There’s a new Facebook page on the inter-webs. And a nice one too.
Click on the picture to visit the Facebook page.
Advertising
Why the IKEA catalogue is the one thing you must own
#AnAdvertADay #Day62
10 months, 300 pages and 12,000 products later, the world’s favourite furnishing giant gets that one mega marketing tool that it fearlessly spends 70% of its’ annual marketing budget on. In 2013, the number of IKEA catalogues printed(208 million copies) outnumbered that of the Holy Bible.
IKEA visits around 1,000 customers at home every year to find out how people really live at home – how much space do they have, what styles do they prefer? In order to show solutions in a way people can relate to, the catalogue is divided by activities you can do with the IKEA range – tips and ideas on how to solve specific needs and dreams. It’s about the way people live and how IKEA products can improve their lives.
The catalogue evolves each year with images getting more spectacular, technology being integrated and ideas going beyond regular furnishing solutions. For 2014 it launches the theme of living with children, based on the knowledge that all moments count for families with children. It offers safe, affordable, sustainable solutions – helping families make the most of time spent together. And it continues to innovate, with around 50 pages that can be scanned to access extra content.
But the big news for this year is the augmented reality, which enables readers to see how around 100 products will look in their home – in 3D!
Almost 211 million catalogues have been printed in 66 editions and 30 languages.
You can view the online version of the catalogue here.
When a company invests so consistently in a property, it’s advertising intensity isn’t compromised on either. Below is a series of outdoor hoardings that IKEA put up across various cities. Each of these hoardings have carefully been crafted to reach the very wide range of target audience that the company has. The hoardings with the tagline, ‘There’s a page for that in the IKEA Catalogue’ focuses on different life situations that cover almost every age group, focusing on the fact that IKEA has an answer to everything.
The hoardings also show two coloured bookmarks that are simultaneously associated with one of the two statements. The first statement, a regular scenario, is bookmarked in Blue and the second one, the surprise, is bookmarked in yellow, suggesting that the Catalogue can handle any situation. The design is copy focused, clean and eye-catching. Perfect for the everyday passer-by.
The hoardings highlight the wholesomeness of the catalogue, along with the numerous products that it contains. It’s also a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of strategy where the series gives a message that an IKEA Catalogue is ALWAYS relevant.
ALWAYS.
Mission accomplished.
That’s that from IKEA. Do drop your comments below. Or go ahead, and read more posts. There’s no such thing as too many awesome ads watched in one day. No such thing.
An Advertising agency in the U.S. that knows how to advertise itself well
#AnAdvertADay #Day60
Many of us have the gift of being uniquely named but there’s always the lot that’s slightly unfortunate. When Amazon Advertising was founded by Millie Olsen and Lynda Pearson, they didn’t know that the less-than-known company of the same name would take over as one of the world’s most famous online books retailer.
Burdened by the tragedy of being misunderstood and misidentified, the two founders of Amazon advertising launched a new campaign called ‘The Mistaken Identity Project’. It is quite rare for an advertising agency to advertise itself, which when you come to think of it, is quite odd. The project aims at highlighting and featuring stories of people who share names with celebrities and have had experiences based on such a misunderstanding.
The ad subtly highlights, in a tongue-in-cheek humour based commercial, the repercussions of having to share names with these people. I’d generally narrate the entire film to you but I’ll let you watch this one and serve yourself with some laughter at the end of the ad.
In order to make this campaign ‘social by design’, they also ask people to submit their quirky stories of a mistaken identity. The campaign as a whole works very well towards highlighting the issue. Secondly, the name, being identified as one that gets confused with ‘Amazon.in’ will ensure a high recall value for the ad agency. The stories are shareable and amusing, giving the campaign a higher chance at being successful.
Here’s a movie poster they made for the campaign. The ad film features people with the same names.
What I love about this campaign beside the fact that it is clever and humorous, is that it is pro-active. An ad agency, recognised it’s problem and decided to do something fun with it. There’s no harm in an advertising agency, well, advertising.
Besides, who doesn’t love a campaign that challenges Shakespeare, right?
Here’s a video of the founders – Millie Olsen and Lynda Pearson talking about their ‘Mistaken Identity’ crisis.
#Day28 – Probably the best billboard ever by McDonald’s
#AnAdvertADay
In what might just be the best billboard ever, and I see it as the first of many, McDonald’s installed an interactive billboard that you could connect with via your smartphone. In order to connect to it, downloading an application wasn’t required. One could simply sign into a website via their browser to connect.
Once connected, they had to choose which goodie they wanted to play for.
They could then play a game, real-time, with controls on their smartphones. As the game progressed, it got more difficult. If you completed the challenge, you would get a code on your phone that gave you directions to the nearest outlet where you could claim your prize.
Digital billboards, augmented reality, playable posters, interactive vending machines and now this. Advertising never ceases to amaze and innovate. I see this a the first step to a trend in the industry that is going to take everyone by storm.
Below is the case film. It’s a pretty cool one!
#Day2 – Have the homeless become invisible?
#AnAdvertADay
New York Rescue Mission’s new campaign works on the insight that we always look at the homeless, but never really see them. It shows how we completely ignore the homeless, as if they were invisible. In this experiment, they put people dressed as the homeless on the streets of New York and their unsuspecting relatives pass by, without noticing.
This campaign works extremely well because it brings the subconscious to complete consciousness. There’s a simple message, one that we all know of, but this time, it’s been delivered in a hard hitting manner. The video hasn’t been rushed and the emotions are captured very well. They have played it smart by having an array of stories, ensuring that everybody relates to atleast one of them.
Take a look –
#Day1 – Nike ‘Winner Stays’
#AnAdvertADay
The new Nike ‘Winner stays’ commercial has arrived just in time to own the FIFA 2014 fever with a star-studded, 4-minute long video.
There’s also Ronaldo.
They didn’t just go big this time with a football star in every frame of the video, they went all Hulk on it.
And then, there’s Ronaldo.
The up-beat background score along with the racy shots of some great ball-play, will have anybody tapping their toes.
And then, there’s Ronaldo.
The commercial works very well with the different depictions of the signature styles of the featured footballers which many fans would instantly recognise. It seamlessly connects to every football fan out there with the roaring in the stadium and the smart-mouthing between shots amongst the footballers.
And then, there’s Ronaldo.
It captures the essence of the game, the excitement of the play and the glamour of the fraternity. And did I mention? There’s Ronaldo! Maybe I did.
Watch the commercial here and do drop your comments on what you think.
the ad woman 