IKEA - Happy To Bed

I love this new gadget developed by Cake for IKEA UK.  It begins with mimicry asking users what they'd do if they could wipe the slate clean in their bedroom, what would it take for you to go 'Happy To Bed'?  After the mimicry, users are invited to create a bespoke experience by connecting with Facebook & then create a circle that shows who's in your bedroom (are you a couple? a family? single?).  The gadget then renders a  personalised 3d model of what your bedroom could look like, ie. 'Everything You Need To Go Happy To Bed'.  The rendering takes place using your Facebook status and wall activity, a clever little way to keep you engaged while the gadget builds your ideal bedroom.  The bedroom pulls in photos from Facebook and puts them in frames on the wall, further personalising the experience and the virtual tour showcases various products, allowing you to change colors as it takes on a walk through of your new bedroom.  Once the experience is complete, you can create a shopping list of items or click directly on hotspots (using external annotations) throughout the virtual bedroom to purchase directly on IKEA's site.  Just a really nice execution that shows off the creative potential of the Youtube platform.  Have a play with the gadget yourself!

Supporting Articles: Inspiration Room | Coloribus | Digital Buzz Blog

The Rap Beatbox Choir

Throughout the summer Channel4 has been running Street Summer, a series of programs that explore the influences shaping urban culture.  While maybe not the best timing in terms of the riots, the series aims to provide a showcase for UK talent in different areas from dance to urban sport to graffiti to music, etc.


One part of this is the Rap Beatbox Choir developed by Fresh One and Numiko.  The YouTube gadget encourages members of the public to audition for a spot in the world’s biggest virtual Rap Beatbox Choir, with the final edited video being shown on Channel 4 in October:

The Rap Beatbox Choir needs rappers, beatboxers and singers to come together to perform ‘We are the People’, an original track made completely by the human voice. No instruments. 100% acapella.

Users select a piece of music, select a part of the track to perform, then upload a video that's in tune and tempo.  There's also a solo spot on the track up for grabs for the more ambitious/talented folks out there.

Check out the Street Summer Youtube channel to see it in action.



Supporting Articles: TheFWA | SBTV | The Drum

Levis Roadwear

Travel through the latest denim collection with Mermonkey, the fictional band that takes center stage in this campaign from Levi's.  The campaign site demonstrates a really innovative use of the Google Maps API, turning the denim collection into the continents/terrain of the story and allowing users to navigate through the narrative as though it were turn by turn directions.  Contagious can explain it better than I:


Levi's has created an interactive site for users to explore its latest collection, utilising the functionality of Google maps to take users on a cross-country road-trip. The journey follows three band members across the country, tracking their momentous occasions through video, images and short blog-style posts. The twist is that the locations on the map aren't real and the continents are actually giant denim jeans... it sounds strange, but it somehow works.


Douglas Hamilton, copywriter from BBH Asia Pacific, who created the campaign said; 'By navigating the rips and stains on the denim, you could unlock the stories that lie behind each and every mark. Traverse each of the 'continents' and you'll piece together the story of an aspiring band and their ups and downs on the road to fame and fortune'.


Supporting Articles: Contagious | The FWA | Adverblog

Cadbury's Augmented Reality App

Media first!  Media first!  Cadbury's, in conjunction with Blippar, have launched a new augmented reality app that's activated via the chocolate bar packaging.  Users download the Blippar app (the company bills itself as 'the first image-recognition mobile platform aimed specifically at brand-consumer engagement'), and simply point their device at a Cadbury product.  An intro screen launches explaining the Qwack Smack game which users then play for a chance to win various prizes, etc.  The game itself lasts only 30 seconds, but it is fun. You basically tap as many quacking cartoon ducks as you can, as they emerge from the chocolate bar on an augmented-overlay on the screen.  Unlike some of the other augmented reality apps we've seen, this one feels a little bit more of a natural fit.  I can definitely see potential in using consumer packaging as the vehicle for AR experiences, at least more so than print ads, particularly if there's a strong incentive model built in (ie. win free stuff for the daily high score, etc.)


Sonia Carter, head of digital of Kraft Foods, said: "We loved blippar from the moment we saw it in action. We were blown away by the technology and we're certain consumers will be. With one in three UK adults owning a smart phone the potential market for initiatives like this is huge and we are proud to be bringing this incredible technology to the masses."


She continued: "It doesn't seem all that long ago we were all marveling at what QR codes could do but blippar's ‘markerless image recognition' technology takes the experience to a whole new level."


The partnership between blippar and Cadbury has allowed the augmented reality app company to launch its platform by placing engaging demonstrations of their technology on every street corner in Britain - wherever confectionary is sold.


blippar CEO and co-founder, Ambarish Mitra, commented: "We are thrilled to work with Cadbury as launch partner to demonstrate a gaming experience using its product packaging. The implications are enormous and we look forward to being at the forefront of delivering compelling AR experiences for users with other exciting brands."


He continued: "Image-recognition enabled augmented reality is far from a ‘gimmick' and will fundamentally change how consumers interact with their favourite real-world brands. blippar has been built to bridge the gap from physical to digital and enable real-time interaction in mobile situations."


The blippar platform will also offer ‘blipps' on everyday objects - from your oyster card through to your newspaper - and is set to grow to 1000s of listings via multiple brand partnerships in the pipeline.


