IcelandAir - Icelandic Tourism
MARKETING
Iceland or AI? test
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
This was a creative and interactive way to highlight the incredible natural beauty of Iceland, and highlight the fact that so many travel photos that are showing up recently are AI generated/enhanced.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
I’m kind of torn on this. I think the idea is really great, but the fact that some of the images in the quiz looked legit but turned out to be AI seemed weird to me. If the point is to emphasize that your country is so beautiful that it doesn’t need AI, having some images in the quiz that are AI generated seems to undermine that.
Rhode Island FC - Soccer Tickets
MARKETING
Themed ticket packages
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
The initial item that caught my eye was the New England Rivalry plan - a package that includes all of their games against the other teams in the region. When I went to their site, I saw that they are also offering a Celebration plan - all the games with specific events (fireworks, fan appreciation, etc.).
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
I think both of these packages are very smart. So much of sports’ appeal is the sense of community and pride of place that it can instill (although I have a lot of thoughts on how that is eroding - but that is another post for another feed). Your most likely rivals are your neighbors, and actively trying to build that up makes so much sense. For someone who is a casual fan, most of the teams that RIFC play are not going to mean anything - there is no connection with Birmingham, AL that is going to pull people in. But Hartford and Portland are the opposite - these are places that people in Rhode Island know and have been to.
I also really like the Celebration package. This is a bit more of a minor league baseball, family-friendly play, but that is a market that has massive potential for a team like this. Packaging all those events together is a great idea.
Jameson - Whiskey, kinda? But really Irish Tourism?
MARKETING
There were some videos that displayed as banner ads, but for the life of me I can’t find a full version of the spot.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
This ad put an unconventional spin on two products - both Jameson and Ireland itself. I don’t think that Jameson is something I would generally consider a tailgate or party staple, but this is certainly trying to position it as one. And secondly, it is planting the idea of visiting Ireland in the audience’s head - with or without an NFL game. There are lots of different channels offering travel content for people with the travel bug, but podcast commercials talking about football games is not one I’ve come across before.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
My name is Sean O’Brien and I live in Boston, so wanting to go to Ireland is a default setting for me, so this did work on me. However, what I really like about this is the creativity and unconventional angle. The NFL is expanding to host more games abroad, and places like Ireland are wanting the influx of tourists and cash that the games bring. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do see a game in Dublin in the next 5-10 years, but I think the real success of this campaign was the framing of Jameson and Ireland in a novel way.
Native - Shampoo
Apologies for the poor lighting…
MARKETING
Ingredient list on the back of the bottle.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
The back of the bottle replaced the traditional list of ingredients with a chart that has a translation of what each ingredient actually is or does. I didn’t even actually notice this until I was first using it and staring at my shampoo bottle in the shower, which I assume was the goal.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
I love the straight-forward nature of this. It is a good way to think about what your audience might be looking at, when they might be looking at it, and how you can speak effectively to them at that time. It is also a great way to build trust in the brand.
IndyCar - IndyCar Racing
MARKETING
Super Bowl commercials about specific drivers
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
Sports properties have been looking to talk about themselves, their competitions and their athletes in new ways. Series like F1 Drive to Survive have helped grow audiences and popularity by highlighting the personalities within the sport while also introducing how it works, the stakes, etc. These commercials seem to be clearly inspired by that approach.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
I am - admittedly - not the audience for this as I have no interest in car racing of any variety, but I do think the ads were reasonably effective. They do a pretty good job of giving you an idea of the racers’ personalities and backstories in just a few seconds. It doesn’t tell me anything about IndyCar itself, but I think for someone who understands the sport but doesn’t follow it that these could be very effective.
One issue I do have though is on potential ROI. The going rate for 30 seconds of Super Bowl ad time this year was $8M, so these 3 commercials cost $24M (not including production). I am guessing that Fox opted to give IndyCar that airtime for free - or heavily discounted - since IndyCar is also broadcast on Fox. I can’t help but think that for all that money a decent mini-series ala Drive to Survive could have been made instead though that would let you tell a much bigger story around the sport.
