Nicole Kidman is using her DS for brain-training. Nice, but years ago Nintendo thought of a whole different kind of use for the console: sex education! Probably never made it any further than this (rare) demo, but that doesn't make it less interesting. Watch and learn ;)
I thought I could write a very sad post to move your emotions, and convince you to invite me to ASmallWorld... you know, I just changed job, just moved to a new town (Bologna), I have no friends here yet, I don't know which are the cool places to be, the cool people to meet, the cool things to do etc... and a friendof mine who is in told me that ASmallWorld is great tool for social networking and to get the right directions... he's not cool enough to invite me (sorry Raymond!) so I have to beg for an invitation here on Adverblog...
Did I convince you? This is my email martina @ adverblog .com
Thanks!! ;-)
Update: I'm in!!! ;-) Thank you!
Update 2: please don't email me asking for an invitation. I can't invite anybody. Sorry
Human beings become “human joysticks” in the latest MSNBC.com invention to entertain spectators waiting for a movie to begin. Adage today has an article on what is called “crowd gaming” and looks like a group Wii experience. Motion sensors throughout the theater track the audience's collective movement and use them as human joysticks to play an arcade game on the wide screen.
Crowd gaming could be an interesting (but expensive) new option to refresh advertising in movie theatres, but personally I would appreciate it (maybe) only as a one-shot experience. Also, it could fit only a certain kind of movies, blockbusters such as Spiderman or the Fantastic 4. I can't imagine playing such a game before watching for example, The Lives of Others... In the end, kudos to MSNBC for creating a PR story (yes, I'm also writing about it) but I definitely hope "crowd gaming" in theatres becomes a trend!
The idea is part of the MSNBC.com “A Fuller Spectrum of News”, and presents also an advergame Newsbreaker, which is an updated version of the sticky arcade Arkanoid.
If you're interested in beers (marketing) there's the new Asahi UK website to check out. It has been launched recently and it actually still misses some contents that will be activated over the next few days. The site is illustration-based and quite stylish, and it presents the kind of content beer brands/cool brands are expected to propose: music, events and lifestyle.
The design of the site is very nice, but the experience in the end is not as promising as it looks at first sight. Interactivity is missing and also the content lacks a touch of originality (but the music in the lounge room is quite cool). Of course, since the site has just gone live, I understand it's too early to judge... (but they've presented the launch of NMA, so...)
Maybe I'm just not a big fan of "soft launches"... there's so much to out there to see, that if you launch something new you must be sure that the first visitors will fall in love immediately with your work.
Unfortunately I feel that there isn't much room for second dates in the online world.
To look promising but not exciting is no longer enough to appeal consumers and generate regular visits, especially when you position yourself as a lifestyle brand, and you aim at delivering your lifestyle message through content such as guides to cool places and music. What do you think?
Silver Lion winning Coca-Cola commercial 'Happiness Factory' (from W+K Amsterdam) now opens it's doors and gives you a 'behind the magical scenes' in this e-documentary. Some of the voices are done by actual Coca-Cola employees
After the Expedia's Blue Sky Day, another interesting "art marketing" initiative that involves the National Gallery in London and a brand (Hewlett-Packard). It's called "The Grand Tour", it's a project to bring the art to the streets, to the places where people live and pass by every day in order to encourage Londoners (and tourists) to visit the National Gallery.
All around Covent Garden and Soho (both very close to the National Gallery), HP has printed and placed reproductions of classic masterpieces such as the Head of Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio (installed close to a sexy shop) or a Botticelli in a covered walkway.
They even placed a museum guard to make sure nobody gets too close to Rubens' Samson and Delilah.
Social networking sites and online communities are getting so popular and so crowded that I risk to loose my sense of direction among such a crowded space. A map, this is a solution! Thanks Xkcd!
Since the map is probably online since quite some time, I know I owe you also something fresher so, here comes the link to an article on the latest Business Week issue: Children of the web. It talks about globalization meeting Web 2.0 and about the emerging opportunities (and risks) for brands who want to connect with the youth culture. Looks interesting... I'm going to read it tonight @ home, if in the meantime you feel like sharing some thoughts, leave a comment and let's discuss
If you have a friend who's a kind of gigolo, and you feel like playing a nasty trick on him, visit www.shehasyoureyes.com, and take advantage of the service the site offers.
Created by Happiness-Brussels for Condooms.com, the site wants to promote the use (and consequently the purchase) of condoms using a provocative approach. Through the site you can send your friend a video message featuring a young lady claiming she had a daughter from you...
