Twitter is celebrating its conversations that challenge Valentine’s day customs with an integrated campaign, including out-of-home, video, and experiential.

The campaign sees straight-talking Tweets take over tube platforms, replacing aspirational ads with awkward humour anyone can all relate to. The Dating Twitter Advice Bureau, launching in London’s Covent Garden, features interactive installations bringing to life authentic Tweets from real people at the heart of its messaging across all channels.

David Wilding, Director of Planning at Twitter UK, says: “The most hilarious, honest and real accounts of dating aren’t those found in magazines, romcoms or on the apps, but within the Dating Twitter conversation. People come to Twitter to talk about what they really think about love and dating – the good, bad, awkward. We want to honour the true reality around the modern world of dating on Valentine’s Day, by bringing the rawest and relatable Tweets to life at the Advice Bureau, even if it’s not very helpful!” – 

Visitors can browse unique installations inspired by real-time Tweets such as the Wheel of Misfortune, Ghosting Graveyard, Gallery of Awkward Silences and x-rated Tweets at the peep show

Twitter will also unveil a satirical film featuring stand-up comedian Phil Wang offering his own weird and wonderful twist on the experiences and advice shared via Twitter.

The London-focused OOH campaign sees platform takeovers of major London tube stations – Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, and Tottenham Court Road – showcasing the greatest Tweets.

The campaign also includes flyposting of printed assets across Clapham Junction, Queens Town Road Battersea and St Pauls Road Islington.

Tom Pursey, Co-founder & Creative Director at Flying Object, says: “For Valentine’s Day, when London is full of overpriced set menus and cheesy gifts no-one actually wants, we wanted to give Twitter’s daters a place to share their bitingly true observations, hilarious takes, and to dish out some terrible advice. It’s a time when people need Tweets more than ever, so we’ve put dozens up on out of home, into a video with a brilliant comedian, and into 3D through interactive installations. After all, at the Dating Twitter Advice Bureau, you’re never alone. Even if you are.” 

The Dating Twitter Advice Bureau will take place at 7 James Street in Covent Garden and will be open between 13th– 16th February 2020.

To support the campaign, @TwitterUK will be sharing questionable dating advice and updates from the Dating Twitter Advice Bureau throughout the week.

The @TwitterUK handle will host its first ‘Threadventure’, an interactive Thread journey to help users explore the Advice Bureau directly on the platform.

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A new live event series, hosted by Alex Zane went live last week celebrating the world of Twitter threads and conversations.

Samsung KX presents: Thread Talks is a series of six intimate ‘in conversation’ events featuring some of the biggest names in journalism, sport, culture and comedy – taking place at Samsung KX.

Creative agency Taylor Herring devised the series of live events, curated the speakers and brokered the partnership between Samsung and Twitter. St Marks Studios is producing the events and creating promotional video and branded assets.

Samsung KX is a new experience space in Coal Drops Yard where guests can experience the latest in culture and innovation, powered by Samsung technology. Designed to give guests the ultimate immersive brand experience, Samsung KX is a place where people are invited to discover, interact with and learn new skills in a dynamic environment through a range of workshops, events and performances together with local community partners.

Each hour-long, free event will feature a celebrity performing a live reading of their favourite spats and chats from the Twittersphere, as well as an intimate question and answer session with the audience and host. A diverse array of outstanding speakers will perform at the venue’s Centre Stage in front the world’s first vertical 10metre-wide curved Samsung screen.

SAMSUNG KX PRESENTS: THREAD TALKS – 2019 PROGRAMME

• Roman Kemp – Monday 28^th October  – 7pm – 8.30pm
• Colin Murray – Monday 11^th November – 7pm – 8.30pm
• Guest speaker to be announced – Monday 25^th November – 7pm – 8.30pm
• Guest speaker to be announced – Monday 2^nd December – 7pm – 8.30pm
• Guest speaker to be announced – Monday 9^th December – 7pm – 8.30pm

Launched in association with Twitter, the first Thread Talk in the series launched on Thursday 10^th October. Influential journalist, screenwriter and renowned author Caitlin Moran joined Alex Zane on stage to chat through some of her greatest, weirdest and funniest moments on Twitter.

