Corporates on Ice
There are some savvy marketers out there gaining alot of attention for their Corporate clients. Some of these marketing gurus charge an absolute fortune, even for the simplest of ideas they come up with.
The point of advertising is to attract attention. Good positive attention that lead to enquiries and sales. Not always easy when so many companies are striving to do exactly the same.
Thinking up a new, exciting, different and novel idea can be difficult even at the best of times.
Take a leaf out of one of the best marketed companies in the world - McDonalds.
I don't even have to say what type of company they are or what they sell - everybody simply knows McDonalds is a hamburger fast food chain. Their gurus are good, very good.
McDonalds are ALWAYS trying to come up with new and innovative ideas. They recently ran a campaign using an Ice Sculpture to promote their brand identity even further.
They embedded 4,000 real $1 coins inside an ice sculpture, forming the coins in the shape of their famous golden arches.
The sculpture was placed near a beach on a hot day with a sign underneath that read, "Cool off with $1 drinks."
As the ice sculpture slowly melted people took the coins.
This idea made US and Canadian national news, it created interest and curiosity; people took photos of the sculpture. They posted it to blogs, YouTube, web sites and generally talked about it. It was an inter-active campaign. Without saying 'McDonalds' everyone knew who the arches belonged to.
As McDonalds were actually giving something away, this gesture or 'statement' was or is far more powerful than taking out a full-page advertisement in the local paper. People like novelty and like things for free! Combine the two and you have a winner.
Your turn to make it big
You may not wish to place 4,000 £1 coins in to the shape of your logo ("our budget is certainly not as big as that by far" ), fair enough. But how about thinking out side the 'box'.
Questions to ask yourself:
What is the most popular thing (or things) you:
- Sell
- Manufacture
- or even the Service you give?
If your service, facility, product or idea is in reasonable demand, an ice sculpture is a new and different way to get your message over to the public.
You may be saying, "but I don't have a shop or premises that are visible to walk-by trade".
How about a co-op "advert" or campaign with someone who does? Split the costs right down the middle: That's full advertising with half the cost!
Take space in:
- A shopping centre/Mall
- A park
- A Library
- Your Dentist surgery, doctors' surgery etc.
- A department store
- Community Centre
- On the beach (as McDonalds did!)
What shape of Ice Sculpture to have?
This is almost like saying, "how long is a piece of string?" The shape will be determined or derived by your business or they type of attention you wish to attract. The whackier the idea the greater the attention!
Let's cover shapes, sizes, text, placement and so forth in a minute. First let's make a quick summary:
Markets
Ice Sculptures can be used in ANY market.
How to measure its success
If the sculpture is placed an at event (Spring, Summer, Autumn or even a Winter event) you will know by the numbers of people that attend the event.
If placed in a shop window, you can track the amount of people looking in at certain times of the day. If business cards, leaflets, coupons are placed in front of the window - by placing an exact amount, you will know how many are taken.
Couple this with an online 'competition', contest, quiz or some other inter-active procedure, you will easily be able to track numbers. By asking for e-mail addresses (or other contact details) you will have 'already interested' potential customers.
If the 'value' of the object/item in the ice sculpture is of significant value to people (and it might not be monetary) - they will call back to see when the sculpture has melted sufficiently to retrieve the product/item - if that is the idea, it doesn't have to be!
Demographics
Targeting specific demographics can be achieved by ice sculptures - this includes the shape, the content of the ice sculpture or even the 'attitude' to the campaign. Match the shape and product with the age group or target group you wish to hit.
Who has used Ice Sculptures for advertising?
Many medium and large companies have realized ice sculptures are:
- Cheap (under £350.00)
- Have mass appeal
- Are a novelty advertising medium
- Create lots of interest
- Can be demographically orientated for best results
Companies such as:
McDonald's, Volkswagen, Absolut, Google, Chevrolet, Virgin, Heart FM and many, many others have reaped the benefit.
When one sees other companies using it to great effect - it's a 'why didn't I think of that' moment!
Think out-of-the-box and you'll have other local companies thinking, 'why didn't I think of that' from YOUR campaign.
This is a VERY brief outline of some of the possibilities you can use to 'sell more'.
Give us a call on 0845 2300 337 or e-mail us to see what we can do for you.
On the 10th October 2011, this very short article from the Philly Post was posted:
Right by the Clothespin statue at 15th and Market is a giant ice sculpture of a Flyers logo. Inside the sculpture are a bunch of hockey pucks—some of which are concealing tickets to Wednesday’s home opener at the Well. Use your bare hands to help melt the ice to get the puck and see if you can score some tickets.
source: http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2011/10/10/melt-free-flyers-tickets/
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