What is the value of 5 Gold Lions?

The Viral Video Formula

I think that in the last five years, every marketer has uttered the words, "Let's make a viral video". From the Pizza Hut disaster to Samsung and their LED sheep, they're literally everywhere. Most fail, but some make it. And the ones that do typically get a nice write up in AdAge and other marketing pubs to talk about how great they are.

So is there a formula for making a viral video? Some magic list that a creative should follow when they get a silly request from client like this one? If there was one, here's a potential top five points:

1. Use scantly clad women who are seductive and over the top. See Diesel SFW

2. Do something with an animal. They can be cute, or just plain weird.

3. Do crazy with a random accessory. Like with Ray Ban Sunglasses

4. Get an athlete to do something crazy. Even if it isn't real.

5. Use a baby (see below):



To be honest, I like the new baby spot from Evian. And so do the people who use YouTube (over 3 million hits in a few weeks). So, what else would you add to the list?

Nothing To Hide...

Here's one of the most viewed video's from YouTube over the last week. I love ANZ as an airline. Not a bad spot, nice idea and it certainly seems to be resonating with the YouTube community (ie. The World).

Forbes integrates Google into their site

As I was doing research on a post-in-progress when I went Google and entered my search terms. The third or fourth organix search result was an article on Forbes.com. Upon clicking through on that link I was greeted with this wonderful Google ad unit.

I look forward to seeing this on more sites in the future because it makes so much sense for content aggregators, news sites, retail sites and content providers. Google in all of it's search majesty may not every time deliver you to the best content within the site you have selected so by providing visitors with access to being able to see all related content just within that site the visitor delivered by search is provided with the best possible chance of finding the right content quickly.

I would be interested in finding out what % of visitors interact with this unit and if it has reduced the bounce rate of search based visitors.

The Advertising Model Isn't Broken

There has been a lot of talk over the past 5 years specifically about how the "Advertising model is broken" and how we need to be looking for a way to fix it. Post after post after post have spoken about how we are bombarding the consumer with too many messages, how new tactics have reeked of desperation and how agencies aren't adapting quickly enough.

It is all bullshit. The problem is not that the model is broken, the problem is that there is a model.

Every brief is different. Every challenge has a different solution so why does a model exist?

Well for a few very wrong reasons.

1. Agency Remuneration - This is the root of all evil. The compensation models are generally based on either commission (% of production and/or % of media spend), a retainer which is generally tied to the clients total budget for the year among other variables or it is based on project work that is tied to agency hours at a set rate. Now, this is a big part of the problem because agencies are in the business of making money. Would you pitch a unique idea with very little media spend or production to your clients knowing you are throwing a ton of revenue out the window? If you are being paid on the project basis what is your incentive to recommend an idea like the DC Snowboard park viral video campaign where there was zero spent on media and the majority of the money would have been sent out of the agency to vendors.
   
   
2. Marketers aversion to risk - Risk should be the favourite 4-letter word of all marketers. Instead it is safe. Last time I checked marketing at it's best is an application of art, sociology, social sciences, psychology, economics, technology, mathematics and common sense. To me this means understand your target, product, market, competition, brand and how you can use this information to analyze, anticipate and satisfy customers profitably. Nothing about this says safe. To analyze you must take a risk. To anticipate you must take a risk. To satisfy you must take a risk.
   
   If you look at data and analyze it you take a risk by putting forth your recommendation about what you think the data says and how you should use it. Data analysis is a science and science is marriage of observation and experimentation. In our case the observation must inform the experimentation and the predicted outcomes. What marketers should do everyday is experimentation informed by their observation of art, sociology, social sciences, psychology, economics, technology mathematics and common sense.
   
   I hope I don't need to explain why the marketing task of anticipation means risk is involved. Finally, without risk how can you satisfy? Along with answering a need, human nature desires something new, unique, refreshing and I will argue simple that meets expectations to be satisfied.
   
   At every step of a marketers job they are faced with and required to deal with risk effectively. A model makes them feel safe. Asking for and receiving the expected is easy and their job is protected. I wish the definition of marketing was "take a risk". The opposite of risk in todays business world is not safe, but obsolescence.
   
