Huawei, the global technology leader is bringing the Northern Lights to London.

Overlooking the iconic Tower of London, the Aurora Borealis will be staged by immersive artist, Dan Acher, whose bespoke installation will feature a series of lasers to create the stunning spectacle that many Brits cite as top of their bucket list.

The recreation of this breath-taking natural phenomenon has been designed to showcase the unparalleled photography capabilities of Huawei’s latest P30 Series, which features technology that will allow users to capture detail and vibrant colours, even in low-light conditions. The P30 handset will be available to try out and capture London’s very own Northern Lights.

Viewers can post their pictures of the event tagging #Huaweilondonlights @Huaweimobileuk.

Where: Tower Hill (by the Tower of London – the best vantage point is in front of Tower of London’s ticket booth)

Date: April 5^th and 6^th

Time: 20.00-22:30

What: Huawei are bringing the Northern Lights to London, overlooking the iconic Tower of London

Cost: Free

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Google is creating a landmark hub of discovery on The Crown Estate at Piccadilly Circus, to launch the new Google Pixel 3 phone. The Curiosity Rooms experience aims to encourage Londoners to unlock their curiosity and make their everyday more extraordinary with five weeks of workshops, talks, podcasts, food, music and much more.

The Google Pixel 3 has been designed using the best of Google in a phone powered by AI. Extraordinary things are happening all around us but we don’t always see them. With Pixel 3 you’ll never miss out again. Features such as Top Shot, Group Selfie Cam and Google Lens enables people to re-discover and capture more of their everyday.

From Thursday 15th November to Sunday 16th December, Google will take up residence as part of the Regent Street portfolio – the globally recognised destination for unequalled experiences – and will be inviting visitors to use the Pixel 3 to unveil experiences where fashion, food, music and art collide in a familiar, yet unexpected way.

Free and open to everyone, visitors will be able to buy the Pixel 3 and Google Home products from retail partners Carphone Warehouse and Currys PC World.

Over the five week period, visitors will be able to enjoy talks, live podcasts and interactive events in a beautiful space at 55 Regent Street. The experiences at the Curiosity Rooms will be shared over three floors, each with a distinct approach that encourages exploration and imagination:

The Ground Floor of the Curiosity Rooms is a space given over to the hero features of the new Pixel 3 with a host of remarkable experiences and collaborations made to bring them to life. Throughout the ground floor, visitors will be able to use Pixel 3’s latest Google Lens technology to search what they see and identify their favourite fashion items, then shop directly from the viewfinder.

Visitors will then continue their journey further into the Curiosity Rooms down the Not Pink slide – a nod to one of the Pixel 3’s colours – and will be encouraged to use the Top Shot feature to capture their best moment.

The Auditorium will host extraordinary conversations. Whether it’s taking on the world of fashion, food, music, or creativity in general, this space will allow visitors to discover a world of inspiring individuals who make their everyday extraordinary. With mini pop-up stores championing local London vendors, a neighbourhood coffee bar that changes each week, and a collective of artist and creative experiences, it’s a space made to bring an ever-changing everyday into the Curiosity Rooms.

The basement is the boldest of the three floors and will offer visitors access to a series of weekly podcast recordings, one off YouTube music events and immersive dining experiences.

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Lucky Generals and Goodstuff have teamed up with virtual technology specialist Zappar to create an augmented reality (AR) mobile experience that educates young families about environmental sustainability and brings to life Yorkshire Tea’s passion for trees. This campaign also features a partnership with Guardian Labs, aiming to drive a deeper understanding of the project through longer form content.

The introduction of the AR experience comes during year four of Yorkshire Tea’s five-year pledge to plant one million trees across the UK and Kenya. Aimed at families with young children, the campaign looks to increase understanding of why trees are important in a fun and engaging way.

Using Zappar’s augmented reality platform, ZapWorks, the experience is accessed by scanning full page press adverts using the camera feature on Shazam. AR technology then transports users into the forests of the UK and Kenya. Users are given interactive challenges which include planting seeds, learning about various tree species, picking avocados for farmers to take to market and tapping to oxygenate clouds of carbon dioxide with trees. A friendly narrator acts as a play-a-long guide, highlighting the importance of trees at every stage.

The campaign will run across a series of magazine titles and supplements within newsbrands such as The Evening Standard, The Times and The Observer, as well as being distributed via activity sheets in schools across the UK. In tandem, a partnership with Guardian Labs will drive a deeper understanding of the project through longer form content.

