The Big Picture

Merry Christmas from everyone at Mosaic Marketing!

We'll probably regret this, but here is a little bit of fun to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. See you in 2012 - have a good one...

 

 

 

Mosaic employee hopping mad

How many times have you heard someone in the office say "if that comes in I'll run around outside our office naked"? Well perhaps not enough for some people's liking, but our prized employee Chloe did utter words to that effect about signing up a particular partner for one of our current campaigns. When the contract duly came in, witnesses to this rash claim called for her to make good on her promise. After some resistance on her part, her forfeit was negotiated down from doing a full monty to wearing one garment only. The garment itself then grew in size to the point where it (bizarrely) became a frog costume. Appropriate enough given the aquatic nature of our client's brand, our Chloe was suitably embarrassed when she did the hop of shame around the courtyard in front of our office.

 

So, the moral is, be careful what you promise in a small office. It might just come back to bite you on the bot.

Do please feel free to share this with anyone who knows her!

 

Merry Christmas one and all!

Whatever your customers, consumers or staff like doing in their spare time, Mosaic can help them do it for less. Contact us now to see if we can help deliver a happier new year for them all.

Merry Christmas to all our subscribers, readers and contributors. See you next year!

The Mosaic Team

Gillette - beard or no beard?

Take the Rough or the Smooth?

No doubt the Bard would balk at the bastardisation of his famous quote (to BEard or not to BEard), but the headline of their blog does sum up Gillette's new campaign perfectly. The basic premise is that they are helping identical twin brothers George (bearded) and Dean Georgiades sort out their disagreement about which look is best - hirsute or hairless.

This campaign itself is a quite unique proposition, as it is being conducted online, predominantly through the medium of Twitter. The twins will be competing in a series of challenges to determine attractiveness, aerodynamics etc of their respective facial states and the results will be posted on Twitter. The public can participate every step of the way and the ultimate winner will be decided by a good old fashioned popularity contest - the twin with the most followers. (We can report that George is winning at the time of writing.) The twins profiles are @georgiogeo and @dino_geo respectively so go and make your Tweets heard.

This is an interesting use of social media and is a good example of the current trend for brands to have less overt involvement in what are essentially brand building exercises.

Do sales promotions really TURN YOU ON?

 

Sales Promotion headlines arouse as much excitement as Pornography!

Facile, out of context and sensationalist we know, but a recent IPM study found that consumers get the same level of emotional excitement from seeing a promotional offer during their grocery shopping, as they do from sexual arousal. This delightful premise was based on the emotional response of 50 people who were shown packs that featured promotions and packs that didn't. Their reaction was measured by iMotions technology which uses sophisticated metrics (Eye Tracking, Reading and Emotion) to determine the response to visual stimulus from the sub-conscious through to attention and engagement.

Get your basket love, you've scored

Emotional responses are measured on a scale of 0 to 10 (in the absence of a name we'll call it the eMote scale) where 10 is associated with extreme trauma and 0 is linked to complete indifference (e.g. England footballers during the World Cup). Three promotions in particular registered a score in the range achieved through viewing pornography (5 to 7 eMotes). Marmite was highest with it's Free Horrid Henry audio book offer at 5.8 eMotes. Other campaigns which caused similar arousal were Kingsmill's Wallace and Gromit collectibles and Cravendale's coupon campaign. Before you rush out to your local supermarket, all these promotions are long since expired. However, we can show you one of these hugely erotic promotions here. So, for those of a highly charged disposition, look away now.

Peeling back the layers

Well this is all very titillating for us marketeers, but we find ourselves wondering how many eMotes do other mundane activities register? Crossing a busy road, going down a fast lift, unwrapping a chocolate bar, answering the door to a takeaway delivery, winning a bet, making it onto a departing train - we could go on. Knowing the eMote score for routine chores would help contextualise the findings.

What controls were used in the promotion? People may have been hungry and absolutely love Marmite. Were there non-promotional packs of Marmite used in the study to measure the benchmark eMote score? We just don't know. Surely the increase in eMotes caused by the promotion would be more relevant?

What can we learn?

1. The right promotional headline can be as stimulating as watching porn.
2. Promotions can keep people engaged for longer than the 2 seconds it typically takes consumers to make a buying decision - think of it as a form of promotional viagra!
3. Could further study lead to a definitive formula for which promotions do 'turns people on'?
4. They really need a name for the eMote scale.
5. Look out for anoraked individuals in the supermarket aisles - they maybe enjoying their shopping a little too much.

Marketing gone mad

Yes, we're getting near to silly season (when isn't it?) and this is an unashamedly silly item prompted by a rather strange brief that we received at Mosaic's office this last week.

We'll spare the blushes of those concerned, but it did remind us of one of the strangest promotional ideas we were ever asked to respond to. It was several years ago now so we can now publish it under the terms of the Freedom of Useless Information Act 2001:

You know those toilet block cages that you hang over the rim of your toilet? Well, one particular brand wanted to run... wait for it... an on-pack 2 for 1 dining offer! Not only that, but as a premium brand in the category (!) they wanted to feature fine dining restaurants. Now I'm no restaurateur, but can you imagine Ramsay, Rhodes, Blanc, White, Roux Jnr or Snr wanting to link their precious restaurant brands with a toilet duck? That really would produce some Chef-ey expletives.

