Technology mixed with creativity can give amazing results in terms of marketing campaigns. People are attracted to anything new, anything that has never been done before and most of all anything fun. Advertisement has become something so normal that people can become very annoyed with it. For example on TV, no one wants to watch 10 min of ads after 20 min of your favourite show! There is so much more we can do to bring products to customers. I personally enjoy the creative outdoor ads: they are smart, fun and nothing like we have seen before.
While reading one of my colleague’s blog post: Nadeen Sakic’s “Scratch and Sniff”,  I found that scented ads are also a way for firms to differentiate themselves. Promoting a product in a very different way, people will end up spending more time on the magazine page and are more likely to remember the product. I agree with Nadeen though, that those ads won’t fit every product.  It really wouldn’t be very pleasant to have a magazine starting to smell like pizza or any other very strong smell. But for a perfume, I find this method very effective. For example Guerlain, in addition to its television ad has included a scented page in magazines. In this case you would lift a patch glued on the page and smell the new perfume. I find this effective since customers can find out that they really like it and the next few days go and try it out at a store.

Issues involved just like Nadeen mentioned would be the cost and possible allergies, but more and more as technology evolves, we will be creating cheaper ways to place a product. What if soon, you could reach to the television screen and simply smell or even try the product?!  I think the more we play with people’s mind, whether it is trhough their 5 senses: optical illusions, smells and touches or through humour, the more the advertisement will please. The point of an ad is to make people remember the product: those methods are very effective in doing that!

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s we talked about branding in class, we learned how a company’s brand image is not about its product or service but about how it makes people feel. Customer’s buy a product/service to feel a certain way: buying a Starbucks coffee is not only about the coffee itself but about the atmosphere at the shop, and most importantly how you will feel when you buy the coffee – proud of the image you are giving of yourself maybe or satisfied with the experience you are getting. So as I was reading about an interesting post on the Popsop branding blog online (http://popsop.com/47085), I came across a particular example of how a company sells its products by making people feel a certain way.

The post is about Electrolux and its newest vacuum: Vac from the Sea. It is basically a vacuum made with the plastic gathered from the ocean. The product has been a great success; over 200 million people have posted about it on social media website and environmental/lifestyle/design blogs. The product shows that Electrolux is a brand who cares about the environment and who is acting against the population of the oceans. What are the results? Millions of consumers are now attracted to their brand thinking: “If I buy this product, I will be helping the environment” and they feel good. They feel so good about themselves they won’t mind spending more on a vacuum, which is great not only for the environment (bringing awareness of ocean pollution) but also for Electrolux!

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So this is where we can see how an innovative idea that brings sustainability and technology together can bring great results to sales.  Other than a brand’s reputation, its design and its price, how else would consumer distinguish between vacuum cleaners? With this campaign, Electrolux brings to its reputation the one of not only being the best leading appliances company but of being sustainable: which is all it took to differentiate itself from the other appliances companies. In addition to that the design of the vacuums is simply amazing. They are colourful and fun, and 5 different designs have been created, each for the different oceans of the world by using the materials found in those regions.

(http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2010/electrolux-vac-from-the-sea/)

But what if another appliances company would have created this campaign? Would consumer act as positively? Perhaps it is important for a brand to make sure it is known for its quality before being able to pull off this kind of campaign. This is what branding is all about.

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