First Bus Scotland has delivered a first for Glasgow by unveiling the world’s largest ‘model’ bus in the city’s famous George Square. The ‘bus-in-a-box’ experiential stunt was used as the launch pad for First Bus Scotland to announce the arrival of 75 new buses into the city.

The activation was designed, delivered and managed by creative brand and strategy agency MadeBrave, which was appointed in July as First Bus Scotland’s sole creative agency. The eye-catching, interactive ‘bus-in-a-box’ display aims to help the city’s largest bus operator engage with customers and get them on board the new buses, which include free WiFi and USB charging points.

The 16-foot structure was the focal point of a customer awareness day and the first stop for a far-reaching integrated creative marketing programme that runs for the next three months with the aim of changing people’s perception of bus travel in the city.

This latest activity follows the “kids go free” campaign that ran over the summer, with MadeBrave developing a creative campaign to promote the free travel initiative.

Andrew Jarvis, Managing Director for First Scotland, says: “MadeBrave has created an eye-catching campaign that will allow us to communicate to customers the significant investment that we’re making to bus services in Glasgow, and ultimately help us to attract more people on board our services.”

Andrew Dobbie, founder of MadeBrave, adds: “First Bus Scotland appointed MadeBrave to drive a change in customer behaviour and help the business shift its focus more on to the customer, through its creative communications. The bus-in-a-box initiative was designed to enable First Bus Scotland to have some fun with its customers and present the humble bus as a more playful ‘toy’, just like the ones we all had when we were kids.”

The second phase of the multichannel campaign sees a creative programme of activity delivered across outdoor, radio, print, digital and social channels, as well as on and in buses across First Bus Scotland’s fleet.

MadeBrave is an award-winning agency based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. It works with UK national and international brands across several sectors, including the BBC, Hard Rock Hotels, Naked Grouse, Jacobs Engineering, Vango and Distell. MadeBrave acquired content production agency Campfire in July 2018, creating the BornOriginal Group to further enhance its client service offering and help drive group turnover to a projected £2.3m for 2018.

The post First Bus Scotland puts ‘bus in a box’ in experiential activation appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Nespresso, the pod coffee machine system from Nestle, has launched its latest campaign featuring Hollywood star, George Clooney, with a fully integrated campaign featuring TV and online advertising, plus a content-rich landing page including behind the scenes footage and consumer engagement through interactive image filters and gamification and prize promotions on the brand’s social channels.

Launched September 25^th 2016 at www.nespresso.com/whatelse, the light-hearted campaign sees George embark on a rough night as he looks to protect his precious coffee. Starting in the stylish Nespresso boutique on London’s Regent Street, George’s adventure begins as he strikes up conversation with an attractive female over a cup of Nespresso coffee. Sadly for him, she is the wife of the ‘boss’, who demands Clooney’s Nespresso as punishment.

And so ensues an eventful evening, courtesy of the ‘boss’, played by ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Deadwood’ star, Ian McShane, which sees Clooney take a trip through the backstreets of London. The following morning we see a battered and bruised George in his home savouring his Nespresso coffee, as he lets the audience and his maid know that he ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ about his Nespresso experience. As the maid walks off, she comments: “Must be some coffee…”

The campaign was created with McCann Worldgroup and kicked off with a teaser phase earlier in September with consumers were invited to guess what fate awaited George Clooney.

Alfonso Gonzalez, Chief Customer Officer for Nespresso, explains: “Our relationship with George strengthens year on year, and in our twelfth collaboration, we have created a storyline that shows Clooney at his best. He is a true partner for the brand, and here we see just how far he is willing to go for that incomparable Nespresso coffee experience”.

The full TV advertising campaign from Nespresso, entitled Change Nothing debuted worldwide (excluding US and Canada) from September 25^th. It can be viewed on YouTube or via the Nespresso website, www.nespresso.com/whatelse.

