25bikes Media

At 25bikes, we love audio branding. We can help you create a podcast to reach your employees or VIP clients. This is a good read on the strength of audio branding: https://adage.com//focus-thing-year-make-audio-bra/316418/

A subtle change to your logo to fit a specific promotion can be good idea, if done well. Here's an example of a logo alteration that we think is quite clever. Here's a picture of the back of a carton of McDonald's fries. In Toronto, McDonald's partners with the NBA Toronto Raptors basketball team to give away free orders of french fries if the Raptors score twelve 3-pointers in a single game. Before we even start talking about the customized logo, there are other things we l...ike about this promotion. If you're at the game, it becomes a "game within the game" once the Raptors get to nine, ten, eleven 3-pointers. It's a fun way to get basketball fans interacting with McDonald's product on the journey to twelve. And, we presume everyone's done their research. If the Raptors sink twelve 3-pointers in a game, we're sure McD's knows how many people will redeem the free offer the next day. The number twelve will have significance too. Again, someone's done their homework and determined that twelve is a reachable number of 3-pointers without being too common. (For the record, the average number of 3-pointers in the NBA this season is 11.2. Interestingly, last season's average was 10.5. The years before that were 9.7, & 8.5. With such an upward trend towards 3-pointer success, don't be surprised if next season this promotion needs the Raptors to score a higher number of 3's to get your free fries!). But what we like most about this promotion is the subtle change of pace to the classic McDonald's logo. We all know the Golden Arches, and changing it ever-so-slightly to look like a bouncing basketball is cute, clever & effective. They've changed their logo, without actually changing it. They've kept it to its original spirit, & they haven't messed with its colours or general dimensions. Don't go changing your logo "just because". But if it fits with your promotion, go for it.

At a dinner party recently, this billboard proved to us once again that advertising works. Two thick waffles holding together a sandwich of egg, sausage and cheese. To some people, that's just about the perfect breakfast. To other people, it's a heart attack waiting to happen. A friend at this party was recounting a recent drive during which he became hungry, and was considering whether he should stop for breakfast. He then passed this Tim Hortons billboard, and -- voila! ...-- his decision was made. "Genius!" he thought. "A breakfast sandwich where instead of biscuits, they use waffles! I think I'll buy one this very instant!" Subsequent discussion at this dinner party centred around whether the "waffle instead of biscuits" sandwich was a delicious idea, or gross. A clear answer was never arrived at, but one thing became clear: this marketing campaign is a winner. Not everybody at that dining room table was going to buy one of these things, but everybody now knew that it existed. And that's a marketing success. Consumer was hungry, consumer saw a food ad, consumer headed straight for the nearest drive-thru. Marketing isn't always this simple, but it's wonderful when it is.

On the day after a Snow Day, a lesson in How To Win At Twitter from the Toronto School Board: