I have to say I'm a sucker for independent films, black & white, polish accents, vodka and storytales. Needless to say, this online micro-site for Wyborowa vodka struck my chord. There is no V in Wodkais agency Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam's way of carrying the message that Wyborowa Wodka is *the* original, the one and only "Voice of Poland" (I'd remove the "o" in voice).
The experience takes you through many creative vignettes exploring the notion of "the unexistence of the W" in Wodka. If you can stand the long loading times (and I have high-speed internet), you're in for an original world which does a great job at positionning the brand and establishing the "Wyborowa" universe.
I only wish I could also have a glance at the rest of the campaign elements that accompany this online effort. I like to see how campaigns are integrated, and also how the experience translates in the point of purchase. Most likely, this one will translate like this: "Vonderful Sales of Wodka, Dahling".
(...) I think we all agree that there is no debate around the fact that yes, human rights are broken everyday elsewhere in the world. Amnesty, stop hitting that nail.
Amnesty International's goal is to "work to protect human rights worldwide", not just "constantly try to gather worldwide agreement on being against injustice and violence".
Amnesty has a two-pronged mission: "preventing" and "ending". "Voicing an opinion" is preventing. "Acting" on this opinion is ending.
That "preventing" part is only 50% of the solution, and they are only advertising that part. That's the problem I have.
The other 50% is "ending". My point was to say they are not advertising that part enough." And unquote.
To end massive problems, Amnesty needs the help of masses, and talks to us as a mass. But we are *not* a mass anymore. We were a mass in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. Now, we are millions ofindividuals. Amnesty should realize that, and talk to us as individuals. Listen to the first fact stated in this TV ad: "There are 27 million people enslaved worlwide, generating annual profits of 9billion dollars".Massive. But I don't believe I , as an individual, can help put an END to this massive problem by myself, but I believe I can concretely act towards it if you present the problem to me in more accessible steps. There must be something that I alone can do to directly help at least *one* other human being like me. What is that thing, Amnesty? Get inspired by Kiva.org, and please find a good idea.
If "preventing" has a voice, "ending" should have ways. Amnesty, give us a voice to prevent, but give us ways to end as well. Show us more of the good we're doing.
Yes they called it "MomSpit". "Inspired by the original". We have all been through this in our childhood, and I still cringe when recalling the combined feel of my mom's spit and the picnic napkin it was applied with.
Yet, brilliant branding insight. I'm a tad grossed out, but I'm impressed.
I'm flabbergasted. Zack Kim is my new guitar hero. His dream is to perform around the world someday. Check out Zack's website at http://zackkim.blogspot.com/
I have problems with this campaign. As defined on their website, the "Unsubscribe" campaign is supposed to "...send out a clear message to the government that we will no longer tolerate the abuse of human rights in the name of 'the war on terror'. Most petitions ask you to sign up, we are asking to take your name off".
This short film is not powerful, it's boring. It feels commercial, artificial and composed. If you're going to show something that really happens in prison, don't say it's a performance, and shoot it to make it look believable, home-made and harsh. "This may offend viewers under 14". Heck - they've all seen James Bond naked on a chair getting his nuts whacked with a rope knot last summer. Next.
Next, I don't see how this effort "sends a clear message to the government". If there's anything, Teh Government is thinking "Oh, it's these people going at it again", with a sneer of discontempt hiding behind the kevlar of their indifference. This campaign is not sending a message to Teh Government, this campaign tries to be a people shocker. Again. I think we're thru with that -- we've seen it all. Unfortunately, we've become insensibilised.
And about the message: "unsubscribe"? Does Amnesty honestly think that the majority of us eats up the drivel that Teh Government feeds us with? Does Amnesty honestly think we're not informed and aware about what goes on? I know I wasn't "subscribed", for starters. And I truly don't see how "unsubscribing" or sharing my miscontentment with others will concretely help a political prisoner in the ultra-secret Alpha BaseX99 somewhere in the desert.
What I don't know is how Amnesty works. I see petitions, I see emails, I see photos of political prisoners and people suffering, I see a lot of turmoil and anger. But what mechanisms are behind the work that Amnesty is doing? How do they save people? Who's been saved? Is Amnesty something that actually works? Now *that* would be something I'd want to hear, and to share. Tell me how far can my actions go, tell me there is real potential in my participating. Tell me that my donations don't fall in the Black Hole of Funding, with extra No Reported Return On Investment on top. Because I don't know.
