Google Wins Super Bowl

Paul recently posted the top Super Bowl ads and Google's first foray into the US TV space was a spot that a lot of people are going to remember (and not just because the company - at one point - swore off mass advertising and has finally decided that it might be a good idea).

What interests me about this spot is the fact that it positions Google as a company that lives what it strives to be - the brand that organizes the worlds information. No matter who you are, what you are looking for or any questions that you have, Google can help you find the answer - quickly.

I have friends that work at Google and have heard that they are - for the most part - an engineer driven company. They obsess over numbers, metrics, data and products (a huge step for most agencies and marketers out there). Sometimes, they focus a bit to much on the data side of things and the design gets forgotten.

This time, though. They've created a great balance. As a Google engineer, you've got to be pretty happy with this spot. It showcases the core product (Search) but also a ton of others including Maps, Translation, Wikipedia and Flight tracker - all great applications that Google can help you find. Furthermore, the entire ad is a product shot. How many marketers have secretly craved this and had their agencies tell them that they have to do more and push for the 'big idea?'

What makes the truly ad great, though, is the story.

It's quirky, fun, real and human. It's short and succinct but tells the story of a lifetime.

Sometimes visuals, actors and big scenes wreck spots. The intentions where there but something just doesn't get executed to the full extent. This spot sets the scene and leaves the rest up to the viewer to imagine how the story plays out - how they met at the Cafe, what the girl looks like, where they had the wedding and what will happen next.

And through it all, Google was there. Helping and assisting along the way.

It's been said that brands don't define who they are anymore - Google does. For a long time it was hard to define what Google really did. Was it Search? Or Maps? Or E-Mail? Or Phones?

This spot makes it clear - it's the company that does whatever you need it to help you get where you're going in life.

(...and it also makes for great mash-up material if you're less sentimental about it...)

The top 3 Superbowl ads based on views

The top 3 Superbowl spots based on total views in the last 24 hours are:

1. Google - Parisian Love

2. Audi - Green Car

3. Kia - Big Game spot

A comment on Memes

Memes have always interested me. Where do they come from? What is their origin? What human insights can we extrapolate from the development and spread of memes and how can we use this to predict or create future memes? Or is that what makes them so great?

If I was to go back to school it would be a deep dive into the world of internet memes; but then again most Universities probably block 4chan.

One of my favourites:

Know Your Meme: Advice Dog from Rocketboom on Vimeo.

I wonder what memes may come out of Superbowl Sunday.

Here Come the 'Super' Ads...

With the Super Bowl just around the corner, we can all get ready for the thousands of ad reviews that are going to occur next week. The top 10 lists, the opinions and the general ranking of which ad 'one' the minds of all the people who watched the big game.

For our industry, the Super Bowl is the Oscars of TV spots. If you're a creative, director, client or agency and you've got work showing tomorrow night, it's a big deal. It's one of the few places where people actually want to watch the ads instead of fast-forward through them.

It's also over-hyped, over-discussed and over-priced.

Here's a non-ad related Super Bowl video that asks, "What if major directors produced the big game?" I wanted to post this instead of the ad strategies and spots (which will, as a member of the ad industry blog world, need to follow due to contractual obligations).

AdLand Homage

Nice animated work from Mark Denton and the creative team from Coy! The video is a mash up of some of the most famous ads of all time. How many can you spot?

iCoke.ca Design Disaster?

Wow. What is going on here. I don't know what I should be looking at. I don't want to read anything. When this site loads I want to do one thing; leave as quickly as I arrived.

Hitler responds to the iPad announcement

This is hilarious. I laughed, then laughed some more, then I wondered how Steve Jobs and Apple engineers/product development team feel about it.

I wonder if they are already scrambling internally to launch the next generation of the iPad (this one with wings and a moisture lock chamber) in the summer that supports multi-tasking, flash and other requirements of a good product. (Just as a caveat... I don't support the use of Hitler, or the fact that he is becoming somewhat as a popular spoof, but I was entertained).



Dammit and I was hoping that this product launch was going increase revenue by necessitating 3 builds for every site that consider mobile, standard web and tablet UXD. Shit we could have all been rich!

Does this make you think of the Ad Industry?

It's so true about TV news stories. They are formulaic, highly scripted and structured and easily predictable.

The same formula applies to the majority of advertisements we see today. There are, of course, variations. The 'funny ad'. The 'sad ad'. The 'dramatic ad'. The 'sell you stuff ad'. And, my personal favorite, the 'I want a viral internet video ad'.

