The Power to be Different
Keith Brennan, Account Manager PML, discusses the role of experiential activations in helping brands stand out and his experience in delivering one such campaign recently.
“We want something different” – the request that can send a shudder down the back of many a creative, media agency, advertiser or media owner. But this well-worn request is such an important challenge in an industry of traditions, but also one that is constantly changing and evolving. As Stefan Schmidt remarked at the most recent OMA Awards, OOH started as “cave paintings 40 thousand years ago but it is the most modern and honest form” of media. This is because Out of Home has evolved, and the Outdoor industry continues to adapt to the changing needs of advertisers.
Adapting to these needs and developing ideas, and ultimately activations, is becoming ever more important. OOH gives advertisers reach, through the vast range of advertising formats and environments. It is a media channel to connect with an audience on the go and to target your consumer where you want. More importantly it is a blank canvas, allowing advertisers to create something unique.
Recently, we were tasked with capturing an audience of young men by immersing them in our client’s product. Our client being EA Games and the product being the new FIFA 18 game. To PML this was a chance to create something different. EA Games are an advertiser that rarely use OOH, so this was an opportunity to highlight the benefits of the media and rather than using the classic formats we put a plan in place to create something that brought the product literally into the hands of their target market.
PML has long been breaking boundaries and using inventive techniques to showcase OOH, with our Innovation@ team leading the way. It’s a diverse team consisting of members from across all functions of PML Group; including client service, marketing, graphic design and IT. We believe in harnessing all strengths within PML Group to analyse briefs and come up with the difference that helps set our advertisers apart.
With the EA games brief for the launch, we devised several ideas that looked at capturing the target market using various OOH formats, and how we could complement these with special builds, engaging digital, interactive media and guerrilla stunts. We came up with numerous ideas for the brief, but one idea stood out from the rest, and when we sent the proposal to the client, we were glad that this was the idea that also excited them the most.
This process resulted in the development of the EA Sports FIFA Man Crèche, an idea conceived in our innovation hub, and brought to life by our Design+ team through weeks of collaborative work with our client and agency partners.
In the weeks of planning, there were several designs with various elements added and taken away as the special build started to take shape. The in-house Design+ team were able to give direct guidance of what was possible with regard to the various design and branding elements of the special build. Through a close working relationship with Eclipse Media, production experts in this field, we could achieve the exact idea we had imagined.
The location of the final product was Dundrum Town Centre, a key gathering point for our potential crèche inhabitants. Seeing this project come to life and gather attraction on social media through thousands of posts was an important objective for us, garnering added value and voice for our client.
Offering innovative and exciting Out of Home activations can deliver a novel way to market to consumers and stand out from the crowd. It delivers authenticity, fame and an opportunity for advertisers to create excitement about a product. Difference helps you stand out and something we endeavour to provide for our clients. Our team offer our client the power to be different. Something EA Games certainly achieved.
Originally posted on LinkedIN.
