Following the news of Harvey Weinstein and the subsequent #MeToo hashtag sweeping the globe, Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is high on everyone’s agenda. With one in four women in the UK still being affected and up to 70% in some parts of the world, agency JWT created a social campaign for UN Women UK to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

#drawaline brought together a host of famous faces including Benedict Cumberbatch, Deliciously Ella and Gemma Styles, among others, asking the public to help end the silence and bring about change by physically drawing an orange line – after all, violence is a line that should never be crossed.

Becoming horrifically lucrative for brands, Halloween is now a global marketing phenomenon, with a recent Mintel report forecasting spending by UK consumers alone hitting £320 million this year, with most spenders being Millennials.  

However, the annual fright fest has seen the odd horror show in terms of bad taste, the most infamous of which being Asda and Tesco 'mental health patient' and 'psycho ward' costumes for Halloween 2013 that promised to have 'people running away in fear'. Both supermarket giants were accused of a woeful lack of judgement and for stigmatising mental health issues by charities and the public alike, a sign that attitudes towards the historically taboo subject were changing in the real world, something not reflected by the offending products. 

This year the Marketing Society and Time to Change gave brands a timely reminder not to resort to campaigns and products that stigmatise mental health, and thankfully it seems they all paid attention. So what techniques did some of the best campaigns use to engage their Halloween audiences to make the most of this fun festival without being offensive? 

Fancy taking a snap of yourself glugging down your favourite beverage? Well, thanks to Coca-Cola Israel, it’s now possible thanks to the launch of the ‘world’s first selfie bottle’ which comes fully equipped with a selfie-taking camera at the base of the bottle.

The 0.5L bottle is geared up to take a snap when it senses a 70 degree tilt, with the resulting selfies shared on Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram via a dedicated hashtag.

In a concept created by innovation agency Gefen Team, the tech was used as part of the Coca-Cola Summer Love campaign – Israel’s biggest outdoor brand event.

It’s no secret that more and more campaigns include an experiential or ‘live’ element, either as the focus or playing a key supporting role. However, many brands and agencies are not getting the most from these activations, because they are ignoring a vital factor – portability.

Brands are investing more and more in marketing in the real world because it is proving increasingly effective at engaging consumers thanks to the amplification factor through online channels, particularly social. This increases ‘portability’ – or rather extends the reach and lifespan far beyond the actual live experience.

Sounds easy. Let’s simply share the campaign online through as many social channels as possible during the ‘event’ itself and after it has taken place. However, delivering true portability isn’t that simple. The sheer act of doing this will indeed extend the reach, but it won’t necessarily make the campaign more portable. That’s because portability is all about extending not just awareness of the activation itself, but also, more importantly, ensuring the right meaning about the brand and all the messages you want to get across are carried through the various channels of ‘amplification’. And these might not necessarily just be online, but could also be through other techniques, such as word of mouth, PR, out of home and more – essentially maximising not just engagement, but also effectiveness.

Every campaign needs a portable strategy – whether experiential or not – to increase reach, but for true portability it has to be relevant to the brand rather than scattergun, and also convey consistent messaging and impact.

The devil’s in the detail – or so they say.

This certainly holds true for design.

Something may look amazing, but if one small element is out of step with the overall mission, it will fail from a design point of view.

No matter how well designed an environment may appear – a living space, office, meeting room, exhibition environment – if your chair, for example, is uncomfortable, it will leave you with a negative feeling, undermining everything else.

Designing or choosing the right chair that fits not just visually, but also functionally is the essence of good design. With 140 sales staff holding hundreds of meetings over three days at global entertainment market MIPCOM in October, a key part of designing the BBC’s live experience at the event was testing furniture with the team on the ground for the comfort factor.

As the saying goes: “If you spoke to people the way advertising does, they’d punch you in the face.” Today, it is necessary to communicate with people like they’re people, not treat them as if they’re machines made up of consumer data. Even more important is to understand that consumers are in control of your brand. Brand success today is about interacting with your customers to address joint needs. Finding out the challenges your audience faces and making sure your business answers those needs with the products and services it develops is key.

Therefore, it makes sense to build participation or ‘co-creation engagement’ into events so you can collect relevant customer information that can be used to drive innovation within your business that solves real customer problems.

A double win

Events offer the perfect co-creation engagement platform, where customers can personalise their experience through being able to give feedback about their needs and challenges. This can significantly increase the return you get from your live marketing.

It is a double win because not only does co-creation lead to the development of relevant products and services that your customers want, but it also delivers your field research, as you gain a deep understanding of the customer’s state of mind and their decision-making process for purchasing your goods.

Travel retail is now big business, with airports quickly developing into favourite shopping destinations for consumers with the time to browse and the spending power to buy.

Increasing competition for airport retail space, means experiential marketing can hold the key to brands standing out from the crowd and grabbing consumers’ attention. The right kind of activity helps travellers pass the time as they wait for their flight, gives them the chance to try products before they buy, and drives them in-store to make a purchase. Create a good experience, and the chances are travellers will also spread the word to families, friends and business contacts.

Here are five tips for creating airport experiential activity with impact:

1. Plan from the start

Great experiential begins with great planning. To meet a brand’s marketing objectives, it should be integrated into any retail activity from the start – whether that’s airport-specific or the wider marketing, trade or consumer goals. It should never be a last-minute bolt on and should be factored into your airport activity budget from outset, so that it can sit alongside and complement other marketing activity.

KPIs, targets and other relevant metrics should be built into your experiential plans, with key learnings reviewed at the end of each activity and incorporated into future planning.

Augmented reality isn’t necessarily a new concept in outdoor advertising. Back in 2011, Lynx used the technology for their Fallen Angels campaign in London, Victoria Station, where virtual angels fell to earth via the station’s big screen.

Here are 5 recent examples of innovative outdoor campaigns that are using augmented reality technology to add a new dimension to their experiential and guerrilla marketing.

Skoda Fabia

In February 2015 at London’s Waterloo Station, passers-by were able to interact with a touch screen display and customise their own version of the Skoda Fabia. With 14 colours, 5 interiors and 3 concepts to choose from, once they’d chosen from one of 90 possible designs, the customised vehicle appeared on the screen in real time. A great example of how AR can give consumers more control during a campaign.