The Economist, a leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs, recently expanded on its new ‘Never Stop Questioning’ TV commercials with a companion experiential activation at London Victoria train station. The experience was conceived and brought to life by brand experience agency Sense London.

The experience continued the guiding thought of The Economist’s new TV ads – the value of always questioning the world around us – by displaying the thought-provoking questions featured in the direct response commercial on a large interactive screen within the station. The questions are based on articles from The Economist, including ‘Does social media help or harm democracy?’ and ‘Are plastic bags better for the ocean than paper ones?’

As each question was displayed, passers-by were encouraged to interact with a button on the screen to find out the answer. When pressed, the button triggered the screen’s integrated printer to release a preview of the corresponding article. QR codes on both the print out and screen took users to the full article on Economist.com, where non-subscribers could also register for free access.

“At The Economist, we have always believed it is by posing and debating difficult questions that society progresses and moves forward. This experience brings to life the idea that we survive and thrive by asking why,” said Mark Cripps, Chief Marketing Officer at The Economist. “By consuming our content, readers will be better armed with the tools they need to prepare themselves for the future.”

The post The Economist expands on new TV ad with experiential activation appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

In a new twist on its #feedingthefuture campaign, The Economist is encouraging Londoners to try free nutritious soup made from vegetables destined for the rubbish bin. Engaging with people through a branded mobile trike, the iconic newspaper is showing people that ugly, discoloured or misshapen produce, which is rejected by supermarkets can still be eaten and tastes great.

The campaign, devised by marketing agency Sense, forms part of The Economist’s successful ‘Real World’ experiential strategy designed to increase the media brand’s subscriptions through bringing its content to life in the real world.

Supermarkets’ and consumers’ obsession with ‘perfect’ fruit and vegetables is contributing to the global food waste problem, with 600,000 tonnes of food thrown away each year in the UK by restaurants alone.

“The #feedingthefuture campaign challenges potential readers to consider new ideas and solutions to reflect on more environmentally sustainable approaches towards food production and consumption,” says Marina Haydn, executive vice president, circulation and retail marketing at The Economist.

Commenting on the latest activation, Sense Senior Account Manager Daniel Hennessey adds: “Giving away warming tasty waste-food soup on a cold winter’s day is a great way to get people talking about The Economist’s content in an engaging way. By challenging people’s perception about the food we throw away, this activity self-selects the globally curious consumer – just the kind of people who enjoy reading The Economist – increasing brand awareness and driving subscription sales at the same time.”

The campaign started on 29^th November in Liverpool Street, before visiting One New Change (30^th November). It will also visit Denmark Hill (4^th December) and Victoria Station (5^th and 6^th December). It will then run from January to March 2018 at various other London locations including Canary Wharf, Waterloo, Paddington, Euston, King’s Cross and London Bridge.

To date, the #feedingthefuture campaign has generated more than 60,000 subscribers globally for The Economist across five continents.

The post The Economist adds winter flavour to experiential campaign appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

LSI Netherlands BV – owner of the Peperami brand – and agencies TLC Marketing and Sense were crowned the big winners at The IPM Awards 2017, taking home the trophies for Brand Owner of the Year, Agency of the Year and the coveted Grand Prix Award respectively.

This year’s winners, which were announced at the IPM’s black-tie Awards Gala on Wednesday June 7 at the London Hilton Park Lane, showcased and celebrated the very best in creativity and effectiveness in the promotional marketing industry.

The evening commenced with opening addresses from Lord Black of Brentwood, President of the IPM, and John Sylvester, the IPM’s chairman and Chairman of Sodexo Benefits & Reward Services UK, while the host for the event was Strictly Come Dancing star, Claudia Winkleman.

LSI was named as Brand Owner of the Year, after collecting two Gold and two Silver trophies for its campaign linking Peperami mascot, the Animal, with the Angry Birds movie.

TLC took the Agency of the Year accolade, having picked up four Gold awards and a Silver for a range of different campaigns.

The Grand Prix went to ‘real world’ agency Sense for its #H2O activation, part of the ‘Discomfort Future’ campaign on behalf of The Economist. This saw potential subscribers offered free coffee apparently made from recycled water from a portable toilet, to highlight the issue of water scarcity around the world. It won two Golds and was selected by the IPM awards judges as the best of the best.

The picture above shows Sense collecting their award from Lord Black (left) and the evening’s host, Claudia Winkleman (right).

Other agencies celebrating multiple trophies at the IPM Awards 2017 included The Circle Agency, ZEAL Creative, Toucan and Brand & Deliver. Behaviour change experts 23red managed to pick up Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Not for Profit, Charities and Public Sector category, the second time the agency has achieved this impressive feat.

John Sylvester, Chairman of the IPM, said: “The IPM Awards celebrate outstanding promotional marketing from the very best UK agencies and underscore our commitment to supporting best practice, creativity, effectiveness and innovation. Our Awards are open to everyone in the marketing industry and this year it was great to see both some familiar faces and some newcomers amongst the winners and the audience.”

