Spotted: London marketing you missed or couldn’t
After Amazon’s guerrilla rebrand of Westminster tube station as ‘Webminster’ in January, this autumn saw the Metropolitan line become ‘the train forest’ in a move by Little Miracles drinks, to coincide with Organic September. Hotel search and price comparison brand Trivago staged an ad takeover on the underground and Microsoft partners spoken word artist Suli Breaks to create a tribute to the London commute. Above ground the landmark Piccadilly advertising site is back in business after a technical update.
Coca Cola and others back at Piccadilly Circus
The iconic billboard space, Piccadilly Lights, owned by Landsec and operated by Ocean Outdoor has been subject to major renovations and is now lit up once more. Amongst the first to advertise on the newly refurbished space are Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Samsung, L'Oréal, eBay and Hunter.
Old screens have been replaced by Europe’s largest single out-of-home digital screen. It can feature six distinct full-motion ads in a patchwork design or utilise the complete screen for dramatic impact. The new big screen has recognition technology to target ads based on the crowds nearby.
The update enables flexible use of the space by advertisers with motion pictures akin to running six TV channels. The ads can also be synchronised to reflect things like changes in the weather with relevant creative treatments and provide live streaming, social media feeds or updates on sports results.
Piccadilly Lights teamed up with children’s charity Barnardo’s in the run up to the switch-on. People provided to donations to sponsor a colour chip that comprised part of the countdown clock on the big screen. Each chip added to a sea of shades at switch-on and raised funds for Barnardo’s while enabling people to be part of the historic moment as part of the #piccadillyon campaign.
See how Piccadilly’s ads have changed with this BT tech report:
Piccadilly Circus lights up again: See how it's changed from 1919 to 2017
Little Miracles train forest
Led by the Soil Association, Organic September prompts consumers to make small changes towards buying sustainable, organic produce.
The organic soft drinks brand, Little Miracles, used the occasion to highlight its own green credentials and new branding to London commuters. The stunt put together by Clerkenwell Brothers, saw one Metropolitan line train transformed into a green and floral setting.
Fred Searle reported on the makeover in Fresh Produce Journal, quoting Frederik Senger, founder and CEO of Little Miracles, “We all know that the underground is the last place you might think of when it comes to Organic September – that’s why this year we’ve decided to bring the Little Miracles bottles to life and give London commuters the ultimate train forest experience”.
The PR stunt was used to raise awareness of the Soil Associations Organic September, and draws attention to Little Miracles' newly branded soft drinks and teas.
Trivago’s omnipresent ads
Elsewhere on the underground, there’s the woman in the Trivago ads. Well not exactly elsewhere. More like everywhere. The hotel comparison site brand has whipped up a large amount of unpaid publicity too.
First eagle-eyed people spotted a likeness between Trivago’s model Gabrielle Miller and Robin from the TV series ‘How I met your mother’.
Next, commuters were spooked by the blue-shirted woman who seemed to always be everywhere.
And then there were the marketers decrying the lack of creativity, whipping up a debate amongst the profession that kept the brand in the spotlight. Writing for Campaign magazine, Sarah Hardcastle who is Creative and Conceptual Copywriter at Mr President calls for greater creativity:
“We can do better than bland media buyouts, and the British public deserves better than a bored model with a big search bar.”
Who needs creativity when your media buying power means you can immerse London commuters in wall-to-wall repetitive advertising that is impossible to ignore. And then go on to ride the wave of commentary about your brand. Trivago has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years and has around 120 million web visitors each month.
Microsoft’s collaboration with Suli Breaks
Staged in London, spoken word artists Suli Breaks and composer David William Hearn create the ‘Ode to the Commute’ sponsored by Microsoft. Hearn has previously been involved in the launch of Windows’ StaffPad a music notation app. Created together with ADTV Films, 3 Monkeys Zeno and Angel Studios the creative was produced over the course of a day using Microsoft Surface Pro laptop.
The Surface Pro has its own strong identity and the driver for the collaboration was to build on this desirability and illustrate the creative power of the device. The artistic blend of the poet’s words, with strong visuals and composer’s soundtrack - that features samples of London street sounds - is designed to resonate with creatively-minded people.
Championing artists adds to Microsoft’s credibility and makes the firm association between the Surface Pro and creative craftmanship.
London is a great place to work and live. As Breaks says in ‘Ode to the Commute’, “Some days doesn’t the city smell like inspiration.”