Time Flies

It's been 2 months since the last blog post ... which is illustrative of 2 things:-

1) Times are really busy at Pure Media ... with lot's of things happening.

2) How quickly everything moves and how easy it is to be totally out of date with social presence.

As we head steadfast to the end of 2012 and the beginnings of a New Year, we will endeavour to post a quick year end summary of events.

Then a Pure Media New Year's resolution will be to blog at least 2 times per month in 2013

Just one small step ....

 

...for Mankind ..... Red Bull ....Felix Baumgartner.... and LEGO

The Red Bull Stratos skydive smashed YouTube records yesterday, as Austrian Daredevil Felix Baumgartne attempted a record breaking stunt from the edge of space to become the first skydiver to reach the speed of sound when he jumped out of a balloon 24 miles above New Mexico, achieving a top speed of 833.9 miles per hour reached eight million concurrent views on YouTube, marking the highest ever concurrent viewing figure on the Google-owned site.
 
According to a Twitter spokeswoman, there were also approximately 3.1m tweets sent, relating to the The Red Bull sponsored stunt.

Shortly after he had completed this amazing feet - a brilliant, timely and tactical promotional video, hit the web - recreating the fantastic achievment using LEGO model figures complete with space vehicles and the flight balloon (1/350th scale) ... giving a birds eye view of the historic event.

The film was promoting (LEGO and) the Austrian Model Makers Fair taking place in Vienna (Austria) later this month.............One small step for mankind ............. and a giant leap in creativity!

Another step up the Pure ladder

CONGRATULAIONS to Sherif Kader .... who has been promoted to Media Manager here at Pure ... a very well deserved promotion in recognition of his continued progress and contribution to the agency team and clients business.

Another one bites the dust?

Very disappointed to see a local 'old school' wooden framed 48 sheet paper poster site dismantled recently .... Unlikely to be replaced by a whizzy backlight or digital site ...so clearly decommissioned due to rot and ruin....never to be seen again

So very pleased to be greeted with the sight of a reconstructed freshly painted wooden framed site a few days later.

There is still a place in our media landscape for 'old school' paper 48 sheet sites in my opinion

Target fun on the Southbank

The sun has finally come out and London is alive with Olympic fever, so what better time to lounge around on the Southbank and enjoy some of the most iconic views in our Capital city?

We've been working with Icon & Sub Rosa to secure a prominant Southbank event space for their client Target, the large US retailers, who wanted to dip their toe in the Thames during this exciting summer period.

As a result they've taken over Bernie Spain Gardens, next to the Oxo Tower, for the duration of the games.  The event includes traditional lawn games such as Croquet and Boules, a green screen photo booth for snapping memorable holiday pics & sharing with friends on FB, phone charging stations and product giveaways such as sunglasses, soft toys and of course brollies and rain ponchos!  The space provides a welcome refuge from the bustling Southbank concourse, a place to sit and soak up the atmosphere.

The event will be running through to this Sunday so do pop along and join in if you find yourself in the area.

Magnifying glass anyone?

The Picadilly Circus Landmark site has amazing impact - utilized brilliantly by the primary advertisers such as Coca Cola, Samsung, McDonalds, TDK and even Sports Direct.

The evolution from static to dynamic creative executed to great effect within the restrictions applied to the site and location.

But spot the sales banner if you can? A dark static panel above the Boots shop signage advertising this 'UNIQUE BANNER OPPORTUNITY from PICADILLYLIGHTS.COM' for Land Securities... Hardly making the most of such a great site and environment.

Probably why the banner remains unsold since this shot was taken months ago.

Old Fashioned Tactics

Great Sainsbury's tactical directional ads among the throng of people waiting for the torch relay @ St. Paul's this moring

Especially directly outside M&S.................

The Sainsbury's plackard bearers looked pleased as punch with their efforts .... happier than the torch bearer by all accounts!!

Gladvertising – could it really happen??

Over a year ago a report by the Centre for Future Studies predicted an advertising revolution within a year, a new world where emotion recognition software (EFS) can determine your mood and then provide an ad based on how you feel. This new technology was coined ‘Gladvertising’ by the reports authors.

Well it’s been more than a year and it hasn’t happened yet, although with more sophisticated targeting being consistently developed perhaps it’s not beyond the realms of possibility. Although I’m not sure what ad would be served up to the Pure Media office at 9am on a cold, wet Monday morning!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12582477

Creative Synergy - Hit or Miss?

The intention was to get the 6.15am train to London Bridge this morning en route to City Airport.

Unfortunately it wasn't to be as the doors closed before my very eyes on arrival at 6.12am as the timetable had changed - next train c. 25 mins later - ouch!

I was therefore highly unamused to be faced with this in carriage poster for what felt like the longest 32 minute journey on the later train, whilst stressing about getting in to and across London in time to make the flight.

