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‘Lost Cobra’ billboards scare up foot traffic to San Francisco retail store

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A San Francisco clothing store is drumming up foot traffic with an unusual approach—nine ominous billboards about a lost cobra.
“Our beloved Mr. Chips has gone missing,” reads the copy, next to a giant black and white picture of a snake. “Please help this sweet boy get back to the Betabrand store before before the mongooses find him.”
An online crowd-funding brand that focuses on clothing, Betabrand has a brick-and-mortar location on 780 Valencia Street. Sadly, Mr. Chips is not real. Happily, the company has not let an actual cobra loose on the city. But the billboards, scattered around the tech-saturated area, are producing predictably amused (and anxious) reactions on Twitter.
It’s a clever little stunt, playing on classic DIY posts about generally less reptilian pets. Plus, the campaign is clearly delivering results. In what is sure to be the best ROI metric of the year, SFGate cites a Betabrand spokesperson saying the billboard is driving “plenty” of people into the retail location, “including one individual purporting to be [Mr. Chips’] biological father.”

It’s not clear, though, whether the store’s new visitors ran in screaming at the top of their lungs, as if fleeing a venomous serpent.
Via: Ad Week

Ikea builds room in one of its stores to look like a damaged home in Syria

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Brilliant fundraising idea with the Red Cross By Tim Nudd
Ikea created a fantastic use of in-store media to bring the reality of the Syrian crisis home to those enveloped in the comforts of the West—in fact delivered to those right in the middle of shopping for those very comforts.
Everyone is familiar with the showrooms in your typical Ikea. But one room in Ikea Slependen, the retailer’s flagship store in Norway, was quite unexpected. It’s a replica of a real Syrian home—25 square meters of cinder block walls and meager furnishings.
Ikea posters and price tags in the space tell the story of a typical Syrian family’s plight, including the lack of food, medicine and clean water. The price tags also serve as donation slips, as the stunt is a fundraising effort with the Red Cross, created by ad agency POL.
The home is a replica of an actual residence in Damascus, as the video below explains.
[vimeo width=”300px” height=”200px”]190261411[/vimeo]
“Having visited Rana and learned how she and her family survive outside Damascus, we wanted to rebuild her home as truthfully as we could,” POL art director Snorre Martinsen tells AdFreak. “It would have been easier to just put up wallpaper, but it wouldn’t have felt the same. People who had fled war themselves have told us, ‘This is how it feels.’ ‘I remember this.’ ”
The installation was live from Oct. 17-31. It was seen by some 40,000 visitors weekly, and the campaign raised some 22 million euros for the Red Cross’ efforts in Syria.
“We already had a lot of footage from within Syria, but no matter how emotional it was, nothing got close to the experience of visiting people in a war zone,” says Martinsen. “We realized we could give Norwegians that experience. Placing a Syrian home next to all the Scandinavian homes was obviously a brave move from the warehouse, but it made it clearer than any TV commercial how crucial it is to donate and help.”
Via: Adfreak
CREDITS
Clients: NRK TV-aksjonen, Ikea Norway and Norwegian Red Cross
Agency: POL – pol.oslo.no
Copywriter: Maja Folgerö
Art Director: Snorre Martinsen
Designers: Andrea Engum, Christian Lauritzen, Ole Jakob Böe Skattum
Account Manager: Ina Egelandsdal
Account Director: Monika Augustsson

Ikea to Open a DIY Pop-up Restaurant

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Swedish retailer Ikea is opening an immersive pop-up dining experience in London, where the diners are also the chefs.
Do-it-Yourself restaurant, The Dining Club, will invite members of the public to take over the space on Shoreditch High Street to host their own dinner parties for up to 20 people and even have the diner named after them.
An expert chef will be on hand to offer guidance and supervision as they prepare their meal in a homely kitchen environment, choosing from a menu including a range of modern sharing dishes as well as some Scandinavian classics.
Ikea is keen to encourage people to spend more time cooking and eating together. The free experience will include food, booze and waiting staff who will also do the cleaning up afterwards so that the hosts can spend quality time with their friends.
The pop-up will incorporate a ‘Food for Thought’ workshop area where interactive masterclasses will be hosted by guests including Instagram star Pixie Turner and Great British Bake Off winner Edd Kimber, an Ikea kitchen shop and a kitchen showroom where visitors can browse kitchens of various sizes and styles.
Brunch, lunch or dinner slots at The Dining Club will be available from 10am to 10pm from 10 – 25 September and will be bookable online via www.ikea.co.uk/thediningclub. All visitors will leave with an Ikea treat
Via: Event Magazine

Jurassic World isn’t just breaking box office records

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To promote the LEGO Jurassic World game, Posterscope Australia launched 10 interactive panels across the country located in close proximity to retail locations where the game could be purchased.  The panels, which formed part of a larger OOH campaign, invited fans to push the button to receive a voucher which enabled them to access special features and game hacks online.
The panels achieved a record of almost 23,000 interactions during the month of June.
 

