British Gas turns advertising on its head

Earlier this month British Gas launched a winter campaign emphasising the impact a broken boiler can have in the harsh British winter.

So what did they do?

First came the tag line ‘Being without heating or hot water can turn your world upside down’.

Next came the execution: in a media first, British Gas is literally turning Sky News upside down across 17 digital screens in railway stations across the UK.

Commuters viewing the digital screens have seen Sky’s show business news screened upside down, followed by an upside-down British Gas creative, that rights itself with the strapline, ‘Being without heating or hot water can turn your world upside down. With HomeCare, we’ll get you out of the cold fast.’

A simple idea that allows media to amplify a strong creative message.

Putting the audience in the advertising

Great piece of technology innovation in outdoor media for a Dutch campaign about violence against public sector workers. We like.

Via Chris Stephenson at Mediation

Google Plans to monetise Street-View

Interesting news from Google (reported at ReadWriteWeb), who have just been granted a patent for a new piece of technology based around Google street-view.

In essence the technology they have developed uses augmented reality to allow advertisers to advertise on signs and billboards that appear on street-view. This is an interesting way to monetise street-view but there is obvious potential for problems as Google at present are planning to sell the space using a bidding system in much the same way as they do through search.

What if a billboard owned by a theatre is bid on by a competitor who then uses it to advertise a rival show?  Would the theatre have the right to complain / sue? Surely that the owners of the billboards should be due a share of the revenue, a process that could prove very difficult to implement?

What do you think?

On The Buses - Miami.com

Miami.com Bus Advertising - Right Side, originally uploaded by fotoJENica a/k/a Jenny Romney.

All too often artwork for bus advertising forgets the canvas it's using, or - worse - simply cuts up a press ad and sticks on the side. But why simply repurpose an ad when you can get as creative as this example from Miami.com? Making the most of the medium it uses and reflecting the city it serves, it's a cracking example of how to go about things right.

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.

Anything you can do, I can do better

We love this example of how BMW has beaten Audi at its own game (of chess).

Audi laid down the gauntlet with its "Your move, BMW" tagline and this is how the local BMW dealership responded...


As an aside, it's nice to see brands getting competitive with their media as well as their creative. Well played, BMW.

Daddy, what did YOU do in the Recession?

We've already blogged about how a little goodwill can go a long way in these straitened times.

Here are some nice examples of brands putting this into action:

Kraft has been offering literal warmth and fuzziness in the form of heating bus shelters and giving away free soup samples in the Windy City.

Also in the US, FedEx has made the grand gesture of allowing customers to print off up to 25 copies of their CVs for free - at any of its 1,600 stores across the US.

Hyundai US has bucked the trend for car manufacturers to lure in new custom by offering 0% finance deals (i.e. what got us into this mess in the first place!) with its aptly-named 'Assurance' programme. The promise? If you lose your job after buying a new Hyundai, you can simply walk away from your loan or lease and return the car to Hyundai. The programme launched in January and so far, Hyundai has recorded an increase of nearly 5% YOY (versus overall US car sales which are down 40% YOY).

Meanwhile in the UK, Tango has shown that manners cost nothing by launching a limited edition can replacing their "Tango" logo with the word "Thanks". Why? Simply to "thank the public for saving the brand" by responding to the "Save Tango" campaign in their droves and boosting sales by 8%.

What could your brand be doing to shore up a little goodwill?

Body Facism First

Public humiliation. A surefire way to endear people to your brand.

That's the insight that seems to be driving Fitness First's latest stunt. It's a bus stop where the seat doubles up as a handy set of scales that displays your weight in kilograms for all the world to see.

Frankly, it makes me want to go out and eat pies.

Begrudgingly, it is a fine example of media and creative working together, something we don't see nearly enough of in these dog-eat-dog days.

The ugly face of beauty

A poster ad featuring Britney Spears, Leona Lewis and Christina Aguilera on the Berlin U-bahn has been ‘defaced’ in a truly original way. The flawless fizzogs of the, let’s face it, not exactly troll-like pop divas, have been stickered with replica Photoshop toolbars.

This example of creative vandalism is also a good example of how originality – even if it is, strictly speaking, illegal – will always garner far more coverage than bland perfection every day of the week.

It is also powerful reminder that the images of ‘perfection’ with which we are assailed on a daily basis are but an illusion, created by Photoshop wizards. As Dove has so ably demonstrated with the success of its ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’, women can handle reality. (Stop the press!) Honesty doesn’t turn them off products; if Dove sales figures are anything to go by, it turns them on.

Truth and transparency is demanded of almost every other sector (food, utility, etc.), while blatant, in-your-face lies are positively encouraged in the fashion and beauty sectors. Why so? Isn’t it time to stop pulling the wool over our eyes (and selling it to us in the form of a new sweater)? NG