Who Will Win The Political Schwag Vote?

I found this really great political campaign promo on politicalschwag.com. It's pretty cool to see the presidential candidates utilizing promotional products to further their campaign efforts. It's even cooler that people have their favorite political schwag.

The fact that people got to choose whether they got an Obama or McCain custom bobblehead is really awesome

Be Careful With Your Brand Message

Candy can be a very effective promotional item to use as trade show and street marketing giveaways, but you'll probably want to avoid hiring 80's icons to shoot them at the recipients. This TV spot done by AMV BBDO for Mars might have gone viral, but any positive impressions of the spot will be tainted by the contention that it is homophobic. It's a good reminder of the dangers of not carefully controlling your brand message.

La Gazzatta dello Sport - Abandoned Baby Strollers

This guerrilla marketing stunt was part of the brand repositioning effort done by G-Com for La Gazzetta dello Sport, an Italian newspaper dedicated to covering sports. The stroller stunt followed a pink confetti marketing stunt that was unfortunately, not very successful. The strollers, with their baby sound effects, were far more effective in attracting attention.

The event might have been even more memorable if the marketing team had imprinted some newspaper-shaped stress balls with subscription information and left them in the strollers for passersby to take.

MTV Cribs - Celebrity Lost Keys

To promote the launch of the Polish version of MTV Cribs, Change Communications developed this interactive guerrilla marketing campaign. Four thousand sets of keys attached to promotional keychains were scattered around the streets of two major Polish cities.

When passersby find the keys and call back on the number provided, they discover that the keys belongs to a celebrity, who invites them to stop by for a reward. The promotion was wildly successful, with almost 5,000 people calling back...far more than the number of keys planted for the campaign.

Vauxhall - The Insignia Invades London

Vauxhall (Opel) wanted to give the launch of the new Insignia an otherworldly vibe. Some companies might just do a marketing stunt with people dressed up in promotional costumes or conduct a street marketing campaign handing out alien-shaped stress balls, but apparently, a simple campaign like that is just too low-key for this company.

Working with the public relations agency, Cow, Vauxhall introduced their newest car in a dramatic fashion by literally dropping the car out of the sky. The marketing stunt, conducted at the Tower Bridge at Potters Field in London, involved an elaborate setup that created the illusion of an mysterious UFO crash. The breathtaking climax to the stunt occurred on Monday when a crane lifted the UFO out of the crater and revealed the car hidden inside.

Oreo - Milk's Favorite Cookie

Here's another fun ambient marketing campaign showing off the incredible versatility of promotional stickers. Agency DRAFTFCB designed this clever promotion for Nabisco, showing why Oreo is "Milk's favorite cookie." Each time the elevator descended, it demonstrated the familiar Oreo milk dunk.

Simpsons Movie - Mmm....Donuts.

Here's a Simpsons Movie promo we missed the first time around:

Not content with simple promotions, like handing out out promotional balloons and donuts at Byrant Park, their marketing team went all out in the weeks preceeding the movie premiere. Their marketing antics included stunts like converting 7-11s into Kwik-E-Marts and tie-ins with JetBlue Airlines.

The above video, featuring the familiar pink Simpsons donut on the Statue of Liberty, was one of several viral videos made to promote the Simpsons movie launch. Other videos, featuring landmarks like the Hollywood sign and the Seattle Space Needle were also made. Unlike this bizzare promotion, the viral videos were apparently just clever CGI work.