Coca-Cola has launched Dilli Dil Se marketing campaign with the help of interactive touch screen kiosks.

Developed and conceived by digital agency C3CUBE Multimedia for Coca-Cola India, the kiosk network is part of an integrated marketing programme to leverage sponsorship of the Delhi Daredevils during the DLF IPL 2009.

Touch screen kiosks are generally seen at airports, stations, banks and museums primarily aimed at facilitating customer transactions, information or ticketing.

However, this is the first time a kiosk network has been created solely for the purpose of promoting a sporting event and providing entertainment in a safe, fun-filled environment.

The self service kiosks turned out to be a major success as over 20,000 users between the ages of 13-30 logged onto the Dilli Dil Se kiosks network to cheer and celebrate the Delhi Daredevils steady climb to the top of the league tables and into the semi-finals at the DLF IPL 2009.

 The modern kiosk network integrated a large 19 inch letterbox touchscreen interface and a 32 inch LCD TV and provided dynamic content such as a promotion, a private social network, video mail, games, a juke box, Bluetooth downloads, SMS tweets, ads, 3d virtual tours, videos, team player game cards and much much more.

“This is a first-of-its-kind entertainment kiosk network” says Raja Choudhury, who has been building award-winning kiosks, websites, videos and TV programs in the US, UK and Indian markets since 1993.

“We believe such a network that integrates Web 2.0, flash games, a social network, Bluetooth, video mail, SMS and music over a 2 Mbps broadband connection, has not been deployed so far. Coca-Cola India believed in our vision and we were able to make this possible during the IPL.”

The new marketing strategy attracted key partners to the experiment by Coca-Cola India and C3CUBE during the DFL IPL event.

Company giants such as McDonald’s, Nirulas, DFL DT Malls, Kwality Group, Zenga Moblile Apps, Pind Baluchis, INOX cinemas, Vikings Game Zone, Airtel Broadband and Waves were just some of the key partners involved.

Mansoor Siddiqi, Director – Integrated Marketing Communications at Coca-Cola India said that “The Dilli Dil Se kiosk network was a fresh initiative in the marketing of a brand asset. It enabled local Delhi Daredevils fans to cheer their team on, in an involving and fun manner, and achieved engagement metrics beyond our expectations.”

With the ‘free bingo’ phrase reported as one of the talked about topics on the town, bosses are expecting to see the promotion incite a massive flurry of excited bingo fans from all corners of the UK.

With such a large and well know online bingo company jumping on the free bingo craze, other bingo sites are expected to see a shortfall in visitors with many jumping on board the two week Gala Bingo festival.

Ironically, Gala Bingo halls across the UK have received an overwhelming amount of visitors with many clubs having to turn people away.

The free online bingo sessions are due to start on Monday 8th from 10am and run throughout the day over the following two weeks till 11pm at night.

Four separate rooms will host the free online bingo games in the North, Scotland, Wales and the South.

The festival will also see a range of other features and prizes to be won over the two weeks including three extra online bingo games in the daily offerings, special linked games with £100 cash jackpots, plus late night bingo game to round off the evening.

There will more than 200 chances for bingo fans to win real cash prizes without having to spend a single penny over the two-week festival.

Clive Cottrell, Head of Marketing at Gala Bingo, said, “From our previous free bingo sessions that we have run on a Thursday, we know that these 70 games are likely to prove extremely popular. We wish all our players the best of luck.”

Celebrating  80 years in the bingo industry, Gala Bingo will continue to host a range of events throughout the year by increasing its community activities, promotions and prize money and plenty more free bingo games.

The BRC says its “substantial catalogue of evidence” shows its members, which include Burger King and Asda have implemented healthy and lifestyle promotions, which are getting the message across to consumers “more effectively than any aw ever could.”

The report, ‘British Retailing: A Commitment to Health’ is the third on the topic from the BRC in the past six years designed to promote its members’ investment in encouraging healthy choices.

The BRC has described the report as “answer to all its critics” such as pressure groups including Which? and an opportunity to showcase all the positive progress being made by its members.