Another ambient/guerilla marketing idea to which I could somehow attach the same comments of the previous post: Expedia has organized in London and Edinburgh The Blue Sky Day. A good branding exercise to deliver Expedia's message "let yourself go".
The event was held in celebration of the longest day of the year (June 21st - the summer solstice) and involved 200 painters in London and a further 100 in Edinburgh simultaneously painting on blue sky canvases at Trafalgar Square and at the foot of the castle in Edinburgh.
Three paintings were eventually chosen and are to be hung in the National Gallery for all to see.
The agency behind this was Cake, which even managed to get a bright sunny day in London for the occasion...
I received a submission from Portugal with a guerrilla campaign run for a mobile phone operator. The idea is interesting, and I'd like to share with you, most of all, because when I saw it my first question was "what's the connection with the brand?".
The agency, Torke Stunt, was asked by the client (Optimus) to create "a brand experience targeted to young people within a big music festival context". A service called “Broad Shoulders” was created. Ten big men offered their Broad Shoulders for people to climb on in order to better see the concerts or simply to find a lost friend amongst the crowd. As a result the word about the service quickly spread among those attending the festivals, and at the end of the three festival's days, a lot of people wanted to take advantage of the "broad shoulders".
As I said, the idea was original, but I cannot understand the connection with the brand or with the service offered. Maybe I miss some info on the positioning of Optimus on the market, but from what I received I can only say this could have been good idea maybe for Mastro Lindo/Meister Proper/Don Limpio or for any other product or service, where power and strenght are crucial...
So, to recap, I would say the Broad Shoulders project hasn't been a brand experience, but rather "an" experience paid by a brand.
I guess you all heard about Saatchi & Saatchi London being fired by Dr Martens for running an advertising campaign featuring dead rock stars Kurt Cobain, Sid Vicious, Joey Ramone, and Joe Strummer wearing the their Doc Martens boots in heaven. The distribution of the ads had not been authorized by the brand and therefore they appeared "illegaly" on some magazine causing a lot of buzz and the eventual discharge of the agency.
Well, if you're interested in discovering similar "unauthorized" ads, or in spoofs of popular campaigns, you can have a look at illegaladvertising.com. The site features a rich collection of ads you were not supposed to see. Of course, if you feel "illegal" and brave enough, you can also submit the great ads you created but your client never signed-off...
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s):(1) Category(s):New websites
Since last fall Les Shoppen Boys are a marketing case in France. A bunch of men, wearing only red boxers act as models in Celio stores (a men clothing chain), and help women to choose clothes at the right size for their partners. If you're not sure whether a t-shirt will fit your boyfriend, you pick a "Shoppen Boy" who looks the same size of your man, and he tries the t-shirt on for you.
Basically the Shoppen Boys are the commercial version of the Full Monty... The video below recaps the action (an idea of Nouveau Jour) and highlights all the PR buzz generated in France (they even ended up on Tv several times).
Now the action has gone further, cashing on the PR. They've launched a site to recruit the 12 Shoppen Boys who will appear in the Celio 2008 calendar. Becoming one of the them is not easy, as men have to prove their skills sending a video in which they dance wearing only the boxers and following the music of the official soundtrack... Women, if you're brave enough, visit the gallery with the submissions until now...
If you want to be friend with the Shoppen Boys, they also have a page on Myspace.
Not sure how long this site has been up but it is absolutely hilarious! I guess when you get to the stage that SPAM is at with its brand you just have to give in and poke some fun at yourself. They even have a SPAMmobile that is venturing around the USA delivering all the goodness of SPAM to the masses. It's a pretty cool design and the videos have been really well scripted.
In the SPAMFESSIONALS section there are "supposedly" user coments such as "I thought the SPAMMOBILE had wings. Because it's an angel of deliciousness!"
Too funny... I loved it. Check it out.
Polaroid has launched an advertainment website to warn users about the dangers of "glare". Through a series of "scientific" (!!) experiments they show how useful polarized sunglasses can prove when you play tennis (for example...).
The concept reminds me a lot of the Slap the Mat site we saw a few months ago (the experiments, the unpleasant experience for the girl etc...), but it's less amusing. On the other side, Polaroid takes a step in the direction of user generated content, launching a challenge to share personal experiences with the sun's glare in order to win a pair of sunglasses. I know there's a lot of people out there looking for the 15 mb of fame, but I'm not sure a pair of shades is enough to generate such kind of contributes.
Yes, yes, yes, we have won! Today is one of the happiest days in my career, the Cannes Grand Prix, the Cyberlion, I can't believe it!!
