Here in Italy Coca-Cola Light has launched a karaoke website which invites women to sing a Duffy song in front of a webcam in order to share it with the world.
Even if my very first reaction was pretty negative, I think the project is based on a good idea which simply doesn't fit Coke. What I mean is that while I was watching the videos my mind went to more epical tracks like for example We Are The World or Bohemian Rapsody. So the website makes you want to sing (or at least try to) in front of a webcam and has a good viral potential, but Duffy's song doesn't fit. Imagine the same karaoke idea applied to the promotion of a new album by Madonna, Robbie Williams or, even better, to drive some energy back to a record label.
...read the bumper sticker on my parents camper van. A stomach churning thought but a positive message i think we'd all agree. For a more contemporary adornment for your 'ride' look no further than Tweet My Bumper. A simple way to get more followers and a brilliant offline/online idea.
Crispin Porter + Bogusky launched a beta version of their new site. Being aware of how much buzz CPB and their works produce i found the approach really fresh and interesting, trying to capture it all into the site, in a bold way that was also explored last year by Modernista!. Must be interesting how people tweet and blog about this and how the site will show the upcoming messages of love and hate that Crispin usually generates. I like it, looks that in the end it's not about who you say you are but allowing people saying who you are, and also making it all shareable in a much easier way than it was in the previous site.
Gimme a day to get body adjusted back to Sydney and I will respond to Martina's post.
For now (via Digital Buzz) check this out.
It's great to see brands doing something a little different with their online stores and the new Lands End online store is more of an experience than website which is great. In a beautifully art directed "island" setting you can browse through the range of swimwear amongst some stunning visuals and very intuitive navigational features for browsing the products. Check out the site here.
And then a touch of freshness and energy: my second pick is a website from South Africa: Loaded 100% Natural Smoothie. Rock'n'roll and healthy food, a good mix brought together by a nice interface (maybe not so original).
Gulp! I've been offline for a week or, better, I've been using the Web for a week only for work or to read news about Michael Jackson death (that was really a shock as I was a big fan of Jacko). That's weird, especially because it means I've been offline during the most important (?!) week of the year for those who work in advertising. Next year I have to be there. I keep repeating the same thing every year, even if people around the Web is now questioning if and how advertising awards still matter. Actually, the thing I like about Cannes is the fact that you can meet a lot of people and see a lot of creativity, the best food for thought to improve in your job if you really love it.
Talking about the CyberLions, which is the category I'm most interested into, it's great to see a lot of winners have been already featured on Adverblog in the past year or so. Once again this gives me the opportunity to thank Daniel, Geoff, Laurent Mark and Rocco (in strictly alphabetical order) for the super contributes. Thank you guys!!
Going back to the awards, like every year the final result provide us with a lot of discussion points. There are quite some awards I personally don't understand but it's not my job to criticize the jury's output, especially (but not only) because Mark was part of it and I definitely trust him. I rather would like to share my own point of view on the Cyberlions, picking my personal list of "winners" with an approach which, as usual, tries to look at the creativity from a marketing perspective.
My Grand Prix goes to Uniqlo Fashion Map (Dentsu). The Gold is for Donate-a-meal (Ogilvy). Silver to The Truth About Smart (Agency Republic) and Bronze to Into the Closet (Forsman & Bodenfors).
Of course, I'd love to know your opinion about the Cyberlions, please leave a comment (below, right after the google ads) with your own top five.
2009 Cannes CyberLions awarded (Mark will be posting a wrap-up for that in the next few days), now we are all waiting to know which entries will win Film category and the Grand Prix for Titanium and Integrated, which is rumoured that will be given to Obama's presidential campaign.
In the meantime, we already know for sure that one of the highlights of the Festival was the "Best job in the world" campaign developed by Cummins Nitro for the Tourism Queensland, winning three Grand Prix this year: PR, Direct and Cyber. That is the payoff of a great idea with a flawless execution.
However, it looked a bit weird to me that another campaign, released a few months before the "Best Job" one, and under the same concept/idea, has gone almost unknown.
Philips is convinced of the quality and power of it's own products, so it decide to take on any challenge for any of it's product in a new campaign called Philips Versus. Interesting twist is that the campaign is running almost fully on Twitter (@philips_vs).
Basic idea is that you tweet your (most crazy) idea about what a Philips product should take on, and the chosen idea wins the 21:9 Cinema TV and will be produced. To give some inspiration, a couple of ideas are already produced by responsible agency Tribal DDB, as you can see on the supporting campaign website.
Well today we spent 14 hours deciding on who gets the metal. It was a long and fantastic day with some great work getting just rewards. Tweeting was banned today so no updates there either..We continue from 9am tomorrow. I think the shortlist is announced tomorrow.
Here are some images from this afternoon. Sorry about such a lame post but I'm totally mind-fucked tonight.
In the Netherlands, IKEA is setting a great example of useful consumer generated content with the 'Design Your Own Life' campaign. A few months ago, they've launched Open Kitchen, a user generated showroom of kitchens with IKEA products. With over 2000 entries, it instantly became the biggest kitchen showroom in Holland. Right now they've launched the follow up Bedroom Secrets, in which you can have a look inside Dutch bedrooms. Literally, because besides the user uploaded bedrooms, a webcam stream makes it possible to watch the bedrooms of Lonne, Sven and Manette, live.
Let's begin the week with the right boost of inspiration. I know all your eyes are on the Cannes Lions, but don't forget to share the best piece of digital work you've last week. Tweet it and tag it #interactivemonday.
Mine, I know, it's quite obvious, but it was really a first in mixing Twitter and advertising. Get inspired, but please don't start creating each single banner with a Twitter feed (btw Nestle has already done that as well - see Revolution Magazine)
We arrived this morning and received a long shortlist of 204 pieces of work to judge on. There is some fantastic work and some that makes you wonder how they managed to get this far! Overall it's looking like a good year for big creative ideas. I think everyone is completely bannered out. The next two days will involve mass group discussion across the shorter list of contenders. *cue the Rocky theme music*. Bring it on - it will be fun in the judging room.
Below is the motley crew judging your work this year.
A couple of friends from Turkey yesterday sent me emails about a mysterious pitch launched by Turkish Airlines. Bits and pieces of the brief have been spread all around the so called social media, creating a puzzle that agencies are called to solve in order to participate into the pitch to win the global digital account.
Everything is in Turkish, so both the first content posted on Twitter and on Thumblr results for us impossible to unlock. Fortunately, two of the agencies participating in the challenge have opened dedicated blogs in English where they will share details about the unusual pitch for the next 15 days - check Voden here and 41-29 here
Turkish Airlines idea is definitely bizarre and maybe a bit complicated, but surely it's a smart way to test the agencies' skills in the social media right from the very beginning.
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.
If you're based in the UK and you are always eager to find out new places to see and new things to do, MINI has the right tool to give you tips and inspiration. As part of the campaign to promote its convertible model the car brand has launched an iPhone application called Openness which encourages users to explore the unexplored and try new things.
The mechanism is pretty straightforward. Select your location, decide how much open-minded you are and then shake to be surprised by MINI. You might end up with a recommendation for a Body Detox Clinic or if you luckier you could receive directions to a Mexican wrestling match with fetish cabaret. Whatever the hint, rest assured the experience will be definitely off-beat.
In China, Bayer has recently launched a website to promote its Saridon medicine usually prescribed to fight headache.
Of course language is an issue but I found the project interesting both for its tone of voice and, more in general, for the same use of the web for pharmaceutical marketing which sounded (at least to me) pretty new.
