New Year

Well, as you all may have noticed, I haven't updated this blog very often lately. I feel a bit sad about not having the time to do it, due to my daytime work, and also due to my weekly commuting between Stockholm and Göteborg.

I will not make any new year's resolutions about posting more often though. LoveEvent will live on, but more quietly and not so actively, waiting for better times. Times more suitable for me to pick this up again...

I'd like to end this year by writing a short post about two companies who I have written a lot about this past year: ICA and A Non Smoking Generation, who now have a campaign together.

Read more on A Non Smoking Generation's blog, or at ICA's facebook page.

(My older posts about A Non Smoking Generation and ICA.)

Until next time; Happy New Year and I wish you alla 2011 full of energy and new opportunities!

Com Hem repeating themselves

Com Hem (I have written a few posts about them before) have made another TV commercial. Still funny, but they have now gone with the same concept for quite some time. Maybe it's time to renew?!?

F**king brilliant commercial

Yeah, well, I'm sorry for swearing, but this is the best commercial I've seen in a loooong time! A friend of mine shared it on FB today, but the video has been uploaded on YouTube since the end of August. My only regret is that I haven't seen it until now.

I'm not going to spoil it for you, so just enjoy! :)

Eco Wedding

Want to get married without making an impact on the world? Looking for ecological food for your wedding? Needing tips on how to make your wedding more eco friendly?

Look no more! Check out these sites: Eco Bride (in Swedish only) and Eco Wedding . Full of ideas, and tips for ecologically aware brides.

Also check out The Natural Weeding Company, a directory of companies and products that are ethical, eco-friendly, vintage, organic, green, handmade or local, in the UK.

And as a last tip: Hällsnäs, a lovely wedding venue just outside of Göteborg in Sweden. They arrange eco friendly weddings, and even if you're not getting married, check out the lovely pictures. Enjoy!

Photo by Jina Lee.

Logotype from hallsnas.se.

The power of social media

Sunday evening, one of Sweden's more "non-politically correct" political parties, anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, were voted into the Swedish parliament. This rose a lot of protests, and just a few hours after the results were official, several Facebook groups were created, encouraging people to demonstrate on Monday evening.

In Sweden's three largest cities; Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö, around 10 000, 5 000 and 2 000 people gathered in the town centres, protesting. And this was less than 24 hours after the results! The power of social media!

(English article here.)

SAS Gay Wedding

Scandinavian Airlines, SAS, are right now having a nice wedding campaign. In December, they hope to host the first same-sex wedding in the air!

Couples have submitted photos and their stories and people can vote for the couple that they think should get the opportunity to be married aboard one of SAS' fligths from Stockholm to New York. The happy couple will of course also receive a honeymoon package with hotel nights etc.

A good way for SAS to get traffic to their web site, to get some media attention and also to get some goodwill in showing where they stand in HBT issues. Go SAS! :)

Picture from SAS.se.

Funny diva

I just saw the funniest Snickers commercial on TV. It's not that new, but hilarious if you haven't seen it before! :) Enjoy!

Sounds like branding

So, it's vacation time here in Sweden, and that for me means a lot of reading.

I've just finished reading Sounds like branding, by Jakob Lusensky.

It's a book, that talks about how your brand "sounds" and how that affects your customers and can make them interact more with your brand. Very interesting, and I really like that he talks about lovemarks. Lovemarks is one of the reasons I actually decided to start blogging, because when I read about the concept, on a trip to New York some time ago, I got amazed and wanted to explore the marketing/branding world more. The word in itself is also what inspired me to name this blog (and my company) to LoveEvent.

Picture from Bokus.com.

Now this blog has come to be about a lot more than lovemarks, but nevertheless, the word means a lot to me. :)

Check out the Sounds like branding blog.

What a wedding!

The bride looked absolutely stunning, the guests were fabulous, the people cheered and applauded and neither the groom nor the bride hesitated when reading the vows in church. It was really pretty, and we watched the wedding ceremony on a big screen in the middle of central Stockholm. Afterwards we tried to watch the happy couple who went to the city in a horse-drawn carriage, but there were so many people lining the streets, wanting to see and vawe. I managed to get a few seconds of film, but that was all.

