Monthly Archives: May 2007
Toyota challenges Greek bloggers
Thanks to Panos, I’ve found out about an interesting “blog marketing” campaign carried out by Toyota in Greece. I’m glad to post about it since it extends the coverage on online marketing in Europe, but also because Panos shared quite a lot of numbers and insights, which are not so common to find and share…. For the launch of their new hatchback model, the Auris, Toyota Hellas wanted a digital campaign that would promote the new car’s interior design and the feel drivers get when sitting inside the Auris’ modern “cockpit”. The campaign needed to actively engage consumers with the brand, to generate leads and “test-drive” requests. OgilvyOne Athens decided to think “Web 2.0″ and find a way to invite consumers to do most of the talking and promoting. So Greek bloggers were invited to test-drive the car for a week if they would post their findings on their respective blogs, which would also be collected into a central blog, at http://www.aurisblog.gr. At the same time, a banner campaign invited the general public to request a test-drive, which could also win them a 4-star hotel weekend in Greece with of course the Auris at their disposal.
Your consumer cannot be found
While Mark is looking for ground-breaking and usable agency websites, Shedwa points at this great example. At first glance you think the page cannot be found, but a second look learns you so much more. The connection to your consumer cannot be found. Read further and you’ll see how simple and strong an agency message (and website) can be. Kudos for Westwayne!
Spot the bull and win
From the UK, eventually a different advergame, something with a simple yet very original mechanism. Spot the Bull, created by Poke London for Orange invites players to guess where Derek (the bull) will find himself at a give time. The game is based on GPS tracking. There isn’t only a Tom Tom “installed” on the bull, but also every 30 seconds a photo of Derek in the field is taken, while a time stamp gets encoded in the image. The game is not only about being lucky. Since Derek’s movements are tracked and shared on the site, it is possible to “study” him and start making bull spotting predictions. Also, the site features an amusing “expert analysis”, where a vet, a farmer and an animal psychologist share their tips to better understand Derek’s behavior. The contest is part of Orange’s integrated marketing effort at the Glastonbury Festival: those who spot the bull win tickets for the event.
Agency sites try too hard…
Have you noticed that 99% of major global agencies (and I mean the big five groups - not the independant agencies)have bad sites or a holding-page or nothing at all… I find it weird that as agency folk we don’t always put forward our best work on our own sites (from a design/execution perspective). I know, I know - we are all too busy working on cool work for clients which actually pay the bills but I just wish that one MAJOR agency network would break free and really do a site that is worthy of a global award in its own right or at least get big respect from the peer community for pushing it hard whilst keeping some sense of usability. Check out the new site for tbwahakuhodo in Tokyo… it’s a monster/great amount of work they did, but it’s sooooo frustrating and hard to find anything you may want to look at as a prospective client. It’s cool, but I think it’s only for the “sake of cool”. Can anyone send an agency site that is both ground-breaking (design/tech) and usable from a (god forbid - client angle!!)?
The Battle for the Bronchs
From Australia, a kind of social campaign to raise awareness on asthma (I wrote “kind of” because it’s sponsored by Glaxo Smith Kline). Created by Tequila, Battle for the Bronchs is an interactive comic book combining live action video set in an illustrated city inside a pair of lungs. The site is aimed at young people who may suffer from asthma but tend to ignore the warning signs and avoid traditional health management messages. When I first read the title of the campaign I must say I was a little bit skeptical and somehow disgusted, but you know, you should never stop at the first impression, so I visited the site and I changed my mind. I explain myself… I like the concept, and I like the design, but I have some doubts concerning the real capability of the campaign to properly deliver the message. I think the advertainment approach works very well to grab people attention, to make them curious enough to spend a few minutes on the site (the advergame “lung-fu” is brilliant!). However I’m not sure to which extent young visitors will become aware of the importance of dealing with asthma in time and in the right way. For example, I would have put more focus on the Asthma Score test which on the contrary, ends up being quite hidden. So, overall, the evaluation of the site is positive, but with some open questions on the balance between the entertaining and the educational aspect of the communication.
Just discovered Twitter…
I’ve just discovered and installed Twitter… it’s cool, I feel so Web 2.0 I just wonder how often I will actually be able to update it… … and now I NEED some friends!!
Churches online in the countryside
It doesn’t happen everyday that you get as a client a priest (or priesthood), especially when they ask you for a website. Padre Samuel Guedes asked for a Web platform containing, agenda, forms (to get online baptism certificates, for instance) and a Backoffice management system. The result is what you see, a cool, fresh and coloured website, easy to navigate and with useful information for it users. The three churches reach about 10500 inhabitants, most of them catholic, I wonder how many go online to check church activities. Paços de Ferreira, 35 kms away from Porto (Portugal), the city where these 3 churches are located, is well known for its furniture, I guess now it will be also known as “the place where God is online” Written by Nuno.
Night At The Museum
If you need a website to promote a movie, there’s only one agency you can contact it’s Hi-Res from London. Usually I don’t like the websites that support movies, most of the times they’re too fake and dull, a part from the trailer, they fail to deliver anything interesting… Night at the Museum it’s a kind of exception… well, to tell the truth, I will never go to the cinema to watch this kind of movie, but I kind of enjoyed the online experience and the art direction. In particular I found brilliant the animations to move from one section to another and the variety of entertaining content they managed to produce. Actually, if you look at the single elements there’s nothing really new nor innovative, but it’s the mix and the quality of the execution which in the end deliver the result.
Save the planet (and vote for us)
From Belgium, a nice video to raise awareness on global warming and drive votes to the Green Party in the upcoming Federal elections. The agency is K&TKW Ghent.
Batman advanced seeding
As you all know very well, seeding takes time, spreading an idea virally might require weeks if not even months. This is why Warner Bros has decided to start talking about the new Batman movie almost six months before its official release in theatres… I actually arrive a few days later on this campaign, but on the Catch up Lady blog you can read an extensive recap of the integrated (online & offline) action to start spreading the word about Batman: The Dark Knight. Yes, because one of the most interesting things about the campaign is the use of outdoor advertising to drive traffic to the teaser sites. Also, as you can see from the screenshot above, the teaser site has been actively online only for a few days… Today if you visit it you find an error page which actually “hides” a message from the Joker.
