This is the post that will have you piss yourself (Yowza! Call me promo man). Belgian agency Emakina created quite the brilliant (and scatologic) concept for ING Direct: The Virtual Toilet. Yes friends, it took a dutch bank to bring you the delight of relieving yourself on the web. The pertaining website, i-needtogo.com, is a buzz generator whose prophecy is to actually get the consumer to be interested in ING's online banking service.
Great idea, but I'm not sure about how there will be good payoff for the client on this one -- namely, actually getting people to sign into an e-account. It takes a certain amount of time to get to the point, and most of us attention-deficited disorderly might scramble out before the oh-I-get-it coitus point is reached. Nevertheless, the idea is quite well integrated (PayPauline(tm) - lovely), and this'll drop down on the web faster than...um, nevermind.
Aside from being green with envy. Aside from the fact that I would definitely want to know how they sold this one to the client. Aside from the huge amount of budget involved in there.
THIS CAMPAIGN KICKS ASS.
My friends, let's celebrate my return to the world of blogging with this incredible campaign from JWT Paris for Schick Quattro Titanium. It has been awhile since I've seen an integrated campaign with real punch, and I can't say anything but KUDOS. Being the target audience I'm kinda biased of course, but comparing apples with apples, this is by far the best razor ad campaign ever.
The campaign also features a micro-website complete with a video game, character presentation, screensaver, desktop backgrounds, e-cards and more. I don't know if this is the fruit of research or pure gut and insight, but all I can say is that JWT and Schick are spot on. I would love to see that kind of creativity in our North American ads, instead of the proverbial jetplanes, steel walls and cheek-caressing chicks. Learn, Gillette! Stop the race for the most-bladed razor, and put your money in some customer love. (Thanks, Infopresse!)
A new take on the old Arkanoid-type game, where you must hit bricks to collect actual "breaking news". You can read the news once you collected them, and they are updated daily. Heeeey. A fun, fun way to stay informed. On my first run I got "Terrorist Attacks Increase in 2006" and "Clinton: Bush Unlikely to Pull Troops From Iraq". Wheee!! 250 points.
Now this is something new to me. Everyone in the industry knows how advertising in the fashion and beauty world is usually almost like a white collar job. Shoot models, photoshop them, make them look glamourous, stick 'em on an ad, rinse and repeat. This is especially true in the hair styling business, where most big names have adopted this advertising code of conduct and do not stray from it.
But here comes Matrix Canada with this audacious attempt at a viral marketing experience titled "Color Vendetta". The site actually promotes the launch of the new Shade Memory line of color care products, made specially for solving hair & color problems affecting blondes, brunettes or redheads. The concept highlights this well: A vendetta in itself means personal revenge, in this case, the vengeance of blondes, brunettes and redheads against everything that removes color from their life. Art direction and contents make for an actually entertaining experience, and it truly gives you a feel for the brand. Now I'm not actually fashion inclined or anything, but having seen and produced A LOT of fashion advertising, I can truly say this is a first in the industry. Congrats to Matrix Canada for thinking out of the box. I hope it makes children.
Check out this immensely entertaining and quite efficient Michelin microsite by agency Campbell-Ewald. Not only did they create a visually stunning user experience, but the message couldn't come across more clearly: Michelin is a world (brand) that covers the entire driving experience. From making tires to getting you from point A to point B safely, maintaining clean environment standards or helping you explore the road - Michelin is all about that.
For once I'm glad to see an experiential website that's easy to navigate, and doesn't flood me with useless gizmos. Micheline World manages to be entertaining, while keeping focus on pertinent and interesting corporate communication to the consumer. Nice job. (Thanks, Adverblog!)
Nice Coca-Cola ad presenting once again the Coke Side of Things, this time with a view on celebrating difference. From agency SantoBuenos Aires and production company Stink.
Check out Hannover-based advergaming companyWMTeam'snew website. Super-entertaining intro, super-entertaining website design. This wins the AdKrispies web award for today. Hmm. Maybe this is something I should actually make. *slaps fist in hand* Holy good idea, Dave! (Thanks, Dirk Schuetze!)
So good. A spoof of the Dove film which leaves us with the message: "Thank God our perception of reality is distorted." Wow. I love these guys.
Go check out their website titled www.campaignagainstreallife.com - which actually brings you to TuffSheet.com, some sort of spoof site, where you can post spoofs. Bah. I wished they pushed it further a bit, but hey - it's already funny as is.
Gaming juggernaut Ubisoft and Montreal agency Revolver 3 have put together this series of entertaining viral videos for the upcoming launch of Rayman: Raving Rabbis Rabbids. One part cute, one part fun and one part disturbing. Watch.
Logitech recently launched a viral campaign to promote their webcams. The campaign features funny sitcom shorts about couple relationships and work reality - all tied up with webcam sauce. While I salute the idea of going viral, I feel like it's an incomplete effort. I fell on Part Two ("Our Secret") of the videos on the Adverblog blog, and at the end of that video Logitech invited me to watch Part One ("Working Late") on their website at http://logitech.com/quickcam. Part Two was funny enough to have me want to check Part One out, so I actually headed there. Well (as you will see if you click), instead of the promised video, I'm greeted with a full page, full corporate-format selling pitch on the Logitech Quickcams. Can't find a single link to the video. Wow. Not.
