Why we are LOVING Pinterest...

We live in an increasingly visual age where every second millions of people are documenting their lives through photos and uploading them to social networking sites. We seem obsessed with not only sharing pictures and videos from yesterdays BBQ in the park and Mia’s 1st Birthday Party, but capturing every bit of life we love from the ‘cute’ T-shirt we just saw at the market, to the tasty cakes that have just been delivered to the office.  So with this visual sharing explosion, is Pinterest the answer when communicating our lives in videos and pictures? Is Pinterest the latest fad or will it become the latest must have online marketing tool for your brand?


The low down. So what is Pinterest and how does it work?
Pinterest is a pin board style, social photo sharing website which allows its users to ‘pin’ images of ‘interest’ to the site using videos, photos or discussions. These ‘pins’ can then be organised into individual boards much like a virtual scrap book. Anything can be found from ‘design I love’ to ‘stunning holiday destinations’.  It’s simple to use as ‘pins’ can be uploaded by the individual or 'pinned' directly from websites and blogs using a handy ‘pin it’ plug in. Linked with Facebook and twitter, users can like a ‘pin’, or, much like a re-tweet, ‘repin’ a ‘pin’ to their pinboard thus continuing the image sharing journey.


So how can Pinterest work for my brand?
They say that a picture paints and thousand words and what better way to shout about your new product or latest experiential advertising campaign then with an image that says it all. With the ‘pin it’ plug in, an image can be pinned in a matter of seconds with a witty or cliff hanger style caption if desired. 
It’s not just us that agrees that Pinterest is the way forward. Several brands have lead the with Pinterest digital campaigns. Kotex’s ‘Woman’s Inspiration Day’ campaign featured personalised gifts that were sent out to 50 inspiring women whom they located on Pinterest. These gifts were created from inspiration from their Pinterest boards and sent them a personalised gift (with Kotex included). All the women had to do to receive their exclusive gift was to repin their gift. Nearly 100% of women posted about their gift on Facebook, Pinteret and Twitter. From the 50 gifts sent out, the Brand achieved 2,284 interactions and 694,853 total impressions. 

Fashion brand Guess has also jumped on the bandwagon with their “Guess my colour Inspiration” by challenging its fans to create boards based on one of  four spring denim colours: “Noir Teal,” “Hot House Orange,” “Red Hot Overdue” and “New Plum Light.” Participants were told to title their boards “Guess My Color Inspiration” and re-pin their colour ambassador image with at least five more colour images. The four winners were selected by style bloggers. 

Guess 'Colour Me Inspired' campaign

Even 'Mad Men' is reaching out to its audience through a retro 60’s styled Pinterest board promoting the release of the hotly anticipated fifth season of the show.

The Mad Men Pinterest board

Pinterest seems to be on it's way to becoming a huge hit with the number of unique visitors to the site growing by 886% in just 6 months, with over 16.23 million users (via Branding Magazine).


What better way to shout about your brand or product then letting your consumer do it for you? Linking with Facebook and Twitter its makes it incredibly easy to share about the things you like with countless others to. Go on, try it- we're sure you'll become just as addicted as we are! 
Follow us at http://pinterest.com/sketchevents/

http://www.flowtown.com/blog/why-is-pinterest-so-addictive

Brand Advocacy (or look how jolly nice we are!)

One of our Account Execs, Charlotte battled through the busy crowds in our local Starbucks this morning to get her hands on her free Latte. The Latte give-away has been the centre of a massive campaign for Starbucks aiming to make the brand more friendly. You give them your name in exchange for the freebie making the morning coffee run a lot more personal. Starbucks’ promise ‘to make your coffee just the way you like it’ because ‘after all, it’s personal’ got us all thinking about how easy it is to create brand advocacy. 

It’s all about human brands and random acts of kindness...

With Social Media connecting people and brands all over the world, it has become apparent that brands need to engage with their consumers on a deeper personal level.  In a time where Facebook has taken to viewing ‘brands as people’ by allowing them to post directly onto user’s newsfeeds (Marketing Week) it is not simply enough to be a faceless corporate brand. As trendwatching.com points out, it is all about creating a human interface with character and personality and therefore experiential activities are only truly successful when they manage to create a deeper emotional connection. 

The human brand with character and personality, according to trendwatching.com, embodies traits that include random acts of kindness and activities based around generosity and giving suggesting that Starbucks was on the right track with this morning’s latte give-away.

Here are some other brands that have recently caught our attention with their acts of kindness:

• We love Kinder Bueno’s ‘Try Me Free’ Campaign which offers you the money back for your Bueno purchase and suggests ‘It's the perfect excuse to treat yourself to another!’ – We Agree!

• Mr Kipling has created an exceedingly good experiential activity (come on now- we couldn’t resist!) which will make waiting for the bus an experience you will never forget. Bus shelters in locations such as London, Nottingham and Glasgow will not only emit the smell of an Angel Slice, it will give you one too - surely sampling at its best! (via the DRUM )

When talking about brands that have individual character and personality it seems hard not to mention Ben & Jerry’s who are known for their strong social mission as well as their yummy ice cream. In the last few days it was announced that they have joined ranks with gay rights organisation Stonewall and renamed their Apple Pie flavour ice cream, Apple-y Ever After, in support of equal rights to marriage for same sex couples. Read the full story here: http://www.benjerry.co.uk/our-values/appleyeverafter

Humans have flaws and so do brands...