   
3. Historical Influence - My first example would be the fact that marketers, media agencies and CFO's follow media to production percentages. What if an unbelievable idea was presented that that included a TV commercial that would only run once, drive to web where an immersive and engaging experience was delivered that met the communication and business objectives? Would it be approved if media to production was 1:1 or 0.5:1? Going back to the Advertising model historically campaigns would be required to include (based on budget) TV first, Newspaper second, then radio, then OOH, then maybe magazine, online display if money is still around, possibly search or email and if they are targeting youth most likely social media (even though you can target any demo through it).
   

There are other issues such as a lack of commitment to become better at marketing and advertising by organizations that market, agencies and our education systems. But deeper even is the indifference that has plagued the average consumer. Consumers have become accustomed to allowing their favourite commercial to be interrupted by shit commercials, to accepting Junk Mail as a necessary evil, to supporting companies that destroy beautiful urban landscapes with horrible clutter and continue to purchase from these offenders.

We probably will never find the marketing/advertising utopia some of us dream of but hopefully sometime the industry will wake-up and see that the model is not broken, it is not necessary.

And yes I used MS Paint on the image above. I was feeling old school.

Got a Great Application Idea? Make it happen.

Full disclosure: I worked on this campaign, specifically in the digital realm. A ton of great people helped put it together and we're all extremely happy with the way users are engaging with it across the digital world. Let me know your (honest) thoughts here.

In early June, Rogers launched a national campaign to announce that Google Android devices had finally come to Canada. The two featured devices, the HTC Magic and Dream, are Google-enabled and loaded with excellent applications (from Latitude to YouTube). As an iPhone user, I was pretty skeptical about the capabilities of the device but after playing with it for over three months, I was hooked. The full keyboard makes a huge difference and there are a ton of apps that you can't (yet) get on the iPhone.

The campaign was launched through TV, print, OOH and a number of digital extensions - from a pre-launch microsite to YouTube page takeovers. Our campaign microsite used video and innovative technology to really bring the devices to life. Check it out here.

But the reason for this post is to discuss a Facebook contest that launched yesterday. With the launch of the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android platforms, everyone is starting to think about applications that they'd love to have on their phones. From games to maps, contacts to social networks, you can get just about anything. But if you could make your own application, what would it be?

That's the question that we've asked to our users and in just 24 hours and we've already had a ton of submissions. Each week, we are giving away a device to the top voted on idea and at the end of the contest, Rogers will select one to actually build for the user.

Users can submit their ideas via copy or mobile and it's extremely simple to submit your idea and reach out (read: spam) your friends for votes. Take a look at some of the submissions and feel free to put in your own.

I always love feedback to any campaign so please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks to everyone who was involved. Sweet work.

Must Know Twitter Stats

I was reading a great article today about a study done on Twitter. It contains 10 stunning stats that any advertiser should be aware of when they are building a campaign using the service. Here are two of my favorites:

• Half of all Twitter users are not "active." If you take a general description of being "active" on Twitter to mean that you have posted a tweet at some point in the last 7 days (1 week), then the survey learned that 50.4% of all Twitter users fit this category. If you remove the 21% from point #1, this leaves about 30% of users who have an account and have tweeted before, but happen to be inactive now.

• Twitter is being led by the social media geeks. This particular finding should likely come as no surprise, but 15% of Twitter users who follow more than 2000 people identify themselves as social media marketers. These individuals are more likely to post updates every day (sometimes more than once per day) and also use Twitter more actively for direct communication.

Love that the "Social Media Marketers" are leading the charge of Twitter. It's amazing how a lot of us feel the need to justify our experience across multiple platforms even though, deep down, we might not really see the need to use them. I know that a ton of these experts use the service and love it, but still. This is quite the finding and helps to show the flood of Twitter requests within the ad industry over the last few months.

How to ruin a perfectly good vacation...

Virgin Australia has just launched a new contest that revolves around Twitter. The contest asks people to apply for a trip to LA and the chance to win a round-the-world ticket from the airline. Winners get to go to LA for three days but there is a small, 140-character catch:

You have to post a Tweet every minute from their 3-day trip. That's 4320 tweets in 72 hours.

