A campaign that makes thievery OK you say? Not the sort of positive, wholesome marketing that typically gets signed off by the board of a major car manufacturer.

Unfortunately us humble UK folk never got the chance to get involved in this simple, brilliantly executed treasure hunt launched by Volkswagen Canada.

Beginning in October last year, outdoor pop-up galleries started appearing in unexpected places across major cities and Canada. Each gallery consisted of three numbered, limited-edition photos of light paintings created by the movements of the new Volkswagen Jetta GLI.

The photographs were taken as part an integrated campaign to launch the new vehicle called “Driving can be beautiful”. The ad used a combination of traditional and long exposure videography to pain light trails using the headlights and taillights of a Jetta GLI. You can check out how they made it below.

Loosely nailed and positioned slightly eskew, passersby were invited to nab the photographs and messages on the back of each photograph complemented the crooks on their fine taste and invited them to upload photos of their swag to the brand’s Facebook page to share with the world.

Despite stereotypes suggesting Canadians would be too mild mannered to steal, the first lot of photographs were stolen within hours. One sly dog was even filmed walking off with all three paintings in a gallery.

But they appeared equally as fast, and those that weren’t fortunate enough to get their hands on a print first time round were given a second chance. The second stage of the campaign took the hunt online, with wannabe thieves having to follow the brand’s Twitter pages for clues on the location of each of the hand numbered prints.

Unsurprisingly, all this free art prompted lots of chatter online, as people posted and discussed pictures of their new piece of art in its new environment.

I’m a big fan of campaigns that align brands with art authentically (it’s not easily done) and also those that drive real world action and amplify it online. This piece of work fits both of those bills with a clever blend of ambient, experiential and social media activity.

Posted by Tom on January 23rd, 2012

TheShopandSave app that was in The Grocer this week is most definitely “The Future.”  It’s only available in the US at the moment, but expect to see it on our shores sometime soon.

ShopandSave app

Scan it! knows which aisle shoppers are in, what they have in their trolley, individual preferences and what they usually buy. It then sends shoppers real-time bespoke discounts.

That means a shopper who has put a bottle of gin in the trolley could instantly receive a discount on tonic. Or a customer in the dairy aisle could receive a promo on Cheddar – and the app would even know if they preferred mild, medium or mature.

The Grocer described it as “A mobile app that could revolutionise the way supermarkets run promotions” and I have to say, I agree.

We will see a lot more of social shopper marketing in 2012, I’m sure of it. Some people say that this and similar marketing techniques are intrusive, however I don’t buy that – if you don’t like it, don’t download the app!

Posted by Greg on November 8th, 2011

This article comes courtesy of our partners at Coupons.com who we worked with to develop the recent successful campaign for client, Blue Diamond Almonds.

New YouGov research conducted on behalf of and published recently by Coupons.com UK &  Europe, highlights the growing influence of coupons in consumer purchasing habits.

The survey, which draws on a nationally representative sample of 1,790 adults across the UK,shows an 11% year-on-year increase in coupons redemptions. The survey also indicates that printable coupons are currently 31% more likely to be redeemed than their paper-based equivalents. Furthermore, almost three in ten (28%) adults stated that they are more careful about remembering coupons when going shopping.

The survey results also highlight consumers’ increasingly discerning shopping habits, as they continue to seek the best available deals – from shopping at multiple supermarkets, to brand swapping within supermarkets. Indeed, of those surveyed, 44% agreed that coupons influence them to choose between brands, while over one third of respondents agree that supermarket coupons influence them to try new products for the first time.

Posted by James on November 7th, 2011

More good news for us Finnsters today – we’ve been shortlisted for nine CIPR Awards. This is a great testament to the team and the hard work they have put in over the last year.  Let’s hope we can turn those shortlisted campaigns into more awards for our trophy cabinet!

P.s Those pesky critters over at Umpf were also shortlisted for nine – the battle is on!

Posted by Greg on August 26th, 2011

I get lots of CVs from prospective candidates, and on the whole the standard is about average (especially I might add, graduates of the Leeds Met PR degree).

This week however, I’ve seen two stunning examples of young PR people presenting themselves outstandingly well using their blogs.

‘Celine is looking for a fashion job‘  was tweeted by @AndrewBloch and RT by Martin Ballantine @piracycorp.  As both commented, if you’re looking to hire.  Then hire – quick.

I also spotted that Amanda Fox started at Hatch on Monday.  I wish her luck with her new role…and if I’d seen her digital resume, I’d definitely responded in the same manner as Andrew and Martin’s tweets.

Posted by Richard on August 8th, 2011

I believe that the best measure of an agency’s success is how much fee income they make per head – an agency with 10 people making £1M in fee income is almost certainly outperforming an agency with 20 people making the same amount.

Very simply, its total fee income divided by number of staff.  Any agency, in the top 150 or not, can work out their average income per head to see where they figure against the country’s best.

Please scroll down for the re-worked Independent and Out of London league tables.  And here is a link to the original list… PR Week Top 150 Consultancies

Read the full post

Posted by Greg on