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

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.

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.

Other Things I Like But Don't Have Time To Write Up - Steinlager, VW, MTN

Steinlager - Be The Artist, Not The Canvas
I love this ad from Steinlager to promote responsible drinking.  Rather than tap into the typical cliches around responsible drinking, it appeals the juvenile, yet common occurrence that can happen when young men get too hammered.


VW - Take On Me
I'm blown away that Take On Me hasn't been used in an Ad before.  VW remakes the classic song to promote their no-charge scheduled maintenance on every new VW.

MTN - The Everywhere Library
Another great example of a brand doing good, in this case the Telco MTN brings books to students across Africa via SMS.


Posted by: Reuben Halper


Posted by: Reuben Halper

Other Things I Like But Don't Have Time To Write Up - Old Spice, Tap King, Samsung & Heineken

Old Spice - Architect
I love the recent work for Old Spice from W+K that brings back 80s type jingles.  Check out the latest video, 'Architect.'


Tap King - Lionel Richie Beer Fridge
Lionel Richie + Beer makes for a winning ad.


Samsung - All Eyes On The S4
A great stunt to demonstrate a killer feature of the Samsung S4, namely that it knows when you're looking at the screen.


Heineken - Departure Roulette
In order to promote the new Heineken 'Dropped' episodic adventure series on YouTube, Heineken challenged travelers in JFK to drop their travel plans and play departure roulette where Heineken would send them to a random destination.



Posted by: Reuben Halper

Brightly - Preflight Nerves

Tweetflight is a new twist on the interactive music video.  Nerves, a Melbourne-based band created a real-time Twitter-powered film for their new single, Preflight Nerves.  As one of the band members explains:
'Basically we couldn’t afford to pay a big production company to do a film clip, so I thought it’d be wild to try and do something using web technologies – specifically, HTML5 and the Twitter API. 

The result is the first interactive real-time Twitter powered music video for our single, Preflight Nerves, that we’ve affectionately nicknamed Tweetflight.'

The music video scrapes tweets in real-time and highlights the lyrics as the song progresses.  Check out the flat film below or head on over to Tweetflight to have a play with it yourself.
via: Leon Bayliss




Posted by: Reuben Halper

Valentine's Day - Nivea, Sky, & Ikea

In honor of the most Hallmark of holidays, I thought it'd be nice to show few examples of Valentine's Day executions that stood out in my mind.

Nivea - A Date To Remember
Nivea is promoting their new Stress Protect deodorant range which 'provides proven protection under stress, so whatever happens, you can stay cool and confident.'  Developed by Agency Republic, A Date To Remember is billed as the first date that the user controls.  The interactive YouTube experience allows the user to choose how the date (awkwardly) unfolds while showing the stress level that the 'ordinary' girl is experiencing.  Check out the trailer below and have a play around with the experience on the Nivea UK YouTube channel.



Sky Germany
This ad from Sky in Germany reminds football fanatics the potential risks of forgetting Valentine's day, More importantly, it just goes to show that everything is better in slo-mo.


IKEA - Australia
A love this Valentine's day print ad from IKEA in Australia.  See below.  No further explanation needed.

amusing Valentine's Day offer—a free crib for babies born nine months from today.

McDonald's - Track My Maccas

The recent Tesco Horse Meat scandal has put issues of supply train integrity and brand transparency front and center.  It's been interesting watch McDonald's (across various regions) dedicate significant time and effort to behave in a more transparent manner.  The McDonald's - Your Questions campaign was featured on this blog a few months ago, but even that effort pales in comparison to the recently launched 'Track My Maccas' campaign.  Track My Maccas is an app that provides McDonald's customers with a vast amount of information about where the various parts of their McDonald's meal were sourced.  As the good folks over at Contagious describe:

Once downloaded onto a smartphone, the TrackMyMaccas app uses GPS and image recognition, combined with date and time information, to find out where and when a particular McDonald's menu item has been purchased. It then overlays that information with data from McDonald's' supply chain in real time. Finally, it serves up an immersive and entertaining story about where the food has come from.
Using augmented reality, the app then transforms the restaurant table into a farmyard, showing where the beef was sourced, or the ocean, if the main meal was a fish fillet. The story unfolds differently depending on exactly where diners are in Australia.
People can also meet the suppliers, for instance, farmers, fishers, bakers of burger buns, etc, and find out how long they have been working with McDonald's.