All initiatives by members including Tesco, Co operative Group, MacDonalds, Iceland, Sainsbury’s Marks and Spencers and Waitrose are all featured in the report.

The report highlights specific areas that have come under the media spotlight such as portion sizes and nutrition information on menus.

At the launch event, Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo highly congratulated the initiatives such as the portion sizes and information on menus, but failed to comment on the ongoing debate over nutrition information labelling.

“The alliance between the Government and business is starting to achieve something very profound, so it is vital we build a momentum,” she said.

Later this year the Government are expected to announce its verdict on new Food Standard Agency (FSA) recommendations about nutrition Front Of Pack (FOP) labelling.

The BRC has advised the Government that they should wait to align its labelling scheme with a system expected to be recommended by the European Commission panel.

The makeover covers point of sale promotion and the brand’s website, which are part of a global strategy to provide a “consistent approach” in the way Barbie dolls are packaged and marketed.

From the end of July, new packaging will be introduced ahead of a television campaign due to be released in mid August.

By Spring/Summer 2010, the company aims to have a “fully consistent” packaging and marketing campaign in place.

Erica Vankamp marketing director for Barbie says, the new concept is a testament to the brands commitment of bringing Barbie to life.”

The Barbie stand at Hamleys, London has also received a revamp in line with the new look.

Due to celebrate its 50th birthday this year, the Barbie brand reported a worldwide drop in gross sales to 5 per cent in the first quarter despite posting a double-digit increase in the US.

Barbie sales had been under pressure from the success of rival doll range Bratz until last year, when a court ruled against Bratz owner MGA Entertainment. Mattel had claimed that the name and design of the dolls was based on drawings that its creator Carter Bryant had done while under contract to Mattel.

Air New Zealand

The edgy marketing campaign due to depart on 13th October 2009 will see the flight depart from Los Angeles and arrive in Auckland, New Zealand attempting to attract American singles to visit New Zealand. However, it is open to other travellers as well. Round Trip ticket prices start at $780 (USD).

“New Zealand is often positioned as a thrill seeker, adventure destination, but it’s also very romantic too,” said Sarah Miller-Reeves, PR and sponsorship executive for the Americas at Air New Zealand. “This allows us to present the romantic nature of New Zealand… really engaging a wider cross section of American consumers.”

To engage the attention of potential single travellers to the flight, Air New Zealand created an online community using Ning, www.thematchmakingflight.com The online community has been designed for people to sign up, create profiles, interact with one another and pose flight-related questions to a moderator.

Once the consumer has booked their flight, additional features on the network are unlocked, such as the ability to become acquainted with the flight crew and send Facebook gifts to fellow passengers.

Once on-board, the flight will feature romantic movies, speed dating, and other matchmaking games to encourage interaction between those on-board.

There will also be a pre and post flight parties in Los Angeles and Auckland.

“Air New Zealand is always looking for fun ways to improve our customers’ experience, and we love the thought of playing matchmaker to help them find a mate in New Zealand or in the air,” said Roger Poulton, Air New Zealand’s vice president – the Americas. “If your dating profile says you enjoy fine wine and long walks on the beach, then New Zealand is your perfect place for romance. And let’s not forget our charming Kiwi accents—what more could an American want?”

Through its marketing campaign, Air New Zealand are playing with the idea that the cities are on opposite sides of the world and have different climates by incorporating the idea of ‘opposites attract’ into its messaging.

The airline company are also taking full advantage of social networking sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr, and video site 12 seconds to boost the advertisement of the campaign.

Miller-Reeves said the airline, which is working on this campaign with its AOR, CRT/tanaka, will likely work with its usual partner organizations like Tourism New Zealand and the New Zealand Wine Growers to further promote the flight.

The matchmaking flight is one of many edgy marketing campaigns by Air New Zealand. Previous campaigns have included, the ‘Pink Flight’ for LGBT travellers and the ‘Cranial Billboard’ campaign in October.

“We definitely try to be more edgy and kind of push a little bit and really think outside the box,” Miller-Reeves said.

MP’s from the Health Select Committee quizzed representatives from both the on and off trade, on supermarket, pub and bar promotions, as part of a wider enquiry in to alcohol misuse.

