Synergistic media and creative

Great use of a media format by Virgin Trains ... running their latest campaign on liveried trucks communicating the tactical benefits of travelling by train vs road.

 

Simple, bold creative utilising high impact transport media formats on relevant road environments running even more relevant messaging!

 

Excellent additional creative synergy - with the strapline - FLY  Virgin Trains - emphasising the direct message as well as making reference to the mothership airline brand.

 

 

Drum Roll Please...

...introducing PureMedia's #PureAdOfTheWeek!

That's right! We're always keeping our eyes peeled, on the look-out for the most ingeniously expressive work from the comms industry. 

So, every week we'll be highlighting the most prolific use of advertising space, screaming messaging techniques, productions that you simply can not ignore or just down-right smart ads.  

And what better way to start than with a veteran in the field...

Old Spice is bringing back the soap bar! 

With its classic humorously irreverent style fuelled by masculine contemporaneity and the added touch of an incredibly informative jingle, you wouldn't expect anything less than a brilliant new ad for the launch of a brilliant new product. 

Congratulations Old Spice, your creation has been awarded Pure Media's first #PureAdOfTheWeek

April Fool - Who Nose?

Plenty of April Fools throughout the media sphere yesterday ... from Metro referencing a load of historic April 1st stories from the past, that didn't actually ever happen- through to Virgin Atlantic commissioning a fleet of new aircrafts with full glass bottom fusilages and Barclaycard's contactless payement dog collars for pets to pay.

Personal favourite was the 'Google Nose' spoof ...... well executed and believable enough to convince many of the potential sensory search system.

Ironic ad or just poor judgement?

Very surprised to see this ad on the train the other day for the RLSB (Royal London Society for Blind People)

A relative mish mash of fonts making it very difficult to read .........But worse still, the body copy was almost illegible to a well sighted person due to the amount of it, coupled with the small font size and the fact it was seemingly blurred due to the white out of black application.

Media is the message...

 

Simple, Impactful, informative and highly effective.

CBS Outdoor using their 48 sheet posters to communicate the power of large format advertising to local people and businesses in core placements such as station car parks and town centres.

The poster does exactly what it says on the tin....The creative illustrates size and reach of opportunity with cut through and clarity using the visual salience of a giant local notice board.

The stats appear to be bespoke per site to demonstrate individual opportunities by location.

Simple yet effective - in our opinion this is a true case of using media to deliver a relevant and impactful message.

HAPPPY NEW YEAR

 

No sooner had 2012 drawn to a lightening end ... 2013 was upon us and we were back to work at Pure Towers in Cowcross Street.

Good news about a new client win at the end of the year, and some exciting new projects we are working on has led to a fast start to the year with a highly motivated team looking forward to another positive and productive year @ Pure Media.

For anyone visiting this blog ...may we take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!!

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!!

Another Award for Forex.com

Making its second appearance in the FT/Investors Chronicle Investment Awards in as many years, Forex.com this year walks away with the accolade for best Forex Provider.

The company was rated highly for its tightness of spreads, advanced trading tools and platforms and customer support. Regarded as a leader in forex and contracts for difference trading, FOREX.com offers investors access to the global foreign exchange market with a secure online proposition featuring transparent pricing and quality trade execution.

FOREX.com offers clients access to professional charting, expert market research and daily foreign-exchange commentary by market professionals.

ARRESTING CREATIVE

Saw this ad in the Evening Standard last night and it really made me stop and look.

Initial thought – Why would the Metropolitan Police run an ad like that?

What a waste of a whole page – Met Police logo and strap line across the bottom and then very subtle light grey flock wallpaper effect across the rest of the page?

A quizzical look and a slight turn of the page and all was revealed – with a message appearing on the page through the wallpaper effect – as per ad printed on the reverse side



Clever in so many ways.... One of the best press ads I've seen in years.

FIGURE SKATING SPECTACULAR IN SHEFFIELD

Working together with Chime Group sports marketing agency Fast track and their client NISA (The National Ice Skating Association UK) we are currently running a campaign to promote the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2012.


The Championship is being held at the the 9,000 seater Motorpoint Arena stadium in Sheffield between 23rd & 29th January next year.

An integrated multi media campaign is active across local print, geo-targeted online, outdoor formats including bus streetliners and 48 sheet posters as well as a radio promotion running with Real Radio.

This is the world's 3rd largest figure skating competition - with nearly 200 of Europe's best skaters from 40 countries, including many stars of the Winter Olympics competing in the men's ladies, pairs and dance couples disciplines.

For tickets and further information about the event click on the link - www.europeans2012.co.uk

Another Win for Forex.com

We are very pleased to be able to congratulate our client Forex.com on winning yet another award - the Shares Award for 'Best Educational Provider'.

The Awards ceremony was held at the glittering Grosvenor House Hotel - where a lovely evening was had by all. The celebrations meant that there were a few sore heads on Friday morning, but it was all worthwhile!