Formula's are impossible to get away from at times. Why? Because when you see something that works it makes it easier to justify. "It's just like the Apple Think Different spot" you hear yourself saying to the client. Or, "Burger King did this on Facebook and it won at Cannes". Suddenly your evaluating creative ideas based on other work and that leads you down the slippery slope towards failed campaigns.

The tough part is that most people know the formula's off by heart. We're used to them because everyone does them. If you've got a TV budget and you're a client, chances are your brief starts out by using existing work and Frankensteining it together:

"It should be emotive and inspiring like an Apple spot, but funny and irreverent like Skittles work. If you can figure out a way to combine the two, that would be brilliant!"

Everyone should be aware of ad 'formula's' and existing structures. And everyone should think about how breaking them, changing them and mashing them together can lead to better work.

Anyone can follow a script and existing structure. It's safe. It's easy. It's predictable.

Sadly, though, it's been done before.

Thanks to Adam for the link via FB.

Some formula's just work. Bud Light: Clothing Drive

I don't think anyone can watch this and not think...isn't this just like a fresh take on the swear jar? The answer yes and I fully support that.

I do not see an issue with repeating a successful formula in a new way as long as the formula was yours in the first place.

Enjoy, I laughed my ass off.

Axe: Clean your balls

Watch and comment. I don't know what to say.... I kind of laughed, kind of didn't.... regardless the long pause on the hand motion makes it worth while. Enough said.

This year we want people to touch shit in our stores

So I was in the mood to swear in the title. Yes, but I am also a little bewildered.

Our friendly neighourhood stats pusher eMarketer has released some stats that blow my mind. If these are seriously the focus of, and I quote, "Seniors Marketers Worldwide" the world of marketing and advertising is in for one hell of a shitty ride over the next 5 years.

As the saying goes, "statistics are just numbers looking for an argument", and guess what, they found a more than an argument.

Well here are the stats:
Are you kidding me? Senior marketers should be concerned with little things like improving brand their brand, reducing churn, increasing retention, driving acquisition .... or how about they should just be concerned with objectives and strategy. Not "engagement" or "time spent".

These measurements would be like a senior marketer saying this year we want people to touch more things in our store. Or, we want people to spend more time in our retail location, or we want people to test drive more of our cars. All of this is bullshit. Wake up and realize that engagement, time spent, CTR's, etc all mean nothing unless they are connected to an experience, born in a strategy and conceived by an objective.

What concerns me most is that these top priorities and metrics are so 2006 and possibly the worst metrics we could consider. Lets look at a few.

1. Time spent on site: Unless they are tying time spent to "least time spent" then we as consumers and active online users are in trouble. I want to spend as little time on your site as possible. Let me find what I want within 1, 2 or maybe 3 clicks, get the info I want within 15 seconds, forward it to whoever I need to (boss for approval, client for education, friend for a laugh, girlfriend for brownie points, etc), or share it on my twitter, Facebook, Digg or blog. If it takes me longer to have a satisfying experience I will leave and not return. Time spent matters if it is against something real. If it takes 18 seconds to understand a product benefit, or if it takes 45 seconds to watch a demo video, then measure against the completion of a valuable act not total "time spent".
   
   
2. Unique page views: Give me a break. I no longer enter your site through the homepage. I come to your site because of a link I received from a friend, colleague, trusted blog or other news/info source OR because I found the page through Google/Bing/etc. I only want to look at one page in your site, get the info I need then leave. Unique page views is like saying you want someone to try on as many pieces of clothing as possible in your retail store... and you don't. They tie up inventory, staff, change rooms and leave frustrated. You want them to try on one thing, buy it and leave as soon as possible so they can tell all their friends about their new shirt.
   
   
3. Click through rates: Are we still giving a shit about click through rates? How valuable is a CTR if your bounce rate is 65%, and then the other 35% spend 1 minute clicking through 5 pages trying to find something relevant before they give up and leave. How about you try to measure quality of clicks, or valuable (to both brand & consumer) second clicks? If one banner or media placement has a 1% CTR with a 90% bounce rate and another has a 0.35% CTR with a 10% bounce rate what would you be spending your money on?
   

If you are a "senior marketer" and you care about this please rethink your career choice.

But before I finish this I need to attack the 6th largest priority. This priority is "viral campaigns". Are you f#*%ing kidding me? There is no such thing! A "viral campaign" is simply creative communications. Develop an experience that I want to share, create a video that is entertaining, make me feel something and I may send it on. You don't create "viral campaigns", you create great advertising that gets shared and then reap the rewards. Their priority should be to create advertising that builds their brand by connecting with consumers through the delivery of a valuable experience. That will get shared....Period.

