Track Me

Last time I wrote about the continuing rise of personalized video response campaigns, especially around holidays or big events.  Soon after that post, Innovative Thunder, the creative team from RG/A responsible for the Cannes-winning Pay With A Tweet launched a new project called 'Track Me.'  Over the next month Innovative Thunder & the band Riot !n Paris will create songs about randomly chosen people based off their social media profiles.  Users can submit themselves for consideration on the Track Me site and new songs are posted each day.  The background for the idea is that "with all the stuff people post, tweet and put out in the Google-sphere, there is enough material to write a whole song for each of them. So we thought, why not do that?" said Leif Abraham and Christian Behrendt of Innovative Thunder.  Check out the teaser video below.

They kicked it off by creating some tracks for various celebrities to give people a sense of what to expect. Check out the one for Kate Upton below.  It's also worth checking out the tracks they've posted for the lucky people who've been selected, which are also pretty damn good.

The idea of bespoke music isn't new, but this approach and this scale is certainly ambitious.  I especially like the fact that those people selected will have something tangible in the form of a personalized track that lasts long after the experiment ends.  It'll be interesting to see if any advertisers piggyback off this idea like they did with Pay With A Tweet.


Supporting Articles: Creativity | CoCreate

BMW - 0 to Desir3 Contest

BMW is giving the public the opportunity to win a new BMW 328i as part of their new '0 to Desir3 in 5.9 Seconds' contest on Youtube.  While contests are nothing new for Youtube, I really like the hook for this one. Entrants are challenged to prove their desire as creatively as possible, but the video entries must be 5.9 seconds long (or less).  The contest is part of a larger campaign developed by KBS+P.  It's a clever way to tie in one of the main USPs of the new 328i, ie. the fact that it does 0-60 in 5.9 seconds.

Entries close on March 9th and will be whittled down to the top-30 via a panel of judges.  The winner will then be determined by a combination of public voting and panelist judging.  I've been impressed by the quality of entries so far.  Here are a couple of good ones below...

Twisted Metal: Shoot My Truck

Two days, one truck, over 100,000 bullets.  That about sums up what happened when Deutsch LA & Stink Digital teamed up to create a real-life shoot em up experience.  The stunt was to promote the relaunch of the Twisted Metal franchise on Playstation 3.   Shootmytruck.com allowed users to fire a real M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (read: big ass machine gun) over the course of two days at at a perfect replica of the hot-rod ice cream van from the main character in the game.  The gun was hooked up to a remote interface which allowed users from around the world to login via Facebook or Twitter and fire the gun, unleashing damage for a full 30 seconds.  See intro video below.


In a nice effort to increase word of mouth and earned media, players were able to jump the line, by sharing the experience with friends.  Even cooler, the truck was also equipped with various explosive laden objects, so there was a chance that your gunfire could result in big explosions.  For a grand finale, three lucky winners were given the opportunity to fire the gun for 90 seconds to finish off and literally blow up the truck.  Check out the highlight/wrap up video below.



Supporting Articles: Contagious | AdFreak

The Artistifier

Considering that The Artist cleaned up at the Oscar's last night, I thought it was topical to share this great use of the Youtube API.  The Artistifier allows you to turn any Youtube video into a black & white, silent movie a la The Artist.  Just paste in the URL of the Youtube video and then you're given the opportunity to create your own silent movie complete with old school dialogue cards.  Once you're done, it creates an 'Artistified' version of the video, removing the sound from the original clip and adding in music from the Artist and the caption/dialogue cards.  Check out this funny one that someone created using the Moneyball trailer:


via Myles Riseborough

Intel Pop Up Theater

I really like this stunt campaign from Intel to promote the design and responsiveness of the new series of Intel Ultrabooks.  The idea of flashmobs are pretty tired, so it's nice to see a fresh take on the concept.

The Ultrabook™ POP-UP THEATER is a series of live stunts that demonstrates the ultra thin design & responsiveness of the Ultrabook™.
A uniquely choreographed team of 60 individuals create a human digital wall made of Ultrabooks. The Pop-Up teams make surprise appearances on the streets of Los Angeles, transforming an everyday location into a mini theater.


Supporting Articles: Creativity | Digital Buzz Blog

Valentine's Day & The Rise Of Personalized Response Campaigns

We've all seen (far too many times at this point) the Old Spice video response campaign.  What's been interesting is to see the rise of the personalized video response campaign for other brands, particularly over the past few months.  All of these campaigns use a similar mechanism and format.  Intro video inviting users to submit their comments, questions, requests, etc. via Twitter, Facebook or Youtube followed by a personalized response video for all or some of the submissions.  The goal of course is to get the consumer involved and give something back in a way that's spreadable, or at the very least creates a degree of brand endearment.

o2 kicked things off this Christmas with The o2 Santa.  The idea was that we can't all be with our loved ones during the festive season, so let The o2 Santa help you spread some cheer.  Using the hashtag #02santa, followers could tweet Santa a message they’d like him to read.  Santa (and his agency elves) then created a personal response video which was posted on the The o2 Santa Youtube channel.  All told, nearly a thousand response videos were created in a couple weeks.

