Mediapost reports Adobe has launched an infomercials to be watched on the new iPod Video. It's an half-hour guided tour of Adobe's Photoshop dubbed "Photoshop TV".

Since the first episode is in mp4, I think you can also watch it on your PSP.

Get ready for another device for viral marketing... the iPod.

Polartec has launched a viral marketing effort to promote its performance fabrics.

Shave your Yeti online and then make him happy with a Polartec shirt. Before clicking, be aware that the Yeti is really ugly...

On Blogspotting Heather Green questions whether podcasting is just a bubble or it really has business potentials.

Recently Yahoo! released a report (RSS—Crossing into the Mainstream) in which 28% of the people surveyed said they were aware of podcasting, but only 2% actually listened to podcasts.

So back to the main question... Is podcasting just a bubble? Well, podcasting has been probably a little bit overhyped until now, but don't worry, it is here to stay (and to grow).

In the UK, the BBC has just launched "Your shout" a trial service which allows football fans to send in 3G video messages with their opinions on football. The best video comments will be shown on Saturday's Football Focus and on the Football Focus website.

The technology for this service has been developed by VoxSurf. Andy Munarriz, co-founder of VoxSurf explains:

Contrapunto Madrid for Canal Plus (Spain). Gold Lion winner at the Cannes Advertising Festival 2000.
Now films won't have to wait years to get on your Tv.

Thanks to Cleo I've found out about the The (Honda) Element and Friends Web Site. It's a nice videogame-style interactive experience where you drive around your Honda to meet strange but cute animals like the platypus and the opossum.

I think it has been created to target kids. Today I already posted about BMW targeting drivers' children with downloadable paper cars... Are kids the new influentials in buying a car?

New Media Age reports Universal has partnered with BoreMe Mobile to launch a series of mobile viral videos. Kontraband and mobile carrier 3 already moved the first steps in this direction a few months ago.
Funny mobile videos are available for download for £1, but users are encouraged to share the content with friends using Bluetooth technology.

The cost of mobile video is in fact one of the main points of discussion when it comes to moving viral ideas to mobile phones. It's good to see that brands don't focus their approach on making money out of it but rather on having users exchanging their branded content. With the growth of 3G more and more users have Bluetooth enabled phone, and I believe this is the key technology to push peer-to-peer interactions. Unfortunately at the moment (I think) it isn't possible to track the number of times a file passes from one user to the other, but I'm sure that with the diffusion of the mobile Internet new tracking technologies will become available. Furthermore there are other "traditional" ways to monitor the buzz.

In France, Nestlé has recently launched a website for its Chocapic brand to engage kids and build a relationship with them online. It's an heavy Flash website created by Touche Etoile, full of goodies to entertain young consumers and introduce "Pico" the brand mascotte.

In Thailand, BMW allows visitors to its website to download, cut & paste their dream car. A nice idea to let kids know about the BMW brand.
Here for example it's the popular BMW Isetta.

16 BMW models are available for download.

In Germany Mentos is online with a funny advergame: the Sheep Volley!
You can play & train or play to win, and in this case you need to register. You can also choose to challenge a friend, sharing the same keyboard.

Lowe Roche for Mercedes (Canada).

The movie King Kong is currently being promoted throughout Europe with an co-marketing campaign together with Pringles. A mini-site (by Grey Interactive) is online featuring the trailer, some downloadable goodies and a few e-cards which aren't really worth sending. Try leaving the site in the background... sometimes you hear King Kong's steps and the screen starts shaking.

Two advergames are also part of the online effort. Kong Jump (by Inbox Digital) will take a lucky winner to New Zealand.
The other one, Find Kong, reproduces the popular three-cards game... you bet your bananas to win :-)

A new study by Advertising.com found that behavioral targeted ads produce lower response rates than run-of-network placements, but deliver higher conversion rates.

The study examined three advertiser campaigns targeted to Advertising.com's personal finance, automotive and education behavioral populations. For each advertiser, identical creative messages were sent to both a run-of-network audience and the behaviorally segmented audience. In each study, conversion rates increased markedly for targeted impressions vs. run-of-network impressions. However, click-through rates experienced the opposite effect -- with the number of clicks decreasing for targeted impressions. These findings suggest that behavioral targeting actually increases the value of each click, as consumers who click on a targeted ad are more motivated to convert.

Coca-Cola has hired AKQA as its global digital agency. The business should be worth about £3m.

Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam has been appointed by UPC Broadband (owned by Liberty Media) to reposition its brand throughout Europe.

Leo Burnett has won the international Samsung account.

Ketchum will manage Starbucks' PR account in Germany.

