Sustainability is a hot topic these days. More and more companies are realizing that they can play an active role in alleviating some of the big problems that face the world while also using sustainability initiatives to contribute to the growth of their business. Unilever is the most prominent in this space as they recently committed to halving their environmental footprint while doubling the size of their business by 2020. One of the issues with sustainability initiatives is that they can often come across as either greenwashing or too worthy/preachy. It's a classic case of 'show me, don't tell me,' while the 'show' part is often difficult to pull off.
Coca-Cola, who have also been active in the sustainability arena have cracked the 'show me, don't tell me' problem in their latest campaign. Coca-Cola - 2nd Lives encourages the reuse of Coca Cola bottles by introducing a range of 'innovative caps intend to transform used bottles into fun and useful objects and encourage consumers to reuse and re-purpose plastic.' The program recently launched in Vietnam and will be rolling out across other Asian markets (and hopefully beyond). The idea is quite simple, the bottle caps can be fitted onto empty Coke bottles thereby giving them new life as either toys (think water gun) or useful objects (think hot sauce or shampoo dispenser).
It's a wonderful idea that I would love to see other brands embrace (not to mention Coke rolling it out across more markets). It also plays perfectly into the trend around Lifehacks. Just scrolling through this Tumblr of 99 Lifehacks inspires dozens of ways that other brands could encourage consumers to reduce and reuse their products after they've been consumed.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Newcastle - Follow The Money
I love the work that Droga5 has been doing for Newcastle Brown Ale over the past couple years. Their 'No Bollocks' communications strategy is all underpinned by the idea of 'good beer without the bollocks of traditional beer advertising.'
Their latest effort/stunt is simple. Follow Newcastle on Twitter to get a check for one millionth of a million dollars, which is actually one dollar. As they say in the video 'Why endure the unsolicited marketing of other beer brands for free when you could endure Newcastle's unsolicited marketing and get paid.'
The stunt comes from the real desire to get more people on Twitter to follow the brand:
"Basically, the brief from the client was to get people on Twitter to follow us. Our brand's philosophy has always been to do things in the most No Bollocks, no bullsh*t way," Bell says. "We got the budget for the project to get people to follow them and said, 'What if we just gave people money to follow us?' which was pretty much it. There are middlemen places where you can go to get people to follow you, but it's $3 to $8 per follower and we thought, 'Why not just cut out the middleman?'"
While most brands are trying to make an emotional connection with their consumers, I love the straight up transactional nature of this in a way that both makes fun of their competitors and perfectly aligns with the overall 'No Bollocks' theme.
Their latest effort/stunt is simple. Follow Newcastle on Twitter to get a check for one millionth of a million dollars, which is actually one dollar. As they say in the video 'Why endure the unsolicited marketing of other beer brands for free when you could endure Newcastle's unsolicited marketing and get paid.'
The stunt comes from the real desire to get more people on Twitter to follow the brand:
"Basically, the brief from the client was to get people on Twitter to follow us. Our brand's philosophy has always been to do things in the most No Bollocks, no bullsh*t way," Bell says. "We got the budget for the project to get people to follow them and said, 'What if we just gave people money to follow us?' which was pretty much it. There are middlemen places where you can go to get people to follow you, but it's $3 to $8 per follower and we thought, 'Why not just cut out the middleman?'"
While most brands are trying to make an emotional connection with their consumers, I love the straight up transactional nature of this in a way that both makes fun of their competitors and perfectly aligns with the overall 'No Bollocks' theme.
Friskies - Dear Kitten
Cat videos + YouTube Stars + Brand Integration. Sounds like a recipe for a derivative click bait video right? Thankfully not. You may remember that a few months back Nestle owned Purina Cat Food teamed up with YouTube Star Ze Frank to produce this hilarious 'A Cat's Guide To Taking Care Of Your Human.' which subtly promoted their Tidy Cat line of cat litter.
Ze Frank has created a new video for the Nestle owned Purina family of brands. The video, 'Dear Kitten' is a hilarious guide told from the perspective of an elder cat informing the the new kitten in the house all about life with humans while subtly promoting Friskies cat food. A perfect example of how to do 'branded content' well.
Ze Frank has created a new video for the Nestle owned Purina family of brands. The video, 'Dear Kitten' is a hilarious guide told from the perspective of an elder cat informing the the new kitten in the house all about life with humans while subtly promoting Friskies cat food. A perfect example of how to do 'branded content' well.
A Gaggle Of Google Goodness
There's been a ton of really interesting collaboration and work coming out of Google recently, so I thought it'd worth taking the time to highlight just a few of these projects.