This year, winners of Gold, Silver and Bronze IPM Awards all qualify for entry into the IMC European Awards, and the IPM will be contacting agencies shortly to explain how to take advantage of this. John Sylvester observes: “The UK produces world-class promotional marketing campaigns, and we want as many of our winners as possible to enter the IMCs so we can underline our leadership in this vitally important sector of the marketing and advertising industry.”

Sponsors for the IPM Awards 2017 included headline sponsor Sodexo, Westfield Shoppingtowns, Sykes, Emirat, Whistl, Granby Marketing Services, Promotional Handling, i-movo, POD Staffing, Peazie and Pictures Experience.

A full list of this year’s winner can be found on the IPM website.

The post Sense’s Economist campaign wins Grand Prix at IPM Awards 2017 appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

The recently-opened New York office of UK marketing agency Sense has run its first campaign, with the April launch in New York of experiential campaign #feedingthefuture for The Economist.

Sense won The Economist’s North American business in late 2016 following a competitive review; Sense London has been the agency of record for the company in the UK since 2014 and has run a number of awards winning campaigns for the global business and economic magazine where a carefully-targeted potential subscriber base is offered challenging, thought-provoking experiential activations, which have included handing out free ‘cat poo’ coffee and crepes made with insect flour.

The New York #feedingthefuture campaign is aimed at highlighting the impact of food waste on the environment. Running until mid-May, The Economist will have a branded coffee cart at select locations throughout New York City, offer passers-by a free cup of coffee in an effort to highlight innovative uses for used coffee grounds.

The program, entitled “Grounds for Change,” is based on The Economist’s report “Oil in Your Coffee,” which articulates little known uses for used coffee grounds including creating biodiesel fuel. Consumers who participate in the program will have the opportunity to subscribe to the publication at an introductory rate of 12 weeks for $12; as a special gift they can opt to have The Economist plant a tree on their behalf.

In the coming months, Sense will launch the #feedingthefuture campaign in Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Marina Haydn, Senior Vice President, Circulation and Retail Marketing, The Economist, says: “The #feedingthefuture campaign brings The Economist’s mind-stretching journalism to life and challenges potential readers to consider new ideas and solutions to reflect on more environmentally sustainable approaches towards food production and consumption.”

The Economist has worked with Sense to develop the #feedingthefuture framework covering The Economist’s live content marketing programs, which are aimed at attracting new readers to the publication through creative and provocative real world experiences. Launched in the UK in 2014, to date more than 30,000 new subscriptions have been generated through this activity worldwide. The Kopi Lowak Coffee activity, which saw potential subscribers offered free coffee made from coffee beans eaten and then excreted by South East Asian civet cats – the most expensive coffee beans in the world – won a Gold in the IPM Awards in 2015.

Sense’s London office runs campaigns for clients including The Economist, Coca-Cola, Mars, Molson Coors, Hasbro, Activision Blizzard, Brompton Bikes and many others.

Sarah Priestman, President, Sense New York says: “We’ve always held an ambition to expand overseas, and being appointed to handle the North American business for The Economist provided us with a great opportunity to start an agency, with a team and resources. This was an important strategic investment in the growth of Sense and we are already talking to other global clients about extending our relationship into North America.”

Sense is an experiential marketing agency that creates authentic connections with consumers in the real world. As a response to media fragmentation, ad blocking and consumer cynicism, Sense has developed an approach that breaks through the clutter, reaching people at the optimum points for relevance and receptivity. The agency manages brand campaigns from strategy through evaluation.

The post Sense US launches with Economist’s #feedingthefuture appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

The Economist newspaper has launched a new execution in its ‘Discomfort Food’ experiential strategy offering consumers free nutritious smoothies made from fruit and vegetables otherwise destined for the rubbish bin.

A pop-up market stall will illustrate that ugly, discoloured or mis-shapen produce, which is rejected by supermarkets, can still be eaten and tastes great.

The ‘From bin to blender’ campaign has been devised by agency Sense, which has been responsible for developing the Discomfort Food strategy and execution. The idea behind the strategy is that offering consumers challenging items as free samples – such as coffee made from beans collected from civet excrement or recycled toilet water, or crepes made with insects – highlights the media brand’s challenging content and ‘self selects’ consumers who are more likely to stay as subscribers when an introductory offer ends.

Supermarkets’ and consumers’ obsession with fruit and veg perfection is a key driver of the global food waste problem, with 600,000 tonnes of food thrown away each year in the UK by restaurants alone. Globally, 50% of all the food the world produces is wasted, yet one in nine people on earth don’t have enough food to live a healthy lifestyle. The ‘From bin to blender’ campaign is an innovative and engaging way to highlight both the issue and a solution.

