ASOS.com adds personal recommendation to the mix

ASOS.com has added personalised recommendation technology to its website to enrich the shopping experience of customers and increase sales.

The fashion retailer will use the technology to recommend products to online customers based both on what they have bought before and on what others have bought.

“Personalised recommendations offer our customers a bespoke shopping experience,” said James Hart, ecommerce director at ASOS.com. “With over 35,000 products available, we need a tool where shoppers can see complementary fashion suggestions that are relevant to them.”

As a result, cross and upselling is expected to increase.

ASOS.com receives 11 million monthly visitors and recently expanded into the US, Germany and France. It appointed e-commerce technology company Fredhopper to implement its behavioural targeting software.

ASOS.com is also using Fredhopper’s sophisticated on-site search technology, which delivers more relevant search results, faster.

“ASOS.com is widely regarded in the fashion industry as the leader in e-commerce best practice,” said Joris Beckers, chief executive of Fredhopper. “Our recommendation engine drives smart merchandising, giving the consumer more of what they want and the retailer higher sales.”

http://www.internetretailing.net/2011/03/asos-com-adds-personal-recommendation-to-the-mix/

(JOELY)

BMW brand experience online

SUMMER 2000: BMW DRIVES BRAND EXPERIENCE ONLINE

Most everyone knows the BMW slogan: "The ultimate driving machine." Well, Woodcliff Lake, NJ-based BMW of North America, Inc. wanted to take the branding one step further.

The company initially unveiled its new sports activity vehicle BMW X5 with TV commercials during this year's Super Bowl and with a substantial print campaign. But the most innovative branding took place online—a four-episode e-mail campaign that utilized unique interactive marketing technology.

New York City-based togglethis provided the technology and programming driving the campaign, while Duffy Design & Interactive created and designed the episodes.

BMW's objective was to replicate the brand experience online. Consumers signed up to receive four episodes either at the BMW Web site (http://www.bmwusa.com) or the togglethis site (http://www.togglethis.com). Episodes were spaced two to three weeks apart and sent directly to subscribers' e-mail boxes, and each had a central theme and offered photo-realistic images. "We wanted to introduce the X5 SAV to consumers in a way that would not only pique their interest, but allow us to showcase BMW's advanced technology in a fun, interactive environment," says Carol M. Burrows, Internet communications manager at BMW.

Each episode, which used toggle technology, allowed users to experience the vehicle online. For example, the first episode provided actual footage of the car on the road and close-up views of various features. The second episode showed illustrations of the vehicle and provided detailed data on the engine. The third episode centered on the car's interiors and allowed viewers to inspect the remote entry system, and check out the X5's design nuances - headlamps, sound system, and more.

The final episode focused on the BMW X5's safety features, hill descent control, and proprietary head protection system. Consumers were able to choose a vehicle color, hear the engine, watch the tires rotate, open and shut doors, and even control the pace of the car as it went downhill in the fourth episode.

"By clicking on images on the screen, consumers could interact with the X5 and take a virtual test drive," says Michelle Jacobs, togglethis vice president of sales and marketing. "The campaign encouraged users to opt-in to the series and get an interactive first look at the newest BMW."

The interactive e-mail ad campaign was promoted on the Internet via banner ads posted on Yahoo!, Alta Vista, Excite, Lycos, Car and Driver and Motor Trend Online.

Although BMW declined to provide any statistical data on the actual number of viewers/participants in the online campaign, company officials have stated publicly they considered the campaign a success, since the original goal was only to drive visitors to the BMW guest book. If nothing else, Jacobs adds, BMW now has qualified leads of potential car buyers since viewers voluntarily provided their personal information in order to see the episodes.

http://www.leavcom.com/digi_bmw.htm

Although BMW isn't a fashion brand it helps to look at what a variety of brands are doing in terms of technology to gain a wider perspective of a brands online experience.