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Häagen-Dazs is the first ice-cream brand to move into automated product delivery with its new mobile e-commerce technology ‘Häagen-Dazs NOW’. The service enables ice-cream to be ordered and delivered into the hands of consumers when out and about by using an innovative combination of proven mobile technologies. Created by agency Space and developed by Kerve, the brand is trialling the service this Friday, 7 September 2018, offering people in Russell Square, London, a chance to order and enjoy its ice creams without having to leave their spot in the September sunshine.

Visitors to Russell Square will be among the first to try out this new e-commerce service. Through a chatbot conversation platform in Facebook Messenger to place the order, web-based geo-location APIs then pinpoints the exact location through the mobile browser, with swift real-time syncing of data through web sockets to provide a seamless mobile e-commerce solution.  The technology also enables Häagen-Dazs to know the exact delivery location, even if the consumer is not standing still, and the consumer can see how far away their ice cream is – all in real-time.

Samuel Horner, Senior Brand Manager at Häagen-Dazs UK, said “’Häagen-Dazs NOW’ is a first for the ice-cream category, tapping into the growing trend for geo-targeted services.  We’re testing it to inform future consumer engagement plans, each of which aim to make every day extraordinary for our consumers. Who wouldn’t want a delicious Häagen-Dazs ice cream delivered to their exact spot at a summer event?

David Atkinson, Managing Partner at Space, added: “The future potential of geo-targeting is very exciting.  General Mills is an innovative business and it’s a pleasure to be given the opportunity to create ground-breaking initiatives together. This activity provides evidence of our collective consumer-centricity and a desire to provide utility and advantage to our consumers.”

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It may be roasting outside, but for marketers, Christmas is just around the corner. Maddie Cullen of Ready Agency provides some tips on targeting consumers during the festive period

Christmas. The busiest time of year for marketers. But it doesn’t start as the nights are drawing in; most people are already planning ahead for the festive season.

Christmas is a time for increased sales, but also for increased competition. Brands fight tooth and nail to be one of the items wrapped up in a bow, stuffed in a stocking or served up for Christmas treats.

Here are a few ways brands can make sure they’re the ones under the Christmas tree this year.

Even Rudolf has one

It should come as no surprise that mobile is the top focus for brands this year. People are increasingly having ‘micro moments’, which are the quick searches and checks on their phones, giving consumers instant information at the swipe of a finger.

It’s these minutes/seconds that brands should be slotting themselves into. If a brand can be a solution to a mobile user’s query, that can be the first step on the journey to purchase.

In the last few years 42% of people planned to do all of their Christmas shopping on mobile. Brands should make sure they’ve optimised for mobile and their site is user-friendly, otherwise a busy Christmas shopper could give up and try somewhere else.

However, it’s good news for those brands that do capture the attention of an eager shopper. Research shows that people are happiest online when shopping! So customers are going to be in a good mood and therefore likely to spend more and treat themselves or others.

But it’s not just during the lead up to Christmas that brands need to be on phones. Christmas Day is actually one of the busiest mobile shopping days of the year. People may have cash burning a hole in their pockets, or a bad present to replace, but either way, they’re actively buying on Christmas day.

Like Father Christmas, be everywhere

But not everyone is doing all of their shopping on mobile – for some people the journey goes on for much longer than that.

More and more consumers are researching reviews, images and videos before buying gifts. This can take them from a product website to their Facebook chat to a celebrities Instagram account and anywhere else they can find.

People increasingly start an order in one place and finish it at another, whether that’s changing from browser to app or from desktop to phone. Omnichannel should be the word on every brand’s lips this year.

Consumers are also splitting up their shopping techniques. Some people research online and buy in-store, and some research in-store and buy online. Brands must make sure that they can accommodate both types by making it easy to buy and providing essential information at every touchpoint. Whether this is on their website or social media or on the packaging, make sure that consumers have no excuse to put the product back on the shelf! (Digital or otherwise).

In the festive season people are out and about more. Socialising takes over sitting in front of the TV or browsing on a laptop – but they’re still on their phone. This is what connects all the research consumers are doing in-store and online.

The success of the strategy can be seen when brands that aren’t embracing an omnichannel approach like Next are failing to engage. Having a nice shop front means very little if your online presence is non-existent. Like consumers, be connected.

You don’t know The Ice Queen?

If there’s one thing we’ve learn from the last year, it’s that influencers aren’t going away anytime soon.

