Beyond Thinking : Bord Gais

Bord Gais (An Irish Gas & Electricity provider) are no strangers when it comes to trying out new ideas in their marketing communications. To announce their foray into the electricity market in 2009 they spoke to bloggers ahead of the mainstream media to get their take on it all. That was incredibly well received. Earlier today they announced the launch of their new iPhone App, Think Beyond. The free app, available from today, allows consumers to check account balances, billing dates and transaction history for their electricity and gas. A future version will allow customers to monitor usage of power in the home.

So how do you go about launching an app like this? Think of your target audience – people with smartphones. They don’t necessarily have to be Bord Gais customers, but providing such a useful app may make non customers consider becoming customers. This is combination of early adopters, office/desk/pc bound who will gladly give up some time for a reward. So how can these people be reached in a way that generates buzz, ‘beyond’ what would be achievable in traditional media? Design a bunch of activities for them to take part in, offer some really cool prizes, use Twitter for its real time updates, it’s ability to post photo’s, and use those taking part to help spread word of the app and competition virally amongst a much wider audience.

The Rise of Infographics [Infographic]

Ok, so the headline isn’t true, but I would like to see an infographic depicting the rise of the infographics because for the last few weeks I feel like I have been inundated with them. Especially ones that relate to social media, or maybe thats more to do with what links I read or get sent online. I guess they help visualise a lot of data in an easy to digest manner. Some of them are useful I will admit that, and some are not so useful, and as can be judged from numbers 13 and 14 the backlash against infographics is well under way. Here’s a few of the more recent ones I have seen:

Kenny Powers & K-Swiss Tubes a Bizarre Match

You have to hand it to the marketing guys at K Swiss for pulling off the move of the summer. They had a new sports shoe to sell, not a fashion accessory, but an actual shoe built for to maximise athletic performance and endurance and who do they get to endorse it? Kenny Powers of course!

For those of you unaware Kenny Powers is the fictional star of the HBO series Eastbound and Down. One of the funniest shows ever made. He is a deluded fading baseball star who also has a penchant for steroids, cocaine, beer and hookers. Not exactly your average sports endorsement so. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr Powers, heres one of the best clips of series 1

7 Of The Best Youtube Marketing Examples

The Expendables Youtube Takeover and the Old Spice marketing of recent weeks gives me the perfect opportunity to finish a post I had started ages ago – about Youtube marketing. I was going to make it just about Youtube Takeovers, but thats a bit too limiting. In no particular order, and I might as well get The Expendables out of the way now….

Best Guerrilla & Ambient Marketing 2010

Picking up where my last collection of Guerrilla Marketing ended in late November / early December last year, here’s 52 examples of some of the best Guerrilla Marketing that have appeared since then. In the last six months beer brands and car manufacturers have been increasing their use of such tactics to rise above the marketing noise. Tactics have been small scale such as unusual business cards, large scale such as the Heineken Champions League stunt involving over 1,000 people, while social marketing (the selling of a change in attitude as opposed to products or services) continue to use guerrilla marketing as a way of making an impression on the viewer.

How to Ambush The Fifa Football World Cup 2010 South Africa

Nike latest marketing ploy, an add-on to the highly successful Write The Future viral, called ‘Write the Headline’ encourages fans to tweet and Facebook messages of support for their team. Up to 100 messages a night will then be projected onto a Skyscraper located in downtown Johannesburg. All of which further embedd’s Nike in the minds of the customer as an official World Cup Sponsor, yet Nike are not an official sponsor. This highlights the utter futility of Fifa’s ambush marketing rules that have seen them act heavy handed to smaller brands, who they can boss about, yet actually ignore the brands that are devaluing the sponsorship rights Fifa are jumping through hoops to protect.

Your Marketing is a Waste of Money

I read recently that we only remember 5% of the marketing communications we come in contact with. So going by those stats 95% of marketers, businesses and people who read this post will be wasting their money on marketing. I wonder how much that 95% add’s up to.

The average European is exposed to 500 marketing communications per day, compared with 3,000 if you are from the USA.

VT: Samsung, BMW, Nokia & Lego

VT: June 15th 2010. A round up of some of my own fave virals doing teh round at the moment. This time about its the return of Samsungs outdoor 3D projection this time as an interactive Youtube Takeover, BMW go all outdoor 3D projection in Asia, while Nokia keep it simple but inventive & relive the USA versus England highlights in Lego.

Bizcamp Slides & Links

I presented at the Bizcamp South East last Saturday. A very eventful day with plenty going on. Its kind of hard to describe what its like, maybe a mini festival of talks, given by people who know what they are talking about. No sales pitches, just people talking about their experiences or sharing their business knowledge and it was all free.

My presentation was on using Facebook for Marketing, kind of like my Market To Me presentation from April with a few changes. It’s all well and good me using buzz words in the presentation, but seeing these buzz words in action will be way more beneficial. I was limited with time in the presentation so I directed everyone to my blog for some practical examples and a brief ‘how to’ guide. So here it all is;

Hurts (UK band) & Their Online Marketing

I’ve been a fan of UK synth band Hurts since I first heard a remix of their track Wonderful Life on last years NME Radar mix. Its a total 1980′s fest, and even their videos have something Pet Shop Boys about them. For a band that have very little material they have picked up an amazing amount of publicity in recent months and a few things about their online marketing caught my eye. Their marketing approach is a slight bit different with a heavy emphasis on integrating video and social networks to their marketing ahead of their website to build awareness and drive up fans.