No smoke publicity

Since I am personally a big fan of people NOT starting to smoke, I am very pleased to see that Fredrik Söderhielm, Secretary General for A Non Smoking Generation, has written a debate article in Aftonbladet (Swedish daily paper) asking the government to take harder action against tobacco companies and tobacco advertising, such as hardening the rules on exposing tobacco products in food stores. (The article can be read here, and here is an earlier press release about it.)

I have earlier posted about A Non Smoking Generation's anti-tobacco campaign and also a post about them winning an advertising award for that campaign.

I like that the organisation keeps getting publicity, because I do really belive that smoking is bad for you, and every kid that can be prevented from starting to smoke is so worth all the work I imagine the organisation is putting into their PR campaigns. The article was almost a full spread, and is probably read by a lot of people. Go Fredrik and A Non Smoking Generation!!!

Event manager blog

Sometimes I check out Nicole Jensens blog. She is an event manager from Brisbane, Australia, and she has useful tips for event management in her blog posts.

Virality Communication

Virality Communication is a Swedish communication agency. Their blog shows different viral phenomena all over the world (and of course also some of the stuff the agency did for clients...)

A nice "viral" inspiration!

Speaking of viral marketing...

YouTube can lead to many hours of fun, and if you, like I, enjoy Starwars, this YouTube-clip is quite hilarious!

Oh, and today LoveEvent blog is featured at Mastercom blog, check out this post!

1st of May Guerrilla, cont.

They May Flower organisation (Majblomman) is continuing the campaign. They have posters/boards all over town promoting Majblomman and the fact that you actually can vote for next years colour. Resumé has an article about it (in Swedish only). The fun part is that on the outdoor posters/boards, you can press a button to cast your vote, so people can vote while waiting for the bus. Fun!

I wonder if I can find a poster somewhere?!?

YouTube

I was just checking out YouTube, and this video clip of Susan Boyle on Britan's Got Talent has had over 40 million views! 40 millions!!! Thats quite huge!

And speaking of YouTube, a bunch of Swedish boys performed an "almost naked" dance, covering their privates with crisp bread, on the Swedish show "Talang" (Talent). The YouTube clips of their performance have also had a lot of impact, and they have even been featured by international blogger PerezHilton.com. You can read the blog post here, where you can also watch the clip. I got the tip from this article by Swedish Expressen (where you also can watch the clip).

The crisp bread reminded me of an old Swedish TV commercial, featuring Knäckehäxan (The Crisp Bread Witch). The commercial was made as a parody, and it wanted to make us buy more Start Muesli. I don't know if people did, but one of the lines from the commercial really stuck to people, and is still today used sometimes: "Sluta jiddra, börja trolla!" Watch the clip here.

Kreafon

A few days ago, when browsing the internet, I came across a nice blog. The blog is hosted by Swedish PR and communication agency Kreafon. I checked out their website and found it very interesting. They claim to be a full service agency, but I feel some things are missing. And by some things, I mean events. Events are a great way to enhance brand experiences, and combined with traditional marketing, a strong graphical profile and social media, a brand can gain great success with the target group consumers. So I think I will send them an email, offering my services! :)

So, this morning I did a normal Google search (normal for me anyway). I entered the words "advertising pr marketing" (but in Swedish; "reklam pr marknadsföring"). And I was a bit impressed to see that Kreafon, this relatively small agency (with only three full time employees) came up as the number one hit (after the sponsored hits)! It must be a sign! ;)

Though, I can't stop wondering why an agency who claims that they are good with social media and can help their customers build a stronger (online) profile, doesn't seem to have neither a Facebook Group nor a twitter account?!?

1st of May Guerrilla

In Sweden, 1st of May is sacred. Most people go out on the streets for demonstrations, solidarity is shown everywhere.

But 1st of May also holds another Swedish tradition; Majblomman, the May Flower (no, not the ship ;). The May Flower is an organisation that engages school kids all over Sweden. They go out on the streets and sell small flower pins and stickers (a different colour every year).



The income from the sales go towards helping other kids, the slogan being: "kids helping kids".



So, every year, around the middle of April, kids turn up everywhere, selling flowers. They usually have a small cardboard box where they have their flowers, and keep the money in their pockets.

This year (or maybe last year? I haven't really stayed up to date with the May Flower organisation), I'm guessing the May Flower contracted a communication agency to improve the May Flower brand and to communicate it, through guerrilla marketing.

First of all, the web page seems to be updated, and contains games and other fun stuff, in order to generate traffic.

Second of all: the kids have new nice bags that carry the flowers and their money.

















Third of all: a few days ago I saw stickers on many subway stations, promoting the May Flower.













And fourth: yesterday, at Hötorget in central Stockholm, I found this:
Flowers put up in the trees! That's what I call guerrilla! Fun, cheap, and attention driving!



Edit: Check out this article in the May Flower's press room, about the "start of sales" event at Hötorget.

Sheep

My life seems to be revolving around sheep.

-A few weeks ago I posted a link to one of my favourite Youtube viral videos: LED Sheep.

-Everywhere around me is a commercial from Tele2, a mobile company who use sheep to tell how cheap they are (a stupid Swedish word-joke).