Celebrity guest speakers including radio and TV host, Roman Kemp and sports journalist and radio host Colin Murray will also be making their Thread Talk debuts in 2019 (additional guest speakers due to be announced in the coming weeks).

The series will celebrate the array of threads and conversations had on Twitter daily, as users connect over their shared love of entertainment, politics and culture. On average 500 million Tweets are shared every day – that’s 5,787 Tweets sent every second and over 182 billion Tweets shared each year*.

Tanya Weller, Director of Samsung Showcase, KX said: “We’re thrilled to be hosting such a diverse array of speakers and high-profile Tweeters to join us for our new Thread Talks series here at Samsung KX. The launch of our new event space allows us to open our customers up to a world of digital culture and immersive experiences, so Thread Talks is a welcome addition to our extensive calendar of events.”

David Wilding, Director of Planning at Twitter UK said: “We are seeing more and more people – as well as brands – embracing Threads as a creative way to express themselves and tell their stories on Twitter. It’s fantastic that some of these amazing conversations will be brought to life through the Thread Talks series.”

For more information and to book tickets please visit: https://www.samsung.com/uk/explore/kings-cross/whats-on/

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Independent craft brewer BrewDog is supporting its flagship beer, Punk IPA, with a series of ‘Punk State’ activations across key UK cities this summer.

The campaign, created by brand experience agency Amplify, kicked off last week with the Scottish brewer setting up an independent ‘Punk State’ in Manchester city centre, complete with checkpoints, where Mancunians were able to get free cans of Punk IPA.

Over the next four weeks, BrewDog’s Punk State will be declared in Bristol (19^th-22^nd July), Birmingham (26^th-29^th July) and Liverpool (3^rd-6^th August).

Punk IPA has been the best-selling craft beer in UK supermarkets for the last three years. In just over a decade, the Aberdeenshire brewer has transformed from two men and a dog brewing small batches in a garage, to shipping a record 65 million bottles of beer to over 60 countries annually. This growth has been powered by its record-breaking ‘Equity for Punks’ crowdfunding initiative, which has seen the brewery raise over £60 million since 2009 from more than 82,000 passionate craft beer fans across the globe.

BrewDog set up its Manchester Punk State with a ‘roadblock’ at Spinningfields on Friday 13^th and Saturday 14^th of July. Visitors to the State were issued with a Punk Passport and visa stamp and a cold can of Punk. Foot-operated can crushers were available on site, in compliance with the brewery’s no-wastage policy.

From 3.00pm on Thursday 12^th July, Mancunians who tweeted @BrewDog using the hashtag #PunkState with their reason why they should receive free beer were in with a chance to get cases of free cases of cold Punk IPA dropped off by BrewDog’s street team and its chilled vans. The #PunkState tour ran until 9pm on Sunday 15^th July.

In addition to the roadblock and beer drop offs, from Thursday 12^th July to Saturday 14^th July, Mancunians were able to enjoy Punk IPA across the city. The brewery hopes this ‘mass conversion’ exercise will bring in new long-term supporters and advocates of the craft beer movement.
Over 30 venues participated in Punk State.

BrewDog launched its first Manchester bar on Peter Street in 2012 with a ‘crap beer amnesty’- allowing Mancunians to swap a can of mainstream lager for a Punk IPA. Over 300 cans were swapped at launch, and the surrendered cans were destroyed and recycled. Later this year, the brewery will open its second bar in Manchester in the University Green development. The site will feature an on-site BrewPub that will produce small-batch beers exclusively for the bar.

BrewDog’s cofounder James Watt says: “Punk State is the culmination of the craft beer revolution. We are putting Punk IPA directly into the hands of the masses and placing faceless megabreweries on notice. Manchester has been one of the cradles of the UK’s ever-growing craft beer movement and we hope Punk State helps add to the ranks of the passionate fans.”

