A new campaign for the Egyptian Tourist Authority developed by the Cairo office of JWT aims to establish Egypt as a place where there is more than really big tombs. And accompanying this campaign is a new logo.
The print and TV campaign perhaps does too good a job in touting other things to think about when we consider Egypt, and it starts to look more like a Caribbean island combined with a non-stop party place where you can golf and, by the way, you can catch some pyramids in between all of that. But maybe after all that, Egypt just starts to feel like a generic destination.
The Media One Hotel, designed with the savvy business traveller in mind, has received its official four-star hotel ranking from the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) as it opened on Sunday in Dubai Media City.
Positioned amid city landmarks and bustling corporate head quarters, Media One Hotel promises guests a refreshingly new hotel experience, especially those seeking style, comfort and smart service.
As part of its pre-opening marketing drive Media One Hotel has created an innovative directional display on a major roundabout in Media City.
In keeping with the spirit of the media industry, Media City, as well as the hotels name, the display consists of two oversized film director chairs, clapper boards and quirky messages. The creative design is set to catch the eye of anyone using the busy roundabout and should firmly place the hotel on the neighbourhoods map. The roundabout provides clear directional signage to the hotel’s entrance when using either Media City or Internet City’s main entrances.
“We all love the design. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, a little quirky and lots of fun,” said Richard Senior, the hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing. “Trendy, inspiring and funky - this is what Media One Hotel stands for. From the various unusual design elements through to the unique guest service we will offer, it’s all about being young, vibrant and edgy in everything we do. We think this roundabout design fits just that. And let’s face it; I think it will be hard to miss!”
Set for a soft opening later this month, Media One Hotel promises guests a refreshingly new hotel experience. The property has been designed with the savvy business traveller in mind, and particularly those seeking style, comfort and smart service. Given its location, Media One Hotel also aims to become the ultimate trendy hang out for professionals based in and around Media City.
The property blends modern architecture with an innovative design, creating a fresh and funky retreat. Given its location, Media One Hotel also aims to become the ultimate trendy hang out for professionals based in and around Media City =================================
Number of Rooms 260 Number of Floors 23
Cleverly combining a dynamic sense of style, striking design and savvy business-traveller appeal, the four-star Media One is a hip new hotel that believes in doing things differently. It is ideally positioned in the heart of Dubai’s bustling Media City district, making it the location of choice for professionals seeking style, comfort and smart service. From its unconventional atmosphere through to its smart and thoughtful service, Media One believes that it's the small things that make the big difference, and lives up to this promise in every detail. Each of the hotel's 260 bedrooms and suites has been vibrantly designed to invigorate and inspire. The hotel features a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant on the eighth floor, in addition to a stylish chill-out cafe in the main lobby. Guests are invited to relax in the hotel gym, outdoor pool and terrace. Media One Hotel Dubai houses a fully-equipped business centre, seven meeting rooms, a selection of retail outlets, a spacious lobby and ample parking. Media One Hotel Dubai is a hotel of the WORLDHOTELS Deluxe Collection.
After a successful trial earlier this year, Scandinavian airlines have announced that passengers can now use 2D code mobile boarding passes on flights operated by SAS and Blue1 across Scandinavia and Europe.
SAS mobile boarding pass (with 2D Code)
- When passengers check-in via SMS or the SAS Mobile Portal (http://m.flysas.com), check-in confirmation contains a web link and when clicked the Mobile Boarding Pass is displayed on the phone
- The Mobile Boarding Pass contains details of flight number, seat number, departure and arrival time - and it also contains a 2D Bar Code
- The 2D Bar Code can be used to register baggage at SAS Self Service Kiosks. Holding a mobile boarding pass up to the bar code scanner starts the baggage check process
- To board the plane the bar code is simply held up to a bar code scanner at the gate
SAS Mobile boarding pass benefits
Scandinavian Airlines / SAS have been pushing mobile services this year as they strive towards having 80% of passengers check-in using the internet or mobile. A few months ago a hard copy of the Scandinavian Airlines tongue-in-cheek 'Love At First Flight' guide to mobile travel solutions was sent to a large number of customers to promote SAS mobile products:
Love At First Flight guide to mobile solutions (read the whole story here)
The SAS mobile initiatives are a good example of how mobile marketing is more than just 'banners on a different screen.' Mobile should be seen as an enabler and there are great opportunities to harness mobile to improve customer experience. Full mobile check-in is a good example of this - making life easier for passengers and streamlining process for the airline at the airport.
