LEGO + SUPER MARIO = DOUBLE EXCITEMENT!

The sole objective of a teaser video is to get people excited about the final product. This new video from two iconic companies - the LEGO Group and Nintendo does exactly that.

Yesterday, the two companies announced their partnership in launching a new product - Lego Super Mario that will be hitting the stores later this year.

As per their press release, 'Neither a video game nor a traditional LEGO brick-based set, LEGO® Super Mario™ is a new product line that features an interactive LEGO Mario figure who collects coins in real-life game levels created with LEGO bricks. The new line will let kids experience the playful world of Super Mario like never before.'

However, I feel that this new launch will also get all those adults excited who spent hours in their childhood, either being Super Mario and rescuing the princess or using Lego to give wings to their imagination.

I must say that those sound effects brought back so many memories and a gush of nostalgia! Looking forward to what this partnership entails.

BUY WITH YOUR TIME

'Time is money' is an aphorism that was coined by Benjamin Franklin two centuries ago. It seems that IKEA Group is keen to prove it to its consumers .

In UAE, #Ikea gave consumers the opportunity to pay for their goods using time as a currency! Yes, that is right. 

Most Ikea stores are located far from the city centres and it takes lot of time for #consumers to reach the store. This is a pain point for consumers. Ikea understood this consumer insight and converted it into a delight for them. 

How?

Ikea put a certain time value to every item in their store. Consumers had the option of paying for those goods, using the time that they had spent in reaching the store. 

Check out this video to see more.

THE AHA MOMENT!

The #innovation engine at The Coca-Cola Company continues to churn out idea after idea!

Just a few weeks back, we saw Coca Cola venturing into cola flavoured mints and festive drinks to expand their franchise and boost incremental revenues. 

Now, for 2020, Coca Cola is gearing up for a big launch in the flavoured sparkling water market of USA with the launch of #AHA in eight new and exciting flavours in two sizes. 

This launch is yet another step from #Coke to move into healthier space as part of its beverage

#strategy. Mainstream flavoured sparkling #water is the largest and fastest growing part of the water business, and the current U.S. market size of $3.1 billion makes it the perfect playground for Coca Cola to enter.

American #consumers are gravitating toward drinks that have functional elements and nutritional value or a jolt of caffeine. They also want healthy, low-sugar or sugar-free offerings. Sparkling water ticks a lot of those boxes, and American consumers are buying more of it. 

#Pepsico already saw the potential, and in 2018, they had launched a range called Bubly in this segment. Bubly has grown sales by triple digits since then and has taken a 6.2% dollar share of the category this year.

This is a segment to watch closely.

SAMSUNG GOOD VIBES

hashtag#Innovation doesn't always come by asking the consumers. Great innovation often comes by understanding the consumers and their problems beyond what they are telling you. 

This requires observation, empathy, understanding and realization that your easiest solution may still not be working for a set of people due to various reasons. 

#Samsung seems to be understanding consumers quite well, and then coming up with solutions to their problems. They have just launched an app - Good Vibes, which is a two-way communication app for the deafblind, built on Morse Code that allows them to feel words being said to them. It gives them an opportunity to significantly change their ability to communicate and share emotions with their loved ones. 

To announce the launch in #India, they introduced a very powerful and emotion packed film that makes you sit up and notice! This is the power of a meaningful innovation.

LEGO FRIENDS TV SET

2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the iconic TV series #Friends featuring characters Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey and Ross. 

To celebrate this milestone, #Lego has launched a special Friends set that features not only all the characters but also other recongizable items from the show - Phoebe's guitar, the Central Perk sofa, coffee machine, Gunter and his cash register.

It is a 1,070 piece set that allows fans to go back into nostalgia and relive those scenes and those characters. 

Lego invites ideas and suggestions for its sets from its fans and the idea for this special set also came from a consumer.
Lego is a brand that is not only relevant to kids but it also has a very strong following and engagement from adult consumers as well and therefore this launch is perfect to get them hooked yet again.

HEINZ KETCHUP - POUR PERFECTLY

hashtag#Heinz is known for its thick ketchup that pours out of the bottle slowly, giving consumers the perception that it is made of the purest tomatoes in its most authentic form with no dilution. While the slow pour has been Heinz's unique selling proposition, consumer insights have also shown that it has been a frustrating experience for consumers when the ketchup has taken far too long to come out. So Heinz Canada made it easier for consumers by introducing the Pour-Perfect bottle, where the position of the label on the bottle has been titled to a 45 degree angle - the perfect pouring angle for the ketchup. Now consumers know the right angle to tilt the bottle. This takes care of the frustration of the consumers while retaining its competitive edge. The tilted labels are also breaking clutter on the store shelves making consumers stop to check out these new bottles. It will be interesting to see if this gets scaled up by Heinz to their other markets or not.

Video Credit: Heinz Canada

BACARDI - BEAT MACHINE

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Advertising on a social media platform is one thing, but leveraging its hidden features to engage with your consumers is a completely different thing. 

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#Bacardi USA smartly used YouTube and its keyboard shortcuts to create a Beat Machine for the song 'Make it Hot', where users could play with the sound, remix it as per their own liking and create their own customized version with different effects. 

It is a great example of experiential marketing where consumers are engaging and interacting with the brand, feeling like musicians and sound artists through the hackvertising approach that Bacardi has taken. 

Check out the video to see what can be done through this hack.

Video Credit: Bacardi USA

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#brand hashtag#marketing hashtag#experiential hashtag#kunalviews hashtag#communications hashtag#music hashtag#socialmediamarketing

Nespresso Capsules : Second Life

Sometimes you do not need a voice-over or text to tell a story. The visuals do the job quite well!hashtag

#Nespresso brought in a coffee revolution when it introduced coffee capsules in the late 80s and early 90s. These capsules were made of aluminium, and, with the growing awareness of environment conservation and hashtag#sustainability, consumers started asking questions on the recycling of the discarded capsules. As a result, Nespresso introduced #recycling programmes in many different countries and launched a sustainability programme - 'The Positive Cup'. It then went a step further when it partnered with the stationery brand Caran d'Ache and launched a limited edition pen collection made from recycled aluminium coffee capsules. These pens were designed to remind consumers of the infinite durability of aluminium which can be re-melted and reused again and again. This is a perfect example of giving a product a second life.

                                                             Video credit: Caran d'ache

hashtag#marketing #environment #reuse #recyle #reduce #kunalviews #sustainable #innovation #nestle #idea #solutions

Retail: Starbucks opens its biggest store in the world

In a time, when #brands are struggling with their retail space, trying to maximize their returns per square foot and wondering whether brick and mortar still makes sense in the digital world, #Starbucks defies all convention and goes forward with a massive store launch in #Tokyo.

 It is not yet another cafe, but rather a #retail theater! It's an experience, and the moment you give #consumers not just a physical product but also an emotional experience, you have a winner on your hands. 

Calling it a 'Roastery' is a way to premiumize the Starbucks brand further. It not only acts as a brand amplifier but also as an #innovation lab where new menus, products and designs can be tested out before being rolled out at a larger scale.

The #coffee space will continue to get more exciting! 

You can read all about it the link below:

Starbucks opens it biggest store in Tokyo