After winnin NTL and Sony Ericsson's digital accounts Soup will open a new office in London

Pepsi is working on a branded content campaign that will involve 12 countries on the way to the World Football Cup in Germany next year. They are planning a football reality Tv-show called the "Pepsi Max World Challenge" which will count on a 4 million pounds budget, and will debut in April.

Twenty-four teenagers (two each from 12 countries) will take on a series of football challenges at grounds around the world, including Manchester United and AC Milan, with soccer stars such as David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho.

I really like these LG ads I've found on Adverbox. I don't know how effective they are but I find them extremely stylish (excellent art direction).

Publicis France has created a campaign for Kangoo taking advantage of Wallace & Gromit characters. They produced a funny Tv-spot and put online a nice website. Check it out, I think the interface (althought not very usable) is really cool.

Small and medium size companies using mobile marketing are reporting good results. Brandrepublic quotes a new research by Textalert saying that 72% of SMEs using text messaging reported a rise in turnover of over 10%. The article also reports the main problem SME are facing when using mobile marketing is recipients' fear of being spammed.

Electronic Arts has launched a viral campaign to promote its Fifa 2006 videogame. Users have the chance to personalize a 45-seconds film becoming a football striker in their favourite team. As Bloc Media explains on its site the personalised Flash interactive utilises a comprehensive database containing every team from every country and league in FIFA.

This is my performance has striker for my hometown team Triestina. Of course at the end of the path you have a tell-a-friend call to action.

AOL has launched a campaign to promote its Instant Messanger system to college students. According to Mediapost (reg. req.) online ads will also be supported by outdoor ads at 40 college campuses.

This is basically a branding campaign to depict AIM as a multiple-media communications platform, encompassing VoIP, e-mail, and SMS in addition to instant messaging.

Slashphone (via Textually) reports Viacom Outdoor will be the first major U.S. vendor to offer outdoor ads enabled with Bluetooth technology. A series of trial projects is scheduled to begin in November. "MobiPoints" will be placed in a variety of out of home media points including bus shelters, street furniture, kiosks, commuter rail cars and platforms and other special locations in various U.S. cities.

Mobipoints is a technology produced by French company Kamaleon.

Lost and Desperate Housewives are just the beginning. Disney ABC Television is working to deliver more video content to iPods. Information Week reports Disney expects its mobile video subscriber business to reach 14 million in 2009, up from about 200,000 today.

But important issues remain to be solved to allow iPod video content taking off. The first regards intellectual property rights. Disney owns Lost and Desperate Housewives from from beginning to end of production so they have no problem negotiating with distributors. But what happens when the content is sold outside the US where Disney sells licences to air such tv-series?

7NK Murder Mystery Game (by Littleloud) is a gothic horror story inspired to Shakespeare's plays. The BBC has just launched it to support its Shakespeare drama season this autumn. At the moment only a preview is available, but the game full game will be online from next week. As explained on New Media Age (reg. req.) players will be asked to solve and prevent crimes based on Shakespeare's plots.

A comprehensive mini-site is online to support the BBC "Shakespeare - Re-Told' series of TV and radio programs". Of course there is also space for some user generated content: a competition invites schoolchildren to write their own 60 second interpretation of a Shakespeare story to appear on the site.

Outdoor advertising enters a new dimension... holograms... Check out this video featuring a Lexus campaign in the United States. They used holograms (created by Vizoo, Denmark)to grab people's attention in Times Square and other top locations.

Launchfire Interactive has developed a series of ten advergames for the for MBNA U.S.A. 2005-06 NFL sponsorship. Each game functions the same but is uniquely branded to the participating NFL team. In addition each game broadcasts short rich media ads between quarters to promote the credit card companies (Visa and Mastercard) and their respective 2005-06 NFL promotions. For example, you can check out the New England Patriots or the Denver Broncos game.

In Italy Blaupunkt is running an online campaign through MTV's Internet and mobile sites. The campaign takes advantage of the popular Bunny&Benny characters, who proved incredibly successful in the viral video released early this year. Users can download the video directly from MTV (it also available through the Wap site) and gather information on Blaupunkt's products.

On MTV.it Blaupunkt is online also with an advergame that allows people to win a car audio system per week. Unfortunately they didn't put much effort in creating a nice concept for this game. It's just a racing game with no connection to Bunny&Benny. With a few more creative thinking (and probably with more budget) they could have "exploited" the viral characters also in the game generating more buzz around this campaign.

In the UK insurance company Norwich Union has just launched Memory Meltdown, a nicely cheesy advergame to engage users and drive policies' sales online. The game is promoted through email marketing and tries to take advantage of the viral effect also. The final prize is an holiday worth 3000 pounds plus a bonus of money to be spent during the vacation. The more friends you invite to Memory Meltdown the more money you can get for your vacation.

