In August 2011, Tesco, the world’s third largest retailer, launched a virtual store on the subway in Seoul, South Korea. It is designed to give time-poor commuters the chance to shop on the go using their smartphones. The virtual location is laid out exactly the way a typical Home Plus store would be. The company has created photo layouts of products it sells with a unique code for each product. Consumers scan the QR codes for the items they wish to purchase and then proceed to the virtual checkout. Orders placed before midday will see goods delivered that same evening. Watch the video and discover what a success story this has been. This is the future of advertising, the future of branding and the future of consumption. Exciting stuff!!!

Big thinking always wins over big budgets and a little lateral thought can pay huge dividends. We love it when our clients approach us seeking marketing ideas that make a splash without costing a bundle of cash. We are compelled to emulate clever ideas like this great campaign promoting a dinosaur exhibition. It’s a cost-effective innovative idea that is well considered and well executed.

We see so many advertisements every day and it takes a lot for one single advertisement to make an impression. In a desperate attempt to grab consumers’ attention, advertisers have created ad clutter, bombarding us with up to 3000 advertisements per day. That’s 3000 messages consumers are expected to absorb. Everywhere we turn we’re saturated with advertising messages on television, radio, online, bus-sides, coffee cups, urinals and more. It never ends. Find a blank space and it’s very likely you’ll soon find an ad there.

Ambient ideas like this rubbish bin, albeit with clever graphic design, smashes through the ad clutter, guaranteeing some precious cut-through and hopefully meeting some communication goals.

The mere mention of an advertising strategy can often unnerve small business owners keen to promote themselves yet deterred by the belief they need the vast resources of a large marketing team to execute an effective communications strategy.

However, advertising your brand is a right not a privilege and Make A Splash is committed to giving every company the opportunity to advertise. That’s why we will give every business, which has not advertised in the previous 12 months, A FREE BRAND ASSESSMENT. We will strategically analyse your product or service, determining all discernible features and benefits of your brand and what makes it different in the eyes of your customer, or client. We will then devise a unique brand position that will underpin future advertising and communications.

Take advantage of this offer and email Michael Penny today michael@makeasplash.com.au

It’s highly likely that your advertising agency or marketing consultancy has pitched a social networking idea to add to your general marketing and communication plans. Your responses can often range from – “Great, let’s set up a Facebook page” to “How does Twitter work?” to “How does that really help market my business.”

What often hooks businesses though is the cost-effectiveness of social networking. After all, labour is the only cost. It’s also immediate and far reaching. And if the tone is carefully considered, your brand message appears non-intrusive and genuine.

Whether you engage an advertising agency like Make A Splash to administer your social networking duties or you handle it yourself, you must manage your online presence diligently. That means avoiding controversial posts as well as carefully balancing the quantity, tone and overall theme of your posts. Too few posts and followers lose interest, while too many and people may switch off altogether.

Over time, as people read more about your brand (and business), you will stay top of mind and they will build up an emotional connection, becoming more likely to conduct business with you in the future.

A daily challenge we face as an advertising agency is providing marketing and advertising solutions for businesses wishing to project an impressive image. However image is based on perception. The reality is the tangible experiences a customer enjoys from the moment they step into your showroom or dial your number.

That is why I’m fascinated with the news that an Indian Call Centre has opened in a maximum security jail near Hyderabad. Men serving life sentences for murder now answer phones and serve up all the features of the ACME mobile phone network. Morally, this is fine as everybody deserves the opportunity for gainful employment. However, practically speaking, this could undermine a business owner’s desire to create brand champions out of every single person who represents your brand, whether they sit behind a phone or behind a counter. If companies want to keep spending money building their brands, or generating leads, they have to make sure every aspect of the business is supporting it accordingly. And logistically speaking, a jail cell in Hyderabad may prove a little too tricky.

But here’s food for thought. Next time a client complains that the latest promotional campaign didn’t generate sales despite a healthy number of leads, I now may know the reason why.

As a small agency that often punches above its weight, we’re always looking for examples of advertising that play in the same paradigm. We love when we come across simple ideas where a small spend packs a big idea for an even bigger impact. We loved this little ambient media idea out of Colorado. So simple yet so effective, it’s proof that you don’t need big television budgets to make a big impact. It’s also another gentle reminder that if your concept is clever enough, the power of social media will ensure that its reach extends far beyond the territory that it ran in.

Some associates have recently remarked “it’s great to see your Autumn Racing Carnival commercial back on TV”. Watching horses run through the city, thanks to plenty of post-production, is pretty memorable. However, others have wondered why after 3 years a new creative idea hasn’t made it on to the table. There’s a couple of reasons. Firstly, it only runs about 4 weeks per year so everyone figures that audiences won’t have time to get sick of it. Secondly it cost a small fortune, adding handsomely to Fat Boy Slim’s bank account. Hence the rationale being, the more airplay, the greater the value…or is it?

I, Michael Penny, support freedom of speech. Say what you please unless it inflames racial or religious hatred.

There has been recent publicity surrounding a drink called Cocaine, the newest energy drink to make everything you do last longer. It joins the market of other ‘turbo’ drinks like Red Bull, Monster and Mother. Cocaine is currently plastered on a huge billboard on Parramatta Rd. So what’s more tasteless, the name or the drink? If you’re going to ban something, make it the contents of the can, not the ad, because many of these drinks list more chemicals than Michael Jackson’s toxicology report.

Anyway, many free speech advocates believe a civilised society can self-regulate itself with regards to what is said and isn’t. Alternatively, people’s tastebuds will eventually do the talking for us and consign unsavoury products (and bad advertising) to the waste bin.

Make A Splash recently presented a seminar to a group of lawyers who were seeking to improve their firm’s branding and market themselves to a specific target group. Now aside from certain challenges lawyers face in marketing themselves, the biggest dilemma posed was how do each of them differentiate themselves from a competitor. I heard numerous remarks such as “The firm down the street does exactly the same thing as us. Estates, personal injury, conveyancing, some litigation. How do we differentiate ourselves? What makes us the preferred choice?”

Lawyers and many of us, including advertising agencies, operate in a world where we don’t offer a unique product or service. And because of this we need to manufacture something unique about our business, no matter how difficult it is. We often cite the example of the 3 major supermarkets. Woolworths is the fresh food people. Coles lets you save every day while IGA is full of local heroes. On the surface, these 3 supermarkets seem to offer similar products (albeit in varying line numbers and quantities) at similar prices. Yet apparently, Woolworths is fresher, Coles is cheaper and IGA has better service. See it doesn’t always matter what the reality is. It’s about giving your client and customer the perception that your business has particular features and benefits that your competitor doesn’t.

Clients often ask me whether or not their brand needs a profile on social networking sites like My Space, Facebook or Twitter? My first instinct is to say yes. On face value, it’s the latest step in a media evolution that started with Jesus’ soapbox and continued with Guttenberg’s printing press. It’s the medium of the moment so absolutely embrace it. It’s an opportunity for a brand to engage with a consumer in their own playground and allows the public to air positive thoughts about your product.

But what if it’s not all positive. What if people want to share negative experiences or competitors are looking to sabotage your business. There is a certain level of control you have to relinquish when you enter this realm but then again that’s what makes it so much more real. And in this age of ever increasing consumer cynicism, exposing your brand and being more vulnerable may be the key to effective 21st century marketing.