Createlondon - Tom Ernesto - Experiential Marketing Blog

Riots quickly had a counter effort from like minded artists and bloggers alike

2011-08-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Its no surprise that the recent riots have produced a wave of fury from the law abiding public, luckily some artists have reacted to counter their destruction and remind Londoners that there are plenty of nice people knocking about too. We saw the below gold post box pop up this week, its pretty god dam fantastic and carries the message of 'Be nicer to other Londoners'.

Aside from this scrumpious little example of guerilla smart city dressing there is an array of other examples to be found on the streets. Here are just a few...

Aside from that the bloggers and tweeters out there have been making themselves very useful. Especially a guy called Leon Piers who took to his bike in Bristol with his mates and posted accurate tweets about the riots. In doing so he helped restore order and calm in the community whilst helping police and other emergency services keep track of the goings on. Check the story here.

We look forward to seeing more nice guys to counter any more destruction!

Rambings of Machines of Love and Grace

2011-06-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

So Adam Curtis chose to title his recent two BBC documentaries 'Machines of Loving Grace' not a surprise of course, computers are having a bigger effect on the world than the birth of the wheel!

I am a massive fan of Adam Curtis and his documentaries didn’t disappoint, although some may say that his theme was rather stretched at times anyway that’s another story.

Back to the point, Machines of Loving Grace seems a perfect name when put into context of Neda Iran. Last year we reported our heartfelt sense of dismay at her death, she was shot at a protest orchestrated and perpetuated by social media. Of course without the ‘machines’ and their networks there is little chance we would have known. Adam Curtis views twitter as a "self aggrandising, smug pressure group" I think from a social perspective he may be right. However, we cannot deny its role in both the documentation and creation of uprisings across the world.

Is it a good thing? There is a philosophy that once information becomes so freely available, flowing through the world like the blood in the veins of an animal it (the world) becomes a self-regulating system, living breathing and not exhausting itself. This is because everyone and everything becomes more equal, nobody can hide their wealth or their atrocities, someone will always be there to documents them and show the world.

The people who are against such a free flowing system are the people who stand on the same side of the fence as the Chinese government and people against Julian Assange.

Anyway back to the reason I chose to write about the worild of social media, I found this article about a suitcase being developed by the US government that allows its holder to set up a temporary network to access the web in countries at war. Its aim is to allow its user to record and upload footage to social media platforms. Many countries have shut down their networks in times of unrest to stop rogue guerrilla reporters getting their story out, this will allow teams of people on the ground to continue to communicate any atrocity in real time.

Of course it also has a more sinister side in that it could be used to create phony anti government propaganda on social media platforms, which in-turn lead to uprisings and unrest through gatherings. This is of course something the USA has already been accused of.

All the same interesting to say how the 'Machines' are becoming the root of both good and evil in the world, how it all plays out remains to be seen. Until then I will keep the twitter alive and kicking, it is very good for our business you see.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Take a look at the below video of social media in our times, its not half bad.

Nice little video on trends, trend setters and influencers

2010-10-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

INFLUENCERS TRAILER from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Guerrilla sticker bites back!

2010-09-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

I have managed to reject and abstain from joining the i-phone fellowship for some time. Firstly as I loved my old white Erikson flip phone but also I have been turned to stone from people twittering on about how it is a must have for our industry, boring! However I was immediately tempted by the bigger, brighter, superdupar i-pad. Using the internet on my commute is fun and easy, this got me thinking (somewhat belatedly) that the often forgot about guerrilla sticker is worth a re-think.

The guerrilla sticker has humble roots as a quick and inexpensive way for a company to shout about its offering. Adopted generally by the likes of up and coming artists, growing companies and the chav who love just love to get their ‘tag’ out there! Stickers have been dwelling within The Undergound for years.

