Google Changes it's Tune...

Google recently announced that the will be buying TV time to air a web-spot created by their Japan team. The hope with the TV spot is to raise awareness about Google Chrome and encourage the masses to download it (and by masses, I mean people who aren't Apple users). Here's the spot:



On the Official Google Blog, the company discusses how they are going to use Google TV to buy the media space but what really interests me is the fact that Google is using TV. For a long time, the company has been against mass advertising for their products and this could signal a large shift if Chrome downloads substantially improve. It might not be long until we see some celebrity telling us how great their Google Reader and Gmail account has been for them.

3 reasons I dislike Twitter

1. Auto DM's
The junk mail of twitter. This pointless, generic one size fits all crap makes me want to unfollow everyone who sends it. I began following you because I had personal interest in you, your posts, your company or your life. Visit my profile, check out my blog, review my posts and decide if you feel the same. If you do follow me, maybe send me a DM to talk about shared interests or direct me to someone or something you think I would appreciate. Don't Auto-DM me. Actually I am going to go an unfollow every Auto DM I received right now.

2. Get Rich Quick Schemes
I have a career. I have some money. My dreams are bigger than crap like scrapbook software to stay-at-home Mom's, boring Aunt's and people who don't realize Facebook is the easier, more interesting and the scrapbook of the future. I am also not interested in setting up my own shitty .com scam, a ponzie scheme or becoming apart of Amway. Get a life, get a real job, leave me alone. Ohh, and I probably unfollowed all of you after my post above.

3. People with no friends
You've seen them on Twitter. People who in real life have no friends but they seek acceptance by following 34, 568 people that they have nothing in common with knowing 22,346 of them will follow back. This makes them feel popular. This makes me unfollow them.

At the same time there are plenty of reasons I like it. Lucky for you Twitter ;)

Three sites Adverblog introduced me to this week

I am unique - a great use of Papervision 3D. If you like unique sites, new experiences and a strong use of technology click on the link.

YouTube - This site allows you to share videos. Pretty cool. Even cooler it allows you to make your own commercial, upload it and have a chance to win a trip to Cannes. There is currently 6 days, 20 hours, 14 minutes, 14 seconds till the brief and the charity are revealed. This deserves a bigger post but I am tired.

The Mummy Experience - I played all games and made the leaderboard. I think you can too. The UXD, imagery and well thought out site are worth the visit. All this for a museum of some sorts in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Thanks Adverblog.

Intel's Rockstars

Intel doesn't just want to be a processor to the consumer. They want your purchase decision to be about what computer chip the computer has.

Cue Intel's first "brand promotion" campaign ever. Not about processors, chipsets or motherboards; this campaign is about building the intel brand.





Thank you to Alyssa Brown for bringing our attention to this beauty of a campaign.

My Favorite Campaign of the Year (So Far)

I just watched the latest Creativity Top 5 and I've found my favorite campaign of 2009 (so far). Created by ACNE, Sweedish Airport Coaches created an installation of 50 junk cars in the shape of one of their airport coaches. The large installation was created on the main freeway to the airport and caused a national stir (resulting in traffic jams and dozens of news stories).

The campaign used this iconic OOH placement and created a simple microsite that counted the number of cars that passed it and measured their carbon footprint in real time. It then converted the number to show how much carbon would have been saved if all of the cars were airport coaches instead.

As more and more people began to talk about the campaign, Sweedish Airport used the image across all integrated pieces - magazine, traditional OOH and print. Check out the short case video here to see the full overview:



What I love most about this idea is that it is so simple. 50 cars = 1 coach. Let's make a literal installation of that fact and use it to be the foundation of the entire campaign. They could have simply made this a one-off tactic to 'add-on' to the integrated work. But they didn't. And it became something much bigger. 

I can't find the link to the microsite but if anyone does, please flip it my way. Great work to all those involved. 

T-Mobile turns Subway Prank into a campaign

A few week ago, we posted about the stunt that T-Mobile put together in Liverpool station. Hundreds of 'planted' tube travellers broke out into a dance that left unaware travellers stunned (and sort of excited). The video became a hit (especially among idea-starved agencies and clients) and T-Mobile is rolling out a number of stunts across Europe and Asia to continue to support their 'Life's for sharing' campaign.

Their newest, and my favorite, occured on April 30th. T-Mobile took over Trafalgar Square in London and gave 13,500 people microphones. They set up a huge screen and broadcast Hey Jude by The Beatles for everyone to sing along too. What transpired was a great video that built on their campaign and is sure to be noticed (and watched) by millions:


I think that the digital possibilities for this campaign are endless. The idea of bringing people together and sharing is perfectly suited for the medium and I hope that T-Mobile evolves the campaign from location-specific stunts to global ways to rally a group of people around a common passion.

Rona gets creative

Yesterday morning in Quebec, Rona created a special OOH placement to target morning commuters. The placement (see video below) used a Apple ad (with the colours dripping) and changed it into a Rona one - by catching the dripping colours with Rona paint cans.

I really love creative placements like this - especially when they are highly targeted and specialized. Not sure what Apple would have thought of their ad being 'changed' but I'm sure people driving to work thought it was excellent.

Thanks to Kerry for the link!

Doritos has a new Guru

A few months ago. Doritos Canada launched an integrated campaign that asked consumers to name their new chip. The bags featured large question marks and users were asked to submit a 30 second spot to a Doritos YouTube page. The top spots, by votes, were selected to the finals and a group of Doritos clients selected the final winner. The winning spot won a $25K cash prize as well as 1% of total Canadian sales of the chip for as long as it is in production.

Prior to reading on, click here and watch the spot that is going to hit national airwaves soon (can't embed the clip for some reason).

I'll admit, when this campaign first came out I was pretty interested in entering the contest. I sent out an email to some colleagues suggesting that we enter and they were interested too. Then I bought some bags of chips and had an impromptu tasting in my living room. Things were going well, until I realized that there was zero chance I was going to take the time to think of a script, shoot a spot, edit it, rally my friends to vote for it and spam everyone I knew in the hopes of winning a prize.

I realize that I'm not in the 13-24 target and I also know, based on the 2100 entries and 1.5 million unique visits to the YouTube page over the campaign period, that there were people who had the time and desire to enter the contest. The results are good, for sure, but what does the brand get out of this?

For starters, I don't think the spot or name do Dorito's justice. I don't think that it is funny, off-beat or memorable (except for it's crudeness) in any way. I'm also not a fan of the name (I'd prefer 'Sweet Heat' but whatever).

Overall, is user generated content all that it's cracked up to be? I realize that Doritos has been doing this for years - highlighted by their 'Crash the Super Bowl' work - but is it paying off? Moreover, are the creatives unable to develop their own ideas that can become long-standing campaigns?

Social media thrives on user generated ideas. And some campaigns work well (especially ones that use the crowd to generate ideas for them). But others fall flat for me. They don't seem to build the brand as much as maintain it. These spots aren't interesting unless you know that someone random created them for a one-off contest. What happens next year? A repeat? Probably.

In the end, this campaign will receive a number of nominations and good press. The results are good and it was highly integrated. But looking back on the final product that was created for the brand, was it worth it?