(JOELY) 

American Express teams up with Mark Ronson

by Mark Banham, 17 September 2010, 9:07am

American Express launches interactive campaign with Mark Ronson

American Express has launched 'My Live Story', one of its largest interactive campaigns, featuring DJ, producer and recording artist Mark Ronson.

Mark Ronson: collaborates with American Express for My Live Story campaign

The credit card company said the campaign will aim to "uncover the UK's best music experiences – the memorable stories behind the shows, in celebration of American Express' involvement in live music and its award-winning 'Preferred Seating' programme launched last year".

The interactive campaign will be hosted atwww.channel4.com/mylivestory, and will encourage consumers to celebrate their most memorable live music moments by submitting photos or videos of their favourite gig online.

Twenty-one winners will have their experiences turned into a short firm, to be aired on national TV. The overall winner will be rewarded with a trip to Los Angeles.

The short film will be created by a unique collaboration between director Toby Dye, of Ridley Scott Associates, and Ronson, who will collaborate on the soundtrack. He will also perform at an intimate red-carpet screening of the film at Abbey Road Studios in November, attended by the winners.

Tara Looney, director of brand at American Express, said: "Engaging with consumers in non-traditional ways is the most important aspect of our brand activity. We understand, and have seen, the benefits of effectively involving consumers and inviting them to share a dialogue with us and with each other, to create richer and deeper relationships with American Express.

"Our Preferred Seating Program recognises our card members’ passion for music and film, providing them with access to memorable events.

"The ’My Live Story’ campaign brings this to life by celebrating the lasting memories and moments of inspiration that people experience through such occasions."

Dan Chase of 4Creative at Channel4, said: "Like American Express card members, the Channel 4 audience has a strong affinity with music and film, and, presented with the right creative campaign, they will get involved to a high degree. 'My Live Story' is a great idea to engage with and we're sure it will be a resounding success."

Print and online creative to support the campaign is handled by Ogilvy London, with media through Mindshare. Social media and public relations activity is through Mandate Communications.

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1029066/American-Express-launches-interactive-campaign-Mark-Ronson/

(JOELY)

The new rules of event marketing according to Inc.

As much as stunt can seem like a dirty word, marketing through stand-out events has never been so maverick. Whether you call it event marketing, experiential marketing, live marketing, participatory advertising, or any other moniker, this is a brave new world of blowing things up, building in a technological overlay to real-world places, and convincing otherwise sane passes-by to dance or change clothes in the street—all with the motive of engaging consumers. We talked with some of the smartest minds in experiential marketing to find out how they pull off memorable events—and make sure there's significant consumer engagement long after the event is over. Here's what they told us.

1. Create an event within an event. "We try to create an event within an event where we can touch a consumer one-on-one, where you can engage directly, and teach them about your product, and do so by interacting in a quality way. I just got back from Sundance, and we were doing VIP and celebrity shuttling to events in our vehicles, and the goal for us is to create an event within the vehicle. For Ray Ban we did a truth-or-dare themed campaign. We have video within the shuttles, and asked the passengers truth-or-dare questions, and were giving away free sunglasses. We had people dancing in the middle of the street, we had people telling us their biggest secrets. And that was not only fun for participants, but became a huge hit online after the event. We try to make it almost mass media, where they're telling their friends to go here, or watch this video, and we create a whole social-media event around it. Why does it work? People go to these things to experience new things, and we're giving them that. They want to share it with their friends naturally when they see something cool."
—Ian Greenberg, senior vice president of Show Media, an advertising agency based in New York City, which ranked No. 236 on the 2010 Inc. 500 | 5000 

2. Employ GPS and real-time event tracking. "I think one of the things that we've been playing around with Real Good Chair [a documentary in which 25 chairs by Blu Dot were placed around New York City and tracked by GPS and film crews] is location and GPS. It's something that someone can participate in and watch and see in real-time. You don't have to be there in the streets of New York to see it—you have a whole other community that can go along with that experience. That connection with another event, is really new and the power of new is huge. If it feels like a different experience—if it captures your fascination, that's what really gets passed along, and builds the press and community around it. It's what flash parades were two years ago—that's the scramble in many ways. Has anyone done this before? Will this be felt like a copycat? It's all about staying new."
—Michael Hart, founder of Mono, an agency based in Minneapolis

