Shopping centre owner intu has launched Big Bugs On Tour, a national experiential roadshow that brings adults and children face-to-face with 12 giant British bugs at 13 intu shopping centres nationwide.

The initiative is being backed by naturalist Chris Packham and features 12 supersized, indigenous bugs including the honeybee, ladybird, hornet, swallowtail butterfly and the nut weevil. It launched at intu Lakeside last week where it will be on display until the end of July before moving around the UK over the next 15 months, visiting 12 other intu centres around the country including intu Trafford Centre, intu Metrocentre and intu Braehead, between now and September 2019.

Roger Binks, Customer Experience Director for intu, says: “Over 35 million people shop at intu centres every year so we hope bringing them face-to-face with these giant British bugs can make a real impact in how they interact and reconnect with nature, and ensure they are happier than when they arrived.”

The campaign, which into says aims to reconnect kids and adults to nature, comes as research shows children are now better at identifying Pokemon characters than there are at recognising British wildlife, despite a £10m pledge from Government to encourage children to get closer to nature.

Research by intu found that almost four in five parents (78%) want their children to be more connected to nature and 86% think they spend too much time looking at screens. However, one in six children in the UK (17%) have not set foot in a park or forest in the last 12 months.

One in five children (21%) were unable to correctly identify a bee while one in four children (25%) have not seen a caterpillar in over a year. One in ten kids (10%) did not know honey came from bees.

Adults were also lacking in their bug knowledge, with one in four (25%) unable to tell the difference between a bee and a wasp and a quarter (25%) unable to correctly identify a grasshopper.

Over a third of adults (35 per cent) of adults say they see far fewer bugs in their gardens now than five years ago with nearly half (49 per cent) saying they are worried about the decline in insects but didn’t know how to help.

Intu’s Roger Binks adds: “We know that a closer connection to nature makes people happier and Big Bugs on Tour is an opportunity to help educate adults and children on the importance of the bugs in their gardens and put a smile on their faces.”

Naturalist Chris Packham observes: “We are facing a crisis in our countryside. I haven’t seen a single butterfly in my garden this year and more needs to be done to reconnect people with nature and start caring for and realising the importance of the bugs in your backyard. intu’s Big Bugs on Tour is shining a big magnifying glass on this and also putting bugs into school classrooms, and is a fantastic initiative to alert to the importance of nature in our lives.”

In addition to visiting into shopping centres, Big Bugs on Tour will also be inspiring school classes around the country to help children learn more about bugs.

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Molton Brown, London-based fragrance experts, is launching its new Vetiver & Grapefruit Collection with a series of eye-catching retail experiences, featuring anamorphic art to create clever optical illusions that represent the tension between the new fragrance’s contrasting notes.

Molton Brown’s master perfumers have a rich heritage in combining imaginative and unusual ingredients to create unique fragrances. For this new campaign, the brand brought in rising designer Peter Tarka, a specialist in pioneering 3D imagery, to work with it on a marketing campaign under the title, ‘Build the Tension’, reflecting the contrasts in the new range.

Molton Brown then appointed creative agency Ready to deliver an experiential and promotional campaign to bring Peter Tarka’s creations to life.

To grab consumers’ attention and drive footfall to Molton Brown stores and concession stands, Ready created large-scale 3D optical illusions which have been rolled out at several shopping centres around the UK. Each one invites those who experience it into a world of rough and smooth textures, stark and soft shapes and gravity-defying objects that reflect the fragrance’s skilful construction.

Shoppers who interact with the experience were offered the chance to enter their details into a prize draw to win a luxury weekend in London. They also received a free 30ml sample of the bath and shower gel product from the new range.

The experience kicked off earlier this month, and has so far appeared at shopping centres in Newcastle, Glasgow, Bluewater in Kent and intu Milton Keynes. It opened at London’s Canary Wharf yesterday and today (May 21^st and 22^nd) before concluding at Victoria Quarter in Belfast on May 25^th.