The peak of the evening was Prince Daniel's speech to his wife, Crown Princess Victoria. It was one of the most beautiful, well written, thought-out speeches I've ever heard, and the applauses didn't want to stop. It was such an utter declaration of love, and of course I cried like a baby. ;)

All the best wishes to H. R. H. Crown Princess Victoria and her new husband H. R. H. Prince Daniel!

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

I love you, tomorrow. You're only a day away....

So, tomorrow is finally the big day. The Royal Wedding. I'll of course be there to wave to the happy couple after the ceremony, and I'll report some more on Sunday.

Mr. Daniel Westling's coat of arms, from www.royalcourt.se.

Star Wars Wedding

If you're a Star Wars Fan, and you happen to be in Florida in August, be sure to check out Star Wars Celebration V, a (what seems to be) huge convention for Star Wars fans. At the convention, you can actually choose to get married, Star Wars style. Choose between a "light side" or a "dark side" ceremony and enjoy yourselves! (Please note that the ceremony isn't legally binding. ;)

Wedding at IKEA?

IKEA is running a campaign right now, where you connect to their campaign site through your Facebook account, propose to the love of your life, and the funniest/best proposal wins the couple a 50 guest reception, complete with food, decorations, flowers and everything.

I think it's a fun idea, so if you're about to propose; check out their site! :)

Picture from IKEA's campaign site.

Speculations were correct, unfortunately

The speculations about H. R. H. Princess Madeleine and Mr. Jonas Bergström having problems in their relationship, unfortunately seem to have been true. A few days ago, the Royal Court announced that the young couple will separate. That means only one royal wedding will be held in the near future, so that gives me another few years to try to land the account of the next one. ;) I don't mean to be disrespectful, I feel sorry for Princess Madeleine, but I'm sure she will find happiness soon!

Ice cream wedding

I've been meaning to write a blog post about ice cream. Not only because I simply LOVE ice cream, but also due to the fact that the whole of Sweden wants to ride the wedding wave created by the royal wedding to come. GB Glace, Sweden's largest ice cream manufacturer, have a clown, Clovve, as their mascot. Clovve will get married to Clovina, at Sweden's largest amusement park, Liseberg, on the 16th of May. Cute idea, and to honor their marriage (or possibly to sell more ice cream ;) GB Glace have come up with a special wedding ice cream cone; "Bröllopsstruten". And kanal 5 (a TV station) has created a whole campaign site, and will live stream the wedding on their site on the 16th.

Picture from GB Glace.

So, why I decided to write the ice cream post just today was that I saw (on Facebook, thanks to Anders Sporring) that 7Eleven/GB Glace give out one free ice cream cone per person (they have 5000 to give out) if you log on to their site using your Facebook account. Then you enter your phone number and get an SMS coupon that can be used in 7Elevens all over the country. (On the site they also have a counter, that counts down so you can see how many of the 5000 free ice creams are left.)

So, first they have a campaign to draw more attention to GB Glace (Clovve getting married). Then they give out free samples to even more strengthen the brand and make people love it. Clever. They even get your email address and phone number; you give them up voluntarily, because you know you'll be getting one of their delicious ice creams, for FREE! Even more clever.

Picture from GB Glace.

But what happened next is a short tale on how marketing campaigns make people (me) buy something they maybe didn't need.

I'm on a no sugar/no carb diet. I do it for multiple reasons, but I try, as best as I can, to keep sugar/carb intake as low as possible. So I don't buy ice cream. But then I saw the offer on Facebook, and thought: "Wow, a free ice cream. I can't pass on that, diet or no diet." I went to the site, entered my information while my mouth was watering form the thought of the ice cream. I got the SMS coupon sent to my phone, and went off to the nearest 7Eleven. Since I am in Stockholm right now, you're never far from one. On the way there, I call my husband, to tell him about this great offer. He had (of course) already seen it on Facebook and said; "but here in the north, were we live, we don't have any 7Elevens, so I won't bother." We had a short argument about whether he was right or not (and I must admit that I think he was), but this also made my craving for ice cream even bigger. I arrive at my 7Eleven, happy, thinking about the smooth ice cream running down my throat, only to find that they were all out of the wedding cone, Bröllopsstruten. Total disappointment. So, I take the next best route; I buy another ice cream. Of course I am disappointed, but I still have my coupon, I'll get my free ice cream another day, and I also have another delicious ice cream to munch away at right now, in the sun.

Picture from 7Eleven.

