I never expected to find a website which looks exactly like a Dutch painting from the Golden Age. But never say never, especially if the product to promote is a cheese called the Old Dutch Master.
It's an advergame launched in France where you have to spot seven slices of cheese more or less hidden in the painting.
Are you ready to join the Swedish Army? And even if you are, are you good enough to pass the test? If you have enough time to wait for the site to load, make sure to check it out.
The experience is as impressive as scary. The mood is a mix of underground and KGB. The art direction and the attention to detail is simply fantastic. The test are challenging and entertaining. This website is simply more than a website, it's an interactive movie.
Advergames are moving to Facebook or, better, are moving where people are. EA Games has just launched "Quick Challenge", an interactive Facebook application, to support the release of its new title: EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis.
Quick challenge is a revised version in a tennis mood of the popular game (among our granpas') "rock, paper, scissors". The gaming mechanism is therefore pretty straightforward: you pick an avatar (both Rafa Nadal and John McEnroe are available!), you select your three shots: lob, slam, drop shot and then watch it play out against your opponent who gets challenged within Facebook itself.
If you want to destroy Tokyo then you should try this game developed by the smart guys from Poke London called RubberDuckZilla. Taking as starting point this Mother's TV ad for Oasis (a drink for people who don't like water)...
Last couple of weeks it was time for judging some iberoamerican festivals, such as FIAP (in Argentina) or Wave (in Brazil) and as usual, my main interest was to check, as agencies, which messages those festivals are giving when announcing their lists of winners, as to know where the industry from the region could go.
A bit disappointed because we're pretty much stuck to formats as microsites and banners still, but finding also some little treasures as the one that won Grand Prix at Wave, a kind of advergame called "T-Racer", created by Agencia Click (in collaboration with Colmeia and TAXI.Labs), and in which you can race in real time against a real driver, either in the site or in a car-installation done for the brazilian Big Brother tv show.
The case study shows the project better than my words, i like very much this approach of extending the digital experience outside the screen :)
In the UK Volkswagen has launched a cool advergame to promote its Golf GTI models. It's just another driving game, but you can expect to be at least a bit surprised.
The coolness of the project stays in the game design as well as in the idea of taking us back in time and experience again the fun we had 25 years ago with the Polistil slot car races.
A few days ago I wrote advergames might have gone out of fashion. Fernando, from Argentina emailed me to deny my comment, and show that advergames are alive and kicky, and can be used also to drive awareness around sensitive topics such as anti-fur communication. Look at the advergame created by BBDO Argentina for FABA (the local PETA).
Long time I don't post about advergames. Is it a sign? Are advergames getting out of fashion? Maybe. The focus has shifted, we all now the new trend is called social media :-)
Anyway... this post is about an advergame and a juice, Capri Sun.
The project is aimed at kids, and the design and animation make the difference in delivering a nice experience very much in Pixar style.
Steve is a typical teenager who has been granted (he thinks) several amazing powers due to the natural ingredients of Nestea, that is the main plot of this funny site called "Nestea Liquid Awesomeness" and developed by Venables, Bell and Partners and Odopod.
Tribal DDB has recently launched a crazy advergame for Airwaves in France. In an interactive video, you play Chlorophyllo, a Mexican wrestler who gets his strength from the main ingredient you can get in Chloromenthol Airwaves gum. You need to fight the evil Dr Mano Negra, who wants to get the secret of your power, rule the world etc...
The art direction is nice, the script and the gameplay are very simple (too simple?), the prize (a trip to Cancun) is attractive : that sounds like a good recipe for a catchy campaign.
Sony Computer Entertainment recently released Killzone 2 on Playstation 3, and has been using quite an original way to promote this First Person Shooter videogame. Considering that Killzone scenario are more or less about repelling total invasion by enemies (Helghast forces), Sony brought this scheme online, with a dedicated webgame.
You can register on the killzonewebgame page, install a Killzone toolbar on your browser and be ready to fight ! While you are browsing the internet, you may get under attack at any time, if you decide to engage the fight, Helghast forces appear in your window. Basically, you then need to get rid of them.
In Japan Docomo is online with a new advergame to promote its Prime series of mobile phones, especially created for maximum enjoyment of video, games and other entertainment by people who love to explore the latest multimedia.
Of course given the language gap understanding how the game works is far from being simple. However I somehow managed to understand that after choosing a character you have to walk around the city to meet other groups of people and challenge them in quick and easy games.
German agency Jung von Matt has joined forces with French web developer Mathieu 'P01' HENRI to produce the smallest advergame ever. It sits in 16*16 pixels or, better, in a favicon. The progject has been conceived to promote a very small car: the Smart fortwo.
As you can see from the video, banners have been placed on automotive sites to invite people to play. The idea is fun and definitely very creative even if I'm not sure how many people visiting those websites have really appreciated it. Would be interesting to know not only the buzz the advergame will be able to create in the blogosphere, but also the numbers in terms of clickthrough (for example) it generate.