Ready director Jake Xu says: “Molton Brown are true pioneers when it comes to original perfumery. So when they asked us to deliver a show-stopping retail experience for this launch, we knew we had to push the boundaries and create something unique and original. We’re really happy with the end result, and so are the team at Molton Brown. Working with them and their retail partners has been a great experience.”

Ready, based in Bath, is a multi-disciplinary creative agency specialising in promotional and tactical marketing campaigns which break through the noise of clients’ categories and persuade target audiences to take a desired action.

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pladis-owned snacks brand McVitie’s is running an interactive experience to back its ‘Sweeter Together’ Masterbrand advertising and marketing campaign. In keeping with the TV ad, featuring a crane driver, the Sweeter Together Challenge requires two consumers to work together to operate a model crane to grab a giant McVitie’s ‘prize’ Nibble, to instantly win prizes that are ‘sweeter when enjoyed together’.

pladis has appointed promotional marketing agency whynot! think people to deliver the interactive challenge, which will be appearing at Westfield Stratford City between until April 23rd April. It then moves to the Manchester Arndale Centre between April 25th and May 1st before finishing at the Cardiff St. David’s mall from May 4th to 7th. It will also be appearing at key London railway stations, including Waterloo, Paddington, Victoria and Euston.

The activity, which will also see the distribution of 800,000 samples of the  Nibbles product, is part of the re-launch of the McVitie’s brand, which is being backed with a £12m multi-media Masterbrand campaign, exploring the importance of real human connections and showing how the simple act of sharing a biscuit has the power to bring people together. It launched in mid March with the 60-second animated TV ad, titled ‘Crane’, showing a tower crane operator going about his work dozens of metres above the ground. Below him, he sees his colleagues enjoying the camaraderie of a tea break, complete with McVitie’s biscuits. He waves but is not seen.

As the day wears on, the operator becomes gloomy, craving some company – even if it’s only from passing birds. When he is convinced that everyone’s forgotten about him he gets a surprise: the latest steel beam he lifts has been loaded with a cup of tea and some McVitie’s biscuits. He looks down and sees his colleagues waving and smiling at him and his mood instantly lifts. The ad ends with a simple message: “Sometimes the little things are actually the really big things”.

A second TV ad will air later this year. Social and in-store activity also features as part of the integrated campaign.

Sarah Heynen, Marketing Vice President, pladis UK & Ireland, says: “whynot! think people have done an incredible job of bringing both the fun sharing attributes of Nibbles, and our Sweeter Together campaign, to life.  The challenge element physically executes our new brand purpose – enabling everyday moments of real human connections. We are confident that this brand experience will tap into our consumers’ love for our brands as well as supporting our efforts to drive penetration and repeat purchase of our Nibbles range.”

David Ryan, Creative Director, whynot! think people, adds: “Our Nibble twist on the iconic crane game is the perfect fit for a legendary brand such as McVitie’s. The Sweeter Together Challenge brings to life the new brand purpose, not only visually but by bringing people together to enjoy moments of sharing, the sweet spot for Nibbles.”

The Sweeter Together Challenges will be filmed and edited, with content featuring on outward facing TV screens at the events, as well as being used as part of a social media campaign to amplify the activation, extending campaign reach and driving footfall to future events.

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EPOCH making toys – the company behind collectible toy brand Sylvanian Families – is launching its new Town range by creating the world’s smallest fashion show, unveiled at Hamleys Regent Street on Thursday March 22nd. A UK-wide experiential roadshow tour with intu shopping centres will follow in April.

The fashion stunt, devised by Bath-based agency Highlight PR, comprises two miniature automated catwalks on which Sylvanian Families figures (just 9.5cm tall) will model 40 ‘petite’ haute couture outfits.

Handmade by EPOCH’s R&D designers in Japan specifically for the launch, these eye-wateringly small outfits feature couture quality details and will be presented as ‘the debut Spring Summer Collection’ of the Town’s main character, Stella the fashion designer.