Olympic Airlines, once the national airline of Greece, has recently been sold by the Greek government to a private investment group. The new logo and name (now shortened in the 1980s fashion to Olympic Air) are supposed to signal a change in the company's culture and offering. To that end the company has held a grand logo contest in the Olympic tradition of competition. Read on to see who took home the silver and bronze.
These two runners up received 4,992 and 2,472 votes respectively; the winning logo received 11,652 votes
At this point, logo contests are about as novel as air travel itself. If anyone has an excuse to put one on I suppose it's a company with 'Olympic' in the name. What makes this contest unique though — and the result so underwhelming — is that it's really more of a refinement contest. It's one thing for a company to invite their customers to help shape the future of a brand. But can you really expect a crowd of people to refine something? Would you hold a contest to restore a painting? Here's the criteria, direct from the source:
[The Olympic Air logo] Should retain the circle motif used in the old Olympic logo. Could be designed using any font and any colors. Should "give a nod" to the old logo, showing the development as well as the tradition of the airline. Should be flexible and recognizable. Should be modern, without being extreme. Should not show its age. Should be usable in all media, and in color as well as in black and white.
Not much to go by. Branding (the art and science behind logo development) is often more complicated than it seems. A project like Olympic Air raises a lot of important questions. As noted in the brief, the new logo must signal the precise amount of change (i.e., this is the same company you know and trust, but now we are different and better). It should respect or at least consider the company's brand equities and ensure legible reproduction across a range of media. Most importantly perhaps, the mark needs to be considered in the context of a larger system (how is it expressed on the web site? what does the livery look like?). These are hard issues to settle in a contest setting.
The winning logo designer and proud recipient of €20,000, Panos Triantafyllopoulos (aided by art director Aris Papathanasiou), had this to say about his work,
For the design of Olympic Air's logo, we chose the difficult path of updating the existing one. We did so not only with respect to the company's history but also to its future prospects. Letter by letter, we designed a more aerodynamic, modern version of the logo in deep blue. We replaced the black ring color with a dark blue and added the green color that is prevalent in Greek nature. We instilled depth and shine to the colors and surrounded them with a silver metallic outline.
The new design manages to retain the Olympic rings and definitely gives a 'nod' to the original logo. Is it modern without being extreme? I guess. Is it easier to produce than the previous mark? Not really. Then again, when people vote for a logo online they don't typically take those considerations into account. All said, the logo update turned out OK. The letterforms seem to be drawn and kerned a little better. The top serifs have been applied more consistently from letter to letter than the previous ones. The wordmark does seem a little leaner and more 'aerodynamic.' The introduction of green is an interesting choice. The rest (the letterform shading, the shadows in the rings, the blue shift and the tracking of the word 'AIR') is mostly competent, if forgettable. As it turns out, Olympic Air now uses the negative version of the logo with flat-shaded rings on their web site. This seems to erase much of what differentiated the new mark from the old one--something that could have been mitigated if the designer played a larger role in the process. Will people look at the new home page and realize the brand has changed? Only time will tell.
This is a viral stunt made by Visit Denmark. However, cleverly crafted it has caused a rhetorical battle between journalists and marketing people concerning the right interpretation of the video. Is this way of branding unfair as its based on lying in order to make people aware on Denmark, or is it a success story due to the explosive amount of viewings it has received in a very short time?
A Youtube video purporting to represent a pretty young Danish single mother looking for the foreign father of her son, may have garnered Denmarks national tourist agency VisitDenmark some 800,000 clicks but the story behind the video is a lie.
According to confirmed reports, the national tourist agency VisitDenmark generated the story of a one night stand with a foreign man producing a son, to get more people to visit the home of Shakespeare's 'To be or not to be'.
The video, however, is definitely 'Not to be' the young woman in the video is a Danish actress and the baby is not hers.
