From India, an ad created by Publicis for a local karate school.

[via Twenty Four]

Did you know Adverblog has been featured on the December issue of the OMMA magazine? Wow :-)
Click here to read the article...

In The Netherlands we (LaComunidad) have just launched an advergame for the insurance company AnderZorg. You can play it here and win every day an exclusive bike.

The game features the Company's testimonial, Mr AnderZorg, riding his bike on a rope trying not to fall when the bills hit his balance stick.

Of course, since I worked on it... I believe it delivers a positive brand experience, which is not always easy to create for an insurance company going online. Furthermore, it's very funny to play: just click on "naar het spel" and then register.

In the UK, Amnesty International is running an online campaign to drive awareness around its association. As reported on New Media Age the "Make Some Noise" promotion offers online exclusive songs by The Black Eyed Peas, The Cure and Snow Patrol available to download.

Make Some Noise is a mix of music, celebration and action in support of Amnesty International. In particular, the site aims at reducing the number of small arms in civilians' hands. There is also a petition "Join the Million Faces" which invites visitors to submit a photo of their face in order to support the campaign. Unfortunately the invitation is only textual, and the page doesn't offer much information on how the face will be used. Anyway, if you want to find out more about the Million Faces, this is the link to follow.

The Kessels Kramer book is (eventually) out. It took almost four months to have it available on Amazon...
Here in Amsterdam it's sold out in stores, and this tells a lot about the book. 2 Kilo of Kessels Kramer is definitely a must have not only for advertising professionals but for anyone interesting in taking a different approach to communication.

In the UK, T-Mobile is online with an advergame with an amazing viral potential. It's called The Beautiful Game, and challenges users to perform their best as streakers...

It's sexy (maybe not in the first level :-), it's funny and it's very British!

Here in The Netherlands NGIZ (Nationaal Instituut voor Gezondheidsbevordering en Ziektepreventie) has launched a campaign to explain people what organ donation is really about. There are a lot misleading information on the issue, that's why Leo Burnett decided to use the message "Don't believe in fairy tales". As you can see, the art direction is excellent, but I actually wonder how many people will actually notice these ads.

These are the print ads I found on Houtlog, but there is also a website. The "Fairy tales about organ donation" site unfortunately isn't as nicely done as the above the line part of the campaign.

In France, Nokia is online with "Pimp mon mobile" a viral campaign to promote its 6660 Smartfun phone. Imitating the MTV "Pimp My Ride" concept, Nokia helps Igor revamping his crappy mobile phone.

Kind of funny concept created by Culture-buzz. As in the case of the post below, the negative aspect of the viral is that the video is too long and I wonder how many people will watch it 'til the end.

Create your own, personalized and most of all, "sexy" Christmas card with the latest Lynx viral idea created by Dare. Just visit www.lynxmas.com.

Nice idea, I'm sure men will love it, and women will ignore. The negative aspect is that having the girls spelling the message just takes too long.

EVB showcases its ability in creating online entertainment in a special Christmas minisite where visitors are challenged to create Christmas crafts.

I must admit I'm really bad in crafting in real life, and my performance wasn't much better in the virtual world, as you can see from the picture above. Anyway I had fun and I think the tool is extremely well done, so it the end this is what really matters :-)

What about creating a scandal starring your best friend? Just go to The Rumormaker and they will help you out. You can use their custom made text, or you can set your evil spirit free writing the scandal details yourself. Also, you can upload your own picture to make the story looking even more real.

The "start your rumor" campaign has been created to promote the movie "Rumor has it..." with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner.

The viral idea has been created by Pod Design.

Brandrepublic reports British Airways will soon start using mobile marketing as part of its promotional and customer service activities.

BA has been testing the medium during 2005 and given the positive results, it's ready to make mobile communication part of its business. They recently have appointed Incentivated to run the mobile activities.

A great print ad by Advico Young & Rubicam (Switzerland) for Suvretta Snowsports. Copy says:"Uneasy when it gets steep?".