So GB Glace and 7Eleven "win". I fell for a cheap PR trick, went into the store, and came out with something I really didn't need or was planning on buying. Good job! ;)

Now, enjoy your ice creams out there, and I'll try to be present at Clovve and Clovinas wedding to give you a report.

(And yes, Liseberg wins too, since I'm actually considering paying the entrance fee just to go watch a fictional wedding... ;)

(And of course you can "like" Clovve on Facebook...)

Picture from Clovve's page on Facebook.

Royal wedding web

Yesterday, the Swedish Royal Court released the royal wedding web. A web site with information about H. R. H. the Crown Princess Victoria's wedding to Mr. Daniel Westling. Check it out if you're curious about the program or anything else.

No royal wedding

For those of you who were hoping for double royal weddings this year, it looks like you might be disappointed. H. M. the Queen announced to a Swedish newspaper that Her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine won't be getting married to Jonas this year, as previously planned, due to many issues around the royal family.

In my opinion, this is probably better for Princess Madeleine. She gets more time to plan her wedding and she will hopefully not have to worry about two royal weddings being too much for guests, family and the country of Sweden.

Unfortunately this statement also causes a lot of speculations about the young couple breaking up etc, but let's hope that's not the case.

My previous post about H. R. H. Princess Madeleine and Jonas.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons.

Courageux

Last week I went to Åre Guld, the jewellery store in Åre, to talk to Magnus who owns the shop. Magnus is also a jewellery designer who designs for a brand called Courageux, and I thought I'd just share some of his ring designs with you. Enjoy!

Åre Wedding Village

I've started up a new project in Åre, called Bröllopsbyn (The Wedding Village). In, and around Åre, all suppliers needed to plan and have a beautiful and unique wedding, are present. Åre has photographers, hair dressers, flower shops, a wedding planner, hotels, restaurants, caterers, activities suppliers, jewelers, churches and gorgeous surroundings. Simply put; whatever you need to create your dream wedding.

I got an idea from Anna, at Hotel Diplomat Åregården, to try to gather all suppliers, and market Åre as the perfect Wedding Village. So I contacted a few of the suppliers, and we decided to try to apply for some fundings from the Leader program, which is a EU program. The plan is to create a marketing material for the village and all it's suppliers, and to go on different wedding fairs, marketing all the advantages of getting married in Åre.

I've just finished the work for the initial application, and will send it in Monday. But browsing the news today, I noticed that another region had the same idea. An article in GP tells about a few wedding suppliers in Sävelången area, who are starting up a wedding project, applying for money from the EU Leader program.

Well, hopefully Åre will still be able to get a positive response on our application. *keep your fingers crossed* :)

Weeding at the Central Station

Last weekend, me and my husband took a weekend trip to Copenhagen. At the Central Station in Stockholm, I noticed a big red mailbox that I had to check out closer.

It turns out that Jernhusen, a real estate company, is hosting a wedding contest. You can win a wedding at the Central Station during the Easter weekend, all expenses paid for. (Well, almost all: hair, flowers, cake, music and a few more things are included.)

Before the 8th of March you can send in the story of your funny/different proposal and answer three questions, and you have the chance of being the lucky winner.

Jernhusen also have a few "love spots" all around the station.

On the contest's web page the company encourages couples to send in photos of themselves kissing or hugging at the love spots, and the photos will be published on the page. (Though I haven't seen any pictures yet, nor any link to pictures.)

A cute initative, and I wonder how many couples want to be married at the Central Station... I'll see if I can join the happy couple at the wedding on the 3rd of April, to take some pictures.

Happy balloons

Yesterday, while driving my little vitamin car around Stockholm, I noticed that someone had been placing colorful balloons on various lamp posts around the city center.

The balloons had different messages on them: "Hakuna Matata", "Feed the birds" and "Say hi to the palace guard".

I have no idea whose idea this is and what purpose the balloons have, but they sure brightened up my day. :)

(And sorry about the poor quality of the pictures. It's kind of hard to drive a car and take photos with your cell phone at the same time. ;)

eBay wedding reception

Do you live in Brisbane, Australia, and are planning to get married? Then check out this auction on eBay, starting at 99 cents! A hotel in Brisbane, the Normanby Hotel, is auctioning out a wedding reception for up to 80 guests, in order to celebrate the opening of the hotel's restaurant, Bovine.

