Don't let this nightmare become reality. Don't let Holland win the World Cup final against Germany. Electronic Arts has put online a controversial (and therefore viral) advertainment website to promote its Fifa World Cup videogame. The idea of Jung Von Matt is to allow Germans to make fun of Dutch people and incidentally discover the new videogame.
The mini-site offers the chance to submit user generated choirs against the Orange team, as well as to send condolences messages to the Dutch football fans.
Volkswagen is online with a new mini-site to promote its Touran model and its sponsorship of the David Beckham (football) Academy.
The interesting thing to look at in this mini-site are the advergames. They are not particularly original nor challenging to play, but they are all based on an innovative video interface, showcasing the interactive potentials of Flash 8. Tribal DDB London did the job.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Advergames
Volkswagen has just launched its special edition Beetle Luna and it's promoting it with a direct marketing action to drive traffic the Beetle Art minisite. Proximity London will distribute 90,000 packs to target female Volkswagen customers aged 25 to 49 "for whom style is the most important factor when choosing a new car".
Beetle Art (design by Tribal DDB) allows users to create, view and print out a copy of their customised decal designs. The website also allows visitors to enter a competition to win their creation.
Open and caviar have created a viral campaign for the the Belgian financial newspaper De Tijd in order to promote their annual tax guide. Buy the newspaper next Saturday (03/06/2006) and enter the contest to win your taxes as first prize.
IMHO it could have been done a little bit more funny or it could have been done in another way but it is still nice to see a common frustration in this viral clip. As are taxes.
Lowe Worldwide and Lowe Tesch have created a video-advergame to challenge beer lovers pulling the perfect pint. The experience is quite engaging, also because it's very much in Stella Artois' mood.
The action takes place in Le Cercle Bar et Brasserie, a classic bar set somewhere in the French speaking world. Players first of all need to select the right glass (and this is pretty straightforward), then they are asked to perform more difficult actions, such as deciding the perfect glass' inclination etc...
As you can see, my performance is not worth remembering...
Karl Spain, an extremely popular Irish comedian stars in the mini-site Smithwick beer has put online to promote its involvement in the sponsorship of the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival, an International comedy festival that takes place in Ireland every year.
An amusing experience, full of video content. Actually I started laughing since the first screen... "fill out the form!"...
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Online marketing
This ad by DDB Sao Paulo for Companhia Athletica won the Clio Award 2006.
Do you like it? Personally I'm not very convinced. It reminds me of a much better commercial done by Nike a few years ago. Do you remember "tag it"? That was cool!
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.
Laurens sent me the link to this viral campaign Opel is running in The Netherlands to support its Tigra Twin Top. In order to access the content you need to fill in your first name and last name plus a mobile phone number (you can use this: 0650847199 which my old Dutch number).
Once you are in you will find a video (which isn't actually very funny, at least for me) which ends with a crazy Indian guy calling you on your mobile to tell you about the campaign. Of course you won't be able to listen to the phone call, but I wanted to share this link because I like the idea of integrating media and messages. The Opel campaign in itself isn't particularly brilliant nor viral, but they are doing a great thing taking a campaign from the Internet to the mobile phone and viceversa. A good starting point for you guys to come up with other concepts...
Nike and Apple are always one step ahead. Look at what they have done together: the Nike+iPod Sport Kit which allows you to keep track of your running performance and also receive voice updates during your race. Simply amazing, also because they put online a very good website to support the product launch and allow people to register their performance through an online software.
Simple, usable and extremely clear in the explanation, the site also features the favourite tracks of some popular Nike's testimonials. Do you want the tracks? But them at iTunes. Damn smart!
In the UK, the financial and business paper City AM has started delivering its podcasts to mobile phones taking advantage of Bluetooth technology. As reported on NMA "screens at Liverpool Street and Waterloo stations display a City AM commercial prompting viewers to turn-on the Bluetooth function on their phones to download an MP3 file of City PM, City AM's daily 5-minute news podcast".