3. Add another dimension.  "A lot of the technologies that are potentially transformative to events today are essentially invisible. People have gotten used to 3-D technology, projections, and augmented reality that to have them at events feels a lot more natural today. I'd say augmented reality is a great technology you can use in the live space for project demonstrations. A couple of years ago it would have felt a lot more awkward, forced, and generally very Minority Report. QR codes are pretty invisible at this point, too, becoming much less awkward, more natural, and that lets them become sparks for natural interactivity. H&M and Samsung have done very beautiful projection mapping on buildings in Europe. It's the kind of thing that's not what people think of as traditional event, but it's experience in the public domain that gets attention, and really can have the potential to get the attention online just because it's cool to watch."
—Liz Bigham, senior vice president and director of marketing for Jack Morton Worldwide

4. Use ubiquitous social networking as a conduit for exclusivity. "The giant gorilla in the room is how do you use Facebook through your event and on-site activity? The first thing that's happening is that I'm seeing a lot of brands encouraging people to become fans right there on site. It used to be that you'd have to have a computer there and encourage people to sign directly on your machine. Now, you can offer a direct reward, a prize, a premium, for fanning the product right then and there on their smartphone or mobile device. It's giving them some real immediate value. Immediate liking and friending is becoming more popular. I've also seen a lot of exclusive access to existing fans. You promote the event you're going to be at on Facebook—and you say, 'hey, if you're going to be there, here's an exclusive thing for our fans,' whether it's parking, a free T-shirt, meeting a musician or DJ. We're beginning to see, taking whatever's happening at your event, a video game event, a concert, a snowboarding contest, you're seeing not only being able to have physical access to it, but there would be content exclusive to Facebook. You can pick up about a million new brand fans by a good strategy of creating exclusive Facebook content. Do you want to see an interview with Sean White, or some neat snowboard footage? You can only see that on Facebook."
—Issa Sawabini, a partner and owner at Fuse, a youth-marketing agency based inBurlington, Vermont

(http://www.inc.com/guides/201102/new-rules-of-event-marketing.html)

5. Hire outside experts. Lots of them. When working on a campaign for Mafia Wars, in which anexplosion of an armored truck would be staged in theNevada desert, David Moranville, creative director and executive vice president of Davis Elen Advertising, said: "We were hoping to get MythBusters involved with us so they'd do a show. In the meantime, we started looking into different detonations and different companies that obliterate things." Turns out, Los Angeles has quite a variety of companies that detonate blasts for hire.Moranville picked a company in Burbank calledWESTefx, which had worked with special effects and blast technology in Apollo 13, Transformers, andBatman.  The first thing Davis Elen learned was their armored truck … didn't actually need to be armored. It was stripped of a lot of the interior weight, including armor, engine, and interior detailing. Blasting caps were added to the interior of all the doors, so at detonation each flies 20 or 30 feet.  The truck was filled with artificial money, also rigged to blast away at the first explosion. Also, he knew that when there's fire, there should be fire officials. And an EMT. And some hired police. The number of officials you'll need to hire depends on geography and how many civilians will be nearby the stunt. In this case, where about 75 people would be present, Moranville needed between two and four Fire Marshalls, between four and six hired law enforcement agents, and an EMT. The total cost was less than $10,000. 