In the winter months they have all the same benefits as usual but amplified. Christmas is the perfect time of year for influencers because people are ready to be, well, influenced. Consumers are constantly on the lookout for inspiration for gifts, decorations, food and anything they can buy to make this Christmas ‘the best one yet’.

Influencers are also great at breaking through the noise and reaching consumers that otherwise wouldn’t be aware of what a brand is selling. This is especially important at the most competitive time of the year!

One in five YouTube views are instigated by a search. This means that those viewers have a ‘lean-in’ mindset. They’re the perfect people to reach with YT pre-roll and brand partnerships. A lot of these people are actively looking for information. A carefully selected influencer can start that journey to purchase for them.

Amazon used influencers well with their Prime campaign last year. They teamed up with a few YouTubers to show how useful the service can be in the lead up to the big day. Ingrid Nilsen assembled a box of goodies for her best friend and her dog and Alex Wassabi collected gifts for his girlfriend. Each of the influencers did something personal and real and showed their millions of followers why Amazon Prime works so well, especially when Christmas shopping.

Utilising content creators generates an added advantage for those brands that do it well at Christmas.

Let’s serve dessert before mains

This year, be different.

John Lewis have set a standard for Christmas advertising to create an emotional, entertaining story. The majority of major supermarkets follow suit. But unless the copycats have a clear enough branding, people will just associate the memory of an emotional ad with John Lewis. The brands that break the mould this year will capture much more attention. Amazon’s ad last year that focused on products actually rated higher for likability than the John Lewis monster story.

That isn’t to say don’t be emotional. Christmas celebrations are rooted in feelings. Brands that lose sight of this risk offending people – as Poundland has learnt from their Elf behaving badly campaign. You can joke about Christmas but don’t go too far as to make a mockery of it. Most people love and enjoy celebrating the holiday and don’t want that feeling dragged through the dirt.

A brand that did this well was H&M, with its ad directed by Wes Anderson. It told an emotional story, but still featured a cast of characters decked out in H&M attire. The story was fun, but the brand message was clear enough that when people thought back, there wasn’t any mistaking the brand.

But remember, what worked one year isn’t guaranteed to succeed the next. People and trends change. Christmas is close to the New Year and summing up the finished year – customers want familiarity, but they want something exciting too. (As we all know from the disappointment of opening up a pair of socks again – thanks grandma!)

Brands need to keep a strong presence online but shouldn’t lack in traditional areas either. At Christmas, every touchpoint counts. Techniques that work at other times of the year, like influencers, still work at Christmas. The difference is, everything needs to be rooted in emotion.

Even if some people eat Christmas dinner after presents, we’re all still human.

Maddie Cullen is Marketing Assistant at Ready, a multi-disciplined creative agency specialising in breakthrough promotional and tactical marketing campaigns. Clients include Soap & Glory, Kiddylicious, Burt’s Bees and Molton Brown.

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Foster’s is giving consumers the chance to win a unique trip to “the thirstiest place on earth” – Ayers Rock, Australia – in an on-pack summer promotion in partnership with music and discovery app, Shazam.

Running until August 31st, the on-pack prize draw means Foster’s fans who buy a multipack and ‘Shazam a Can’ could win a variety of items including chill disks, chiller seats and slings, as well as well as the ultimate trip to “the thirstiest place on earth”.

Shoppers just have to scan the Shazam icon on the can with their mobile devices to enter the competition. They will be notified instantly if they have won one of the thousands of instant prizes.

The winner of the trip to Australia will be selected via a prize draw at the end of the campaign.

Foster’s says it is activating its “For the thirsty” platform throughout the summer months to drive penetration at a time when shoppers are looking for crisp, cool refreshment.

Toby Lancaster, Category and Shopper Marketing Director for Heineken, says: “With 52% of beer and cider value sales taking place over key seasonal periods, our on-pack promotion throughout the summer offers a great opportunity for retailers at a time when shoppers are looking for crisp, cool refreshment. Activating on-can means that we that we are able to cover a greater number of our SKUs, incentivising purchases and driving additional sales for retailers over the summer months. We are very much looking forward to revealing the lucky winner at the end of August.”

Foster’s on-pack promotion is available across 4 x 440ml, 10 x 440ml, 12 x 440ml and 18 x 440ml can pack formats and also Foster’s single 440ml and 568ml cans.

Heineken is the UK’s leading pub, cider and beer business. The company owns around 2,900 pubs as part of its Star Pubs & Bars business, and employs almost 2,200 people. Its portfolio of brands includes Foster’s, Heineken, Strongbow, Desperados, Kronenbourg1664, John Smith’s, Bulmers, Amstel, Birra Moretti and Old Mout, as well as a range of niche and speciality beers.

