Jack Nadel - Earth Day

I am currently employed at a municipal bonds company, today one of the vendors I work very close with send an earth day gift bag. Jack Nadel is a company who makes and designs corporate promotional items. The goody bag, intended to remind individuals about earth day, consisted of a mini tote bag made from 100% recycled paper, pens and pencils from recycled waste, an organic t-shirt, a recycled note pad designed for the pages to be reused on both sides, a travel mug, and a book entitled “356 Ways to Live Green.” Each component of the gift came with a small badge that presented different information for instance the travel mug’s tag said “In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills. Reuse this travel mug instead of adding to the billions of water bottles in our landfills.” The most unique part of the goody bag was a 60 watt fluorescent light bulb, its box said “The brightest ideas are taking on a new shape,” and included questions to test your IQ on going green and carbon foot printing.
Jack Nadel put together a phenomenal marketing campaign; it was successful for many reasons. First of all corporate social responsibility is an ever growing trend in business. If organizations can show they care about a cause individuals are more likely to buy into their product. Secondly, the earth day bag was a fantastic treat and a great way to thank lucrative business partners. Finally, the company was able to show case their products and the many creative ways to do so.

Pinkberry

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and Americans embracing Asian culture are two trends growing rapidly in New York City. Also growing rapidly is the newest frozen yogurt chain which embodies both of these trends, Pinkberry. The chains concept is “swirly goodness. It’s frozen yogurt reinvented to create an experience that indulged the senses.” Within the last year three Pinkberry franchises have opened within walking distance of the New York University community including St. Marks, Gramercy, Spring Street, Greenwich Village and Chelsea. The chain first was introduced in Korean town where it was incredibly successful and quickly infiltrated several different areas of Manhattan.

Aside from WOM (word of mouth) the company has been successful in being promoted by American Express for being one of the first small businesses to receive a plumb card. Their most successful campaign however is a small postcard at each of their locations. The card is simple made from a heavy stock and very glossy, it has a tiny picture of the product, store hours and website. The postcard reads “present this coupon for one free topping.” I think this is a clever campaign because if people enjoy the product they will return for a second try or even pass the coupon among friends creating further word of mouth. Because the product is so simple and easily duplicated I believe it is important for them to build customer loyalty and incentives for consumers to enjoy the product time and again.

Races

As a runner I participate in New York Road Runners organized races weekly. At each of these events there is a massive amount of marketing not only for NYRR but for event sponsors and partners. In a recent race however, a new and unusual marketing campaign was used. A man running in only briefs, tube socks and sneakers on a 35 degree misty day was participating in the race. Painted all over his body was his website thenakedauthor.com. Author Jason W. Mitchiner is trying to publicize his first novel “Full Moon Rising.” Other public stunts Mitchiner has pulled include sky diving and creating a reality television show of himself online. His running the race was clearly successful because not only did I check out his site as soon as I returned home but because each runner he started near began a conversation about why he was doing what he was doing and wouldn’t he freeze before the race begun. Although I did not purchase his book I have spread the word about the bizarre marketing stunt and generated traffic to his personal website.

Wall*E

Walt Disney and Pixar have teamed up again to produce another animated film. Their most recent venture Wall*E is about a robot designed to perform a specific task in a garbage dump after many years he falls in love with another robot. Disney/Pixar’s advertising campaign was ingenious because it cross marketed several of their different products. The first advertisement aired during the super bowl with Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story sitting in front of a TV discussing the newest character, the ad then proceeded to a clip of Wall*E and further commentary from the Toy Story Characters.

Disney is well known for cross marketing in all mediums possible. I found that this campaign however was not as obvious. Buzz and Woody represent the first very successful film produced by Disney/Pixar and having two familiar and loveable characters introduce a new character is very clever. Further marketing campaigns feature only Wall*E and has created a significant amount of buzz.

Gene Simmons

Just off of New York Universities campus on Lafayette and West 4^th streets is a massive billboard of Gene Simmons that reads “1,800 Women Vote Yes or No.” The ad campaign is for the second season of Gene Simmons Family Jewels featured on A&E. The billboard featured two digital tickers that calculated how many people believe Gene Simmons truly did sleep with that many women or not, the billboard provided two text message phone numbers, for yes and no, so people could vote on their opinion. Due to the fact that the billboard was interactive I found that it was very successful. For weeks walking up to campus I would pass the billboard and take note of the differences between daily voting percentages.

Jameson

Subway advertisements are an incredibly great way to advertise because you have a captive audience who often need something to entertain them as they travel from point a to point b. The most recent noteworthy campaign is the Jameson Wiskey advertisements. This is a campaign series, each ad having the same line in common, “Maybe its just the taste.” Each ad has a different quote which suggests why people like Jameson and it is concluded by the aforementioned statement. The following is an example of the advertisements:

“Maybe because ‘Next round on me’ is easier to understand than ‘stanclearclosindoor.’”“Maybe people like Jameson because the ads give you something to stare at when you don’t know where to look.”“Maybe because whiskey is the nectar of the gods. Right after wine and milk and maybe honey.”

