Easy travel guides from easyJet

easyJet has been telling French consumers that they can travel all of Europe from a low price of 35 euros. To drive that home (or away on vacay), the company has gone a step further to show how consumers really can get twice the travel at one low price.

easyJet partnered with Lonely Planet to create custom travel guides that feature ideas and information for two distinct locations, like Athens to London and Naples to Berlin, for consumers to extend one trip to two places and easily get more varying experiences out of it.

Easing the sour side of lemonade stands

Who didn't have a lemonade stand at some point in the summer when you were a kid? After all, lemonade stands embody summertime and childhood.

But apparently kids are experiencing more real life lessons from them than having innocent fun making a handful of money, and can be fined (harshly it seems) by towns for licenses or having an unlicensed stands. That'll leave a sour taste in your mouth.

In steps Country Time lemonade to the rescue. The brand is offering to cover up to $300 in expenses up to a total of $60,000 for lemonade stand fines and licensing fees through August 31. A brilliant solution for a problem your core consumer is experiencing. Cheers.

Not watching sports? ESPN is watching you

Personalization is a hot topic as it relates to CX, and if done right, it can be super effective.

Using Airdrop, Apple's easy file transfer feature, ESPN sent personalized messages to people in certain NYC locations, prompting them to think of why they were there doing (insert specific activity here) instead of watching the NBA finals. The approach might feel a little too Big Brother for some, but it definitely caught the attention of consumers, and came off as playful.

Hyper-personalized, real-time messaging like this could effectively be used to deliver personalized message in specific locations, especially at event activations, but must be done right to avoid being all-out creepy.

Extreme treasure hunt for an extreme discount

Vollebak is the self-proclaimed "most advanced sports gear" company. See their solar charged running jacket. That's pretty advanced and hardcore.

The brand launched an activation catered to its hardcore consumers by creating a treasure hunt to find one, single Extreme Discount Card that will award a loyal and adventurous consumer with free sports gear - for life.

A video offers the only clues to the card's whereabouts, so good luck to those ambitious enough to go for it.

Watch the World Cup with unlimited Kellogg's cereal

Even though the US Men's Soccer team didn't make the World Cup, the global tournament in general tends to draw soccer enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts together to watch the action. This year, the tournament is in Russia, which means very early morning game times for US viewers.

Kellogg's has a cereal bar in NYC that it's using to host World Cup watch parties, where viewers can come together and watch the games in the mornings. Viewers can reserve a spot at the parties through Eventbrite for $20, which is inclusive of unlimited access to the cereal bar, coffee, juice, and other goodies.

Kellogg's executed a similar experience for the Royal Wedding last month, and it's a great way to use a branded space for specialized activations that support groups of consumers with similar and specific interests.

Designated walking lane for the smartphone obsessed

If you go to any major city, you will experience someone bottle necking sidewalk traffic because some people are looking down at their phones or texting. In China, there are so many people who never look up from their phones when walking that they are affectionately known as the heads-down tribe.

A shopping plaza in Xi'an in China knows it can't alter this consumer behavior, so it is trying to alleviate pedestrian congestion, and frustration, and created a designated 'lane' for the heads-down tribe to walk and free up room for the rest of the shoppers. It's a design innovation that could (should?) very quickly become implemented in most major cities to keep the throngs of citizens living in harmony.

Bedding company drives trial with rest stop hotel

Sleepdays is a Japanese bedding company that executed a brilliant experiential campaign to increase awareness and trial of its products. Here's how:

For a limited time, they took over several parking spots at a rest stop on a highway with the highest volume of commuter traffic. Tired commuters could digitally reserve a spot to stop and rest so they don't drive drowsy, which is a problem in Japan and a leading cause of accidents.

At the rest stop, drivers were greeted by a Sleepdays brand ambassador who brought them black out shades for their car windows and Sleepdays bedding to make their much needed nap more comfortable. They could even order car-service treats. And anyone that has had to pull over and sleep a bit at a rest stop after your eyes get a little too heavy knows how luxurious this sounds.

It was a unique way to reach an highly relevant audience outside of the normal channels of the category and separate itself from competitors.

See a video of the activation here.

Pizza in bed? There's a new pizza box for that

Lazy people, Netflix bingers - let's be honest, really anyone - rejoice: Boston Pizza and agency St. John have come up with the latest innovation in the pizza delivery game, and created a pizza box that transforms into a tray so you can eat your pizza in bed.

This package design is filling a consumer need that consumers may not have known they needed (or did, but wouldn't admit out loud). They better also provide plenty of napkins to save people's sheets from getting greasy.

Watch this video to see it in action.

Stream a track and give back to Mother Nature

There's a new Green album in the market, and it's not from Weezer. LIFE Institute (Lasting Initiative For Earth) created an album featuring tracks of nature sounds which is available on all major streaming services. While it doesn't sound earth shattering, what is innovative is that all royalties from plays go to the LIFE Institute to put towards conservation projects. And since the album was a low cost to produce, the royalties could go a long way (as long as people listen). Consumers can hear soothing sounds of nature while doing good for the environment. It's a win-win.

Check it out, and help the earth, on Spotify.

Pedigree champions seeing eye humans

Guide dogs are such kind, patient, and amazing companions for those who are visually impaired. And many pet-centered companies have championed guide dogs and organizations that support them and their training.

But in Brazil, Pedigree is turning the tables and focusing on pet owners whose dogs lose their vision as they age, which is not uncommon - with some owners, unfortunately, giving them up due to the burden of caring for them. Pedigree is highlighting some owners with blind dogs and how important their role is to the dogs and to not give up on them, because their ability to love and be loyal is not impaired. They created the "Human Guide" campaign complete with the website humanguides.com, to serve as a toolkit to help pet owners learn how to best care for their visually impaired puppers and show how easy it is, so the trend of abandoning these dogs in need decreases.

Grab some tissues and watch videos about the campaign here.