While I really like the site design (simple, straightforward writing), I don't know how much fun this prize would be for the winner - especially if you've never been to LA before. It's one thing to have a great experience, quite another to have to apologize to everyone you meet to post a Tweet every 60 seconds.

That being said, the amount of content that will be produced from this will be interesting. I don't know many Twitter users who would want to follow a person like this for 72 hours, but it could generate some good buzz for the contest and raise awareness around the trip (which I'm sure was the main objective).

What do you think? Would you enjoy LA if you had to tweet every minute of your trip?

Thanks Microsoft. You just made the worst ads of the year.

Warning: These ads are horrible. They will make you feel stupid, dirty and sad to be a part of an industry that took part in creating them. They represent what's wrong with advertising. Dumb agencies who place "shock-value" at the center of their creative instead of sound strategy that differentiates their product from their competitors. Clients who can be sold on anything and don't think about the consequences for their products.

If you created these ads, please quit the industry and find something new. I'd recommend something that involves you never leaving the house, talking to anyone or - God forbid - selling something. If you approved these ads, don't worry, you'll be fired soon. I just recommend never admitting to having a hand in them if you ever want to find another job as a marketer.

To the agency, Microsoft, media company and production groups, thanks for making all other work feel great in comparison to this awful campaign. When I think of IE8, I think of these spots. And I feel so, so, so much better for my Mac Book Pro and Firefox browser.

The spots are so bad I don't even want to put them on AdJoke. You can view the 60 here.

UPDATE: Valleywag just reported that Microsoft has pulled the ad. I guess that's what happens when you get a guy from Police Academy to direct your spots for you. Hey Microsoft, I hear the geek from 16 Candles is available to shoot your next awful campaign.

Why don't Canadians like online shopping?

A few days ago, the Marketing Magazine released an article (through research done by PayPal) that showed that 51% of Canadians were anxious when making a purchase online. The finding further found that 40% of Canadians don't believe that retailers are able to keep their credit card information safe.

Through research I've done recently on online shoppers, I've have found additional studies that show - in comparison to the US - Canadians are more likely to research their purchases online but less likely to actually buy.

A few sources have speculated why this might be occurring. For starters, online shopping become cheaper and easier to do in the US than in Canada. Furthermore, shipping costs in the US are now either nothing or baked into initial cost (typically). In Canada, they can be upwards of 10-15% on top of the purchase price - depending on the brand and where you live.

That being said, things aren't all that bad. According to eMarketer, Canadian's spent over $6.5 billion online last year and that number will certainly continue to grow.

But the question remains - when will Canadians as a whole feel comfortable with leaving the retail experience and buying most of their items via the web?

Now that's smooth...

Really nice spot from Braun. Excellent execution which pays off the history of the brand as well as the main product benefit (smoothness). I love the idea of using subtle metrosexuality in a time that was anything but.

IKEA Sweden = nuts

If any of our readers can help enlighten me on what the hell this commercial is about that would be great.

Here is what I know:

1. It is for Ikea Sweden
2. It is banned
3. It is really messed up
   

The Real World - Augmented

In the past few months, I've been working on a Google Android campaign and was lucky enough to spend a very months testing out the product and the Android market. I'm a big fan of mobile applications (especially for the iPhone) and think that in the next few years we're going to see some revolutionary ones coming out.

Here is one of them:



We've posted about augmented reality before but to be honest, there aren't very many practical applications for it out yet. I love this one and if anyone knows if it's available for the iPhone, let me know the name.

The Kia Soul has some fun

Another Old School Ad

Tyler & I have been posting old school ads that we love, make us laugh or generally make us shake our head since basically day one.

Here is another beauty. Incredibly well written but the message still makes me shake my head.

An image worth sharing

I have always loved this quote and I happened to Stumble across it tonight on Flickr. I don't think it was a coincidence. Maybe I needed to be reminded.

Bing. The Decision Engine.

Why would they launch Bing with stock video and photography? Wouldn't they have more money to invest in a major product launch?



Now this post is about more than a low budget spot that doesn't really make any sense it is about an idea.