This is not rocket science but apparently to the respondents of the survey it is all a mystery.

The Honda Effect from W+K

I love beautiful brand messages.

Classified's "Oh-Canada" and the countdown begins.

I am interested to see how long it takes before we see this song being used by a brand to capitalize on patriotic pride. Possibly within weeks as we look at the quickly approaching Olympic games?



Coca-cola is already using Canadian artist K'naan's song waving flag in ads and ad the theme song of FIFA World Cup. Could "Oh Canada" be the waving flag of the Olympics?

Ohhh Globe & Mail ....you fail to think again.

I am not sure who from the Halifax office of the Extreme Group found this and posted it on the whiteboard in hallway but they were not the only person to notice this horrible ad placement. If you haven't seen it, the ad is asking if people are tired of waiting in line. And of course, showcasing how an American Express Card can make it so you never need to wait in lines again. The content surrounding the ad is images of Haitian's waiting in line for food, water and medical attention. (check out these other photos if you want a closer shot.)

American Express is an unfortunate and unintentional victim of this mess-up BUT once again it highlights the importance of content creators who sell media space to wake-up and start ensuring they are providing advertisers with a effective environment to advertise.

My guess is that this placement would have cost $20 - $30,000 plus ad production. If you are a media buyer and know, please comment as I am interested in how much money the Globe & Mail is making to ignore what they are doing with their advertisers brands.

TBWA AIDS GRAFFITI: A message not an experience

I have seen this video on almost every blog I have visited in the past 2 or 3 days. A lot of mixed emotions and thoughts about the work have been shared, and I felt it was about time that Adjoke weighed in on the discussion.

Personally I think it is entertaining and effectively showcases the need to wrap it up against for both genders. The video portrays to men that you won't get any unless it is wrapped while also making you question your partner choice if she doesn't care. For women (the two I've asked) it makes them think that they are dirty if they aren't using condoms.



That is where my analysis of the video will end. What I want to talk about is the missed opportunity to create an experience instead of a message. The differing view points on the video showcase that not everyone thinks the same (duh) and if we apply the point of Malcolm Gladwell's video "What I learned from spaghetti sauce" then we know that we can't be trying to create one message for all, but multiple messages that will connect with different people in different ways. So how do we create these multiple messages? Easily, create an experience that will connect with multiple people in different ways.

I hope that we will see more from TBWA to turn this video into a campaign full of experiences as I believe it has the foundation to really make an impact and drive change.

Some thoughts I have :)

The video is a wonderful element to ignite the conversation. It is controversial, entertaining, detachable and distributable and most importantly something that will be effective against a wide range of targets. What it needs to do is offer an experience that will allow different segments within their target to more access points to the message and amplify the conversation. Why not put out a video showing the making of the video. Demonstrating the "how" behind the animation that will interest curious minds of creative youth interested in animation, film, gaming, advertising, etc. This video on its own has the ability (if done right) within segments of the longtail to attract new audiences and amplify the conversation. Now, lets take our great characters and create educations videos where our simple graffiti stars showcase proper condom usage, dispel myths, discuss the stats around AIDS and provide interested youth, social workers, sex-ed teachers and more access to videos that the target will find interesting and pay attention to.

As, our characters become known and embedded within "pop-culture" they can be utilized as an iconic and simple reminder at relevant locations to "wrap it up". Removable stickers (let them take them if they want) can be placed on bathroom walls at pubs, clubs and bars. They can be stuck on subway tiles in stations serving University areas or club district and placed on light poles.

Why not create a Facebook community where people can become fans of our little wrapped up friend. He can share information and drive contests around access to concerts, events and other promotions that fit the target. At the same time they can ask people to take pictures and share everywhere they see the stickers of our little guy. Hey, why not put stickers of him unwrapped and ask people to draw a condom on (like in the video) to any unprotected penises they see. Make them feel apart of the campaign, make it fun and create motivation for them wrap it up. If they upload a picture of the little guy they wrapped up maybe they have a chance to win something.

These community building actions allow TBWA to have an existing community of followers that makes the job of igniting the conversation even easier as they evolve their communications. Whether the evolution means new videos, creating awareness around fundraising drives, World AIDs day or whatever else they want.

I could probably write about this all day, but in 20 minutes this is what I have. Is it perfect? No. But is it better than just looking at creating a message? I believe so.

