Win an online campaign worth €25K with Pigsback.com

That Curly is a clever piggy. Not only is he now Guaranteed Irish, he's also offering one Irish brand a €25K campaign, throwing the full reach and expertise of Pigsback.com behind it. And here's me pimping it.

In-joke aside, this is a big chance for charities, events, start-ups to get their brand out there for free with the resources of a marketing company operating in the Irish market since 2000.

Basically Pigsback is a loyalty site with offers and competitions for the people who sign up to the site who are rewarded for giving details and opting to get targeted newsletters and surveys based on their location interests. It means they have unparalleled "targeting based on who-you-are" capability.

Given the fact they boast an active Irish member base of almost 300,000 with a comprehensive email and statistics package coupled with the expertise of working with most of the country's top brands, the potential of a well thought out integrated campaign seems a no-brainer to anyone with limited or no funding. Just imagine your site or logo promoted like the below:



Given the volume of emails that Pigsback send any brand getting (pardon the pun) onto the site is sure to get attention and awareness, if not interaction. It is, as I said, a great opportunity for some company to get targeted emails sent on their behalf by a company that knows what it's doing. I can certainly think of a few things I'd be planning.

One of the things Pigsback has always operated on - in its Empathy Marketing principles - is trust and this is is possibly the most enticing part of the offer. It would be fair to say that Pigsback members trust Curly and all he delivers. This seems as important now as when I worked there

The terms and conditions include an entry of not more than 250 words, you must be an Irish manufactured brand or supplied service to be eligible and you will not have run a campaign on Pigsback.com before. You should check this out before March 31, 2009.

Good luck - hope you do well!

Ryanair are looking for younger fans with Mr Superfly

Ryanair are trying to "rescue the pop charts" and are now backing the single above to reach number one in the charts.

" 'Mr. Superfly' is a fly with superpowers living in the parallel fly universe of 'Flyspace'.

He came into being when one of Ryanair’s 58 million passengers heard the in-flight music and liked it so much they decided to make a single based on the tune."

The fly-in-question's name is Ryan (geddit?), and there's quite a detailed back story to him, including his work as an Air Traffic Controller, his trip to the Buzzney theme park in Paris and his secret super powers. Perfect kid material and a great memory prompt for Ryanair. Wait for the merchandise, toys, t-shirts and figures free with every kids meal on board a flight...



You've got to hand it to the marketing people. There's his website selling his single (79p) and mobile realtones (£3 a download), you can download his tracks, he's got profiles on Bebo and Facebook and he's got his own MySpace page. The song is being released on November 10th and can be pre-ordered on ryanair.com/superfly which is linking through to the main site. The site itself is well designed and fair play, it's an interesting concept that could - pardon the pun - really take off.

It looks like it could be the next crazyfrog, but sponsored. No doubt we'll be hearing "He's fly, he's fly, he's Mr Superfly" on every Ryanair flight for quite a while to come.

God help our ears.

LiveIt.ie - one of the poorer campaigns I've seen. Probably.

I'm not really into soccer, but I was at the Luas stop and was bored. So I saw this ad for a FREE UEFA 2008 Supporters pack. I never say no to free stuff.

I had to either visit the website or text (standard rate) to 51444.

Not having my laptop with me, I opted for text. The reply was

To claim your free
CARLSBERG football
we need your email.
Please reply with
the word EMAIL and
your email address.
To STOP reply STOP.
Dont FWD to <18.>

Grandio so, off went my reply to receive this text:

Thanks. We've sent an
email to that address.
Please fill out the
forms and we'll send
you your CARLSBERG
football. To STOP
reply STOP. Dont FWD
to <18.>

And then... the subsequent email read...



That's right... visit the website to register. So tell me, what was the point of the text message in the first place?

The email wasn't personalised, it didn't say thanks for texting - in fact it had no recognition of who I was. They could have as easily

(a) not had the text option in the first place, or
(b) written "Text Email followed by your email address to 51444"

But I suppose people may have not got that. Complete waste of two texts, after which they now have my number and my email address. "Nice".

To add insult to injury, after the registration process on their site which gets all your details (if you're honest) and your friends (if you want them to) and then sends you an email saying:



"... Your details are currently being processed. Should you qualify you will receive your kit..."

Should I qualify? Would it not have been easier to have a counter so you could say "We're sold out, they're all gone, sorry" or something similar?

Honestly, who thinks these things through? Did they charge a large amount of cash for it? Probably.

I know it's churlish of me to complain about free stuff but for the amount of data I've given you'd expect something better than "ah sure we might send you it".

I'm still waiting to see a clever advertising campaign integrating web, text and phone. Bluetooth would be an added bonus. I'm keeping an eye on Paul Dervan's great blog on marketing to see what's out there.

I'm also really liking Ads of the World which I found over on the Prosperity blog.

Even though I'd probably break a leg...

... I'd still love to try this in the right pair of jeans.



I saw this over on Ina's blog today and I love it. LOVE IT!

Where can I buy a pair?

Luxury Brand Engagement

Mulley has blogged recently about community management and how brands should monitor their audience.

Today on NetImperative I read the ‘Luxury Brand Engagement Model’ developed for luxury brand owners on how to contextually and relevantly reach niche consumer audiences.

It's based on six key stages of consumer luxury goods purchasing behaviour. However, I'd go so far as to suggest that most of these should be a guide for all brands, brand managers, community managers, site editors, website managers or anyone in whose interest (or job spec) it is to actively connect and engage with consumers online.

1. Awareness

• Be there, to stimulate word-of-mouth and keep consumers ahead of the game
  
  
• Underline exclusivity through sympathetic targeting and exclusive content
  
  
• Reinforce brand values by pushing offline creative to the next level online

2. Admiration

• Set the gold standard for digital advertising; captivate don’t irritate
  
  
• Offer rational and emotional engagement – entertain consumers online
  
  
• Encourage sharing and talkability – provide interactive elements to pass on

3. Exploration

• Convey brand heritage, authenticity and quality to reinforce brand mythology
  
  
• Replicate in-store experience to extend excitement online

4. Consideration

• Enhance luxury experience through digital media; make the intangible, tangible
  
  
• Flatter the luxury consumer, provide expert advice and peer-to-peer consultation

5. Purchase

• Deliver a superior online purchasing experience
  
  
• Direct visitors to retail stores to complete the experience and purchase cycle

6. Ownership

• Welcome digital consumers to ‘the club’; enhance sense of belonging

I find it difficult to think of any Irish websites doing this well. Innocent Drinks stand out as leaders in the field but in terms of keeping me interested, I don't know of many at all. Anyone got any examples?