July 20th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
Augmented Reality is quickly gaining momentum and it’s easy to see why. With brands such as Paramount Pictures, Hugo Boss, and Coca-Cola launching AR campaigns showing fantastic results it’s becoming hard to ignore. But with any new innovation there is always the question is it a gimmick or a trend?
Recently Hugo Boss launched an in-store AR campaign which resulted in an increase in footfall to their London store by over 100 people a day. Paramount Pictures also used AR for the launch of Iron Man and as a result received over half a million visitors to their website in the 1st two weeks. With industry experts predicting that the market will grow from less that £20 million currently to more that £300 million in 2014 AR is certainly here to stay. 
However the success of any AR campaign comes down to the application and integration with a wider range of media. With the launch of the AR Z-CARD® we are bridging the gap between print and digital with print literally leaping off the page! The AR Z-CARD® has the added benefit of becoming ‘AR origami’ and offering multiple AR experiences through variations in the Z-CARD® fold. This opens up a wide range of communication possibilities. Click here to find out more on the AR Z-CARD®.
May 28th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
With the countdown to South Africa 2010 Carlsberg, the official beer of the England football team, has launched their integrated football campaign. You may have seen the recent ‘Team Talk’ advertisement which has guest appearances including Sir Trevor Brooking, Nigel Benn, Jack Charlton, Stuart Pearce, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Phil ’The Power’ Taylor, Ian Botham and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Carlsberg have also utilised PocketMedia® to drive people into pubs during the tournament. With increased competition of punters now preferring to drink and watch major games in their own homes, Carlsberg’s primary objective was to increase sales in On Trade during the WC2010 by raising awareness of their PYOP (Pour Your Own Pint) pubs in the UK. The PYOP scheme allowed football fans to pre-book a PYOP table in their nearest local, sit and enjoy pints whilst watching a game without the hassle having to go to the bar.
The Z-CARD®s contained a football planner for the summer 2010 including the final
matches within the premier league, UEFA league, FA Cup and the FIFA World Cup™. They also displayed a step-by-step guide on pouring the perfect pint of Carlsberg, information on booking your very own PYOP table for the World Cup™, and everything you need to know on the PYOP scheme. The Z-CARD®s were distributed in various Carlsberg pubs across 16 pubs in Northern Ireland and 255 bars in the Republic of Ireland.
May 14th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
Independent research carried out by Marketing Week has indicated that over 50% all people polled intend to move from a traditional mobile handset to a Smartphone this year. This coupled with a current Smartphone penetration rate of 23% in the UK which is growing by 70% year-on-year there has never been a more important time for marketing campaigns to capitalise on this end user trend.
Audiences are becoming more savvy in terms of how they can interact with messages and brands and with the predicted increase in Smartphone usage it means not only are audiences accepting this technology they are expecting it to be part of the marketing mix.
Continue reading ‘Smartphone Take-Over’
May 7th, 2010 by Tim
With election fever having occupied the minds of the public and marketers alike recently, I watched and interacted with interest, as for the first time I could comment on official twitter pages, engage in live conversations online on the major TV network websites, text in opinions and watch with, some amusement, as presenters on the BBC navigated the touch screen displays showing the latest results and opinions.
Continue reading ‘Anytime, Anywhere.’
May 5th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
Augmented Reality is increasing in popularity and it’s easy to see why! With the development of this new technology advertisers and retailers have a compelling new way of driving traffic on-line and increasing end user engagement. Augmented reality (AR) is the term used to describe a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery either on personal computers or hand held devices.
Continue reading ‘Launch of the new Augmented Reality Z-CARD®.’
April 27th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
Have you, as a consumer, noticed that it’s never a lack of information that is the issue but more an overload of information, choices, and options available which makes the decision making process a headache. Where do you begin? How do you cut through the clutter of advertising messages and easily filter information down to make the best choices? Information overload is what consumers face every day which is why ‘attention’ has become a scarce commodity for marketers. It has been labeled the ‘Attention Economy’ with consumers’ attention spans now being stretched more than ever. The world’s top brands are utilising PocketMedia® to market to their audience in a compact and concise format in order to condense information into a manageable size, which is ultimately what PocketMedia® does best. Independent research has shown that more than 93% of respondents would keep a Z-CARD® for future use and 68% would use it on a regular basis showing that the format is highly retained therefore capturing attention and having a perceived value.
Source: TRBI
April 20th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
We have found with the development of technology such as QR codes, RFID and Augmented Reality there is an
increasing link between print and digital which is offering brands new ways of engaging their audience. This allows marketers to further integrate their communications with the benefits of both tangible print communications and the on-line experience. Through bridging the gap between print and digital brands can seamlessly deliver high retention print communications combined with the real-time information that digital communications provide.
An example would be Toyota who utilised QR Codes as part of a product launch campaign in Germany. Toyota were launching the new ‘Toyota IQ Concept’ and created a showroom experience called John’s Apartment hosting a series of events around the new launch. Z-CARD®s were produced to show case the features of the vehicle and contained a schedule of John’s Apartment events.
The QR code on the Z-CARD® linked through to the John’s Apartment mobile website which contained further information and allowed visitors to enter a competition to win various prizes. The Z-CARD®s were handed out at the various John’s Apartment showrooms across Germany allowing customers to go directly through to the on-line John’s Apartment using the QR code on the Z-CARD® and their mobile phones.
April 16th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
Sporting events have always been a strong foundation for PocketMedia® campaigns and with the South Africa WorldCup around the corner it is proving an effective way to engage audiences. ING recently utilised the solution to do just that. As part of a sales-driving and brand awareness campaign, Z-CARD®s were used as both support banners during a Netherlands national team football match and a half-time ING promotion.
The entire stadium turned orange as every fan held up a Z-CARD® banner. As experiential events go, engaging with tens of thousands of football supporters is a positive outcome. But that was not the limit – having held up the banner, fans were directed to a specially-created campaign website to see if a photo of them holding it had been uploaded. One lucky spectator got to win 10,000 euros. As a result over, 50 per cent of programme holders visited the site.
April 15th, 2010 by Rachel Blair
The PocketMedia® landscape is vast and often those in the know litter their posts, reports and articles with the latest terminology, acronyms and techno-speak. We believe PocketMedia® is all about making information simple – to that end we have started to compile a list of terminology to help you understand and navigate through this sector. Click here to view.
April 15th, 2010 by Liz Love
The Guardian conducted an experiment to explore exactly how many marketing messages the average Londoner is exposed to everyday and how many we actually retain. The results spoke volumes showing that we are exposed to over 3,500 daily messages and 99% of those having little or no impact!
This continuous bombardment of marketing messages is enough to leave us in a spin and make us assess as marketers how we cut through the noise of advertising messages to reach and engage our audience. The challenge for brands is not only to capture the right audience’s attention, but to ensure they keep it front of mind and retain the key message.
So what better place for a brand to be than in the audience’s pocket? Click here to view full Guardian article.
