From Sweden another excellent digital campaign by Forsman & Bodenfors. Which alarm clock sound or music would you like to wake up with tomorrow morning? The Swedish Radio now offers you with a wide range of ringtones you can download to personalize the alarm clock on your mobile phone: Morgonpasset. Just browse around the bedroom, listen to tons of rum sounds and choose the one you'd like as alarmsignal to begin your day in a pleasant or unpleasant way.

The whole site at the moment is only in Swedish, but I'm lucky because Andreas explained the whole concept, which is actually much richer than a "simple" ringtone download service.

Fashion and art, fashion and technology. We are all doing (or trying to do) the same thing. Today I've discovered 10061.com a new site launched by Arnold Worldwide for Timberland which focuses on a series artistic efforts around the popular boots.

The videoart project involves five artists who created videos and limited edition versions of the Timberland's boots which will hit the market beginning next year. The community side of the site is very much aimed at the US market, as you can also tell by checking the places where submissions come from.

KLM has launched a new advergame, called Fly for Fortune. Before playing the game you are invited to watch a lovely Pixar-style game trailer (by Publicis Dialog9, which to a certain extent is even better than the advergame itself.

The whole experience is pretty nice (you can personalize your plane - see mine below), even if they could have invested more in the game longevity.

What is impressive is not that the game is available in 10 languages (nothing strange with this) rather the fact that players from 58 countries can enter the contest... what a massive work for the KLM's legal office :-)

A very rich (and nice) website by Emerge Wunderman for Coca Cola Zero. The Zero is More site supports an offline campaign currently running in the European Nordic region.

As you can quite easily understand when visiting the site, Zero is More aims at a core targetgroup iof males between 18-24 years old. There is a lot of cool & sexy content to explore (even too much, maybe), so if you want to go directly to the best part, click on the lady's portrait on the right and take part in the Zero Boot Camp.

A new funny blog has been launched: Adverbatims. It collects the best (or should I say the worse) sentences ever pronounced by marketing and advertising professionals. I've grabbed a few sentences, but I'm sure all of us will be able to contribute to this blog...

- "I’m sending you a 100 kilowatts photograph. Is it good for printing?” (Client, IT Manager)
- "Can you print this banner but animated?" (Agency, Account Executive)
- "Art Directors are not good for thinking. " (Agency, same Executive Creative Director)

A (viral - you decide) video from New Zealand, for Tiger Beer (check out their site, it's worth a visit)

The video is quite amusing (Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand did it), even if I don't understand what happens to the cat, I mean, why he commits suicide... :-(

National Geographic is online with a Halloween mini-site for kids. Nothing fancy if you're an adult, but your children will surely like it, as it gives them the chance to create personalized (scary) cards.

Soap Creative is behind it, together with the illustrator Nathan J. If you'd like to find out more about the site, make sure to read Ashley's post.

I really like the new WWF tv spot created by FCB, Toronto. You can watch it here.

BTW today the British government released a report on the impact of climate change.

via Glossy.

If you check my post earlier today, you will discover a campaign which takes the wrong approach to pre-cooked and/or frozen food promotion. While, if you look at the ad I post below, you see an ad addressing the same issue in a gentle yet amusing way. Congrats to McCann Portugal for the lovely creativity and thanks to Fabio for sharing it.

Copy says: Making a delicious soup is no longer a nightmare.

From Romania, a campaign created by McCann Erickson for Maggi.
Copy says: If only women spent less time cooking.

At the very first I liked the ads (except the Padrino's one) which have a nice copy although the concept is not very original. But then I realized that the message is actually "don't cook, work" :-(

Samsung has launched a new mini-site to promote its K5 phone. It's nicely designed and, as most of the sites going live nowadays, it tries to cash on user-generated content. The challenge is to create a music dance video uploading a picture of a friend or of your grandma... the best video will win a K5 phone.

The best part of the site is the advergame. Inspired to Super Mario Bros it features a nice soundtrack and a simple but joyful design.

America's Cotton Producers and Importers have launched a nice website to promote the one and only original cotton fabric. Developed by DDB New York, the site is extremely well done, with the attention to details I always love to see.

They have taken an advertainment approach to explain the mysteries behind artificial fabrics often used in making clothes. The site is full of amusing stuffs, such as a TV spot (very much in Sex and City style), viral videos, funny presentations of fabric developers, a mysteric fabric naming generator and much more.

Standalone ads on mobile phones will not deliver results if they don't get integrated in a mobile strategy which also takes into account promotion, sales and customer services. This is one of the main outcomes highlighted in a Datacomm Research Report called Mobile Advertising: Opportunities & Illusions.

