I went, I saw, I conquered, and now I’m back. In fact I’ve been back for since September, and it’s only just dawned on me that tomorrow it will be November, and really I shouldn’t leave it 206 days between posts, it’s not acceptable, I know.
However, the more astute among you may have been following my trip around the globe, if not, you can still check out my epic journey by selecting a topic from the list on the right hand side of this page.
I’m back, and I’m back into the wonderful world of advertising. Whilst wondering around reacquainting myself with the beautiful city of London I noticed a couple of digital ‘things’. Brands are embracing digital, we know that, but now brands are using non-digital (or traditional) spaces to drive people to digital spaces. More obviously we have seen brands you the web to build conversations and ultimately drive sales, whether they be online sales, or sales in store. Now, we see the reverse, big retailers driving consumers on to the net (but not necessarily away from their store).
Nike Town Shop Front, Oxford Street
First up, Nike and Nike Town on Oxford Street. Nike have recently launched their top-notch Nike+ GPS running app for the iPhone, a nice addition to any users collection of apps. What we see here is Nike giving over prime store real estate to drive online sales of an application, but not a classic Nike product. This certainly tells us what many have postulated for some time, digital matters. The digital sphere is a perfect place for brands to create meaningful and unique conversations with their consumers, without the boundaries imposed by traditional forms of media.
Other major retailers including Nike’s next door neighbour Topshop and mobile operator Orange are in on the act as well. Their shop front is adorned with calls to ‘follow’, ‘friend’ and ‘like’ their brand, using three films by visual artist Laurance Ellis. To be fair, Ellis’ films are stunning and they do a great job for Topshop. This intelligent use of retail space to drive consumers online allows brands to carry their interactions from their stores through to their online presence. I like things that integrate analogue and digital, real and virtual. Whether it be a delightful bit of tech, or a glorious integrated campaign, I don’t think it’s analogue vs. digital that we should be thinking about, but more of a ‘digilogue’ approach, conversations that are inherently digital but take place in reality as well as online. Good examples of which can be found here, and here, and here. IT IS GOOD.
