June 2009 Archives

Improv Everywhere causes elaborate scenes in New York City. The pranks that the agents of Improv Everywhere perform are done to make people smile and to give them a unique New York City experience. When you think about it not many people can say they witnessed hundreds of people frozen in time in Grand Central Station, but the Improv Everywhere agents made it possible. The pranks done by Improv Everywhere range from having dozens of phones ringing at the same time in a book store to a prank that was done in Best Buy. The Best Buy prank included around eighty agents that were dressed in a blue polo shirt and khaki pants, the official uniform of a Best Buy employee. The agents then stood in the aisles of the 23^rd St Best Buy store helping anyone who asked. Many of the agents were asked to leave if they were not shopping, but they all stated they were waiting for a friend.  The Improv Everywhere site is one of Moderne Communications' favorite. Our goal is to create unique experiences for consumers with the brands we work with. The pranks that Improv Everywhere do get people talking, as shown in the videos of their missions on their website. At Moderne we create experiences with our guerllia marketing services. We hope that through these services we can do something as fun as the Improv Everywhere agents do to create a buzz and an experience for consumers in the future.

Best Buy from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

The World Gold Council, a relative newcomer to the Second Life virtual world, will be holding its third and final May is Gold Month virtual event this Saturday, May 30th, capping a month-long promotional presence in the virtual world. Having already executed two successful events through partner agency Moderne Communications, the finale event is scheduled to take place this Saturday at 2pm SLT, or Second Life Time (equivalent to U.S. Pacific time), on Moderne Island in Second Life.

Through the Second Life program, the World Gold Council seeks not only to make a lasting virtual footprint with their brand, but also to drive real world awareness for the value and preciousness of gold. The Second Life presence also promotes participation in the May is Gold Month Sweepstakes. Event attendees are greeted with relevant real world information on Gold as well as virtual world jewelry designs created especially for the engagement, helping to join the interactivity of Second Life with the effectiveness of web marketing to generate offline sales and awareness.

The first of World Gold Council's events, the Make Mom Golden event, was Mother's Day-themed and drew hundreds of unique visitors over the course of the three hour event. Visitors received free virtual gold jewelry designs in various shapes and sizes. Even greater success was achieved by the second event, drawing several hundreds of visitors for the Graduation-themed event. Here, World Gold Council and Moderne Interactive, the digital division of Moderne Communications, released additional unique virtual jewelry pieces that were awarded to avatars in attendance.

Saturday's event will feature a Golden Couples theme, geared toward newlyweds, soon-to-be newlyweds and also those couples - both real and virtual - that have been together for some time. Once again, exclusive virtual jewelry will be made available. Additionally, there will be a Second Life sweepstakes wherein residents of the virtual world will have an opportunity to win 20,000 lindens (the virtual world currency of Second Life). Second Life residents have been submitting personal stories to enter the Golden Anniversary Couple Contest explaining why their love will endure through their golden anniversary (50th.) The winning couple will receive the contest prize.

World Gold Council Jewelry PR and Promotions Manager Duvall O'Steen has been very involved and enthusiastic about the events. Regarding the Second Life endeavor as a whole, she noted, "Creating an opportunity for consumers to interact virtually with gold jewelry in a viral environment, while simultaneously communicating the emotionally evocative and enduring value of fine gold jewelry, adds a unique perspective to jewelry marketing on the web. We are excited to offer such a virtual interactive forum to get people talking about, trying on and sharing their favorite stories about gold jewelry." Moderne Communications' Chief Strategist Leigh Rowan added on by saying, "It has been Moderne's pleasure to work with the World Gold Council and create another successful Second Life program. We cherish the opportunity to utilize this interactive space and help them turn virtual branding into real world business."

For more information on the World Gold Council May is Gold Month virtual world presence, please visit Moderne Island in Second Life. For more information on the World Gold Council, please visit their website, Gold.org.

After three and a half years of developing, mastering and successfully branding clients in the Second Life virtual world, Moderne Interactive - digital marketing arm of parent company Moderne Communications - has been accepted as a member of the Second Life Grid Gold Solution Provider Program. This announcement solidifies Moderne Interactive as one of the world's most successful and innovative virtual world development and marketing agencies.

