Best and Worst Super Bowl Experiential Promotions

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February 29th, 2012


We Stood Up and Spilled Our Popcorn For….

Bud Light Hotel

Honestly, what’s not to love about a Bud Light hotel takeover?

This year, Budweiser owned Super Bowl Village with an advertising arsenal of branded, outdoor lounges, ‘super’ secret pop-up bars and brought out the heavy marketing machinery by transforming the Hampton Inn in downtown Indy into the ultra-glam, VIP Bud Light Hotel, open to football fans in-the-know and wielding the right passes.

Everything inside and outside of the hotel (from canopies and welcome mats to complimentary pens, pillow mints and shampoo bottles) was rebranded to fit the Bud Light ‘glam’ theme.

During Super Bowl Week, the Bud Light Hotel served as an incomparable venue for the event’s hottest parties–including the Playboy Party, the Madden Party and a special performance by 50 Cent.

Budweiser continues to be an inspiration for us to push boundaries and never view any idea as over-the-top or off-limits.

Paul Mitchell Pop-Up Barber Shop

At the Maxim Gotham City Party (super hero-themed) on Feb. 4, the hair product brand Paul Mitchell brought a touch of refinery to Super Bowl week with its pop-up barber shop that offered guests free hair touch-ups and consultations. In acknowledgement of the party’s theme, Paul Mitchell remembered to include ‘super’ models and ‘super’ stylists to participate in the promotion.

We Politely Clapped For…

Heineken

Heineken also sponsored the Maxim Gotham City Party, and its tactics were less than innovative. A branded bar was set up in the space and brand ambassadors circled the venue passing out ice-cold beverages to guests.

While the party itself offered excellent exposure, we would have liked to see Heineken push the envelope, or if nothing else offer guests a takeaway, aside from a free beer that would eventually end up in a recycling bin. Even something as small as a branded beer cozy would have been something for attendees to take home and forever associate the Heineken brand with one of the best parties they had ever attended.

We Are Throwing A Flag On…

NFL Projections in Super Bowl Village

Following the visually mind-blowing halftime performance and the week of 3D-centric, experiential parties and campaigns, we were less-than-impressed by the NFL’s use of projectors to brand the sides of buildings, and a giant XLVI, in downtown Indianapolis.

We believe the NFL left a champion opportunity unrealized– it had the arena to take something as tried and true as a building projection and make it functional, interactive and awe-inspiring.

By piggybacking off the 3D projection trend (now widely recognized after the NYC Saks building Christmas projection and the Chevrolet Sonic 3D claw game promotion) the NFL could have taken its building projections a step further by adding in a digital clock counting down to the Super Bowl or even taking advantage of the space by projecting players’ images running the football across the downtown Indianapolis skyline.

While the NFL’s projections were photo worthy (see below), they lacked that ‘wow’ factor and over-the-top showiness the Super Bowl is infamous for. Perhaps the NFL was anxious about upstaging its advertisers, but at the end of the day…it’s the NFL’s stage, isn’t it?

Posted by Kendall in Experiential - Event Management, Sam, Uncensored


Beyond Traditional: Best of 2011 (INFOGRAPHIC)

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February 14th, 2012

Posted by Kendall in Mobile Truck Advertising


How Pinterest Is Changing Business Management & The Creative Process

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January 13th, 2012

Created in 2009, Pinterest rose to popularity late last summer and has since been on the road to becoming a worldwide phenom to join the ranks of Facebook and Twitter.

Pinterest is an invite-only website where users create image boards of ‘pins’ (web content they find fascinating), organize those boards into categories and share them with their community of ‘pinners.’

While popular board themes usually include home decor, recipes, DIY projects and arts & craft ideas, we’ve found Pinterest to be a very useful organization and ideation tool for our company.

Here are a few ways to use Pinterest to optimize campaign management, organize internal projects and stay on top of trends:

- Create a board to represent your company (pins could represent your business’ culture, recent projects, press highlights, etc.) When a user is interested in one of your posts, they can ‘repin’ or ‘like’ your image and share it with all of their followers.