I dont understand the advertising agency that has produced this story. What do they think people will think, says Roskilde University Sociologist and Womens Affairs Researcher Karen Sjørup.
Theyre obviously trying to sell a type of promiscuous Danish woman and exploit the idea that you can lure quick, blonde Danish women home without a condom, Sjørup says, adding however that foreigners who come to Denmark with that idea will be very disappointed.
Broad-minded VisitDenmark disagrees.
Karens story shows that Denmark is a broad-minded country where you can do what you want. The film is a good example of independent, dignified, Danish women who dare to make their own choices, says VisitDenmark CEO Dorte Kiilerich.
Why have you chosen to market Denmark as a country with drunken women who have unsafe sex with casual acquaintances?
That is not a story that I recognise. We tell a good and sweet story about a mature, responsible woman who lives in a free society and shoulders the responsibilty of her actions. And she uses a modern social medium, Kiilerich says.
Ad agency The Grey advertising agency that produced the video says it is a major success.
It is the most successful viral advert ever. We have got through the media noise and it cost the same as a 30-second spot shown a couple of times on TV2, says Peter Helstrup from Greys.
Since last Thursday, the video has notched up 1.9 million Google searches, 773,000 YouTube viewings and is linked to 83,000 websites.
No reproach In the video, the young woman, claiming to be called Karen says: I dont reproach you, but I think you should know that (a young boy called) August is here.
Karen, however, is the actress Ditte Arnth Jørgsensen, the baby is not hers, and the viral advert was produced using taxpayers money.
The fabricated story behind the video is that the young woman met a tourist by chance in the Nyhavn area of Copenhagen, introduced him to the Danish concept of hygge or cosiness. The next morning his side of the bed was empty when she woke up, and nine months later the now one-and-a-half-year-old August appeared on the scene.
Royal Mail was a company dangerously close to becoming unnecessary. Liberalisation of the monopoly markets meant it had new competitors able to provide customers discounts that it was barred from offering, whilst email and online activity had become the far more popular means of written communication than posting a letter.
However, another significant aspect of Royal Mail business is the assistance it gives to SME owners (Small Medium Enterprise), helping them to grow their companies. Although SME owners are the most receptive target audience to growth messages, as they have a personal commitment to their business, they are also the most difficult to engage with for that very same reason.
To generate publicity, Royal Mail ran an extensive TV ad campaign designed to shift attitudes about what its brand stood for. The TV ads directed people to royalmail.com where they could answer questions and generate a bespoke growth print, including case studies and product recommendations. To further promote the service, Royal Mail integrated its brand with MSN Office space, distributing content through special reports and channels within Growth Business and Fresh Business Thinking.
It also sponsored The Sunday Times’ Fast Track – an annual league table of the UK’s Fastest Growing Private Companies – and their Best Customer Service category. In addition, Royal Mail created a ‘Helping Hands’ channel within The Guardian online, a bespoke area containing case studies and commissioned content in the form of Q&As with business luminaries.
Overall, appeal for the Royal Mail brand has grown from 38% to 55%. SME owners claiming that Royal Mail is ‘providing new information’ grew from 20-47%, ‘better than other suppliers’ from 26-37% and ‘can help businesses grow’ 36-41%. There have been 216,000 visits to the website and, just 5 months into an 18 month campaign, revenue in the sales pipeline is already in excess of the media investment to date.
The travel industry has been hamstrung by the economic crisis, with people being cautious with their cash and opting for "staycations" (holidays that don't involve overseas travel).Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) wanted to drive business by releasing 650,000 low fare tickets on all SAS routes worldwide. SAS wanted to encourage people to be more spontaneous and impulsive with their flight purchases, breaking through people’s widespread financial caution, given the tough economic climate. The aim was to give people an excuse to leave it all behind.
SAS teamed up with Facebook to create an application that centred around spontaneity. The result was the SAS Globe of Fortune. Visitors to www.sasglobeoffortune.com are greeted with a globe application that links to their Facebook profile. Players get to choose their preferred Scandinavian departure airport and then spin the “globe of fortune”. This then randomly selects a destination, ranging from Europe to Dubai and Bangkok. They then get to randomly select one of their Facebook friends from a carousel to go on the trip with.