Appreciate it is a direct communication and targeted at commuters who could potentially have time to play poker on their smartphones,tablets etc. for longer sessions than usual as and when (regularly) delayed ... but the negative implications far out weigh the targeting and creative synergy of message in my opionion.

PRAY FOR A DELAY ?..... Pray for a MIRACLE to get there in time more like .... which I did, thankfully.

Bad placement...or 'it makes no difference'?

So, Nurofen are currently running an ad campaign across the Rail and Underground network. This was the ad I saw that makes reference to Holborn and Ealing Broadway.

I found the ad on the Northern Line.

This prompted several questions in my mind:

1) Is this bad planning? The Northern Line does not go through Holborn or Ealing Broadway so could they not have run with 2 station names along this route?

2) Does it really matter? Anyone that works in London will have a fairly good idea as to where both locations are. The fact that it is not on the route where the ad is seen probably wouldn't bother them.

Since seeing this ad, I have seen another making reference to Hanger Lane. It was on a South Eastern train. 

What do you think? Does it actually matter?

If they are spending large sums of budget on an Outdoor campaign, should there not be synergy between the creative and the media?

Muddy Hell!

Are you Tough Enough??

Just 18 days to go until the first Tough Mudder event in the UK. Tough Mudder’s 10-12mile obstacle courses are designed by Special Forces to test fitness, stamina, mental strength and camaraderie.In the ultimate test of team work, participants are challenged mentally and physically as they navigate their way over 12 foot high Berlin Walls, across muddy trenches, through 4 foot flames and into ice cold water.The event is not about finishing times or winning a first past the post medal; simply completing a Tough Mudder is a badge of honour.

Events in the UK kick off in the East Midlands in May, followed by one in Scotland in July and one in Manchester in November. The East Midlands event will be a baptism of fire for competitors, who will have to negotiate pits of stinging nettles, waist high swamps, claustrophobic tunnels, not to mention the 10,000 volts of electroshock therapy they will receive before they drag their weary limbs over the finishing line for a well-deserved pint of beer.

Those who think they are tough enough to meet the challenge can register now at:

Click here for Tough Mudder website

Creative synergy

Great example of creatives developing an ad with the media format and placement in mind ... seems obvious, but it doesn't happen that often.

New Recruit

We have a new recruit to welcome to Pure this week

Ed Lee-Bull has joined the team as a Media Analyst

Another Cover Story

We've been meaning to post this for a while as it's a few weeks out of date, but a timeless comment.

The various guises of a METRO cover wrap..........

PIC 1) Front page of cover wrap on March 19th



PIC 2) 6.15am - A bin at a commuter train station already starting to fill up with the (over inked) cover wraps disembodied from the main paper



PIC 3) 8.00am - A copy spotted on a seat on the DLR where the cover space was clearly used to good effect by a commuter warming up the mind for the day by calculating a variety of algebra formulas!

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?

Aside from the mast head on the front cover ...there appears to be no difference between visual or messaging on the outside back cover of the cover wrap that the Metro carried yesterday.

A missed opportunity to use this paper poster space more effectively surely?


Furthermore, the only difference I could spot with visuals, layout and messaging between the inside front and the inside back cover pages were the programme images placed in the screens.

A luxurious waste of expensive media space in my opinion.

Connecting with core message

This high impact site on the side of a building next to GolfPark station and Otelfingen Golf Club in Switzerland is currently being used to great effect by upc cablecom.


It is part of a high speed connectivity campaign they are running - with the headline reading ..... The Digital Connection with zero handicap.

Great synergy of message directly to a golf audience who are out in their numbers either sharpening their putting skills on the practice greens, refining their swings on the the driving ranges or out playing on the course - where this ad can be seen from most parts - all of them aspiring to achieve a golf handicap of 0.

Barking Mad or Pitch Perfect?

A TV ad for Bakers dog food will air tonight on ITV1 in the ad break of Emmerdale - targeting not only the 7 million human viewers, but more specifically their furry four legged friends.

Special high pitched audio effects have been included in the TVC to attract the attention of canine pets all around the country, alerting their owners to their interest in the Bakers pet food product.

A fantastically innovative creative idea - let's hope it has the desired effect of instigating plenty of wagging tails and pricked up ears.

Full stories as per links below

Yahoo News

Marketing article

We LIKE this, so we are SHARING it...

Winter Golf Just Got Better!

We are currently running a cross media partnership for Urban Golf, encouraging people to visit one of their 3 x re-named London indoor golf venues and experience their new model highly realistic updated AboutGolf simulators.



For your chance to visit The Kensington National, Royal Smithfield Golf Club or SOHO Golf and Country Club, and benefit from this fantastic 80% saving click on the following link –

www.urbangolf.co.uk/tenner

Planning Oversight

Not sure how the planners let this happen.
Front page news disaster story and Holiday Promo!!