Why are they due a re-think? Well the problem with guerrilla stickers is that they must be small to ensure they do not get picked up by cleaners, this also has the somewhat unfortunate consequence of not leaving a lasting impression and leaving little space to explain your offering. Well, as I have discovered with mobile internet now being truly mobile nothing is to stop the i-phone/i-pad user checking your website as soon as they spot your sticker. This Solves two problems, the viewer does not need to remember a small sticker when they get home and by checking out the site straight away the explanation of your offering is easily accessed. So altergother a much more relevent medium.

All that is needed is a call to action. ‘If you have read this and it is 6pm take a picture of Big Ben as you go past, send it to us and recieve a whopping 20% discount’

Inexpensive guerrilla stickers may just be back in!

A couple of fun ones below for you to enjoy...

Createlondon On Tour - Dive School - Case Study

2010-04-06T01:04:00.000-07:00

Createlondon worked alongside Island Dive Club Ko Tao in raising its profile and customer base in this extremely competitive environment.

Tourism is a key part of the Thai economy accounting for a whole 6% of GDP. With such a large market, tourist focused advertising at both a local and national level is very competitive, however largely dated in its approach. For many businesses their belief is that the more banners and flyers they put out the more customers they will receive. This may be true to an extent, however a more organized approach (Marketing Plan!) along with some solid theory and discipline can make a world of difference.

Ko Tao is a saturated market. However it does constantly have a high footfall of travelers who stay for 3/4 days and move on. The key is to get these customers to stay/sign up with you before anyone else.

Firstly we looked at the decision factors:

-Friends recommendation

-Random (look and feel of place/sold to face to face)

Building on word of mouth recommendation we decided to create a peer to peer marketing platform. Simply, the Island Dive School would pass on discount cards to customers they thought would bring them business. Decision factors of who to pass the card onto are:

-Sociable/socialites

-Traveling for at least another month

-Customers who had a great time and we could see would be telling their stories

-Customers from high disposable income groups

Alongside this the key was high quality (plastic) cards with a discount which was worth something (up to 5 customers 10% off). This was coupled with a Facebook group, twitter and blog (details on card) which enabled customers to keep in touch with what was going on back at the club. Secondary, the card was passed over at the right time in the right way with a string bracelet as a present. This gave the card much more intrinsic value and therefore increased the likelihood of it being saved and passed on.

In a nutshell, this plan ensures each customer that gets a card will go on to tell a new group of friends about their diving adventure as they continue their travels. In doing so they will pass over the card, the card will allow prospective customers to look into the club via Twitter, Facebook and Blog before they arrive. In doing so making their decision to dive at The Island Dive Club as opposed to anywhere else.

Createlondon on tour - Peer to Peer Marketing Asia

2010-02-11T23:24:00.000-08:00

Elephant Village - Laos

An exciting project for createlondon arose recently for an Elephant Sanctuary in Laos.

Background: Elephant Village rescues logging elephants from Laos and Thailand. Logging elephants are generally badly treated, malnutritioned and have to work very long hours. One elephant rescued at this village was fed MDMA (ecstasy) to make her work harder.

Elephants are extremely costly to keep eating 200kg a day and generally have to be leased from logging camps (forever) as the camps will not give them up, this raises the cost further.

createlondon were recruited as rainy season begins in 2 months time and this sees a huge percent of their market dwindle, producing hard times for the elephants and surrounding villages/communities that it helps to support.

Brief:

Our brief was to find a way to attract more customers in this season to keep the cash flow steady.

Background/Research:

This was new turf for createlondon, things move very slowly in Laos and the simplest of tasks from laminating 3 pieces of paper to setting up a new communication structure from the camp to head office can take weeks.

As Laos thrives off tourism, it is cluttered and over-populated with above the line advertisements. The key was to cut through this clutter.

Result:

createlondon produced a peer to peer marketing platform which utilised discounts and other perks in the form of high quality discount cards that can only be passed on from one traveler to the next. This worked alongside an updated website and the development of Twitter, facebook and blog mediums. These mediums also opened doors to other Elephant organisations, allowing knowledge to be shared and reviews such as from the 'Guardian' to be published and linked to.

