Tag archives: france

Mary Stuart, a conspiration and an advergame

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…).

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La Nouvelle Megane

In France, PUBLICIS Net has just launched a web promotion for the new Renault Megane. In order to present the car and generate word-of-mouth around the brand, they have created a mini-site with advertainment content: an exclusive online album with free music to download and a webfilm showcasing the hands free feature of the new model in a stunning and humorous manner.

The KA boys

In France, Ford gets inspiration from the movie “The Full Monty” to launch a series of funny videos and a micro-site to promote its KA model. The KA Boys campaign, created by Wunderman, gives a shake to the traditional Ford’s communication approach, generating word-of-mouth especially among women who will surely laugh at these improbable strip teasers… [via Marketing Alternatif]

Find the treasure with TomTom

TomTom, the GPS satellite navigation system, has launched in France a reality-show style challenge, in which two teams need to survive a travel around France just using the TomTom technology. The Ch’ti Brothers are competing in the TomTom Raid against Bonnie & Clyde trying to find all the checkpoints the game points them to. Players receive no money for the ten days raid, so finding the checkpoints is also crucial for survival, since these are the spots where the teams get food and a place to sleep. French users can follow the competition online, watching real time videos. They can send players supporting messages and also vote for them to enter the chance of winning a TomTom navigator. [via Alternative Buzz]

Buzz marketing ideas Adidas football

In France (via JDN), Adidas is generating buzz around its brand by targeting football fans with an integrated campaign. A website with some funny content featuring popular comedians Omar & Fred is at the center of the stage, but the campaign idea is to drive 15 to 24 years old guys to the Adidas stores around the country. The concept (by JMS L’inconscient collectif) targets in particular the fans of Olympique Marseille (sponsored by Adidas). An email marketing campaign (currently with an amazing 96% opening rate) invites young people to visit the Tyaimesoubien.com website, download a postcard, answer the questions it presents, and deliver it to the local Adidas store for the chance of winning tickets for OM matches.

Fnac, what’s your excuse?

In France, Fnac is online with a buzz marketing campaign to sign up new clients for its Carte Fnac. At www.bonnesexcuses.com visitors are invited to submit their good excuse to buy technology at Fnac. The best excuses will win mobile phones, laptops and PSP. The site also features a French comedian, Julien Courbey, playing the “excuse expert” (or something like that giving away good advices to take advantage of Fnac’s offer. The campaign has been created by Tequila France and Les Chinois, it is mainly target at a 18 to 25 years old audience and aims at driving traffic to the page where the Carte Fnac can be obtained.

Another viral for Tim Burton

Culture-Buzz reports the new Tim Burton movie (The Corpse Bride) is going viral also in France. “Les noces funebres” website offers a love calculator to test your affinity with your partner. I got an astonishing 96 percent (pour l’eternite) which really scares me This is the teaser Burton launched in the US.

The Eurostar viral casting

Patrick pointed me to another Eurostar online campaign. This time it comes from France, where the train company has launched an “online casting” to promote its Business Premier service. A series of strange characters presents the main features of the new service, and if users believe they can do better, they’re invited to submit their own home-made videos. Fullsix is the agency behind this campaign.

Banner trends in France

Le Journal du Net (in Frech) has a good article on the “trendy” online advertising formats in France. The traditional banner popularity is declining (-9,3 points in 2005) but this is still the most used format. The 468×60 banner is still alive because it’s a complentary ad format, which works good when associated to the emerging rich media (skyscrapers in particular). Generally speaking, intrusive ads such as pop-ups and pop-unders are disappearing from the French scene, with advertisers rather preferring ads which fit into the editorial content. (see also Static banners aren’t dead)

French guide to corporate blogging

If you can read French, have a look at this article on Le Journal Du Net on corporate blogging. It provides an overview on the topic and a five tips to get the best out of it. 1. Be transparent 2. It’s forbidden to forbid 3. Bring value added content 4. Blog regularly 5. Be open to the outside world. Loïc Le Meur, one of the top French bloggers, currently Executive VP & Managing Director of Europe for SixApart (the Company behind TypePad and Movable Type), contributed to the column.