Cadbury - Gorilla marketing ?

Not too long ago Cadbury was in the press for links to salmonella, a bacterium famously associated to the eggs of chickens.

Just 3 months have passed and now animals and Cadbury are in the press again, this time a drum playing Gorilla.

This is about as close as I can get as to associate the advert and the product it is trying to promote.

Recent activity on Youtube (nearly a million views) and social sites indicates this ad is a contender to be in the ‘ viral campaign ‘of the year award and demonstrates well how Fallon, (Cadbury’s agency) have managed to produce an ad that works both on television and online. marketing technology

marketing technology

Mobile marketing

How do you get people to optin to receive adverts on their phone - will the offer of free airtime be incentive enough to allow interruptions and content to be delivered to what is arguably one of the most addressable channels available ?

Virgin mobile – Sugarmama
Works by offering free airtime against response to adverts ( interaction is key here )

Blyk – Virtual operator partnered with Orange Telecom
Free airtime offered to customers who accept adverts to their mobile phones

Xero Mobile
As above , free airtime and reduced cost of handsets for accepting advertising to the handset.

Many challenges exist however being able to target and connect with a youth group who have already ‘ opted in ‘ offers an enticement for advertisers.

My only question is with the many airtime packages available making calls relatively cheap, are the rewards enough for people to join ?

In game advertising

A winning combination or an own goal ?

marketing technology

Numerous reports and acquisitions over the months have highlighted in-game advertising as a significant growth area.

But does this offer advertisers a way to place their message in front of engaged consumers or offer no more than a novel way for games producers to gain additional revenue.

Television

Ofcom’s* recent report highlights viewing figures are down yet again, with the average person spending around 3 ½ hours a week watching television. Compare this with Entertainment Software Association* figures of an average time spent playing games of around the 7 ½ hours per week.

Games - the benefits are obvious ?

You have an audience which is spending considerably more time captive to the game, far more opportunities exist to present your message to the gamer and advertisers are not held back by regulatory bodies in the same way as TV.

Also there is a degree of relevance knowing where the advert is being placed and in the future online gaming ( combined with with user profiles ) could be used to further tailor and deliver relevant marketing messages - it seems the lure of spending marketing dollars seems irresistible.

Irresistible indeed, Yankee group’s recent report estimates that by 2011 in game advertising expenditure will be over $900 million.

So does spending time, engaged and engrossed within a game equate to increased awareness ?

marketing technology

Focus

Recent article in Wired Magazine “ focuses “ on a technology that tracks the players eyes during game play, it concludes that people are concentrating so hard that there awareness for objects and items that are not directly related to the game is very limited.

In short – people are concentrating too much to notice the messages that are secondary to game itself.

All is not lost

Some of the highest brand recall rates are recorded where the brands themselves have an integral part within the game itself ( a good example of this is brands of cars in racing games ).

It is simply not enough to rely on these extended periods of game play and therefore exposure to get your message across, it has to be relevant and engage the player in some manner to be a success.

marketing technology

For an indepth view of game based marketing visit read " taking gaming to the next level " by Nigel Hollis.

* remember - double click in the article to find out more

Great Outdoor

While technology offers us exciting opportunities in advertising, lets not forget smart use of existing mediums can still make an impressive impact. Above are some shots of some impressive artwork from a recent trip to New York.

Time and a place

A number of unfortunate ad placements here, some amusing other demonstrating the destruction of ill placed media can cause.