The Invisible Ad - A Unique Audience Capture

I can’t resist posting about great campaigns. I really like this ad campaign by LYNX Sunglasses. The invisible ad campaign was a concept created in an abandoned house in Sydney. All of the windows in the house were replaced with LED screens. To anyone passing by, the house looked silent and lifeless. However, if you put your LYNX sunglasses on, the house turned into an ad. Albeit a little steamy, I think the campaign is engaging and different. A unique way to capture an audience.

Banner Ads and Who's Looking

Some super interesting facts here thanks to Prestige Marketing. Have you used banner ads or are you considering using them as part of your marketing mix? Check out the stats.

Emotion and Audience Engagement

I am about to get started on The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty and Lead Effectively by Helio Fred Garcia. So looking forward to hearing more about the ways in which I can present myself in a way that is inspiring, firm and trustworthy. Something I feel every business owner needs. If you have the time…you should probably pick the book up too!

In researching the book, yes odd to research a book that you want to read, but with such little time I need to really figure out what is worth my spare time and what isn’t, I came across this Fast Company article. I wanted to share the highlights with you, so if you don’t have time to read the book in its entirety, you can at least get the gist.

The article starts off with: The default to emotion is part of the human condition. Yes indeed it is. It is rare to find anyone in a room who is listening to an inspiring speaker who doesn’t feel something emotionally either toward the speaker or the topic. Even if you dislike the speaker or the topic, you most likely do so in an emotional way. The primitive brain explained below, is what is important for leaders, business owners and for anyone who is looking for success.

The primitive brain and the limbic brain collectively make up the limbic system, which governs emotion. Within the limbic system, there is a structure called the amygdala, which leaders need to understand.

When faced with a stimulus, the amygdala turns our emotions on. It does so instantaneously, without our having to think about it. We find ourselves responding to a threat even before we’re consciously aware of it. Think of jumping back when we see a sudden movement in front of us, or being startled by the sound of a loud bang. We also respond instantaneously to positive stimulus without thinking about it: Note how we tend to smile back when someone smiles at us; how we are immediately distracted when something we consider beautiful enters our line of sight  

So, with this information, we need to understand that attention is emotionally driven. If you want to grab attention and keep it, you have to find a way to trigger the Amygdala in your audience. Whether it is in person, during a meeting, a social media campaign, marketing campaigns or a piece of advertising, it all comes back to something as simple as emotion. Frills, bells and whistles won’t work unless you trigger the right emotion.

As mentioned in the audience, here are five strategies for audience engagement:

1. Establish a Connection. You have to actually connect with your audience before saying anything important. “Techniques to connect include asking for the audience’s attention, if only with a powerful and warm greeting, followed by silence and eye contact.”
2. Say Your Killer Piece First. So you have established your connection? Directly after that, you need to say your most important piece of information. It should be a main framing piece that will help guide all that follows, and stay in your audience’s memory.
3. Never Finish Without a Recap. Always close with a re-brief of what your main most powerful framing statement was about.
4. Make it Memorable. We all have to keep in mind how much we are bombarded with information at every point of our day. Whether it’s TV, Social Media, Phones, Emails, and Meetings etc. Make sure what you are trying to say is simple, and easy to remember. Repeat your most important points.
5. The Rule of Three. The most important take away of the whole article for me was the rule of three. Have three main points, topics or examples…but never more than three. People just won’t be able to focus on more. Make it short and sweet, but keep it to three.

I am so looking forward to the book. Look out for a review on the book and it’s main principles…as soon as I get through it!

Rules of Engagement - Getting The Word of Mouth Buzz

I recently read a great article by David Johnson. In his piece he dispels the notion of Return on Investment, and in it's place puts forward the notion of ROE - Return on Engagement. We all strive for word of mouth buzz. Why? Because it is cheaper to have someone tell their friends about how awesome your product or service is than to spend advertising, sales, and marketing dollars on gaining new customers. What is often forgotten through out the entire discussion of winning over new customers and social media campaigns to propagate word of mouth buzz is Customer Service and Customer Engagement.

