10 Million Likes on Facebook is a big deal. Sure a lot of people and companies alike strive for a number like 1 million, or as a long shot, 5 million, but 10 million? That’s a big deal. Well, British driving show Top Gear is almost there. In fact, they are so close they can hardly contain their own excitement. In an interesting crowd sourcing move, the creatives over at Top Gear have give fans of the show a deal, if you help Top Gear reach 10 Million Likes on Facebook, they will blow up a caravan…
What?
That’s right. If you’ve ever watched the hilarious driving show, then you’ll completely understand the relevance of this celebratory act. Top Gear reviews domestic cars, super cars, race cars and basically anything that drives and gives viewers an honest look at things like performance and driving ability. But the catch is they also challenge themselves. As gear-heads themselves, the hosts of the show sometimes take it upon themselves to create a vehicle to help them achieve a goal. This often results in something getting destroyed in spectacular fashion.
So if you’re a fan of the show, head on over to their Facebook page and help them blow up the caravan. If not, then you might as well head over and help with the destruction.
*UPDATE – Top Gear has reached 10 Million Likes on Facebook and the famous Stig was given the opportunity to push the button to blow up the caravan. The footage aired during the show’s season premiere last week!
The biggest day in commercial advertising is just around the corner, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to get teased about what we can expect right now. The biggest tease to come out of the advertising world last week was definitely this short video starring Matthew Broderick. Broderick is a Hollywood superstar, but if there’s one iconic role that he truly embodied, the role that essentially brought him to the forefront, it has to be his the character Farris Bueller from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
The iconic film captured the teenage moments that we always dream of, then showed the world what one man (kid) can do if he’s got the right attitude (and a couple of willing friends). But the movie was so much more than a just a movie for a lot of people as it’s cult following has helped create and entire generation of free-thinking youngsters and people willing to take a chance.
None of the above is pointless as last week we were given a teaser ad with the iconic music and Broderick in character. But who is the ad for and what can we expect? Well, it’s been rumoured that the ad is for Honda and that Broderick will be recreating moments from the movie in a Honda product, rather than the Ferrari from the movie. But again, these are just rumours, and as PR junkies, we can only sit in anticipation of what the Super Bowl will bring.
When companies hit the century mark it’s a big deal. Companies these days hardly last one year, let alone a hundred years. So when clothing company LL Bean turned 100 years old on Jan 18, 2012, they decided to let everyone know how excited they were by… Creating a boot-shaped car! That’s right, LL Bean is celebrating their 100 year anniversary by driving from Maine to New York City in a car build in the shape of their iconic hunting boot.
The Bootmobile journey is actually kicking off a year-long celebration for LL Bean as they plan to release a limited edition items along the way. LL Bean has been providing serviceable footwear to hunters, hikers, mountain climbers and even the military over the years. So if you’re walking around Times Square in the next little while and you see a giant hunting boot rolling around the corner, don’t be alarmed, it’s just saying Happy 100 Year Anniversary!
In an effort to not only strengthen promise of performance, Nike has taken it even further with their seatless bench. The idea takes a look at runners, joggers, and basically anyone exercising outside and makes them think. Nike has changed the concept of a park bench into a motivational tool that encourages runners to keep running. By removing the seat, the bench becomes more a motivational poster in the park and no longer a rest area for runners thinking about taking a break.
It’s quite brilliant in it’s simplicity. All they use is the patented swoosh and a single word “RUN.” It works a reminder for people to continue pushing themselves, but it’s also a great way to strengthen what Nike stands for, pushing the limits of performance. If that doesn’t get you to realize that you should be pushing yourself, I have no idea what will. Brilliance in simplicity.
With all do respect to the visually impaired, a lot of us have never experienced what it’s like to have to eat something without seeing it. Seeing and tasting go hand in hand and the thought of one without the other is alarming. South African burger chain Wimpy’s understands this and earlier this year tried to bridge the gap for visually impaired people. In a great marketing move by Wimpy’s burgers, they created a set of 15 burger buns with braille allowing those who read braille to be able to understand what they are eating. Each bun described the type of burger it was.
Wimpy’s then sent the burgers to clinics for the visually impaired around South Africa and the rest is just spectacular history. The campaign was a huge hit both on a PR level and on an outreach level. Wimpy’s became a huge supporter of the visually impaired and was able to reach an audience that fast food chains rarely get to.