DM9DDB (Brazil) for Companhia Athletica. Copy writer: Demir Karpat Polat, Art Director: Leandro Duarte. Copy says: "They told me I can have a body like this in just two months."

BrandRepublic has an article on the most downloaded virals of the year. According to BoreMe the controversial suicide bomber viral created without the knowledge of Volkswagen has become the most downloaded viral campaign of the year, with over 2.3m downloads.

This makes me curious to find out which is, in your opinion, the best (funniest/most successful) viral ad of the year. Here I share my favourites, you can vote or leave a comments suggesting (+ linking) your own favourite viral campaign.

After the Elf Zapper, another Christmas advergame not politically correct but definitely funny: the Brat invasion by T-Viral.

The kids cannot open the presents before Christmas, and you have to stop them. No matter how...

Saatchi & Saatchi Poland for Amnesty International.

Here you can read more about the campaign (in English, of course :-)

[via Houtlog]

JWT Amsterdam for Shell Lubrificants. Art: Albert Vegers. Copy: Tomas Minken. Photography: Simon Warmer. (click the ad to enlarge it and fully appreciate it)

FedEx Express has launched a viral marketing campaign (Relax, we'll manage) across Europe, key Middle East markets and India. FedEx' idea is to target middle and junior management with (five funny videos) which showcase FedEx services in sketches set in everyday business situations. My favourite is the MBA one (bottom left video).

Micropersuasion found out this video promoting Google Maps. You can't really say if a fan of the service created it or it's a smart, sneaky marketing action by Google itself. Anyway, it's quite funny. Watch it here.

S-W-H, Amsterdam for Expedia.
Copy says: "You really need to get away".

In Sweden, Forsman & Bodenfors has created an interactive animation for the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs to show how easy it is to change someone’s appearance in an advertising campaign.

AdFreak reports Yahoo! and MSN are getting ready for the 2006 World Football Championship in Germany. Yahoo is sponsoring the official FIFA website, while MSN has signed some top players (Brazil’s Ronaldinho, England’s Michael Owen, Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon etc...) to post their diaries online. Furthermore, MSN will integrate World Cup content into MSN Messenger and launch an interactive soccer game.

Robby from Nascom sent me an email to share the advergame they have created for Theramed. The idea is to help Joe brushing his teeth during 7 days. Why 7 days? The product claims that it only takes seven days to make your teeth whiter...

Well, since Joe is really ugly, maybe we should also help him in other ways :-)

This is an old IKEA ad created by Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg. It won the Clio Awards in 2001.

Ops, sorry if the post's title sounds a little bit rude, but actually the news is really about P&G; giving away a ringtone to promote its Tampax brand. As New Media Age (sub. req.) reports, Tampax is running an on-pack promotion driving girls to this website where they can create personalized ringtones and share them with other site visitors. The ringtone preview is free for everybody, but in order to download the tune visitors need to submit a unique code they can find on Tampax packs.

Given the brand, the initiative is certainly unique, and I invite you to visit the site which is really well done. Of course, following the current trend, user generated content is at center of the stage, also with a competition which will assign Motorola phones to the most voted personal tunes.

In the UK Virgin Mobile is online with a viral campaign featuring a body building grandma.

Actually the Superbuff is not as funny as other Virgin campaigns created to generate word-of-mouth (see for example Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah).

New Media Age reports Coca-Cola UK is planning to invest more and more money in mobile advertising. Coke claims mobile phones are potentially more powerful than TV in reaching its target audience. Quoted in the article, Coca-Cola marketing manager James Eadie explains:

Of course, Eadie also recognizes there are still several obstacles preventing mobile marketing to go mainstream. For example, the differences among carriers in shortcodes application and the unavailability of freephone text.

Getty Images has launched a world wide project to support One: The Campaign To Make Poverty History. A mini-site named “Change Me – The power of imagery to create change” invites visitors to select an image from Getty’s Creative or Editorial archive and to submit it explaining why such picture has a special meaning to them. As explained on the site, the goal is to find an image that will make an impact on people viewing it, so to speak “an image that might Change Me in some way”.

