People tend to see traditional marketing and online marketing as two separate things. But constantly we see examples of the fact that they are really not that different. A good “traditional” marketing campaign such as the one I’m going to write about today: the IKEA‘s public showroom, will become widely discussed online. Just as well as the campaign I talked about before by Volkswagen: the fun theory will be discussion face to face.

When the marketing is interesting enough, it wont matter were or when it is, people will speak about them at anytime they have the opportunity and share with people both online and offline. Thus viral does not have to be online and mouth to mouth does not have to be offline.

I have mentioned before that IKEA used Obama’s message of change in their commercials they had advertisement reading “Embrace change.” Though in their case it was more implying of a redecoration than a political change. However, what I had not mentioned was that they build an mock up oval office in the union station in Washington DC. The mock up featured low cost solutions to furnish an oval office, and gave visitors a chance to sit in the executives chair of course monitored by their secret service officers.

Picture: Apartmenttherapy.com

A few days ago they did the public showroom again, but this time in Paris. Between the 10th and the 24th of March four of the Paris metro stops are furnished with sofas for the travellers to use while waiting for the metro. The walls are covered with showroom examples and the furniture have price tags. I do not know about you, but I have waited for the Paris metro, and I for sure, would have appreciated these sofas.

Photo: Freshome.com

So what is what is so great about this marketing campaign? Well, except for the obvious benefit for the travellers to have a place to sit and something to look at the advantages are many.

• Something to do while waiting - Most people get really bored while waiting for the metro, if they do not have music or a book to occupy them. Thus, having something to read or do while waiting is appreciated, and we also tend to actually “take in” what we are reading, as anything is more fun to do, than just wait…
• Playing with more senses - Instead of only giving us something to look at, they also give us the opportunity to feel, touch and try the furniture they are selling, which gives us a better idea of what we are getting if we buy it.
• It is memorable - How many times have to sat in a sofa while waiting for the metro? Not that many, nor in any other public place either. Thus, it is unusual enough to mention to a friend, who might just remember that she need a few things for IKEA, and head over there the next they… BAAM! conversion …
• People talk about it both online and offline - If you search on any of these campaigns on Google you will find thousands of mentions, if you look at the local newspapers you will find articles about the  events as well and if you speak to any of the locals I’m sure many of them will have a few things to say as well. Showing that new ideas does spread everywhere.

Create an online point – to !

I don’t know if IKEA planned any online activities for the Paris metro stations displays, but for the oval office, they complemented the offline showroom with the ability to design your own oval office on their website. Giving people a easy ”point to” when they want to discuss the subject online, is also a great idea to stimulate the buzz in the online media sphere. Actually, most people who have talked about the oval office event choose to show a picture of the online showroom as this was more available for the general public.

From time to time, there are a few marketing campaigns that is just so creative that you have trouble getting them out of your mind. One of the latest brilliant ideas is “The fun theory” an initiative by Volkswagen. Though it is not obviously connected to the cars they sell, or marketed in the old fashion way, this is a campaign that will be stuck in my mind for a long time.

It’s fun, it proves a point both while being produced and when later shown, and you get a few fun statistics to share with your friends after watching them.

The videos that went viral

It all got started when Volkswagen published three videos, the piano staircase, the bottle bank arcade and the world’s deepest bin.

Here are links to the other two:
The bottle arcade & the world’s deepest bin.

About the project

“The fun theory award recognizes those thoughts, ideas and inventions that help prove the fun theory. That fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better…” (From the fun theory website)

The whole project is based on a competition that gives people a chance to send in their fun theories and compete for a price of 2500 EUR. You can still send in your contribution as a written presentation with a visual picture of the idea. The later could be a sketch, a photo, or a film of a prototype. The competition is open until December 15, and then they will select 10 finalists that will be presented in front of a jury. Here you can see a few of the entries.

Multiple level marketing both viral and creative

This well rounded marketing campaign plays on so many levels:

1. When they did the videos, it most likely created a buzz from the people who tried the different theories.
2. First off all it is fun and visual, and easy to share.
3. The fact that it is a competition where money is at stake, means that many people take it with them after they leave their computer to discuss possible contributions to the competition.
4. As they keep posting new entries to the competition, people keep coming back to the website to check out other fun theories.
5. You can find the campaign in many places; their website, a Facebook group, twitter buzz and a youtube channel.

Volkswagens role

When you watch the movies, the Volkswagen logo only comes up on the last picture in the movie. Thus, they have chosen to not over use their logo in the campaign, which I think it an interesting move. As most brand do not seem to be able to create anything without their logo being on display.

While watching the movies, most people will wonder who made them, because they are done professionally.  I think that people will unconsciously appreciate that there is not brand name embedded in the movie.

Volkswagen is not flaunting their brand and let the brand “the fun theory” with logo be in the spotlight, and I think that this could increase the amount of people who will actually remember that Volkswagen was the initiators.

Today people have other habits then they used to have, especially the small daily stuff is changing. With new tools and technology we do things differently, have you adapted your marketing campaign to that? The Swedish food store ICA surely has and here is a great example from this summer:

This probably does not make too much sense for you since it’s in Swedish, so let me explain. The headline says “For a successful crayfish party, take a picture of the recipe below.” Not only does it have great timing with the season for crayfish, but they have played on the fact that most people in Sweden have a cell phone with a camera with them all the time, and thus they can easily take a photo of the ad and leave their recipe worries behind.

I love this idea because it is simple yet productive and it makes you think, what a great idea, who came up with that? And once again ICA is in your thoughts.

Another ICA idea that has been running for quite some time now is the ICA TV-Series look-a-like commercial. Every week they show a 30 sec episode reputedly during the tv-commercials where they promote the week’s special offers.

Here is an example but unfortunately I could only find them in Swedish:

It might be difficult to understand the charm of the series if you cannot understand the language. However, think of it as another TV-show with characters a plot maybe without the cliffhanger but you still want some more. The shows probably made people pay more attention to the ICA commercial because of the creative and non-boring way to market. Perhaps a few people even sat through the commercials, which they usually zap.

People have even started a facebook group to show their support:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54895982228&ref=search&sid=719435876.2371695270..1

And on ICA’s website you can see the episodes you missed:
http://www.ica.se/FrontServlet?s=butiker&state=reklamfilmer_ny&showMenu=butiker_3

There are still a lot of things that could be improved with ICA’s marketing that still feels old and not as current as these two examples. However these two examples show that they are one of the most creative firms on marketing in Sweden and I would for sure like to work for them!