Eastern Cape Tourism Board were investigating a way to potentially leverage the brand off the 2010 FIFA World Cup experience and take full advantage of the influx of foreign tourists as well as the domestic tourists looking to escape the hype of the event.

Further to this point, the Eastern Cape Tourism Board was in the process of absorbing the Eastern Cape Parks Board to create one entity.

CHALLENGE

The challenge lay with defining a single, unique and differentiated drawcard that would stand out above the rest in terms of tourism offerings. As we had discovered through the research process, the Eastern Cape had a vast variety of tourism activities catering to tourists from all walks of life.

This made it extremely difficult to select a pure and distinctive theme moving into the brand development phase.

STRATEGY

Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency was asked to develop the brand positioning as well as the visual brand expression of the new ECPTA (Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency) brand. Through our proprietary rebrand process we researched and crafted this compelling brand that would be a first for the country in terms of the chosen direction, The Adventure Province.

Our process included in-depth research into the Province’s brand icons and inventory, insight generation and development of brand tools. The research process was immense – investigating current brand perceptions throughout the country as well as scouring the opinions of the international community.

The strategy then called for a nation-wide comparison of the Eastern Cape’s tourism offerings with the other 8 Provinces to further push the limits of offering a unique brand positioning. The route unveiled a select few product offerings unique to the Province.

The most prominent offerings had highlighted the Eastern Cape as a stand out in the adventure tourism market. We had uncovered a real, clear and compelling brand positioning! One that had been carefully researched against international and local travel trends, as well as our unique offerings. True to the process, The Adventure Province was born.

With the brand positioning finalised, Boomtown created a “Tourism Activities” tool which allowed us to showcase Adventure Province as an adventure destination for any and all travellers. It visually indicated the different levels of adventure one could participate in during their time in the Province, from majestic hiking trails to adrenalin inducing skydiving.

We also included a dramatic new corporate identity that would visually express the brand and highlight the key aspects of the Adventure Province positioning.

RESULT

• Boomtown developed an updated corporate identity for the newly formed Parks and Tourism Agency.
• Created an updated brand personality and adventure indicator.
• Unique graphic elements incorporating “Eastern Cape”.
• Developed a range of merchandise to create a new revenue stream.
• Positioned the Eastern Cape as the only destination for all adventure seeking travellers.

Although Stellenbosch is the historic leader for breathtaking wineland scenery, competitors such as Franschhoek and Robertson have been moving fast to improve their tourism offerings.

The unique advantages previously displayed by Stellenbosch, now being eroded through a lack of unified marketing messages and intense competition, saw the brand weaken to an extent where it lacked the emotional connections as well as the rational attributes it needed to entice tourists to explore and discover this unique town. The brand needed a new lease on life.

CHALLENGE

Franschhoek and Robertson had been moving fast to position themselves as the new destination of choice in the winelands, highlighting aspects such as gourmet culinary experiences and contemporary getaways for travellers in need of respite and relaxation.

Boomtown needed to delve deep to position the Stellenbosch area as a tourist destination that connected emotionally and brought the best out in the vast array of offerings the area possessed.

STRATEGY

Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency was asked to develop two unique brand directions that embodied all Stellenbosch stood for. Through our proprietary rebrand process we researched and crafted a distinctive, compelling brand that would market Stellenbosch to its fullest potential.

The process involved into a two-phase action plan following Boomtown’s strategic process. The initial phase, termed the Brand Audit Model, saw the Boomtown team immerse themselves in the history of the area, researching aspects such as the rich heritage of Stellenbosch, the renowned brand icons, the area’s competitors and concluding with the brand’s inventory and touchpoints.

Continuously drawing on unique insights uncovered in the research, Boomtown began crafting the two distinctive brand directions. These directions were put through the Boomtown Brand Development Model to create first, the brand personality – bringing the Stellenbosch character to life. Brand Pillars were created for the two directions, providing the platform for the brand to grow and express itself.

Finally, the Brand Essence was carefully constructed – meticulously piecing together the final framework to give the revitalised Stellenbosch brand life.

Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency completed the process by including a stunning new corporate identity that would visually express the brand and show its beautiful face to the world.

RESULT

• Boomtown developed a new corporate identity for the region.
• Created an updated brand personality.
• Unique graphic element to be used as a mark for Stellenbosch
• Position Stellenbosch as the benchmark for breathtaking luxury tourism in the global wine destination sector.

Background

Power outages remain a prominent issue in South Africa. Aggreko, a global leader in rental power solutions, recognized this issue and approached Boomtown to help them infiltrate the mining and manufacturing industries in the S.A. market.

The Challenge

Boomtown needed to connect with a very specific audience. A solution had to be formulated in order to cut through the clutter and communicate a very clear message to prompt a call to action. Aggreko provided Boomtown with a database of 2900 companies in the mining and manufacturing industries. It was left to Boomtown to find the right person within these companies to target. A carefully structured process was set in place so as to ensure that each package was delivered and received by the necessary contact person.

Strategy

Boomtown identified the primary target audience as the key decision makers within the top 500 electricity consumers in South Africa’s mining and manufacturing industries. These corporations would be susceptible to the threat of power cuts which would lead to a decrease in productivity for their business. Our Creatives came up with the ‘always on box’, a unique package that effectively communicated the concept and the importance of keeping a company’s power on to avoid down time. This 3 dimensional box was used to directly engage decision makers.

An extremely unique approach was undertaken with this campaign as Boomtown had to manage the entire process from building the database to setting up a call centre that followed up on every package delivery. With a clean database in place, Boomtown was able to send the package to the key decision maker. The call centre staff then followed up with each recipient to find out more about their power needs and to find out whether they were interested in speaking to an Aggreko sales representative.

Results

Boomtown clearly communicated the message Aggreko aimed at instilling, namely contact Aggreko to make sure your company’s power ‘always stays on’. 76% of the target market had not heard of Aggreko before equating to the same percentage increase in brand awareness amongst the target audience. Additionally, over 50% of respondents, agreed to setting up a meeting with an Aggreko rep which is a phenomenal response rate., Tthese results show the importance of such an extensive campaign. The Aggreko ‘Always On’ campaign has qualified for a ‘Leader Award’ at the 2011 Assegaai Award Ceremony.

In 2010, Cadbury embarked on a new phase of technological upgrades & processing improvements including the installation of automated machinery together with more efficient management practices. Whilst this bode well for future growth and success, the changes unfortunately necessitated cutting back approximately 30% of the existing labour force

CHALLENGE

• communicate the changes taking place in a clear & visual manner
• develop messaging to decrease the anticipated confusion and panic amongst the labour force
• instill and maintain a sense of pride amongst all employees to limit the negative impact on the factory’s productivity during difficult times.

SOLUTION

Boomtown developed a campaign which would speak to employees on all levels. ‘Raise the Bar’ was chosen as the campaign message as it spoke towards a unified and active involvement from all parties concerned to achieve excellence. The look & feel created was designed to represent a bright future – the designs fun and contemporary & the tone of messaging simple & light hearted to appeal to all levels of employees & boost morale in difficult times.

E-Square Enterprises (Pty) Ltd is f a group of companies, each focused at a niche area of specialization in fields supporting the E-Square vision of General Education and Training Band (GET); Further Education and Training Band (FET) and Higher Education Band (HE). The Enterprising Education activities are situated in the thriving urban heart of Nelson Mandela Bay and their vision is to establish an Enterprising Educational Hub in the easily accessible city centre of Port Elizabeth, creating a group of institutions which would cater to the educational needs to all their learners. The Educational Enterprise consists of three separate entities, Ed-U Varsity (former Ed-U City Campus), Ed-U Academy (former Ed-U Options Academy), and Ed-U College Primary and High Schools. Each of these institutions, although different in their student base and programmes, all have the same goal – developing their learners into self-motivated individuals who are ready to tackle the next phase of their lives, be it the next phase of their education or the corporate world.