The project is open to everyone. The submitted entries will be reviewed and selected to be posted on the Change Me site and maybe even to become part of a travelling global exhibition and of an upcoming book. Getty Images will donate $10 for each entry, up to their goal of $250.000.

If you're having a stressful afternoon, click here and show no mercy to guy :-)

The Entertainment Anytime is offered by Sprint and developed by Organic.

WebTrends has launched a Christmas advergame (developed by Inbox Digital). The Elf Zapper is an extremely addictive game, you shouldn't start playing at work... since you will "waste" too much time and, you know, in Q4 this cannot happen :-)

So, talking, about the game, it's really funny, even if you end up playing all the levels in the same room. But from a marketing perspective, I don't really see how it's connected to the WebTrends brand. Unfortunately this is a problem we often face with advergames. Anyway, at least, in minisite there is a tiny call to action to get a WebTrends free trial, which might appeal young site developers who enjoy playing online. And the game itself definitely has the potentials to generate some word-of-mouth.

The minisite "Interviews from hell" created by Modem Media and Pistol Marketing for Kendall Tarrant's recently won the silver medal at the EurobestLive 2005.

"Interviews from Hell" features six films of extremely unsuitable candidates to highlight Kendall Tarrant's endline: "It's not just the people we put in front of you. It's the people we don't."

BBC News reports Coca-Cola will introduce a new marketing campaign based around the slogan "the Coke side of Life".
The soft drinks giant will start using the slogan in North America from February to coincide with 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.
AdAge explains the new concept, developed by Wieden & Kennedy, aims to drive consumers to consider the brand as the only beverage option after years of viewing it as simply another beverage option.

Something funny happened today on my Italian blog (see below).

I know it isn't really strange nor unusual, it's just curious to point out.

Doe Anderson for Makers Mark.

Have a look at the Virgin Mobile Christmas viral... And just have fun!

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah to you!

LimeLife has revealed the findings of a research examining the mobile motivations, usage patterns and content interests of women. LimeLife predicts that the number of women ages 15-45 who download mobile content will grow to 20 million by 2007.

1. The mobile phone initially serves as a "private line" for girls 16-17 then evolves to an "always with me connected buddy" during college years, gradually becoming more functional and ultimately beginning to serve as a "command central" for working moms and women pursuing careers.

2. Games are second only to ringtones for desired mobile downloads among women.

3. 67% of those surveyed showed strong interest in wallpapers made from "Photos I Take." Further, the use of ringtones as "caller ID" identifiers is also representative of the importance of customization and personalization in mobile content for younger women. 69% of women surveyed, aged 18-22, have already downloaded one or more ringtones.

Although the research is obviously focused on mobile content, I believe marketers can also take great advantage of such fidings. If you know what women like, it is becomes easier (or at least, less difficult) to create the mobile marketing campaigns targeting them.

Starbucks has launched a minisite to explain what makes coffee good.

Coming from the city of Illy Caffe' and being my father a "barista" the site immediately got my attention. I think they created a nice online experience to take people "behind the scenes". Content is divided in four sections and presents videos, tips and pictures and some interactive tools to explain the "brewing process".

The site was created by Second Story Interactive.

Interviewed on Media Guardian, Bartle Bogle Hegarty founder John Hegarty believes the lack of talented people in advertising industry is a "major, major problem". The industry is getting more and more complex and this sophistication requires people with skills and talent, ready to adapt to the new challenges.

According to Fathom Online keyword prices have declined during the last year. Mediapost reports keyword prices last month averaged $1.46 per click, reflecting an 11 percent drop from the $1.64 average cost per click paid in November of 2004. Fathom found that year-to-year, the categories posting the largest declines were consumer services (29 percent), retail (25 percent), and mortgages (22 percent).

To promote the use of condoms in Buenos Aires, Argentina the government covered the city's central Obelisk with a giant pink colored condom. It was part of World AIDS day on 1st December. (thanks Joel!)