When asked about the number and prominence of in-store promotions and their role in the irresponsible consumption of alcohol, David North, community and government director at Tesco said that promotions do not lead to further consumption.

North added that research conducted by Tesco found that customers buying alcohol on promotion do not by the same alcohol again for a couple of weeks, suggesting, “customers use promotions to stock up, not to consume more.”

Labour MP, Stephen Hesford questioned whether their contributions as a proportion of marketing budgets is “derisory,” which both North and Jeremy Blood, managing director of Scottish and Newcastle defended saying their contributions to industry funded responsible drinking site the Drinkaware Trust.

Blood, who estimated that S&N’s contribution is between £1-£2 million against a marketing budget of about £50 million, says he is “comfortable” with that amount especially considering the amount the Treasury receives from the industry in excise duty.

North estimated that Tesco contribute about £750,000 to the Trust and further support the scheme by providing health information at point of sale while encouraging staff to “think 25″ when serving young people.

Research conducted in 2008 by Dr Petra Meir from the University of Sheffield, which linked the price of alcohol and consumption was also presented to the committee.

North says that Tesco is willing to play an “active and constructive role” in Government-led discussions with the industry on the role of price, although both Blood and Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said that minimum pricing would penalise the majority of responsible drinkers while having little effect on alcohol misuse.

The debate led on May 14th comes a day after the Government launched plans for mandatory code which forces supermarkets to display information on the health impacts of alcohol and a crackdown on “irresponsible” on-trade promotions, although it confirmed it is not planning to introduce a minimum per price unit.

The ‘Goo on the Loose’ campaign, developed by agency, CMW, has seen direct mailing ’security strongboxes’ sent to hardcore Goo fans who talk about the chocolaty brand on social networking sites.

The box contains Twisted bars, with an empty Twisted wrapper and a hole at the bottom of the box, were one of the chocolate bars has escaped.

The recipient of the box is then challenged to become an agent for Cadbury’s Intelligence Agency and track down the missing chocolate bar.

Online ads have been designed to direct potential agents to the site.

Visitors to the dedicated website www.cremeeggtwisted.com are able to sign up as agents and are tasked to track down the missing chocolate bars.

To aid agents in their search, CMW have mashed together Google Maps and Twitter to provide clues and targets which have been ear-marked for a ‘gooing’.

Visitors also have the chance to win a  £20,000 luxury trip to Morocco and for the top ten agents, a cash prize of up to £20,000.

Agents must sign up on the Creme Egg Twisted website before the 7th June.

The 12-part series to be aired on Channel 4 from 26th July, will focus on grass-roots rather than professional athletics, with idents running around the 30-minute shows.

McCain’s move to focus on sport follows a growing trend among sport sponsors to promote their associations through brand-funded TV series. 

Coke Zero, last year used football ace Wayne Rooney through Coke Zero Presents: Wayne Rooney Street Striker, created by M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment broadcast on Sky 1.

This year,  England Rugby Union sponsor, O2 joined with ITV to create The Big Tackle with Austin Healey, a six-part series which began on March 15th.

McCain’s sponsorship manager, Jayne Sawyer, said that the main aim of the Track and Field Show was to ‘educate and entertain family audiences.’ The show is to air on the T4 programming strand.

Sawyer further added that the team hoped the programme would raise consumer awareness of McCain’s sponsorship tie-in with UK Athletics.

The sponsorship is intended to drive McCain’s ‘It’s all good’ positioning created by Beattie McGuinness Bungay, which was reported to have turned the business in 2006.

McCain also plans to continue to run their Track and Field Roadshows, a series of experimental events held in city centres that gives consumers the chance to try out athletic disciplines.

The roadshows will be presented by a variation of professional athletes, including Sally Gunnell, Marilyn Okoro, Perri Shakes Drayton and Stephanine Twell, who will give advice to consumers on the day. 

McCain have also set up McCain Athletic Networks, developed to bring local athletic clubs together. The main aim of the networks is to provide better facilities and coaching, as well as free training sessions for athletes.

