Bloody good ads
You may have heard of interactive ads that spout water or emit the latest fragrance to unsuspecting passersby. Acclaim Entertainment has now upped the ante. The Glen Cove, N.Y.-headquartered gaming-software maker has orchestrated a bus shelter campaign to promote its new game, ‘Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance,’ using advertisements that drip blood. The ads use cartridges of red dye, placed behind sheets of clear film, that slowly spill from the source over the course of a week. Acclaim says the advertising tactic, termed ‘bloodvertising,’ is in keeping with the blood-and-gore theme of Gladiator, which is set in 106 AD. The campaign hit the streets of the U.K. in mid-December and the company has employed a troupe of cleaners to ensure the ghoulish posters don’t get out of hand.
Become one with your advertising
Want to really engage consumers during the busy, ad-cluttered post-holiday season? Why not immerse them in a full-body, interactive advertising experience? San Carlos, Calif.-based Reactrix Systems has launched an initiative that projects interactive ad images onto shopping mall floors that then react to shoppers as they walk over them. The technology was recently used at the Sony Metreon in San Francisco in a campaign to promote the newly-revamped Sci Fi Channel show Battlestar Galactica. Mall patrons could learn about the series and its characters by touching or walking across projected ships or coins. According to the company, the ads can also be used for point-of-purchase marketing campaigns directly relating to in-mall store promotions. Toys ‘R’ Us, Nike and Pepsi are just some of the advertisers that have projected their ads on mall floors in such markets as New York, L.A. and Chicago.
When gas pumps chatter
You might be caught a little off guard when, after placing the nozzle into your fuel tank at the gas station, you hear a disembodied voice yammering away about Nestlé Kit-Kat or two-litre bottles of Coca-Cola. But Midland, Mich.’s DirectCast Network has been having some success using its ‘Fueling Talker’ ad medium. Audio messages two minutes in length – including six 15- or 20-second spots from gas station operators and other advertisers – are broadcast via the company’s PumpRadio Network and play when customers place the gas nozzle into fueling position. Trials have been completed in the Detroit, Lansing, Dallas and West Palm Beach areas. In the Michigan markets, gas station in-store product sales increased by 15% to 400%; a Midland station reported a 23% increase in sales of two-litre bottles of Coke and the store also sold 300% more cappuccino. A spring rollout is planned for larger markets including Los Angeles and New York.