I would be proud to be connected to this video, but I would LOVE to be a part of creating the experience I shared.

We need to get over intersecting with messages and begin to connect through experiences.

Coca-Cola Snowball

Well, I am pretty happy that Coca-Cola didn't go with some sappy, all the nations love each other, human achievement is awesome, the world is better with sports than war, and just like with the Olympics we can all come together and have a Coke together spot.

But I am not 100% sold on this one. It is missing something that makes it feel truly Coke. I feel any product (A Coors Light for example) could be dropped into the spot and nothing would change (except for some added cleavage).

Nontheless see the Coke Snowball spot here:

Get involved in your conversations

This image shows the search results for "aniston globes" after the Golden Globes. I wanted to share the amazing dress that Jennifer was wearing at the event with a colleague. In the search results and clearly highlighted was relevant conversations happening in twitter and showcased by "recency" not quality, or accuracy. This is on the first page, not hidden down below.

If this is what consumers will see every time they Google your brand you had better be participating. The countdown is on until the term SECO (Search Engine Conversation Optimization) is the latest buzzword in the social media world.

*SECO (Search engine conversation optimization) is officially trademarked by me :)

Are we all doing the same thing? ... continued.

Before I jump into my post and share with you some thoughts I want to point out to everyone that Tyler has moved to London so beyond taking Adjoke global a few other things have changed. The biggest change Tyler and I can no longer grab a beer or sit on the couch and discuss and debate each others posts and thoughts.

This change will be great for Adjoke as we now have the opportunity to share our conversations with you.

So onto my post....

As Tyler mentioned brands and agencies are flocking to the social media world faster than 16 year old girls to a Coach 75% off sale and by the end of 2010 every brand will have some sort of social media campaign, page or presence.

As we flock to the space and companies invest they are looking for "tangible" results and they are looking for them very quickly. This demand paired with agencies that are lost in the space and generally a lack of strategy has turned the social media brand experience into a contest corner or a bargain bin. Brands are looking to get tangible results so agencies deliver high-value contests and promotions as it is the easiest way to build a base of fans (not targeted consumers or quality networks). The problem is that this is also the strategy that the agencies are using to sustain the social media efforts. If your agency is recommending an ongoing strategy around pure promotional engagement do yourself, your budgets and your fans a favour and send out and RFP or email me :).

Before I continue to talk about the brand and agency challenges, lets talk about the most important piece of the puzzle, the consumer. If you were to ask 1 million users of social media why they joined Facebook, or why the signed up for Twitter, etc none of them would say it is because they are "excited about how social media offers them a completely new way to engage with brands" OR "that they are looking to deepen their brand relationships".

Brand experiences and promotions is NOT why consumers flocked to the space or why they will continue to engage with it.

They started engaging in social media and continue to because it offers them something of value. The benefits of social media are different for almost every user, whether it be connecting with friends, access to entertainment, a channel to share their creations, to join in conversations they care about, to keep up to date on content and topics that matter to them, to raise their profile within their industry, to find a job, a girlfriend/friend, drive sales or identify insights and learn about their target market; everyone has a different motivation.

Now brands can use promotions to drive initial awareness and build a base, but before they do they should have a strategy about how they will transition to offering something valuable (content, exclusive access, connections, etc) to their consumer that also benefits the brand. If the only value you can bring to social media is contests your organization is in a lot more trouble then not having a strong social media presence.

Once you go beyond delivering free shit to everyone and begin delivering value to your target consumer through social media your brand will be rewarded and thanked by consumers.

Create experiences, not messages and destinations.

Some brands just "get-it". If you or your clients are still demanding that everything must drive hits to their website with every campaign than they need to wake-up. Advertising to consumers in the digital space has quickly evolved from driving consumers (through media) to destination sites to intersecting consumers with experiences.

The best campaigns are no longer about building a flashy microsite then blanketing the world with banner ads, emails and mass CTA's to visit the site (then probably a call to action on the site asking visitors to "fan your brand on Facebook").

The best campaigns create multiple experiences that can be detached and distributed from any touchpoint anywhere. Utility and value are delivered everywhere and through these experiences consumers understand the message that the brand is conveying.

Coca-cola and Unilever announced that they will be dropping their campaign site to focus on delivering value within their targets existing communities.

In short they are trying to add value to the consumers existing digital world, not try to get the consumer to come to theirs.