Holmes & Lee, Toronto for The Weather Network (Canada). Clio Award winner in 2000.

The Sunday Herald asks the question, providing the answer in two articles supporting the opposite answers YES/NO. Tina Korup (managing director of edoMidas Leadership Development) supports the NO party, saying CEO should not link their personality to a product. First of all, says Korup, CEO come and go, furthermore a CEO in ad could impact staff morale ("No CEO should be bigger than the company. As soon as a CEO puts themself in a television advertisement, they’re taking the credit and the glory for the achievements of the business’s hardworking employees. That’s very demotivating for the staff.").

On the other side, Campbell Laird (founder of brand consultancy Three Brand Design) says CEO in advertising can prove very effective for building the brand of a business since today's chief executives have the skills and personality to carry off starring in the company advertising.

In the UK Heineken has decided to shift its £6.5m advertising budget away from TV and rather invest in sports sponsorships and point-of-sale promotions. Rob Marijnen, managing director of Heineken UK explains on Times Online:

In the first nine months of 2005 online advertising has reached a 279 million value in Germany. According to the numbers released last week by Nielsen Media Research, there has been a 36,3% increase since September 2004, with online and financial services as well as the automotive industry leading the expenditures. Despite the growth, Internet advertising is still very small if compared to traditional media. Since the beginning of the year, the investments in print, TV, radio and outdoor advertising have been worth over 13.3 billion euro.

In the United Kingdom Internet advertising expenditure for the first half of 2005 reached £490.8 million, with a 5.8% market share which actually surpasses the outdoor's (5.1%). According to a study by IAB/PwC online revenues increased by 62.3% on a like-for-like basis when compared to the same period in 2004.

Here you find three ads created by McCann Erickson Communication House for Durex condoms.

The first is brilliant and, as it's easy to understand, it was created for a campaign running in December.

A great outdoor/guerrilla campaign created in Spain by JWT Barcelona for La Librería Negra y Criminal (Noir & Crime bookstore).

BBDO Mexico for Espn.

A new golf advergame from the UK targeting 25-60 years old (affluent) golf fans. Panlogic created a Golf Global Challenge to support HSBC sponsorship to the world golf championship.

The game, as it should be, is not very easy to play, it features a fine design and the possibility to personalize your player changing his/her trousers, shirt and hat. At first you can practice in the arcade game, and when you see your performance is improving you can actually go Pro and challenge a friend to become eligible for the final prize. The winner will go to the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, China from 10-13th November.

A good article on Business Week investigating the micromedia model introduced by blogs. It explains why blogs produce value to advertisers, in two words: they serve niche audiences and they boost word-of-mouth.

But if you're a blogger, don't automatically make the assumption this means you can make easy money.

Through Randomculture I've found this interesting article on Business 2.0. It's a month old, but it's still worth reading since it lists nine fads marketers/business people should ignore.

One of the overestimated buzz at the moment is about podcasting. According to Business 2.0 there are no revenues and therefore there is no business future for it.
To tell the truth I regard the article more as a provocation than as a serious analysis. For example, it says China will not rule (economically) the world...

In Barcelona, in Plaza Cataluña, Nike has installed a huge outdoor ad featuring tennis player Rafael Nadal, and powered with Bluetooth technology. By turning their Bluetooth connection on, users can download the new Nike Pro Tv spot and an exclusive Nadal screensaver. The campaign was planned by Media Planning Barcelona.

A Clerasil ad using the Hermann grid illusion.
Copy says: As soon as a black spot appears, use Clearasil.

[via Marketing Alternatif/The Spunker]

Escucha la llamada. An interactive, immersive experience. A black & white cartoon with an excellent sound design and powerful animations. Mysterious (the brand name is seldom mentioned) but fascinating.
You'll enjoy it at full only if you can understand Spanish, but even if you don't I'm sure you'll appreciate it. It's a branded entertainment website created for Diageo Espana to promote its Ron Cacique. I've found the link through Criterion but unfortunately I cannot tell you what's the agency which did it.

The only negative thing is that a brand like Ron Cacique creates such an amazing website but it doesn't own its domain name...

Here in The Netherlands, the Irish Tourism Board is running an online game that allows players to win flight tickets to Dublin, Cork or Belfast. It features a series of lovely cartoon characters dancing the typical Irish dance. Your goal is to dance with them without stepping into their feet. A funny idea, but the playability isn't very good. Furthermore there is a bug that doesn't allow you to play twice with the same email address.

In the Netherlands we (LaComunidad) have just launched an online game for Marktplaats/eBay.

