While collecting data and click-through ratios is important, sometimes you need to step outside the traditional box of standard advertising and try something new. This is the realm of experimental marketing companies like RPM and many others. With campaigns like these to lead the way, there’s surely something innovative every company can use to reach its target market.
Coca-Cola
Always looking for ways to make customers feel good about their beverages and selves, Coca-Cola’s agency Ogilvy & Mather placed a vending machine in Singapore that dispensed free cokes in exchange for a tight hug. Simply hug the coke machine and get a drink – students in the area were absolutely thrilled.
MOOLAGRAM
Looking to create a sensory experience, ICE Factor dressed “Moolamen” in bright red morph suits and set them free in a large festival with QR codes on their chests. Festival attendees used the QR codes to download the new app and to learn more about the software that brings clients and businesses together on terms.
Ben & Jerry’s
Perhaps the simplest of all experimental marketing campaigns, the company tweeted “We are in Burlington. Who wants ice cream?” The simple message generated a rush for a free treat, thousands of pictures and kept 59,000 Twitter followers engaged for the next “free” stop.
Western Union
Wanted to promote money wires for the modern age, 180 Amsterdam helped Western Union create a singing telegram marketing campaign. Digital music magic combined user voices with a celebrity experience and then allowed the singing telegram to be uploaded to social media or emailed. After 6 weeks, the campaign had reached 50 markets, been featured in major publications and declared a huge success.
Ford
Looking for more test drives, Ford targeted students with a “drive one 4 ur school” program. Colleges and other schools host a test drive event and students try out Ford vehicles. Each test drive generates $20 for the school up to $6,000 total. Since 2007 when the program began, Ford has logged roughly 550,000 test drives using this program.
Fiat
Approaching things more subtly, Fiat has blended the traditional car dealership with traditional Indian cafés. Two Fiat Caffe locations, in Delhi and Pune, offer comfortable seating, library sections and areas for relaxation along with Lavazza coffee and plenty of Fiat marketing materials.
Gap
Nothing gets attention more than sudden sounds. Gap is using this idea by installing FeONIC’s “Whispering Window” technology in shop windows in London. As customers walk by, they are treated to music that appears as if from nowhere. They are then more likely to stop, take a look around and appreciate what Gap is featuring beside them.
Ann Summers
A direct selling company specializing in adult toys and lingerie, Ann Summers wanted to reach the public. And it did exactly that by offering aspiring lingerie models a chance to walk the catwalk in “uncovered” events across a variety of locations. “Private party pods” were erected to allow customers privacy as they asked intimate questions, looked at lingerie and other products right in the middle of a busy shopping center.
