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A Commercial For Strong Winter Tires Surprises Viewers With A Very Different Chilling Approach In Japan! (a must read!!)
With Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Vines, etc. it takes just a matter of seconds to get your videos or pictures posted on to social media. The challenge now is to have your video viewed and talked about more than any other video on the web and Japan knows just how to do it!
In our world today, it is believed that if videos are not super disgusting or super frightening, they will get overlooked and will not catch the eye of the public. Japan decided to use the fearful tactic for their new 2013 winter tire commercial.
Check out the video. Before doing so, be warned. It scared a whole class of 51 students in a public relations program at a college, when they watched it all together… in the daylight.
How did it do? Successful??
This chilling tire commercial by Japanese maker AutowayTire went viral with over 1.3 million views in the first 24 hours. It has been titled the SCARIEST ADVERTISEMENT of 2013. It used both the fear and shock tactics for it’s audience.
What’s the point of this commercial?
We think to let viewers know how important it is to have tires with great traction when driving in winter conditions. This commercial not only grabbed the attention of everyone across the world, but it also made an excellent video to want to share and talk about with your friends, family, etc.
If you have not seen the video and were too scared to watch it with the link provided in this blog, this 40 second video comes with a serious health warning before watching. The commercial involves a car driving in a blizzard at night time and you view the commercial feeling like you are the one sitting in the vehicle. Before you know it, a scary ghost girl appears very far away. Then, out of no where, she appears in front of the windshield and hits it—- insert heart attack for viewers!!
AutowayTire wanted to emphasize how important it is to have strong tires on your vehicle in the winter time. It also needed to prove why it’s tires are better than everyone else’s on the market right now. Before the video was put on to social media, it aired with a major warning to the public before watching it.
It may not be a favourite video to watch, especially with the holidays coming up, however, it was definitely a great success and captured the eyes of people all over the world. AutowayTire in Japan tried something extremely risky but ended up getting way more attention than they could have hoped for.
Don’t have winter tires on yet? Who are you buying from for this winter season?
Blog Post By Laura Jeffs
WestJet surprises travelers with a Christmas miracle
After their flashmob viral video campaign last year, WestJet knew they had to make ‘giving’ look its best this Christmas.
Christmas miracles really do happen. A team of Westjetters and the power of technology brought this heartwarming campaign to life.
“T’was a night before Christmas, and all across the land… the good folks at WestJet had a miracle plan.”
As families were waiting at the departure area prior to their WestJet flight at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport and John C. Munro International Airport in Hamilton, a big blue box decorated as a present caught their eye. On one side of the box was a screen with an interactive Santa all dressed in blue. Upon scanning their boarding passes (loaded with personal I.D. info) a Santa addressed the passengers by name, asking them what they wanted for Christmas. Toddlers stared, old ladies giggled and mothers’ jaws dropped as jolly old Saint Nick asked them personally what they would like this Christmas.
While Santa asked and passengers answered, a team of WestJet employees tuned in and took notes of each request. WestJetters then quickly shopped and shopped at stores like 17th Avenue S.W., Best Buy, and CrossIron Mills to find everything on the list for those lucky Calgary-bound flights.
“But was everything ready? We all had to wait… For the moment of truth, at Carousel 8.”
The real magic happened when passengers were surprised with a snowy Christmas landscape at the baggage claim area upon their arrival. This time, WestJet Santa was there in the flesh along with a gingerbread man mascot. When the baggage claim light came on, a succession of presents rolled in. Tagged by name, the well-branded blue and white gifts made their way into the arms of the smiling travelers. As requested, the young family got the ‘big TV’ they wanted and the dad got his ‘socks and underwear’. Some lucky families even got a Christmas flight home.
Studio M, a digital production company based out of Toronto started brainstorming with WestJet’s sponsorship lead Greg Plata in August to make this miracle come to life. The video was posted to WestJet’s YouTube page on Sunday, December 8th and quickly sparked an online buzz that is sure to carry through until Christmas.
The stunt was impeccably branded and seamless, it is no wonder blogs are saying “WestJet’s Christmas surprise will make you believe in Santa.”
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good flight!”
Start the day happy with luck from the Loom.
Image Posted on Updated on
So we all have that lucky pair of underwear. That pair you were wearing when you scored the winning goal, that pair you were wearing when that cute boy finally asked you out, or that pair you were wearing when you just happened to win the lottery. 
Fruit of the Loom realized the potential the “luck of the Irish” could bring to their business, socially and financially, and decided on something creative to kick-start their Start Happy campaign.
The Start Happy campaign is Fruit of the Loom’s way to prove that positivity can greatly effect someone’s day for the better. Their team believes that by making their product lucky, their customers can physically wear their confidence and start the day right.
Aww, isn’t that cute? And surprisingly relatable.
Fruit of the Loom conducted a recent study that proved that having a lucky charm boosts an American’s positivity (31%), along with their optimism (41%) and confidence (25%). These numbers prove that this stunt has correlated people’s positive feelings to Fruit of the Loom, specifically.
I want a pair.
They started off by creating 1,000 pairs of lucky looms for men and 1,000 pairs of lucky looms for women.
Then, they took those pairs and passed them via wire though the world’s biggest horseshoe in Illinois.
After that, their team rubbed lucky pennies on each individual pair of lucky looms and then threw the pennies into a wishing well in Chinatown, LA.
Then, if each pair didn’t have enough luck already, the team
rubbed each pair on considerable lucky statues in Nevada. 
Their final attempt to embody as much luck as possible into each and every pair was to “bake” them in a box covered in four-leaf clovers for 7 hours and 77 minutes, in Alaska. Which I guess equals to 8 hours and 17 minutes, but that just wouldn’t work for this whole stunt, would it?