The post Nespresso, Clooney ‘wouldn’t change’ appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Europe’s “first chia seed based drink”, wow, has appointed Diffusion as its retained agency to handle its launch in the UK, following a competitive pitch.

wow is made by cold-pressing fruit and vegetables and adding hydrated chia seeds. As a ‘superfood’, chia seeds are supposed to help hydrate the body, boost metabolism and activate glycogen, which burns fat and provides a feeling of fullness, according to the brand.

Diffusion has been chosen to build brand awareness for wow with a content-driven campaign. The team will develop and implement an integrated campaign to convey wow’s “Made Amazing” proposition.

Working alongside the brand’s internal marketing and comms team, Diffusion will create a series of consumer activations, provide a press office function, and run events as well as experiential, blogger, vlogger and influencer engagement programmes to “inspire and excite” the brand’s target audience.

Oliver Dickinson, co-founder of Wow Food & Drinks, the company behind wow, said: “As the first offering of its kind in Europe, we needed an agency with a fresh and creative approach to build awareness for wow and capture the imagination our target audience. The Diffusion team has strong experience in the food and drink category and with new FMCG product launches.”

Remy Le Fèvre, head of consumer at Diffusion, added: “As the first chia seed based drink in the UK, we’re really excited to introduce wow to consumers and the industry. It’s no secret that the UK drinks market is hugely competitive which is why it’s essential for brands such as wow to build meaningful and authentic relationships with consumers. Diffusion’s campaign will draw on our experience working with challenger brands in the food and drink space, and our extensive network of media and influencers.”

The post Wow appoints Diffusion for UK launch appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Strongbow – the UK’s number one cider brand – has launched a multi-million pound campaign as part of its exclusive sponsorship of Team GB ahead of Rio 2016, including an on-pack competition to win limited edition glasses.

The ‘Let’s Own It’ integrated campaign issues a rallying cry to the nation to get together and roar on Team GB this summer. The campaign will run across a range of media channels including TV, out of home, video on demand, radio, digital and social.

The new TV ad will run from July 14th and will kick off a six week campaign across the nation with a stirring 30-second spot that highlights the tension, excitement and elation of cheering on Team GB.

Out Of Home advertising will ignite the emotions of supporters, featuring the most captivating elements of the games; unity, tension and the thrill of being lost in the moment.

Strongbow’s British heritage and brand values of pride, unity and respect make it a perfect fit with the Team GB ethos. Whilst all eyes are on Rio, Strongbow is firmly positioning itself at the heart of the action with the fans in the UK.

Cindy Tervoort, marketing director at brand owners Heineken, said: “We want to bring back the excitement we all felt during London 2012 and rally the nation to get behind Team GB. The pride and enthusiasm we experienced as a nation in 2012 was incredibly special, and we anticipate that our campaign will help the nation feel it once again.”

This is the first campaign to run across all Strongbow variants which include Strongbow Original, Strongbow Dark Fruit and Strongbow Cloudy Apple. It is supported in-store with special Team GB packaging across the whole range as well as a chance for consumers to win limited edition Strongbow Cloudy Apple pint glasses.

The new TV commercial can be viewed on Strongbow UK’s YouTube channel.

Headquartered in Edinburgh, Heineken employs around 2,000 people. In addition to being Britain’s leading cider and beer business, the company owns around 1,100 pubs through its Star Pubs & Bars business. Its portfolio of brands includes Foster’s, Heineken, Strongbow, Desperados, Kronenbourg1664, John Smith’s and Bulmers, plus backed by a full range of niche and specialty brands

The post Strongbow ‘Let’s Own It’ campaign appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

TV channel TLC is using an emoji language on and off air to communicate with its viewers, as part of a new “OMG with heart” campaign created by award winning promotional agency tpf.

Building on two of TLC’s core values – surprise and emotion – a new online hub enables consumers to create their own memes using content from the channel’s flagship programmes.

From Cake Boss and Say Yes To The Dress, to Two in a Million and Single Dad Seeking, the campaign spans Discovery Networks CEEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) territories as part of a new look for the channel.