The struggle was training Loas guides in the process and the use of social media with the language barrier being an obvious hinderence.

Elephant Village has already begun to see a return on their investment with cards bringing new guests to camp this week.

Please click here for an insight

CREATELONDON - BRAND DEVELOPMENT

2010-02-11T23:04:00.001-08:00

Brand Development - Stress Management Class (01/10/09)

-Brand development
-Brand Identity/ethos
-Collateral
-Website design
-Business streamlining

Brief: To create a brand identity for a contemporary stress management business developed by a leading practitioner from 'The Priory' clinic London.

The key points during development were to produce an identity which reached ABC1 demographics on a mutual level whilst remaining smart and sophisticated. Aesthetically, it was important from the beginning not to head down the conventional route of similar organizations with the use of curvaceous fonts, water, stones, Buddhas etc....

As this organization is cutting edge in its contrasting use of old and contemporary stress management techniques, it was also important to communicate this throughout its identity and to set it apart from more conventional classes.

It was decided that Flash and dreamweaver were not necessary to develop the site. Clean, simple and easy to navigate were the priorities.

Finally it was highly important that the brand and associated imagery gave off a feeling of calm.

Please feel free to check the website for an insight.

HOSTELWORLD Sleep Easy Army

2009-07-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

createlondon has just completed a two month international campaign for Hostelworld.com.

Over 9o brand ambassadors where recruited to deliver the campaign across the UK and Australia.

With the core focus being the infiltration of communities both on and offline through grassroots activity, the campaign has been a great success.Over 40 fantastic grassroots events were created, with brand ambassadors having a great deal of control on the when, where and how of each activity.

Activity ranged from liaising with club promoters in venues of over 500 people, to guerrilla activity on Brighton beach and University radio competitions. Each event was backed up through social media with over 40 Facebook groups created, furthering the campaigns reach.

In Australia our team of Super Backpackers took the hostelworld.com message with them on their travels throughout the world. Events in Australia included; Beach parties, Club nights, Surf competitions and guerrilla canvassing of hotspots such as Sydney airport.

This has been a real grassroots activity led by Brand Creators. In turn this method has developed fantastic ROI for our client with reach estimated at over 500,000.

Social Media and Iran

2009-06-22T10:27:00.001-07:00

createlondon is in to real face to face interaction and viral grassroots marketing. We are an ethical bunch and have been following the story in Iran closely.

We were very saddened to hear the story of Neda, a 16 year old girl shot dead in cold blood while passively protesting with her father.

The huge and widespread protests in Iran have been made party possible through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. With international journalists shut out, the world communities eyes have been through social media, enabled via mobile camera phones uploading content onto the multiple social media platforms.

Within one day of Nedas shooting, it is trending topic on Twitter and the news has landed in inboxes across the world.

In particular founders of the '*NESA*_ANGEL OF IRAN group are appealing to friends, family and witnesses, which they say they will then pass on to international news agencies wanting to broadcast the news. This real grassroots communication shows yet another way in which social media can be used to full effect.

Our thoughts are with Neda and her family, bless her, we will be wearing green ribbons in her memory...

X

Shelterbox involves real people in 3D disaster!

2009-05-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

Createlondon produced a 3D disarster at Victoria Station this weekend to drive awareness and support for disarster relief charity Shelterbox.

http://www.smallcapnews.co.uk/article/ShelterBox_in_Big_Green_Box_Week/7426.aspx

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelterboxuk/sets/72157618771632484/

The stunt had a reach of over 100 thousand people who pass through the station at weekends.

Headed by Scotty Bruce and promoted through freelance PR guru Alizia Lang, the campaign was a great success involving a wide demographic from police officers, to football fans to families.