From New media edge:

Coca-Cola and Unilever are shifting their digital focus away from traditional campaign sites and towards community platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube, as social media begins to dictate their marketing activity in 2010.

The FMCG giants are moving away from sites created on a campaign-by-campaign basis in favour of investment in existing communities. While both companies will continue to create campaign sites for certain brands in the immediate future, they have said the long-term future lies with social media on platforms populated by their target consumers.

Coca-Cola will position its official Facebook and YouTube pages as the lead online channels for upcoming international activity for its Coke Zero and Fanta brands, new media age understands.

Are we all doing the same thing?

A few months ago, Razorfish published a report called FEED. The report outlines findings from a comprehensive survey that polled 'highly connected' US internet users and asked them a variety of questions dealing with their branded online experiences. It is a fairly quick read (for a Razorfish deck) and contains some good stats for anyone in an agency to be aware of.

Here are some that have got me thinking:

• "40% of consumers "friended" a brand on Facebook or MySpace"
• "37% of consumers who "friended" a brand on Facebook or MySpace did so for the deals"
• "26% of consumers have "followed" a brand on Twitter"
• "44% of consumers who follow a brand on Twitter do so for the deals"
• "70% have participated in a brand contest"

Deals, offers, promotions and social spaces. See the pattern here?

Let's look it another way, from the client-agency side of things:

CLIENT: "My daughter says that Twitter and Facebook are huge. We need a social strategy asap!"

AGENCY: "Got it. Facebook page and Twitter account will be up in two days."

...3 days later...

CLIENT: "Why do we only have 47 fans and 6 followers"

AGENCY: "(Sighing) It's a tough one. Let's get a promotion up there. Make people vote for stuff, upload content, create viral impressions. Then we will own Facebook and Twitter."

(high fives all around)

Of course we all know the next part of the story because we all have either been the agency or the client in this situation. I certainly have been. The contest gets run. People engage, metrics go up and the feelings about the brand are generally positive. It was a success, albeit a small one when compared to what Apple or Nike are doing, but still.

If 2010 is truly going to be the "Year of Social" than social network users are going to have to brace themselves for the 365 / 24 / 7 contest schedule that is about to happen.

And this brings me back to the Razorfish stats. A huge portion of respondents clearly stated that the reason the engage with these brands is via a promotion. But is that because they like the contests or because every brand uses a promotion as the "carrot" for the consumer to join their community?

What about adding real value vs. buying fans on an ongoing basis?

Many brands have been successful on the real value front and, guess what, they're brands that typically have strong positioning, creative and (surprise!) products. They might create cool tools, connect with you new people who share your passion for the brand or simply show you new ways to use the products that they already know you love. Sure, they throw in competitions and promotions in every once and a while but the pages are about enhancing the brand experiences, not just giving away more free stuff.

My point? In 12 months almost every major brand will have a page on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, WordPress, Foursquare and whatever else that their appointed 'social media expert' advises them on. They will go there without a real strategy or a plan but just to connect with their consumers where they are.

The problem with that approach? Consumers are busy, they're being spammed by their own friends so that they can try to win some contest and they are generally tired of seeing 'Become a fan to win' messages every time they buy something online.

Brands who use social to augment their positions and create holistic experiences will win a piece of our attention. They will break through the clutter and the "EVERYTHING MUST GO" mentality of the other 80% and meet their objectives. I don't think that many brands can achieve this type of success and most need promotional elements to drive engagement.

But I do hope that every brand thinks beyond the contests and challenges themselves (and their agencies) to create strategies and ideas that don't hinge on paying consumers to engage with them.

Adidas (and Sid Lee) Do It Again

If you haven't seen the new Adidas Star Wars spot and microsite yet, you're missing out. First off, the launch spot (posted below) follows the tone and style of the original Adidas Houseparty work. But with the addition of Star Wars and some sweet Darth Vader shots, the new spot is set to make a mark and stop a lot of people from fast forwarding through it on their PVR's.



The real gem of this campaign, though, is the microsite. Launched in late November, the site integrates Facebook Connect and creates a short story about Darth Vader targeting your location. When I logged in via connect, my profile picture was pulled into the movie and so was a Street View picture of my flat in London (not sure how they pulled this one into the experience...somewhat strange but still cool!).

Vader then, using the Death Star, targets my flat and blows it up - leaving a large Adidas logo in the Google Map where my flat once was.

After the experience is over you get the usual stuff (send to a friend, become a fan, etc). I like this campaing because it creates a digital experience around the product, incorporates social aspects into it (and Adidas as over 2 million fans on Facebook) and generally gets the user excited about the product.