6. Don't fear consumers' brutal honesty. "We did a ride and drive campaign for Hundai Sonata this part year, which was part of a bigger campaign called Sonata Uncensored. The cars had cameras in them, and we invited people to give the cars test drives. So the drivers and passengers, once inside, could record themselves giving uncensored feedback on the car. It was used as part of a Facebook campaign, and a lot of that content—and content like it—was used for TV ads. The insight: Events are not just a moment in time, they are content that can be used in lots of ways, whether that's online, or on TV."—Liz Bigham, senior vice president and director of marketing for Jack Morton Worldwide

7. Mash-up your technology. "You have to be in tune to what has been done before. It's trying to mash up things that haven't been mashed up before. Bringing a couple of technologies and mediums together that haven't been brought together before is the key. Old media with new media, or new tech with more comfortable older tech. And with that, you build a fascination with a new way the world can work. It's increasingly true that tech and creativity are becoming one in the same. I think they was a period of time where technology was a platform, and it was a group of people who solved problems for systems and machinery. There was a creative group, separately. They didn't get together. Now there are minds that come from a technology background and have creativity. The great melding of those worlds is right now. Geek has been cool for a while, and is only getting cooler."—Michael Hart, founder of Mono, an agency based in Minneapolis

8. Tweeten the deal. "Almost every brand that has an audience in the Twitter age group—young adults who aren't too young—and is becoming used to making constant updates from the on-site/booth/whatever it is. It used to be you put up a sign up outside your booth when something was happening. Now you post updates online. Brands are also getting good at creating on-site experiences over Twitter. It could be an on-site scavenger hunt. It could be taking a photo—something fun and challenging, and if they bring that back they win a prize."
—Issa Sawabini, a partner and owner at Fuse, a youth-marketing agency based in Burlington, Vermont

(http://www.inc.com/guides/201102/new-rules-of-event-marketing_pagen_2.html)

(JOELY)

12 Memorable event marketing campaigns according to Inc.

Whimsy Galore

Bravia color-blasts San Francisco's streets.

When announcing its new line of TVs, Sony enlisted Fallon, an agency based in London. The idea? Drop a quarter of a million bouncy balls down San Francisco's curvy, narrow, sloped streets—and catch it on film. Compressed air cannons launched balls into the air while earth-moving equipment poured thousands of balls down closed-off streets. Cars, props, and crew members were given shields and crash helmets for protection. Sure, some viewers doubted the veracity of Bravia's fanciful ad, but San Franciscans who witnessed the massive six-day clean-up effort won't soon forget Bravia's name.

Shock and Awe

The "Life Comes at You Fast" spill.
Nationwide Insurance had terrific product awareness, but the company was struggling to boost awareness of its financial-planning products. Marketing agency TM Advertising decided to blended blunt truth with subtle humor. The landmark advertisement for the campaign was installed in Nationwide's hometown of Columbus, Ohio, where a banner depicted a spilled paint bucket with paint dripping down the side of the building into the parking lot below. The eye-catching outdoor promotion not only had a tendency to stop traffic, but also garnered awards. Since the campaign, Nationwide's company profits have grown from $100 to more than $2 billion in 2006.

 Curious Transformation

Cleaning up the city with Mrs. Meyer's.
Mrs. Meyer's wanted to do good, give out samples, and use kitchen sink imagery. That's where Mono, an agency based in Minneapolis, stepped in. It turned a fountain in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square into a super-sized washbasin, complete with cup, saucer, sponge, and a huge bottle of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day detergent. White balloons suggested soap suds, and passers-by who took one got not only an (included) sample, but the knowledge that a $2 donation was being made to charity. That's good and clean.

Meshing Digital and Real-World

Launching the Samsung Wave.
Samsung and marketing agency Jack Morton developed a live and digital event to take place at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress in February 2010. For the live portion, a massive room was created, surrounded by a 360-degree digital cube. Thirty-two HD projectors illuminated the walls to demonstrate the graphics available on the new smartphones, and live entertainers also participated to help engage the crowd and build excitement.

Name That Parade

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was originally imagined by Macy's employees, many of whom were first-generation immigrants who wanted to celebrate in a manner like their parents did back at home. It was staged by a mixture of store employees and professional entertainers, and called the "Christmas Day Parade," even though it took place on Thanksgiving. Now, it has made the brand ubiquitous, and is so popular thousands of people even trek to view the parade's balloons being inflated.