The event created for a non profit charity involved a lot of volunteers who we are very grateful to (in no particular order):

Dan Pryor (Mongolian explorer!) www.yknbs.com

James Webs

Laura Jepson

Emma Nichols

Gabby Barret (freelance experiential marketer)

Becky Maynard (Shelterbox fundraising manager)

Sally Grint (communications and fundraising manager)

Shirley Kirk (Rotary International)

Sally Kettle (1st woman to row the atlantic twice) www.sallykettle.com

Alongside many more who's names we did not have at time of print. BIG THANKS to you all.

Dont forget to check out the website and donate as you wish! www.shelterbox.org.

SPOT THE AD?

2009-04-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Prail Technology chuck a spanner in the works with a pair of sunglasses that filter out advertising messages.

Prail technologies - A San Francisco based operation - are set to become a one of the most talked about companies in marketing this year with sunglasses that eradicate any and all advertising messages.

Thats right Prail have created a microchip OLOF that is tiny enough to process images within the view of the wearer, filtering out 95% of advertising messages. The image eradicates the messages by by hazing them out providing a nicer view for the wearer. The glasses promise to make walking is busy, add cluttered cities and towns more pleasant.

I say this is great for the experiential marketing industry as, although in its infancy, it will open the doors for consumers to say no to another form of traditional advertising, making it less potent.

The glasses are about to go on sale in the UK so look out for them and dont forget to mention them next time you speak your client when they ask what the benefits of experiential are over traditional.

Brand Creators

2009-03-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

So, we have sampling teams, then street teams, then we jazzed them up a little and called them brand ambassadors. Whats next?

I believe that the key to driving successful brand advocacy in 09 is through the use of brand creators or 'BC's'. Rather than working for the brand, Brand Creators work with the brand making suggestions on new products and inputting into the when where and how of marketing campaigns. After all these are the guys that know their market better than any marketing guru.

Once the BA becomes the BC and works with the brand then you have a more successful force who are only to willing to talk about and recommend your brand as they feel a close affiliation to it.

You heard it here first and its coming to a campaign near you soon guys, BC's!

I will keep you posted...

2009-03-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Freelance brand development commission:

I am currently talking to 'Smithsons' gunsmiths who are the sister company of Purdey gunsmiths about the branding of their company.

Purdey gunsmiths are a very prestigious brand with a very select niche market. Smithsons will be a smaller gunsmith service but who has great aspirations. Alongside the manufacture and servicing of rifles, Smithsons also want to bring the sport of shooting back into the spotlight and make it more accessible to a wider market.

There is also scope for a restaurant in the future.

Although we are only at discussion stage at the moment, I hope this project will be firmed up shortly and I will keep the blog up to date with how I tackle this unusual project and any developments.

2009-03-01T10:14:00.001-08:00

Experiential adds to cultural landscape and puts a spark into the London commuters Journey

Once billboards and TV adds were pieces of art that added to the cultural landscape, then we went through a stagnant stage of boring billboards and advertising so cluttered it became the norm. The fight for our attention also led to ads becoming intrusive.

With traditional advertising formats dying due to new media and the rise of the smarter, savvier consumer, experiential marketing is growing and brands have to give back much more to achieve their goals.

The rise of experiential marketing has bred a vast range of specialist agencies that have a love of what they do, fuelled by an enthusiastic workforce of dynamic creatives. This rise is truly great for the industry but also for the public and cultural landscape of London.

Experiential activity ads colour and surprise to the London commuter who can be treated to a tasty treat on their way to work by Kellogg’s, have their health checked by Cancer Research or shown a great magic trick by Nokia.

It can only be a good thing that brands are giving back, although they are giving to receive, the perk for the average London commuter on a dreary credit crunch day can only be good.

2009-02-24T14:01:00.001-08:00

to be added

2009-02-23T04:48:00.001-08:00

What is the future role of social media in experiential marketing?

