Guess what ... Some other racing games ! But this time you don't drive usual cars.
In the Red Bull one, you drive a soap box.
This site is pretty nice and the 3D environment is very well produced. The visuals and the all atmosphere really remind me of Little Big Planet ones. You can build your own soap box, your own track, customize your avatar, and compete against others. The game is to promote the soap box races that Red Bull is running across Europe.
To promote its website on its last and highly longed-for fashion show, Victoria's Secret put a massive and rich widget forward.
Loyal to the site it represents (fully developped in flash, with tons of materials), it offers a lot of content with videos, pictures and news feed.
I am convinced widgets could be a very good opportunity for brands, but they are too often used as shallow gadgets, with no marketing purpose, or just as an excuse to show your brand is up-to-date ...
Even if this one from Victoria's Secret offers nothing innovative, it is well designed, and it can rely on the aspirational strength of the brand.
The Best Ads site has launched their new podcast available via iTunes and it seems to be going off! Maybe because it's free...
On day three the BestAds Podcast has made an impression up to #1 on the top video podcasts in Australia and #2 in New Zealand and #15 in the UK and #90 in the USA. I guess podcasting the world's current best ads has appeal to the ad folk who catch trains etc to work everyday...
Inbev's global beer brand Beck's is about to start a blog on their international homepage. They don't have a blogger yet, so they are now looking for "the ultimate, offbeat columnist with an uncompromising point of view who can connect and interact with consumers in the digital world" . Interesting point is that they are not looking for a corporate blogger, but a person that will give a personal view on news, people and ideas that match the brands philosophy 'Different by Choice'. The full job offer can be found on becks.com.
Interesting news from Dutch based blognetwork TCMagNet.com. These guys run a popular entertainment blog in the Netherlands and internationally and now expand to several European countries (Spain, Belgium, Greece and Germany) with local bloggers running the sites. Intention is to create an online network with local and international content that will please a broad audience. Looks like the big entertainment blogs are growing up and follow the proven concept of local expansion from their traditional brothers.
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.
From Sweden a weird story or, maybe, a great campaign for insurance company AMF Pension...
I tell you the story as I received it... Some months ago a guy called Håkan Nordkvist started a blog telling the world that he has met himself in the future. Since nobody believes him, the only way to prove was by start blogging. He also put an evidence on some movie sites, a film recorded with his mobile camera (watch it on Youtube).
Some weeks later a director called Göran Ahlberg from Machine Films, contacted Håkan about the story. He was so fascinated that he wanted to make a documentary about it! And ofcourse he needed a sponsor for such project... so he contacted the pension company called AMF. On blogs people started to write more and more about this project... could this be for real? Did Håkan really travel in time? In Sweden, bloggers are debating around the issue.
Unfortunately, most of the content is in Swedish, so we can't say if the story is true or it's just a fake. In any case, Martin from F&B; sent me the link to the documentary broadcasted last week on TV. Watch it yourself and decide...
Benetton wakes up from its online marketing limbo and comes up with an interesting blog project: Benetton Talk. It's "a place to ponder global themes and stuff we think we all should care about. Environment, rights, diversity, local communities, development… The goal is to highlight what is too often silenced by the media noise".
Behind it, there's of course Fabrica. I like the idea, let's hope they keep it alive and provocative as it should be.
An article on Netimperative points out more and more companies are looking at bloggers to fill positions in new media. Traditional recruitment channels are currently being replaced by blogs, social networks and community forums.
... and my personal story confirms the case :-)
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Blogs, RSS & mktg
On eMarketer, an interesting analysis on the role of blogs as marketing tools. According to a survey by Harris Interactive "Fortune 1000 business executives are reacting slowly to the idea of corporate blogs as a communications medium."
Blogs have a long way to go before becoming widely accepted corporate marketing tools. What is even worse is that, at the moment, marketing executives are more concerned about moderating/limiting what is being said on blogs, than taking an active approach and actually listen and learn from the voices around the Web.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Blogs, RSS & mktg
In Germany the car manufacturer Opel has started a blog project to promote the new Opel Astra. Four bloggers are equipped with the new car for four weeks in order to test and review. All the blog posts a sydicated on the Astra blog astra.blogg.de/. Further there is a sweepstake where the users have to send in pictures of the Opel bloggers.
The fact that the bloggers are sponsored with the car and the allowances are paid had kicked off discussions in the blogosphere about credidibility and the sell-out of the bloggs.
I'm very happy to post about this advergame: first of all it's the very first interactive campaign I receive from Greece, and second Panos, who is the Director of Interactive Services at OgilvyOne, Athens sent me an email with "an offer I could not refuse". The game lets you drive a Ford Focus inside the Special Stage of the Rally Acropolis that is taking place on June 1st inside the Athens Olympic Stadium (where the 2004 Olympics took place). People that register and play the game, can win a VIP Experience Package for the Rally, including hotels, packstage access, tickets and transport to the events, and so on.
The game in itself is just a "standard" racing game (even though it contains an Easter Egg - press L while you're playing), but Panos sent me all the info about it in an amazing way (for a blogger, at least). Since the copy is in Greek characters it would have been impossible for me to login and play, but I've been sent a guest account you guys can also use: guest @ adverblog.com (of course remove the spaces).