CHALLENGES

There was a disconnect between the perceptions of the institution from enrolled students with the potential students. There was a clear gap between the perceived brand and the desired brand. Students were disappointed with the institution’s facilities such as the lack of sporting facilities, fees and learning materials. We therefore needed to create a brand which resonated with the youth of the 21st century and appealed to them in an urban environment.

STRATEGY

The strategy was to reposition the three Ed-U entities as integrated educational institution which catered for the needs of the cities youth by delivering on the promise of urban educational hope. To create an appeal to the students, we reworked the brand architecture to combat initial confusion among students. In order to address the brand gap, we had to align the internal culture with the external reputation which was done by following the “retain, divest, add” marketing theory. The brand identity was integrated by redeveloping all brand communication including stationary, the website, print and radio advertising and signage.

RESULT

Vibrant and youthful elements are integrated within the 3 brands. The logo consists of 3 books, each signifying one of the three Edu institutions. Bright colours were selected to signify the hope that the Edu institutions bring to learners and students. Each institute is branded with it’s own bright, unique colour which further differentiates between the three. Each slogan is a message directed to the specific target group of the three institutions. For the younger, who are looking for direction, “Hope. Learn. Grow.” For the young adults who are aspirational, “Learn. Grow. Evolve” and “Learn. Grow. Be free”. The brand is set to inspire future potential and nurtured growth.

Situated in the Western Portion of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, the Cacadu district Municipality consists of nine local municipalities and other portions collectively known as the District Management Areas. The Municipality is a new, multi-ethnic administration, formed by the ANC government.

CHALLENGE

Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency needed to position the area as a tourist destination and promote trade & investment to potential investors. The District had to attract tourism, communicate awareness of the brand to all markets and align promotion activities. The challenge was to promote the District as a destination rather than a government municipality.

STRATEGY

Boomtown re-branded the area as the 7 Wonders of our World which uniquely packaged the District into 7 destinations. Boomtown realised that tourists and investors are not likely to adhere to municipal boarders when making decisions regarding travel or investment; however the Cacadu District Municipality could not become obsolete in the marketing strategy. To market the destination while maintaining the Cacadu brand all tourism marketing represented 80% destination and 20% Cacadu District Municipality. Growth and investment was communicated as initiatives supported by the Municipality signifying the relationship between the private and public sectors in the area.

RESULT

The District has become more accessible to the public due to having a more solid identity. By stepping away from ‘government communication’ the brand has broken the stigma of government involvement in the promotion of an area. Cacadu has come into its own in terms of a Tourism and Trade and Investment destination and continued growth is being experienced. Boomtown’s work subsequently led to the re-brand of the Cacadu District Municipality being recognized as one of the world’s most effective re-brands in the seventh annual REBRAND 100® Global Awards. This REBRAND 100® Award, which falls under the merit category, marks the highest recognition for excellence in brand positioning, and is the first and only global programme of its kind. Both Boomtown and Cacadu hold this honour in high regard.

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan is a comprehensive university situated in Nelson Mandela Bay, and has been a client of Boomtown’s for a number of years. The university currently holds over 25 000 students across its six campuses, and is a market leader in tertiary education in the Eastern Cape province.

CHALLENGES

The marketing of a university presents many challenges: strong national competitors, the fickleness of youth, and all within a recessionary period. On top of this, how do you stand out against market leaders when your marketing budgets are a fraction of theirs?

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) faces these issues. Boomtown needed to create a campaign on a tight budget that had the potential to go way beyond the effectiveness of traditional media.

STRATEGY

Boomtown realised that to maximise the budget, a successful viral campaign was the best solution. But how does one make a viral campaign go viral? The answer of which had the potential to create great success for the planned campaign and deliver return on investment. By aiming at the popularity of social media channel Youtube and the effectiveness of word of mouth, a campaign was conceptualised with the idea of culminating in an experiential event which would be seeded to a pre-existing database.

The campaign theme was A Better U (the result of a life transformed through education), graphically made up of elements which linked in with youth trends. The message behind the campaign was that a tertiary education at NMMU would result in a better you, hence the need to submit an application.