One of only 30 or so companies worldwide selected to be members in the Gold Solution Provider Program, Moderne Interactive is the only member of the group to be backed by a marketing and communications agency with experience in the real world. Moderne Interactive's parent company, Moderne Communications, has been creating successful real world experiential marketing programs for clients like McDonald's and and Anheuser-Busch for over 20 years. 

Moderne's virtual world work has involved a diverse group of clients with even more diverse objectives. From its first virtual world media forays for GE, Microsoft and T-Mobile in 2006 to its current government and enterprise software clients like Adobe, the World Bank and the Government of Ontario, Canada, Moderne has worked with over 20 clients in the virtual world for B2C and B2B branding, marketing and advertising programs.

Vice President Lou Mourelatos shared the excitement of Moderne's inclusion: "We are pleased to be among the top virtual world design, execution, and management firms globally. Our presence on this list confirms the great work we've done and will continue to do for award-winning initiatives like the Ontario Public Service Careers client, and others." Ontario, Moderne Interactive's longest-tenured client, has utilized Second Life for several objectives, including Real World job recruitment (Ontario Public Service - OPS Island) and interacting with Digital Citizens in support of government policy research projects (Digital Ontario Island). Mourelatos adds: "Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement on that exciting launch!"

With more than 25 years expertise in the experiential marketing arena, Moderne Communications continues to grow as a leading independent event, social media and multicultural marketing and advertising agency, offering a wide array of integrative services with high-impact and low cost. COO and Chief Strategist Leigh Rowan notes, "Whether it's Second Life, social media, mobile marketing or good old product sampling, clients are looking for two things: niche expertise and high value. We have the years of expertise and the right networks of people to provide our clients with both." Moderne's past, present and future success hinges on their devout attention to each program and extensive network of regional and local expertise to get the job done right.

Moderne plans to use its membership in the program to extend its leadership in virtual worlds management and marketing. Mourelatos comments that "We look forward to further demonstrating how cost-effective virtual world and social media programs can positively augment and even supplant high cost business initiatives."

For more information on Moderne Communications' non-traditional and experiential marketing services, including all Second Life capabilities, please visit ModerneInteractive.com and ModerneCommunications.com.

Each year, Event Marketer Magazine publishes its It List, a collection of the Top 100 Experiential Marketing Agencies in the world, as selected by the magazine's expert staff. Long Island-based Moderne Communications, riding the momentum of a corporate makeover in 2008, finds itself on the elite list again, giving the agency its fourth appearance in five years.

"We're honored and privileged," commented President Joe Mastrocovi, "but more than anything else, it's gratifying that we've been able to maintain our excellence during a year that saw many changes." In September of 2008, Moderne Communications became the new name of its two previous entities: Moderne Promotions and TheSLAgency. The Moderne Promotions name lives on as one of the agency's three divisions, handling all of the nightlife and event marketing programs that Moderne runs for clients like Budweiser Select and McDonald's. TheSLAgency, originally focused solely on virtual marketing in Second Life, has been incorporated into the Moderne Interactive division, which now handles all online, virtual, social media and mobile phone-related marketing efforts. The third of the three divisions is Moderne Mosaic, which specializes in multicultural and specific audience-based media and initiatives.

Chief Strategist Leigh Rowan notes that "the changes in 2008 have been good for us. Our rebranding allowed us to officially grow our service offerings of non-traditional marketing programs without sacrificing any of element of our excellent client service record. The Top 100 Listing validates that we made the right choices, and reinforces the high level of quality that Moderne boasts."

Moderne finds itself in good company on the It List, a position it sees as more of an opportunity than anything else. "The other 99 agencies could be seen as competitors, but many are agencies we have worked with and/or are strategically collaborating with for our mutual success," Mastrocovi explains. Agency partnerships, especially in a time when supply outweighs demand so heavily, support Moderne's unofficial motto of supporting, not supplanting other agencies - a practice that has obviously worked thus far.

2009 looks to be a big year for Moderne, as the company plans on growing its New York offices with new account staff and service leads. Additionally, Moderne is pursuing unique non-traditional marketing programs with current clients (such as Adobe Systems, Gilead Pharmaceuticals and Kozy Shack and McDonald's), and adding select new clients to its roster. They note that their main objective for the year is to introduce new programs that show the power of integrating a variety of services for their clients' initiatives, helping them to see great results while working with a limited marketing budget.

For more information on the agency, see www.ModerneCommunications.com or speak to Joe Mastrocovi or Leigh Rowan at 516-594-1100.