Players get 10 spins in total to find the best combination, be it going with their ex-boyfriend to Kiev or with a new best friend to Chicago. Having found the right destination they must submit a reason why they should get that trip for free. Players have to be at least 18 and have at least 25 Facebook friends. The competition runs until the end of August and 100 people will win a Globe of Fortune trip for two.
It started as an Internet photo post , which went viral, of a Minnesota couple with a squirrel..
Melissa and Jackson Brandts were on vacation at Banff National Park in Canada, snapping photos of themselves when a curious squirrel decided to hog the camera for himself. The photo was entered into a National Geographic contest and gained instant notoriety for the couple, who have since appeared on several national morning shows.
Sensing that there could be a golden acorn in it, American will rerun its squirrel ad starting in September and sent out a news release that is probably the most humorous ever sent from Amon Carter Boulevard.
"There was no indication that he [the squirrel] was planning to use American Airlines as a springboard to launch a new phase in his career," said Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing at American.
Since he popped up in Banff, maybe he's Canadian." Seems a bit much. In any case, American aren't the only ones trying to capitalize. Banff and Lake Louise Tourism has already set up squirrel accounts onFacebookandTwitter.
Now that AirTran Airways has become the first major airline to outfit its entire fleet with WiFi, the airline and its longtime agency of record Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago are offering passengers a few do's and don't's. For example: Tip #134: The lavatory is not your personal conference room. Internetiquette – A Guide to Keeping Everyone In-Line, While They’re Online – is a part of the humorous new marketing campaign focused on in-flight WiFi etiquette. And, who better to give the etiquette tutorial than the foremost authority on all things air travel: Peter Graves. Featured in three webisodes, Graves discusses the rules of surfing in the sky such as not auctioning fellow passengers' belongings and making sure photos in your online gallery are SFF (Suitable for Flights).
The new work, which combines the use of 3D anaglyph film and 3D60 audio, focuses on the idea of direct marketing and digital elements coming together to create a third enhanced dimension.
This is shown through a DM teaser pack, which contains 3D glasses and a personalised URL that opens a microsite containing a 60-second video that can be viewed in 3D.
Viewers are reminded in the spot that they are experiencing the strengths of the combination of direct and digital media.
Project nameMail in the Digital AgeBriefTo promote to advertisers the benefits of using direct mail and digital togetherExposureDirect mail to 3,000 top advertisers and their agencies
UPS isn’t a brand one would immediately associate with the glitz and glamour of the fashion world. But, without the world’s largest package delivery company, there would be no garments for fashionistas to ogle on the catwalks.
Deciding to make more of this link, UPS sponsored a design contest at the Royal College of Art challenging up-and-coming designers to best represent the UPS brand, its culture and heritage along with the concept of 'free movement'.
The winning design – a man’s knee length jacket that could be transformed into a skirt - focused on alleviating problems faced by the urban traveller. Its multitude of zips allowed for easy item storage and judges praised the garment for its quality and flexibility -
both core elements of UPS’s brand identity. All shortlisted designs were hosted at a dedicated site www.upsalamode.com.
The RCA design competition follows successful fashion partnerships undertaken by UPS in Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the US. By supporting young designers, UPS hopes to reflect the company’s commitment to serve the fashion, textile and luxury industry.
LONDON - Virgin Holidays has been forced to ditch its summer advertising campaign following legal action from lastminute.com.
The outdoor and print ads - which featured the strapline dontleaveituntilthelastminute.com - were the centrepiece of the group's key summer marketing campaign.
Mark Fells, UK marketing director at Lastminute.com, issued a statement last week saying ‘We have issued a claim for damages against Virgin Holidays. We have had a lot of success in protecting the copyright of our URL and take potential breaches very seriously.'
The ads are to be taken down immediately and a spokeswoman for lastminute.com confirmed it is pursuing Virgin Holidays for damages.
Lastminute.com's group managing director and chief marketing officer, Simon Thompson, added: `We are delighted Virgin has taken the right decision to remove their campaign in the next seven days. As a company, we will always be a consumer champion; any confusion in the consumer's mind is not acceptable. We are still pursuing legal action against Virgin for substantial damages. Like Virgin, we believe in strongly defending our brand perception.'
