Check out this video!
It's part of Volkswagen's The Fun Theory Initiative. "This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."
Let's get real... What they are really trying to do is to change your purchase behavior - "Buy more Volkswagen's!"
The campaign invited consumers to submit ideas and inventions that help prove The Fun Theory: that fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior. There were finalists and a winner - and some pretty neat things came out of the contest!
Volkswagen connected with potential customers using fun, while tugging at their heartstrings by aligning themselves with altruistic causes chosen and created by consumers - via stories told by consumers. It's actually quite ingenious.
By combining the new reality of brand storytelling - where your story is in the hands of the consumer - with "fun" to positively shape their brand image... did they ultimately drive sales? I’d be interested to see what – if any – ROI they gained and could prove resulted from... Read more
Archive for Katharine Panessidi 
Fun and Humor in the Art of Persuasion
"Digital Marketing to Millennials"
I am part of Generation Y. Its members are referred to as Millennials. According to Wikipedia, Millennials' "birth dates range somewhere from the mid-19070s to the early 2000s." I'll keep my birth date to myself.
In the U.S. Milllennials grew up (or are growing up) using computers and cell phones, and are therefore familiar and comfortable with "communications, media, and digital technologies" in a way that those who learned the use these tools later in life are not. For example, we watch TV on our laptops more than on that big screen in the living room. Watch TV on someone else's schedule? I think not! Millennials are 73-million strong, easy to find online and through mobile media, but notoriously difficult to engage.
It goes without saying that marketing to this demographic should be unique and targeted. At iMedia's Brand Summit in June, Carol Phillips, President, Brand Amplitude, LLC will lead an hour-long master class on this topic. She'll discuss how the ways that brands connect with customers is being transformed by social media, 4-screen convergence and increased mobility.
Phillips argues that engaging Millennials through digital marketing requires a new set of strategic tools including: culturally... Read more
Beyond the Basics of Mobile Advertising
"Instead of viewing mobile marketing as a new kind of advertising distribution platform, we should instead approach it from its greatest strength – as an "activation" or "response" mechanism by which we can respond to commercial messages, not that we experience on the handset, but in OTHER media," says Rick Mathieson. In this Sunday's Creative Showcase: "Transforming the Mobile Experience" at iMedia's Mobile Boot Camp, Mathieson will share some of today's most innovative mobile experiences.
Mobile advertising in the form of WAP banners and SMS advertising is very valuable, and there is also so much more you can and should do that's creative and interesting. In this Sunday's Mobile Boot Camp, you'll learn how to get started today!
eMarketer's Noah Elkin will show how brands are reaching out to their customers with mobile apps, describing success stories and the creative marketing strategies that made them work. AKQA's Dan Rosen will share some successful mobile case studies that integrate social media.
Not only is Mobile Boot Camp going to be a case-study rich day where you'll hear from marketers who are already "on the mobile road," but you'll also learn where the money is in mobile, how to measure your mobile... Read more