If you're going to do viral, assume the decision - don't just throw some bucks into it as a sideshow. Make sure your content is consistent, and that people will experience something authentic and captivating from start to end. For example, instead of sending people to their corporate website, Logitech could've created a page called "Only The Webcam Knows" on which people can post their funny little webcam secrets (rated All Audiences, of course), and also see the Logitech shorts - which they could then send to 5 of their friends. Much better word-of-mouth follow-through.
Anyways, I'm just rambling - here are both videos. Interesting enough to share with friends? You be the judge. (Thanks, Adverblog!)
Did you know that menstruation exists also in the male species ? Yes, friends. It does. I swear. If it didn't, why would they even call it "MENstruation"? Hello. If only women had it, it would be called "womanstruation", this cries for logic. Lots of men actually experience it, and suffer secludedly, crying in shame in the silence of their homes.
It's called "Cyclical Non-Uterine Dysmenorrhea" or CNUD. The gassy feeling, the tummy hurting, the pouty feeling, the weewee shrinking, the abandonment of regular activites such as drinking beer on poker night, washing your car, or playing with your tools. You think you have it? Don't know where to look for answers?
Among others on the site, you will find the most hilarious videos ever made for this absolutely ridiculous illness. I don't know who is behind Men With Cramps, or why it's even there, but I heard they even ran ads in the local Washington paper for men with "CNUD" looking to participate in a study. The point is: These guys had the whole web fooled.
This is not a joke. It's a real class in the school of "How Do To Real Working Viral" 101.
And not without reason: The whole writing is subtly off. If you lacked attention, or read a paragraph in "Z", you would think this is for real. The TV documentaries are just brilliantly odd and hilarious. Watch them all. For your comfort, I've added a few of them on the AdKrispies site, but you have to see the main "Men With Cramps" website, for the rest of the best. It's worth your time.
I don't know if this is a teaser for something else, but I'm impatiently waiting.
Maybe I'm a little late on this one. But then again I've figured out most of you would want to have a nice, safe place to watch the new Nike viral, Rise Of The Hybrids.
"From the chaotic aftermath of a galactic impact an orders emerges unlike any other. An explosion of new forms never seen before. Suddenly, all combinations are possible; animals fuse with other animals. Plants fuse with minerals. Beings and objects fuse with earlier ancestors of themselves. This is the rise of the hybrids", reads the very Ed Wood-ian introductory text to NikeLab's Rise page.
Rise of the Hybrids is actually the merging of four of Nike's Air Max technologies (Air Max 90, 95, 97, and women's Footscape) to form the new Air Max 360. And I think I know the reason for this sudden "emerging" in hybridness (can I say that? Well I just did).
Now, I don't know about you all, but I'm well behind in Nikeology. I'm beginning to feel that all Nike's Air or Max or Moto or Skate or Blah shoe lines only resonate within the company, and not exactly within the consumers. Given, they have cool commercials. They have cool shoes. But when the common street athlete hits the store looking for a new pair of digs, Nike fails to be recognized as the perfect "sports" shoe: there are just too many types to choose from, they are just too flashy, and some other brand name shoe is probably better for such and such reason.
You don't know what to buy, and moreover, a store clerk will probably counsel you to buy Saucony or Adidas for your "specific" needs. Ouch, Nike, ouch. You lost your specificity. A basic marketing law: When you broaden a category too much, you lose your ability to be the "specialist" in that category. Thank you Al Ries.
Now I hope that this "hybrid" merge idea is something that's bound to bring a solution to that. I Nike's Rise is actually the rise of less variety, more specificity. If that's the case, I say it's the rise of a good idea.
I usually like the TV commercials that ING's agency produces (while I couldn't get a hold of their name) - I think they're always very pertinent, believable, and well executed. Actually, I think most of ING's communication is a lot more pertinent and inviting than most banks (in Canada anyways), and I still don't understand why banks haven't thought of a way to competition such a consumer-worthy system.
Much has to be said in the same way, about their viral site, MoveOutMoveUp. The site's main proposition is to present "buying your first home" as something that's possible, and accessible.
Wow. Something that actually. Concerns. The consumer. No time wasted on trying to con the consumer with "Ooo, ahh, we have a human approach to banking" people pictorials this time.
Just one. Simple. Reality. "Paying rent isn't just getting old, it's getting expensive". Hello. Now THAT speaks to me, mr. early-thirties-guy-with-not-enough-savings-or-balls-for-a-decent-down-payment yet. But as always, ING uses its authentic, bullshitless communication strategy to convince me that there's a solution for that. And this solution is displayed inside an entertaining and clear experience. Now that is effective advertising, plain and simple.
I'll stop gabbing now, but promise you'll check out the ING site. It's worth the trip (Thanks, Ihaveanidea!)
It's already 10:30am and you're bored at the office? Have you ever played NGame? No? go there now. It's super addictive, super clean office-ninja fun. (Thanks to adjunkie of Ihaveanidea.org for pointing me to this!)
