Dutch beer brand Bavaria just launched a commercial that leaves no mistake. It's a direct, professional and fun spoof on the popular Walk In Fridge commercial from competitor Heineken, which was released late December 2008. I bet this will be continued..
HP is online in Asia with a new campaign to promote its personal computers range. The experience on the site is very flashy and definitely a bit weird with a voice over that takes us around.
As the agency explains in the note they sent me, based on the insight that"‘in the course of our daily lives, we have lost touch with the feelings that have made us feel most alive", the site focuses on awakening human emotions that have lapsed into disuse over the years.
In The Netherlands Symantec has launched an infotainment website to explain users the risks of using the Internet and the its solutions to avoid problems with digital assets and sensitive data. You never know who's watching you when you are online, the "false" Vladimir might be there ready to steal your credit card number...
The project reminds of a similar initiative launched last year in New Zealand. Probably the execution is not as good, but the website still does a good job in explaining the risks to a target that is not very aware nor familiar with them.
The geniuses from Waskman came up with a very original idea to advertise the new Vodafone "Oficina Movil" ("Mobile Office") service, which main value is to avoid freelancers and small businesses being wire-dependant on mobile phones, office phones and data services through 3G technology. So after a while of thinking who the target was they realized they could be the perfect target, so they proposed Vodafone moving their offices to the middle of Madrid and Bilbao for three weeks, writing about the whole process in a few sites.
Barack Obama's campaign was so huge and had so many actions that even two months after the election day passed i'm still finding out about curious things that were done. This is from the day i forgot going to vote and the whole country outraged at me, LOL.
I stole this link from Diego Montesano, thanks man!
When talking about advertising in South America you're sometimes exposed to hear about certain (and false) cliches: for instance, "Brazil is really good at graphic work, and only at graphic work" or "Argentina is really good doing TV work, and only doing TV work". I wasn't even interested in advertising when I saw on TV this commercial done for the new (then) Renault Clio. Years later I knew about their creators, Agulla&Baccetti;, and some of their legendary (and multiawarded) campaigns, being also a seeder of new talents (with the likes of extremely succesful people in later years such as Juan Cabral or Leandro Raposo, among many many many many others) Did i say "many" enough?
Being one of the things I like the most about all of that works was the way in which emotions were expressed through images, it is often said that creativity in Argentina was dramatically fed because of the infamous Corralito situation in 2001, which almost completely froze bank accounts and forbade withdrawals from U.S. dollar-denominated accounts. The tone of TV spots, introspective until then, became more of cheerful, trying to help people to overcome the sadness they were living. As part of this anomalous situation you can even find three minutes length tv ads done by Madre for Banco Hipotecario, being the length of the ad part of the strategy as to try people believing in banking again.
German agency Jung von Matt has joined forces with French web developer Mathieu 'P01' HENRI to produce the smallest advergame ever. It sits in 16*16 pixels or, better, in a favicon. The progject has been conceived to promote a very small car: the Smart fortwo.
As you can see from the video, banners have been placed on automotive sites to invite people to play. The idea is fun and definitely very creative even if I'm not sure how many people visiting those websites have really appreciated it. Would be interesting to know not only the buzz the advergame will be able to create in the blogosphere, but also the numbers in terms of clickthrough (for example) it generate.
Though i'm originally from Spain i've spent the last three years of my life living in Mexico, so the first time I asked Martina about writing for Adverblog she told me that it would be nice reviewing a lot of digital cases coming from Central and South America, as to have a global vision of digital advertising in Adverblog.
Not that I haven't tried but besides a few things coming from Brazil, I haven't found anybody in this region consistently generating first-class digital work (but maybe there is! if you think you or your company is doing it and you work in Central/SouthAmerica please drop me a line to dani.granatta AT gmail DOT com !)
Well, the thing is that last week I was part of the jury for the first IAB Conecta Awards organized by Mexican IAB and I went to Mexico City for the voting, kind of prejudiced about what we were about to see. But once there, and in really good company, we found a few works worth to be noticed. I specially liked this one called "Rockea duro / construye tu futuro", done by Substance for UVM, one of the universities of fastest growth here in Mexico.
I love the crazy and happy mood of the latest Uniqlo online marketing campaign. From the very first second the website is able to generate a positive vibe and the curiosity to checking out the product and the photos of the testimonials wearing it begins spontaneously.
GE tagline says "imagination at work". And this time they really prove with a website (and with the help of Goodby Silverstein & Partners and North Kingdom) that explains how their smartgrid can help reducing dramatically pollution and energy waste.
I appreciate the good balance of storytelling with the voiceover and the website interactivity that aims at explaining concepts and the numbers with visual examples. It reminds me of the approach of modern science and technology museums and I believe it is pretty effective to create vivid awareness of environmental issues.
