I also love effective PSA's

First off this kid can act, second off it is an intriguing spot that delivers the message.

Very PSA's in my mind are effective. This one is.

I Love Simple Ideas

Well done Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. Found on I Believe in Advertising.

Do you have a short attention span?

A new campaign has recently launched for the Worldwide Short Film Festival (brought to us by the Canadian film center). You might remember a few of the :15's that ran last year if you went to the annual event (winners of the Silver Pencil at the One Show and Gold at the Bessies). Here's one of 'em:



To help promote this year's event, the next iteration of the campaign carries on with the "Short Attention Span" idea and amplifies it in a few unique ways. Along with a number of new spots, the campaign also contains a full-length music video:



To be honest, I found the video a bit strange when I first viewed it. That being said, it is good to see clients take chances with creating content like this. It's also excellent to see creative teams build on great ideas rather than tear them down and re-think new (mostly worse) ones. I think that the strategy behind this idea is great and the spots raise awareness (quickly) about the event.

Next year, I think that they could do some innovative digital tactics - especially with the site. If I have a short attention span (which I do), make it extremely easy to get the information I want. In fact, check out this Mini site from a year or so back and you'll see what I mean. I love the "enter how much time you have" utility and the way the site quickly customizes to what you want.

All in all, it's nice to see a campaign built around a solid idea. The extensions for this are limitless and hopefully the smart folks behind this campaign keep it up for the next few years.

Thanks to Chris from Doug for the links and background.

Look Familiar?

Amazing. Love this type of stuff. Created by Leo Burnett.

Imagine if you applied these types of client requests to other real-world situations. I'd love to go to future shop and redo my home entertainment system but demand that payment needed to be deferred for 120 days ala InBev. Nice work, Leo.

Is this the future of search?

Last week, a friend of mine was telling me about all the cool stuff that happened on the day he was born - popular songs, notable deaths, the time the sun rose, etc. Pretty random stuff - so random that I wondered how he knew all of it. A birthday site perhaps?

Sort of.

Wolfgram|Alpha is a new type of search engine. It allows a user to compare different terms (for example, the stock price of Apple vs. Google), answers specific questions instantly (2 x 100, for example) and provides accurate answers to detailed questions. Unlike Google, it doesn't have a laundry list of potentially right places to find your answer, it just gives it to you in seconds.

Even though the site is still in beta and has recently launched, it's ambitious goal could help propel it ahead of popular engines in the future:

"Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries."

What I love about this engine is that it has a defined objective that is appealing to the masses - become the resource to quickly answer factual queries. As a University student, it took me a long time to figure out "how" to search Google to find the articles and facts I was looking for. Should I phrase it like this or like that? A lot of the time, you don't get anywhere and waste hours scrolling through page after page with the hopes of finding what you're looking for.

Wolfram|Alpha gives users what they crave - correct answers, one click away.

Could Google replicate a model like this? Maybe. But I think that Wolfram|Alpha might have a jump start on them and in the world wide web, the place that users gravitate too first usually has a huge advantage on the competition.

The Links - May Edition

Please forgive the lack of posts over the last few weeks. Paul and I have been busy at work and also organizing a big event coming in September. AdJoke is going to keep on rolling and we recently learned that one blog listing site has ranked our little blog one of the top ad blogs in the world (#95th to be exact).

But enough gloating, here's 5 links to check out:

• Justin.tv claims that its users upload more videos than YouTube. Right.
• A jackass American conservative radio hosts decides to get water boardered because he doesn't think it's torture. To our delight, he was wrong.
  
• The Wired guide on the Palm Pre vs. the iPhone. I still like the iPhone.
• Turns out David Armano doesn't like websites anymore (sort of).
• Nokia continues to make fantastic digital experiences. This one isn't any different.

Got any more cool links? Send 'em our way...

Some Good Creativity

I'm a big fan of young creatives putting together great work. There's something about the potential of going to Cannes as a Young Lion that seems to inspire people from around the world. I think that entries are still open but hurry, there are already a number of great ones on YouTube. Here is my personal favorite:

Entreprenuers Can Change The World

Well done Grasshopper. Apparently Grasshopper is a telcom provider in the US that offers a specialized service for Small Businesses that includes unlimited extensions, call forwarding, professional greeting, etc.