The initial Open Day campaign acted as a teaser, with over 4000 entries being received for an iPad competition. This allowed Boomtown to build a database with names and email addresses. This database would be set aside as the seeding database for the upcoming Undergraduate campaign. Two months later Boomtown devised an activation to give the campaign momentum and take it to the next level.

By teaming up with the exceptionally talented NMMU Choir, choreography was www.boomtown.co.za planned and songs were selected that had “You” in the lyrics. A flash mob concept was refined for the popular, multicultural Port Elizabeth shopping centre Greenacres. The flash mob experiential event took place on a busy Saturday morning, and was filmed using handheld video cameras. The video was edited to include the performance, crowd reactions and the final campaign message: ‘U can stand out from the crowd.

For a better U, apply now.’ The video was uploaded onto YouTube and seeded on Facebook. Boomtown then utilised the database collected two months prior and sent the link to each individual on the database.

Instead of the cost expense of Facebook ads, an insight found that personal recommendations from peers received substantially better click through rates. Therefore a select group of ‘mavens’ linked to the target market was personally requested to post the link on their Facebook wall as a status update. The experiential event was backed up by traditional media in local press and radio.

RESULT

The results of the flash mob were remarkable. Over 85 000 hits were received within a month and the NMMU gained exposure worldwide, drawing comments from every part of the world. The campaign resulted in great brand building through the tapping in of modern and local insights, while driving a message using two of its values Ubuntu and Diversity, which came out strongly in the flash mob.

The Youtube video was one of the fastest growing South African videos of the year. The comments and responses on social media were overwhelming, and the video received hundreds of tweets, retweets, Facebook mentions and Youtube comments, with over 600 ‘likes’. According to an independent study, the NMMU flash mob video received over R400,000 Online Ad Value from exposure online – nearly 10 times the cost of production of the video. In addition, the video was showcased on radio stations various radio stations, and received exposure in local newspapers and on the television channel E News, earning an Advertising Value Equivalent of well over R300,000.

The campaign was able to capture the imagination of the public locally and internationally, and was an exceptional brand building tool. The exercise allowed NMMU to truly ‘Stand out from the crowd’ and positioned them as an innovative institution with a strong progressive attitude, all within a limited budget.

For years Castle Milk Stout was known as an old man’s beer, and the brand was neglected from a marketing communication perspective. As a consequence of that the brand took on a life of its own amongst consumers and Castle Milk Stout became the enclave of migrant labourers in SA, who were steeped in rural traditions, and also became the symbol of masculinity due to it being a strong beer. Castle Milk Stout’s corporate identity eventually revolved around the black bull – a symbol of wisdom, strength and  community.

CHALLENGE

A decision was eventually taken by SAB to have some marketing focus on Castle Milk Stout as it was seen as a strategic alcoholic brand within their portfolio of brands. They needed people’s perceptions about the brand to change, as there was a valid concern regarding the growth of the brand. This was largely due to the fact that for a long period the brands growth was stagnant. As a result, Castle Milk Stout had seen no growth and was not able to attract new consumers. In order to achieve sustainable growth Castle Milk Stout needed to appeal to a younger, trendier audience and talk to them in their language. Aside from that, it also needed to educate all the consumers new and old about this category of beers.

STRATEGY

The strategy was based on a key learning from insights that, because of the fast paced lifestyle that most people lead there was no time to pause and connect with close friends and appreciate things of value.

Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency needed to develop an occasion for drinking Castle Milk Stout with a new positioning that was grounded in the notion that people need to slow down to appreciate the things in life of real value, and that Castle Milk Stout will be the alcoholic beverage that provides the pause to connect and unwind. A new manifesto and a brand ladder were drawn up, from which a new strap line “There is a Journey in Every Moment” was conceptualized. This was also followed by a ritual to help facilitate drinking the brand, “Pour Pause Sip Enjoy”. Based on this platform, Castle Milk Stout associated itself to an Unwind occasion, where people take time to enjoy things of great meaning in their lives and they pause to connect with close friends.

