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.

TED - Ads Worth Spreading Winners

Back in October I wrote about the 2nd annual TED Ads Worth Spreading competition.  According to TED founder, Chris Anderson "TED’s mission is ‘ideas worth spreading.’ The dream behind this initiative is to find companies that want to communicate ideas to their consumers in the same way that TED wants to communicate with its audience. What makes ideas powerful is that they have a life of their own; an idea can reset someone’s worldview and even begin a domino effect as they pass it on to friends."

This year's Ads Worth Spreading winners have been announced.  So what makes an Ad Worth Spreading?  Well it's worth watching the original TED talk from Chris Anderson, but in short the jury "sought out ads that were driven by ideas...at TED, we’ve seen the power of imagination and innovation. We want to reward companies that have invested in longer-form, beautifully crafted campaigns that value human attention and intelligence, and take the time to tell a thought-provoking story.”


Some of the winners have been featured on this blog in the past, some of them you've probably seen floating around the web, but some of them (at least to me) were new revelations.  The one thing they have in common is that they're all worth watching and sharing.  I highly recommend you take 30 minutes of your day and go watch them over on the TED Ads Worth Spreading Youtube channel.  I've also compiled them into a handy Youtube playlist, so you can sit back, relax and watch them all in one go with the minimum of fuss.



For those of you short on time or just want to know the winners, I've copied this except from the Youtube blog post announcing the winners:
       
Chipotle: Back to the Start; Company: Chipotle; Agency: Creative Artists Agency
As he regrets the mass production and artificial methods of his industrial animal factory, a determined farmer opts to return to sustainable farming methods for the future and betterment of society.

Citizen Engagement: The Return of Ben Ali; Brand: Engagement Citoyen; Agency: Memac Ogilvy Tunisia
Although former Dictator of Tunisia President Ben Ali was ousted amidst the chaos of the Tunisian Revolution, many quickly lost interest in politics. In order to galvanize the Tunisian people out of hibernation, La Goulette shocked residents by warning the return of tyranny. 88% turned up for the October 23rd vote.

NTT Docomo Mobile Phone: Xylophone; Brand: NTT Docomo, Inc.; Agency: Drill Inc.
Organic and imaginative, NTT Docomo captures the essence of their new mobile phone to redefine nature and technology.
                                                                                       
Microsoft/Xbox: Kinect Effect; Brand: Microsoft / Xbox; Agency: Twofifteenmccann
Pushing the realm of imagination and technology, the Kinect takes a leap into the future of education, gaming and interaction

Sharpie: Start with Sharpie; Brand: Sharpie; Agency: Draftfbc - Chicago  
Cheeming Boey, builds a career around drawing on cups with Sharpies. His inspirational story is one of creativity and drive, challenging those who tried to taint his dream.

Mazda: Defy Convention; Brand: Mazda; Agency: Team Cosmos/JWT Germany/Team Mazda Europe     This moving advertisement shows how their heritage helps Mazda to see things differently and overcome adversity.

L'Oreal Paris: Aimee Mullins; Brand: L'Oreal Paris; Agency: R/GA and McCann Erickson
L’Oreal’s new beauty ambassador knows a lot about challenging notions of perceived beauty and achievement, as the wearer of double prosthetic legs.

Rethink Breast Cancer: Your Man Reminder; Brand: Rethink Breast Cancer; Agency: john st.
A tongue-in-cheek assertion that women are more likely to watch a video if it features a ‘hot guy’ underpins the serious message of this video.

Prudential Day One: Linda;  Brand: Prudential; Agency: Droga5  
Linda Gutherie reveals the thought process and life changes behind retirement as she shares her first day of retirement.

Canal +: The Bear; Brand: Canal+; Agency: BETC Euro RSCG
A bear skin rug that becomes a movie director? Just watch it ;-)