What's up there? - Its a flogo!

Chemtrail forming X in sky
to promote X-Men

Skyvertising – I was quite enchanted by the word when I heard it first time. Portmanteau words always have that charm, don’t they?

As you might have guessed it, it is a form of advertising in the blue sky (well not necessary blue, blue sky just sounds good!).

When I first heard the word it took me to the world of aerial advertising with all the aerial banners, airplane messages, flying banners, aerial billboards, skywriting and banner towing etc, but I was especially drawn towards the fact that clouds can be used as a marketing tool too. Astonishing, isn’t it? Flogos, as was called by its inventors, Francisco Guerra (Founder of Snowmaster factory) and Dr. Brian Glover does exactly that.

Still from T-Mobiles flogos campaign

Flogos (again a Portmanteau word made from  Floating”+”Logos”) are customized clouds at your service! Flogos are basically logos which can range from anywhere between 24 inches to 48 inches in size and are made from proprietary surfactant (soap) based foam formulations and lighter-than-air gases such as helium which makes them look and fly like clouds. Of course they can be made to achieve any given shape (almost!). These flogos in sky can last for anywhere between few minutes to an hour and can fly for 1 to 30 miles at a height of almost 5000 fts. Watch T-Mobile's Flogos video here.

citi bank flogos, India

Flogos are generated by an equipment which consists of helium and a compressed air bubble generator positioned below a custom stencil cutout (this will be your logo/message which is going to turn into a cloud!). As the bubbles form, they are forced into a relatively tight formation as they exit the stencil. Once a nice thick layer is established, a small plastic arm is dragged across the surface, liberating the foam from the stencil allowing it to float through the sky. Check video here

There are umpteen advantages of this form of skyveritising(even against its peers like aerial banners and messages). Some of the most important ones are –

• Cost-effective: The whole campaign may not cost more than a few thousand dollars (rented equipment for $1,000-$2,500). A company can choose to buy or built one of these for frequent usage.
• Novelty: It is an innovative way of marketing which breaks the clutter and hence is bound to attract eye-balls
• Successive marketing: Being innovative and effective will buy you free pieces in media talking about the campaign and the brand.
• Lack of competitors: Missing competitors at the platform(unlike television, internet or print media) helps building single equity for the brand and help in cultivating top of the mind recall
• Unobtrusive: It does not interfere in the life of your target audience and delivers the message in a subtle manner.
• Right Targeting: The equipment can be set-up at any place to target the right TG(Target Group)

These flogos events can be held on beaches, parties, streets, sports events etc to garner maximum audience. One need to be cautious about things like the location, chosen message/logo, height, size, time, weather conditions etc to make most out of this marketing exercise.

Have a look at the flogos employed by certain companies outside India.

  

In India, Citi bank used this marketing technique in Dec ’12 to promote its ‘Dil V/s Bill’ no-extra-cost EMI campaign. The whole campaign was run in parallel with social media platform and was deemed as extremely successful by the citi executives. Check video here.

Indian companies are yet to embrace this new marketing tool to reach and enthrall its TG but I guess it is just time before we see Ashirwaad and Godrej clouds in our skies.

Cheers,