The Nike ad that's not for Nike

At first, I was certain this was a Nike campaign. High production values, beautiful slow moment capture and an intriguing script. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually for retailer Rebel Sports (on second watch I spotted the Puma and Adidas clothing). It's quite a departure from the usual weekend sale ads and good to see them layering with a brand building campaign.   

Have a watch and let me know what you think of the new direction, you might even learn a bit about sprinting. I did. 

Fly Buys Billboard Surprises and Delights

Fly Buys have installed an interactive billboard at Wellington Airport that truly delivers on their brand position "Everytime you swipe, something a little bit good happens". It was great fun watching the genuine surprise and delight as people swiped their Fly Buys card to dispense a blue gumball. The concept captured the attention and imagination of adults and children alike and I'm sure will improve the brand perception for anyone who interacts with it. 

The billboard is an evolution to one that appeared the same time last year which was covered in lollipops. I like that they have added the need to swipe your card which brings the concept back to the brand proposition. 

A similar billboard also appeared in Britomart in Auckland this month and humorously dispensed Jaffas.

And while we're on the subject of Fly Buys I'm also loving their Dream Machine Kombi which is currently touring the country. 

Here's a quick video of the Dream Machine in action - spreading delight across New Zealand. 

To keep up with Fly Buys fun marketing ideas you can follow them on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. 

Top of the Pop Ups - Lasting Impressions, Temporary Stores

Pop up stores cater perfectly to our short attention spans and fascination with the new. A pop store can provide a brand access to high foot traffic locations, integration with large events and flexibility from retail leases. When well executed a pop up store can become a powerful brand statement and create a lasting experience for customers. 

Here's a few of my favourite New Zealand pop ups:

Rekorderlig's Winter Lights Bar
This week Rekorderlig launched their "Winter Lights" bar in Auckland. Complete with a pine forest and fireplace the pop up bar cost $400,000 to create and promote.

Emma Rock, Rekorderlig Brand Manager, describes the pop up as "a winter wonderland that delivers an immersive experience and brings our Beautifully Swedish mantra to life” (Stoppress.co.nz). 

(SEE MORE POP UP STORES AFTER THE JUMP)

ASB Succeeds On Facebook

 

ASB's current marketing campaign "Succeed On" is all about celebrating successes, large or small. I think creating a Facebook app that trades "likes" for a lower home loan rate is a success worth celebrating. Other than being a great idea, the execution is pretty envy worthy. 

Effective Bus Advertising for St John

Some effective bus advertising for St John that made me stop and think. The illustration of a relatable and easy to comprehend statistic makes this a powerful message. 

It's St John's appeal week, you can donate on their website.

What do you think? Does this approach make you more likely to donate?

Cadbury takes over the Sunday Star Times

It was impossible to miss Cadbury's take over of the Sunday Star Times this morning. A full cover wrap was used to promote the 'news' that you can now buy more chocolate for the same price. An expensive advertising vehicle to say you're now cheaper. The 10% extra applies to Cadbury Dairy Milk blocks which have increased from 200 grams to 220 grams. 

 

As I'm a Whittaker's fan an extra 20 grams of chocolate (or as Cadbury would say "10% extra joy") won't change my purchasing habits. The headline does give the overall impression all Cadbury's chocolate is now better value. Cadbury's 220 grams is still smaller than Whittaker's 250 grams, but price-wise Whittaker's has always been more expensive. I've always seen price as a reflection of quality, which is obviously key when it comes to chocolate!   

 

That said the newspaper takeover was eye catching and the current imagery has a nice "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" whimsy. It clearly got my attention... I'm yet to get past the first page of the paper.   

I'm keen to hear - what do you think of this advertising? 

Front page of the Sunday Star Times (More pictures after the jump)

Do teasers set your brand up for failure?

Recently a few NZ brands have been spending large on teaser advertising. Designed to create suspense, intrigue and of course hype - the teaser is a difficult and risky move. With social media making "buzz" a bigger part of product launches, brands hope to generate extra momentum by making their teaser a talking point. 

One of the biggest teaser campaigns we've seen in NZ was BNZ's Good with Money campaign. The advertiser was kept anonymous for a month before the bank was revealed. Almost everyone had an opinion on who was behind the billboards and TV ads. From an earned media point of view it was a success, it even inspired a Twitter troll and spawned multiple news articles. After the reveal BNZ's chief marketing officer Craig Herbison said  

"...it wasn't undertaken to tease anything about the bank. It was about starting a conversation." 

So with that in mind BNZ views the teaser campaign as a success.   

What's harder to gauge is what happened after the reveal. Were consumers pleasantly surprised or disappointed that a bank was behind the campaign? Has BNZ been able to live up to expectations and continue money conversations now that the advertising hype has faded? And the big question - would the money invested in the teasers been better spent on branded advertising? 

While the entertainment and technology industries use teasers successfully on the whole teaser campaigns can set a brand up for failure. The question has to be asked - is it really worth the wait? 

A teaser campaign requires a substantial investment in promoting the unknown. The theory being that the mystery and excitement created attracts a greater level of interest in your news. This is the approach Domino's NZ is taking - with their CEO fronting a national TV campaign to hype up tomorrow's announcement of a "game changer"... 

Teasing your fantastic new product's arrival is one thing but claiming you are revealing a "game changer" is a bold statement. It can't just be a game changer in the eyes of Domino's management or Domino's staff, it has to mean a game changer to the NZ public.

You can pretty safely rule out 'world peace' and 'a cure for cancer' as Domino's "game changer" and a wise bet is it's pizza related. So given these assumptions, will Domino's announcement really constitute a "game changer" for anyone outside their own company? And if you over promise and under deliver, have you done more damage than good in the end? Are you setting your brand up to disappoint your toughest critics - the public?


Twitter already seems a little skeptical of Domino's Game Changer... 

Can't sleep too excited wondering how Domino's Pizzas are going to change the game. #gamechanger
— Toby Manhire (@toby_etc) March 8, 2013

I suspect that Dominos Pizza interpretation of a "game changer" is different to everyone elses
— Wendy Smith (@wendlesnz) March 10, 2013

Given that the hashtag #gamechanger also includes tweets about the news that a child was cured of HIV, it's use by Dominos seems a little silly. 

While my expectations of Dominos' #gamechanger are low, I am interested to see whether consumers feel excited or disappointed when all is revealed. Consumers are pretty savvy and if they feel like Domino's is making a big deal over nothing it may just back fire. 

What do you think? Should brand's create teasers or are they just marketing gimmicks?