David brought up some valid points. We put a lot of money, time and effort into running great social media campaigns. Tweeting, Posting and Blogging takes up time and energy - but are relatively low cost. What would happen if Marketers or Business Owners would set aside a budget for Customer Experience and Customer Engagement? Yes, you still need the Social Media Campaigns, you still need marketing, advertising and branding. But what if companies really started taking care of their customers. Here's how:

Managing Expectations.
There should never be a difference between what people expect and the actual level of service you provide. Of course, we live in a more realistic world, so let's just say companies need to minimize that gap as much as possible. Nothing new right? But think about it. If you fall short and the gap is large, customers will put out some negative comments. If the there isn't a gap at all, everyone is happy and content and you will get some good comments. The GREAT comments come when you go above and beyond the customer's expectations. Once you start exceeding, the customer starts to fall in love.
David likes to call this Customer Enchantment. And I agree with him. Too often, companies do what they can to get by.

Reactive vs. Proactive
Customer service = Reactionary. Companies react to an issue, they react to comments, and are only motivated to react once there is a problem or something to react to. What would happen if we shift this so that companies are Proactive. Spend some extra time and treat the cusotmers to something that in the long run will not only make them happy, but also convert them to a long term customer and brand advocate. David included the story about the boy and the starfish, and I think it's a great analogy to how companies need to start thinking:

"...there are thousands of starfish beached upon the sands where a little boy, one-by-one, is throwing the starfish back into the water. When asked why he’s even bothering when there are too many to make a difference, the little boy replied after throwing a starfish back in the water, “It mattered to that one.”

So how do companies do this? They put together a budget for proactive customer service. Get employees on the same page - train them, make sure the employees are happy - and they will be able to speak for the company in a great and positive light. Empower your employees to be your brand ambassadors, and they in turn will reach out and create their own armies of brand ambassadors. Make your employees aware that going the extra mile will help everyone in the long run.

If you hear something come from a customer, go above and beyond to engage them or help them. This isn't the wine and dine 'em mentality of old school business. This is going the extra mile to exceed expectations. Example: You hear a customer is buying your product for his daughter's birthday. You go above and beyond the sale, to ensure that the product is properly wrapped. Then you offer some great items to make the deal even sweeter. How about a gift card for future use. Not only will the father feel like he is special and getting great service, the daughter will come back and use the gift card. She too will love the product, and will Tweet, Facebook and spread some brand love.

Viral Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! Before signing off for the weekend, check out Viral Videos and Fun page. You will find the top 5 most viral videos of the week, along with some of the funniest. Get laughing!

In honor of St. Patrick's day, check out a Guinness commercial created by AMV BBDO London.Round up your mates for Guinness on St. Patrick's Day features Roy, a border-collie sheepdog, and some herding sheep - aka a group of lads! Guinness almost always have great ads and great brand marketing campaigns.

BENG! in the Press

It's been a few months now since we picked up our Ninja Star at the Best Event Awards in Milan, Italy. Such an honor to be nominated, and to have won - especially seeing the cases we were up against. We have had great feedback since winning and we always welcome questions, comments and chats about what we did, how we did it and what we were trying to do. 


Most recently, Event Marketer decided to feature us in their Green Lights section. The article explains exactly what we wanted to do and how to incorporate all of the incredibly important Eco-friendly elements into the event.  Click here to read the article.


For more information on BENG! visit our website.


Thank you to Rob Captijn, our Strategy Director, and Ballast Nedam for making this all possible!

Touchscreen Vending Machine with Facial Recognition

Sanden, a Japanese company, recently joined foreces with Intel and Okaya Electronics to provide a new type of vending machine. The machine features a 65 inch HD transparent touchscreen front panel that provides consumers with product information, pricing and interactive animated graphics. The screen also has facial recognition technology and will make suggestions to consumers based on their gender and recorded preferences.  I really hope this technology gets picked up by the event and brand marketing industry. It would be such a great application for brand marketing experiences.

[PSFK]