Sol Cinema: cinematic caravan powered by the sun

Lounge Trend Hunter Lily (20) has brought The Sol Cinema to our attention this week. It's a 1960s caravan turned into a mini solar-powered cinema that seats 8 adults. It's a non-profit project created by the charity Undercurrents.

The Sol Cinema, or a a similar vehicle, would be a great component in experiential campaigns. Not only is it creative and fun, it is also bang-on trend reflecting both the macro Eco-cool consumer trend for all things green as well as the nostalgic vintage trend. It could also tie into the trend for Localism due to its mobile nature and if it screened local-interest films.

Imagine if... an energy provider toured fetes, festivals or seaside towns in the summer in a caravan like this. They could flag up their green credentials whilst screening short-films relevant to the brand - perhaps consumer-created.
Imagine if a close-to-nature healthy food brand (like Innocent or Dorset Cereals) did the same, highlighting their clean living, fun brand personality whilst capturing consumer imaginations. Brands could go exciting places in this caravan!

Nokia's ice touchscreen

Martin Homent, The Lounge Group's Creative Director comments:

Six years ago at a D&AD lecture, I was told that my entire world would fit in my pocket. My photos, videos, friends, diary, entertainment, music and games. And not just that. It would all be
on one device.

Six years on it seems to be something we take for granted. But at the time, this was the vision of Frank Nuovo, the Chief Designer at Nokia. He referred to it as the 'digital pocket'.

It's easy to forget just how pioneering Nokia are when the handheld market today is seemingly dominated by Apple and Blackberry. But it's this kind of thinking that has set Nokia apart from the competition and given them numerous 'firsts' in the world of technology. (I was lucky enough to see a museum full of them at their headquarters in Finland - a gadget geek's dream).

Imagine... a boat like this as part of your campaign

This is fantastic - a 'capsized' yet fully functional half-boat, made to look like it's full-sized and sinking. Imaginative and playful, it certainly makes you look twice and could generate great publicity for a campaign.

Created by the French artist Julien Berthier.


Submitted by Lounge Trend Hunter Lily, 20, Venice.

Experiential vending machines are sharing the love for free

Several FMCG brands are using the medium of The Vending Machine to engage consumers in a new way.

Rather than simply taking the dough and giving up the goodies (or not, as the case may be given the frequent unreliability of the things) these vending machines are providing imaginative and interactive experiences which reward the consumer with a free product.

Hello from the Operations Team

Hello all! It is time for us in the operations team to post our first Lounge blog, how very exciting! We take care of all the logistical elements of all the campaigns that take place at The Lounge, whether it be hiring the staff, the venue or the equipment etc. So it’s only fitting that we choose some kind of experiential activity that has really caught our eye.

As a follower of The Lounge you’ll know that we like to do things slightly differently. We don’t tend to do things by halves. To successfully engage with the under 35s our campaigns need to be edgy, quirky and unusual. The leafleting campaign below certainly ticks all those boxes.

Innocent's '5 for 5' pop-up cafe

The Sunday before last I took a trip to Innocent's '5 for 5' pop-up cafe in East London for lunch, tempted by the idea of getting 5 of my '5 a day' for only £5 (having spent a couple of weeks skiving off eating enough fruit and veg!)

The cafe was only open for a week, from the 1st of October, with a menu by celebrity chef Gizzi Erskine. The setup looked great and was held in a big warehouse-like space. It had been made to feel like a country fête with bunting and pots of herbs dotted around, with everyone sat down communally on wagamama-style wooden benches.

Our campaign for Lynx Fever is in Marketing Magazine!

Our campaign for Lynx Fever shower gel was featured in Marketing Magazine's experiential leagues 2010 article today!

The experiential campaign at T4 on the Beach and Boardmasters festivals last year has also just won the Gramia 2010 award for Best Brand Experience.