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Kellogg’s has teamed up with ITV2’s Love Island for an on-pack promotion on leading brands, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut, with a trip for two to Mallorca to see the Love Island final as the grand prize.

The partnership encourages consumers to buy a pack in store, take a selfie of themselves holding up the back of the cereal box and then share it on the Kellogg’s Facebook page, Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #KelloggsCerealDater.

UK and Irish consumers are being offered the chance to win a two day trip to Mallorca plus a pair of tickets to the poolside Love Island live final, with additional limited edition Love Island fridge magnet sets available for runners up.

The on pack promotion will be available on Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Crunchy Nut and aims to drive engagement with consumers in store and brand awareness on social media.

Niamh Cribbin, Senior Marketing Manager for Kellogg’s Europe, says: “Love Island was one of last year’s most talked about TV shows. The partnership allows us and the retailers to tap into consumers who wouldn’t necessarily expect to see Love Island in this category – or at breakfast. The promotion aims to drive sales and brand awareness, by tapping into a younger and trends influenced shopper.”

The offer runs until July 31^st.

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Regulations governing how social media influencers advertise products online are confusing and unclear, with the UK public overwhelmingly believing the system should be more transparent, new research reveals.

The comprehensive survey into influencer marketing was carried out on behalf of Prizeology, a prize promotions agency specialising in promotional regulation and compliance. The survey looked at how the public perceive rules and regulations around influencer marketing.

The research, carried out on 2,015 members of the general public, looked at influencer marketing on social media platforms covering Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest. It overwhelmingly revealed a worrying lack of knowledge around the rules governing advertising by influencers.

A huge majority – 71% of people – wrongly believe that there are no regulations surrounding influencer marketing. Nearly two-thirds (61%) believe that influencers do not have to state that they have been paid to talk about a product – which is incorrect, because under consumer protection legislation, influencers must state if they are being paid to promote a brand’s products. The CAP Code, the code of conduct which is part of the UK’s self-regulatory system covering advertising and marketing in the UK, reflects and reinforces the legal position, and a number of complaints against brands have been upheld by industry regulator the Advertising Standards Authority for insufficient clarity in publicising commercial relationships with bloggers, vloggers and other social media influencers.

Half (49%) of the UK public were unaware of the relevant language or tags like #ad which are supposed to appear on paid-for posts to show that paid-for product promotion is involved; 33% of these were young people aged between 18-24, which suggests consumer confusion is not restricted to the older age brackets.

The research also clearly showed that the general public believes that they should be informed if people are being paid to promote products: 88% of the survey sample agreed with this statement, with 60% agreeing that their perception of a brand is improved when they are transparent about product promotion.

Sarah Burns, Managing Director of Prizeology and an expert on compliance and regulation in the promotional marketing sector, says: “The results are extremely interesting and overwhelmingly show a shocking lack of knowledge and confusion amongst all age groups – including teenagers – about the way that brands use social media influencers to advertise their products.”

Well over two-thirds (71%) of those questioned felt that more should be done to force disclosure.

Brands are also in danger of having their reputations damaged by lack of transparency, with 44% of those surveyed saying they felt that influencer marketing is damaging and 66% of people agreeing that their perception of a brand improved when they were transparent about product placement. Burns comments: “This should be a wake-up call to brands to make sure that they are acting within the rules when working with influencers. The public do not want to be duped and brands could suffer as a result.”

She concludes: “It is clear that this is an area of promotion that is growing rapidly, and the regulations need to be enforced more rigorously to keep pace with its growth. Now is the time to take action. I know the Advertising Standards Authority has committed to comprehensive education and enforcement this year, and our research shows that this would be welcomed by consumers.”

The survey of 2,015 people, representative of the UK by age, gender and region, was conducted by Vitreous World Ltd for Prizeology between January 30th and February 2^nd 2018. A white paper and full breakdown of the survey and results can be downloaded from the Prizeology website.

