The Sun Gets A Little Help

On January 23rd, an environmental phenomenon occurred... the sun rose significantly earlier in central London than normal. Well, not really. It was a man-made sun, but it helped the real sun brighten Trafalgar Square. Not only did this "sun" rise an hour early, but it also gave Londoners three extra hours of "daylight"!


The "sun" was around 30,000 times bigger than a football and had the power of 60,000 light bulbs, which apparently means it could have been seen from space. Greyworld, a UK art collective, was commissioned by Tropicana to design and build the sun in order to launch the company's "Brighter Mornings" campaign. It was the perfect (and gorgeous) way to brighten up the dark, mid-winter day. 

Photo Courtesy of Greyworld

Tropicana's "Brighter Mornings" campaign is a large-scale, integrated marketing campaign, which also includes a new Tropicana commercial. The key goal of the campaign is to increase sales and specifically link Tropicana with the ultimate way to start the day--yes, that rhymes. It also aims to strategically motivate retailers to back the campaign by selling single-serving Tropicana juices to boost on-the-go breakfast sales.

Obviously, an instillation like this is meant to generate a lot of online and traditional buzz... and Tropicana succeeded. There were TONS of tweets from consumers, marketing professionals, and media personnel from all over the world. Clearly, if the company was measuring the effectiveness of the campaign solely on the amount of digital buzz, they would be proud. Tropicana still needs some time, however, to see if the campaign influences positive sales results.

I love sunrises (when I'm unlucky lucky enough to catch them), but the installation was short-lived and the bang--or lack there of--didn't seem worth the time or money. The idea was pretty good, but the execution was... meh. It would have been a lot more impactful and memorable if Tropicana had these "suns" installed in multiple locations... maybe in specific areas that don't receive sunlight naturally. Money, however, is always a factor, and I'm sure the sun in Trafalgar Square didn't come cheap. I guess the rest of us will have to settle with the natural rise and fall of the real sun... "oh woe is me us." 

POGS, 
AKtually Ashley