RESULT

Boomtown, together with the brand team of the above-the-line Agency, Metropolitan Republic, implemented a new strategic brand positioning through-the line, which positions the product in a more premium manner and connects with the aspirations of the new high-flyer target market.

Integral in the brand development, Boomtown’s responsibilities on the Castle Milk Stout brand include below-the-line design of all marketing material, activating the brand in outlets, running national sales promotions and out-of-outlet experiential events to launch the new brand intrinsic and extrinsic.

Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency walked away with three gold awards and the overall Inkosi award, the top award of the night, at the Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards held on Thursday, 17 November. Boomtown entered two groud breaking campaigns that really stood out in the last year. The first was the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University flash mob used as part of the undergraduate campaign for the university and the second was the Agrekko Always On direct marketing campaign, which won the Inkosi award for the best entry overall.

Agrekko is the international leader in power rental solutions generation sector with Boomtown working with the Dubai based office. The locally developed campaign concept is now already being prepared to run globaly early in 2012.

“The four awards that we won are a testament to our new brand philosophy, Strategy + Creativity = Boom. Both these campaigns combined these two very important aspects of our business to create the Boom!” said Neil Hart, Managing Director of Boomtown.

The Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards celebrates the best creative and most effective integrated marketing campaigns in South Africa. Since its re-inception in 2007, the Assegais focus on direct marketing and have integrated more diverse channels and mediums that involve some form of direct or response mechanism. This has broadened the awards categories to include social media, public relations and customer retention awards.

The NMMU Flash Mob won a gold award in the media category for social media. The NMMU Flash mob, which was staged in June 2011, has seen much success with over 115 000 views on YouTube, receiving over R1.3 million worth of media return on investment and was even used by Google as a case study at their national conference. The Flash Mob created a stir in the industry with some calling it the best flash mob ever staged in South Africa. To view the Flash mob video click here.

The Agrekko Always On campaign also won two gold awards in the Craft category for creative solutions and the Media category for 3D. Aggreko recently entered the South African market and needed a campaign to introduce them to the manufacturing sector. The Always on campaign was sent to the decision-makers throughout the manufacturing sector. A mechanism, that turns itself on when switched off, formed an integral part of this campaign bringing to life the notion of Always On.

“We are extremely proud of the team for their hard work and dedication and we feel honoured by the recognition of our work by the industry. We look forward to continue growing bigger ideas for our clients,” added Hart.

For interviews: call Kirby Louis on 041 364 0180 to set up interviews with Neil Hart or Andrew Mackenzie. 

The Skittles Touch campaign, hosted on Skittles YouTube page, is made up of five different videos, all incorporating your finger into the action. At the beginning of each video you are asked to put your index finger or thumb on the screen where the Skittle is. Some of the videos are funny; some of the videos are a little sad; and some are…well…just plain awkward. For instance, in the first video I saw from the campaign, ‘Skittles Touch: Cat’, it was hard for me to keep my finger on the screen for the entire time. Eee…totally uncomfortable. Check it out below and you’ll understand why.

But not all of the videos are as strange and uncomfortable as the kitty cat (and…man cat?) clip. There’s also the Cage Cop video, where your finger helps fight crime; the War Finger video, where your finger goes to war; the Hitchhiker video, where your thumb hitches you a ride; and Skittles Girl, where your finger breaks some hearts.

The Cat video is currently leading the pack with just over 30,000 views in the first day, and the campaign is spreading like wildfire. Skittles is no stranger to creative viral campaigns. A couple of years ago, Skittles re-skinned their website with a Twitter Search page about Skittles; last fall they buried a man in Skittles with their Dazzle The Rainbow Campaign; and they’ve even had a giraffe eat the rainbow and milk out Skittles. But if you ask me, this Skittles Touch campaign is one of their best to date. It’s crazy original, funny and unforgettable. Not to mention the fact that it makes you feel a little bit dirty (especially the Cat and Skittles Girl videos).

What do you think about the Skittles Touch campaign? How does it compare to previous Skittles campaigns, and do you think we will be seeing some copycat campaigns in the coming months?

source: http://socialtimes.com/skittles-video-finger_b43759