Wednesday, November 28, 2012

1 Share, 1 Condom


1Share1Condom is a great new initiative from Durex for World Aids Day.  Ever time a message from the page is shared through Twitter, Facebook or RenRen (a nice addition) Durex donate a condom to the developing world, up to a target of 2,500,000.

There are different language options - English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese, and it all works very smoothly.



Well done everyone!

Help meet the target here.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Ebenezer Snoop

No, sadly it's not a Snoop Dogg / Shamen mashup (although I'm sure the world can't live long without that); it's a new campaign for my agency's client adidas, showing people the errors of their uncharitable ways though Snoop & Facebook.

This video tells the story - watch out for a few cameos, including David Beckham.



Then go to Facebook to see how much of an Ebenezer you are - how you forgot people's birthdays or didn't respond when they wrote on your wall (sorry everyone...):



& here's the final redemption:

Friday, November 23, 2012

Gifts for Geeks

I love Christmas shopping!   Not wishing to blow my own trumpet, I think I'm pretty good at finding unusual & creative gifts for people.  So, here are my picks for Christmas gifts for geeks.

For the science geek:

The Geek Manifesto, by Mark Henderson - a book about why science matters



For the cooking geek:

Ninja Bread Men cookie cutters



For the climate change geek:

Polar ice caps ice molds - set of two - Just don't tell them that you shipped them from Japan...


For the glamorous geek:

Jewellery made from the pattern of your online checkins - upload different checkin locations and make a pattern


For the streetfood geek:

One of these American Hot Dog prints


For the cycling geek:

The Rouleur Bradley Wiggins mug - #Wiggo #PedaltotheMedal



For the camera geek:

A set of 3 camera lens shot glasses - Canon or Nikon


For the LEGO geek:

Have yourself made as a LEGO Minifig - Done to order from photos


For the Instagram geek (1)

Make a bag from your pics - other products also available



For the Instagram geek (2)

Make some fridge magnets from your pics



For the Gaming geek

Some Penguin-style game covers




To be continued!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Halo 4 TV ads include real gamers recruited on Facebook

Halo 4 Enlist is a promotional programme for the game that takes Facebook fans and puts them on TV.

Fans need to go to this page to 'enlist' (UK, France, Germany & Spain only), and then they may see themselves at the end of a TV ad, like this one.



It's a fun idea, and I think we'll see more and more online data and content pulled into offline ads like this.  bet365 are the most famous for doing it; they put live odds into the TV ads during the half time break in football matches.



& of course there was this work for Prometheus earlier this year, where tweeted reactions to a trailer were put into an ad 20 minutes later.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Overly Attached... to Samsung

In the same week that EE re-made 'Fenton', Samsung have taken another 'natural' YouTube hit and turned it into an ad.  It's a bit odd in that I thought Laina was promoting the benefits of a phone over a computer, but no, the payoff is a bit different.



(The comments are hilarious)

& this is the original, which was an entry to a Justin Bieber contest.  She was also used in a Mitt Romney meme.



Imagine how much Psy could get if he wanted to do a Gangnam ad.

Juicy Couture's shoppable video

A nice example of what's possible with YouTube videos now - click the box on screen at any point to be taken through the buy the item Candice Swanepoel is wearing.

 

Note that it even works embedded

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Book review – Defending Your Brand by Tim Calkins



These days defence is becoming part of every brand’s strategy.  Each year it seems more and more people are coming out of MBA schools drilled (brainwashed?) into a mantra of looking for industries ‘ripe for disruption’ and trying to shake things up.  Established brands are also looking more closely at what their competitors are doing, and whether they can move into that too. 

In this context Tim Calkins’ new book Defending Your Brand, How Smart Companies use Defensive Strategy to Deal with Competitive Attacks, is very useful.  Set out over 15 chapters it provides a comprehensive guide to how to defend brand, from recognising a threat and compiling competitive intelligence to the legal aspects.  Calkins is very well placed to write about this as a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; he clearly knows the subject inside out.

Given the title of this blog, I really enjoyed the number of real world examples that featured.  In the chapter on Blocking Distribution we’re told that Coca Cola and other big manufacturers are able to stop other entrants very effectively because they control something like 80% of the bottling capacity. 

In the chapter on Preventing The Launch, we get the example of Nike defending against Under Armour by launching their own Nike Pro Baselayer, damaging their competitor’s chances of launching in Europe; in the chapter on Limiting Awareness we get the story of Russian retailer Eldorado limiting a competitor’s launch by buying up all the outdoor space near to the new stores.

I really enjoyed this book, and while it isn’t a day-to-day concern for me it taught me a lot.  It’s a must for every serious business & marketing library.  My only complaint would be the lack of an index, but since I had an uncorrected proof this may now have been rectified.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Athlete Machine - Red Bull Kluge

Red Bull have created their own 'Rube Goldberg Machine' (if you're American) / Mousetrap contraption (if you're British) using lots of the extreme sports stars that they sponsor.  It's clearly done in different takes, but it's an amazing piece of work.  I actually said 'wow' out loud when Danny MacAskill appeared.



There seems to be a trend for using multiple celebrities in small cameos - another example is this new ad for Call of Duty:



Via my colleague Naomi

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Fenton Remastered for 4G

Very clever stunt by EE to promote their 4G service in the UK



Guaranteed to get lots of views and coverage.

The much-loved lo-fi original


Monday, November 12, 2012

A 3D printing photo booth in Japan


3D printing is (I think) on the cusp of becoming big.  Not mainstream yet, but definitely growing both in terms of interest and actual examples.  Chris Anderson's new book is all about 3D printing, and as the author of both The Long Tail and Free he's very good at spotting trends.

This photo booth has just opened in Tokyo.  It's (a bit) like a normal photo booth, except that you get a 3D mini-me of yourself.  You need to book a session to attend, but it's very cute.

I think that 3D printing will follow a similar adoption path to fax machines; at first it will only be businesses and high street copy shops that will have them, which people will then use on an ad hoc basis, and most people won't feel the need to get one at all.

(If you had one, what would you make?  This article in Wired has lots of good ideas, for example cookie cutters, modelled on children's drawings.  I know lots of people who'd do that.)

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Halloween campaigns on Twitter & Instagram

This started off as a post about brands marketing around Halloween, but then the only two I could find were brands that used Twitter & Instagram, so I'm focussing on those two.

Top Shop has been holding an Instagram competition called #TrickorTweet - they gave vouchers to their favourite costumes or looks of the day, for example:



See more here

Meanwhile in the US Dunkin' Donuts asked people to dress up their cups - and again post pictures on Instagram (or just on Twitter) with the hashtag #DressDD



See more here

Beyond that I'm a bit disappointed with the activity, given that Halloween now generates more sales in the supermarkets than Valentine's Day, apparently.  There have been some things in Asia according to Campaign and there have been lots of products in the shops in the UK, like McVitie's Jaffa Lemon & Slime bars and Cadbury's Scream Eggs:


There could be lots more creativity though.  Witness what these Americans are doing with the idea of 'Reverse Trick or Treating'...




Any I've missed out on?  Tell me in the comments!

Update - One from AT&T in the US:



Update - Outdoor ads from El Paso in the UK

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