Delightful Pairing

M&Ms "Dare to go to the Dark Side."
In March 2005, to celebrate the launch of M&Ms new Dark Chocolate candies, M&Ms and Mars Candy Co. worked alongside LucasFilm. Advertising group Eventage dropped an authentic X-Wing Fighter on an island in the middle of New York's Times Square, and invited Anthony Daniels—the original C-3PO—in costume with Darth Vader, six Storm Troopers, and M&Ms also dressed as Star Wars characters. The actors participated in a performance that seamlessly blended the Star Wars universe with the world of M&Ms. The promotion received 184 million media impressions, was covered on 25 national television segments.

Great Heights

Snapple White Tea "High Tea" Tour
Snapple Beverage Corporation was ready to launch its newest creation: Snapple White Teas, "The Lightest Tasting Teas on Earth." Eventage advertising group took a tour of nine U.S. cities from June to August 2010 to take consumers skyward. At each location, Snapple set up three 22-foot helium balloons, each balloon featuring a new Snapple White Tea flavors, and flew consumers up to 1,200 feet above the ground. Snapple also set up tents and gave out bottles of their new product, distributing a total of 21,000 samples of Snapple's White Teas. The U.S. tour sparked 33 million media impressions, as well as photos and spots in The New York Times and BrandWeek, making this promotion one of the most successful in Snapple's history.

Matchmaking, en Masse

Levi's proves "Size Does Matter"
Levi's brand jeans wanted to market their new slogan: "Size does matter." To accomplish this, Levi's hired A Squared Group to execute a publicity stunt in Washington Square Park in Manhattan. For the stunt, 75 single men and women were chosen to find their perfect match. The women had 5:01—a nod to Levi's 501 jeans—to race to a pile of men's jeans, grab a pair, and search among the 75 shirtless men to find the perfect match. The guerilla promotion, which reinforced the idea that everyone has a perfect fit, reached over 20 million consumers through unpaid media coverage.

Dare to Try?

OfficeMax gets edgy.
Innova and PR partner Maccabee Group helped OfficeMax launch a new ink cartridge refill service with a revealing media event. Ten models braved sub-freezing Chicago weather to show off the iconic Windy City imagery airbrushed on their backs for media and curious passersby. Many media outlets, including the Associated Press, CNN, Forbes, theChicago Tribune, and five Chicago network TV stations covered the eye-catching guerrilla promotion, helping drive OfficeMax’s ink sales up 15 percent the following week.

Bring on the Beasts

Touring the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales
It's one of America's most famous and memorable marketing campaigns, but don't you only see it on TV? The Budweiser Clydesdale hitch been the undisputed champion of "mobile" marketing since its introduction on April 17, 1933, when August Busch Jr. and Adolphus Busch III presented the hitch to their father to celebrate prohibition's repeal. Later that day in 1933, the Clydesdale hitch delivered the first post-prohibition case of beer. Today, the world-famous hitches—there are five active roaming around the country at all times—travel more than 100,000 miles each year in North America. That's one new city visited every week.

Getting Consumers Inspi(red)

Gap shows its true colors.
To launch Gap's (Product)Red campaign to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, Oprah Winfrey hosted a live, in-store episode of her show, spotlighting the (Product)Red collection. For the event, marketing agency A Squared Group renovated Gap's flagship store in Chicago to give the entire building a ruby makeover. The store's unveiling on Chicago's Magnificent Mile brought in celebrities, fans, and several million at-home viewers directly into the store for the (Product)Red campaign launch.

Drop in and Party Down

Samsung's impromptu concert.
For its launch of 3D TVs, Samsung worked with Jack Morton to created an event that generated more than 2.4 billion media impressions, helping solidify Samsung as the market leader in 3D TV. The magic formula? Drop in the Black Eyed Peas to Times Square for a surprise concert. Hire Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron to film it. Talk to the press, and host an exclusive VIP party. Stir it up.

http://www.inc.com/ss/10-unique-event-marketing-campaigns

(JOELY)