When does a Non-For-Profit Organization set simple, attainable goals for the public?Everything always seems *huge*, and there is always *so much to do*. Scary. The brilliantKiva.org is the only organization I heard of that sets concrete, attainable goals and shows results.When does a Non-For-Profit Organization take the time to congratulate its supporters? I have yet to see the results of my giving or supporting. It's always "give-give-give, more-more-more".
Have they created Compulsive Humanitarian Capitalism?
When does a Non-For-Profit organization advertise the progress that has been done?Advertising is always about people-shocking strategies or kids with flies on their cheeks.
What Amnesty International needs to do is start a real conversation with us. About them. About their mechanics. And about the results that our supporting generate. Don't unsubscribe me, subscribe me.
I don't know what to say. Volvo's greatest idea with Heinz's best signature ever. Come on guys, what's the point on this one? A little originality wouln't hurt when shelling out the big bucks on mega productions. Reported costs on the entire "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait" campaign: £10 million pounds (19 million canadian). And this doesn't even feel like Guinness at all.
Plus, for some unexplainable reason, watching this makes me thirsty for Coke.
Well. If there's anything to say, TheMill really did a great job on the CGI.
Julia Fullerton-Batten is a UK photographer with an incomparable universe. I discovered her through her "Teenage Stories" work, depicting young women inside minitatures universes - sometimes tragic, sometimes innocent, sometimes fashionably ingenuous. I would describe Julia's unique narrative vision as being constructed like a Russian Doll, a "Matryoshka-esque" vision: small elements/within a surreal world/where happens a surreal story/featuring young women.
You may admire Teenage Stories for its uniqueness, but you should also admire for its technical prowess: it's hard to distinguish what is constructed environment from what is real. The ambience, the inventive lighting, the model's carefully studies positions -- all of it makes for quite the disturbing Alice In Wonderland setting that you cannot look away from (if you have seen the Jan Svankmajer czech rendering of this story, you'll know what I'm talking about).
There is other impressive work to be discovered in the "New work" section of Julia's website: The seemingly random activities of young girls inside public spaces. Sometimes expressing some kind of a visual rendition of emotions inside a young girl's mind as time passes (my take), or just simply rendering the eeriness of an surrealistic situation featuring young girls in a random space or parallel dimension.
I'm sure that by now I'm rambling by myself, as you are now outbound to discover Julia Fullerton-Batten by yourself. In case you're still reading, it's time to go my friend, I need to have breakfast. Check out Julia's website, at http://juliafullerton-batten.com/.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007 by
David Claude, under
adkrispies,
opinion
Google recently announced that it would be jumping to mobiles, offering its Gmail application in a super-efficient, feature rich format for cellphones. Great idea? Yeah, great idea. And as of today, Google will now also be delving in cellphoneswith its new "Android" package.
Allow me to add an "It's just that"(tm)
I think Google has come up with functional and undoubtedly popular ideas up to now, and it wouldn't be adventurous to say that they started the wave responsible for generating what we now call Web 2.0. It's just that(tm) purely speaking on brand equity terms, my feeling is they need to take care of their image as well. Techwise, they're going a long way. But brandwise, I don't know what to think of Google right now. I just know that as a consumer, as The Shopper, I'm feeling less and less comfortable with them.
On the Microsoft vs. Apple scale (saying these two were extremes, and I guess they somewhat are), I wouldn't know where to place Google. Maybe in the middle. Maybe closer to Microsoft. Actually, quite close to Microsoft. Good for a business, bad for a brand. Popularizing the notion of dominating a category doesn't seem to be such a good thing these days. It is my perception that Shoppers are now actually looking for "micro-efficiency": very specialized things that do a lot. Small giants. And branding is in large part responsible for that.
ING Direct is my fave example of a small giant. It looks and sounds simple. It's clever. It doesn't give out the perception that it's trying to rule the world. It stays sympathetic, and on a people-level. It's communication and branding makes me believe that the banking services they are offering are simple to use, and are better (and different) than the competition's, on comparable grounds. Apple used to do that, now they're more product focused. Watch out Apple, watch out.
Will I use Google's Gmail mobile app? Maybe. But if a Flooz(tm) mail application ever comes out, with a big, bubbly, bold green icon and tells me something like Web Mail Has Never Been Smarter, I will most definitely jump on it. Because it gives me the perception that it's exclusive, simple, and specialized.
Conclusion? If you're going to take over the world with a great idea, do it and act big. But don't forget that being small will always be beautiful.
I'm a freelancer and free thinker in the field of marketing and communications, trying to continually expand the known universe in my little mind -- and yours.