I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore Star Wars fan by any means, however after watching the spot, going through this experience and checking out the inspired kicks, it's hard not to want a pair.

Go to the microsite now.

Original post found via So Sticky.

Mobile. You Don't Know Until It's Gone.

For the last week, I haven't had a mobile phone. I've been in the UK for just under a week now and just haven't had time (or a bank account, until today) to actually get one. For someone who had an iPhone and a BlackBerry for the past two years, it's a dramatic and strange change.

I know, I know - 1 week? What's the big deal? In reality, when you're addicted to a variety of digital outlets (social networks, texting, gaming, photo's, etc), you'd think that you could just get your fix on your computer. But in reality, when you're busy running from meeting to meeting and project to campaign, you don't have time to spend checking Twitter, writing blog posts or commenting on the go. And this has had a huge impact on me.

To be honest, I didn't notice it until yesterday after work. Getting home around 9PM and being obsessed with getting online and doing 'personal stuff' (read: messing around online). Fast forward to midnight and it felt like I hadn't acheived anything. Why is this?

Because having a mobile allows you to compartmentalize your personal bits throughout the day. Like leaving your inbox for two hours and coming back to a hundred emails, I find my personal digital endeavours are the same. If you don't manage them in your daily downtime, they build up and you spend your online moments trying to catch up.

But that's the strange thing - the phases of the withdrawl from a mobile life. For me, they are the following:

1. Relief: Nobody can get a hold of me (sometimes quite nice) and I can find anyone - when I want to - online. I can focus on the tasks and just unplug and shut down.

2. Missing out: The DM's and messages start to pile up. The blog posts stop getting posted and the Reader has 1000+ unread posts. I start to get worried that I'm deeply behind.

3. Panic: Seeing a title wave and wondering what to prioritize in the limited amount of downtime that I might have. Do I chat with people on Facebook or read my favorite blogs from the day? Do I watch a TED talk or update my LinkedIn profile? With a mobile, you never have to choose, you just prioritze.

4. Evaluation of digital essentials vs. time wasters: Right now, I'm questioning some of my digital 'priorities'. Do I need to update Twitter on a daily basis to maintain my follower base? Do I need to check my 60+ subscriptions ever morning to find new news? What, in my digital life, can I give up?

When you have a mobile, you have another way to connect. You can squeeze more, short, experiences into a day and feel as if your multi-tasking. But if some of those tasks don't really matter, what - exactly - are they worth?

Apps, geotracking, AR, location search, Sixth Sense...all mobile technologies that are going to give us more capabilities and connections. But at the end of the day, if you don't have them right now, do these technical add-ons become things you can't live without? Or just things that you wish you might have never found in the first place?

Simplicity turns me on....honestly.

If you haven't seen the video for the Nexus One phone have a look at it before you read the rest of this post.



The simplicity of the communication, the minimalist approach to the design makes that video an absolute stand-out. Think about how complex the features of that phone are and think about the endless list of benefits those features can deliver to the end-user. Instead of killing our eyes with details and over-loading our minds with messages the showcased the product in a way that to me is magical and turns me on.

Coke: Happiness Machine

Definition 6 and Coke are delivery happiness. It reminds me a little of the VW Fun Theory from an experience standpoint, but that is more than OK. That is awesome.

The way that this execution will ignite the conversation around the brand and how it delivers happiness is the way more agencies and all marketers should be thinking. 5 years ago this execution would not have the impact or even be executed the same. To have impact move beyond the walls of the campus and the friends they would have needed to have a PR campaign supporting this, hoping that the video they shot gets shown on the evening news, covered in the dailies the next, shared in the school newspaper, etc. Then they would hope that consumers who viewed the PR would go online and visit coke.com or search for the video and find the site to see the full video.

That or they would have had to turn the vidoe into :30 and :60 spots and spent a bucket of money on media to get the world to see what they are doing (delivering happiness).

The social web has made the cost of distribution move to $0 very quickly so brands should be spending their money on creating experiences & content that consumers will see as valuable and distribute on their behalf, not on media.

Currently the video is at 4,700 views on YouTube and it appears has been up for about 16 hours. Lets see where it is in 24 more hours.

Cera-nation meets Jersey Shore: Youth Revolt

I was just introduced to this wonderful piece of promotional advertising.

A last minute attempt to connect with the MTV & Jersey Shore fans before the opening night of the film. In my opinion it is hilarious and achieves exactly what it needed to. Well done.