According to the research, inundating mobile subscribers with sales pitches won't be effective. Successful merchants will leverage mobile phone technology to create deeper and longer-lasting customer relationships.

No matter the channel, Internet, mobile, interactive Tv, the winning answer is always the same. Call it consumer 2.0, web 2.0 or whatever you prefer, but bear in mind success it's all about building relationships, and make everything very easy to use.

In Austria, MSN and the mobile operator 3 are running an co-marketing campaign featuring the message "SMS ist tot – MSN am Handy lebt" (which means, SMS is dead - MSN on the mobile is alive). As you can quite easily understand, the goal of the effort is to make young users understand the potentials of instant messaging via mobile using the MSN application, and of course, the same MSN passport identity used on the web.

Even if site homepage looks gloomy but nice, the site hasn't got much to offer when it comes to interactivity: a very basic advergame (click "spiel") which, strangely enough, is not even connected to a competition.

In France, Warner Bros has launched an advergame to promote the launch of the V for Vendetta DVD. As Guillaume wrote, the game play reminds of Streetfighter, but unfortunately is not as engaging.

If you want to give it a try, this is the link to follow, and you can even win a Collector's edition version of the DVD. Bear in mind your winning chances increase if you refer some friends.

If instead, you prefer to enjoy the original cominc-book by Alan Moore, you can find it on Amazon, it's half price at the moment :-)

Heineken Netherlands just launched a new TV commercial, backed by an online campaign. Overall theme is cloning. The online part takes this cloning very serious and makes it possible to actually clone beer products. Hold a can or a bottle in front of your webcam and it will be recognised and cloned. Pretty cool geek stuff. For those who wanna try, don't get lost on the site - search for experiment 3 on the right side and follow the instructions (in Dutch).

A strong guerrilla campaign done in France by Médecins du Monde to get people's attention on the drama of clochards sleeping and dying on the streets every winter because of the cold.
Copy says: Every winter, hundreds of homeless die on the sidewalks. React.
The agency is Euro RSCG C&O.;

Maybe it's not an extremely original concept (I believe a lot of campaigns for road safety have been already using it) but it's new the problem they apply it to.

via Houtlust.

Eventually, a nice tv spot "made in Italy". JWT Milano for Mazda.

via I believe in Adv.

Via Contagious, I've found out Tiger: unravel the secret, an impressive advertising project by Leo Burnett Singapore for the new Tiger beer campaign. Tiger: unravel the secret is a short movie which investigates the past and the secret of Tiger beer success.

James Bond is taking the Web very seriously as you can tell from a series of online initiatives I've recently discovered. Unfortunately the outputs are not always as good as they could have been... Let's see in detail...

To celebrate the release of The James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD collection and the Buy Bond Get Bond Free promotional period, MGM Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment have launched an interactive insight into the James Bond world using Google Earth technology.

Users can click on individual film titles to open up a chronological walk through each of the classic 20 Bond films. Each location is presents info and trivia on Bond’s adventures. Users will also be able to visit the virtual lot at Pinewood Studios, and see some exclusive images from the real home of Mr Bond. The Google Earth James Bond plug-in can be downloaded here.

Reuters news agency now has a correspondent from Second Life. His name is Adam Reuters and will be reporting from the virtual world. As explained on Three Minds @ Organic blog, his goal is to observe and report on the intersection between real and virtual economies and how Second Life is evolving.

Of course, Adam Reuters has a blog to present his articles, and a tiny space on his homepage allows users to convert Linden Dollars (Second Life's official currency) to US dollars, Euros Pounds and Yen. On top of this, Adam shares his daily agenda through Google Calendar (!!).

The new videogame "Splinter Cell: Double Agent" features a series of in-game product placement by Nivea. The brand aims at reaching the male 18- to 34-year-old market by featuring its product in the main character's hotel bathroom as well as through in-game billboards with slogans like "There are many faces of evil. Don't let yours be one of them" or "The 'Good Guy' almost never has a beard" etc...

An extremely basic mini-site and a series of online sweepstakes are also part of the promotional effort. While the investment in in-game product placement could be considered interesting, the implementation of the campaign on the web looks rather weak. I believe much more could have been done to promote both the videogame and the link with the Nivea brand. Also the prize "meet the game developers" is not really appealing, not even to hard-core gamers which probably aren't even in the Nivea's target audience.

Almost 150 readers have already added themselves to the Adverblog's readers map on Frappr. Don't be shy (nor lazy), place your marker on the map!

This is not a joke, Pfizer, the campany which produces the "original" Viagra pills has just put online a website to beware consumers on illegal (counterfeit) purple pills.

