15 IKEA Marketing Examples

Furniture marketing, by and large hasn’t really developed in any major way for as long as I can remember. However, there is one exception and that is Ikea.

The world of furniture marketing is a pretty conservative. Ad’s will usually appear in print or on TV where the furniture can be shown, usually with price and more than likely people enjoying said furniture in immaculately decorated surroundings. Now don’t get me wrong Ikea produce their own catalogue which fulfils all these furniture marketing stereotypes, but they do like to mix things up with guerrilla and ambient techniques and late last year saw a very clever yet simple social media promotion. Even when Ikea do TV ad’s they still like to throw in a twist that gets people talking about the brand. All of their more edgy marketing has one thing in common, it’s aimed at bringing their brochure to life. For more click through

Marketing Ideas: A 3 Step Formula

It’s a theory I have and maybe its a tad over simplistic. It’s not something that I would knowingly subscribe to but it demonstrates the power of influences and influencers, even subconsciously, upon our output. And looking back at most marketing campaigns it’s not a theory that can be easily discounted…. And to read the r

LAB: Top 9 of ‘09

LAB lists its top 9 of ‘09. That is the top 3 digital marketing campaigns, top 3 virals and the top 3 guerrilla and ambient ad’s of the year. Featuring Ikea, Rage Against The Machine, Cadburys Creme Egg Twisted, ESPN Futbol, Dexter, Coffee, Improv Everywhere, The Muppets and Samsung sheep.

VT: RATM, Panic Attack, 9 Year Olds, Jack Bauer V Santa

December 22nd 2009
This is the final list of the best new virals I’ll be posting this year. It’s been a week when social media took on the big guns and won not only with Rage Against The Machine’s chart conquering effort but also a $300 dollar short had Hollywood calling on an unknown Uruguayan film makers door.

Friendster: The Greatest Disappointment in Internet History

The social network Friendster is relatively unknown here in Europe. But it was the website that kicked off a craze that was better capitalised on by competitors such as Facebook, who just last week announced they had surpassed 350 million users. The social network that initially took advantage of the work of Friendster was Myspace. Oddly while the News Corporation owned social network has had its own troubles of late, Friendster has flourished in Asia, culminating in a sale today for an estimated $110 million. This might be a paltry sum compared to the $580 million paid for Myspace in 2005, or the $850 paid for Bebo by AOL in 2008.

10 key Elements of a Social Media Strategy

Facebook has recently surpassed 350 million users, Twitter was the most used word in 2009, in Ireland Bebo is still (for how much longer) top of the social networks, but then there’s Youtube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Authorstream and… the list is endless. There is in existence a social network for pretty much anything, yep even cats and dogs! And I haven’t even mentioned blogs or social bookmarks. But hold on, where does e-mail sit in all of this? and not to mention the money poured into a slick looking company website and in SEO to get good ranking

The Great Muppet Social Caper

The past week has seen Sesame Street celebrate its 40th year on air. However one of the Muppets most iconic characters will actually celebrate the 55th anniversary of his small screen debut. In 1955 a 19 year old Jim Henson was asked to produce a five minute show for a Washington TV station. The show was called ‘Sam and Friends’ and featured puppets in the distinctive ‘muppet’ style and a lizard like character called Kermit. The show ran for six successful years, ending eight years before Sesame Street arrived on the TV. In 1975 sketches, featuring would be Muppets, appeared on the first series of the American show Saturday Night Live. However all three major US networks (CBS, ABC and NBC) turned down the opportunity to produce a full Muppet Show series, so ITV’s Lew Grade produced the show in the UK and syndicated it world wide.

TV’s Dexter: 8 Great Marketing Moments

The Showtime series Dexter has stood out amongst its police procedural contemporaries for a variety for reasons. Not only is Dexter helping to investigate violent crimes where his work as a blood splatter analyst can identify exactly how a victim was bludgeoned brutally to death, but, in his spare time he also likes to be judge, jury and executioner for those who have escaped justice. The series is unusual, odd, strange and certainly memorable. Dealing with the macabre has provided much food for through for for the show’s marketer’s to take advantage and they have duly seized the opportunities. It’s hard to deny that the marketing of Dexter has been anything but unusual, odd, strange and memorable. Below are eight of the best moments from the first four series of Dexter.

Cadburys Social Media Success Story (Part 4)

The first Cadbury filled egg arrived in 1923, but it another 48 years before what we know now as a Creme Egg was launched onto the market. Availble between New Years Day and Easter each year it is the biggest selling confectionary item during that period. The main production factory in the UK produces 1.5 million eggs per day. In 1985 the brand introuced the ‘How Do You Eat Yours’ strapline that first hit TV screens in 1990 and later featured Spitting Image puppets and a young Matt Lucas of Little Britain.

Cadbury’s Social Media Success Story (Part 3)

Wispa launched in 1983 with adverts featuring British actors such as Julie Walters and Victoria Wood. In 2003 the Wispa was phased out and in its place was a new bar in the Dairy Milk family called Dairy Milk Bubbly was introduced. At a later stage it was revealed that poor sales of the Wispa bar had lead to its demise.

In 2007 a Facebook campaign to ‘Bring Back Wispa’ was launched. Over 14,000 Facebook users joined the campaign, that included ninety three ‘Bring Back Wispa’ groups. At the English music festival Glastonbury that year, a group of Wispa lovers stormed the stage carrying a ‘Bring Back Wispa’ banner. The product was re-introduced temporarily in 2007, a move that proved so successful the brand was reintroduced on a permanent basis in 2008.