If your product is a search engine or as they say in the spot a "decision engine" that provides better search, better results and cuts through the crap then prove it. Why wouldn't they buy keywords on Google, Yahoo, Ask, and in the place of the text ads show the results that Bing would have delivered. With the cost of this crappy spot and the media buy think of the breadth of keywords and text ads that they could have purchased.

Imagine if BMW could put a car in an Audi dealership? Or vice-versa.

Toyota Harmony

When I first watched this commercial it felt like I was watching the commercial that would have been created if GRR, slept with Happiness Factory and had a 30-second spot baby.

Bing.com - "But It's Not Google..."

Over the last few weeks, I've made a conscious decision to switch from Google to Bing. Not because I think that Google is terrible (it's not) but because I think that Bing represents one of the largest challenges against Google's current search methods (other that where Twitter live search could take us).

A few quick thoughts on Bing:

• Visuals create comfort - I love the way that the interface takes a geographic visual and adds it to the background of the browser everyday. It brings a comfort to search and strips away the analytical side that we're used too from Google and Yahoo. Unlike Google which is boring (but straightforward), I want to have Bing as my landing page
• Omnipresent Navigation - it's the little things that make a big difference. I think one of the most common search behaviors is clicking the back button in a browser after you've clicked on a link that doesn't give you the information you want. Bing gets past this by keeping a log of past histories with you as you search through links
• Adjustable Settings (Images) - When I'm creating a presentation, I used to use Google Images to find the perfect shot to help make my point. The problem with that was that half of the images are tiny, poor quality and unusable. With Bing, I can sort images by size and quality. Now, when I find an image I like, I know it can be used.
  
• Quality of Search - I've done a few comparison searches on Bing and Google and found the quality to be similar in terms of results. That being said, Bing limits the amount of links whereas Google gives the user all 10 billion of them. I like the more limited approach because it seems less daunting to sort through a few pages vs. a million.
  

To promote Bing, Microsoft recently released this TV spot:



Even though it seems to talk to Google pretty directly, I like the tone of the spot and think that it will drive initial trial of the service. The key to search though, as Google knows, it to make your service the doorway to the internet in the individuals browser. Could Bing do this? Potentially.

A New Way to Pitch

A few weeks ago, a new microsite launched in Canada called whatsinyourbudget.ca. Although that URL might sound like a government site explaining the current bailout package, it's not. It's from Elemental - a global agency (though the campaign is Toronto based) - and it's a call to action for marketers across Toronto to rethink their agencies.

Unlike the traditional RFP process that most brands make agencies go through, Elemental is asking interested brands to fill out a small form and apply for their services. The winning agency will receive free strategic and creative servies for the campaign of their choosing (any prodcution or media won't come with the deal but still, it's a great prize - especially for a small to mid-sized business).

The campaign launched with a large street team moving through the central agency district in Toronto the way a protest moves through the streets. A Twitter page has also been launched to help support the campaign and the microsite provides additional materials to check out and help spread the word.

So does something like this work?

According to a colleague, the answer is yes. In the first 24 hours, the agency received a few applications and I'd assume that they are going to receive at least 20-30 over the campaign period (they've got direct mail to help support as well). What I'm interested in is what brand they select to represent and how the relationship grows over time.

At the end of the day, most agencies just want one chance with a new client to show them their capabilities - a small brief or challenge. If the client isn't impressed, you move on. If they are, you can suddenly find yourself drowning in a ton of new briefs.

Thanks to Dustin for the heads up and all the links.

Bye bye those big up front buys

I feel like the majority of AdJoke's rants are captured nicely in this video. To the tune of American Pie.



Thanks Dave.

"Global, Social, Ubiquitous and Cheap"

Media has changed. We all know this and have read through the statistics on usage, consumer habits and, of course, the decline of the print world. The old world models are over. The control is in the hands of the consumer and the conversation is totally uncontrolled.

To most people in the digital world, these ideas aren't new. But this TED talk, featuring new media guru Clay Shriky, is. What I love about the talk is that it provides context on how technology has changed the way media works and showcases case studies on the massive changes in our global culture.

Watch this talk as soon as you can and let the conversations begin.

100 Advocates

I had a great conversation tonight about shifting the way we think about advertising. Instead of thinking in terms of reach, frequency and impressions, let's think about interactions and individual customer experiences.