Over 30 London fashion press and guests attended the Hamley’s launch, together with child look-alikes of Anna Wintour, The Queen and Karl Lagerfeld on the FROW (Front Row).

While one catwalk is part of a double window display at Hamleys Regent Street until May 2nd, the second catwalk will tour the UK as a key attraction within EPOCH’s experiential roadshow – a national partnership with intu shopping centres to launch the Town across the UK.

Devised by Bournemouth-based brand communications agency, Mad River, the Sylvanian Families Town roadshow kicks off at intu Trafford Centre on 31 March (Easter Saturday). It will comprise a branded area with purpose-built life-size replicas of the Town buildings’ facades and street lamps.

Once inside, Sylvanian fans and intu customers can see and play with the new products, watch the new Town characters perform on stage and admire the miniature fashion show. To drive consumer engagement, there will be a themed selfie corner and craft activities, with a competition to become ‘Stella’s intern’ by designing a dress for her next collection.

The roadshow will also visit intu Metrocentre, intu Merryhill and intu Lakeside during April.

Yuki Otsuka, Marketing Manager at EPOCH making toys, comments: “This is the largest product launch in the history of Sylvanian Families, so we wanted to create maximum awareness not just amongst our core customer base but also within a broader target audience to attract the next generation of fans. We’ve therefore designed an integrated campaign across multiple channels, and we hope our unique miniature catwalk will be an exciting element, from a PR, experiential and consumer engagement perspective. As a fashion-lover myself, I’m amazed by the details of the tiny, couture outfits within Stella’s collection – I’m sure everyone is going to love them too!”

To support the launch and the roadshow and drive sales, EPOCH is running a TV campaign from now until 8 April. Ads will promote the Town’s hero products comprising the Grand Department Store, Designer Studio (run by Stella Chocolate) and Ride Along Tram.

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Persil UK has been encouraging families in London to get outdoors and active to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the brand’s ‘Dirt is Good’ marketing platform with ‘Get Out Here’, a Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) activation delivering content triggered by the weather in real-time.

Running on Ocean’s full motion Eat Street screen at Westfield London, the campaign uses live weather data to trigger video content allowing the display to show current temperatures, weather conditions and the walking distance to Holland Park, their nearest source of outdoor fun.

Families can connect to the screen’s Wi-Fi to access a map and directions to the park, which is a short walk from the shopping centre.

Get Out Here reflects Persil’s commitment to get families outdoors and embrace dirt. The brand cites consumer research which reveals that dogs are five times more likely to be taken out to the park than children – and that only one in three kids has ever climbed a tree.

Created by MullenLowe London, Get Out Here was one of the commercial winners of Ocean Outdoor’s eighth annual digital creative competition, which aims to reward great creative concepts that push the boundaries of digital out of home (DOOH) advertising.

Video footage on the screen will also include a dynamic count of fun activities families can enjoy in the 22.5 hectare park, including the number of birds to count, muddy puddles to jump in and snowmen to build.

The idea is that families will break out of the urban jungle to experience the freedom of the real outdoors like kids used to, playing on Persil’s 10th anniversary of “Dirt is Good.” The campaign broke on March 1st 2018 and runs for two weeks.

Jennifer King, Senior Brand Manager for Persil UK, says: “Families love getting outdoors but we know that life can get in the way. This is an innovative way to nudge us all to embrace the outdoors and make more happy memories.”

Alex Okada, Global Executive Creative Director for Dirt is Good, adds: “Sometimes we are so immersed in our busy lives, distracted by the always on digital world that we don’t stop to think how close and accessible nature is to us. The idea is to use technology and data in order to remind and inspire people to enjoy the outdoors. Not having enough time outdoors is not a only problem for kids, but also a problem for all of us.”