As a student growing up in France, I was always looking for ways to improve my English, often with a heavy French-to-English dictionary in tow. Since then, technology has opened up a world of new educational opportunities, from simple searches to Google Translate (and our backpacks have gotten a lot lighter). But it can be hard to find time and the means to practice a new language. So when the Web Speech API made it possible to speak to our phones, tablets and computers, I got curious about whether this technology could help people learn a language more easily.
That’s the idea behind Spell Up, a new word game and Chrome Experiment that helps you improve your English using your voice—and a modern browser, of course. It’s like a virtual spelling bee, with a twist.
We worked with game designers and teachers to make Spell Up both fun and educational. The goal of the game is to correctly spell the words you hear and stack them to build the highest word tower you can—letter by letter, word by word. The higher the tower gets, the more difficult the word challenges: You’ll be asked to pronounce words correctly, solve word jumbles and guess mystery words. You can earn bonuses and coins to level up faster.
Spell Up works best in Chrome on your computer and on Android phones and tablets. (It also works on iPhones and iPads, but you’ll need to type rather than talk.) Whether you’re just learning English or you’re already a pro, check it out! And if you’re a teacher, we encourage you to try it out in your classroom.
Check it out below or head on over to the Google Spell Up site
Rubik's Cube Google Doodle & Chrome Cube Lab
Google marked the 40th anniversary of the invention of the Rubik's Cube by creating this incredible interactive Rubik's Cube Google Doodle. It was one of the most technically ambitious Google Doodles which Wired has thoroughly documented in this behind-the-scenes article. Beyond just the Doodle is a a cool Chrome Experiment that can be found at the Chrome Cube Lab. The Chrome experiment lets developers customize and submit their own Rubik's cube designs and features a gallery of the best submissions. Check out the video below:
Sainsbury's Food Rescue
In the UK more than 20% of the food purchased in supermarkets is wasted and nearly 2/3rds of that food is perfectly edible. To help drive awareness of the problem and reduce food waste in households across Britain, Sainsbury's and Google have partnered to create the Sainsbury's Food Rescue program. Similarly to Spell Up, Sainsbury's Food Rescue used the Web Speech API to allow consumers to simply speak the ingredients that they have in their fridge while the site provides inspiration in the form of easy recipes that can be made with the food they might otherwise throw away. Check out the intro video below or head on over to the Sainsbury's Food Rescue site to try it for yourself.
Spell Up
Next up is the latest Google Chrome experiment, Spell Up, which turns spelling into a game using just your voice. As the project lead, Xavier Barrade writes on the Google blog:As a student growing up in France, I was always looking for ways to improve my English, often with a heavy French-to-English dictionary in tow. Since then, technology has opened up a world of new educational opportunities, from simple searches to Google Translate (and our backpacks have gotten a lot lighter). But it can be hard to find time and the means to practice a new language. So when the Web Speech API made it possible to speak to our phones, tablets and computers, I got curious about whether this technology could help people learn a language more easily.
That’s the idea behind Spell Up, a new word game and Chrome Experiment that helps you improve your English using your voice—and a modern browser, of course. It’s like a virtual spelling bee, with a twist.
We worked with game designers and teachers to make Spell Up both fun and educational. The goal of the game is to correctly spell the words you hear and stack them to build the highest word tower you can—letter by letter, word by word. The higher the tower gets, the more difficult the word challenges: You’ll be asked to pronounce words correctly, solve word jumbles and guess mystery words. You can earn bonuses and coins to level up faster.
Spell Up works best in Chrome on your computer and on Android phones and tablets. (It also works on iPhones and iPads, but you’ll need to type rather than talk.) Whether you’re just learning English or you’re already a pro, check it out! And if you’re a teacher, we encourage you to try it out in your classroom.
Check it out below or head on over to the Google Spell Up site
Google marked the 40th anniversary of the invention of the Rubik's Cube by creating this incredible interactive Rubik's Cube Google Doodle. It was one of the most technically ambitious Google Doodles which Wired has thoroughly documented in this behind-the-scenes article. Beyond just the Doodle is a a cool Chrome Experiment that can be found at the Chrome Cube Lab. The Chrome experiment lets developers customize and submit their own Rubik's cube designs and features a gallery of the best submissions. Check out the video below:
Arby's - Slow Advertising
Arby's (which is a fast food chain in the US) recently launched their new Smokehouse Brisket sandwich. The process of making the brisket includes smoking it for 13 hours, but some consumers questioned whether it was actually smoked for that long or was just a marketing ploy. Arby's (and their agency, Fallon) decided to answer their critics and also tap into the slow TV movement by running a 13 hour TV commercial (though it only ran in one market... Duluth, Minnesota). They also live streamed the commercial online (is it really livestreaming if you're playing something which isn't actually live?) which garnered a larger audience than you'd expect (15,000+ people).
