Advertising on Staircases: out of home advertising

Description:
This staircases ad was strategically positioning in the Postdamer Platz station because the CineStar Berlin IMAX® at Sony Center is located at the Postdamer Platz mall. The first part of the ad that caught my attention was the huge 3D white and blue over a red arrow pointing upstairs. The second part of the ad is a text written on a blue background and white letters, which translates: Discovery Channel Image-Theater: “the spectacular film experience in the Potsdamer Platz mall”; letting you know where you can find the IMAX Theater. The end of the ad is white letters written on a pink background giving information about the website and a text that translates: “MORE SOUND, MORE FILM, MORE MOVIE THEATER”, and the last phrase advertise the “CINEMAXX at Postdamer Platz.”

Why I selected it:
This type of advertising caught my eye since the first time I saw it. I found this type of advertising interesting because it is an original way of trying to get your audience attention and you won’t miss it. The staircases ad is an out of home advertising technique, in this specific case, used to market a target audience who goes to Postdamer Platz mall because it was located at the Postdamer Platz metro station. People who are waiting for their Bahn or arriving to this station, they have enough time to look at the ad and notice about the 3D IMAX theater.

IMC Concepts:

The base of the IMC is to coordinate the evenness of the information of an outgoing message through different types of media. That is what every company should take in to consideration at the moment to better reach a specific target group. From my point of view, the staircases ads are a really powerful marketing strategy that meets the basics of the IMC concepts. In order to come up with this ad, they did a deep costumers database studies, applied different strategies, and used a variety of tactics to reach their target audience. The last step is the evaluation of results, to see how costumers response to the product. This type of advertising catches people’s attention and at the same time it is being consistence with the message and incorporation of media

Cross Cultural analysis:
The advertising on staircases in Miami, USA is uncommon compared with this type of advertising in Germany, Berlin. One of the main reasons could be because the transportation system in Germany. In Berlin, one of the most used medium of transportation is the Bahn (train or metro). You must use the stairs in order to take different rout. Another difference is before this type of advertising, in USA, used to be only possible in the form of single steps. Comparer with Germany, they have larger motif across several steps, which I consider is better for the impact of the message. As you can see, even though this type of advertising is also used in USA, there are some cross cultural differences.

Three key points:

1. Difference systems of transportation in USA and Germany, which affects the impact of the advertising on staircases.
2. The advertising on staircases in Berlin, Germany as a potential campaign to promote product consumption.
3. The importance of the ad placement in order to better reach the target audience (bahn stairs).

GIB AIDS KAN CHANCE

GIB AIDS KEINE CHANCE = DON’T GIVE AIDS A CHANCE

Throughout our weeks in Berlin I noticed these ads for an AIDS campaign in different underground metro stations and found them ‘attention grabbing.’ Communication campaigns against this disease are hard to produce, since it is such a “sensitive” subject. Not everyone is willing to talk about it publicly and it is hard to find effective ways to motivate people to use protection.

As a future professional in the Communications field, I believe that part of delivering an effective campaign is to get the consumers’ attention through messages and visuals that will ‘stick’ in their minds. As I kept running into these posters I thought: “Wow, I don’t know any German, but given by the pictures I can understand part of the message of the campaign.” I also found creative that they did several posters with different pictures, yet following the same concept: fruits and vegetables with condoms on. I even interpreted from these ads that by using fruits and vegetables in the pictures, they are trying to communicate that using protection should be as common as eating fruits and veggies.

It would be interesting to see how Americans would react to this campaign. The visuals are pretty much ‘in your face’ and I wonder how people might react to it. As it would also be interesting to know how Germans’ took this campaign.

Key points:
· It is an interesting, “attention grabbing” campaign
· Communicates a clear message through different posters
· How do people react to it?

Blue Man Group in Berlin

Description
One of the first ads I noticed when I arrived in Germany was one at the S-Bahn promoting the Blue Man Group. At first it was just an ad, but soon after I noticed that their advertising campaign is all over the city, and does not limit to a simple sticker in the metro. The ads are located at strategic points around the city, and I assume their strategy is AWARENESS. For the most part, the ads that I encountered were outdoor ads; nevertheless, since I found a couple of flyers I think their campaign uses a wide array of media. Some of the places they placed ads were in: guided tours on the bicycles, buses, billboards, stickers inside the metro, posters in the metro station, outdoor ads in the streets and flyers.

Why I Selected It?
Since I saw the Blue Man Group in Orlando, Florida, I thought it would be interesting to see the way they promote in Germany a group that is recognized in the U.S. After I noticed the ads were everywhere, I started on a “quest” to see where I would find my next ad. Without any effort I was able to take a couple of pictures of the ads within one day.

IMC Concepts
For the Blue Man Group campaign it is evident that the unification of one message was key when creating the billboards, flyers, etc.. As one takes a closer look at the ads, they urge the people to go since it’s “A sensational show” as TIME Magazine is quoted. All the ads have written the location where the Blue Man Group will be performing, accompanied by a quotation. To me, this shows how important it is for the campaign to put forward only one message about what they are promoting.

Cross Cultural Analysis
In this case, I find that there is no difference between the way the Blue Man Group is promoted in Germany, and the way it was promoted in the U.S. The main strategy for the campaigns is awareness, and it has been achieved by placing the ads where the target audience would be found. In the U.S., I remember the ads could be found in the highway, TV and radio; In Germany the ads are in locations fo high transit, such as S-Bahn (metro), S-Bahn stations and buses.