This way of thinking isn't new. Some top marketers rave about the importance of every customer interaction. Michael Dell comes to mind instantly. With a few horrible years of customer service and millions of product failures, Dell was on the decline. In order to keep the company relevant, Dell changed their vision to managing the life of the consumer - one interaction at a time.

Dell's strategy bang on. TV spots, billboards and display ads can only go so far. A great campaign can drive people in store but if the salesperson is too busy chatting with friends or unable to answer the most basic questions, the experience is ruined. Some people tell their friends about good ads but ALL people tell their friends about horrible experiences. I bet if you think about the last two weeks of your life you can remember at least three interactions that left a bad brand taste in your mouth (yes Air Canada, I'm talking to you).

So why don't we focus on the customer experience? A lot of brands think that they do. Through customer retention programs, special offers, etc. But many of these programs can be viewed as strategic ploys to simply up-sell (vs. provide added value). It's a good start - but we need to go much further.

Think about the Apple Genius program or the Amazon recommendation tool. These tools help me find things I wasn't even looking for. They qualify me based on my tastes and they are specific. They do a great job adding value and help enhance my desires - not the desires of a Canadian male who is 25-34. Mine.

So what can we do in addition to focusing on the customer experience? I think we need to make a constant effort to find the 100 people who love our brand most. And enable them to share their passion with their networks of friends. That sharing could then lead to more experiences, more sharing and more passion for the brand.

What if we could identify the 100 people who loved our brand most? How would that change our campaign or media plan? What sort of reach would they have if we enabled them - through digital - to talk about their authentic experiences and engage in conversations with people offering products that they are thrilled with?

Would we still spend millions of dollars in media with the hopes of influencing a few? In the short term, yes. But harnessing the voices of our passionate loyalists could yield amazing results. And if anyone knows strategies on how to find them, I'd love to hear them.

Don't get me wrong - mass advertising has a huge place in our world; especially when it comes to awareness objectives. I love TV spots, branded content and digital experiences. But I think a balanced approach of advertising and customer service (and indivudalized experiences) builds powerful brands together. It's impossible to have a great brand that falls short on one of those pillars.

In short, think about the good brand experiences that you have and keep sharing them. And the bad ones? Scream them as loud as you can.

Social Media's Fatal Flaw

This morning, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails wrote a long post on his NIN forum about why he is going to be leaving social media.

In the last number of years, NIN and Reznor have led the social media charge. They ditched their label, created one of the best ARG's out there and have been active in forums, Twitter and any new technology that helps them connect better with their fans. Like Radiohead, they released one of their albums via the web and allowed users to pay what they felt it deserved.

When I think about social media, NIN is always one of the brands that first comes to mind. They've been there, connecting with their fans on a one-to-one level, personalizing the converastion, giving access to everypart of their everyday lives. A dream for a hardcore NIN fan.

But not for Trent.

For every 100 fans, followers or comments, there are always 3-4 that go over the top. They might be racist, they might be sexist, hell, they might even be death threats. Fact is, there are psycho people out there and the anonymity of the web allows them to say and do whatever they want. You can try to get rid of them - cancel their profiles, ban their email addresses, restrict their access. But they create another profile, they sidestep your best efforts and they do whatever it takes to ruin a great discussion.

Why? Because they don't have lives. They are, in the truest sense, sad losers. And Trent has had it with them:

"I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it's now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result. Idiots rule."

This is the dirty secret of social media - the ability to be anonymous. To say what you want without consequence. To be whatever you can't be in real life. In some cases, it's a good thing but in most cases, it allows a-holes like the ones who eventually rode Trent off social media to run wild doing whatever they want.

Is the solution networks that verify identification through government issued ID? Maybe.

But for now, social media has a problem and only a few people have spent enough time in it to realize the extent of it. We just lost one of them.

Sound Familiar?

I'm a big fan of music in spots. A great track can take an average spot and put it over the top. A bad track can take a great idea and make it terrible. If I think back to some of my favorite spots of all tie, they've all got a perfect song behind them.

So when I saw this spot from Chivas, I couldn't help but think about one that we blogged about a few months ago:



Not bad. But I still prefer this one:



What do you think?