What a Turkey...

Although the title of this post is a bit cliche and corny, the image that I saw was completely awesome...at least in my sleep deprived and delirious state of mind. Let me just show you -

If you can't tell, this is a pilgrim turkey made out of coke boxes!!! It's genius, hilarious, amazing, and dare I say epic? Alright that may be going a little too far but, not only is this display eye-catching but it also has the potential to make shoppers develop a want or need for the item. Many times, people will see an awesome or eye-catching display and, though they think it is cool, will pass on purchasing the item. I believe this display does a good job at catching shoppers' attention while also making them crave the taste of a Coke and therefore a want to buy the product. In addition, I really wish this display was in my local grocery store! 

Happy Turkey Day!

Black Friday

Black Friday is a holiday of its own...especially for my family. In fact, tomorrow (black Friday 2010), my sister and I are planning on waking up at 3:30 a.m. in order to hit the main stores by 4. Those of course are Target, Best Buy, and Walmart - the three big ones as we like to call them. Now, the amount of advertising preceding and following Black Friday is one of the largest during the year. It doesn't come close to rivaling that of the Superbowl and Christmas but it is huge nonetheless. Black Friday has become such a tradition that well-established companies, such as Coca-Cola, are pushing their advertising efforts even further on this day. This year, they are promoting a nationwide location-based rewards program that centers around the "SCVNGR" campaign. Essentially, consumers who have this application downloaded to their smart phones are encouraged to look for hidden shopping Coke challenges in order to unlock rewards. Even better, the rewards are instant, including American Express and Coke gift cards. The idea is set to go live at 10 malls beginning the morning of Black Friday and will require users to take pictures of themselves with specific items, just like a normal scavenger hunt. 

In order to promote this new challenge, Coke is focusing mainly on guerilla marketing. The coolest thing I have seen in this campaign, however, is an elevator wrap. "What?" you may ask. Yes, i said elevator wrap. It's awesome! In addition, Coke is sending out teams of employees to go around the malls and educate shoppers about how to use the new application to earn rewards and gifts. 

So far, SCVNGR is anticipating it will hit one million members on the application before the year's end (before Black Friday comes around). Reaching this many people on the day after a national holiday is a big deal...and Coke is only one of the many companies who are beginning to realize that Black Friday may be just a little bit bigger than previously thought. 

On a side note - can't wait to wake up in 8 hours to get my shopping on :)

The Social Network

This past weekend I finally caved and saw The Social Network, the new film about Facebook's tumultuous ride from its initial invention to the addiction it is today. I have to admit, I loved the movie. Although I'm not so sure how much of it is realistic, I was entertained by the entire thing. It was so interesting to see how an extremely popular and permanent aspect in people's every day lives started out as a mere idea in someone's head. It also didn't hurt to have sarcastic jokes inserted every few minutes and the Winklevy twins on the screen :)

It really is strange to think about how many things people use in their day-to-day lives without even realizing how it got there. It honestly seems like I've always had a facebook so I never really sat down to think about when I first signed up for one. Obviously, I wasn't born with my facebook waiting there for me but it seems so regular now that it's hard to think back to when I didn't have it constantly open on my computer. The same goes for a smart phone. Now that I do remember opening up on Christmas morning but I can't even imagine going back to having a non-smart phone or even no phone at all. It is my primary means of communication for telephone calls, e-mail, web browsing, and the obvious texting. I even do 50% of my banking on my mobile. You're probably thinking of me as some crazed teenager who can't take her eyes off of her phone even during dinner but honestly, it plays a huge part in my life! Laugh all you want but I wouldn't be half as efficient and timely as I am now if I didn't have my cell phone stuck to my hip at all times (thanks Mom and Dad!)