To gain attention for their service they created this inspirational video that has 90,000 views 20 some days into the campaign and I have a feeling that this will only grow immensely over the next 30 days.



To help the video reach as many people as possible they have posted it to YouTube and enabled users to share it via Twitter, Facebook and all of the other usual suspects.

Drop by the site after you have watched the video twice.

Think Dangerously

Just came across a great post about dangerous ideas from Northern Planner.What is a dangerous idea? It's not something that puts people in harms way, it's a thought that challenges the way that people think. In 2006, the Edge Foundation asked industry leaders and their responses were quite amazing.

Northern Planner added a few with an ad-specific lens on them. Here are my two favorite:

• It's true that old style advertising dinosaurs could learn a thing or two from the digital brigade, but that goes the other way too. 25years ago, ad agencies made a fortune because clients didn't really know what they did. It was easy too thanks to the hegemony of ITV. It's like that now with digital. There are some brilliant practitioners our there, who graft at finding good ideas that will work. Then there are the charlatans that blind others with jargon and get away with murder. For now, others don't quite understand the technicalities of what they do, but when they catch up, things will change.

• Every agency and client should do a job swap once a year. Both would respect each other more for doing something the other cannot and wouldn't want to. The agency people be refreshed from the short hours, but glad to escape the boredom. The client would come back to the dayjob shattered, glad to escape the relentless pace and chaos, really pissed off at cancelling things at someone else's whim. The agency people would then appreciate that the client has their own internal clients and has to justify everything they do. The client people would be a little more patient, take more care to ask for what they actually want and less inclined to make impossible demands.

I really like the idea of trading places for a week or two. I think we get stuck in our roles and it gets harder - over time - to relate to the clients that we work with. I'd add one more dangerous idea to the list:

• The closer you are to being a true consumer, the stronger you are in advertising (said another way, the less 'experience' you have, the more of a chance to have to be groundbreaking for your client)

Let the debate begin.

Must Watch - PS22

Came across this great video from young music class. When you combine Eye of the Tiger with some random kids and a hilarious solo, you've got user-generated gold.

Although this video isn't ad related, it does show that everything on YouTube doesn't necessarily suck. I think that forward thinking brands will use their agencies to discover great user generated content for them and find a way to use it for themselves. Think about the categories (music, CPG, education, whatever) that would love to attach their message to something like this.



With the sheer amount of UGC out there, maybe we should change our strategies from content creation to content discovery.

SLAPCHOP RAP featuring Vince from ShamWow

User generated content is more often then not better than the original content.

New Nintendo DSI Spot

I saw this last night during the previews of the Movie "Tyson". Good movie but when I got home I wanted to do two things.

1) Find this commercial and share it.
2) Google some classic Mike Tyson quotes and laugh. That guy is ridiculous.

How good and unexpected is this creative twist?

Burger King: SpongeBob Booty

Even I have a moral code at times.In this case it has to do with my concerns around using "booty" to sell kids meals.

The New Scrabble Attitude

The new Scrabble campaign from O&M Paris. Found on CtinaClements Twitter stream. She just happens to also be one of my former Professors - taught me advertising.

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?

Why am I not absolutley pumped and engaged in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics?

The Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2010. I imagine that most of us are aware of this fact but outside of some OK, some good and mostly shit TV spots I am not being engaged by the games.

The winter Olympics is a chance for not just Vancouver but all of Canada to be in the spotlight for the rest of the world. Every airport, hotel chain, car rental service, restaurant and Canadian has a chance to show the world how great our country can be. For those of you who are not Canadian I will use an analogy to tell you how I feel about our Countries current attitude.

I feel like we are a guy who a few years ago proposed. We got really excited, put countless hours into picking the ring, planning the proposal, writing the speech, re-writing the speech, then after 8 ounces of scotch got the nerve up to ask her father that we were sure would say no. To our relief and excitement he said yes, then a few days later so did she.