Supporting Articles: The Next Web | Popsop

Easton - Ultimate Batting Practice

OK, ok...the whole real or fake viral is getting a bit tired, but I'm a sucker for these and since I love baseball I couldn't help but include this video from Easton (a baseball bat manufacturer in the US).  Apparently the public isn't sick of these either as it managed to stimulate a fair amount of 'is it real or is it fake?' debate.  It just shows there's still some life in this genre provided it's done right (not too much product placement, not overly polished/produced, etc.)  After racking up a couple million views for the Ultimate Batting Practice video, they've now released a second video as well called Skeet Ball:



Granted I'm not debating whether it's real or fake, but they are both nice pieces of branded content and something that myself and other baseball fans are willing to share around.

Supporting Articles: AdWeek | Trendhunter

BONUS: Texas Armoring Product Demo

We always hear talk about standing behind your product but t his video from Texas Armoring Company takes dogfooding to a whole new level.

Nissan - Damn Ponies

This campaign for Nissan comes out of Brazil and has racked up an impressive number of views in the past couple weeks.  It's a great example of taking a traditional TV spot and modifying it for the Youtube audience.  In the spot, a driver get stuck in the mud, opens the hood and to discover animated prancing ponies singing a jingle about how they won't move and don't like mud or sludge.  He curses the fact that he has ponies rather than horses, hence the 'Damn Ponies' title.  After the spot ends, the animated ponies tell you to keep the window open before turning into evil ponies and demanding that you share the video with 10 friends.  If you fail to share the video you'll be struck with the Curse Of The Damn Pony and spend the rest of your life with the annoying pony jingle stuck in your head.  Definitely a new take on how to encourage sharing and spreadability, just threaten the audience with a lifetime of annoying music.  I love it.

Here's the original video and an English subtitled version.  This campaign was developed by Lew'Lara\TBWA in São Paulo.


Supporting Articles: Portogente | AdWeek | Inspiration Room

Volkswagen BlueMotion Roulette

As part of their campaign to promote the amazing fuel economy of the new Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion, Norwegian agencies Try and Apt turned a long stretch of highway into a virtual roulette table.  Using Google Maps & Streetview the E6 highway was turned into one big roulette table with 80,000 individual slots.  So what's the hook?  Users were invited to place a 'bet' (using Facebook connect) on how far the VW could go on a single tank of fuel.  The user with the correct bet won the car.  Each user could only bet once, thereby encouraging users to learn as much as possible about the car, the features and the fuel economy.  When the registration period ended, the Golf took to the road where users could monitor the progress of the car in real-time via an implementation of Google Maps and livestreaming video on the BlueMotion website.

Over 50,000 people followed its progress in real time to find out if they’d be the lucky winners of a new VW Golf and the car eventually ran out of gas 1,570 kilometres later, the equivalent of an Oslo-Paris road trip.

Supporting Articles: Creativity | Ads Of The World

Frijj - You LOL, You Lose

Here's a great example of a campaign that should be residing on Youtube in a custom gadget.  Frijj, the UK milkshare brand has launched three new flavours of milkshake.  Iris and Universal McCann London have created a great interactive challenge that uses facial recognition technology as a key part of the gameplay.


'You LOL You Lose' website pits players against the finest, funniest and FAILworthiest videos YouTube has to offer. As the name suggests - laugh out loud and it's game over (thanks to face recognition via webcam).
The site delivers three kinds of video - LOL, OMG and Cute - one for each of the three new 'incredible' Frijj flavours: honeycomb choc swirl, jam doughnut and sticky toffee pudding. Err, yum.
The game aims to help players build up their tolerance to the unexpected, so these brand new flavours don't just knock them flat. There's some smart tech in the mix too, re--calibrating the game for each player's skin tone and the ambient light. Bet you can't last a whole minute.


Again, it's there's no reason why this couldn't have been done using Youtube as the primary platform rather than a microsite as we've seen advertisers utilize webcam and head-tracking functionality in the past (most recently the HUGO Just Different campaign).


Supporting Articles: Creativity Online | Adverblog | Marketing Magazine

Strange Talk Music & Cheer Detergent

With a completely digital budget and the tagline 'We Dig Color' the detergent brand Cheer (part of the P&G family) is doing it's best to appeal to the digital audience.  Cheer has partnered with the band Strange Talk Music on their latest music video, Climbing Walls.   The the premise behind the latest campaign can be summed up as click the video, get free colorful stuff.  The video has hidden clickable annotations on colorful objects such as socks, t-shirts, dresses and hoodies.  Finding and clicking on the hidden objects drive the user to the Cheer Facebook page.  Once users have liked the brand they see if they've won an item of clothing from the video or register an item they 'dug'.  Each annotation links off to a different item of clothing and they're giving away limited numbers.  Users who've found the annotations enter their name and address and the item of clothing they've won show up at their doorstep a few days later.  It's a nice way to a) get users to watch the entire music video from a band they may not be familiar with b) drive users to to a Facebook fan page from Youtube, c) get users to like the Cheer brand on Facebook and d) get winners/engaged users into the Cheer CRM database.

As for the actual music…ehhh.

Supporting Articles: Creativity | Mashable