A New Take on Coupons

I stumbled across a really cool example of billboard advertising on The Marketing Blog (brought to you by the editorial team from Marketing Magazine) today: James Ready beer has these innovative billboards in Southern Ontario that act as giant coupons. The idea is that passersby can take a photo of the billboard and show it to the vendor mentioned in the ad to save some money.

I just think it's so creative. Everyone and their dog has a camera-phone combination nowadays and so many businesses are jumping on the smartphone app bandwagon, offering cool technological ways of connecting with their product or service. That's great. But what I like about James Ready's approach here is that it's a witty mix of high-tech (you need a camera on you when you see the ad) and low-tech (you need to be the one to take action and take a photo of the sign... you can't just click "download"). And the whole coupons-save-you-money thing plays in so well with their raison d'etre (being a cheap beer).

Bales Are the New Billboards

I read somewhere recently that "cellphones are the new billboards." This may be true in some parts of the world, but in rural Alberta the bale of hay is giving cellphone ads a run for their money.

That's right. Bales of hay. Apparently, in the regions surrounding Calgary, it's actually bales that are the new billboards.

Shelagh McNally, chief of marketing at Big Rock Brewery, is the brain behind this growing phenomenon. The idea is simple: make the hay look like a giant can of Big Rock's Traditional Ale. The first "adver-bales" went up about a year ago, and now there are more than 90 beer bales dotting the province.

McNally smartly put a U.S. patent on the idea (which uses lace-up plastic sheeting to surround the bale and give the beer can effect) and is now reaping the benefits. The adver-bales cost about $600 each, far cheaper than the traditional billboard. And they last forever.

Except in one instance. “Well, we had a cow eat one once,” Ms. McNally says. Hah!