No use crying over spilt milk . . . except when it can cut you a deal on flights to Italy! Expedia, the online travel provider, has come up with a unique and somewhat subtle way to advertise its flight deals to Italy from Germany. By teaming up with coffee shop Deli Star, Expedia is targeting German travelers by utilizing cappuccino’€”which is, after all, Italian at its core. By holding stencils over the cappuccino milk foam and sprinkling chocolate powder, Deli Star workers created surprisingly legible’€”and effective’€”travel offers. Paper coasters placed under the cups gave further details on the travel deals and provided additional branding exposure for Expedia. Talk about ordering a coffee to go. . .
All posts in Trends
Milk: A Great Source of Protein, Calcium, & . . . Trips to Italy?
NYC is a spectacle on NYE thanks to out-of-home advertising
Much like years past, New York City’s Times Square is bringing together some of the biggest brand names for the all-time New Year’s Eve celebration. And once again, out-of-home advertising is the star of the show. This year, however, sponsors are getting a bit more creative and optimistic (not to mention frisky) in an economy that has seen mostly pessimism and stagnation in the past year. From confetti wishes and kissing stages to wind-powered digital billboards, it will truly be a site to see.
New this year at midnight, Times Square will rain hopes and dreams’€”literally. The Mars brand’s newest candy bar, 3 Musketeers Mint, is sponsoring a Wishing Wall for people to submit their resolutions, goals, and hopes for 2009. The messages will then be printed on tiny pieces of paper and dropped over Times Square at midnight, showering New York City with over a ton of wish-covered confetti. Wishes can be submitted online at http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_interactive.html or in person at the Times Square Information Center.
Echoing Mars’ upbeat tempo is Pepsi’s new ad campaign focused on youthful optimism that will blanket the billboards of NYC. The campaign, titled Wordplay, creates uplifting words out of the brand’s redesigned logo. As part of the NYE festivities, the company will unleash one thousand balloons (complete with new Pepsi logo, of course) on Times Square minutes before midnight. Stuck at home for New Year’s? You can still be a part of the action by texting “Change”, along with your own message of optimism, to 66333 where it could appear on MTV’s Times Square screen or in their coverage of the celebration.
Not to be outdone, JVC’s iconic (and newly designed) digital billboard will also allow partygoers to take pics from their cell phones and upload them to nyc@jvcnewyear.com. Once approved, they will display for three seconds on JVC’s 19- by 34-foot high-def screen.
With luck, the hope and happiness theme will carry through the coming year, lifting our spirits (and possibly the economy) along the way. Happy 2009!
One more reason to love Jameson
I was flipping through the virtual Advertising Age this morning and ran across an interesting piece on Jameson Irish Whiskey. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I am already a big fan of the brand, which is really the main reason I clicked on the link. But all predisposition aside, they are about to launch an impressive, innovative campaign leveraging digital projection to “speak” to passers-by in New York, Boston, Denver and LA. According to Advertising Age, here’s how the “spot” unfolds: Continue reading →
Bus Shelters Go Green in Red Hot Miami
Just ran across this post on the EcoLocalizer blog about the new solar-powered bus shelters in Miami, FL. As part of its 20-year exclusive contract to provide street furniture for the city, Fuel Outdoor is replacing worn-out shelters with 600 new, eco-friendly options. The sleek, modern designs include solar panels to take advantage of the Sunshine State’s key natural resource, and converts this energy into the electricity that powers the backlit ad panels and shelter lights at night. The new installations not only provide eye-catching advertising opportunities, they also improve citizen safety and the urban visual environment without negatively impacting Mother Earth. I’d call that a win for everyone. Kudos to Miami city officials and Fuel Outdoor for setting a good example for other metros to follow.
BIG changes at DOmedia
The past two months have been a whirlwind here at DOmedia central. New people. New office space. New clients. And one big media launch. Hitting the highlights, here’s what’s been going on in our corner of the world…
New DOmedia President – Jeff R. Lamb
Jeff joined the DOteam as head captain back in June. He has a comprehensive technical background combined with ad agency experience, most recently playing the Chief Technical Officer position for Cincinnati-based Northlich. In addition to being able to talk all of the geek-speak, he is also a strong leader. To be honest, keeping all of us on the same page when everyone is moving at 100 miles an hour isn’t always easy. Needless to say, we’re glad he’s here.
New Office Space > 274 Marconi Blvd. Suite 400
We also moved from our comfy garage/office location on Price Avenue to much larger digs in the Arena District. The extra space means we can continue adding much-needed associates without having to share desk space anymore! The new office area still has a very cool vibe, while giving everyone the tools we need to support the rapid growth DOmedia has been experiencing. Check out more pictures of the space, the folks here at DO and our company bicycles on our Flickr page.
New Space = New People
Now that we have more desks, computers, chairs and the like, we’ve been adding to our staff. Clint Lucas has come on board to manage business development with advertisers and agencies. Matt Warholic left the intern ranks following his graduation from Ohio State University; he is now heading up our account support efforts. Bud Budrejko joined our motley crew as lead web application developer…he pretty much does all the technical stuff the rest of us don’t understand. And most recently, Aaron Szabo jumped at the chance to do all of our interactive design work.
Official Media Launch
Last, but certainly not least, DOmedia officially launched to the media today, issuing this press release this morning. Following months of work to build our database of media listings and improving the user interface, we are finally ready to throw back the curtains and welcome the world to our doorstep. Our timing couldn’t have been better, posting our news just one day after VSS issued their Communications Industry Forecast 2008-2012 which predicts increased spending on alternative media:
Brands are expected to continue shifting budgets from traditional to alternative advertising and marketing vehicles in 2008 and 2009. Spending on alternative media will climb 21 percent to $81.67 billion in 2008, and account for 17.7 percent of total advertising and marketing spending, up from 6.9 percent in 2002.
Obviously we have always believed this industry is poised for substantial growth and all of the numbers to date have certainly supported this prediction, but further confirmation is always nice. Our goal is to make sure we support this growth and continue to ease the pain points for everyone sourcing, buying, selling, executing and measuring an increased number of alternative media campaigns.
Given that all of this has happened in just the past 8 weeks, imagine what the next 8 will bring. Here’s to the future…
