is the key message?
  7. How effective is the ad at getting the company’s brand and message across to viewers?
  8. In teams, have students design a viral video for a product of their choosing. What are the elements that are needed to go viral?

Source: Advertising Age, Visible Measures – weekly update

 

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