eBay Launches 24-Hour Christmas Windows in Australia

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In contrast to the traditionally blustery holiday season in the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas in Australia is a sunny experience. Barbecues and fresh seafood replace heavy holiday dinners, and scarlet Christmas bush blooms substitute hearty evergreen trees.
Despite varied climates, the holiday period is prominent retail season in both hemispheres. Inspired by Australia’s unique holiday experience, eBay Australia has deviated from its traditional online model to produce a series of physical, interactive window displays for the 2014 Australian Holiday Season.
eBay’s AU holiday window campaign, entitled “eBay Shoppable Windows” ran from 7:00am on Thursday, December 4th, to 8:00pm on Sunday, December 7th, at the Custom House Forecourt in Sydney. The campaign included four windows that were open for 24 hours each day. Viewers enjoyed the products in each display, browsed product details on a 46-inch installed screen, and purchased items directly via mobile phones.
The window displays were eBay’s response to an internal holiday shopping report, which indicated that 65% of Aussies associate the holiday shopping season with physical cues such as Christmas music and decorations, and 37% get their gift inspirations directly from display windows. With both sensory details (including a snow machine and carol playlist) and mobile capabilities, eBay designed its windows to blend sensory shopping influence with online convenience.
In Australia, December 4-7 was predicted by eBay’s research team to be the year’s busiest period of online shopping. December 7th, the final day of eBay’s campaign, was predicted to be the nation’s busiest online shopping day: eBay expected 2.6 million visitors the AU site, 1.5 million via mobile. The company expected to sell at least 200,000 items through its mobile application, a 48% increase from 2013.
eBay’s physical campaign is the first 24-hour shoppable window display in Australia.
Via: psfk

Coca Cola Wrapping Paper Dispensers

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To celebrate Christmas and to ‘give a little happiness’, Coca-Cola created a wrapping paper dispensing 6-sheet which was placed in Bluewater Shopping centre. The activation lasted three days to coincide with the Black Friday weekend (28-30 November). Two brand ambassadors were on site to help dispense the paper to shoppers passing by, and the event was filmed with the intention to use the content in Coca Cola’s upcoming digital campaign. The activation was so successful that additional wrapping paper had to be ordered!
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Fairy Launches World’s Largest Cake Sculpture Record Attempt for Charity

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Fairy broke the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the largest cake sculpture to raise funds for its long-term charity partner Make-A-Wish at Westfield London from Friday, November 28 to Sunday November 30 2014. TV favourite Amanda Holden revealed the launch.
Supporting Fairy’s epic challenge was an interactive game and out of home campaign planned by Starcom MediaVest and created by Grey London. The campaign, exclusive to Westfield London on Ocean’s Eat Street @ Westfield London, invited people to help Fairy in its gigantic clean up challenge.
Players outside Westfield London were invited to compete against each other to locate golden coins hidden amongst a series of dirty plates that they needed to wipe clean. Up to three individuals could play against each other using iPads connected to the full motion digital screen.
The total amount raised for Make-A-Wish was recorded by a giant totaliser featured on the digital screen at the main entrance to Westfield London, which broadcasted individual messages of congratulations to the winning players, asked shoppers to text a number to donate £3, and invited everyone to head into the shopping centre for a real slice of the action.
Fairy’s campaign also featured across nine other Ocean screens across London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol.
Via: Ocean Outdoor

Very.co.uk Leverages Real-Time OOH for Christmas Advent Calendar Campaign

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Online department store, Very.co.uk, will promote daily deals in real-time across out-of-home sites as part of an integrated campaign in the lead-up to Christmas.
For two weeks during December, the British public will see the best deals available each day from Very.co.uk through real-time OOH ads using Liveposter technology. The offers will be showcased across a variety of locations including rail, roadside and cinema through an advent calendar creative in keeping with the festive spirit that has been designed by St Lukes.
The activity forms part of the wider Christmas campaign that has been devised and implemented by media agency Vizeum and OOH specialists Posterscope. The aim is to offer Very.co.uk the flexibility to be reactive and deliver the most relevant content possible across different channels. In November, this involved using radio schedules and a flexible template to change messages at short notice.
Jon Owen, retail brands and trading director at Shop Direct, the company behind Very, commented “The countdown to Christmas has begun and following a hugely successful Black Friday we move into our Cyber Week deals where it’s important that we’re able to bring consumers our most up to date offers. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to do this in real time by taking such a flexible and innovative approach. ”
Leia Reuter, Business Director, Posterscope said: “Retail brands are always looking to take greater control of their advertising, delivering the most relevant content possible at the right time. This campaign uses Liveposter’s technology to do just that in the most efficient way possible by allowing Very.co.uk to make sure that consumers are receiving deals on products that are available now.”
Via: The Drum

New York Subway Riders Shop on Amazon whilst on the Underground

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Amazon has become the first advertiser to use the large digital kiosks on the New York subway that originally displayed maps of the city’s transit system as digital pop-up stores to drive sales of holiday gifts.