This is a really cool idea, it's definitely an explosive mix of technology (bluetooth), media (mobiles + outdoor) and content (podcasts). Wow! Take note...
Bizznizz is a new online tool presented in The Netherlands by the Postbank and developed by BrandBase. Through the Bizznizz website and a special briefcase, kids between the age of 11 and 14 years old are able to start their own 'bizznizz'. They can create their own business cards, business paper, t-shirts and other advertising materials in order to fulfill jobs like a real professional.
So to all parents: You finally have someone to wash the car and do the dishes!!
During the European Championship Football in 2004, the loudspeaker hat from Heineken Netherlands got banned from Portuguese stadiums due to sponsor issues. That’s the reason they now, for the upcoming World Cup in Germany, introduced a new premium: Hollands Secret Weapon. A gentle looking German hunter’s head, but one that can be easily converted into a loudspeaker.
For the introduction of the new hat, Heineken started an extensive underground campaign...
Ikea New York hosts a fabolous exhibition named “Everyday Fabulous Exhibit” They invite people to come and see how good design can transform the most ordinary day into something spectacular. More interestingly, their design team transformed NYC locations with Ikea. Great guerilla and great experience for people.
Eventually an advergame from Italy which doesn't ask users for the registration up-front. It's called Spese Invaders (Expenses Invaders) and it has been developed by Olà for Fineco, an online bank.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Advergames
I love the illustration of this ad that BETC Euro RSCG has created for Peugeot 307. I just wonder how effective it can be... Maybe it's too artistic...
Copy says: Outside, it is a car, inside, it is larger.
Books on mobile marketing are extremely rare, therefore I was very curious when Elsevier sent me a copy of "Mobile Marketing: Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Wireless Technology".
It's a sort of handbook, so I read it pretty fast, also skipping, I must admit, a few parts dedicated to the explanation of mobile technologies (e.g. chapter 12, Applications environments). As you know, I tend to have a very critic and/but pragmatic approach to everything I'm asked to evaluate, so forgive me if my judgement is brief and straightforward.
If you're new to mobile marketing, then this book is a good option to start understanding the potentials of marketing via cell phones. When I say marketing, I mean "marketing", and not just advertising or promotion, since the authors also tell us something about mobile content and m-commerce. I enjoyed the chapter dedicated to the wireless advertising models, and I appreciated the fact that also delicate issues such as planning & budgeting and the measurement of the results receive some attention.
What step will you take after finishing school? On whatamigonnadonext.com they share some ideas. An excellent illustration/design, but not all the career options are worth looking at.
The site is kind of cryptic, you don't really understand what's behind it. Ventilate says a promotional idea of the US Airforce.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s):(1) Category(s):New websites
Amusing viral ads by BIC, the pens producer. The students, interrogated by the teacher, make terrible spelling mistake, hence BIC comes up with its message: make sure that at least the written test is correct.
Unfortunately, only those of you who speak French will appreciate them. More videos here and here.
Stay True is new Levi's campaign which OgilvyOne Singapore has taken online creating the "Truth Booth". If you have something to confess, to yourself or to the world, visit the website and record your message. You can send it as audio or video, as you prefer, as you dare.
The submitted messages will be collected in the Levi's 501 directory, where other users will be able to listen to them (or watch them) and rate them.
A very good campaign which express the potentials of video on the web, and takes advantage of people's desire to show off.
From Sweden, another interactive campaign that puts community building at the center of the stage: telephone operator Tele2 has launched The Friend Network, based on the Six Degrees principle. Invite a friend, who will invite a friend, who will invite a friend, create your network of "dots" in the world and start sending free SMS. The site also features a beautiful TV spot, which unfortunately is embedded in the Flash and therefore I cannot link.
More info about the campaign on the Forsman & Bodenfors demo website. To see a working demo, click here, user name and password are already filled in.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Online marketing
Google Maps to power an X-Men community site. From Australia, the latest idea of Soap Creative to promote the movie "X Men: The Last Stand".
