Disrupt the traditional purchase cycle
What looks like crisps, tastes like crisps, but will enable you to fly to Barcelona? Well it’s a Transavia France plane ticket of course. Last year the budget airline set-out to reframe how customers purchased air travel, cutting out the hours of deliberation and turning it into an impulse buy. There are no images of dreamy cities or exotic beaches, just the promise that this packet of crisps has the power to transport you far away from the mundane supermarket. One way for brands to stand out in often crowded sectors is to talk about their offer from a new perspective, moving away from the traditional purchase cycle to engage with customers in new and surprising ways.
Another French brand Pimkie, has been turning hotel wardrobes into fashion minibars. Just like a regular minibar women can purchase a selection of clothes and accessories chosen to compliment the weather and location of the place they are staying. The brand has looked at their fashion conscious customer (who always forgets to pack something) and found an unexpected, yet useful, space in which to play.
Recently we’ve also seen some innovative pop-up ideas from charities. The First World Problem Store sells a range of pills for ailments including ‘Under-performing Wi-Fi’ and ‘Hearing the TV whilst eating crisps’. Money from the pills (which are actually peppermint placebos), goes to the Dutch AIDS Foundation. Whilst Crack+Cider appeared on the London high-street during the Christmas period, the shop sold useful items for homeless people, like backpacks and umbrellas, that could be purchased during a festive shopping trip. Reframing an offer will give brands a unique voice and help engage customers at times they least expect. Try not to focus on what your competitors are doing, look at where your customers are and find new ways to pleasantly surprise them.
Read on for examples…
The Economist were looking for a subscription-driving technique that would reach liberal thinkers, leave a lasting impression and result in daily sign-ups.
The publication, known for its authoritative insight and opinion on international news, is a challenging read and needed a campaign to reflect this.
Discomfort Food on the surface is a simple coffee cart, dispensing free cups and giving staff the opportunity to sell subscriptions. The twist came when customers discovered the coffee was in fact the infamous Kopi
Luwak blend, also known as ‘cat poo coffee’, made only from beans that have been eaten and ‘passed’ by a civet.
Customers willing to try this coffee were considered broad-minded, aligning them with the profile of an Economist reader. By giving potential subscribers this status, The Economist saw a noticeable increase in daily sign-ups.
Following on from this initial activation, the campaign has trialled insect ice cream and this year will see the incorporation of virtual reality for the ultimate discomfort experience.
Agency: Sense, London
London King’s Cross station is not exactly where you would expect to go car shopping. However, a temporary installation from BMW has made this possible. A large wall erected in the concourse displays images of different car models, each with a unique Shazam watermark. By scanning a car’s image with a smartphone, potential customers will be sent to the relevant page of the BMW website to complete a purchase. For time-poor customers the activation takes advantage of the micro-moments spent waiting for a train.
Agency: FCB Inferno, LONDON
To position themselves as the go-to retailer, anytime, Amazon have tapped into the fundamental truth that we are often reminded of what we need to buy in the most unlikely places. The campaign illustrates the simplicity of the Amazon app, disrupting the traditional purchase cycle by making shopping an anytime/anywhere activity. This idea is brought to life with a series of ads that highlight the ridiculous situations that can trigger our memory – a girl’s hoop earrings make a waitress think of curtain hoops and a chubby man in a yoga class reminds a fellow student to buy a meat thermometer.
Agency: Lucky Generals, London
Claro, Columbia’s biggest TV network provider, wanted to encourage their existing subscribers to use the pay-per-view service, which includes all the latest movie premiers. They converted a universally hated thing – a bill, into something they will love to receive – the Yummy Bill. This new Yummy Bill included a code for a free movie and once put in the microwave transformed into a pack of popcorn. Following the campaign Claro video subscribers increased by 89%.
Agency: Geometry UK, London
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