Having been the project manager of this incredibly crazy idea, i'm so proud of having worked with the Farfar team and my wonderful colleagues in Diesel (Miguel, Lucinda, Giulia, Richard and Marc) to create an experience that has been so challenging, but most of all so funny to live. It's a kind of magic, wow!
Dutch agency Achtung has launched this week the new Bavaria beer website. It's a (light) interactive experience delivered with impressive graphics, which takes the user through the brewing process.
At first sight it reminds me quite a lot of the Get the Glass site. The technique is the same, great 3D animation and videogame style of the interface, and even if the content is definitely less rich (it misses some interactivity), but the whole thing is very well executed and will surely impress the users.
I wonder if from now on, with faster connections and with the new Flash wonders we are going to see more and more sites like this. Of course, in the executions we will ask also for great concepts, not only for impressive animations ;-)
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):New websites
Cannes has begun for this year. So what are your choices for the gold Cyber's?
My guess is that this year a Cyber choice will be the Best of Show. Given the surge within our industry towards interactive and digital the judges (and the whole event itself) can't be seen as "old school". Well it's just my opinion...
Big Spaceship is behind a new advertainment website launched by Royal Caribbean to help and entertain holiday undecided.
The site tells the story of a "hungry" suitcase, that is eager to go on holiday and asks you to be filled with the items you'd like to take with you in your ideal vacation. Depending on your choice, the site will reccomend a specific destination among the ones reached by the Royal Caribbean cruises.
Maybe it's not exactly an exciting nor innovative concept but the whole thing is very well executed, and I think it can be friendly and entertaining enough to appeal with a different approach the target the site aims to reach.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s):(3) Category(s):Advertainment
What do you all think about Apple's new site? They've moved away from the excessively copied shiny plastic lolly aesthetic which was cool (once upon a time). The graduated reflective buttons that they used are gone and it's back to the basics of usability. NICE!! I am so glad to see a "design leader" revert to the simplicity of good function, fast download speeds and limited animations whilst still displaying a lovely design interface. I like it. Do you?
By: marka // Permalink // Comment(s):(8) Category(s):
The Perfect Race is not the only online driving challenge BMW is currently running. There is also the BMW eDrive Challenge 2007 recently launched in The Netherlands to show in practice which are the characteristics of the EfficientDynamics new features.
Developed by Little Chicken Game Company, the game is all in 3D and requires the installation of a dedicated plug-in. Unfortunately, on my Mac it keeps crashing the browser, so cannot really tell you whether it's good or not... If someone can get through, would be nice to have an opinion ;-)
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s):(8) Category(s):Advergames
It's quite some time I don't write about research and numbers (maybe because before I didn't care much !!??!!) but now in my new position, I have to keep my eyes open on this aspect of the business as well Thanks to the guys @ Marketingfacts (and to the brilliant powe of slideshare!), we can access a few interesting data on online advertising in Europe presented last week in Brussels by the IAB.
As you can see, UK leads the way, followed by Germany and France. Actually the info I find more interesting, is that the average expenditure per active user is 39.1€.
In Belgium, Bureau347 has come up with one of the funniest interfaces of the year to animate a product site which, I would say, is boring (almost) by definition... It's a mini site to promote a Garnier anti dandruff product. As said, there isn't much to see on the site, but try moving the mouse around the screen and see what happens...
And you can even scratch your head!!! BTW, there is also a competition on the site... shall I say it's a scratch & win idea? (sorry this is kind of a disgusting joke, I know ;-))
Eventually an addictive advergame. Perhaps it doesn't have much to do with the product it's advertising (a car), but it's different, sticky and definitely worth generating some word of mouth. What shall we ask more to an advergame?
Ok, now one step back and some more info on the whole thing... It's a mini-site launched in France by Dodge to promote its new Dodge Nitro. The concept plays with the idea of nitroglycerine/adrenaline, and therefore features a site full of testosterone to immediately get the attention of the right target audience.
Even if the site is in French, finding the way to the advergame isn't very complicated (just look for "jouer" and/or "survoltez vous") but there's an annoying mandatory registration form to fill in in order to play. When you're in, use the spacebar to reach the right level of adrenaline, and then jump across the holes to get as far as possible... if you can, try to avoid the walls...
This is not a nice post. Once again I have to sadly point out how it’s rare and unusual in Italy to find innovative ideas in interactive. This morning I was reading Pubblicità Italia, and I found the news about this campaign (sorry the article it’s in Italian), www.bodyscare.com a website created to promote the upcoming horror movie “Hostel II”. I visited it and I thought “cool, eventually an innovative concept!
