Clever campaigns

I thought I would share a few of my favourite creative campaigns that have been executed quite recently today.

The first was by Santa Clara for Polaroid in Brazil. The company replaced mirrors in shopping malls and business centres in Sao Paulo with their instant cameras. The intention was to reinforce their brand concept of instant images. I’m not quite sure how easy it would have been to ensure the effective running of the campaign (changing film, ensuring that none were stolen, etc.), nevertheless, I think it’s a cute idea and would definitely have captured people’s attention. Yes, in this age of the digital camera and cameraphones we can get instant pictures anyway, but there’s still something nice about having prints and I have to say that Polaroid prints still hold a special place in my heart.

The second campaign I particularly liked was by JWT for Lipton tea’s ‘Garden Variety’ in Cairo. The campaign featured topiary teacups with Lipton tea bag tags hanging out of them. Relevant to their product, check, attention grabbing, check, creative, check, and allround a campaign to put a smile on your face.

The third, which I actually only stumbled upon while looking for information on the last campaign I will mention, is for Head and Shoulders, using chalk board erasers to advertise their product. Already conveniently shaped like their bottles, the idea is quite clever, wiping the white from the board, just as it promises to do with the dandruff on your scalp. I’m not sure where this was rolled out or who came up with the concept, but leave it up to marketers to find media space on objects you would never have before considered.

Last, and probably my favourite of all was a guerrilla campaign run by the Portuguese Taxi Association (Antral). Carried out in Lisbon, yellow prisms replicating taxi tops were placed on cars parked near major nightspots in the city. On the front of the prisms was the word taxi, while at the back it urged readers that if they had been drinking, not to risk driving, providing them then with a phone number for the taxi service. Following the campaign Antral recorded a 50% increase in calls between 12 and 4am, undoubtedly a great result. The campaign is now set to spread to other cities within Portugal. Quite a simple idea really, but at the same time, inventive and thought provoking. I hope it rolls out to other countries also, yet the only downside is that the novelty of the idea perhaps gives half the impact, therefore repeating the campaign each week it may eventually lose it’s effect. This could possibly be overcome however by repeating the stunt at random intervals or seasonally. Anyway, well done DraftFCB Lisbon for a truly great campaign.

I wonder what the rest of this year will bring…