Carlsberg

Carlsberg

Probably the best poster in the world.

Billboards, whether or not their small or huge, they are something that are around us all the time that we all notice, promoting different brands, events, films, etc. Normally just providing us with key information we need to know, could just be one word, a couple of words with pictures or even just a picture. But Carlsberg, a Danish brewing company, decided to go one step further with their billboard back in April 2015 named ‘Probably the best poster in the world’.

The company Carlsberg situated a billboard in the middle of busy London Street, Brick Lane, where lots of people go every day and is close to Shoreditch, where the taste for craft beers and ales are becoming more popular than mainstream lagers. By placing it here it would hopefully reconnect this market with this product again.  

Very simply the billboard just said ‘Probably the best poster in the world’ in the same font as the Carlsberg logo on a green background, the same colour Carlsberg use for their packaging, creating this connection between the stimuli and the brand so people knew what brand it was straight away, as our minds remember these connections between colour and font. Then situated in the middle of the billboard was a working beer tap so people could pull themselves a pint and have a taste of this product whilst walking past.

Watch the link to see the reaction to this poster..

People did seem a bit wary of this poster to begin with and didn’t really know if it was real and whether it was going to actually give you a ‘taster’ of this lager or whether it was just there for show but people were quick to realise it wasn’t and started lining up to have a go.

This is an example of experiential marketing, Carlsberg had created a link between their advertising and the consumer by creating an experience for them to take part in. Carlserg provided their audience with a chance to try their product for free, so instead of just reading a billboard about their product they could actually taste, smell and experience it for themselves. So in the future when they see other billboards or even this product for sale they have this connection as they have already once tried it and could influence their decision making.

They also encouraged people to share their experience on social media using the hashtag trend #probablythebest creating publicity for the brand and passing this message of that Carlsberg is potentially the best lager in the market, in hope that this raises their sales.

The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead

#DeadYourself 

This month saw season 6 of the TV show The Walking Dead from AMC come back to our TV screens! I am a huge fan of this show and I have been very excited for it to return. For anyone who is unfamiliar with this TV show, it is about a group of people who are trying to survive in the world that has been overrun by zombies, it is definitely worth a watch.

Whilst on Instagram a couple of days ago the account for The Walking Dead (amcthewalkingdead) uploaded a picture of a fan who had taken part in their trend ‘#DeadYourself’ by downloading their app ‘Dead Yourself’ and making their own picture. In the Instagram post they state that the app has been updated and this has been done for the new season of this TV show.

This is a perfect example of experiential marketing by AMC who are the creators of this show. They are engaging their viewers with an experience that they can take part in and have a bit of fun with, and at the same time AMC are promoting the show in a different way than just a poster on a billboard on the street.

The app is available from app stores both for Apple and Android products and is very simple to navigate and straightforward which makes the app user happy and willing to proceed and take part. There are several options to choose from on the app, each of them all related to different parts in the TV program using props, characters and imagery. The reasoning for this is to give the user a feel that they are part of this Walking Dead movement. This is using the method of sensory marketing as it is getting their viewers involved through their senses of touch and vision. While the whole time using the app at the bottom is a reminder that the TV show is starting again on a certain date, time and what channel it will be shown on.

Each of the subcategories on the app are different and you can ‘zombify’ yourself on them, by choosing different mouths, eyes, wounds, weapons, and more. Below you can see the process on one of the subcategories that I took part in, finally ending it off with giving your picture a tagline. Most of the taglines included #dead which links in with the #deadyourself that AMC are trying to get trending.
           

Once you have made your zombified image of yourself, it saves the image to your phone straight away. When saving this image the app adds a filter over the top which says “FOX The Walking Dead. Dead Yourself” which is AMC’s way of promoting and marketing the show again. After you are given the opportunity to share this image with your friends on every social media site you are a member of. By sharing this image you are passing this message on about The Walking Dead show and the #deadyourself trend, which is what the company are wanting you to do, it is cheap and easy marketing for the show. As well as creating this platform to share your image with your friends, you also get given your own gallery on the app where people from all around the world can see your creations and AMC often pick a fan’s picture out to be shared on the Instagram page.

AMC have been very clever when choosing this route to market their show. They have picked something creative for their fans to get involved with and created a trend which will be seen all over the internet, by different ages and in different countries. This is an easy and cheap way of marketing, as once their fans get involved and start sharing their pictures on the social media pages, their friends will start to see these pictures and question what they are for. This may result in them downloading the app for themselves and taking part and continuing this cycle, by passing the message on to their friends, and so on. Doing this is raising awareness of what the point in these pictures are, and it is for the release of the new season of The Walking Dead, which you can see written in the corner of any of the pictures created and on the app home screen. Each time one of these pictures are shared with the #deadyourself trend, more and more people are exposed to this movement and may take an interest in to watching the TV program.

Below are a couple of my images that my friend and I created with the app, seems perfect as it is just in time for Halloween as well!

Consumer Behaviour and Experiential Marketing

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou, Poet & Philosopher

Welcome to my blog where I am going to be discussing experiential marketing and consumer behaviour. I will be sharing my personal experiences and other examples that I come across. The quote I stated at the start of my blog is so true and this is what companies and organisations need to think about when marketing their ideas.

Soloman (2014, pg.33) defines Consumer Behaviour as the “study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.” We are seeing that a lot more companies are coming away from the traditional method of marketing (for example leaflets and posters) and moving more towards the idea of experiential marketing and creating an experience that will stay with the consumer, as they want more than just satisfaction from the product or service.

We are seeing a shift from traditional marketing to experiential marketing as companies are seeing that it is not all about that ‘purchase moment’ for a consumer. It is actually an ongoing process from the moment the consumer thinks about that product or service, so they need to remember the consumption process; pre-purchase issues, purchase issues and post-purchase issues, engaging the customer throughout.

References

Solomon, M. (2014). Consumer behavior. Harlow: Pearson/Education.