JetBlue - Discounted Airfare
MARKETING
Squares4Fares Super Bowl Promo
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
The morning of Super Bowl, I got a push notification from my JetBlue app that they were running “Squares 4 Fares”, a promo that plays off of the traditional Super Bowl squares game, with the twist being that each winning square would have a discounted travel route.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
I thought this was a super creative way to have leverage the Super Bowl without paying $8,000,000 for 30 seconds of ad time. When I saw the promo I was very interested, but that only lasted for about 10 seconds.
I opened the app to look at the promo and saw that all winning routes had to be booked by the next day, and travel had to happen the following week (with some of the eventual winning routes being “must travel in the next 2 days”). That time crunch, combined with the fact that each winning route was directionally specific meant that this promo was only going to be applicable for people who could travel in the next few days and happened to be in a city with an origin location. I don’t have any data but I have to guess that that is fractions of a percentage of the potential audience.
ROAD iD - Personal ID Tags
MARKETING
Referral codes that were packaged with my purchase.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
The referral cards have cute, fun cartoons on them, but what made me stop and save these way they suggested who you should send them to.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
I thought this was very clever. I really like the way they subtly suggest who their product could be a good fit for. “Know someone who enjoys adrenaline sports and other activities where they could get injured? They should have a ROAD iD. Know someone who will go off on their own without telling anyone? They should have a ROAD iD.”
I did wind up reaching out to some friends to pass them along.
One of my favorite campaigns ever
One of the coolest awareness marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen was for the country of Iceland. I don’t remember if it was the Icelandic Tourism Board or IcelandAir - but since they are both government entities it doesn’t really matter - the goal of either of those is “Come to Iceland!”
I had stepped onto a subway in Boston and the entire inside of the subway car was wrapped in wallpaper showing an Icelandic landscape in hazy red all around you. I remember riding through the black subway tunnels looking around at this otherworldly scene and my brain registering for the first time that Iceland might be a place to visit.
3 or 4 years later I went on my honeymoon, and our first stop was Iceland. Now, a lot of things happened between that subway ride and the honeymoon - I had friends visit the country and heard their experiences, I learned about IcelandAir’s extended layover option, and - of course - I did my own research to see if I was interested in going.
97% of your audience isn’t ready to buy right now, but investing in awareness marketing is key to building relationships and building pipeline so that you are top of mind when they are ready to buy. When I got on that subway, I was not ready to book a vacation anywhere, but when I was deciding on honeymoon destinations, Iceland was near the top of the list. And it all started with that campaign.
BOS Nation Football Club - Team name and branding
It all begins with an idea.
MARKETING
Too Many Balls video
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
The video starts with some pretty boiler-plate bragging about a home city and Boston’s tradition of sports excellence, before transitioning into the thrust of the video - which it does in a way that at first seems like an unfortunate turn of phrase before the rest of the video makes apparent that it is on purpose.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
BOS Nation received a lot of bad publicity for this video and actually apologized for it the day after it was released when it was pointed out that the message was trans-exclusionary. I think the idea of female empowerment is a great one, and I don’t have an issue with the borderline crass language, but this was executed poorly.
Capital One - Venture X Travel Card
MARKETING
Direct Mail
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
The envelope had an irregular shape and was made of a textured and sturdy stock that ensured that it stood out visually and physically when I went through the mail.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
I do really like this. I get so much junk mail and the look and feel of this made it stand out from the crowd. It ultimately didn’t work, though, because I already have a Capital One Venture X card.
IcelandAir - Icelandic Tourism
MARKETING
Graphic wrap of entire train car interior.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
The imagery was compelling and incredible. It looked like a sort of Mars landscape with its red light and sparse landscape. Riding under the streets of Boston with this surrounding you was impossible to ignore.
THOUGHTS & DID IT WORK?
Yes, it did work. It made me think about Iceland for the first time and squarely put it in my mind as a destination.