Prizeology is a prize promotions agency working with brands to engage customers. It specialises in compliance and best practice and helps brands and businesses run prize promotions which stick to the rules and regulations.

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Sarah Burns of Prizeology has some words of wisdom on how to run prize promotions campaigns on social media that comply with UK law and the CAP Code

I love social media. I love social media because it enriches what leisure time I have in oh so many ways, especially when it comes to watching skateboarding dogs; but also because it’s brilliant for prize promotions, which is what I fill my working days with.

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest – they all have their merits and indeed their quirks, but I like these platforms because, unless you don’t understand how the channel works and get the mechanic completely wrong, the audience is almost always engaged and responsive.

Also, because these are still new and evolving spaces, promoters can be innovative – although, of course, they can’t make up their own rules, because each platform has its own acceptable use policies and guidelines for promotions.

Facebook, for instance, insists prize draws must be run through an app within Facebook or a business page, not a personal profile, while Instagram says you mustn’t ask people to tag themselves in photos if they aren’t actually in the pic. A competition in which the most retweets wins breaches Twitter guidelines and you can’t permit multiple entries to a Pinterest promotion or ask entrants to re-pin a specific image.

If you don’t follow these platform guidelines for promotions your account or – much worse – your client’s account is at risk of being shut down. It goes without saying that I don’t want one of the primary ways in which my client engages with its customers to be blocked.

I see it as my responsibility because my company makes full use of our clients’ business logins to monitor their social media campaigns. We answer queries, review the stats and check the promotion is being seen. Facebook’s recent algorithm change now means giveaways, for instance, might not always appear organically in feeds and brands will need to pay to boost their posts in order to gain visibility, so that presents a new challenge.

In addition to these site-specific idiosyncrasies, online prize promotions must abide by the regulations and laws of the land. Like all non-broadcast promotional marketing in the UK, social media prize draws are regulated by the CAP Code (the self-regulatory code which governs advertising and marketing in the UK), so they must have clear terms and conditions. These can be abridged – Twitter is still a tight squeeze although it’s slightly easier now there are 280 characters to play with – but the full and frank version should never be more than a single click away. If your promotion is global, take care, because different countries have different rules and what’s legal here isn’t necessarily legal elsewhere.

Whatever platform you use, you have to be able to pull all the entry data if you’re asked for it and prove that your prizes have been awarded fairly, so you need an app or program for doing this. On platforms like Twitter and Instagram, as well as asking entrants to use a specific hashtag, get them to tag your brand, as this helps you sort people who have actively entered your prize draw from those who have coincidentally used the same hashtag.

You also need a verification process to ensure entrants are who they claim to be, own the content they’ve entered and haven’t broken any other terms and conditions.

If you rely on notifying your winners by naming them in a Facebook post or tagging them on Instagram, you can’t guarantee they’ll see that post or, if they do, it might be months later, by which time you’ll have given the prize to someone else. People really do set up fake accounts simply to claim prizes, so always contact winners privately. On Twitter, for example, this may mean asking them to follow you so you can direct-message them.

Best practice on social media means running effective but compliant promotions. I would be mortified if a consumer complained to the ASA about a promotion I had run. But more than that, non-compliance, including by social media influencers who fail to make the correct disclosures of any commercial relationship with the brands they are promoting, undermines consumer trust and damages the promotional marketing industry as a whole, so following platform guidelines and adhering to the law benefits us all.

I am out to spread the love, because although I do love social media, I also love compliance too – and I don’t care who knows it!

Sarah Burns is Founder of Prizeology, a consultancy specialising in the management and implementation of all aspects of prize promotions, on both strategic and tactical levels. Prizeology is one of the Headline Sponsors of Connect 2018, the IPM’s Members Networking Event which is taking place on Wednesday 31st January. For more information about Connect 2018, see the IPM website.

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Kelloggs-owned savoury snack brand Pringles is running a promotion offering consumers the chance to win £300 in free flights to European destinations every hour, by posting pictures of themselves taking a bite of a Pringles chip to social media.

