Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Bloggers Drive Brand Awareness

Here’s a great story about a young blogger promoting awareness of a new brand.

Juicystar07 created a video on Youtube praising Australian online custom retailers, Shoes of Prey and encouraged viewers to design their own shoes. By posting their designs as a comment to the video they could win a free pair of these bespoke beauties. The video became a huge hit with over 450,000 You Tube views and drove over 200,000 visits in one day to Shoes of Prey. Read more here.

Inside Retailing Magazine features Shoes of Prey in its February / March issue. The trio of ex-Google employees has established a world first in the online retailing of customized shoes. Consumers can design their own footwear using varying materials from calfskin and python to silk with more than 3 trillion combinations available.

A fantastic case study of the future of both retailing and marketing.

Positioning & the Run-Off Effect

The City of Port Phillip has provided Albert Park residents with public drinking fountains as many local councils do.

Notice however, the strategic positioning of the fountain. All water not consumed runs off to feed the nearby tree.

It poses the question – what incidental benefits can brands provide as a flow on from supply of their goods or services? Think Individual, Community and Environmental.

  

Which Bank Entertains its Customers?

I spied a young pianist tapping out melodic tunes on a keyboard in a Commonwealth Bank branch in Castle Hill Towers this afternoon.

Customers were put at ease with live harmony as they patiently waited their turn for the tellers’ attention.

Finally – bank fees used to enhance the customer experience rather than being channelled directly into shareholder dividends. More proof that the 4 majors in Australia are welcoming us back into the retail space. For further evidence of this trend refer to the recent ANZ Barbara Lives In Bank World campaign.

Monday, March 29, 2010

All Space is Fair Game

This post on Wooster Collective last week by Mobstr in Newcastle served as a reminder that not only is any public space fair game for activating, but who gets to decide whether it can be used.

 


Ultimately it's local councils and planning bodies that make the call on whether a space can be legally branded and this decision is based upon factors such as:

- Beautification of the area
- Not causing distraction particularly to drivers
- Revenue earning potential i.e. billboard space

Whilst no one wants to be bombarded with brand messages there are some dead spaces that could really do with some attention.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Smiggle Screen Scribble

Knowing my love of stationery, it was no suprise I paused for a good few minutes when walking past a store in Sydney last week. Not to gaze at the brightly coloured textas popping out of the window, but because I was entranced by the animation playing on the screen.



The team at Smiggle coloured in this large cartoon at regular pace and captured the process using a stop motion camera. It's a fun way to draw passers by into store (a moving window display catches the eye much more effectively than a static one) and to demonstrate the product in use.


Smiggle have cleverly hung their screens at portrait orientation, meaning that if they have no video content to play they can screen a still image featuring their latest promotion. This can be scaled to a standard window banner size, meaning one less artwork layout required. Video tells a story much more effectively than a series of stills, however there’s a myth out there that video costs a small fortune to create and edit, as it requires talent and large sets. This is far from the truth when thinking outside the square as Smiggle have done.