Virgin Radio was taken over by Magners this Bank Holiday

Listening to Virgin Radio a lot this Bank Holiday, I noticed that all the usual commercial advertisements have disappeared and everything is about Magners Cider. It is trying to position itself as ‘what bank holidays are made for’. All commercial breaks have disappeared for the day, with Magners focusing everything on listeners requests through live reads and four competitions to win a trip to the Magners International Comedy Festival in Dublin. The Virgin Radio website gives listeners the opportunity to nominate tracks they want to hear on the day.
I have found this all day promotion to really stand out and has giving me the feeling to go and get a bottle of Magners to make my Bank Holiday complete. A great campaign idea I feel.

Urban Beach in Finsbury Square

Having seen the O2 business picnic in Soho last week, I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw this beach scene being created when going through Finsbury Square at the weekend. With tonnes of sand and plenty of palm trees the square is being transformed into an Urban Beach for the week. Sponsored by BT, the aim is to promote flexible working by showing that you can work as easily on the beach as you can the office. There are deckchairs, mini-golf competitions, live music and food provided by Jamie Oliver's famous Fifteen. Wi-fi Internet access is also available to allow London workers to keep on working.

With this and last weeks O2 event, it shows that many brands are now participating in interactive activities. However with rain and 50 mph winds expected in London this week, the beach is to get a real touch of England with it!

Ann Summers New Vibrator Poster

With the launch of Ann Summers new vibrator, The Wave, an innovative and slightly risqué campaign is to run alongside it. The sex toy will be marketed in bus stops using vibrating posters. The poster involves the consumer by touching a button, which triggers a vibration sensation as well as the sound of waves. This two-week campaign will take place in various cities including Birmingham, London, Manchester and Nottingham. On top of this, 1000 copies of the September edition of New Woman magazine will include a vibrating page.
I think this a great campaign for the product, which will cause much press and viral marketing. Being edgy reflects the personality of the consumer and product, as many who buy this type of product keep it as a 'hidden secret'.

The o2 Business Picnic Lunch in London

Wondering near Carnaby Street in London at lunchtime the other day I came across a sponsored picnic event from o2. The brand had taken over a very popular square at lunchtime where many city business workers go for lunch, and created a picnic lunch. Providing branded umbrellas, beanbags, frisbees, board games (such as jenger and snake and ladders), barbeque food etc the square was buzzing full of city workers lavishing in this fantastically sunny chilled out atmosphere. Without directly trying to push sales, there was the opportunity to go up to one of the o2 girls if you wanted to ask further questions about the brands products and services. What o2 achieved by doing this was great brand awareness and an association with fun times. With work in the city being stressful and fast moving, the opportunity to escape from this on your lunch break was provided with this event. Since going to the event, participants would have virally mentioned the success of the activity as well as who sponsored it. Without having to try to hard and spend a large budget, a great atmosphere and talk point was created. It has certainly raised the brand profile of o2 within me.

Simpsonize Yourself- Great Idea, but does it really work?

With all the advertising and marketing of the new Simpson’s movie, Burger King launched a campaign with www.simpsonizeme.com. The website allows you to upload a photograph of yourself, and then see what you would look like if you were to be a Simpson character. I think the idea is fantastic, and appeals hugely to a wide audience who would love to see what they would look like if they were to become one of the yellow ones. The idea seems to fulfil a dream of the target market that wishes to see what they would like in this format. With the campaign interacting the consumer and gaining much publicity it works successfully.
However in practice when using the website, the picture you upload to transform yourself has very specific guidelines to what it can and can't except. For me, carrying out this process became very quickly frustrating and time consuming. With the questions it asks about age, hair type etc, I wondered whether or not the photo actually makes much of a different or whether it is just pre programmed?
Overall I feel the campaign idea is great and love how it involves the consumer. However I feel the execution of the idea could be a lot better so that it is easier to do rather than having such specific guidelines. I feel children, who would be a massive target for this campaign, would find using this website very hard to use.