Fruit of the Loom even took one step further and destroyed the pairs of underwear numbered 13 and 666. With so much bad
luck associated with those two numbers, Fruit of the Loom
wanted to keep their promise true.
It’s refreshing to see how Fruit of the Loom used something so simple to connect with its audience and make their product so attractive. Within their first hour of sales, 528 pairs of lucky looms were sold. With popular competitors such as Calvin Klein and Bjorn, Fruit of the Loom used this stunt to not only differentiate themselves from other brand names, but to easily sell their products as well.
“Lucky Looms” were only a fraction of Fruit of the Loom’s Start Happy campaign. Other stunts were “Don’t Sweat It” which was geared toward their activewear including iPhone pockets, and “Fresh Gigs” which was geared toward giving people with new jobs a fresh pair of underwear.
Fruit of the Loom even took this campaign further by taking it to Twitter. Customers who bought the product were encouraged to use the hashtag #LuckyLooms and express their own personal stories and photos about their recently purchased “lucky undies”.
The Start Happy campaign is anything but lucky! The team from Fruit of the Loom strategically thought of everything to make sure their lucky looms were full of luck! I can’t wait for their next campaign so I can grab a pair myself!
Gap’s “Make Love” Holiday Campaign Makes Waves
The American multinational clothing retailer Gap has released the holiday extension of its “Back to Blue” campaign launched earlier this fall. The holiday campaign called “Make Love” showcases the things that matter most in life — genuine love, respect, and compassion.
The U.S. campaign starring cultural icons from around the world includes print ads, mail, social media and television ads. New digital content is also unveiled regularly on the brand’s YouTube account.
“Make Love is about giving love through action, whether it’s a service to others or a gift that’s a representation of love,” -Seth Farbman, Gap’s Global Chief Marketing Officer.
Gap has collaborated with celebrities who have been sharing true love with their field of work and their social lives. The famous personalities modeled Gap’s 2013 holiday collection in the ads, adding a personalized touch to the garments. All stills starring celebrities such as Tony Bennett, Cyndi Lauper, Waris Ahluwalia, Malin Akerman, along with other personalities and famous models can be found on the official Pinterest page of the brand.
On November 24th, a tweet by Arsalan Iftikhar (@TheMuslimGuy) was sent along with a shot of a vandalized “Make Love” print ad. Gap’s still of Sikh model Waris Ahluwalia and model and film-maker Quentin Jones located in New York City had been marked with very racist comments. The campaign’s tagline had the word “Love” crossed out and replaced with “Bombs,” and “Please stop driving taxis,” scribbled a little lower.
(via Twitter, @TheMuslimGuy)
The ad had been received so well, encouraging and promoting interracial love and diversity in America. Several tweets and articles rooted for Gap’s campaign and what it stood for.
Due to this appreciation for the campaign, the vandalism was quickly reported on Twitter. This gave Gap an opportunity to excel in public relations reaction skills and problem solving.
The very next day, Gap proudly changed their Twitter account’s header to the Ahluwalia-Jones still, and professionally responded to the tweet asking for more information from the sender, Iftikhar, so that the ad could be taken down and replaced.
“@TheMuslimGuy Hi there. Thanks for informing us. Can you please follow & DM us? We’d like to know the location of this.” – @Gap
Upon its re-installment on November 28th (four days after the original vandalized poster was tweeted) the new ad was trending all over the Internet.
The “Make Love” campaign’s poster of musician Malcolm Ford and actor Max Snow has also been vandalized with hate speech in Chicago. The poster was defaced with homophobic comments and was also quickly made public on Twitter by JK Trudell (@jktrudell), and Gap replied shortly thereafter.
Considering the fact that the hate speech on these ads dealt with touchy issues like race and homosexuality, the brand reacted quickly and effectively. Gap’s public efforts to fix these vandalized ads are impressive and well worth the buzz they have generated.
What do you think of Gap’s “Make Love” campaign and of their efforts in restoring the campaign’s image and message?
Finger Lickin’ Great!
In 2010, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) knew they had to come up with an innovative campaign to generate buzz and increase the chain restaurant’s business. The company wanted to draw attention to the brand’s 75-scholarship Colonel’s Scholars program. With social media on the rise, the Colonel knew just what to cook up.
KFC teamed up with Weber-Shandwick, one of the world’s leading global public relations firms to award a $20,000 scholarship for a single tweet.
Students could use up to 140 characters, while including the hashtag #KFCScholar to convince KFC executives they were deserving of a $20,000 scholarship towards their college education.
KFC kept active on Twitter, providing followers with tweets like:
“KFC Twitter scholarship application/Tweets rolling in! Search #KFCScholar to read them. More info: http://bit.ly/9reSIN “
The scholarship tweet campaign generated lots of buzz for the company. KFC’s Twitter handle saw a 20 per cent increase in followers in just two weeks. The Internet definitely noticed the Colonel’s contest, generating more than nine million social media impressions. (Most of them resulting from tweets during the brief entry period.)
Time magazine’s Keith Wagstaff writes:
“I always thought Colonel Sanders’ commitment was to artery-clogging fried chicken, but no, apparently he’s a scholar as well. I guess that makes the KFC Double Down brain food!”
The winner, 17-year-old Amanda Russell tweeted:
“Hey Colonel! Your scholarship’s the secret ingredient missing from my recipe for success! Got the grades, drive, just need cash!”
…Earning herself the $20,000 scholarship.
This PR campaign worked wonders for KFC, attracting 2,800 applicants and successfully catching the public’s eye. Good thinking, KFC and Weber-Shandwick!
Blog post by: Veronique Simard