Perhaps you think this is just a stunt and perhaps you're correct, but equally Arby's could be tapping into a movement that's been bubbling below the surface for sometime. That movement is called Slow TV. In Norway for instance, several of the highest rated shows in recent years include a 10-hour show following a train journey from Oslo to Bergen, an 18-hour broadcast of salmon spawning and a five-day broadcast of a cruise ship travelling through the Norwegian Fjords. There's clearly an audience for slow TV and perhaps it's something advertisers should be tapping into more. Kia's 5 hour long super slo-mo Superbowl Ad of Adriana Lima waving a flag had more than 2 million views before they took the video down. A quick search of YouTube yields dozens of log fire videos several hours in length each with a significant number of views. If you do find yourself with 13 spare hours and would like to see the process of a brisket being smoked, then check out the video below
Perhaps you think this is just a stunt and perhaps you're correct, but equally Arby's could be tapping into a movement that's been bubbling below the surface for sometime. That movement is called Slow TV. In Norway for instance, several of the highest rated shows in recent years include a 10-hour show following a train journey from Oslo to Bergen, an 18-hour broadcast of salmon spawning and a five-day broadcast of a cruise ship travelling through the Norwegian Fjords. There's clearly an audience for slow TV and perhaps it's something advertisers should be tapping into more. Kia's 5 hour long super slo-mo Superbowl Ad of Adriana Lima waving a flag had more than 2 million views before they took the video down. A quick search of YouTube yields dozens of log fire videos several hours in length each with a significant number of views. If you do find yourself with 13 spare hours and would like to see the process of a brisket being smoked, then check out the video below
Ads Worth Watching - Week Of June 6th
Beats - The Game Before The Game
'Watch how the best prepare for Greatness' in this star studded 5 minute long spot by Beats all about pre-game rituals of players and celebs alike. An unlikely favorite for best World Cup ad. It's a slow build, but well worth your time.
Banco Chile - Mineros
Banco de Chile enlists the survivors of the Chilean mining tragedy in this emotional piece encouraging the Chilean national team to victory in the World Cup. Note: Turn on subtitles if you don't speak Spanish.
Dove Men + Care - Calls For Dad
Lovely ad celebrating Dad's from Dove in advance of of Father's Day: 'Three quarters of dads say they are responsible for their child's emotional well-being, while only 20% of dads see this role reflected in media. It's time to acknowledge the caring moments of fatherhood that often go overlooked.'
Lifebuoy - Tree Of Life
Motorola - Meet Moto E
Everything's better in slo-mo, including product demos. In this video a 3-second free fall is turned into a 60 second film showcasing the product features of the new Moto E phone.
'Watch how the best prepare for Greatness' in this star studded 5 minute long spot by Beats all about pre-game rituals of players and celebs alike. An unlikely favorite for best World Cup ad. It's a slow build, but well worth your time.
Banco Chile - Mineros
Banco de Chile enlists the survivors of the Chilean mining tragedy in this emotional piece encouraging the Chilean national team to victory in the World Cup. Note: Turn on subtitles if you don't speak Spanish.
Dove Men + Care - Calls For Dad
Lovely ad celebrating Dad's from Dove in advance of of Father's Day: 'Three quarters of dads say they are responsible for their child's emotional well-being, while only 20% of dads see this role reflected in media. It's time to acknowledge the caring moments of fatherhood that often go overlooked.'
Lifebuoy - Tree Of Life
I somehow missed this when it came out a month ago, but it's another incredibly powerful ad from Lifebuoy.
Motorola - Meet Moto E
Everything's better in slo-mo, including product demos. In this video a 3-second free fall is turned into a 60 second film showcasing the product features of the new Moto E phone.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Moving to Medium.com...at least temporarily
Updates to 5 Cool Things will now be done through G+ and medium.com so please head on over to the 5 Cool Things collection on medium.com:
or for more frequent updates, check out the G+ page
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Melbourne Remote Control Tourist
Have you ever wanted to really see a city before you visited? That's the main idea behind the wonderful new Melbourne Remote Control Tourist campaign from Tourism Victoria. As you may remember, a few months back I highlighted the San Pellegrino remote control robot that allowed internet users to control a robot in a small italian square for a few minutes at a time. Now Tourism Victoria has taken the idea the the nth degree by enlisting a combination of technology and remote control tourists. The campaign allowed internet users to control one of four people roaming around the city of Melbourne from October 9th to the 13th. Outfitted with a combination of livestreaming cameras, GPS backpacks and handheld computers the tourists can be controlled by users on remotecontroltourist.com via Twitter & Facebook. The remote control tourists can be told where to go, what to taste and what to experience. It's a brilliant idea in allowing potential visitors to truly see and experience the city of Melbourne before they go. In the first two days this modern evolution of the classic subservient chicken saw the remote-control tourists drink 21 cups of coffee, 71 high-fives, handshakes and hugs, 28 selfies, 2 karata lessons, one busking session while traveling a combined 50 kilometers.