The app, developed by DDB Australia, is a fairly mind-blowing effort from both a logistical and a technical perspective.  I also appreciate the effort taken to make the resulting information/data both interesting and entertaining, rather than simply presenting it in a dry, tabular way.  Check out the video below that shows off the Track My Maccas app.
hat tip: Contagious

Telstra New Year's Eve App

We had a session at the Google Creative Sandbox in Cannes last June with James Hilton of AKQA.  Among other things, we discussed the potential of mobile and product design in general.  He said something that really stuck with me; unless an experience is useful, usable or delightful then it's just contributing to the digital landfill.  Unfortunately many brands seem to ignore that advice and pump out ill-conceived mobile apps or experiences that meet none of the aforementioned criteria.  That's why I love this app developed by Australian Telco, Telstra for New Year's eve in Sydney.  The app has a host of features to enhance and amplify the experience of fireworks goers in Sydney.  As the good folks over at Contagious explain:

Throughout the night, four Telstra Colour Moments will automatically sync phone screens with the lighting on Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the fireworks displays around the bay. The screens will light up, becoming a visual extension of the show. 

Message the Bridge, another function on the app, enables users to write and submit their very own New Year's message - with 1500 of these being displayed on the pylons of the bridge over the course of the night. A dedicated Facebook app lets people without a smartphone send messages to the bridge. 

Telstra has also included features to help the public get the most from the evening: the maps function, for example, details the best vantage points from which to see the fireworks, and includes information on reaching each one; and Midnight Messages enables users (on any network) to pre-load 50 SMS messages which Telstra will then send out to their loved ones, free of charge, at midnight. 

Telstra also streamed the fireworks on their YouTube channel for those folks who couldn't attend in person.

Overall the Telstra App is just a great example of a mobile application that meets all of the criteria.  It's useful (best vantage points via maps, rules about what you can and can't bring to the fireworks, etc.), usable (nice UX in the app, but also the ability to pre-load SMS messages to send at midnight) and delightful (become part of the larger experience via the Telstra Colour Moments, Message The Bridge).  Check out the demo video below.

hat tip: Contagious

Homepage For The Homeless

I love this idea from Australian charity Ladder and agency GPY&R Melbourne.  Homepage For The Homeless is basically a twist on affiliate marketing.  Based on the simple fact that a tremendous amount of holiday shopping is done online, they asked users to change their homepage to the 'Homepage For The Homeless.'  The homepage is just a portal page featuring major retailers such as Amazon, iTunes, Deals Direct, etc.  Users who started their journey on the Homepage For The Homeless and then went on to purchase on a participating site had 15% of their purchase value donated to the homeless.

It's an incredibly simple way for internet shoppers to do a little bit of good during the holidays.  The ask on the part of the user is incredibly small and yet the (altruistic) reward is potentially huge.

Sony - DSLR Clueless

'All the gear and no idea' is the rallying cry for this campaign from Sony for their NEX range of cameras.  Over the past couple years the sales of pocket cameras basically dropped off a cliff due to the rise of smartphones.  The corresponding decrease in price of DSLR cameras has meant all sort of people buying super high quality cameras, even if they have no need and no idea how to use it.  That's why I love this campaign, which was developed by Havas Sydney.  It's based off simple truth that most people with DSLR cameras have absolutely no idea what the hell they're doing.  They've produced eight different spots, each centered around a different type of DSLR idiot.  It's a great way to promote their range of NEX cameras that have the same sensor size and take the same quality pictures as the DSLR.  A nice touch at the end is the call to action for viewers: 'Remind you of someone? Share it with them.'