Now o2 is going back to the well for a Valentine's day with the o2 Cupid Love Cloud.  See below.


My favorite example is the work that CP+B's Valentine's Day initiative for Kraft Mac N Cheese.  Remember Ted Williams, the Golden voiced homeless guy who was all over the news last year?  After being featured on Good Morning America, he then got picked up by Kraft for various commercials (read here for more background).  Kraft has enlisted his dulcet tones for a personalized response campaign, 'The Golden Voice Of Love.'

Tweets with #voiceoflove have the opportunity to be read out by him, because 'nothing says you care, like having Ted Williams say it for you.'  I also dig the cheesy romantic video background to each video.  Another nice aspect of this campaign is that Kraft is donating a 100 boxes of Kraft Mac N Cheese to Feed America for each tweet, especially relevant considering Ted Williams used to be homeless.  Nice touch.


Check out more on the Kraft Mac N Cheese Youtube channel or submit your own before the end of the day.

Supporting Articles: PSFK | MediaPost | The Drum

Your Film Festival - A Global Search For The World's Best Storytellers

Youtube & Emirates Airlines recently launched Your Film Festival, 'a global search for the world's best storytellers.'  The idea is simply...

15 minutes to tell a story. Millions of people to watch it. $500,000 to make a new one for the world to see.


So how does it work? Aspiring Filmmakers have until March 31st to submit a short, story-driven video. There's no entry fee. It can be any format - short film, web-series episode, TV pilot - and any genre. In June, audiences around the world will vote, sending 10 deserving storytellers to open the 2012 Venice Film Festival where a Grand Prize Winner will be be rewarded with a $500,000 grant to create a new work, produced by Ridley Scott and his world class team (the same guys behind the Youtube Life In A Day initiative).

There's a couple things that really standout for me about this initiative.  We often talk about the democratization of content creation as the barrier to entry for filmmakers gets lower and lower.  Video and editing equipment that used to cost thousands of dollars can now be purchased for an almost inconsequential amount of money, allowing amazing and incredible work to be produced at a fraction of the price.  Obviously the emergence of video platforms such as Youtube, Vimeo, etc. provide an outlet and global reach for literally anyone and their work.  

However, the barrier that still typically exists is traditional distribution.  Many of the independent movies that make it into cinemas are first screened at various festivals, and those festivals have significant entry fees that are beyond the reach of many aspiring filmmakers.  

That's what I love about Your Film Festival.  There's no entry fee, literally $0.  Additionally, it takes the idea of global distribution and accessibility to an entirely new level.  The top 50 semifinalists will have their film translated/subtitled into more than 50+  languages where Youtube is localized.  Additionally, any entries submitted with a script will then be machine transcribed into any of the localized languages.  Pretty amazing if you think about...

In another cool twist, all of the semi-finalist entry films will be shown on the in-flight entertainment systems of Emirates flights for an extended period of time.

Supporting Articles: Huffington Post | PSFK | Youtube Blog

Heineken Serenade

Heineken #Serenade is the latest initiative from Wieden + Kennedy.  The Facebook app invites you to create a humorous serenade for that special one you would like to bring on a date.  Users are asked a serious of questions (what you intend to do with that person, why they should go out with you, etc.) which are then used to create the serenade (there are something like 600 different options if you factor in the different languages available.  Once you create a serenade for that special someone, it's sent off to that person where they can respond Yes or No on whether they'll go out with you.

In addition, Heineken hosted a 8-hour live event on the Heineken Youtube channel where they chose some of the best serenades and invited users to surprise their loved ones by having their serenade performed live by the band.  You can view the highlights on the Youtube channel or check out one of the videos below.


via Sibylle Tretera

Supporting Articles: Creativity | Digital Buzz Blog

Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Look Around' Interactive Video

The Red Hot Chili Peppers recently released a cool interactive video for their new single 'Look Around.'  Developed by Axe Studios & Therapy Studios, the panoramic video allows users to click and drag around the video panning back and forth and zooming in and out between various rooms.  Little easter eggs with bonus videos, photos, etc. are sprinkled throughout the video and can be revealed via the 'show hints' button.  Check it out below:



You can also see the linear, non-interactive version here.

Valentine's Day Google Doodle

If you haven't already gone to google.com to see the delightful Valentine's Day doodle animation, stop reading and go there now (if you're reading this post Valentine's Day I'm sure it'll be in the archive) or check out the video below.

There's also a nice article over on TechCrunch about the creative process behind the animation.