BONUS: The Thing Mimicry/RickRolling

John Carpenter's 'The Thing' is a remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name.  As part of the promotional effort for the film they've launched an interesting Youtube viral prank campaign that brings something unexpected to users who click on various videos with enticing or audience pleasing names.  They've created a series of teaser videos with titles such as 'HOT Girl, Tiny Bikini' or 'Cute Baby Goes Nuts Over Food.'  Users who click on the videos (or who receive the link shared from a friend) get 7-10 seconds of video before the screen shatters with the volume cranked up and The Thing snapping out of the Youtube channel.  They've created nine scare videos and users are encouraged to 'Share The Scare.'  It's a clever Rickrolling type tactic, though to be honest the actual flash execution leaves something to be desired.  That said, it's a nice way to a) provide something unexpected to the audience and b) play off video names/categories that a large number of users tend to watch.  Send your own prank by checking out the Youtube channel.

Supporting Articles: Launch

Carlsberg Cinema Experiment

Earlier this year Carlsberg scrapped their famous slogan 'Probably the best lager in the world.'  The slogan served them well for 38 years, but didn't necessarily resonate in some of the key growth markets such as Asia.  Instead Carlsberg has adopted the strap line 'That Deserves A Carlsberg' and has been activating various campaigns around the slogan.  The latest is from Belgian agency Duval Guillaume Modem:

"To reinforce the new baseline ‘That Calls for a Carlsberg’ Duval Guillaume Modem proposed an original experiment. In Belgian cinemas some innocent couples were confronted with a theatre filled with not-so-friendly gentlemen and only 2 seats left… How will they react?"

SPOILER: Most of the couples walked out, but those who stayed were rewarded with a Carslberg and a big congratulations from the bikers as 'That Calls For A Carlsberg' was projected onto the cinema screen.  Great stuff and a great way of expressing the brand values through the behavior of the people who chose to stay in the theatre.  That is, f you don't judge a book by it's cover...that calls for a Carlsberg, if you show courage by sitting amongst the intimidating bikers...that calls for a Carlsberg, etc, etc.


Supporting Articles: Inspiration Room | Adverblog | Campaign

Swedish Post - Sweden's Safest Hands

Sweden's Safest Hands is the latest campaign for the Swedish Post Office.  Developed by one of my favorite Swedish agencies, Akestam Holst, it's an augmented reality contest that unfolds on the streets of Sweden.  The challenge and messaging is for participants to carry a parcel as safely as the Swedish Post.  Here's how it works:

Forty two packages with prizes worth between 300 and 5000 SEK ($50-750) are up for grabs.  Each day, several packages are released to the iPhone app.  The challenge is to deliver the package intact before anyone else can.  If you can do that, you win the contents.  Sounds simple right?  The catch is that the app utilises the compass, GPS and accelerometer of the iPhone to measure how safe and stable each contestant is, so the user movement has to be steady and show 'safe hands.'  It doesn't matter where you are (as long as you're in Sweden), you just need to cover the distance and deliver the virtual parcel first in order to win the real parcel.

It's sort of the next evolution from the Mini getaway where the online and offline are seamlessly blended into a skill based challenge that takes place in the real world.  Those of you in Sweden can download the app here.

Supporting Articles: Creativity | Ads Of The World | Just Creative Ads

Nissan - My Versa Roadtrip

Nissan's latest campaign to promote the Versa sedan invites users to create the best road trip for the chance to win the road trip itself and a new Nissan Versa.  The campaign, developed by Hype Creative, is centered around MyVersaRoadTrip.com features a great implementation of Google maps and Street View.

Users are given the tools to build their own road trip, add a soundtrack of their choice and either invite others to participate, or explore the road trips that other people have created.  Of course this all takes place in an environment rich in Versa messaging and feature highlights.

Just plot your course, choose your friends (via Facebook), and hit the road.

via
Nathan Reuss

Doritos - Crash The Superbowl

Doritos has been running their Crash The Superbowl contest for the past five years.  It's a great example of brand building using user generated content.  For those who aren't familiar with the contest...Doritos invites the general public to create and submit their own user generated ads.  The  winning spots are then aired in a coveted 30-second Superbowl spot.  The resulting submissions were surprisingly good, for example here is last year's winner.

The contest has been increasingly successful.  In 2011 Doritos saw video submissions for the contest increase 38% to 5,600.  The contest finalists' videos were viewed 22 million times. Doritos also saw a 30% increase in Twitter activity and a 25% increase in Facebook activity during the contest.