The future of experiential marketing will be defined by the use of social media in the coming years. With social media growing at a phenomenal rate (e-marker predicting a rise by 11% this year to 88.1 million) combined with the mediums cunning ability to hit the target audience direct on the nose, this is a force that will provide rich rewards for companies that can harness its power.

Innovation is the key in this field, with social media evolving at such a rate, the extent in which this medium can be integrated into campaigns is vast, and is providing new and exciting opportunities. The medium is allowing better personal communication between brands and customers, enabling wider integrated campaigns that immerse the consumer in engaging, interactive experiences.

Within the context of experiential marketing, social media can play a variety of roles, from the recruitment of tight knit teams of brand ambassadors through to the integration of blogs for pre campaign promotion and post campaign word of mouth. The medium can either be controlled by a company/agency creating their own groups online, or can be grown organically via a stimulus, as with the recent t-mobile mobile ad discussed in this blog.

Working on the Nokia Connectors campaign recently, the agency Smartfusion used the social media platform facebook and viral media posted on youtube to both recruit, and create teams of brand ambassadors. Production teams then followed different teams in the UK creating small video clips on their progress in the field which were then uploaded, in doing so creating a buzz between the teams and therefore increasing morale and work efficiency. Online groups created by seeders then became a porthole for ambassadors to exchange ideas and experiences, literally living and breathing the brand.

Brands can use social media to seamlessly blend into social groups of their choosing creating emotional connections and promotion for the brand in return for perks to BA’s such as free parties, good pay and company cars.

As the growth of experiential marketing and social media increases I believe cunning brands will entwine themselves more and more with social groups in a seamless fashion, becoming less obvious but providing more perks for their target audience in doing so becoming true lifestyle brands.

It is becoming understood that brands do not define themselves by their customers anymore, rather customers define the brand. This makes the exploitation along with the innovative and dynamic use of the relationship between social media and experiential marketing more important in the future.

I believe the key will be the seamless integration of brands with social groups, using up to date trends, new media, and engaging experiences as fabrics of communication.

2009-02-20T09:06:00.001-08:00

Experiential Quintessential Roots

In this post I take a quick look at roots of experiential marketing with a classic example. True experiential marketers who have built a business on the principle of connecting with their customers on an emotional level, long before corporations cottoned on to its effectiveness.

These people are the local fishmonger, grocer or the kids that sell fruit laden pavolovers in Camden Town, London, next to the lock. The principle is the same, engaging with the consumer, letting the consumer touch, feel, smell, experience.

When you watch the interaction between customer and seller at the Pavalova stall, Camdon Lock, you can see it is the experience the customer is buying into as well as the end product. The sellers are engaging, the atmosphere is fun, the smell fruity fresh and the sight colourful.

A true much loved, classic experiential marketer was Joe Ades (Picture above). Although if you mentioned experiential marketing to him you would probably be met with glazed eyes, this fine old dapper was known as the best salesman is New York.

He sold potato peelers, and you would normally find him sitting on the corner of a Manhattan street selling his product. Dressed extremely smart, singing songs while peeling vegetables. Joe had customers queuing up day in day out for his $5 potato peeler. He was successful through customer interaction, great charisma and creating an experience that lead to a purchasing decision. Customers brought into him as well as the product and word of mouth was generated due to the unique and charismatic way he approached his business. Unfortunately Joe moved on from planet earth early this year at the fine age of 72, but you can read more about him and the effect he had on people in this Vanity Fair article.

2009-02-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

Saatchi & Saatchi T-Mobile

I know the advert is old now and has been analysed by most but I loved it so much I could not help but place a small post with my thoughts on the blog!

Would you expect anything less from Saatchi & Saatchi? They have delivered again with this truly exceptional advert that fuses live experience/ experiential marketing with TV advertising to great effect. They truly demonstrated the use of the T-mobile network by providing a unique experience, which was filmed by the public on their personnel phones. This initial experiential activity would have generated word of mouth on huge scale alone, backed up with a TV advert its reach and appeal has been enormous.