Check out the spots below or head over to the Sony DLSR - Gear, No Idea YouTube channel.
Additional Articles: Inspiration Room |

OXY - Man Sized Problems

Warning, this might be is the most disgusting ad you'll ever see.  Oxy face wash and their agency, Naked Communications, wanted to reach the 13-18 year old male audience and convey just how bad pimples can get if left untreated.  To reach their audience in an authentic way, they compiled a number of Youtube clips and assembled them together to demonstrate just how a pimple can turn into a 'Man Sized Problem' and therefore why they should be using Oxy face wash.  As Adam Ferrier of Naked Communications says:

"The idea came from the simple insight that guys like watching videos of guys squeezing big pimples. It speaks to our target much more authentically than the glossy, cheesy work of Oxy’s big spending competitors. We believe this work will result in mass trial of the brand, and change consumer behaviour towards Oxy."


As someone who spends an ungodly amount of time on YouTube, I found that insight surprising (perhaps even questionable), but then again I'm not exactly the target audience.


via Buzzfeed & Randy Matheson

Domestos - Meet Phil Pace

Here's a nice little short film (brought to you by Domestos) from Droga5 in Sydney that shows a bit about the life of amateur bodybuilder Phil Pace.  The Domestos tie-in doesn't come until the end of the film and is done (IMHO) in a brilliant and quirky way.  Much better way of illustrating the product benefits than your typical toilet cleaning commercial. Check it out below:


Additional Articles: AdFreak

Streets Ice Cream - Share Happy

This is nice experiential campaign from Australia that effectively bridges the offline and online.  Streets Ice Cream (and their agency Soap Creative) launched the 'Share Happy' campaign (sounds a bit reminiscent of Coke - Open Happiness no?).  Installations were setup across Australian cities that invited any passer-bys to record Matrix style 360-degree rotating videos of themselves.  The videos were then uploaded to Streets Ice Cream Youtube channel and available on the Streets Ice Cream website.  Participants could go to the site and easily search for/find their video and easily share it out amongst friends, family, etc.

Great idea.  It's simple, but effective.  Participants are rewarded offline (ice cream samples) as well as online (a cool digital memento of an experience that they couldn't otherwise have).

Check out the 'Best Of...' video below.
Additional Articles: Simply Zesty | Digital Buzz Blog

Hungry Jack's (aka Burger King) - The $5 Experiment

Hungry Jack's is the Australian equivalent/subsidiary of Burger King.  They want to promote their $5 Stunner value meal and the idea that you can get great value for $5.  So Hungry Jack's and their agency (BBDO Sydney) decided to run the $5 Stunner experiment to see if they could source all the elements for a 30-second TV spot through the services site Fiverr.  For those of you who may not be familiar with Fiverr, they bill themselves as 'the world's largest marketplace for small services, starting at $5.'  On Fiverr, you can hire people to do various odd jobs for you, including various creative services large and small.

Check out the description from Hungry Jack's & the video below:
'You've asked for it, so the $4.95 Stunner is back.  And to prove just what great value the Stunner is for $5; we've successfully made a Stunner TV ad, where each element costs just $5.  We used a website called Fiverr to find the elements we needed from people all over the world.  We also asked our Facebook fans for a photo of their dog, and we ended up choosing Axel, a lovely dog from Western Australia, to star in the ad. His face was animated for (you guessed it!) just $5 on the Fiverr website.
This is the end result - we hope you like it!'


It's a really interesting initiative (my soul dies a little bit every time I have to use the phrase 'crowd-sourcing' or 'co-creation) and it will be interesting to see if other brands embrace this format moving forward.  One of the constant issues with UGC-type of campaigns is tapping into the 'Why?' of user participation.  What's the motivation/incentive to participate, especially when it's not necessarily the user in front of the camera or actually featured in the TV campaign?  In this case, the user is actually getting paid, so that eliminates much of the incentive dilemma.  Of course it opens up an entirely different debate about agency compensation models, eg. the whole Victors & Spoils crowd-sourcing debate.

Supporting Articles: Fiverr Blog | Digital Examples