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Glenfiddich is launching a new campaign to promote Fire & Cane, the fourth and latest release in the Glenfiddich “Experimental Series”. The campaign broke on July 23rd 2018 in the USA, with sampling and experiential activations at the Taste of the Cocktails event in New Orleans, and will roll out in other lead markets later in the year – including France in September, the UK in October and Taiwan in 2019

The campaign is part of the William Grant & Sons-owned brand’s continued drive to recruit new drinkers into the whisky category.

The New Orleans tasting saw the whisky paired with grilled andouille (local Cajun sausage), grits, peppers and cream cheese.

The campaign was put together for Glenfiddich by London-based creative agency Space, which has been awarded the lead strategic and creative responsibilities for launching the next edition in the Experimental Series. The campaign brings to life the brand’s maverick spirit and focuses on the power of a simple question and how it can lead consumers on a journey to challenge conventions.

The newest expression in the Experimental Series is an unexpected peated whisky finished in Latin rum casks.

The campaign will be predominantly social, and kicks off with a 5-second teaser video. It will also feature short-form AV assets, Out of Home, print, interactive social assets such as Facebook canvases and Instagram polls, as well as experiential and sampling, all created by Space.

Campaign visuals centre on the liquid’s unique flavour profile. The hero 20” social video features animated CGI sugar crystals and innovative liquid photography showcasing the smokiness and sweetness of Fire & Cane. It runs in reverse order, opening with the product beauty shot (the outcome of the experiment), and closing with the moment of inspiration (the genesis of the experiment).  The core message is that when you question convention, as Glenfiddich has with Fire and Cane, you can spark the unexpected.

Oliver Rudgard, Global Brand Director at Glenfiddich, says: “Fire & Cane is #4 in the Glenfiddich Experimental Series.  The Experimental Series demonstrates our continued commitment to create new, innovative and inspiring whiskies.  Working with the great team at Space, we have pushed the creative boundaries further to create a set of new codes in the single malt category which are set to create cut through, attention and desire for the Fire & Cane launch across the globe.”

Jason Nicholas, Managing Partner at Space, adds: “The Experimental Series offers the chance to continually work on something that challenges a category. The creative idea in this campaign has led to the creation of a beautifully crafted and visceral campaign that will get under the skin of new drinkers and whisky advocates alike. Working with Glenfiddich on this their key campaign for 2018 has been a great opportunity and led to a campaign we’re really proud of.”

Glenfiddich most recently collaborated with Space to launch its first whisky finished in India Pale Ale (IPA) casks. This was backed by a global TV campaign, also created by Space.

Space is an award-winning integrated marketing agency which works across social, mobile, outdoor, in store, on-pack, in print, live or virtually. Clients include Heineken, Arla Foods, William Grant & Sons, General Mills, Eurostar, Sky, Coral, Bundesliga, UEFA, NBA and AELTC. Our work has been globally recognised with four ‘best in the world’ awards

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El Jimador, a leading premium tequila brand owned by US drinks giant Brown-Forman, is launching a ‘smart’ bottle and connected drinks coaster, using technology developed by Norwegian NFC experts, Thinfilm.

The six-figure deal is a key element of el Jimador’s omni-channel ‘Soccer Moments’ campaign, and is being heralded as the biggest ever largest NFC-related activation for a tequila brand. El Jimador is the sponsor of the Mexican National Soccer team’s 2018 US tour.

In collaboration with Thinfilm, el Jimador has incorporated NFC tags in custom bottle-neckers and branded coasters. When tapped with a smartphone in-store, at home, or on the go, el Jimador customers can instantly submit their favorite soccer story for a chance to win $25,000, custom jerseys, and other prizes. The NFC tags fully integrate with Thinfilm’s CNECT Cloud Platform and enable el Jimador marketers to view real-time tapping activity, analyze campaign performance, and uncover actionable insights.

The connected el Jimador bottles and coasters are being distributed through select retail outlets, bars, and restaurants across the United States.

Ed Carias, Senior Brand Manager for el Jimador tequila at Brown-Forman says: “Our Soccer Moments campaign is connecting us with consumers who are both fans of soccer and fans of the el Jimador brand. By leveraging the smartphone that most of us carry today, Thinfilm’s NFC solution significantly extends our ability to establish those connections, build lasting consumer relationships, and drive the success of the el Jimador brand.”