Easily accessible online reviews and comments are quick to point out the flaws in brands marketing strategies but, as trendwatching.com points out, this adds to breaking down the corporate façade. Nobody is perfect and neither are brands.

And so back to Starbucks- Their personalised coffee cups don’t always go down well elsewhere as you can see here... http://thatsnotmynamestarbucks.tumblr.com/ but we are staying open minded for now (and most definitely going back to load up a new Starbucks card and receive our next free coffee!)

Corona Extra Summer: Pop Up at the Southbank

This Experiential pop up bar was created for much loved Mexican beer brand Corona. The aim was to create a slice of summer in the heart of London in mid December- no easy feat!

To create an indoor outdoor space we built an 11m geodisic dome on London's Southbank, just next to the OXO tower and overlooking St. Pauls and the City across the river.

The dome taking shape...

Installing real grass, tall palms, lime trees, a huge white up-lit bar and luxury beach furniture we were able to create the sense of leaving winter behind and stepping into summer in a luxury beach resort somewhere far, far away...

From the concrete Southbank to a lush and green paradise.

Tropical temperatures inside the dome meant that bar staff were serving customers ice cold Corona in shorts in December! We also diffused the space with the scent of fresh lime to create a full sensory experience.

Ice cold Corona all weekend long...

By day, visitors could escape the Christmas shopping crowds in tropical surroundings and by night the dome was spectacularly lit up and surrounded by the twinkling lights of the Southbank whilst guests enjoyed the summer vibes..

The lights go on ready for the night crowds.

DJ Joel Kane played a set on the Friday night http://soundcloud.com/joelkane/tracks   

The dome by night- stunningly beautiful.

The event was a fantastic success- people loved the dome and we had some great crowds in over the 3 days. Check out the video to see some of the public's reactions.

3D Projection Mapping

Video Projection Mapping is fast becoming the technique to use for companies to get their message across. In the last year alone major brands like Nike, Bentley and Nokia have all used the latest technology to market new models.

Explained in its simplest terms Video Projection Mapping is all about projecting images and moving images onto 3D objects. The exciting new technique has the ability to turn any surface – a building, river, even a human being into a compelling display.

The latest ideas and technology involved in Video Mapping allows advertisers and marketers to bring a whole new dimension into their campaign, and in the right location can create a unique buzz that no other platform can do.

This buzz has attracted many brands to jump on the video mapping bandwagon...

Nike recently launched their Jordan Melo M8 in spectacular fashion by projecting onto water fountains.

Hyundai created the stunning effect of the new Accent driving on a wall, highlighting their new slogan "New Thinking, New Possibilities'.

H&M's flagship store in Amsterdam came to life for its launch, when a mixture of fairytale images were projected onto the historic building.

These projections never fail to cause a huge buzz, with passers by forced to stop and stare at the technological wizardry, with many staying for duration of the 5, 10, 15 minute show, or however long it may be. This is what sets it apart from many other media platforms and why it looks set to be the future of marketing. 

Volkswagen Art Heist

Volkswagen have just launched a lovely new Experiential campaign to celebrate the launch of their new 2012 model Jetta. The campaign began in October with random "Pop Up' art galleries appearing throughout major cities in Canada. 

The outdoor exhibits featured limited edition long-exposure light paintings created by the Jetta using state of the art techniques. The framed and hand numbered paintings were then precariously hung around the cities allowing the more daring of passers-by to take the works home for themselves. 

The 'thieves' that did manage to bag one of the pieces for themselves were then encouraged to share their finds - with Volkswagen Canada's Facebook page already receiving photos of the works of art suspended from homes and offices walls.

A simple and brilliant campaign. Absolutely love it.

The Heinz 'Beanzstalk'

When Heinz’s PR came to us and asked if it would be possible to create a Heinz ‘Beanzstalk’, we jumped at the chance! 

A 20ft ‘Beanzstalk’ appeared overnight in London’s Soho Square, along with a Heinz gazebo with comfy orange ‘Bean-bags’ and chefs serving hot beans and toast to the passing crowds.

As well as the chance to sample a pot of hot Heinz Beanz (1 of your 5 a day) people could also pick up a free 4 pack of Heinz Snap Pots to take home or back to the office for lunch. Brand Ambassadors were also giving away recipe ideas using Heinz Beanz.

This Experiential event was held to promote the new limited edition Heinz Beans can design, with the the '1 of your 5 a day' message as well as support the latest television ads featuring 'Jack' and his 'magic beans'.

As well as being a fun day for all, the ‘Beanzstalk’ appeared in the Metro and Twitter was buzzing with the news of free beans for all in Soho!

Swatch 'Full Blooded Collection' Window @ John Lewis

We were up super early to fit the newest window display at John Lewis, Oxford Street this morning. The window was for Swatch's new 'Full Blooded Collection' available at John Lewis, Swatch stores and online. 

Measuring up...

The MD drops by to check that all is ship shape!

We love the smoky sand and the silver...

The finished window :)