The tourists were available throughout the day, with highlights from each day turned around in hours and uploaded to the website and YouTube. Check out the intro video below as well as the Friday highlights. I absolutely love the idea and while technically challenging, you can imagine the wide future and application this will have across the travel industry, particularly as wearable technology such as Google Glass becomes more pervasive. The project was created by Clemenger BBDO, Exit Films & Jason Zada (the guy behind the Cannes winning 'Take This Lollipop.')
Posted by: Reuben Halper
The tourists were available throughout the day, with highlights from each day turned around in hours and uploaded to the website and YouTube. Check out the intro video below as well as the Friday highlights. I absolutely love the idea and while technically challenging, you can imagine the wide future and application this will have across the travel industry, particularly as wearable technology such as Google Glass becomes more pervasive. The project was created by Clemenger BBDO, Exit Films & Jason Zada (the guy behind the Cannes winning 'Take This Lollipop.')
Posted by: Reuben Halper
The Dodge Durango & Ron Burgundy
As part of the promotion for the upcoming release of Anchorman 2, Dodge has teamed up with Will Ferrell (in character as Ron Burgundy) to promote the new Dodge Durango. Ferrell and his Funny or Die colleagues, in conjunction with Wieden & Kennedy Portland have produced over 70 different ads for the Durango in the form of TV commercials, YouTube videos, Vines, etc. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds in the lead up to the release of Anchorman 2 in December. It's kind of a big deal.
The ads are (as one would expect) absolutely hilarious. It seems like a win-win, bringing additional exposure to the movie as well as a great deal of levity and fame to the Dodge Durango. Ron Burgundy isn't your typical spokesman. For instance, rather than focusing on the power of the Hemi engine, he chooses instead to call out the many excellent features of the glove box.
Have a look at the playlist below or head on over to burgundydurango.com to see Ron Burgundy in all his glory, or as Dodge says: Style. Power. Performance. Best-in-Class Handsome. What more could you ask for from a Dodge Durango spokesperson? Watch Ron go Burgundy all over YouTube. #BurgundyDodge
Posted by: Reuben Halper
The ads are (as one would expect) absolutely hilarious. It seems like a win-win, bringing additional exposure to the movie as well as a great deal of levity and fame to the Dodge Durango. Ron Burgundy isn't your typical spokesman. For instance, rather than focusing on the power of the Hemi engine, he chooses instead to call out the many excellent features of the glove box.
Have a look at the playlist below or head on over to burgundydurango.com to see Ron Burgundy in all his glory, or as Dodge says: Style. Power. Performance. Best-in-Class Handsome. What more could you ask for from a Dodge Durango spokesperson? Watch Ron go Burgundy all over YouTube. #BurgundyDodge
Posted by: Reuben Halper
KLM - Dream Catcher
When it comes to embracing digital platforms and technology, KLM has been at the forefront of the airline industry (Think With Google had an interesting article/case study which can be found here). A few months ago I wrote about the KLM 'Must See Map,'which used a custom Google maps implementation to allow travelers to create a personalised map for an upcoming trip while also allowing users to invite Facebook & Twitter friends to suggest places to visit and directly add their suggestions to the personalised map. Now KLM has extended the idea further with the KLM 'Dream Catcher' site/service. Dream Catcher 'collects and sorts travel information supplied by some of the most used search and review platforms worldwide - painting a comprehensive picture of your chosen destination that is both honest and inspiring.' Users can then browse, save and export a map of things to do and places to see for an upcoming destination. Hopefully they'll extend the service even further by combining the functionality of the Must See map and allowing users to link their G+, FB or Twitter accounts as a way of pulling in and/or ranking suggestions from friends and people in their social circles, much in the way that Google+ already does with local reviews.