I don't know if it's just me but this morning i step onto a couple of sites that asked me to fill in a twelve-fields form (each) before getting into the experience, which, by the way, one was really boring and the other one crashed my browser twice.
So, maybe i'm getting too picky but i don't think i ever visit again any of those sites and also i'm really pissed off about the waste of time i spent filling out those forms, much more because of it than because of the fact that i gave my personal data, so... what's the point of any brand in having my data if i do feel really upset about them?
From Japan, a nice website to promote DyDo, a soft drinks brand.
Even if I didn't understand a word, I liked the visual experience. First of all because the starting visual reminds me of Sim City, and then because it combines a world of weird characters and small forms of interactions.
Odd but... The second webisode of MoneyBox covers the definition of a recession, why recessions happen, the best way to survive a recession and the difference between a recession and a depression. Kinda funny...
By: marka // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):
Being a bestie is tough. Being a good flatmate/housemate is tougher.
Mobile broadband carrier Unwired has a new campaign that asks renters to leave if the flatmate is not worth living with. Join the fb group and tell your story of your worst housemates.
By: marka // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):
Forsman & Bodenfors has a new website. Or, better, they just launched a search engine to allow potential clients and curious people to explore their world.
Have a look, it's original as all F&B; projects usually are.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Agencies & people
Marta Kagan recently put online a useful presentation on branded applications for the iPhone, considered as the next generation of immersive mobile branding. Her slideshow gives me the opportunity to spend a couple of words on the huge contradictions I see on App Store if you take the digital marketer point of view.
We are talking so much about the digital world, where everything and everybody is connected, where you can discover and get to know great ideas and great people from all around the world, global meets local etc, etc, etc... But, but, but the Apple App Store is far from being a global store. If you are based in Italy for example, very often you can't buy nor even download for the applications developed in the US, and viceversa.
I always loved this topic on Dipity where you can find the latest Meme things storming the Internet, from the buzz generated by the Blair Witch Project to the moment in which George W. Bush is attacked with a shoe. The last one that caught my attention in the latest days was an initiative launched by my good friend Fer Barbella called "The Ultimate Joker", in which he asks for the Joker character never again being used in any future Batman film, stating that "Heath Ledger is the best Joker ever".
Using the usual kind of 2.0 paraphernalia to support the cause and with a strong concept behind the whole thing, the blog is now visited by more than ten thousand people a day and has been reviewed already in places such as Wired or CNN.
Maybe not advertising per-se but definitely a nice digital phenomenom :)
Porcelanosa started its business a long time ago selling floor tiles and it became a huge force in that industry, specifically in Spain. Then, they evolved and created complementary brands to offer further services, like for instance interior and exterior home decoration under the name of Ceranco.
Now presenting their new site, created by PixelingLife, you can take a sneak preview of their 2009 catalogue to check some of the proposals for this season. Maybe i missed some other info than just downloading a PDF for each entry of the catalog, but the site is a relaxing experience definitely worth seeing due to its fancy navigation and transitions and the high quality of the images, even when zoomed in.
Originally in portuguese and done by DDB, i found simple and fantastic the fact behind the claim "Toda imagem tem un son" ("every image has a sound") of this campaign for Saxso Funny, a sound-producing company in Brazil:
Talking about any type of cancer is always a delicate subject, so i liked very much Computer Tan, the hoax-approach used by The Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity to inform about skin cancer and the dangers caused because of over-exposure to the sun, so the disease can be early detected and defeated.
Sorry to use this as a forum for help but we need it. 190+ dead and 800+ houses gone and 112 degrees fahrenheit, 44 degrees celsius temperature. Bushfires have smashed us. We've had the worst natural disaster ever in our country and we are struggling. Please help us if you can. Here we all know someone who has died by the fires and need help so they can get back up and re-build. PLEASE donate if you can. Thank you so much.
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By: marka // Permalink // Comment(s):(1) Category(s):Oceania
One of the things I like about the way Japanese brands (and agencies) approach digital marketing is the fact that blogs (and bloggers) are always on their mind. If you pay attention to most campaigns recently launched on the Web, you will notice that the "share/embed in your blog" functionality is always there. But it's not just a simple copy & paste of some content offered on the website. What bloggers can put on their blog is actually the outcome of their own interaction/experience on the brand website. And this the cool part, because it activates mechanisms self expression and generates spontaneous but conscious word of mouth where consumers are endorsers of a personalized brand message.
The latest example I've found of this interesting approach is the website launched by Casio to promote its CA001 mobile phone model. If you visit the Urban/Feel/Harmony section you will be able to compose your own music session mixing sounds taken from a series of instruments.