Amazon’s activity is running on 100 digital 47-inch screens in 12 major hubs in New York, including Grand Central Station, Union Square and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Collectively, the kiosks target 1.2 million riders per day.

Half of the screens are placed on subway platforms and the other half are near entrances and high-volume areas. Creative content on Amazon’s ads differs between the two areas: Ads in the mezzanine area focus on branding while promos near trains drive sales.

The digital screens are swipe-able and let consumers browse through a curated list of electronic holiday gifts from brands like Samsung, Sony and Belkin. Each item can be tapped on for more information, which also pulls in real-time pricing.

After finding a product they want, riders can scan a QR code or send a text message or email and receive an Amazon.com link, where they can buy the gift from a smartphone once they’re above ground.

Via: Ad Week

Using OOH this Black Friday

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As the UK prepares for the one of the biggest shopping days of the year, Posterscope‘s Glen Wilson looks at how retailers can use out-of-home to really reap the rewards.
Black Friday is the biggest online shopping day of the festive season. What started as a US phenomenon in which retailers across the country slashed prices the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday was brought over to the UK by e-commerce giant Amazon in 2010.
Now firmly a fixture in the UK’s Christmas retail firmament, a recent report by Visa Europe forecast that British shoppers will spend more than £1 million every three minutes this year. That’s £360,000 every minute, or £6,000 every second, as consumers race to take advantage of the widespread discounts.
Given that UK consumers are set to exceed the £200 million spent on Black Friday last year, it’s understandable that retailers across the nation are keen to capitalise on the event this time around.
However, as easy as it is to get swept up in the Black Friday buzz, what’s really important for retailers is that the day kicks off a particular retail sales pattern that holds true until Christmas. It helps open up consumer wallets in a way that no other day of the year does, and if retailers are smart about how they advertise, they can ensure those wallets stay open right through to the New Year.
Nowadays everyone has a smartphone in their pocket, which means the landscape has changed for out-of-home advertisers. In November and December 2013, mobile sales reached 35.6 per cent of all online sales (tablets accounting for 22 per cent and smartphones 13.6 per cent). Mobile also accounted for almost half (47.3 per cent) of all online traffic (smartphones accounting for 25.2 per cent and tablets 22.1 per cent).
The rise in 3G and 4G, coupled with smartphone penetration reaching over 70 per cent of people in the UK, means there is little to no distinction in online or offline – consumers are now always on.
A recent study by Deloitte reveals that some 40 per cent of physical shop sales will be digitally influenced, meaning consumers will use some form of digital technology to inform or facilitate their purchase. As consumer connectedness increases, marketeers need their advertising to become more responsive to consumers’ needs, preferences and behaviour, especially during big events such as Black Friday where deals can be changed every few minutes. It’s an urgent day with limited time to make an impact.
However, planning for Black Friday and the Christmas period isn’t so much about real-time advertising than it is about “right-time” advertising. Mondays are often the most popular day for online sales, Saturdays for smartphone sales, weekdays are best for PC sales as people tend to buy things whilst they are at work, and evenings see the most tablet usage and therefore ultimately sales.
So advertisers looking to inspire online sales could offer specific online discounts for customers via out-of-home (OOH) on their commute to work on Monday mornings, or try and coax people into stores on Saturdays with location-specific deals.
Of course, real-time does still have a role to play. Where it can be most effective is in being used to influence particular types of sales at the best possible times of day, and helping retailers track a sale to better understand and influence the consumer’s path to purchase. In Black Friday terms, this could be tracked by the amount of people being influenced by the individual ‘limited time’ deals that are offered throughout the day.
For real-time to work properly it needs to be part of a strategy, and offers need to be informed by data to stimulate sales behaviour. Location, weather and social media data can all help advertisers tailor ads and placement via particular criteria, and can also help to tailor in store deals to make them both more personal and more relevant.
There are several big players involved in Black Friday in the UK space, including John Lewis, Asda and Amazon. Asda, owned by America’s biggest retailer Walmart, last year ran flash promotions within stores, leading to chaotic scenes as consumers rushed to pick up products for “earth shattering prices”.
Amazon this year announced it would be running deals from as early as Monday 24 November to build momentum and customer loyalty before D-Day, including discounts as high as £1,000 off cameras. John Lewis is said to be offering proactive deals, as opposed to price matching, for the first time ever.
There is a huge opportunity for OOH to help support campaigns like this in a more reactive way that better relates to the way in which people spend. OOH now has the infrastructure in place to produce more effective advertising campaigns than ever before, and no sales period is more measurable or more lucrative than the Christmas period Black Friday kicks off.
Data can inform smarter, better, more effective campaigns planned around how, when and where their target audience want to buy. By embracing the power of the new OOH infrastructure and the data that informs it to plan themselves around consumer behaviour, retailers can help ensure that their Black Friday activity kicks off their biggest Christmas ever.
Via: Media Tel