On the mini-site Xplanet.net the movie fans can post their picture and description and be precisely localized using Google Maps. Users are able to develop mutant profiles and "pin" themselves to any location, which can be found by other site visitors. They’re also able to include a link to their personal website or blog within their profile, and add other users to a planet-wide "buddy list".
An interesting escamotage to create a community, even if the idea of telling the entire world where I precisely live doesn't drive me crazy.
Today Adverblog turns 3!!!
Everything started on May 18th, 2003...
Since I've started my new job at Diesel it's not easy to keep the pace of daily postings (I work too much :-). However, given the constant support you guys give me, it's impossible to quit! In a way or another, I'll keep Adverblog alive :-)
For example, I've now opened the doors to excellent contributors like Rocco and Daniele, so keep sending me hints, compliments and free gadgets/books, I won't let you down :-)
In Brazil, Rexona has launched a mini-site as part of a new campaign for Rexona Sport Fan. Of course the content is World Cup related: a video showing a Brazilian football fan at the stadium, a Sport Fan manifesto and an Atari style advergame and the possibility to support the Brazilian team by sending a short message.
The mini-site is not groundbreaking, it's advertainment, there is a Flash 8 video, but I would have expected something more integrated with the TV campaign (see below). It's the same old story, the site is nice to see once, but it doesn't give you many reasons to come back or, even worse, to spread the word about it. Considering the craziness in online marketing of Axe (Rexona's competitor) they could have tried to create something "wilder".
AKQA is behind the new weird online campaign of Peperami: Fanimal.
What is a Fanimal? As Amy explains in the latest issue of Out to launch, a Fanimal is a rubber toy that screams out rants, which football fans can throw at the TV when the opposing team scores or the referee makes a bad call.
Sadly enough, the World Cup is everywhere.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Advertainment
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).
Thibault from Publicis sent me the link to this strange TV spot Viking is running in France for the release of a new lawnmower. The idea is of course to showcase the longevity and the trustworthiness of the product. It will follow you.
Quite amusing!
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Tv advertising
If you like football and you're a fan of Desperate Housewives, you will probably enjoy this advergame, just launched by BBC America to promote the new Tv series Footballers Wive$.
The game is quite challenging, since your goal is to keep everybody happy. Agents, managers, wives and girlfriends always need to be in a good mood, so make sure they have everything their "little hearts" desire - love, fame, money, power, and yes, a good reputation.
Given the awful situation Italian football is living, I appreciate the fact some people around the world do not take football too seriously.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Advergames
Next Sunday Red Bull will be in Rotterdam (NL) with the first edition of the Dutch Red Bull Flugtag. The tickets for the event have been sold only via mobile. In two weeks, HotSMS managed to distribute 12.000 tickets, using a combination of premium SMS and Internet to verify the codes.
SMS advertising and a mobile game are also part of the Red Bull campaign still in The Netherlands.
From Austria, a series of stamps sponsored by Haagen-Dazs. The icecream brand partnered with the Austrian Postal Service to produc a limited edition series of postal stamps featuring the images of their latest campaign. The idea is of TBWA Germany.
Crazy Dutch people, I love them! Look at what Sloggi has put online for the Football World Cup: the (women) Football Wall (Voetball Muurtje - via EarlyAdaptors.nl). What do you think? What's the sense of this minisite? Does it really sell pants to women? All right, tell me another story :-)
BTW, today on Adrants, Steve points to a study claiming that NO, sex doesn't sell.
Ads of the World has launched an advertising forum. It's a good place to discover ads submitted by students and provide them with feedback. If you wanna help, check it out!
Night Agency has just released a promotional (advertainment) website for Symantec: www.safetytown.com. Symantec's goal is to help educate people about theft online
and how they can protect themselves (using their products, of course).