The promotion opens on February 1^st and closes on April 16^th 2018. There will be one winner drawn at random every hour from 11.00am to 7.00pm, with a final ‘mop-up’ draw for entries received after the closing date and before the end of July. There will be 601 prizes awarded in total, consisting of £300 towards a return direct flight to a European destination for one person. Winners will be able to put the £300 towards a more expensive flight and pay the excess, but may be charged a handling fee by the prize management agency working on the promotion.

To enter, UK and Republic of Ireland consumers (aged 18+) have to take a picture of themselves taking a bite of a Pringles chip and then share it via either Facebook (posting it to the Pringles UK Facebook page), Instagram or Twitter. If they use Instagram or Twitter, they have to include the hashtag #PringlesTakeaBite.

Consumers are restricted to entering once per person per day and can only win one prize during the promotion.

Winners will be informed via Direct Message on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter within seven days of the hourly draw taking place. They will then have seven days to respond, or the prize will be re-awarded.

Winners will be notified via Direct Message on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter within 7 days of the hourly window and will be required to provide personal details to progress with prize fulfilment.

There is a No Purchase Necessary entry route for residents of Northern Ireland, while those from the Republic of Ireland whose names are drawn will have to answer a tie-break question correctly in order to be deemed a winner. This is because both Northern Ireland and the ROI have slightly different laws governing prize draws to the UK (and to each other).

Prize management and fulfilment is being handled for Pringles by Cloud Nine Incentives, which is a member of the Institute of Promotional Marketing.

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Pampers has launched a nationwide #ThankYouMidwife TV and social media campaign aiming to deliver a ‘thank you’ to each of the nation’s 40,000 midwives for everything they do for expecting families. The campaign will also raise money for the Benevolent Fund of the Royal College of Midwives.

For every ‘thank you’ shared on social media with the hashtag #ThankYouMidwife, Pampers will donate £1 to the charity. In its first week, the campaign delivered 777,242,956 impressions, with nearly 14,000 ‘thank yous’ (7664 on Instagram, 5111 on Twitter and 1134 on Facebook).

Pampers points out that while the rest of the UK will be tucking into thei turkey, midwives will be delivering 1,400 babies. Whilst 80% of UK mums say it is important to thank their midwife, only 58% admit they actually do so. As a result, one in three midwives feel underappreciated despite putting new life into the arms of parents every day.

The festive 60” TVC was developed by Saatchi & Saatchi London. It features the maternity wards at the Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton and New Forest Birth Centre and showcases the diverse tasks midwives undertake, with passion and care, in order to help bring the most precious gift into the world: babies. It features real footage of midwives going about their daily duties with real families and is set to the Christmas carol, “The 12 Days of Christmas” with a wry twist on the lyrics.

The TV and VOD campaign, with media planning and buying executed by Publicis Media, will run until December 31^st 2017 and is also being amplified across social media channels including 5” GIFs and conversation cards on Twitter. A targeted consumer PR and influencer outreach campaign will be executed by MSL featuring Katie Piper as Pampers Brand Ambassador.

Earlier this year, Pampers released the campaign ‘Little Fighters’, which launched its Preemie Protection nappies for premature babies. The emotive TVC followed nine real families, their premature babies, and the hospital staff at the Neonatal Unit at the same Southampton hospital.

Caroline Gorrie, Pampers Brand Manager, says: “Pampers want to support the UK’s midwives for their important role in the happy, healthy development of every baby. After working so closely with midwives on our Preemie campaign, we’ve seen how much they give. In return, we want to give midwives a national celebration this Christmas, and all year round.”

Gill Walton, Chief Executive and General Secretary at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), comments: “The RCM is delighted that Pampers have designed a campaign to thank midwives for the incredible work they do. Midwives and Maternity Support Workers (MSWs) work tirelessly to deliver the very best care and support to women and their babies and often in difficult circumstances.

