Month: June 2010

Dutch Design (57): The Dutch Dress Guerrilla Marketing Babes leave FiFa with Egg on its Face

Part 1 of the story:

Bavaria, a small Dutch beer brand engages the stunning Dutch wife of one of the Dutch football (or soccer if you wish) players, Sylvie van der Vaart, to present its new marketing tool, The Dutch Dress (originally they coined it the Dutchy Dress).

You get The Dutch Dress free whenever you buy a crate of their beer, but you can buy it as well without the beer. Over 200k dresses have been sold by now.

The presentation of the dress gets a bit of attention already.

Sylvie announced she will wear the dress at the WorldCup matches…some journalists already whisper that will cause havoc with the Dutch Football Association, because their main sponsor is another beer brand. Noteworthy a brand that doesn’t hesitate to do some guerrilla marketing of its own.

Part 2 of the story:

The Dutch beer label provides a couple of Dutch and South African Babes with free tickets for the match Denemarken-Holland.
They enter the stadium disguised as fans of the Danes. During the match they strip down to the Dutch Dress and start singing. Several heads up shots follow.

Officials of the FiFa order them to leave the stadium, because the head sponsor of the WorldCup is another beer brand and this is forbidden. They do not comply immediately. Thereupon the babes are taken into a room of the stadium for interrogation by the South African Police. The South African babes are released after interrogation, but the Dutch babes allegedly organizing this ambush advertising campaign are arrested the next day and taken to the police station for further interrogation. Their passports are taken in and they have to go on trial and could face 6 months of jail, because Ambush Advertizing is against the law in South Africa….changed so by virtue of the contract South Africa signed with FiFA to get the WorldCup to Africa.

The Dutch foreign minister is already taking diplomatic steps and requested the South African ambassador explanation.

An English television reporter seems sacked because of he allegedly had provided the tickets for the ladies from his ticket allocation for members of his family…

Here is the Youtube footage of the act itself:

Questions

Off course this is a variant of guerrilla marketing. I love it! Not only advertises it the beer label, but also the fact that our Dutch ladies are stunning creatures. But should you be labeled as a criminal for this? Apart from a very tiny Bavaria label in the dress there is no clear Bavaria logo. An orange dress is a dress is a dress…nothing else..

South Africa has specifically enacted anti Ambush Advertising laws when they signed up with FiFa for this WorldCup. If this is true we should start to boycott FiFa. For South Africa this could mean that it sinks in the esteem of the international public opinion, just because it has already a history of lack of freedom of speech. It should never have given in to this requirement.

Does FiFa need this to protect it’s rights? My suspicion is FiFa’s actions just get the opposite of what they tried to achieve, because of the outcry their action creates in social media.

What is your take?

Update
On June 22, 2010 the prosecutor dropped all charges in the South African court after a delay of 3 hours. Reportedly so instructed by the South African Government and also reportedly because Bavaria and Fifa had reached an undisclosed agreement.

Brilliant Hotel Marketing by Radisson Blu: The Greatest Holiday on Earth

I’ve entered the Greatest Holiday on Earth contest.

The Scandinavia based hotel brand Radisson Blu (Formerly Radisson SAS and SAS without Radisson) has launched this brilliant and simple internet driven Web 2.0 contest. The participants have to enter the competition with a slogan, 4 photos and possibly a video to explain why they deserve the price, 365 nights in one or more of the 200 plus Radisson Blu hotels. They win the price when they have received the most votes. The hotels of the Radisson Blu portfolio are basically located in Europe and the Middle East. The winner may use the 365 free hotel room nights in 5 years. A brilliant prize and there is a lot of buzz forming already.

Once entered the participants have to use their social contacts to vote for them. Mind you, every 24 hrs they and their contacts may cast their vote. The contest runs until July 24st.

Would you like to vote for me?

Update
As we will never be able to take all nights ourselves, I’ve decided that if I win, I will throw 300 nights into a Travel Bloggers Camp somewhere in Europe so that 300 Travel bloggers can enjoy 1 free night for a two days event, or 150 Travel bloggers can enjoy two free nights for a three days event.

Com on travel blog friends let’s flex our muscles and show the world we can do this:-) Vote!

Dutch General Election day 2010


Today we Dutch may vote to elect 150 representatives in Dutch Parliament (the Second Chamber). We don’t have an easy task as there are many parties. You can say the smaller the country the more political parties it has. The photo shows the leaders of the 8 political parties that in one or another combination will reign after they have formed a coalition. Nothing is certain yet and traditionally the formation of a government typically takes between 60 and 90 days.


According to the polls the liberal party of Mark Rutte will become the largest party in Parliament. Most likely he will be the next Prime Minister of The Netherlands. This photo I took from him two years ago just after he had disembarked from a new Lifeboat of The Hague (Scheveningen to be more precise) when he had volunteered to undergo a 360 rollover test in the lifeboat.