This is an interesting (and one of the first) examples of interactive TV advertising I've ever seen. A commercial featuring the OPEL ASTRA during which you may answer a few questions they ask you, and depending on how you answer, the commercial continues and features different parts of the commercial. You also have the option to "see more" at the end of the commercial, and consult the car's specs and other elements.
It's fascinating to see how sometimes Europe is much more advanced compared to North America, in terms of innovative brand communication. We all have those DirectTV or Illico systems at home, but it seems our ad agencies haven't quite had the time (or the guts) to explore the possibilities with such technology.
There is a running debate in the ad industry (agencies and announcers alike) on whether ad agencies should allow the posting of ads that were initially made for TV only, on Internet sites. For example, yours truly, AdKrispies: I'm often posting TV ads of various announcers for your enjoyment, as (among other blogs of my type) I know the general public and agencies alike appreciate the artistic and communicational intelligences of these ads, and thus appreciate them being shared publicly.
But as I'm doing this, the following also happens:
- I become a new media channel for these ads. Let's say I'm displaying a recently-produced TV ad for a fictive company, Moca-Cola, then Moca-Cola gets some free advertising on a media channel they didn't pay for.
- This causes many media placement obligations to be infringed, among others this one: the agencies usually negociate actors appearing in ads depending on complex calculations, but basically withstanding reach (how many people see the ad) and frequency (how many times they see it). While you cannot control the internet posting of TV ads, there is no way to say how many additional times an ad will be seen, other than its original TV use. This means that the actors appearing in the ads you view on places like here are not being paid as per contract definition.
- The fact that Moca-Cola gets a free additional media channel means good news for their product placement and brand, yet somewhere, ad agencies lose money (oh I know, boo-hoo-hoo) for work they should normally be paid to do - media placement. But of course, they shut up because the client is happy.
So, as Moca-Cola's commercial is being featured on web sites, the following happens:instead of going even with their 1 million$ total placement/production costs on canadian TV...
- They now get maybe twice or three times much viewers than their originally intended TV viewership, - They get viewed in countries they never expected to reach, - They pay peanuts to the production house, actors and agencies for their now worldwide success, - Are winning over incredible word-of-mouth for their new product/ad.
So this brings the interesting question(s):
Do you think viral video will eventually kill media placement in television?
As announcers, should we be happy that viral video is a phenomenon that actually helps propel our work forward, or should we find a way to control internet propagation to the keep cost/revenue ratio balanced?
Please post your opinions and comments freely. In any language you like.
As you may know, organic food is currently enjoying constant market growth, and is leading an ongoing fight against industrial foods, OGMs and all those evil by-products. I don't have any canadian numbers, but as for USA (From Wikipedia): "Organic food sales within the US have enjoyed 17 to 20 percent growth for the past few years while sales of conventional food - while still larger in size - have grown at only about 2 to 3 percent a year. This large growth is predicted to continue, and many companies are jumping into the market."
Freerange Studios,based in Washington, DC and Berkeley, CA, have decided to highlight the phenomenon by creating "Grocery Store Wars", a humourous indie short taking reference upon a certain sci-fi movie to expose the reality of the Dark Side of the Farm (industrial foods and OGMs), and how organic foods (the Light side) are the rebellion that will spare no effort to overthrow the Evil Empire. The movie is fun and clever - wait 'til you get to the appearance of "Dark Tater", it's a sure kill- and presents the whole organic issue in a smart and entertaining way. The movie was originally done for the Organic Trade Association.
From the Handselecta web site: "Handselecta is an evolving project dedicated to the geographic styles of urban calligraphy that have emerged and developed over the last 30 years. We are a font foundry creating innovative new product while we document and write the history of handstyles in the world of graffiti."
Already, contributors from the US east and west coast styles already gave a hand to the foundry's type selection. If you feel you could add your own dexterous calligraphy to handselecta, or just want to check out some fonts, travel to Handselecta.com right here.
The 1K project is a 3 minute animation featuring cars racing, and a cool tune ("Flower", by Moby). It was done by overlapping 1000 replays of the PC game TrackMania, and creating some new skins for the cars. All it needs is some car company to add its logo and BOOM! Instant Cannes. (If you're an agency interested in buying the project, and you want this post removed when you think you're about to do it, hey - no problem. With money and love, everything can be arranged.)
Here's a cool tool that brings something fresh to the world of viral video (for a good month or two, at least ;-) - Personiva. Personiva allows for the creation of branded content that can be personalized by the viewer, for the viewer. For example you might upload a photo of you, Personiva integrates it inside a specially-made commercial, and you get to watch a TV ad featuring you.
Check out HP's "Make computer personal again" and experience it yourself.
From the Personiva web site: "Personiva technology - recognizes faces, composites video, delivers dynamic imaging, creates interactive web interfaces, personalizes mobile messaging, drives e-commerce, measurable and ready-to-go."
While the experience is certainly new, its current application doesn't strike me as something that will last (the Levi's example on their site wasn't all that impressive), but I salute the idea. I do hope they find a way to push this a lot further.
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.