Key Points

1. The advertising campaign for Blue Man Group can be found at places of high transit.
2. The message in all of the ads is the same.
3. Awareness is the main purpose of their campaign.

Even In The Bathroom~

An interesting thing I noticed while I was in the bathroom at one of the S-Bahn stations was the use of advertising in the bathrooms. After washing my hands and using the towels to dry them, I noticed that I was wiping my hands with advertising. What a creative concept!
I have never seen this before until Berlin, and think it's a great idea. Did I unfold the crumbled paper to read what the advertisement said after I used it? No...But for one, I can't read German. For two, had it been in English, I probably would have spent more time looking at the advertisements as the paper was being unfolded into my hands by the machine.
I'm not sure of the cost of printing on this type of paper, but I would assume it doesn't come cheap. I was talking to another student about the use of the advertisements on the paper, and they said that they thought the advertising would get old, and that eventually people would no longer look at them. Personally, part of advertising is just that, making people keep looking. So as ads got old on the paper, changing them would be a helpful idea, as well as maybe changing color, and then who knows what would come out the next time you go to dry your hands!
I think this type of communication would open up many doors in the US in terms of advertising, and give creative people another frame of mind to explore as the world of advertising becomes harder and harder to reach its target. If only I could read German and understand what was being advertised to me!!!!!

Advertising on water!

While studying abroad in Berlin, Prof. Villar took us on a boat tour through the city. It was very interesting to see the city from a different perspective such as the museums and other buildings, especially from the river. It wasn’t surprising to see different advertisement on the river but only one stood out because the other advertisements we small and hardly noticeable. There are many advertising mediums and one of the advertisements I saw that I thought was very interesting and different was one I saw on the boat tour.

            While we were riding on the boat, I saw a green river boat with an advertisement of Berliner Pilsner. The boat was painted green and on the exterior was a huge sign with the name of the beer and their logo that is a bear holding a tray of beer.

I found it very interesting because this was the only boat I saw that had a massive advertisement all over it.

This is a great idea because it targets all the customers on riverboat tours and anyone who is having lunch or drinks anywhere around the river. Also, if customers are enjoying the city of Berlin on a riverboat tour, why not enjoy a cold Berliner Pilsner while enjoying the sights under the sun.

It is very important to find unique ways to advertise because there is so many advertisements that many of them do not stand out. In this situation, everything about the advertisement, from the green boat to selling it on all the boats, is a very different way to attract beer drinkers.

We talked in class about using different advertising mediums and this is a unique way to advertise because this is the only massive advertising I saw on the river. I have been seeing advertisements everywhere in Berlin and I thought it was a unique way to advertise on the water. I definitely ordered a drink after seeing that. PROST!

            On our flight to Amsterdam the flight attendant was announcing the scores of the soccer game. People in the plane were clapping and screaming with smiles on their faces. This was only the beginning of what was to come next. We arrived in the airport and there were screams, people were glued to the television in the airport bars. Even the airport security was watching the game in a private room. The energy was welcoming and put us all in a great mood. We went outside and were amazed to see hundreds of people cheering; there was a huge screen in the middle of the square, where we stood for a moment and observed the people and the game.

            The public display was really fascinating to watch. I no longer felt like I was in Berlin anymore. It seemed like that moment had been taken out of a movie. It was exciting! It was a great start to our adventures in Amsterdam. I think the location of where the public display was placed was great because it was right outside the airport, where there are always people coming and going. It was easy to see and not a sole could miss it. I thought the placement of the television was great and eye catching. It attracted a lot of people. I really enjoyed it because we walked outside the airport and it was the first thing I noticed.

            There was also a Heineken advertisement right next to the television that caught my attention. It was a big bottle of Heineken with five caps around the bottle, so it looked like the bottle was opened and the caps were coming off the bottle. Every cap was lighting up one by one. It looked almost too good to drink, I immediately wanted a Heineken! I think this advertisement was well thought through. I think the placement was great. It had lots of color and effects. It stood out from a lot of the other advertisements.   

            On our flight to Amsterdam the flight attendant was announcing the scores of the soccer game. People in the plane were clapping and screaming with smiles on their faces. This was only the beginning of what was to come next. We arrived in the airport and there were screams, people were glued to the television in the airport bars. Even the airport security was watching the game in a private room. The energy was welcoming and put us all in a great mood. We went outside and were amazed to see hundreds of people cheering; there was a huge screen in the middle of the square, where we stood for a moment and observed the people and the game.

            The public display was really fascinating to watch. I no longer felt like I was in Berlin anymore. It seemed like that moment had been taken out of a movie. It was exciting! It was a great start to our adventures in Amsterdam. I think the location of where the public display was placed was great because it was right outside the airport, where there are always people coming and going. It was easy to see and not a sole could miss it. I thought the placement of the television was great and eye catching. It attracted a lot of people. I really enjoyed it because we walked outside the airport and it was the first thing I noticed.

            There was also a Heineken advertisement right next to the television that caught my attention. It was a big bottle of Heineken with five caps around the bottle, so it looked like the bottle was opened and the caps were coming off the bottle. Every cap was lighting up one by one. It looked almost too good to drink, I immediately wanted a Heineken! I think this advertisement was well thought through. I think the placement was great. It had lots of color and effects. It stood out from a lot of the other advertisements.