For months it was all we talked about, showing off the ring, saying the word "fiance" until our single friends got sick and then we started planning the wedding. By we I mean we approved the location and then left it to our future bride and her bridesmaid. Currently we are waiting for an invitation to find out when it is happening and what, if anything we need to do.


In 1988 I was lucky enough to carry to the Olympic torch for a feet as my Mom was carrying it for a Kilometre or two and I have always loved the Winter Olympics more than any other sporting event on a world stage.

About 8 Months from now we will be welcoming the wolrd. Our Atheletes will be challenging the world and all I know is Coke is giving me a chance to carry the flame.

Here are 5 ideas for VANOC to run with:

1. In the spirit of IdeaStorm challenge Canadians to share ideas about how they think we should share our Canadian Spirit with the world. Ways Canadians think we can make the 2010 games unique.
   
   
2. Crowdsource a Canadian visitors handbook. Have Canadians share their favourite Canadian traditions, meals visitors must try, places they must visit and historical facts and figures that have shaped Canada. Let all of Canada decide what we want the world to know about us.
   
   
3. User-generated tours of Canada and Vancouver. Create a website where Canadians can upload videos where they showcase their town, city or neighbourhood. International travelers may want to extend their stay and see more of Canada. I love the Vancouver Islands, Whistler, Banff and Jasper as much as the next person but there are other cities and places that world may want to know about. Think Drumheller, Kananaskis, Niagara Falls...all of PEI, etc. Let the world get a real understanding of where else they can go while they are in our Country.
   
   
4. Podcast tours of Vancouver. Have users create and upload Podcast tours of Yaletown, Gastown, Granville, Kitsalano and all of the pockets of Vancouver. Let them be beer tours, art tours, architectural tours, etc created by actual residents of Vancouver for free. Proved a map and directions so they can listen as the travel the town.
   
   
5. Thank the world. Our economy (fingers crossed) will get a kick-start, Vancouver will benefit from improved infrastructure and facilities and our nation will have had a chance to showcase the best of our country. In standard Canadian style lets say Thank you bigger, better and more heartfelt than any nation has thanked the world after hosting the games before. Where can unsold t-shirts go (Darfur, Somalia, etc)? Who can use our extra winter jackets and pants, toques and gloves? How can we collect money to help the countries of our world in need? AND most importantly lets ask all of Canada, the visiting athletes and visiting tourists to help us decided where we should direct this help. Lets make the games about more the Vancouver, more than Canada and more than sports. Lets make them about spirit, about a world coming together to showcase sportmanship, friendship and excellence.
   

Please add your thoughts in the comments section below and for the love of God Vanoc let me get involved.

Microsoft, it's Everybody's Business is Good.

I have meant to talk about these ads for a while because I really like them. I enjoy them on a number of levels and I think that this campaign does what I think all ads do. Build a brand while communicating a message.

Why do I like these ads:

1. Featured companies. The companies choosen are a great selection of loved brands (Coca Cola, Nestle) and some more unique challenger brands such as Method, Quiksilver, and WestJet. Delivering a Microsoft message to the beat of a surfing CEO is not how the world perceives Microsoft. In my eyes these brands associations help to make the Microsoft brand a little more current and cool to a 14 - 18 year old, while delivering what is essentially a B2B message.
   
   
2. The visual style. Obviously inspired from the "I met the Walrus" interview video created by Josh Raskin and illustrator James Braithwaite this is not the look and feel one would expect from Microsoft. The visual narrative of the spots helps to effectively deliver the message, while making the spots "cool" and "hip". I also find I focus a lot more on the audio as I listen to see how the visually connect the art direction to the audio.
   
   
3. Talking about ideas, culture and making a difference. Microsoft used to be about powering the machine. These spots flip it so that it looks and sounds like Microsoft's technology and products don't just help the man eliminate jobs, increase reliance on technology but that their technology brings ideas to life, inspires, facilitates collaboration and are a friend to the creative class. Nice.
   
   
   

Onward by Nike

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

Big thanks to Ricky for this link. Hadn't seen this short before but it's really nice. Love it when brands think outside the product box and create content that is brand-focused (and different).