Following a fantastic exhibition and advertising campaign across London. Foodhub contacted Bloon to manage a guerrilla marketing stunt that needed to be planned and executed within 48 hours. Being Bloon they made it happen!
After a social media post went viral on Reddit questioning if the Duck on the Docks that Bloon operated, was the new Prime Minister. Foodhub decided to take this a step further. See the link to the original Reddit post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/y8v4my/where_is_there_a_giant_pink_duck_outside_the/
Why did Foodhub want to this stunt?
The reason Foodhub wanted to complete this campaign was not just as it a hilarious stunt or that general public were calling the giant duck the new PM. But to raise awareness for the current cost of living crises and how it has affected takeaway consumers and business owners. Below is a statement from Foodhubs CEO Ardian Mula around the impact that the cost of living crises is causing.
“In September, the price of food jumped by 14.6%, the biggest rise since 1980. Items like bread, meat, and dairy have all been affected the most. The price of importing produce and ingredients has also increased, due to the pound’s recent decline against foreign currencies. Ardian Mula said: “Restaurants and takeaways are currently under an extreme amount of pressure. Costs in every department are rising..“Kitchen staples, such as meat, cheese, and bread have been hit the hardest. These are key ingredients in one of the nation’s favorite takeaway meals – the burger.“Some costs are already being passed onto customers, however, that can only go so far. Everyone is struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis, and consumers can’t foot the whole bill of these increases.“Britain has a great takeaway and restaurant tradition. This is now under threat.“Something must change, and more help must be offered by the government.”
How did we achieve this?
Using an extensive book of contacts, Bloon booked a HGV lorry the same day ready for the activation. With a brief given to the company and ensuring the nominated driver was happy to complete the work at hand. Bloon took precautions with contacting Metropolitan Police and making them aware of the activation to not cause any unnecessary hysteria.
The Bloon team quickly packed together any necessary and spare equipment and headed down to London. With any major activation that is over two hours travel away, Bloon always travel the night before to ensure the morning operation can go as smoothly as possible.
Typically, first thing in the morning the weather was not on our side. But this did not stop Bloon from activating. Bloon set up in a side street near the South Bank, inflating the giant duck so it could be anchored down and put into position on the HGV. Doing these precautions allows the duck to inflate in under five minutes. Once the photos had been taken the duck could be deflated and weighted down for the next location within ten minutes.
The end result
With the activation being a massive success and Bloon managing to inflate the giant duck in downing street, the activation couldn’t of gone smoother with the amount of planning time in place. Metropolitan Police were very helpful with this activation and luckily made no arrests! Foodhub got their all important photos to be used on social media.
After being published, newspaper publishers contacted Bloon directly to get information on the activation to be published. The activation ended up being a multiple newspapers and shared across social media. See below some links to news articles that the campaign was featured in.
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