Ocean Outdoor head of marketing Helen Haines comments: “Get Out Here is a really simple idea that actually works in all sorts of environments and out of home locations. It’s a fun execution and a wonderful way to encourage more families to go play and get messy. That’s why it was chosen as an Ocean competition winner.”

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LG Electronics has appointed promotions agency tpf to create ‘The Perfect LG TV Experience’, an experiential activation designed to inspire consumers to upgrade their TV and invest in one of LG’s premium sets.

This is the first project that tpf has delivered for LG, after the agency won a five-way pitch for the business.

‘The Perfect LG Experience’ was at Westfield, Stratford between October 26^th to 29^th. It will be at Bluewater from November 2^nd to 5^th and The Bullring in Birmingham from November 9^th to 12^th.

The activation has been designed to position LG at the forefront of TV innovation with continued development of first class OLED technology as well as premium LED/LCD models in the SUPER UHD range.

The activity brings this to life, enabling members of the public to enjoy the ultimate viewing experience across three zones – Sports, Home Entertainment and Gaming – with each highlighting the key features and benefits of LG’s SUPER UHD and OLED TVs.

Consumers will also be able visit The Perfect Black Room located at the centre of the stand to watch high quality 4K UHD content in perfect blackness on one of LG’s OLED TVs.

tpf has also helped secure partners for each of the zones: Sky Sports for Sports, Netflix for Home Entertainment and Activision for Gaming. Each of the partners will feature some of their finest 4K UHD content on LG’s high-quality TVs.

Consumers will be able to win instant prizes at each of the zones, from Netflix passes to Destiny 2 games and Sky Q packages for a year, as well as some of LG’s premium TVs. tpf has created a simple instant win mechanic which asks consumers to answer a short survey asking about their TV viewing preferences. Consumers will also be able to claim an exclusive discount from John Lewis for SUPER UHD and OLED TVs.

tpf designed the stand in line with LG’s style, combining premium finishes on the build with an inviting look. The Sports zone, in partnership with Sky Sports, highlights the features of LG’s new SUPER UHD TV, demonstrating the ease of viewing sport content from any angle. The Home Entertainment zone has been furnished to feel homely and welcoming, with a comfy sofa located right in front of an OLED TV, consumers are invited to relax and enjoy some high quality Netflix content, as it they were right at home. The Gaming zone is designed for gamers to play the hugely popular new Destiny 2 on an LG OLED TV.

Carolyn Anderson, Marketing Director, LG, says: “Our new OLED and SUPER UHD products offer viewers the ultimate way to enjoy great TV and films at home, and tpf’s approach to this experiential activation really brings that to life. Members of the public will be able to take some time out from shopping to relax and discover a whole new way of enjoying TV.”

Gail Middleton, Director, tpf, adds: “LG is one of the world’s leading technology brands so we’re delighted to work with them on this project. The Perfect LG TV Experience perfectly showcases the amazing clarity, sharpness and accuracy of LG’s product range. We were very keen to work with LG, so winning a competitive pitch against other agencies makes this an extra special project for tpf.”

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

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Fanta is running an experiential Virtual Reality campaign called ‘Fanta: The 13th Floor’ to scare audiences just in time for Halloween, with consumers entering a physical lift that transforms into an immersive Halloween experience.

Fanta’s campaign – which was devised and produced by MediaCom’s content division MediaCom Beyond Advertising – uses the latest technology to deliver a 360° virtual reality experience.

Each ‘ride’ lasts for four minutes, where the user arrives at different floors of a building on the way to a Halloween party. Each floor then presents a different scenario: on one floor something comes forth from the shadows in an otherwise unassuming corridor, on another a shadowy figure transports from the realm of flickering TV screens to the confines of the lift.

4D elements add to the excitement, with a lifelike rumble emitting from the lift floor as the elevator stops at the various levels whilst a whoosh of air greets the user as the virtual doors open. It is the first time the drinks company has used an experiential activation of this magnitude to drive engagement.

Thorpe Park and Westfield shopping centre in Stratford will host three lifts each, aimed at 16-19 year olds to generate buzz and excitement for the orange soft drink Fanta during the Halloween period. The innovative campaign will run at Thorpe Park until November 1st and Westfield shopping centre until October 28th.

To drive further scale to the activation, the 360° video can also be viewed on www.fanta.co.uk13thfloor.

Mediacom will be promoting this through online video and paid social channels.

Rosalind Brown, Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Great Britain, says: “Halloween is the one time of year when we can all unleash our inner dark-side and embrace everything which is fun about the freakish and frightening. Our limited-edition Fanta cans and bottles, along with our exclusive Snapchat partnership, definitely help add a bit of drama and intrigue to the fright-night season. However for those brave enough, we have brought the fun of Halloween to life with our Virtual Reality experience which is now live at Thorpe Park and Westfield Stratford. For those who dare to enter it’s a shocking, fun filled ride to the 13th Floor!”

Mike Gibbons, Art Director at MediaCom Beyond Advertising, adds: “We love being able to draw from the different skillsets from within MBA, here utilising both the Original Content and Experiential teams, to create engaging campaigns. I recommend you track down some VR goggles, a pair of headphones and appreciate this immersive experience in all its glory.”

The media agency worked with video production company Kode Media and boutique VR Production agency TrojanVR, a joint venture that saw the two companies develop, shoot and deliver the 360° elements of the experiential campaign in an extremely short time frame.

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Independent Events, a multi-award winning experiential agency based in the North East of England, has been appointed by two new clients to create events this Halloween.

Two destination shopping centres, Dalton Park near Newcastle and Captain Cook Square in Middlesbrough,  have commissioned IE to deliver Halloween shows and activities for families.

Dalton Park will have a weekend of pumpkin fun on October 28^th and 29^th, with prizes for the best costume, lantern making workshops and a pumpkin parade featuring dancers, jugglers and stilt walkers.

There will also be a pumpkin trail in aid of the Sick Children’s Trust.

Captain Cook Square in Middlesbrough will feature a life size spooky pirate ship, with IE working on behalf of marketing agency Bewonder to deliver a family event to remember.

The ship will be there on Friday 27^th and Saturday 28^th October with activities including story-telling and workshops for all the family.

Danae Abadom, co-director of IE, says: “It is great to see these shopping centres really thinking about their customers experiences and pulling out all the stops to make a visit into really good memories. Halloween is becoming bigger in the UK every year, and the best way to draw customers is to have an experience that people will talk about, and look forward to for next year. Experiential marketing is all about people, and interaction. Building memories that stay with people and create a loyal following.”

IE, which is coming up to its 10^th birthday, works with companies such as BooHoo, Famous Grouse, Kerry Foods, DFDS and Nissan. Other clients include shopping centres across the UK, RoadRespect and many councils across the UK.

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Westfield London, more used to crowds of shoppers thronging its halls, was turned into a racetrack for a content marketing drive featuring DS Automobiles’ new electric car.

A film released by DS Automobiles shows Formula E racing driver Sam Bird taking the brand’s concept car for a secret after-hours spin inside Westfield London, marking the UK debut of the high-performance DS E-TENSE vehicle.

The behind-closed-doors footage shows Bird, a DS Virgin Racing driver and the third-highest all-time Formula E points scorer, behind the wheel of the all-electric vehicle. As the camera pans away it becomes clear he is driving indoors, past many of the high-street and high-end stores that call the major retail destination in White City home.

Westfield Brand Ventures, a division of the shopping centre operators which offers tailored propositions to brands to deliver consumer engagement throughout the retail journey, worked with DS Automobiles on arranging special permission for Bird to drive the DS E-TENSE indoors after closing time.

The footage was recorded at night inside Westfield London, soon to become Europe’s largest shopping centre when a £600 million Phase 2 expansion opens in March 2018.