That's all well and good, but after five years Doritos recognized that the concept, while fundamentally strong, is getting a bit stale.  So for 2012 they've introduced a twist.  This year's Crash The Superbowl contest will be between the best user created Super Bowl spot and a Doritos spot to be created by The Lonely Island, the comedy group/production team made up of Saturday Night Live stars.  These are the guys responsible for such hits as Dick In A Box & I'm On A Boat, as well as a ton of other SNL digital shorts.  In addition to seeing their spot aired during the Superbowl, the creator of the user generated spot will also have the opportunity to win $1 million and a gig working with The Lonely Island on creating a future spot.  So here's how it works.  During the Superbowl USA Today runs real-time consumer testing called Ad Meter.  If the consumer-generated ad wins the ad meter, the creator wins $1 million. If the ad by The Lonely Island, wins then they will donate the $1 million prize to charity.

On a completely separate note, Arch West, the inventor of Doritos recently passed away.  His family plan plan on scattering Doritos in his grave rather than roses.  I kid you not.

Supporting Articles: AdWeek | Forbes

Youtube - The Future Of Your Brand

This campaign comes out of Italy and was developed by TBWA Italy on behalf of Youtube marketing team.  It aims to show how Youtube builds brands and what the different options are for advertisers on Youtube. Rather than just run through a dry list of ad formats, this Youtube execution takes users through a customizable experience showing the options for advertising in an interactive manner.  Everything from homepage advertising via the masthead to promoted videos on search results down to pre-rolls against relevant content as well as brand channel executions.  Users can choose a pre-existing brand or create their own to see what the future of their brand on Youtube would look like.  Very nicely done.  Check it out for yourself here.

Lynx - Hot News Girl

Lynx continues to push the boundaries on Youtube.  We've seen the Tippex-like Lucy Pinder Youtube execution that ran a few months ago as well as their video explanations of Rugby rules using scantily clad models.  Now they've discovered keyboard shortcuts for scrubbing Youtube videos.  In the above video, Razorfish has created what on first glance appears to be an  innocent outtake video with an attractive news reporter.  However, using shortcuts users can have a bit of a different experience.  As the video says:

'Play this video, click on the timeline and press 5 7 3 8 to get the Lynx Effect'

I'll leave you to play around with it (no pun intended).  Say what you will, but Lynx isn't shy about going after their target audience in ways that are sure to appeal to them.

Supporting Articles: Buzzfeed | Copyranter

BONUS: Rebecca Black Telstra Sponsorship

As part of their new 'The Fun Has Just Begun' campaign, Telstra has signed up Rebecca Black as a celebrity endorser (methinks they might want to increase the $$$ in their "brand ambassador" fund).  They brought her down to Sydney to do a series of live performances of smash hit Friday.  So in case you couldn't get enough of the original video, you can see a mashup of her performances above.  But wait, what if you're not content with the 48 second video from Telstra!?  Thankfully a dedicated fan has posted the full length 5 minute live version of Friday which you can find here.

In all seriousness, considering the abuse that's been lumped on this poor girl, it's good to see her getting some endorsement deals before her 15 minutes of fame are up.  Partyin', Partyin' YEAH!


Supporting Articles: Brand Channel | Herald Sun

Dodge Journey

Dodge has created what they call 'the first search engine for the real world,' the new Dodge Journey crossover. In order to get people off the web and into the real world, they've hidden three of the new Journeys somewhere in America (one each in somewhere on the West Coast, Midwest, & East Coast.  The premise is simple...if you can find it, you can keep it.

The campaign was created by Wieden+Kennedy and kicked off with this commercial, as well as additional commercials for each region where a Journey was hidden.

Clues are given to participants via videos on their Youtube channel and the region specific TV spots for each hidden Journey.  The channel also includes a nice social stream integration, allowing participants to share clues and see official/messages from Dodge.  Each video clue also highlight specific features of the journey and includes other product messaging.  While the idea of a scavenger hunt is nothing new, I can't recall seeing a similar online/offline blend in a campaign prior to this.  Really nicely done.

The first two have been found, with the next set of clues to be revealed for the Dodge Journey hidden somewhere on the East Coast on September 24th.  Check out the Youtube channel here.

Supporting Articles: AdWeek | Creativity | AgencySpy

  

T-Mobile - The Parking Ticket

T-mobile is back with another great spot, the latest in a long string of hits created by Saatchi & Saatchi.  The Parking Ticket was developed to support of the launch of T-Mobile’s new plan 'You Fix', which T-Mobile says is ideal for customers who want to control their mobile phone expenditure.  The two-minute spot debuted this past Friday on Channel5 and is now live on Youtube with an updated channel to promote the new plans.  The tagline around the campaign is 'Nobody Likes Nasty Surprises.'  What better way to illustrate that idea than enlisting fake traffic wardens to unreasonably give out tickets to unsuspecting drivers, all the while documenting every interaction by hidden camera (not unlike the NAB Honesty Experiments).  Drivers then discovered that the authentic looking yellow parking tickets actually contain a £5, £10 £20 or £50 note and a good day message from T-mobile.

Check out the spot and the updated Youtube channel here (as well as a nice use of external annotations at the end of the video driving interested users to either Facebook, the You Fix page, or Twitter).

Supporting Articles: The Drum | Campaign | Daily Mirror