The site, launched in The Netherlands, features on the homepage the video of aB pharmacist who explains the dangers of taking counterfeit pills, and a series of information on the risks connected to other more or less natural products available on the market.
via Adformatie.

Internet can do a lot when it comes to social and citizen responsibility, and the new website launched in France by RATP (public transportation company in Paris) is one of the best examples I've ever seen. Called "Objectif-Respect" the site aims at educating les parisiens on how the public transportation should be used, respecting other passengers, not destroying the seats, regularly paying for the tickets etc...

The site is divided in several section, each explaining a concept both through an advertainment piece (a cartoon, an advergame, a quiz etc...) and through a video documentary with interviews to public transportation users and workers. Probably only those of you who speak French will fully appreciate it, but give it a try anyway!

In France, Virgin Mobile has launched an Halloween promotional website called "Allowinner". It features a nice TV commercial (which you "have" to watch") and a slot-machine advergame.

A simple but nice effort, even if I don't understand why you have to watch the video in order to be able to play. Also, as usual, I don't agree with the forced "refer-a-friend" feature, which means, that if you want to play the game more than one time, you are asked to refer 2 friends.

It's not the Da Vinci Code, but the mystery is probably as intriguing, since it's based on the story of Mary Stuart. A give you a hint... the site is called Les Nuits des Clans at first sight it looks pretty cool and, yes, unfortunately it's only in French... but let's not stop here, language cannot (or should not) be a barrier to an interesting project...

Basically, it looks like there is a secret organization based on the Marie Stuart 's life that organise every full moon nights, the the best parties, in the most hip places. The members of the Clan meet each other at those parties and the challenge in the game is to discover where the next party will be located.

The enigma needs to be solved by investigating photographs of places throughout London. Not an extremely evolved nor innovative gaming interface, but surely engaging enough to take the challenge, considering the appeal a conspiration always has (almost by definition...).

Close your eyes and imagine a SimCity made of bananas... then click here and play this weird but brilliant advergame just launched by Chiquita in Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria. The challenge, as in SimCity or in Railroad Tycoon (my favourite games ever), is to grow bananas while keeping the employes happy and, of course, while respecting the environment.

For the players it's a nice, lovely designed game which also gives the chance of winning a journey to Costarica, for Chiquita it's a good (and unusual) exercise of corporate ethics and environmental responsibility. What I like about this game is the learning process about Chiquita plantations it involves, and I also appreciate the fact that registration is not compulsary. Too bad that such an effort is not available to play in English!

The agency behind the game it's These Days, and I've found the link through my friend Coolz0r.

After many video and photo previews, the new Sony Bravia ad finally arrived this morning. It's big, it's spectacular, it's impressive, but it's not as groundbreaking as the Bravia bouncy balls commercial. A bit less friendly and spontanious, or am I wrong? Anyway, I'm pretty sure that this commercial again will generate millions of online views for practically nothing. Viral. Like no other. :)

Via Ad Blog Arabia, an interesting initiative Nestlé is currently running during the Ramadan: Ramadan Kareem is a project which aims at lighting 100.000 lanterns through the Arab world in order to donate an equivalent of SAR 100,000 (something more than 21.000 euros) worth gifts to orphans helped by the Red Crescent Society. The goal has almost been reached, as over 90.000 lanterns have already been lit.

A part from this charity project, the site also share tips for healthy eating during the Ramandan, as well as Maggi branded postcards with Ramadan wishes and invitations.

Renault is working on a concept for a new version of its Twingo model. They have recently presented the concept car in Paris, and they are now creating buzz around it with a promotional site very much focused on the mix between art and innovation.

The site is nicely designed with dark colours, futuristic shapes, and a great soundtracks which emotionally engages the visitors.

A world of pixels at your disposal, color it as you please, and become part of the Nokia 6131 community of ad-libbed artists.

Created by Satama Interactive, the site presents in an artistic way the new Nokia phone, plus it allows visitors to leave their own mark using a watercolour technique.

The Color the World feature is a nice gimmick, but the best part of the site for me is actually the product presentation, with a very good soundtrack and excellent animations to show how the phone looks like.

The classic board game by Hasbro is now online as an advergame. It's a lifetime I don't play the real Cluedo, so I didn't try very hard to remember the mechanism and play it online. In any case I must say the game looks pretty good, nicely designed and quite engaging as any classic game usually is (otherwise it wouldn't have become a classic). The added value is that players get extra bonus points if they get the clues from the real world (for example related to the Cluedo box).