Following its Soccer Moments promotion, el Jimador plans to use Thinfilm’s NFC mobile marketing solution in a “Day of the Dead” campaign this coming October.

“It has become increasingly common for leading brands like el Jimador to position NFC as a key enabler within major omnichannel marketing initiatives,” said Davor Sutija, CEO of Thinfilm. “The Soccer Moments campaign is a perfect example.”

Thin Film Electronics ASA is a publicly listed company in Norway with global headquarters in Oslo, Norway; US headquarters in San Jose, California; and offices in Linköping, Sweden; San Francisco; London; Hamburg; Singapore; and Shanghai. Its Thinfilm solutions use NFC to connect FMCG products to the Internet of Things.

El Jimador is a premium 100% blue agave tequila made by Mexican distillery Tequila Herradura, founded in 1870. In 2007, the company was bought by Brown-Forman for $776 million. Over the past 10 years, Brown-Forman, which owns other alcohol brands including Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort and Finlandia Vodka, has been expanding international distribution for el Jimador and it is now sold in 136 countries, compared with the 56 countries at the time of the acquisition.

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O2 is offering customers the opportunity to cover their fridges with snapshots, with a ‘gift with purchase’ offer giving away free Kodak Mini 2 Bluetooth printers (worth £89.99) when they buy an eligible handset either instore, online or over the phone.

The activity aims to drive awareness and sales of flagship Android handsets from brands like Sony, Huawei and LG. To leverage the superior camera features and high-quality photography capabilities of the latest handsets, O2 wanted to create an added-value reward that could really bring these elements to life at point of purchase

The campaign was created by integrated agency Blue Chip, which is managing creative, concept development and print production, including devising a scratchcard mechanic to enable customers to claim their free printers, which will be delivered by post within 28 days of consumers registering a claim.

Dan Selas, Account Director at Blue Chip, says: “We know these handsets are appealing to a certain type of audience that love to be creative and take lots of high quality photos, and the Kodak Mini 2 Bluetooth printer is the perfect companion for these handsets as it allows you to produce amazing vibrant prints from your best pictures.”

The promotion runs until the end of June across the O2 state nationwide.

Blue Chip is a multi-award-winning Manchester-based integrated agency that works for clients including Essity, Kellogg’s, SPAR and Muller.

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The IPM COGS Awards 2018, the awards and recognition programme for service agencies – the providers of specialist services which are used to build promotional campaigns – is now open for entries. The entry deadline is July 19 2018.

The Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM) launched The IPM COGS Awards eight years ago as a recognition programme for the work of specialist services agencies, to run alongside the IPM Awards, which are for creative agencies.

Richard Pink, Head of Awards at the IPM, says: “The IPM COGS is the most important awards programme for the promotional industry’s service agencies – they give deserved recognition to the companies behind the scenes who make sure that everything runs like clockwork. They are the awards for the unsung heroes of our industry.”

Entry is open to any company from a range of business sectors which support great promotional marketing campaigns – handling, print, staffing, digital, mobile, event and risk management, to name but a few.

Companies do not have to be IPM members to enter (except for the IPM COGS Awards 2018 Service Agency of the Year Special Award, which is only open to IPM members). IPM members enjoy the advantage of paying lower entry costs, however.

The online awards entry platform has been updated and streamlined, to make the entry process even easier than in previous years. In order to submit an entry, you will need to register for this new awards platform – https://theipm.awardsplatform.com/

The IPM – the marketing industry trade body which represents the interests of brands and organisations which use promotional techniques to target their audiences and also of the agencies and service providers which advise them – is encouraging members and non-members alike to seize the opportunity to show the world how their contributions have helped create world-class campaigns.

Now in its eighth year, The IPM COGS awards programme is constantly setting benchmarks and driving up the standard or promotional campaigns.

A full list of the 2017 winners can be found on the IPM website. 

The full list of categories for The COGS Awards 2018 is below:

• Coupons
• Print Management
• Risk Management
• Digital
• Promotional Merchandise
• Experiential and Event
• Handling and Fulfilment
• Staffing
• Direct Marketing
• Loyalty
• Prize, Incentive and Reward
• Innovation
• Multi Territory

In addition to the industry and sector categories, there are three special awards:

• The IPM COGS Awards Service Agency of the Year
• The IPM COGS Awards Breakthrough Company of the Year
• The Grand Prix

Information on the criteria for each category and how the special awards are selected can be found on the IPM website. Alternatively, download the IPM COGS Awards 2018 Handbook which also includes details of how to enter, timings and costs.

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