In Sweden IKEA tries a new approach to its digital communication, exploring storytelling with a mix of videos and illustrations. The goal is to introduce the new IKEA PS collection, a line of eco-focused products just launched on the market. The result, as usual, is very beautiful and inspiring.
The viewer is taken through a fabulous journey flying over seas and cities with a flock of weird flying objects. Each object hides a designer who is ready to tell you the story of the object he (or she) created for IKEA.
Swedish underwear brand Bjorn Borg is online with a new, amusing campaign that exploits the digital media at its best, providing visitors with witty sense of humor, interactivity, media integration and even a dating service!
The concept is all about breaking up in the name of love and then starting the hunt for a new partner. Bjorn Borg knows how hard it is to finish a relationship, so he starts by offering us a service to help us sendind the SMS message which will change our lives. But first of all, you have to take the test to understand whether you should break up or not with your partner.
Onitsuka Tiger has recently launched a campaign to celebrate its 60th Anniversary and promote its new collection ispired to the Japanese Zodiac. Amsterdam Worldwide has created a short animation movie and has refreshed thewebsite and the print campaign according to the new concept.
Heineken booked a nice viral success with the recent Walk In Fridge commercial. Within a couple of weeks it got over 5 million online views. IllegalAdvertising.com is now pointing at a user generated Walk in Fridge, spoofing the commercial. Production is pretty slick, so probably no consumers involved, but that doesn't spoil the fun.
It's interesting how a lot of these little apps that used to live in a microsite are now served in Facebook, so they can use directly the contents already existent and uploaded by the users. Axe Chocolatizer is a great (and funny, and tasty) example of this. I look good on chocolate, i've been told :)
In the US, Allstate and the Olympic Committee have launched an online contest to spread the Olympic spirit and the passion for sport through the Web and in particular within the Chicagoland-area. Six to twelve years old children are invited to design their dream playground and earn the chance to win cash awards and prices.
The website is very nicely designed in Flash with beautiful visuals and smooth animations. Even if I'm not exactly in the target audience, I loved it :-)
I'm extremely interested in branded mobile applications. As you might have read some weeks ago, with Nike Italy I have recently launched a football related app called Nike Goal, so my eyes are wide open to look for ideas and inspirations to further explore the iPhone (and now also the G1) world in order to deliver value and great consumer experiences through the device. This said, let's have a look at the ING Wegweijzer application, I've discovered today on Springwise. Launched by the Dutch bank ING, the application for the T-Mobile G1 (Google phone) helps users to find not only the closest ATM machine, but also tells them how to get there and, most of all, in which direction to move the first step to reach it.
The application uses the G1’s GPS and digital compass to provide you with directions to the nearest bank machine. It's a great example of augmented reality, since ING Wegweijzer is capable to overlay directions onto real-time views of the surrounding area.
The world of Cravendale Milk is back with the 2009 edition of the website (if you want to read about the 2007 version, click here). It is not as fun and crazy as the previous version, but it still offers us some food for thought.
Despite the extremely didascalic/self celebration message that welcomes visitors on the homepage (we think a milk website should be fun, it's not just about clicking and reading...) the website really manages to create a nice experience thanks to its interface.
Marketers and account planners out there, have a look at the Leo Burnett predictions in marketing for 2009. A few things might not sound new, and on a few things you might disagree. But it's a good set of inspirations for the new year.
I especially appreciated the idea of New Realism when they say "we will be forced to become much more realistic over the coming years" but I also think it's important that agencies will align with brands on this subject. For this reason I also recommend (both agencies and clients) to read also the latest Future Lab report called "Bridging the Brand-Agency Divide" that offers a few tips to understand and reconnect the client-agency relationship in an era of economic (but not creative) recession.
From Sweden, a great example of interactive banners that take full advantage of the power of online media. Depending on the weather conditions in the city where you are connecting from, you get a different recommendations on the jacket you should wear.
Basically the rich media recognizes your IP address and it's able to connect and match a weather forecast service with the product database. What is also smart is the fact that you can type your next destination, getting both the weather conditions and therefore the suggested product to wear there.
Let's stay in Germany to have a look at Closed.com, another fashion/denim website that has some interesting aspects to highlight. First of all, if we start from the "collection" side... I like the fact that the experience of discovering the new products begins automatically. The site loads fast, and in a few seconds you find yourself looking at the new models displayed in full screen, high quality images.
But the best part arrives when you go to the ecommerce section. Just to clear any doubt about how trendy Closed jeans are, what you immediately get is the press coverage of three celebrities (Sarah Jessica Parker, Katie Holmes and Sylvie Van Der Vaart). You see the three women on the cover of some gossip magazines hanging around in Closed denim.
/div