Having said that, when we were looking for images for this article we discovered that the concept of toilet themed dining is big in Taiwan:

The Modern Toilet restaurant chain in Taiwan - a whole new meaning to Bowl Food!

What about a WC themed bookshop where you could sit in a toilet while you browse the shelves, now that has potential. I can see it now... queue wibbly wobbly image, swirling harp sound, cross fade to... 

Little bit of politics

We couldn't resist drawing attention to the similarity between historic events in government and the daily difficulty we face in bringing disparate businesses, brands and organisations together in perfect harmony for the common good. Okay, we may have over-egged that a bit, we bring them together for a sales promotion campaign where they hopefully all benefit from increased sales, vicarious kudos and brand exposure - but the principle stands! 

So when the latest Westminster honeymoon period is over, which I hope you agree is not being cynical but merely realistic, we will allow ourselves a little snigger, or perhaps an empathic smile. Welcome to our world David and Nick!

Kirstie tackles primate extinction

On the day that Conservation International have announced that nearly half of all primate species are facing extinction, we can proudly report that our own Kirstie Reed is tackling the problem single-handed.

 
Kirstie, currently in Bolivia on a 6-month sabbatical from her job as Account Director at Mosaic, has taken 8 monkeys under her protective wing. This comes as no surprise to anyone who knows her: she launched a credible and heartfelt Twitter campaign to become the new Lara Croft; she runs children's parties in her spare time and she is a devoted fan of the legendary Lion Man. And, of course, before you say it - she's used to working with various evolutionary stages of primate at Mosaic. Boom boom.

The question is, what will her monkey moniker be? Will she be The Gibbon Girl? Kirstie of the Apes? Lemur Croft? Answers on a blog post please...

What makes her selfless gesture all the more altruistic is the fact that our Kirstie absolutely hates bananas. Even the faintest whiff of one. So, she's either introducing them to a whole new diet or overcoming her aversion.

Poos 4 Schools

Yes puerile we know, but we came across the following typo on Speedo's website, TotalSwimming.co.uk referring to the 'Brish Gas Poos 4 Schools' initiative. It later goes on to invite people to join the make a splash roadshow. We had to laugh.

Don't worry, we have now told them about their mistake. The link above should take you to the corrected site by the time you read this. 

The best Sales Promotion campaign ever!

Before we get immersed in the inevitable 'look back at the last year/decade' retrospectives and endless Channel 4 top 10s of every cultural phenomenon under the sun, we at the Sales Promotion Blog thought it was worth getting in there first and asking the question that's secretly on every marketeer's minds... just what is the best sales promotion campaign ever?

We propose to open nominations from today and invite suggestions as to possible candidates, and depending on the participation, either open it up to a global poll from the beginning of January, or draw our own conclusions from the entries.

To get the ball rolling, here are a selection of our favourites, some of which score marks for longevity if nothing else.

Esso Free Mixer Glass
 
Talk about a promotion having a lasting effect My parents still have tumblers in their glass cabinet from collecting petrol coupons in the 1970s! They're still as good as the day they were first blown and have even gained a certain retro chic.

Andrex Beanie Puppies

In the earliest days of internet marketing strategy, Andrex wanted to drive increased traffic to their website and attract 1000 more users.

In return for 6 tokens and £2.50 consumers were offered a Free Beanie Puppy. Purchasers were then offered other puppy items and a 10p donation was made to the Canine Defence League for every puppy purchased.

A well groomed promotion covering multiple disciplines and communication channels.

Co-Op - Green Shield Stamps

The veritable godfather of retail loyalty schemes, still fondly remembered if you run a Google search.

No plastic card shenanigans here, just collect your stamps from your weekly Co-Op shop and stick them into your stamp saver book. 

All sorts of exciting premiums to collect for, like a treasure trove from a Generation Game conveyor belt!

Walkers - Comic Relief 2004

The iconic red nose was used to great effect in the supporting advertising campaign and a limited edition Baked Bean flavour added to the mirth of the theme.

Multi-packs offered a choice of three different branded Whoopee cushions to collect. A guaranteed £1,000,000 donation was pledged with no link to how many crisps were purchased.

Plus 1p was promised for every sale of individual baked bean and Monster Munch packs and 5p for baked bean multi-packs.

A typical Walkers promotion: well-executed and capturing the zeitgeist of the moment.

Not a serious suggestion, but included for curiosity-sake:

Hoover's Free Flights
 
The world famous 'bad boy' of sales promotion, responsible for the classic planner's cliche:
'We don't want a Hoover on our hands!'

Launched in 1992, in an era when bucket airlines didn't exist, they initially offered 2 Free Return Flights to Europe in return for spending over £100 on Hoover products. While travel agents were struggling to fulfil the European flights, the offer was extended to the USA!

£48m later, this promotion enjoys dubious notoriety for being too successful.

Calling all nominations for the Best Sales Promotion ever!

Well, you've read our suggestions - a mere taster menu to get your juices flowing. Like any 'best of' discussion opinion will be divided so, the only way to ensure your favourite sales promotion is featured in the final vote is by adding your nominations below.

The Sales Promotion Blog does not claim any credit or responsibility for the above promotions - particularly the Hoover one!