“Serving waste-food smoothies gets people talking about important content from The Economist in an intelligent, approachable way,” said Marina Hadyn, Senior Vice President, Circulation and Retail Marketing at The Economist. “We want to invite potential readers to learn that we don’t only cover economics, but also the issues that impact our future. This experiential activation will leave them not only with a fresh smoothie, but also a fresh perspective on The Economist.”

“By challenging people’s perception about the food we throw away, this activity self-selects the globally curious consumer – just the kind of people who enjoy reading The Economist – increasing brand awareness and driving subscription sales at the same time,” explained Sense Account Manager Daniel Hennessey.

Over the past 12 months, the Discomfort Food strategy has generated in excess of 14,500 subscribers.

The campaign launched in Liverpool Street in the City of London on 16^th June 2016, and will run throughout June and July.

The post Economist ‘ugly fruit’ smoothies appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

The Economist has launched the latest in its multi-award-winning Discomfort Food campaign, where potential subscribers are offered a free sample of food or drink which many might find repellent.

Following on from its ‘cat poo coffee’ and insect crepes activities, the business magazine is asking consumers if they would drink coffee made with water derived from their own, or other people’s, urine.

Entitled H#2O, the real-world activation consists of a specially designed branded manned coffee trike offering free beverages to passers by. On closer inspection, consumers claiming their free drink notice the adjacent portaloo, which appears to be supplying water for the coffees.

Carefully selected and trained brand representatives then inform the interested parties that trials are taking place in selected countries to overcome clean water scarcity through purifying urine. The question is: will they still drink the free coffee?

“Once their reaction has been gauged, consumers are told that in this instance, urine is not being used as a water source for the coffee, the activation is simply highlighting a solution,” explains Daniel Hennessey, account manager at real world marketing agency Sense, which is running the campaign for The Economist. “The aim is to flush out – excuse the pun – potential Economist readers through their interest in the campaign subject and offer them discounted subscriptions, essentially filtering out the hottest prospects.”

The creative idea behind the campaign is that The Economist is a challenging read best appreciated by intelligent people with an enquiring nature who are prepared to think outside the box and push boundaries. The various Discomfort Food activities are designed to ‘self-select’ consumers who are most likely to stay as Economist subscribers and weed out those who are simply taking advantage of a discount offer.

In its various forms over the past 12 months, the Discomfort Food campaign has generated in excess of 14,500 subscribers.

Commenting on the latest campaign, Marina Hadyn, Senior Vice President, Circulation and Retail Marketing at The Economist, says: “We’re delivering an illustrative real world experience on the technology sitting behind water purification for water-scarce locations, based on Economist content. By bringing our content to life, we are able to raise brand awareness and readership, while delivering an Economist experience that highlights some unexpected features of our brand and product – with the ability to surprise.”

The H#2O has been appearing at London’s Hyde Park and Canary Wharf and will be touring the UK capital’s business hubs over the summer.

The post Economist sewage coffee challenge appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

UK business magazine The Economist has been using food and drink to entice new subscribers to sign up over the last couple of years – but rather than offering luxury chocolates, hampers or wine, it has been feeding potential readers ‘cat poo’ coffee and now insects.

The latest off-beat edible incentive has just been launched across London with potential subscribers being offered a selection of free crepes made with crickets, grasshoppers and mealworms over the coming months as part of a campaign entitled Future Forces.

Experiential teams will inspire city centre workers to subscribe to The Economist by introducing them to key innovations that will shape the future – including the idea  that insects can be a healthy and nutritious addition to people’s diets as food shortages loom.

On The Economist’s menu are:

• Cheesy Crickets, a savoury option with a variety of cheeses with crickets;
• Banana Choc Crick, a classic crepe of Nutella and bananas topped with extra crickets;
• Lemongrass (hopper), with lemon and sugar with grasshoppers;
• Appleworm, a spicy apple chutney with mealworms;
• Scurry Berry, raspberry jam mixed with mealworms.

Commenting on the new campaign, Marina Haydn, SVP of circulation and retail marketing for The Economist, says: “Experiential marketing approaches are now a core element of The Economist’s global subscription marketing strategy. Our current live campaigns are all united by a strategy built on the foundation of our brand introducing forces that are shaping our future to potential readers. Insect crepes are a great way for us to deliver a mind-stretching experience as an entry point to The Economist. Our goal is to give a content-rich – and tasty – experience that is unforgettable for Londoners.”

Last year, The Economist ran a campaign offering potential subscribers free cups of Indonesian Kopi Luwak blend, the most expensive coffee in the world, made from beans that have been eaten and then ‘passed’ by a wild civet – also known as cat poo coffee.

The idea was that only people who were open to new ideas and ready to try new things would engage with the experiential teams. Apparently, many passers-by were so interested in trying the brew that they were willing to queue for up to 20 minutes.

That campaign won a Gold in the IPM Awards 2015.

Both campaigns were created for The Economist by marketing agency Sense.

The post Economist insect crepe experiential drive appeared first on IPM Bitesize.