Paul Buttigieg, Westfield’s Director of Operations, says: “We like to go the extra mile for our partners to help them create innovative content to drive awareness and sales. Giving a leading racing driver the green light to take a spin inside one of our centres was a real first but having built such a positive relationship with DS Automobiles over the past few years we wanted to help them create a standout moment to mark the UK debut of the DS E-TENSE, and the soon-to-be-launched DS 7 CROSSBACK.”

DS Automobiles has partnered with Westfield London since 2015, opening its flagship DS Urban Store in 2016. The digitally-enabled boutique concept invites visitors to explore the lifestyle of the Parisian-born brand at one of London’s premium shopping destinations.

Mark Blundell, UK Marketing Director at DS Automobiles, adds: “The avant-garde spirit of design present in every DS car aligns perfectly with some of the world’s most luxurious names in fashion located in Westfield London. This remains the perfect location for our brand and Westfield continues to help us find new and creative ways to engage an extremely high footfall audience.”

First unveiled at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, the DS E-TENSE concept car perfectly blends state-of-the-art technology and avant-garde design with unique styling. Fittingly, the model Bird can be seen driving in the film is an exclusive metallic ametrine green; the zero-emissions DS E-TENSE delivers propulsion that is clean, silent, efficient and powerful.

Westfield’s Brand Ventures works collaboratively with partners to maximise revenue and deliver an enhanced customer experience across its portfolio of physical and digital assets within Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City.

DS Automobiles is a luxury car marque which is part of Groupe PSA, which owns the Peugeot, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Opel and Vauxhall Motors brands. DS aims to revive the tradition of premium vehicles in the French automotive industry, perpetuating the values of innovation and distinction inherited from the first DS, launched in 1955. DS also supports year-round artistic and cultural activities based around fashion, design, art and gastronomy.

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German low-cost airline Eurowings, the State Tourist Board Baden-Württemberg, Europa-Park, and Stuttgart Airport have once again partnered to promote their destinations and brands in the UK via a Virtual Reality experiential activation at Westfield Stratford City.

Created by London based communications agency, collab-ed, the UK Summer campaign built on last year’s award-winning #nextstop campaign to once again encourage Londoners to discover the beautiful SouthWest of Germany via convenient Eurowings flights between London and Stuttgart Airport.

In 2016, Ed Euromaus, the mascot of Europa-Park, was welcomed by Londoners as they helped him find the #nextstop for his bus in a campaign also created by collab-ed. This year, Ed returned to take Londoners on a virtual reality journey to his home, Europa-Park, in Baden-Württemberg.

The 2017 campaign centred around a VR experiential activation in Westfield Stratford City where visitors could check-in to #FlyWithEd on board his special Eurowings plane to the Sunny Side of Germany; touching down in Stuttgart Airport to discover the Black Forest, before taking a rollercoaster ride through Europa-Park, Germany’s largest theme park.

Campaign seeding via social media continued the narrative from last years’ campaign whilst this year the reactions of visitors were videoed and shared across the campaign channels via the hashtag #FlyWithEd in order to drive social amplification.

Additional Out Of Home activity consisting of digital OOH throughout Westfield Stratford City and print OOH throughout Stratford International Station further promoted the VR experiential activation.

Visitors also had the opportunity to extend the experience via campaign gifting, with VR cardboards and a free digital download of the Coastiality app (App Store & Google Play) enabling the experience, and partner brands, to reach directly into the homes of an even wider audience.

“The response has been fantastic,” says Manuela Spröwitz, International Marketing Manager at Eurowings. “The 360° video is a great tool to inspire visitors to travel with Eurowings to Europa-Park and the region. We are really happy to increase the awareness of our flight offers with this innovative and exciting flying experience – on ground!”

“It’s been great to be able to build on last year’s success and really take this story to the next level”, says Nichola Kirkman, Creative Director of collab-ed. “This year’s campaign has been tremendously well received by Londoners and is yet another indicator to us that audiences are increasingly receptive to innovative marketing and being reached in more meaningful and powerful ways.”

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