Half of the income from the auction will be donated to the Brisbane's Royal Children's Hospital so you're making a good deed while getting a (hopefully) good price. So go on now, start bidding! ;)

Photo from thenormanby.com.au

Read more in this article from The Courier Mail.

And thanks to Weinrauch Photography for the tip on twitter!

The "missing" video from ComHem

I have had a few very busy weeks working on my "daytime" job, with Glacéau vitaminwater, but I found the video I blogged about a few weeks ago, from ComHem. It's funny, but unfortunately only in Swedish. Enjoy! :)



And check out someone who used ComHem's song, but the real TV intro's:

My other posts about ComHem.

And again....

I just have to blog about this ICA commercial. In my opinion, ICA keep making hit after hit after hit. This time they "copy" the commercial for Gina Tricot, a clothes retailer. The TV commercial was released in the same day as the news that Gina Tricot's model for the last 7 years, Pernielle Holmboe, is being replaced with Brasilian model Emanuela de Paula.

There are different voices to be heard about the commercial. Many think that the agency behind ICA's commercials, King, is making it easy for themselves, parodising everything. I on the other hand, find the commercials funny. So what if they are "just" parodies? They get attention and people adore the ICA "family". Why not credit the agency for that?

Wedding fair at Grand Hôtel

This past weekend I helped Bröllopsakademin at a big wedding fair at Grand Hôtel in Stockholm. It was great fun and I got a lot of inspiration. I'll share a few of the more interesting things with you:

Aldestam's custom make garters, in any possible color you want. I've seen many custom made garters in American web shops, but these are the first Swedish ones I see. They also carry all other sorts of bridal accessories.

Gorgeous hats/head pieces from Cecilia Olsson, who works as a hat maker for Fancy Lola.

And these roses are just the cutest. You can "print" on the outside of the rose, on the petal, any kind of message you want. The company Speaking Roses can also send the rose to someone for you.

Pilates, anyone?

The other day, when I was driving up Odengatan in Stockholm, I spotted some green balloons on lamp posts along the street. I had to stop and see what they were.

They were a guerrilla marketing campaign for Stockholm Pilates Center, who will host an open house event this Friday, to celebrate that they moved to new and bigger premises. The folder attached to the balloons said something like: "Help us puncture the myth. More than just balls, individual training for the whole body." I must say I thought the slogan was quite catchy, and today when passing by again, many of the ballons were actually punctured...

Catchy and eye-catching. And probably not too expensive. That's my kind of guerrilla campaign! :) Well done, Stockholm Pilates Center!

Make sure to also check out Stockholm Pilates Center's Facebook page!

(And if you look closely in the second picture, you can see my Glacéau Vitaminwater car in the background. Yep, that's the car I'm driving around in Stockholm all day long... :)

Driftig!

Me and my company LoveEvent, are from today featured as "member of the week" at Driftig.nu, Sweden's biggest community for women entrepreneurs. I'm flattered. :)

EDIT: My feature.

Driftig means something like enterprising, and next week I'll be attending Driftig.nu's Beautiful Business Awards, an award for exciting entrepreneurial women. It will hopefully be great fun to mingle around and see who will be nominated the winner!

Judit & Judit are late?

Today I saw a very funny TV commercial from ComHem. It featured Judit & Judit in various movies and TV shows, advertising TV "On demand". I liked the commercial, and decided to blog about it (check out my previous post about ComHem's Judit & Judit here.)

Though, I was a bit surprised to find that the commercial can't be found anywhere on the internet. I googled, and checked ComHem's YouTube channel, but didn't find anything. I was a bit annoyed. In my mind, if you release a TV commercial, why not release it in social media at the same time as well? I decided to call Judit & Judit (since they are the spokespersons for ComHem's customer service ;). I talked to a nice boy who didn't know much, just that the TV commercials were released today, and if I didn't find it on YouTube, ComHem probably hadn't had time to upload it there. He suggested me to take a look on ComHem's web site (which I already had of course) but he said he wasn't sure the commercial could be found there. Quite disappointing actually.

The picture in this post is from comhem.se, so apparently there was a launch event held in Stockholm, but then, even more so, why not follow up with a YouTube upload?

So, instead of a blog post about a funny (possibly viral) commercial, it resulted in a blog post about Judit & Judit being late with their uploads. Or am I wrong? Is there maybe a strategy behind this? Please enlighten me! :)