From Denmark, the "technology monster", a (viral?) video created by Ogilvy for Ford.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Quick links
From Denmark, an interesting advergame to promote Maconomy X, a financial solution for advertising agencies. Catch Time – on Time is about a challenge any agency executive will recognize: get your people to submit time on time. The Creative people are very reluctant and will make comments... but this is something you already know :-)
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s):(1) Category(s):Advergames
Another cow starring in an online campaign: Manzo Scomparso (disappeared beef) is a teaser for something. They have been smart registering the domain name through Bulkregister, so at the moment I'm not able to tell you who's behind it.
In Spain Danone is running an integrated campaign to target kids who love football on the way to Germany 2006. They have created a site, danet.es in which users can navigate as if they were walking around a stadium (moving from the bar to the locker room or the press room etc...). Images of Ronaldinho, Danet's testimonial, are everywhere, but the site offers more than just his smiling "bunny" face. It is definitely content rich, and the interface offers a good experience to discover all the goodies available.
As explained on Marketing Directo, mobile is also part of the effort, with branded content available for download.
From Argentina, I received this ad showing an unusual billboard (or "chupetes", as they would say). You push a button and you get your Nike's poster. This video better shows how everything works.
The placement is an idea of 361° while the creativity is, of course, of Nike's agency Wieden + Kennedy. The only weird thing is that, apparently, in Argentina they are giving away Ronaldo's posters (who is Brazilian...).
I like this ad to promote intelligent parenting. It has been created for a Ministry of Health. Unfortunately I don't know the country nor the agency, if you do, please leave a comment.
via Reclamlar.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Print advertising
One of the reasons why I've been so busy lately... Diesel-U-Music... we just launched it! It's a contest for unsigned talent, so if you know any good artist playing rock, hip-hop or electronic, tell him/her/them about the competition.
We will be collecting the music online until the end of June, then there will be the evaluation of the entries (including a public vote) and a final event in London next October.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Entertainment
In Singapore, Microsoft has just finished running an unusual treasure hunt based challenging players to find five hidden Xbox 360 through a webcam-enabled hunt. As explained in an article on Brand Republic (sub. req.), clicking into the microsite led contestants to a virtual control room, where they could search the streets through pre-embedded webcams.
The contest has been promoted with radio ads, but generated most of the traffic through word-of-mouth. all five Xbox units were found within the first three days.
So here we go. The constant consideration about how and when to utilize what part of the digital communication channels and how to glide that into the overall marketing to end up by giving the user one harmonic and elegant experience with whatever messages you are seeking to get across is closing in with this solution, I think.
I just had a go at The Da Vinci Code today powered by Google… I must say that they have done a great job integrating the Google offerings in the quest.
Check it out for yourself – I am actually quite impressed with the way it flows. First of all you need a Google account – excellent conversion trigger. Then they take you through the quest and facilitate you with different Google products along the ride to ease-up the mystery solving for you. You will probably meet products in a relevant context from Google that you did not even know they had – until having challenged yourself in the quest.
Elegant example on how to integrate a series of products in a user relevant context to stress where and when these products become helpful… And a great way of utilizing the digital communication channel as an integrated part of the movie launch.
Go Code Crunching: http://flash.sonypictures.com/movies/davincicodequest/
NMA reports that Pedigree is investing £250,000 in creating an online community for dog lovers.
Whatsyourdogsthing.com wants to be an online space where dog lovers can interact by sharing tips by uploading photos and information describing what's unique about their dog. Competitions will be added to the site in order to support recurring visits. Joshua Interactive and ITG Digital did the job.
In the UK, the The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has launched an advergame to educate businesses on the risks associated with software piracy. Inspired to the popular Hasbro title Cluedo, the game challenges the player to find out, as a managing director, how illegal software has proliferated withing the company. Players who solve the mystery are invited to submit their score to win prizes, which consist of "legal" software.
Interesting idea, especially if you consider the B2B target, but unfortunately the game isn't very engaging.