The #ExpressYourTLC hub features 16 emojis designed by TLC, ranging from LOL and OMG to Cringe and Fist Bump. Users select whichever emoji reflects their current mood, and then pair it with a relevant animated GIF from TLC’s popular shows, before adding text from one of four options, all starting “That moment when…”. The options vary from humorous “…When no one realises it was you who farted” for the Phew meme, to heartfelt: “…When your bestie knows how to cheer you up after a bad day” for the Love meme.

tpf has also developed a manual to guide TLC’s CEEMEA territories through the website build process to create individual regional versions of the website, translated into the local language.

Julie Dervin, Director of Digital, Discovery Networks CEEMEA, said: “We believe that emojis are the perfect language for expressing and elevating the wide-ranging emotions and characters of our TLC show, with a tone that is witty, warm and heartfelt. tpf have built a great website which is easy to use and allows users to share a funny and light-hearted meme, which will help us showcase the diversity of the channel’s content and real life characters.”

Commenting on the campaign, Nick Goodmaker, Director, tpf, added: “TLC is all about having fun, enjoying life and embracing whatever it throws at you. Our concept for the meme generator really helps transport that ethos from the shows to the web. The great content on TLC sits perfectly online – it’s engaging, shareable and fun, and the #ExpressYourTLC site brings it to life.”

The project is tpf’s latest work with Discovery Network’s portfolio of channels, following two integrated digital, marketing and PR campaigns for documentaries featuring extreme adventurer Sean Conway’s epic, country-spanning challenges.

tpf is an independent agency specialising in promotions, publicity and digital marketing in TV, entertainment and sport.

The post TLC TV channel emoji campaign appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

E-cigarette brand VIP has given away 10,000 vaping starter kits within 24 hours, after a new UK-wide marketing promotion, The Great VIP Giveaway, kicked off with a TV ad on ITV1 at 9.15pm on Wednesday 9th December.

The first TV ad aired shortly after the watershed with subsequent ads running until 11.00pm. Viewers were given a special code and the first 10,000 new customers to redeem the code on VIP’s website received a free vaping kit, worth £29.99 each.

The campaign was created by integrated brand communications agency 438 Marketing, based in Knutsford, Cheshire. It includes TV, radio, press and digital, with the agency producing all elements of the campaign including strategy, creative, production and media booking, plus consultancy on the complex and sensitive issues that surround this product category.

438 Marketing had advised VIP that the campaign could generate high demand; however, with up to 4,000 hits per second on the brand’s website, demand was even greater than expected and some customers were unable to get onto the site. The brand is now offering 50% off starter kits purchased through the website as a thank you to customers for their patience.

Miguel Corral, co-founder of VIP, says: “The success of this campaign is phenomenal and shows more demand for this product than we had even anticipated. Smokers desperately want to give up and that’s why we stepped up with this campaign just in time for the New Year, which is obviously one of the most popular times to try and give up. The NHS doesn’t currently offer free vaping kits to those who need them, but it’s widely agreed that they play a major role in helping people to quit smoking.”

Andy Whitmore, 438 Marketing director, adds: “We always knew that this integrated multi-media campaign would be a big hitter; concentrating it into a short window in the busy pre-Christmas schedule and spanning TV, radio, press, PR, online, social and in-store activity. It’s hit consumers at exactly the right time – ahead of New Year when thousands of people will vow to give up smoking cigarettes. However, we’re absolutely astonished at the sheer volume of traffic we’ve generated – evidence that with the combination of a great product and outstanding campaign planning you can achieve results that can exceed all expectations.”

438 Marketing has worked with VIP Electronic Cigarettes for more than two years.

Figures from public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) showed that, between 2012 and 2014, the number of e-cig users rose from 700,000 to 2.1 million, equating to a three-fold increase. Meanwhile, the prevalence of cigarette smoking continues to steadily decline, falling from almost a quarter of adults in 2007 to 18% in 2015.

The post VIP gives away 10,000 e-cigs appeared first on IPM Bitesize.