- Organize mood boards for upcoming campaigns. Give permission to team members and clients (with existing Pinterest accounts) and invite them to post their ideas on the board. This is a great strategy for idea sharing among multiple parties (especially when clients are in different cities/states/countries)

- Dedicate one board to industry and social trends. Pin campaigns, ideas or advertising products you found interesting–having a visual representation of others’ creativity will inspire ideas of your own.

- To further increase your SEO capabilities, consider embedding Pinterest to your company’s website or blog. Also, note that Pinterest can be linked so that pins will appear on your Facebook wall and Twitter feed.

While Pinterest provides unlimited opportunity for creative organization and expression, remember the site is still in its baby stages. It has not, yet, been designed to accommodate the needs of brands and businesses. There are no privacy settings for limiting visibility of certain boards or pins–if you are using Pinterest to brainstorm ideas for upcoming pitches, all of your pins will be visible to the site (and potentially the companies pitching against you).

Happy pinning!

 

Posted by Kendall in What's Trending


How To Succeed In Social Media Without Really Trying

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December 28th, 2011

Be Active

Consistently updating your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages and posting new content demonstrates to fans that your business is in-tune and engaged.

Be Accountable
Constantly scan your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for recent posts/comments/tweets and any other feedback related to your page. Never forget that your Facebook wall and Twitter feed are public domain. It is up to you to police your page and be reactionary.

Be Accurate
Always make sure to check your spelling, check your grammar and check your facts before making any post public. The quickest way to lose the confidence of your consumer and the faith of your fans is to overlook errors, even as small as a typo.

Be Connective
It’s important that your business does not lose its identity by having a disconnect between the content and information supplied on its networking pages. At the same time, the content should not be identical on every page, or your fans and followers will view your company as uninspired and lazy. Your social pages should act as sisters, not twins.

Be Humorous
Informative tweets will win you credibility; humorous posts will earn you retweets, reposts, buzz and coverage. Find a healthy 50/50 balance of funny and informative and the fans and followers will come flocking.

 

Posted by Kendall in Social Media Advertising


How To Manage Multiple Campaigns Without Breaking A Sweat

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December 11th, 2011

In a creative agency, every week is a busy week–and then there are weeks where it seems like every client is running three campaigns and time-management skills are stretched to the the limit. Don’t tell clients ‘no’ because a workload seems overwhelming or impossible. At Beyond Traditional, we are strong believers of ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ Here are three best practices we use to expertly handle the needs of our clientele.

Be A Masterful Multi-tasker

Here at Beyond Traditional, we aren’t strangers when it comes to tackling several campaigns at once. Prioritization and day-by-day planning have helped us stay on top of multi-campaign workloads. We optimize our performance by taking on the most pressing projects first so we are able to address unscheduled wants, needs and fire drills without added stress.

Hope For The Best, Plan For The Worst

Disciplined organization and communication are key when it comes to executing multiple campaigns. For each event/campaign, we recommend organizing all event plans/schedules/routes/maps/contact numbers and background information into folders for each team member. As plans are updated and changed, it’s essential to make sure everyone on the team has the same information.

Think ahead to what the next steps are beyond what’s right in front of you. Planning improves actuation and leads to accomplished goals and bolstered metrics of success. Even the smallest of oversights can mean a disaster for a campaign–which is why it is important to have Plans B, C and D ready for activation in case Plan A hits the fan.

Trust Your Team

Even though you’d like to be in the middle of all the action, at some point you need to accept that you cannot be in 20 places at once. Trying to micromanage every single event will only lead to high blood pressure, lack of employee confidence and a soured reputation for your business. Loosen the reigns, take a deep breath and prepare yourself to handle the occasional curve ball, knowing you have a solid support system to back you up and be decision-makers when you aren’t available. Empower your teammates to be accountable leaders and instill that you are all working together toward a common goal.

Finally, never be afraid to take on new challenges and push yourself and your business to strive for higher goals. You can’t be the best without working to get better every day.

 

Posted by Kendall in Sam, Uncensored