Posted by: Reuben Halper
Posted by: Reuben Halper
Google Glass Apps - Sherwin Williams & Philips
As more and more people get their hands on Google Glass we'll begin seeing a brands developing apps for Glass as a way to (literally) get closer to their customers. Two recent (and very different) examples come to mind. The first is from Sherwin Williams as an addition to their existing ColorSnap suite of applications. While the use case here is a bit ambitious, it's still nice to see a relatively low interest brand devising ways that they can provide genuine utility to their customers. Check it out below.
The second example comes from Philips Healthcare. The video is a proof of concept demonstrating how Glass could integrate with their existing IntelliVue patient monitoring system and shows how surgeons could potentially use Glass in the operating theatre and beyond. Very cool.
Posted by: Reuben Halper
The second example comes from Philips Healthcare. The video is a proof of concept demonstrating how Glass could integrate with their existing IntelliVue patient monitoring system and shows how surgeons could potentially use Glass in the operating theatre and beyond. Very cool.
Posted by: Reuben Halper
YouTube - The Missing Person Pre-Roll
Throughout my childhood, missing persons were prominently featured on the side of milk cartons (if you're not familiar with this phenomenon, Slate has a good background article here). It's only natural that the hunt for missing persons should be updated for the digital age, specifically YouTube. For missing persons week the Australian Federal police and VML Australia developed a Missing Persons pre-roll ad. The ads featured missing persons in Australia and were geo-targeted to focus on the specific location that each person was last seen. Additionally, they modified the typical 'skip' button to allow the user to select 'Yes I have' or 'No I haven't' seen this person.
Posted by: Reuben Halper
While no missing persons were found, it's a wonderful idea particularly when it comes to finding missing children as YouTube is the perfect media platform when trying to reach the younger demographic (who spend a tremendous amount of time on YouTube). If I'm honest, the modification of the 'skip' button seems gratuitous as you could simply include a call to action to click on the video if you've seen the missing person. In any case it's a smart use of media and something I hope will be used more widely. Check out the case study video below.
Posted by: Reuben Halper
Forget Cats, Chickens Are The New Heroes Of The Internet - Mercedes, LG & Foster Farms
Conventional wisdom says that the Internet is dominated by cat videos (if you haven't seen the hilarious video from agency john st. on 'catvertising' then stop what you're doing and watch it here). However, the past month has seen the unlikely emergence of chickens playing a starring role in several campaigns.
The first example comes from Mercedes. The 'Magic Body Control' commercial was created by Jung Von Matt to demonstrate the stability and comfort of the intelligent drive system. How ironic that they use a $5 chicken to demonstrate the capabilities of a $50,000 car. Check it out below:
Similarly, LG and their agency SuperHeroes are using chickens to show off the new optical stabilization features of the LG G2 phone.
Last but not least, Foster Farms are combining chicken puppets and classic 1980s songs to demonstrate the 'amazing' chicken that Foster Farms brings to the table.
The first example comes from Mercedes. The 'Magic Body Control' commercial was created by Jung Von Matt to demonstrate the stability and comfort of the intelligent drive system. How ironic that they use a $5 chicken to demonstrate the capabilities of a $50,000 car. Check it out below:
Similarly, LG and their agency SuperHeroes are using chickens to show off the new optical stabilization features of the LG G2 phone.
Last but not least, Foster Farms are combining chicken puppets and classic 1980s songs to demonstrate the 'amazing' chicken that Foster Farms brings to the table.
Abercrombie & Fitch - What Does The Fox Say?
A few summers ago Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Call Me Maybe' was the hit of the summer. The song began trending in large part because Justin Bieber uploaded a video of him lip syncing to the song. That kicked off a trend of thousands of people creating 'Call Me Maybe' lip sync videos with everyone from the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders to Jimmy Fallon getting in on the act. Several brands also created their own, with Abercrombie & Fitch creating the most popular branded version. The video (20 million views to date) featured various half-naked Abercrombie models from cities around the world. Eight months later, Abercrombie decided to also jump on board the Harlem Shake meme and create an Abercrombie & Fitch Harlem Shake video, though they were a bit late to the game and the video only garned 200k views.
Memejacking now seems to be a bona fide part of their content strategy as they've also jumped on the What Does The Fox Say? trend by creating their own version of the song featuring Abercrombie models. It's a smart strategy as they can pretty much guarantee an audience by piggybacking on whatever is trending and inserting half-naked models into the equation.
Posted by: Reuben Halper
Memejacking now seems to be a bona fide part of their content strategy as they've also jumped on the What Does The Fox Say? trend by creating their own version of the song featuring Abercrombie models. It's a smart strategy as they can pretty much guarantee an audience by piggybacking on whatever is trending and inserting half-naked models into the equation.
Posted by: Reuben Halper
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