New campaign targeting benefit thieves

This poster is currently doing the rounds on the London Underground. Let's hope it has a prime site at Westminster.

Bus stops, but not as you know them

It seems that the Italians' reputation for doing it better is entirely founded.

This month saw the unveiling of the EyeStop, a new, state-of-the-art bus stop designed for the city of Florence that looks set to revolutionise bus stop advertising.

Outdoor planners, steel yourselves...

The solar-powered, glass, steel and stone structure is partially covered with touch-sensitive screens and features a range of interactive services. Passengers can plan their journey on an interactive map, surf the web and even monitor their real-time exposure to pollutants.

Best of all, the Eyestop allows passengers to track the exact location of the next bus and 'glows' at varying degrees of intensity as it approaches - surely the nirvana of bus travel?

A more formal prototype will be rolled out in October - ample time to get ahead of the game and start thinking about how you might use it for future campaigns.

M&S invites customers to spend a penny

Today sees Marks and Spencer get in on the nostalgia trend and return to its Penny Bazaar roots. The British institution is celebrating its 125th birthday by offering customers the opportunity to snap up 2 million specially commissioned items, ranging from socks to cufflinks, for the princely sum of 1p.

Every penny earned will be donated to the M&S 125 Charity Challenge, which raises money for local and regional charities across the country. Stuart Rose, the company's executive chairman, said: "It's been a tough year for us all but people are fed up with being fed up and we wanted to give our customers a real treat."

This is a smart move from M&S, and one that is clearly founded in 'real world' consumer insight. It acknowledges the fact that we are all seeking comfort in the past, as well as giving something back - both to charity and the consumer. Everyone's a winner, not least of all M&S itself.

The amount of free publicity generated will mean that the event has probably paid for itself. Not only has it made headline news, but it's also being discussed on money-saving sites across the country, as well as high fashion and marketing blogs.

Check out the TV ad here:

The Daily Brand

An oldie but a goodie. For those of you who haven't already come across it, this 'day in the brand life' monitors a typical Friday in the life of Jane Sample. It's a neat way of demonstrating just how many brands command space in our private lives, and how these brands change according to day of week and time of day. A must-have for your time capsule.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Survival of the Fastest

If you're seeking some fresh insight on recessionary marketing, check out 'Survival of the Fastest' - a new YouTube channel from the unholy trinity of the London Business School, the Daily Telegraph and Google.

It provides pearls of wisdom from the UK's foremost business brains on everything from: "how has consumer behaviour changed from the last downturn?" to "how should I balance my online and offline spend?" - all presented in handy, bite-sized video clips.

A neat way to enliven grey, bleak, recession-themed presentations.

Here's a taster from the homepage:

Advertising inside our homes?

As crazy as it sounds, it may be a future outlet for marketers, and a revenue source for homeowners. David Gianatasio at Adfreak speculates that the success of “sponsored cities”, where ads support, and are plastered on all manner of local buidlings / property, in combination with the struggling economy will create a demand for ad supported homes. Would you agree to let ads invade your home for some money off the rent or free WiFi? In a way, we’re almost there already. Think of all the advertising that sneaks into your home anyway: telemarketers, internet-mobile-television ads - why not make them pay you for taking up mind-space? To explore Gianatasio's idea further please visit http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2009/03/advertising-is-everywhere-or-it-soon-will-be.html .

PS Thanks to psfk.com / Adfreak for the tip off

The Web: democratising force for ideas

We like this neat mashup. It chronicles what the world's online population (in its collective wisdom) has decided is important. Whilst much of it is trivial - it is clear that the web is making some ideas spread around the globe at an ever faster pace, ensuring we all know about it pretty quickly and embedding it firmly in our zeitgeist.

Liverpool One, Everton Two

Everton Football Club has opened a new store inside the Liverpool One shopping centre. The name? Everton Two.

Score.

Thinking Is Free

Here's a nice piece of simplistic brand strategy to steer your brand through the downturn from Jamey Aiken for Neutron. (He did title it 'Thinking is Free' so I'm sure he won't mind us taking him at his word and sharing it with the world.)

The stock market is spiraling downwards. Large institutions are looking for handouts. Corporations are cutting head counts. Budgets are slashed to the bone. Time to huddle in the basement?

Not if you want to thrive in the next economy.

If your strategy for surviving the recession is to hunker down and try harder, you don’t have a strategy. You have a bomb shelter. And a bomb shelter won’t save you from the fundamental changes shaking the business world—namely, unprecedented speed and overwhelming choice. When customers have nearly unlimited options and competitors play a perpetual game of leapfrog, the only real barrier to competition is brand strategy.

Brand strategy is really just a way of thinking about business. And since thinking is virtually free, it requires little in the way of special funding. Here are four questions to help you work through the recession, along with a simple chart to start the conversation among your team.

1. What makes you different? The active ingredient in any brand is differentiation. If it’s not different, it’s not strategic. What can you do to increase your difference? How can you make your difference more meaningful and compelling?

2. How well are you focused? Without focus, customers will have a hard time seeing your difference. What makes you the “only” in your category? Which of your offerings best support your difference? Which should be cut to make your focus stronger? What new offerings could be added as you pick up momentum?

3. What trend are you riding? Tomorrow’s economy will create new trends. What wave are you riding? Is it a wave that’s still forming, or one that’s already crashed on the shore? Is it possible to ride more than one trend at a time? What new trends are barely visible yet inevitable?

4. Are you communicating clearly? Good strategy paired with poor messaging is no better than poor strategy. What messages are your various constituents hearing from you? Do all your brand stories add up to one big story? Is your big story clear enough and bold enough to earn a place in their minds?

If you can respond to these four questions in a compelling manner, you’ll not only survive the recession, but be in a stronger market position when the dust settles. All it takes is the right kind of thinking."

Thanks to our lovely friends at ftmf for the tip off.