Walton adds: “The RCM now has over 47,000 members and some of our members do fall into financial difficulty. The Benevolent Fund of the RCM Trust is a charity that supports our members in times of financial need. The Benevolent Fund has little income compared to the need and there is always a need for additional funds in order for the fund to help more midwives in need. That is why every single hashtag used during this campaign can really make a big difference.”

Pampers is a part of The Procter & Gamble Company and is the #1-selling nappy worldwide. Every day, more than 25 million babies in 100 countries around the world wear Pampers. P&G serves consumers around the world with a brand portfolio including Always, Ambi Pur, Ariel, Fairy, Febreze, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Lenor, Olay, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene and SK-II. P&G operates in approximately 70 countries worldwide.

The Royal College of Midwives’ Trust Benevolent Fund is a charity whose main aim is to support midwives and maternity support workers in times of financial need, helping to get lives and careers back on track. It works in partnership with the Cavell Nurses’ Trust to meet this aim.

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Flora has teamed up with 20 influencers, including the ‘Topless Baker’ Matt Adlard and The Great British Bake Off’s Benjamina, for the launch of its new flavoured dairy-free spreads range.

The campaign sees food and lifestyle influencers creating arresting free video content showcasing ingenious and compelling recipes and ideas for how to use Flora’s new range of spreads, including easy-to-follow tips and hacks. The spreads consist of: Flora Dairy Free Walnut Spread; Flora Dairy Free Avocado & Lime Spread; and Flora Dairy Free Coconut & Almond Spread.

As part of the campaign, created by TMW Unlimited, the Unilever brand is also working with other influential foodie personalities to develop original recipes and usage suggestions to promote the new range.

Full recipes from the influencers will be available on Flora’s social channels and its website. These include Cheesy Tear & Share Bread and chocolate brownies made using the Flora Dairy Free Avocado & Lime Spread and choux pastry made with the Flora Dairy Free Walnut Spread.

Sian Jenkins, Brand Manager, Flora, Unilever, says: “Working with influencers has showcased just how versatile our new Flora dairy free flavours range is within cooking & baking, bringing the great flavours of walnut, coconut & almond and avocado to a wide range of great tasting recipes”.

Elaine Farrell, Influencer & Partnerships Manager at TMW Unlimited, adds: “It has been a great experience working with these impressive influencers to bring out another side to the Flora brand as it launches these innovative new products.”

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Meat snack brand Peperami is running a spoof promotional campaign encouraging consumers in London and the South East of England to report potholes that they think need filling in, with backing from YouTube comedy star Jack Jones.

To kickstart the campaign, Peperami sent its brand character Animal onto the streets on London at the start of March to highlight potholes with flags and special warning tape.

The brand is inviting fans to join the ‘Peper-army’ by Tweeting pictures of potholes to its @Peperami account using the hashtag #HangryHole. They will be entered into a prize draw to win kits containing flags and cordon tape which they can use to highlight holes in their own neighbourhoods.

A spokesperson for Peperami said: “Peperami’s mission in life is to fill hungry stomach holes. However, there’s nothing we find more annoying than empty holes in the street and London is plagued with annoying craters. We reckoned it was about time something was done so we sent Animal out on the street to give the potholes a good porking!”

YouTube comedy star Jack Jones also got involved by going out on the streets of London offering the public “a good porking” – viewers can watch the reactions to him feeding their #HangryHole here.

The pothole activity was sparked off by a report from cycling campaign group Fill That Hole, which claimed 1,860 potholes have been reported across London in the last 12 months.

Peperami was acquired from Unilever by US meat snacking giant Jack Link’s for an undisclosed sum in May 2015. The brand is well-known for running a variety of promotional stunts over the years, including its 1998 ‘Fanimal’ campaign where consumers could win a talking, wriggling toy Animal that spouted rude football slogans, in reference to the World Cup being held in France that year. The campaign went on to win the Grand Prix at the ISP Awards in 1999 (now the IPM Awards).

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