But it was just an illusion...
Yes, because when you first land on the site you happen to see a L’Oreal kind of visual, promoting a beauty farm and a series of treatments to keep you beauty and young.
However the positive impression lasts just for a couple of seconds, because after a moment the site reloads and because the ugly page I show below.
So, to recap... they had a very good idea (hiding an horrow movie campaign behind a beauty farm site), but they didn't take it any single step further. There isn't a second level of content (and there was sooo much to play with!), everything is just a wallpaper! Flat, sad and depressing. Who's the one to blame for this lack of energy? The client? The agency?
Sony is currently taking over walls and public spaces in Paris to run its Donwalkalone campaign, which is also supported by a website www.dontwalkalone.com. Actually you understand there’s Sony behind this only if you read the post on Buzz is Media, where they give credits for the action to the Japanese brand and the agency Vanksen.
The online part is not particularly interesting, but it’s functional to push the contest which challenges les Parisiens to find the spots around Paris where the animations are projected.
I must say it’s not easy/intuitive to understand what’s the product promoted with this action. I admit my French is far from being perfect, but the copy on the site is quite vague and insubstantial… In any case, the object of the action should be a new kind of poster/sticker called “Cling Rite”, perfect for ecological urban guerrilla actions. The stickers are indeed based on electrostatic principles which allow people to attach and remove them easily without leaving any sign on the surface.
I kind of have the feeling this is a cool idea but, as I said above, it's not very clear what it's about. Is there anybody out there who can clarify a bit more the action? Merci!!
Looks like MTV are cashing in on the recent government rejection of Snoop into Australia. It seems as though he is going for full Australian citizinship. This looks like the teaser so can't wait for the full campaign... then again - imagine Snoop as an Australian!!
From France, a mini-site to promote Moneo, a card that allows you to pay fast small amounts of money. The site is called Evitez le prunes which literally means "avoid the plums" but probably in French has a wider meaning (any French speaking reader can help?).
As Moneo can be used to pay parking fees, the advergame challenges you to run as fast as possible to avoid being fined for not having paid the parking ticket.
Not very original, but nicely done and worth having a look at.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s):(8) Category(s):Advergames
It's quite some time I don't post print campaigns... this time I can't avoid sharing these ads I've found on Cool0r. The agency is DDB Paris, is Brandt, a refrigerator which prevents odors to mix. I think the illustration/characters' idea is just brilliant.
Beware, this is kind of disgusting... It's a "viral" (in every sense) launched in Belgium by OgilvyInteractive for Pfizer and the World No Tabacco Day... the site, in French or Flemish, allows visitors to send "personalized" smoker's coughs to your friends...
Yes, I said "personalized" in the sense that you can "fine-tune" your cough, adjusting three criterias: loud/quiet, long/short and slimy/dry... Certainly the campaign is very serious and thought provokative, and has that touch of filth that usually work to generate word of mouth...
From France, a weird interactive adventure game launched by Les Chinois for Groupe Lucien Barrière, which owns a series of Casino in the country. The site is all in French, therefore I owe you some explanations...
Basically, what happens is that in France the legislation on gambling is getting stricter and stricter. Very soon it will no longer possible to smoke in casinos, plus recently they have been forced to ask for an ID card to anyone entering their spaces (actually I thought this was normal...). In any case, since they fear they will start loosing customers, they've launched this online campaign to promote their services, but also to draw public opinion's attention on the restricting las.
I would avoid any comment on the ethical side of this effort, I've posted about it because I find interesting the use of video to create a sort of storytelling. The concept is also quite sarcastic, very French I would say. In the interactive story where a medium (kind of weird medium) tells you that today is your lucky day. He is having this vision of you playing and winning the super jackpot because you have been following the signs of luck. Your goal is to actually find the lucky signs to get to the end of the game and virtually win the Super Jackpot.
From a "tehcnical" point of view, as I said, it's an interesting project, I actually find the action somehow too slow and not very engaging (and as you know, I "hate"being forced to register before knowing what the game is about). Of course there are prizes to win, and this, as usual, can prove a valid (yet cheap) hook to get people's attention to the end.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Advertainment
As I said, the idea was original, but I cannot understand the connection with the brand or with the service offered. Maybe I miss some info on the positioning of Optimus on the market, but from what I received I can only say this could have been good idea maybe for Mastro Lindo/Meister Proper/Don Limpio or for any other product or service, where power and strenght are crucial...
