First up is the (frankly staggering) news that legendary tinned-meat brand SPAM is set to launch a 21-week marketing drive in an attempt to both educate consumers and banish prejudices as well as introduce their new offering – SPAM fritters.
This will be achieved with the use of a travelling roadshow and experiential offerings at Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrison’s branches across the country. The supermarket based operations will feature chefs preparing SPAM dishes, brand ambassadors and daily giveaways.
Perhaps of more importance to the majority of the marketing world is the news that the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority if you needed to ask…) are to embark on their first ever PPC campaign in a bid to raise consumer awareness of their role in relation to UK advertising. If nothing else this move serves to reinforce the idea that PPC and online ad campaigns are set to become ever more important to brand and consumer alike. We’re wondering which other official bodies are going to follow their example. In fact, we have a small bet on it in the office – we’ll let you know when a winner emerges.
But back to experiential news – and it has been announced that London’s Capital 95.8 radio station is to run a week-long promotion on its Johnny and Denise breakfast show for West End show Dirty Dancing.
Listeners will be invited to email the show with reasons why both they and their friends deserve to “Have the time of their life”. The best emails will be read out on air and the winners as chosen by the hosts will win tickets to an exclusive Dirty Dancing VIP event hosted by Denise.
After months of online rumour and talk Sony’s new Foam City ad has been released to promote the Handycam and Cybershot ranges.
Experiential marketers should be interested as the add is a strange blend of digital and experiential – well, it’s actually an experiential event filmed and then marketed as an advert…but you know what we mean.
For the ad downtown Miami was flooded with 460 million litres of foam by a machine that generates 2 million litres of the stuff every minute. 200 residents of the city were invited to enter “Foam City” and document the event armed with cameras from the aforementioned ranges.
As well as the ad itself (which was released on the continent today but will not reach the UK until May) all the images taken on the shoot will be uploaded to an online database.
And that’s the news this week!