There is also a contest connected to the virtual investigation, you have time until October 25th to solve the mystery.

Nike has recently put online The Rise of the Hybrids, a series of three lovely animated webfilms to promote its Air Max 360 shoes "One Time Only". Created by HunterGatherer, the videos are, as I said, lovely. They combine different art styles such as cubism and children book illustrations to create an animated path through evolution. I'm not sure the added value they provide to the shoes promotion, but I like them as an expression of art, and therefore as they support Nike as a brand.

Carrying a gun can get you in the coolest places. An idea by Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy for the London Metropolitan Police Service campaign "Stop the guns".

From Japan, an excellent example of how fashion items can be displayed in an online shop. Too bad they "forgot" to attach the e-commerce option. Basically, Japanese retailer LOFT has launched a mini-site to promote its Halloween collection, and it has made it in such a cool way (including the prices) that you really feel like clicking and buying straight away.

Video content takes you through a virtual catwalk where the outfits are presented in an engaging way, definitely recreating an Halloween mood, and generating immediate interest in buying the items.

An interesting campaign by M&C; Saatchi for Red Cross of Australia. Unfortunately I cannot understand if this is a print ad, or it's actually a photograph of a box placed somewhere in a public space. Anyone can help?

via Jazarah!

In the age of consumer generated content, "tagging" moves to the real world, with this interesting initiative Sergei has just told me about. It's a guerrilla action with the objective of raising the level of consumers' awareness about the quality of outdoor advertising in a city. (I would say it's also useful to advertisers to understand what people think about their ads)

In Berlin and Seoul guerrilla "soldiers" have been tagging outdoor ads with personal evaluations delivering messages such as "this ad makes me sick", "I like this ad", "I find this campaign boring" etc...

Apparently the answer is yes, according to this French campaign Jean has recently posted about. The Association des Fromages de Terroires has launched a promotional calendar featuring 12 types of French cheese and 12 sexy girls. Cheese lovers (and not only) can order the calendar online.

Start packing your bags... LynxJet is about to relaunch with a new sexy campaign. Rumours say this time the entire campaign will run only online, and it will be centered around role playing and, of course, beautiful women. Video content and games will take visitors through the seduction challenge...

Sounds interesting, I believe it's launching in a couple of days, if you're curious, leave your email address on the site. The hostes will get in touch with you.

Check out the post about the first campaign.

After Virgin's "Exercise your muscle" and Absolut's "Bottle Search", it's now time for M&M; to challenge us with "50 Dark movies hidden in a painting". Recently launched in the US, the advergame features a Rembrandt's style painting with a series of visual riddles. Players have to move around the screen and find 5o movie titles represented by the characters populating the painting.

From Norway, an ad campaign for the ski wear brand Missing Link.
Amusing.

Found on ZiritonE.

From Norway, two lovely animated commercials featuring Lemmings with "some" difficulties in connecting to the Web. Reminds me a lot of Ice Age, just more splatter :-)

Lemmings spot 1 - Lemmings spot 2

Congrats to Bug for the great job!

A series of print ads and some tv spots also posted on Youtube are the elements of a recent Smart campaign created by Contrapunto, Madrid.

The offer is so incredible... no-one will be believe you...

Two ads from a print campaign by Duval Guillaume Brussels for Group T language courses. Maybe I will not go for a "wow" for the creativity (it rings some bells), but I find them very amusing and very much able to deliver the message.

(inspired by Pulp Fiction)

Putting or not putting a 20-seconds spot before a web video is one of the big dilemmas advertisers are currently facing in the online world. The Wall Street Journal published a (free) article last week investigating the topic. The article quotes, among the others the opinion of a Google's executive who believes users will prefer video sites advertising free. Of course this is very much in line with Google's overall approach to the Web, and if you "translate" it, it means "don't put a 20-seconds spot before the spot, but place a contextual text-advertising link below the video".

Getty Images mixes psychology and photography in Gestalt, an advergame that offers creative people both "mental benefits" and rewards. Royalty free photographs from the Getty Images archives are transformed into inkblots, and players, sitting in the virtual therapist office, are challenged to recognize them.

On Micropersuasion, there is an interesting post on Geotagging, very good to understand what geotagging is if you're not familiar with it, and you'd like to start discovering its marketing potentials.

To see geotagging in action, I've decided to setup an Adverblog's readers map on Frappr. I'm curious to see where my readers are from (even if Google Analytics is already my best friend for this :-)

If you'd like to post your pin, this is the link to follow: a test for me, and a test for you :-)

Update: don't be shy! Over 55 friends have already shown where they're from!

Are looking for more cool interactive ideas? Check the archives