Kolle Rebbe for Lakudia Olive Oil. Winner of Best Magazine ad at the Cresta Awards 2005. Copy says: 100% pressed olive oil.

On TV there is still room for brand advertising. The Impossible Dream, a great ad created by Wieden + Kennedy for Honda, clearly shows there is still life after the 30" spot.

Nokia is currently running a blog relations campaign to promote its new N90 phone. Brand Republic reports the Finnish brand sent the N90 phone for review to 50 bloggers with focuses as broad as gadgets and as narrow as following one of Nokia's competitors.

Nokia is also online with the Nokia Nseries N90 Blogger Relations Blog site. Where they post blogger and media information that users can repurpose and utilize in their blog postings about the N90.

Belga, Belgian Press Agency is online with a curious campaign to understand what's people's idea of Belgium. On Piclala.be visitors are invited to submit their photos interpreting the Belgium concept. The top ten pictures will win one night (only one???) stay in a Belgian hotel.

It's definitely an attempt to take advantage of user generated content to create some buzz around Belga's service but they didn't put much effort in it.

[via Marketingfacts.nl]

Lowe Bull, Johannesburg for POWA (People Opposing Women Abuse).
Caption: If you have to force, it's rape.

Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong for The Economist.
A difficult placement, an excellent idea.

[ad via Advertising/Design Goodness]

It's only three weeks before Christmas and I'm sure you're busy (like I am) tring to figure out which presents you should buy for your colleagues, employees, clients and friends. So I've decided to help you listing a few books people working in marketing and advertising might appreciate as a Christmas gift.

If you have a client who is insisting to advertise on TV only: Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand with Bold Alternatives to Traditional Advertising, by Joseph Jaffe.

If your client underestimates the power of online communities in affecting a brand: Communities Dominate Brands: Business and Marketing Challenges for the 21st Century, by Tomi Ahonen and Alan Moore.

If someone is still wondering what viral, buzz and word-of-mouth mean and what they can do (or not do) for a brand, these books can provide some clue:
- Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff, by Mark Hughes.
- Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Revolution, by Justin Kirby & Paul Marsden.

More books will be added during the day...

This year Starbucks is again online with its Christmas minisite named "The Red Cup". Created by Wieden + Kennedy the site presents every day a fresh Xmas related tip. From tree decorating to fire building and ice skating, Starbucks provides you with all the indications to get the best out of Christmas time.

The Red Cup is online since the beginning of November, and it's part of an integrated marketing strategy Starbucks carries out every year during the holidays season. The site features an "emotional" approach and surely delivers an excellent brand experience.
On his blog Paul Williams share some behind the scenes of the campaign. Also on AdWeek you can read more about the effort.

What is curious to me is that here in Europe the most famous "red cup" is actually the Nescafe one...

Last week the IAB has released a set of guidelines for broadband video commercials online. Fortunately, on ClickZ, Ian Schafer provides us with an explanation of what this guideslines practically mean for advertisers, publishers and end-users.

eMarketer estimates the online video ad market in 2005 will generate $225 million. It also expects spending will rise to $640 million in 2007 and $1.5 billion in 2009.

Need help with the Christmas gifts? HBO has a nice idea to help you out and, of course, increase the sales of its Series on DVD. Have a look at www.goodgiftseeker.com. You can find the perfect gift for someone (mom, dad, son etc...) just by filling in his/her personality and hobbies. You can also drop a hint to friends to get for Christmas something you actually want.

Atmosphere BBDO New York did the job.

John pointed me to this nice online campaign by Absolut: select your favourite Absolut Christmas ad from the past, send it as e-card to friends and win a stay at the IceHotel in Sweden.

I like the idea because it is extremely simple. A lot of people love Absolut ads and are I'm sure they are also willing to use such ads as Christmas cards. So the word-of-mouth is granted with a tiny effort... just recycling content from the past. Cheap and effective!

Are looking for more cool interactive ideas? Check the archives