I like this action from JWT/Delvico Madrid for Paradores (a tourism partnership in Spain) because is so simple and because you wouldn't expect that client doing this kind of stuff. If you feel like going on vacation, give it a try at Ice Xmas. Post your bet about when you think this giant ice cube will melt and win the key (that opens unique rooms to spend Christmas time) trapped inside of it:
Jewelery store, Michael Hill, has launched an online promotion to find the world's best couple.
The winners get a 22 carat diamond ring. Kim Kardashian is the campaign ambassador. Couples who enter the competition will take part in a series of online challenges. The top six couples will then be adjudicated by a panel of expert judges with the winning couple being flown to Chicago to be presented with the ultimate 22 carat princess cut diamond engagement ring. Check it out here
From Japan a super crazy and super cool campaign by Sony to promote a new vehicle navigation system. The idea is very simple an it is inspired by something we (almost) all do in the car when we drive with our friends or even by ourselves: we sing.
The campaign is an online audition to pick the best performers singing in the car. Not only the videos get uploaded on Sony's website, but the best ones also will become part of the TV spot that will go on air as from mid-December.
This is definitely a perfect example of interactive TV content created with consumers help.
Via @inakiescudero I discovered a very smart online promotion EA is currently running in Spain to drive awareness around the upcoming release of FIFA 10. Since the beginning of September (when the demo of the game has been released) on the website of Marca.es (very popular sports daily) visitors can download the demo, play the game, score goals, save them and re-upload the videos on Marca's website entering a contest to award the most beautiful goal scored.
Viral marketing has new face. Now it's all about playing "with" your friends, and by "with" I mean "using" your friends to win something. The latest example comes from Northern Europe where the airline SAS has launched an online competition that takes advantage of Facebook Connect to give away flight tickets to a series of destinations around the world.
The mechanism is pretty simple. You select your departure airport (only Scandinavia unfortunately), you spin the globe to find out your destination and then the system connects to your Facebook profile to randomly pick a friend you will travel with. But the game isn't over yet: in order to actually win the tickets you have to write a nice motivation on why you and friend should travel together.
In Brazil, LG has launched an online campaign that puts Twitter at the center of the action to promote a fridge model called Top Mount. Four cameras capture live a fridge and the food inside it. Users can watch the live stream on the Web and "order" the fresh food using their Twitter accoun t and messaging @LGTopMount. The first who tweets the request will receive a home delivery the day after (only if he/she lives in the Sao Paulo area).
Don't ask me to clarify the mechanism because I had to ask twice to understand it. I definitely miss something in this action. I thought there was a challenge to guess the next food in the fridge in order to win, but this is not the case. It's not a guessing game. It's just about staring at a fridge where nothing happens and be fast to tweet when the food in it gets changed. To be totally sincere, I think the concept is rather week if not even silly. But still, I thought it was worth sharing it because the LG project can inspire new (better) campaigns with an integrated functional/interactive use of Twitter.
Through an interactive storytelling mechanism, visitors are asked to express their preferences and build up their ideal week-end, from Saturday to Sunday choosing from a range of different activities. At the end of the two days, they are presented with the Harley Davidson model that better fits their lifestyle and tastes.
The quiz is probably the simplest form of interaction you can use in online marketing. And most of the quiz often end up being also the poorest examples of interactive marketing you find around. But it doesn't have to be always like this, as Heineken demonstrates with its Destination Moscow action.
Created by Born05, the website delivers a great experience, through an excellent sound design and an accurate art direction. The quiz presents you with five questions, if you get them right, you can win tickets for the Champions League final next May in Moscow.
So next time you feel like complaining because your client is not brave at all and just wants to have a "quiz", think again, remember of Destination Moscow and, as Elvis used to say, "do something worth remembering"!
From Australia, the OriginalsFestival, a online pixel graphics game by Adidas and Vice which lets you create your own music festival.
You have a budget of 100k, that you have to use to a) put together your own dream festival line-up from a pool of around 200 bands, b) book the venue c) design the promo poster d) book the after-party band or DJ.
You have time until January 14th to cast your vote and select the best site of the year at the FWA's People's Choice Awards.
I don't want to bias your choice, but my personal favourite is Good Things Should Never End. It's brilliant from a creative point of view, but also extremely strong and consistent in delivering the promotional message.
The new chapter of the Bom Chicka Wah Wah campaign sees Axe partnering with Durex for a cross-promotion in Germany. The initiative is taking place now in Germany, with an online contest based on a puzzle game.
Don't expect anything special from the site, the only reason I post about this action is because of the curious partnership that, if you think about it, perfectly makes sense.
In the UK, Red Bull has launched an online cartoon competition. The goal of the Red Bull Tall Story contest is to make people interact with the brand and to find new stories to be featured in the next TV campaign, made of cartoons, that this year celebrates its tenth anniversary.
As explained on New Media Age, the energy drink brand is investing 500,000 pounds to promote the contest, using radio, print and online advertising as well as dedicated on-campus student promotions.
In the Netherlands Nivea has recently launched an online competition featuring an advergame where the action takes place in the metro.
Since the campaign it's targeted at Dutch metrosexuals looks like the brand has decided to play on words... and the result it's a straightforward, very simple, but apparently quite successful concept.