The sumptuous dancing surprise that brightened up London commuter’s day was secretly filmed, turned around within 48 hours and initially aired in the ad break of Big Brother.

What can we learn from this innovative approach? The dynamic combination of media channels combined to create this campaign allowed word of mouth to fly through multiple touch points before the advert was aired (Youtube, Tweeter, Blogs, Facebook, Bebo). Not only did this create buzz but also relevance to the consumer when first viewing the advert. Where another advert may have been skipped by the viewer, the sense of anticipation and of being in the know would have added to emotional impact strengthening brand connection.

The viral marketing posted on youtube was organically grown and reactionary to an engaging and entertaining stimulus. It leaves the question If you do not have a phone with these capabilities, do you feel a bit left out?

Truly one of the best adverts of early 2009 and an exceptional use of social media, organic viral marketing, mobile communication and TV.

Similar adverts which may be of interest and possibly inspiration to Saatchi & Saatchi are below.

2009-02-17T06:13:00.000-08:00

Experiential Marketing Recession Buster?

Who would have thought it? The last subject I thought I would be writing about for the first submission of this blog is recession, every time we open the paper its there glairing back at us. However, with the clouds of recession beginning to pour we sit on our hands pondering what this means for us.

While CEO’s and brand managers are juggling their budgets and looking for places to cut back, we sit with our fingers crossed hoping it will not be the experiential. There is a school of thought that suggests the opposite should be true, that now is the time to be investing in such activity.

Now is when the humble consumer becomes more finical about the choice of brand/service/product they are going to buy in to, so now is the time brands with loyalty survive, while brands without begin to die. It is precisely this time that the consumer will revert back to their trusted brand. Therefore it follows that the winners are the brands that have developed this emotional bond and the brands that continue to build brand loyalty through experiences.

This view is accepted among senior brand marketers throughout the UK, US, Germany and France, with 62% agreeing that experiential marketing will be one of the biggest growth areas over the next 5 years and half of them anticipating growing their experiential marketing spend (MICE Group). Another study suggests that China, Australia, US and Europe were considering raising experiential spend by nearly 75% in 2008 (Jack M).

As consumer sophistication increases and traditional marketing media is filtered out, this is not the time for brand marketers to be firing blanks. Experiential marketing’s unique ability to create a bond that sticks with the consumer through relevant connections is allowing the industry to weather the storm. A recent study confirms faith in the medium with 93% agreeing it generates word of mouth recommendations, 92% that the medium builds brand awareness and relationships and 77% that it generates sales (JM 09).

If we consider that the roots of experiential marketing lye in guerrilla marketing, experiential marketing is the perfect recession buster. At its heart this form of marketing is less expensive than conventional methods with a high ROE, it is flexible and can be mobilised at the drop of a hat to meet a slump in market share or to take advantage of a new trend.

The futures bright if possibly a bit orange.

2009-02-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hello, welcome to the first blog written by myself Thomas Ernesto Scott under the Createlondon brand.

The purpose of this blog is to bring news, news and rave reviews from the growing experiential marketing industry. I am 23 years old and have worked in some leading London agencies. In writing this blog I hope to develop innovative theories that will give fresh insight into the future of the industry alongside posting other news which may tickle our interest.

I hope that my blog will bring fresh thinking to anyone from an Account Exec on their first project to a director who feels the insight of a younger thinker removed from the humdrum of the office may be valuable

Here is a mini CV so you know who you are dealing with.

University - Surrey Institute for Creative Arts. Course: Design Management
Agencies - Phase Events, RPM, Smartfusion.
Brands worked with: Yahoo.com, Cancer Research, Redbull, Nokia, Blackberry, 5th Collective

Thanks for reading the first post and I hope you return periodically to see if there is anything to tickle your taste buds.