Hitting the streets

18 November 2009 | 16:32 - By Thang Ngo

This Kaleidoscope comes from South East Asia where we’re currently on holidays; to be precise it’s from my observations of Bangkok and I’m currently writing this in Luang Prabang, Laos’ second largest city.

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This Kaleidoscope comes from South East Asia where we’re currently on holidays; to be precise it’s from my observations of Bangkok and I’m currently writing this in Luang Prabang, Laos’ second largest city.

Bangkok is a bit of a creative advertising hub, so wasn’t at all surprised by the great creatives and fantastic production values especially of TVCs and Billboards – in stark contrast to Luang Prabang, which is more of your sleepy country tourist town.

But I was also struck by the level of street market.  Walking down Silom Road, Bangkok, we were caught in the middle of a street campaign for Nokia’s Ovi Maps.  It was a simple idea, while Nokia is Thailand’s number one mobile brand this was about launching a new concept, the ‘ovi maps’ service.  

Everyone got a pink balloon to take home as a reminder of ‘Ovi’.  The entire busy street was turned into a sea of pink Ovi balloons.

In 1993 I happened to land in Vietnam the day Pepsi officially returned to the country. You couldn’t leave the airport, walk the streets without being given a can of Pepsi.  Everyone seemed to love a free sample.  Unilever used street marketing and sampling to great effect when it launched Sunsilk by giving out samples outside major supermarkets.

In Australia, Lebara mobiles, Loud Multicultural for their client, Western Union are two brands that have successfully used street marketing as an integral part of their multicultural campaign.

And it makes sense because many communities are geographically concentrated as my earlier blog, Think Multicultural, Act Local argues.

It’s a direct and personal way of getting your brands out there and if it’s accompanied with a sample, will be happily accepted.

With street marketing, you know that the touch point with your brand has been a personal one.

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Comments (6)

22 Oct 2010 21:25 AEST

Joe

From: Wella

But I was also struck

But I was also struck by the level of street market. Walking down Silom Road, Bangkok, we were caught in the middle of a street campaign for Nokia’s Ovi Maps. It was a simple idea, while Nokia is Thailand’s number one mobile brand this was about launching a new concept, the ‘ovi maps’ service. Everyone got a pink balloon to take home as a reminder of ‘Ovi’. The entire busy street was turned into a sea of pink Ovi balloons.

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23 Nov 2009 21:57 AEST

Thang

From: Canley Vale

The environment

You're right Jacquie, there is a definite growing awareness of environmental issues, people are urged to recycle/re-use bags, although I have to say everyone is very keen to dish out plastic bags

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19 Nov 2009 9:01 AEST

Jacquie

From: Maroubra

Hence why we are going to hell in a nadbasket

I was recently in South East Asia and was also struck by the street marketing/consuming. It may be an observable marketing phenomenon, but its contributing significantly to the consumption and waste issues we have as a planet.

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18 Nov 2009 21:08 AEST

Kim

From: Canley Heights

Sunsilk

They're still giving out samples when I was there last year!

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18 Nov 2009 19:39 AEST

Thang

From: Canley Vale

Quite Right

Hey Josie, You're so right we saw it too, especially on Conaught Road on Sunday. Western Union and others were deep into street marketing. And your example is particularly good because that too is an example of use of street marketing in a multicultural context

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18 Nov 2009 19:36 AEST

Josie

From: Darlinghurst

Interesting

We were in Hong Kong and there was abit of street marketing there too, money transfer companies were targeting Filippinas working there to send money back home.

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About this Blog

Multicultural Australia is more than just ethnic food, stereotypes and newspaper headlines. Kaleidoscope takes a closer look at our vibrant cultural diversity and highlight opportunities for marketers (and the rest of us) to engage with multicultural Australia.

Thang Ngo has two decades of marketing experience on agency and client sides, working with some of Australia’s top brands including Qantas, Optus and Star City.

For nine years he served on Fairfield Council, one of Australia’s most culturally diverse local government areas located in south western Sydney. 

By day, Thang is National Manager of SBS In Language, which includes radio airtime sales and in language production services.                                                                                   

By night, he can be found in Cabramatta, at a local restaurant or temple.

thang.ngo@sbs.com.au
www.twitter.com/thangngo 

 
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