Since I worked on the project, I simply give you one good reason to go and play the game: you can win a stay with 5 friends in a fantastic castle in Normandy. So if you're Dutch, just click and play Chateau Frank!

A nice outdoor ad by Frederik Samuel.

DM9 DDB, Sao Paulo for Antarctica Beer (Brazil).

[via MokaBreak]

In the UK, 3G operator 3, owned by Hutchison, is about to become the world's first operator to sell airtime on its own network to advertisers. Unfortunately the article on Media Guardian (free reg.) doesn't clearly say what exactly 3 is going to do. One possibility is that they will offer free downloadable ads to their clients This idea has already been successfully tested with Apple iPod ads, which generated 160.000 downloads in a week.

Mobile video advertising clearly opens interesting opportunities for viral videos delivered mobile phones, althought pricing and/or the business model still remain a big question to be answered. Who should pay for downloadable mobile ads? Branded content, should be free, but when it comes to mobile phones, free is a word that almost doesn't exist, especially with carriers always wanting to share revenues.

An original ambient marketing idea from an hotel in New Zealand. The 5 stars Sofitel in Queenstown is getting a lot of attention for its new boys room, where models look at guys while they do their stuffs. Some people have complained, but the positive buzz is actually bigger than the negative comments. If you click here, there is a video, that gives you a better idea of what is going on.

[via NinjaMarketing]

Which are the characteristics of a successful viral idea? Make it sexy and your chances of driving traffic will definitely increase. This is surely what Ebola Industries had in mind when it started working on a new campaign for Matura.it an Italian website targeting students. You can visit Sadomasoprof.com (also in English) to find out what they have created... Don't worry there is no porn, just a few "innocent" jokes

There are a video and a test-game which are nice to see for students. Then you also have forums, ringtones and a lot of other stuffs to click that take you to the Matura.it website actually lowering the overall user experience. Anyway, I'm glad to find a viral idea coming from Italy!

This Air Sickness Bag has been created by Scholz & Friends Berlin to promote low cost flight operator Hapag-Lloyd Express. It is part of an award winning campaign (Effie Award 2005) that run last year in Italy and Germany.

With a minimum budget compared to its competitors HLX had to achieve maximum effectiveness by implementing a cross-media campaign using attention-grabbing ideas.

In the age of consumer generated media, corporations can no longer hope to control 100% their brand message. Rather, they need to learn to listen. >Mediapost reports on the BlogOn conference quoting experts like Jeff Jarvis who said:

I used to think the power of blogs was slightly overestimated, but I'm not sure the situation is still like this. I agree with Jarvis, when it comes to blogging, listening is priority number one. Of course brands can also start their own blog but it's not easy to stay simple, direct and sincere when you run a corporate blog.

A guerrilla marketing idea has been used in Rome to Gargoyle's horror books. Four "vampires" have walked around the city holding a coffin full of Robert McCammon's books. A lot of people liked the idea but some, as it's common in my country, rather reacted with scaramantic gestures :-)

[via Guerrigliamarketing.it]

In the UK Barclays is about to launch a campaign to position itself as a customer-friendly bank (via Brandrepublic). It is going to be the biggest advertising campaign in four years and it will basically focus on making the bank look "human". The ads, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty will portrait Barclays' staff as inventive and friendly.

Recently in Italy San Paolo Group did the same thing. It launched a campaign with a touch of irony starring its employees describing in an interview their role in the bank. The pay-off they used is "San Paolo, less bank more Mario" (or whatever was the employee name).

I think it is interesting to note the similar approach. Is it because their image has deteriorated or because the new consumer requires a brand to talk his same language?

Another brilliant gadget from Apple, the iPod video. And another brilliant marketing idea: Desperate Housewives and Lost episodes to be downloaded for just $1.99. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the next BIG thing. Shall we also tag it as "mobile marketing"?

[via Adrants]

We recently talked about bluetooth marketing, and now it's time to make another step ahead (or behind?) and say something of mobile marketing via infra-red. New Media Age (reg. req.) reports that currently in the UK the movie Goal! is being promoted with interactive bus shelters people can connect to via infra-red. By pointing the mobile phone to the interactive poster user can download the trailer, discover the plot and enter a competition to win a walk-on part in the sequel. The campaign was created by Feref Digital and planned by Carat.

No doubt that with the rise of portable multimedia devices, the digital outdoor media business is going to grow rather fast. I believe establishing a connection with a prospect at a bus shelter is a smart idea. The wait often increases our need for distraction, so we might be more receptive to branded entertainment.
However we should also keep in mind that not a lot of people are aware of their mobile phone functionalities, especially when it