A city as a source of the ‘creative spark’. Urban streets as basis for bold and massive campaigns. For many decades, smaller towns and megalopolises have been inspiring advertising agencies behind multiple marketing projects, which on the one hand are targeted at promoting brands and, on the other hand, encourage consumers to compare different cities, unveil creativity and strong dedication to sport, cinema and quests, or even bring rural accents to urban settings. We at Popsop have reviewed global brands’ ad activity during 2010 and first two months of 2011 to see how they’ve been embedding city into their promotions. Now, we are presenting our 3-part study dedicated to the subject. The first section of this review will highlight competitions, cross-city studies, urban sport-related promotions, which have been taking place within big cities around the globe and in a way were dedicated to them.

Citroën is offering auto fans an opportunity to experience the ride in a fun and entertaining way. The brand puts drivers behind the wheel of its C4 model in the digital movie and offers them to choose how the plot will develop. The online-project entitled ‘Positive Power’ is more like an action movie, an “interactive voyage of mystery, suspense and excitement,” where you are the protagonist.

What does it take to create a stunning, award-winning movie today? For this, you need to assemble a perfect cast and hire a celebrated director (it goes without saying that money and talanted production is included as well). How to make a stunning, really engaging promotional video these days? Do the same. One of the biggest sport gear and apparel brands, Nike, teamed up with celebrity athlete Kobe Bryant, a rooster of movie stars including Kanye West, Bruce Willis, Danny Trejo, and Robert Rodriguez to shoot a film titled ‘The Black Mamba’ to support the launch of several new additions dedicated to Kobe.

By Cheryl Swanson, Principal at Toniq LLC

With a new decade upon us, we thought this would be a great time to consider what socio-cultural shifts and resulting trends resonating today will gain strength moving forward. For CPG, HBA, any industry really, it is important to know what ideas will gain traction and what trends will fade away. Here, we have listed our favorite trends that we believe will continue to foster, from consumers to design.