If you’ve ever considered living in Paris, one of the toughest things to do is find the right flat. The amount of space available is alarmingly small and creating a livable environment within the confines of a tiny space is very difficult to do. Well, leave it up to the Swedish giants of home furnishing and design Ikea to help solve this problem. Widely known across the world as the default furniture shop, Ikea’s approach to design and space is very different than most. They look at any environment and attempt to make it comfortable, even a subway station.
In one of the better publicity stunts of the year thus far, Ikea took over a subway station in Paris, created a tiny flat, and housed 4 people inside for about a week. The results were astonishing. Not only were people stopping in their tracks to play the part of voyeur in this whole experience, but the flat they created was actually quite nice. Furnished completely with Ikea products, the four people ate, slept and lived completely out of the station. If that doesn’t show you that Ikea knows what they’re doing, I don’t know what does.
College Bowl season was spectacular wasn’t it? Not only were we treated to some of the greatest games of the the season, but the advertising surrounding the events were also amazing. ESPN in particular has done an incredible job in showing that they know their audience better than anyone else. In their latest TV commercial, ESPN speaks to their audience in a way only they can, by speaking about the embedded competition between friends as they watch sports. The spot is titled “Shake On It,” and features a series of friends who are following through on “friendly” bets they’ve made over bowl season.
This could be the beginning of a great campaign for ESPN, although they need to be careful when alluding to betting. There are tonnes of sports betting brands out there and ESPN needs to make sure this spot (although better than any others I’ve ever seen) separates their brand from anything else and doesn’t persuade people to start betting on sports.
There’s a very popular trend kicking around there that applies to hip hop music fans and that’s the unique relationship between famous hip hop artists and their sneakers. You could argue that this dates all of the way back to when Run DMC began endorsing Adidas and started producing their own styles of track suits, so the relationship between hip hop music and modern street wear is very strong. This year should be a big year for this relationship to flourish with the first pair of high sneakers to come from hip hop artist and producer Just Blaze.
Just Blaze is a hip hop producer who has worked with popular artists like Jay-Z and Eminem. But now that he’s released a signature sneaker, he is showing his talents go far beyond music production. Just Blaze has been working with street wear and sneaker company Supra and is set to release his very first pair. The Supra x Skytop II Just Blaze High Top is currently available at the Supra flagship store in New York City, but the catch is that there are only 413 pairs produced. If sneakerheads are lucky enough to snag a pair before they sell out, they will also be given free passes to an event that Just Blaze will attend. It’s a nice idea to help launch a shoe; combine the show launch with a concert.
Imagine walking through Times Square in New York City and without noticing until it’s too late, you’re actually right in the middle of the one of the most iconic battles in all of science fiction. That’s right, on December 20th, video game company Bioware decided it was time for the world to experience what it would be like to battle it out in Star Wars. In one of the better flash mobs in recent history, the idea was to surprise people in the middle of Times Square with a frozen battle sequence from the iconic film franchise. The event ran every half hour and was always started by a few in full costume. But before long, the entire crowd was wielding light sabres and frozen in battle. This ran for a few hours all to promote Bioware’s newest video game Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game itself allows anyone to embody the persona of either a Jedi knight or a follower of the Sith as they battle through a world of Star Wars. Just in time for the holiday season, this was a well timed event that stands out in a world where flash mobs are quickly becoming less and less interesting.
As the title of this post suggests, only adults are allowed to have a free treat from the brand new Jell-O vending machine. In an effort to not only cater to a more adult oriented audience, but also lead the way in face recognition software, the PR folks over at Jell-O have created something spectacular. The Jell-O Temptations Vending Machine uses innovative age recognition software to identify if it is an adult or a child standing in front of the machine. If an adult presses the FREE DESSERT button, the vending machine promptly distributes a free treat. If a child presses the button, they get nothing…
Although it might come across as cruel to children, we’re living in a world where parents barely get 5 minutes to themselves. The Jell-O Temptations Vending Machine allows moms and dads everywhere to enjoy a bit of the sweet escape just by themselves. I would expect a lot of new PR techniques and marketing ideas to come from this new age recognition software in the coming year, but well done Jell-O for being one of the first.
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