Saturday

No More Formats

I hate being stuck to a media plan before a client has even given us a creative brief. It's so limiting to know that you've got to fit your idea into a box before you even have one. For some creatives though, it can be a good thing. You know what you're working towards and you simply have to check off the format.

I think good advertisers go beyond the format though. Great ideas definitely do.

That's why I love this short film (spot) from Adidas. It's a few years old but still reeks of cool, style and substance. You don't get more brand than this, however I can't think of many brands that do brand spots with so much product in them.

Here's to the 2:40 second format, the 4:40 second spot, the applications and the experiences that enable the idea, not conform to the traditional placement.



Thanks to Matt for the link.

Sunday

The TIFF Twitter Face-off

So the TIFF Twitter face-off has began with a pathetic exit from the blocks.
  • @TIFF09 has found itself a whopping 84 followers in almost 3 weeks.
  • @TIFFinsider has 64 while following over 130
  • @InforTIFFBell has an amazing 40 followers
You would think they would secure a larger following only 6 weeks out from one of the worlds largest Film Festivals.

We will all have to wait and see who really understands the Twitter medium and gains followers by adding value. Let the battle of the twestival twits begin.

Thanks to @scroll for the heads-up.

Pepsi: Warhol


As with any Lee Clow campaign there has been a lot of hype, discussion, and yes, some criticism.

Out-of-home has always been in my opinion a medium best used when treated like a canvas versus a poster, post-card, newspaper ad or even a online banner. An artist approaches a canvas with a very specific outcome in their mind, be it create a feeling of fear, energy, sadness convey a politcal message, inspire introspective searching or deliver shock.

Out-of-home in it's greatness should only ever have a job to deliver one message just the same. If you want to convery a benefit and price, move-on. If the outcome of the campaign is to successfully convey benefit and price, then you can use many different mediums and creative to accomplish this as a campaign. The OOH can be used to solely communicate the benefit, print can convey both and retail can be used to focus just on price. With a properly created media plan and accompanying creative you will; as a holistic campaign achieve your objectives. Every ad will not communicate the entire marketing communication objective.

I just realized this post turned into a rant on the proper usage of the medium...which it was meant to be at one point, but anyway back on track.

Lee Clow and his minions at Chiat were tasked with the launch of a new Pepsi logo. I love the campaign and I think they purposely delivered a very Andy Warhol feeling. The king of iconic artwork is very entrenched in the mind of Gen Y and older and the freshness of the campaign truly stands out and in a very simple manner showcases the logo while still "saying something".

As I mentioned earlier out-of-home should be the most basic, the tightest to true art out of the campaign outputs. Their purpose needs to be a single and compelling message. In this case the message Lee went with was not saying "new" or "introducing" it was getting the world to associate the logo with pop, soda or soda pop and recongize it as the new face of Pepsi without saying "new".

His selection of iconic visuals (excuse the pun) POP. I notice them on every street, even within a crowded environment like Toronto's Dundas square or Gardiner Expressway the first ad I see is Pepsi. It accomplishes one simple job and uses "pop" culture references and influence to deliver wonderful creative.

And they have been in this area before.


My Warhol:Clow collage:

Coca-Cola introduces interactive vending machines

Coca-Cola introduces an interactive vending machine. They call it a fantastic partnership between marketing, technology and their agency.

I say it is about time. What took them so long to add a brand experience to the vending machine. It was a lifeless, emotionally devoid consumer touchpoint. Now they can begin to integrate marketing communications, promotions, data capture and the true brand essence into the 1000's of vending machines that exist in some very high-traffic locations across North America.

At the same time I find the quote by the Global Brand Manager about how the the interactive vending machine is a fantastic partnership between marketing, tech and sapient very telling of where the minds of marketers are. I for one feel that this should be the case with everything that an interactive agency does for their client. Marketing problems are not solved by banner ads, landing pages, email blasts but by pairing the right creative solution to the marketing challenges. The creative solution for an interactive team is just as much a creative solution rooted in technology as it is rooted in the standard understanding of "creative" (copywriting and art direction) that connects through the internal truths known as insights.

I have a feeling that the interactive vending machine was probably something that Sapient showed to Coca-Cola creative presentation after creative presentation, educating them how they could effectively integrate their campaigns into the technical solution. A company like Sapient didn't just bring this idea to Coca-Cola in 2008/09. I have a feeling that it was Coca-Cola that waited until 2008/09 to buy the idea.



...and I think we should start calling them IVM's. Our industry is dying for another acronym.

Best Buy adds "Social Service" to their resume.

You can find Best Buys Twelpforce (@twelpforce) on Twitter waiting patiently to provide additional customer service.

I see adding Twitter to customer service as a no-brainer. Give your call centres access to Twitter and while they are waiting for the next phone to ring they can be responding to tweets. Simple? yes. Cheap to implement? Yes. Used by most companies? No. Why not?

Feed the fish: Google Gadgets



Click on the animation to feed the fish. You can find plenty more of these modules at abowman.com

The Olympus Pen - Stop Motion Video



When I first saw this video I wondered if the marketing department briefed their agency and this was the idea that they came back with, or if someone brought this idea to Olympus, or if it was created by someone who just loves the Olympus Pen Camera and now they are benefiting from the actions of a brand advocate.

After a quick Google search I found out that Olympus created the spot for the 50th Anniversary of the Pen Camera so it appears the first option is most likely correct. Also found within the search was this video which was apparently the inspiration behind the Pen Camera video.

Well done Olympus and their agency.