The Travelodge will launch a new price check campaign to position itself as the cheapest hotel chain against other hotel chain rivals.

The campaign focuses on savings customers can make if they book a room at least seven days in advance of their stay.

The campaign, organised and ran by the Travelodge’s agency, DCH is currently being run across national press titles including, The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Sun and as online banners.

The basis of the campaign uses a Union Jack pillow-case as an emblem, highlighting the ‘Travelodge Price Check’ printed across the flag and featuring the strapline ‘we price check our competitors so you don’t have to.’

One of the ads from the campaign features room rates for leading rivals, Premier Inn, Express for Holiday Inn and Hilton Hotels, comparing them to room rates at Travelodge at £38 per night when customers book at least seven days in advance.

Travelodge teamed up with an independent price monitoring company to check more than 1,300 hotel rates every day.

The chain is currently making lots of price cuts this year, with the aim of selling 2.5 million rooms at less than £30.

This is the second campaign led by DCH who took over the marketing of Travelodge in 2006 with the successful ‘Hotel Revolution Campaign’ to promote the relaunch of the hotel chain.

Travelodge’s managing director Guy Parsons said that the hotel chain had worked hard on reshaping the brand to enable them to steal share with a competitive price offer.

Travelodge UK managing director Guy Parsons said: “Consumers are now in a daily battle to manage their finances and maintain their lifestyle. 

“We are all now being uncompromising on value and rightly so.  This new approach will ensure that Travelodge is the undisputed leader on price and customers will feel that with us, they have secured the best possible deal.”

 He added, “It cannot be right that mid market hotels such as Hilton and Marriott can charge up to £70 more for the same location on the same night. 

 “Our price checking shows that even fellow budget operator; Premier Inn is charging up to £20 more a night for the same night’s sleep.

 “Offering shower caps, trousers presses and fluffy bedspreads does not justify hiking prices beyond consumers’ reach. Customers must be able to access maximum value when they stay away in this country.”

The campaign is currently running alongside Premier Inn’s press ads promoting itself as winner of the most improved hotel brand in the BDRC British Hotel Survey.

The new video channel will host Endemol’s digital series, ‘The Gap Year,’ which was produced and featured on social networking site, Bebo.

‘The Gap Year’ is a multiplatform digital series which follows six students around the world on their glob-trotting travel adventures. The series see the six travellers face challenges, experience new cultures and meet local celebrities.

The first series will be broadcast on The Independent’s online student section, despite already being documented on Bebo’s social networking site via video diaries, blogs and photographs.

Complimentary sponsors of the online video site will be organised by The Web TV Enterprise. Through the sponsor, advertisers will receive in-paper promotional branding, on-site exposure, and pre-roll ads around the content.

Bill Swanson, Managing Director of Independent.co.uk, said, “It is key that Independent.co.uk continues to seek content that is relevant to its audiences.

“The brand fit is fantastic, while the content will provide a regular destination for our users.”

The series is due to run from June to August 2009, in the build up to the university clearing process in 2009; the busiest time for the Independent.co.uk student section.

Promotion of the series will be ran through the newspaper, website, allowing the content to be used as a travel guide.

Endemol specifically created and developed the series ‘The Gap Year’ for Bebo to offer a fully interactive online video entertainment experience. The contestants for the series were carefully selected from the Bebo community, from all around the world, including, UK, Ireland, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. On a weekly basis, viewers are able to vote on decisions about the group’s journey.

Peter Cowley, Managing Director of Digital Media at Endemol, said, “We are delighted that The Independent will be carrying the first series of ‘The Gap Year.’

“We are very proud of the success the show garnered on Bebo and the extensive catalogue of travel content it created that deserves a wider audience.”

James Estrin, MD of The Web TV Enterprise, said, “The Web TV Enterprise has brought ‘The Gap Year’ to a whole new audience due to its partnership with The Independent.

“The Endemol series will complement existing online content on The Independent, which includes guidance and advice for students looking to find accommodation, research courses and plan a gap year.

“In my opinion, ‘The Gap Year’ is one of the best examples of how compelling short-form content works best on the web.