On The Ground Looking Up

Read Any Good Burgers Recently?

Wimpy burger in South Africa made a few burgers specifically for the blind to communicate that anyone was welcome at the chain. They used sesame seeds to write messages about the food in braile. Cute video!

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I Remember When I Used To Like Commercials

Like when Sprite did it's Obey Your Thirst Campain with Pete Rock, CL Smooth and Grand Puba.

Even More Branded Peeing Experiences

As if PeeBall were not enough, we now have pee controlled video games in bars in London. I think this takes the piss out of some of the only downtime we get :)

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Twinkies, You Let Someone Else Do This!

Artist Jennifer Rubell created this padded room (sometimes I need one of those), but the special bit about this one is that the padding was created from 1800 cones of cotton candy! According to Foodaddiction:

'It is an object that addresses the dark side of pleasure, the price of pleasure, the possibility that pleasure is its own punishment.’

I think there is a great opportunity here for a brand to use this idea in an interesting and attention getting way.

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Don't Recycle Plastic And It Will Come Back To Haunt You!

Shanghai wants you to recycle or your dreams will be hunted by the plastic bottle monster your parents told you about when you were a kid.

Well maybe they didn't tell you that story (my hippy parents mentioned it many times I am so sure!) but it still creates for a powerful image.

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When Good Ideas Get Stolen - The Blood Edition

Some say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But what about when your direct competitor blatently steals the exact same idea? Usually we don't see this on the upper rungs of brand fame and brand managers tend to not want to draw any attention to their competition, it is more likey to happen with smaller companies who are just grasping for something to stand out.

So, I was really surprised as I was going through my blog list this morning and I came across this promotion in Romania for HBO's True Blood.

Which would have been super sweet if not that Showtime had done the EXACT same idea for Dexter a few years ago.

I mean come on, in the world of Google how can we as agencies not do our homework and perhaps put a small twist on the creative that will discern us from directly copying our main rival. Sadly, it probably did get them a fair amount of attention on the back of the originator of the concept.

Jack Daniel's Sets World's Largest Bottle Mosaic Record

Jack Daniel's is celebrating it's birthday by trying to break 7 world records in one day. I only saw this little bit here which was Jack himself as the world's largest glass bottle mosaic (was there a previous record holder) down at NYC's South Street Seaport. There was also the world's largest bottle of JD, which I assume will create another world record tomorrow for the world's largest hangover.

We Are Suckers For Marketing, And Happily So

On a recent trip to Cafe Duke, the local 'everything in one place' lunch spot near our offices I came across this startling bit of marketing genius:

So, for $1.15 you can get 12OZ of a cold coke in the standard shapless can. And for $.80 MORE you can get 3.5OZ LESS of the same drink in a sexier aluminum bottle, herein known as "Coke Fancy Bottle." Not only were they charging accordingly, but they were telling you right to your face that you were paying more for less.

Before I had viewed the price tags associated, I found myself initially grabbing for the Fancy Bottle and then I looked down and saw the prices. I thought it was very odd that they were pricing the smaller, less value product higher but then I remembered the overmentioned adage Sex Sells. And here we were seeing it play out blatently before our very eyes.

The marketers conundrum. On the one hand we have this great product (Coke in a can), that comes in the shapeless, not so attractive, not extremely functional packaging, and then we have this other product (Coke in a Fancy Bottle) that has sensual curves, feels good in the hand, represents progressive thinking and enlightened purchasing decisions and a willingness to pay more for the badge that says 'I have style AND taste'. I mean, let's be honest, who ever got laid from a 12OZ can of coke, but there is probably some science behind the premise that iPhone users have more sex than Blackberry users, we choose products that we want to outwardly represent who we are and who we want to be, and we want people to notice and act accordingly.

The genius here is that, whether they know it our not, Cafe Duke has created the perfect microcosmic user study. As I stood and watched for about 15 minutes I counted 7 people (primarily guys btw, phallic shape?) that went for the Fancy Bottle vs 4 who went for the standard can. So conscious or not, almost 70% of the people chose form over function and were willing to pay a premium for it.

So next time you are thinking of how to market that product, perhaps focus more on the emotional triggers that it plays on versus the value the product may bring to the consumer's bottom line.

Orange Juice Gives You 'Natural Energy'

Nice little outdoor/ambient experience from Tropicana in France. They used the acids in 2500 oranges to generate the power needed to light up the installation. Now that's green (well, Orange)!

Seen on Marketing-Alternatif

The Edible Brand Box

Why hasn't a major brand done a Bento Box campaign yet? These are amazing and I can easily see the transition from at home artistic edibles to a brand evangelist creativity contest. Ok fine, if you wont pitch it, I will.

These and about 28 more Bento creations here.