While waiting for the massive promotional efforts during the upcoming football World Cup, Heineken has launched an entertaining "intermezzo" to remind the Dutch market of its beer.
Heineken bottles and cans are invading the world, a weird and very well executed concept by Qi (developed in only four weeks).
I've found this some weeks ago on Micropersuasion, it's about "Blackberry marketing", a new or "another" form of mobile marketing.
The news is that Columbia Pictures is offering a free game for Blackberries to promote “RV" a new movie with Robin Williams. But the important thing for us to focus on is that Blackberries are evolving, becoming more than business tools. As Steve writes "the Blackberry is an incredibly fertile marketing ground if we can find a way to court the businessperson to let us in. It's more valuable real estate than the back page of the Wall Street Journal".
Too many loaders but a very interesting interface in the new Flash 8 website created by MagneticNorth for Chimney Pot Park, a new residential area in Manchester. I don't know why but it somehow reminds me of Harry Potter...
One of the reasons why I post this, is because I love Brits! I mean, I love the fact that they use the Web to communicate any kind of message, even a promo for a new residential area.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):New websites
Research company PQ Media has released last month the "Blog, Podcast and RSS Advertising Outlook". According to the study, "combined spending on blog, podcast and RSS advertising bolted 198.4% to $20.4 million in 2005, and is expected to grow another 144.9% to $49.8 million in 2006".
In future perspective PQ Media believes that podcast advertising will be a larger market than blog advertising by 2010, when blogs will comprise only 39.7%, or $300.4 million, of overall expenditures in such "alternative" online channels.
Fabio from McCann Erickson Lisbon sent me this Brokeback Mountain spoof ad they created to promote the Cow Parade in Lisbon 2006.
CowParade is a world-wide art tour with actual-size fiber glass cows painted by artists, designers, advertising creatives, students and the public. Opens in May 15th in the streets of Lisbon and McCann is the official agency of the event.
Sanex, a grooming range brand, has just launched a pan-European online campaign to promote its Sanex for Men website. As reported on NMA, a series of interactive ads on heavy traffic websites are taking visitors to sanexformen.com, which looks like a locker room.
The campaign has been created by Framfab, which focused on showcasing the core value of the Sanex range: prepare, relax and refresh, of course with a touch of sexiness. Yes, sex appeal plays a big role in this campaign, presenting features such as the "kiss my six pack" highlighted in the post's title, the "body mania" and even a personal trainer "gym mate" to help men getting fit and sexy.
Soon, very soon Nokia releases a new phone in the N-series. The N91.
Looking at it's features I can only say I am amazed. And, not taking the price into account, it looks like it's going to beat the iPod as a gadget. The new Nokia N91 has it all, built in one!!
Some of it’s features:
- 4Gb hard disc, the same as the iPod Nano, for up to 3000 songs in stereo
- Plays MP3, wmv, wav, aac
- Download using USB, WiFi
- Battery lasts for 12h before recharging
- FM-radio
- 2 megapixel camera
- a whole bunch of smartphone applications and functions
Target price: 649€.
But talking about buzz. In Belgium, the Antwerp based agency These Days has started creating word around the new phone. 4 People in Belgium got a N91 for testing and writing about it on their blog. This seemed to be a perfect solution. Instead of spending a huge budget on marketing, the bloggers are doing all the promotion in exchange for a N91.
One person got the N91 for auctioning on eBay. Also a success as people started bidding from all over the world. The Nokia N91 got sold for 812 Euros.
Books on mobile marketing are extremely rare, therefore I was very curious when Elsevier sent me a copy of "Mobile Marketing: Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Wireless Technology
In Singapore, Microsoft has just finished running an unusual treasure hunt based challenging players to find five hidden Xbox 360 through a webcam-enabled hunt. As explained in an article on Brand Republic (sub. req.), clicking into the microsite led contestants to a virtual control room, where they could search the streets through pre-embedded webcams.