The ad’s give something for riders to look at and enjoy reading each of the different catch phrases. Furthermore the campaign is amusing, often I overhear conversations and laughter created by the campaign.

Sex and the City

HBO’s unbelievably successful series Sex and the City has recently been made into a film after being off of the air for several years. New Line Cinema’s has been releasing information about the film in short tid bits in order to increase word of mouth and excitement for the film release. It seemed that almost overnight advertisements for the Sex and the City film were plastered on and around New York City streets in telephone booths, construction sites and subways. Each ad contained a photograph of character Carrie Bradshaw in different stunning hot pink dresses with the tag line “Get Carried Away.” A play on words given the main characters name and the ever-changing fast paced culture of Manhattan.

Shortly following the street teams advertising a film trailer was posted on You Tube and the Sex and the City films official website. This trailer stirred a significant amount of buzz because it suggests a wedding, break up, and funeral. In my opinion New Line has done a phenomenal job in marketing the project because it has mostly been based upon creating anticipation among the many Sex and the City fanatics. The organization is spending very little money on marketing but it sure to have an outrageous opening party and be a huge hit in the box office.

Fashion Week – Modem

Fashion week in New York City generates a significant amount of tourism every year whether they are local or international. An organization known as Modem Fashion*Design organizes “key professional information about fashion brands, multi-labels showrooms, tradeshows, press offices, and fashion services” organized a 50 page agenda for both the New York and Los Angels fashion weeks. The book includes a listing of times and locations for each fashion event including shows, press contacts, trade shows, multi label press rooms, commercial show rooms, fashion services, shopping guides, restaurants, bars, clubs, and places to stay.

The booklet was passed out during fashion week events for free. Modem Fashion*Design clearly made a return on investment by selling advertisements to the many different segments of fashion week including Mercedes-Benz, Dior, D&A, and Tranoi Femme to name a few. I thought the design of this booklet was genius. Not only did it provide all of the information for each of the events in one place but it also served as a great marketing tool for Modem as they are a new start up company. The booklet reached s massive audience as it was presented at the countries two most prestigious fashion events of the year.

How Design Conference

Print magazine, a design publication intended for young graphic design enthusiast’s features articles about popular graphic design as they appear in commercial and non commercial work. The magazine included a full poster advertising the 2008 How Design conference being held May 18-21^st at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. One side of the poster is graphic art that features Boston landmarks and culture with the word Discover printed in the center. The reverse side of the incredibly designed poster has information about the event, the daily agenda, keynote speakers, sponsors, travel information, how to register, a psychographic and demographic survey as well as, a list of reasons why attending the event would be beneficial to the graphic design enthusiast. The event markets spent a significant amount of money on this advertising campaign but positioned it very creatively. Individuals who would by Print magazine are clearly interested in learning about new design strategies and would likely attend an event of this nature for further growth and experience.

Tylenol PM

For spring break I found myself in Chicago Illinois. After doing some site seeing I was walking around the downtown loop and spotted a huge black tent. I crossed the street to find out what was going on and found myself in a launch for Tylenol PM. Outside of the tent were several volunteers handing out samples of Tylenol PM and inviting people into the tent. Inside was a serene bedroom setting with a screen with tips projected on how to have a better nights sleep. Upon leaving the tent you were provided with a booklet of 40 tips to a better nights sleep.

Although the inside of the tent was boring it defiantly got passerby interested. Tylenol PM seemed to be competing with products such as NyQuil and putting on a show to generate word of mouth. By providing people with samples the next time they are having trouble sleeping they will likely test the product after remembering the interesting marketing technique. I think they could have generated more traffic if there was an extension of the tent where people could participate in the campaign maybe receiving free massages, or simple spa treatments.

New York Travel Show - Grand Lido

I attended this year’s travel show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in hopes to design a fun and different spring break because of all of the unique deals offered at the show. One particular booth that caught my attention was Grand Lido Resorts and Spas. The company had three distinct marketing campaigns that I found extremely interesting one for honeymooners entitled “Beautiful Beginnings” one for unmarried or already married couples entitled “Where Dreams Become Memories” and one targeted to families with the catch phrase “Family Style.” Each campaign was clearly positioned differently even in a way where it was difficult to distinguish that they were part of the same parent company.
I wonder if they find this segmentation tactic to be beneficial or not. It is obvious that they do not want the couples campaigns to be confused or associated with the family resorts and vice versa positioning themselves in a manner to appeal to different market segmentations. Furthermore, after visiting the Grand Lido’s website I still found that each segment was treated as a separate entity and that travelers are directed to different sites given the nature of their travel plans. I would be curious to find out, if in the long term this market segmentation is successful or not.