-And today I stumbled over a very interesting online marketing blog by Tara Hunt: ::HorsePigCow::. She has two very interesting blog posts (here and here) that discuss what makes someone want to interact and work with someone else ("going from transaction to interaction"), all illustrated by "throwing a sheep". I like the comparison, and I am also a bit amazed about what influence Facebook has on marketing terms, because I'm guessing this will catch on...

Me, a few years ago, with the sweetest lamb.

And just for the sake of it: sheep at Wiki ;)

Unconference

Today I learned a new word: unconference (definition @ Wiki).
So, it's sort of a more "relaxed" conference, without high fees, that gather several people around one theme or subject. Sounds pretty much like a normal conference but with a little less structure? Or can anyone give a better comparison?

Different

A brand has to be different to attract customers, according to this blog post, and I am inclined to agree. I stumbled over the blog Brandsinger, a blog about brands, branding and building brands, and I will sure follow it.

And I have joined BridalTweet, a new wedding community. Check out my page there!

Swedish Communication Agency

Stumbled over a Swedish Communication Agency: Hallvarsson & Halvarsson. Their Online Media department runs this blog, blogging about online media, PR, and how companies can take up more space online, and how they should use social media. Also about viral videos, Twitter, Facebook, marketing campaigns and more. Interesting, but only in Swedish.

Black Money

In need of some extra cash? Print them yourself at Diesel Black Friday.
(Unfortunately they are only valid in Diesel stores ;)

An interesting and more fun way to promote "30 % off-coupons"!

Another guerrilla/ambient marketing blog

Through twitter I found some new interesting stuff. Check out Mastercom advertising and communication blog here!

Guerrilla tips

I really enjoyed this post when I read it: 50 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using. I actually wanted to try number 8, to promote this blog when I first started writing, but since I live in Sweden, I would probably get fined for littering, so I decided no to. (Yeah, I know, boring, but I am really attached to my money! ;)

Anyway, lots of good and quite inspiring tips on how to promote you/your company/your event through guerrilla marketing.

Swedish Sensory Marketing

I have earlier written about sensory branding (the use of all five senses in marketing campaigns), and now there is a Swedish book on this topic. I got my hands on "Sinnesmarknadsföring" ("Sensory Marketing") yesterday, and I'm really looking forward to reading it. The book is written by Bertil Hultén, Niklas Broweus and Marcus van Dijk, and it was voted Swedens best marketing book of the year in 2008, so I can't wait!

P.S. (They have also translated the book to English)

My Quest (again)

On my quest to find GOOD Swedish guerrilla marketing agencies, Google guided me to this Swedish guerrilla marketing (allegedly) agency: Contras. (Site only in Swedish, sorry.)

On their site they claim to be using guerrilla marketing methods, but
1) they only seem to be doing web sites, and marketing for web sites on the internet (which in my world doesn't count as guerrilla), and
2) I am really allergic to companies that don't spell properly, on purpose.

I am contra Contras.

My Quest

I have a quest. The quest is to find good Swedish guerrilla marketing agencies.

I stumbled upon a site this morning: Gerilla Produktion. Unfortunatley the site is being updated, so there isn't that much information on it right now, but I will keep an eye on them for the future...

Luxury Wedding Planning

For those of you that feel you have a few extra 1000 dollars to spend on your business: check out engage!09. A high impact luxury wedding business summit on the Cayman Islands...

Again, too bad the Caymans are way too far from Sweden... Seems like Sweden is quite far from many things! ;)

Business Conference for Wedding Planners

Check out Eventology 2009 website and blog!

To bad Indianapolis is so far from Sweden...

Guldäggsvinnare (The Golden Egg)

The Advertising Association of Sweden are hosting the most prestigeous advertising/PR award in Sweden: Guldägget (The Golden Egg). The Golden Egg winners were announced yesterday at a gala at Konserthuset in Stockholm.

The winners, in the category of PR, were: A Non Smoking Generation, with their campaign: "Deception by Marlboro" (site text only in Swedish, but lot's of pictures, so you get the drill)
For the jury's motivation, you can read an article at Resumé, here (Swedish only). The agencies behind the winning PR campaign are Agent Kommunikation and Tank/Y&R.

I made a blog post about it earlier (here), as I found it to be a very innovative campaign, and I think (and hope) it really made an impression in the lifes of young people who stumbled over it.

Keep it smoke-free, kids! ;)

Smokin' guerrilla letters?

Scandinavias biggest business magazine about media and marketing communication, Resumé, reports that the advertising agency Mecka worked together with Nexans, in order to promote Nexans' new electrical halogen free cables. Having no halogen in the cables apparently makes them "low smoke & flame retardant". (Sorry, the article at Resumé is only in Swedish.)

So, Mecka sent out a first letter that smelled of smoke (written by a fire fighter) and and a second, water damaged, letter (written by a risk engineer). The third letter they sent out was written by Nexans and it adviced the receivers to visit the campaign site. (Unfortunately, Resumé did not link to that site, and I haven't been able to find it...)
EDIT: http://www.nexans.se/halogenfritt/ (Thank you Anders!)

A fun idea, and hopefully a smoke-smelling letter will attract the eyes (or nose) of the recipients.

Event Secrets...

A quite useful site: eventsecrets.com, which is (according to their own website) "one of the web’s leading event management and event planning websites". It has lot's of good tips for event managers, but doesn't seem to be updated with news that often.