He will certainly need the lifesaving vest and the experience he underwent there to help getting The Netherlands floating again:-)

Dutch Queen Beatrix will open New Car Museum in The Hague

On July 2, 2010 Dutch Queen Beatrix will open a New Car Museum in The Hague. It is practically located in the garden of her residence. It will be the new home for the Louwman Museum‘s car and art collection that will move to The Hague from its present location Rosmalen.



The Ferrari 500 Superfast Speciale of the photos was built by Ferrari on specs by the father of Queen Beatrix, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

As Ultimate Car page reported:

Although all Superfasts were similar in design and configuration, Enzo Ferrari was more than happy to make an exception for one of his most loyal customers, Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands. Like for all his Ferraris, the Prince specified green (Verde Pino) as the colour for his Superfast, but that’s not what makes s/n 6267 SF a ‘Superfast Speciale’. For reasons unknown he had Ferrari fit a 330 GT derived four litre engine, which was not a problem as the Superfast’s chassis was derived from the 330 GT. A special bench type front seat is fitted, designed to seat a second passenger. With no air conditioning or power steering the Prince’s Superfast is a true driver’s car, stripped from all luxuries.

In fairly original condition, it is pictured here at the 2003 Bonham’s Gstaad Ferrari Auction. It found new owner for just over 420,000 Swiss Francs. Prince Bernhard’s Superfast has found a good home in the National Dutch Auto Museum in Rosmalen, The Netherlands.

It is not very clear what name will be appropriate for the museum. The present signs name it Louwman Museum. The Louwman family who build it are car importers who started the collection. But they also acquired the Dutch National Automobiel Museum a few years back when that came in financially lesser circumstances. It’s prior name was The Louwman Collection. We will see. I wouldn’t be surprised if Louwman would get the Queen so far as to grant him permission to name the museum Royal Dutch Automobile Museum.

Personally I believe that whatever the name will be, it is very important for The Hague to get this new museum which has a unique collection of cars and car art and will be worth a visit.

Dutch Design (56): Head over to Sudeley Castle

Head over to Sudeley Castle? Why? What with this awful skull?

I’ll tell you:

  1. Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds (UK) is worth a trip to the UK in it self. Especially when it is late spring / early summer when it’s beautiful garden is at its peak. I know, because I visited it once in the 90ies myself and have fond memories of that visit. Moreover, if you are a garden enthusiast, you should combine a visit to Sudeley Castle with a visit to Kiftsgate Court Garden and to Hidcote Manor.
  2. The castle is a beauty. Part of it still inhabited as a residence. Part of it artful ruins that act as beautiful backdrop for some exceptional climbing roses. Sorry, I don’t confess it here often, but I’m a real rose lover!
  3. If you are interested in British history, take a tour inside the castle and you will learn a thing or two.
  4. And now Sotheby’s has deemed Sudeley Castle worthwhile as a backdrop for a sales exhibition of 25 pieces of contemporary artists that runs until August 1, 2010 (and thus is combined with the garden’s high season).

Situated in the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, the partially ruined Sudeley Castle thrived during Tudor times as a royal household for Queen Katherine Parr but suffered damage during the Civil War. Since its restoration in the 1830s, it played host to many of the greatest politicians of the Victorian age. Sudeley is today the home of Lady Ashcombe and the Dent-Brocklehurst family, who are dedicated to the regeneration of the castle and its gardens, with a particular emphasis on environmental sustainability. Since 2005, Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst has staged a series of contemporary art exhibitions at Sudeley including Vertigo and Reconstruction and the success of these shows has resulted in the forthcoming collaboration with Sotheby’s.

One of the eye catchers is the Huge Sudeley Bench by Pablo Reinoso

Among the contemporary artists is Dutchman Joep van Lieshout of Atelier van Lieshout or AVL whose Wellness Skull is on exhibition:

Wellness Skull represents a highpoint of AVL’s provocative creations. The human skull – universal symbol of knowledge, wisdom, evolution, and eternal token of fugitive life – is transformed into a center for indulgence and relaxation. The upper cranium houses a fully working sauna and the lower section offers a bath/shower facility. The pierced eye sockets provide ventilation on the inside, whilst delivering a dramatic haze of steam when viewed from the outside. Commenting on the bizarre functionality of this giant memento mori, Joep van Lieshout, founder of the atelier, states: ‘the heavenly power is the big unknown, the death of the hereafter, the skull of the physical shell of the mind. The earthly power is an economical power. Money plays an important role in our contemporary society. Gradually faith loses all importance and is replaced by an alternative ‘self experience’, through travelling, sporting and wellness centres.’

In the meantime the Wellness Skull has traveled a bit: Here are photos I took  when it was on exhibition in Vienna:

With the Karlskirche in the back

Combining Art and Garden is excellent Destination Marketing

It’s not new, a sales exhibition of sculpture has been done many times, but an outdoor sales exhibition of modern design is reasonably new. I believe it is an extra ordinary idea to bring together three power houses: A destination powerhouse like Sudeley Castle, a curating powerhouse like Sotheby’s and a Gallery powerhouse like the London based The Carpenter Shop Gallery that traditionally has strong ties with the Dutch design scene….

Ah and -very modern- Sudeley Castle has a Twitter account