Sure, a good ad makes you look twice, but some efforts go one step further, offering the consumer a chance to play and create a deeper, closer relationship with a brand.
Marketers are now providing the ultimate distractions: the perfect antidote to work ennui, long subway rides, or even the experience of a lifetime.
Poppin’
No one can resist popping bubble wrap. Little wonder then that the microsites for Mentos’ new gum, created by the Montreal division of Cossette Communication-Marketing, are so hard to resist. Visitors to the English site, makeartpop.ca, and the French site, poptonart.ca, can create their own drawings using virtual blisters of the gum that they ‘pop.’ Nine weeks into the campaign, there had been 68,395 unique site visitors. A total of 16,300 drawings had been done, with an average of almost 17 minutes spent on each drawing. And, yes, there were even more Pop Art elements to the campaign. Artists in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver created work using the brand’s gum blisters in the cities’ high-traffic areas.
Connectin’
Like music? On the subway? Pepsi, with the help of the Toronto-based arm of BBDO Canada, made the connection last summer by placing fully functional jacks on subways in Toronto and Vancouver with MP3 players embedded in the posters. Commuters could plug in and hear samples of songs exclusive to pepsiaccess.ca. The creative types behind the work boast that the execution was the first of its kind in Canada. But they’re most proud of the fact that it’s apparently the most frequently stolen piece of advertising on the Toronto Transit Commission.
Trippin’
Earlier this year, Lexus launched the latest iteration of its popular ‘Moments’ campaign. The print work by Toronto-based Dentsu Canada, which ran in magazines and newspapers across the country, encouraged readers to ‘Run with the bulls. Swim with the dolphins. Make love on a beach. Eat a mango.’ Those stirred by the copy to cast off humdrum routine were further inspired by a coupon offering one free elephant ride in Thailand or bungee jumping in New Zealand. The offers were 100% legit but the cost of getting there was not included – hardly a deterrent for the free spirits who redeemed said coupons.
