Tide Responds To Fake Onion Article

This is great.  The satirical newspaper The Onion (which everyone should read religiously if you don't already) recently ran a spoof column from a fictional Tide digital director entitled 'Hey, Everybody! This Cool New Tide Detergent Video Is Blowing Up All Over The Internet!'  In the column, the fictional Tide guy writes:

Hey, everybody, have you seen this awesome new web video from Tide detergent?
...it's got these cute, funny talking animals, a cool indie-rock song, and it's just so hilariously random. And it's got this amazing cameo by Bret Michaels, which is so funny because Bret Michaels is hilarious and from the '80s.
  But hey, I don't want to ruin it for you. Just take a minute to check it out for yourself at the Tide website or Facebook.com/Tide, or check out Tide's totally awesome YouTube channel, which is like a treasure trove of cool, popular videos that everyone loves. And honestly, do yourself a favor and just go to Tide's website and hang there for a while. It's a totally awesome place to go and play online games and meet other cool fans of Tide products.
...The other cool thing is, after watching this awesome vid, I honestly just want to go out and buy a lot of Tide. Obviously, I've always bought Tide anyway because it's the best detergent around, but this awesome new clip just makes me want to buy it more. But hey, I guess it should come as no surprise that a brand that makes such a quality detergent would also make a quality video. I mean, it's Tide.   They're the best. They always come up with great stuff like this. It's a hip, modern company that is totally in tune with today's Internet culture, so it makes sense they'd have such a cool online presence.


Read the whole fictional column here.  As always the Onion is spot on, but the best part is that Tide has responded to the fake column by creating a real video that mirrors all of the elements described in the column.  Very meta.

We constantly hear about brands being responsive and listening to their audience (or the Internets in general in this case).  It's great to see a brand doing more than just paying lip service to the idea.  Check out the response video from Tide below.  My favorite line is 'making viral videos with reputable brand partners...':
Additional Articles: Brand Channel

[GALAXY Note] Beckham plays Beethoven's Ode To Joy

OK, so it doesn't have much to do with the product, but I still felt compelled to share this version of Beethoven's Ode To Joy as played by David Beckham to promote the Samsung Galaxy Note.

Granted it's not as spontaneously delightful as the Elephant playing the Galaxy Note, but much better than the over the top fake of the previous Beckham Pepsi viral.  See below for some pure 'viral' enjoyment.

EasyWay Language Center

Here's a nice use of the speech recognition technology that's built into Chrome.  EasyWay Language Language center (and their Brazilian agency Loducca) created a simple browser based game/tool for students to practice their English pronunciation using Google's speech recognition technology.

Visitors to the site are presented with silly cartoons that ask the user to repeat a word.  If Google recognizes the word when you speak it, you move onto the next level.  If not, try again.  As it says on the site 'If Google can understand you, anyone can.'

Just a fantastic idea.  Check out the video below or experience it yourself here.


Additional Articles:  Adverblog | Fast Co. Create

Media Bridging Examples: Red Bull, ING, & NCDV

Lately it seems like there have been an increasing number campaigns bridging different forms of media, particularly in terms of connecting smartphones with out of home digital signage (remember this McDonald's example from Sweden).  Additionally we've been seeing increasing amount of executions that use audio (particularly Shazam) to bridge between TV and a smartphone experiences.  One of the nicest executions I've seen comes from Red Bull & NBC.   Fans watching NBC's snowboarding competition - Red Bull Supernational had the opportunity to use Shazam to get video from the snowboarders POV, thus creating a nice two screen experience during the broadcast.  Check it out below:


via Digital Examples

The second example comes from Germany agency Agenta as part of their activation as sponsors of the German Basketball Federation.  Using their smartphones, people could connect to the billboard and use their phone as a virtual basketball to play a free throw challenge.  At the same time a camera snapped pictures of them competing and uploaded/shared it amongst their Facebook friends.

Really nicely done, especially in terms of linking participation offline with a sharing mechanism online.  Check out the video below for more:

The third example was created by JWT London for the National Centre For Domestic Violence.  They installed a series of interactive billboards in London's Euston station.  The first billboard shows a man shouting at a woman with a call to action encouraging users to use their phone to 'Stop This Now and Drag Him Away.'  Users could scan a QR code or go to the website to drag him away via their phone which pulled the man further and further away from the woman and across the other connected billboards while displaying anti-violence messages.

It's a laudable effort, but I'd be curious to understand how well it actually worked it and how many people took the time to participate.  Was it clear what was happening on all the connected billboards or was interaction just limited to the one and then continued across after a user began taking part?  Anyhow, check it out below:


Additional Articles: PSFK | Creativity | Digital Buzz Blog | AdFreak | Mashable

Canadian Paralympic Committee - Running (Unstoppable)

Here's your inspirational ad/PSA of the week from BBDO Toronto for the Canadian Paralympic Committee.  Beautifully done, emotionally evocative and done in one continuos shot with no CGI or other trickery.

Watch it below and check out the making of video here.

Additional Articles: Laughing Squid

Three Nice Uses Of QR Codes - Emart, Guinness & Mercedes-Benz

QR codes have gotten a pretty bad rap and are generally shit on by the creative community (case in point, this genius Tumblr).  Until certain smartphone technologies mature, the fact of that matter is that it remains one of the best ways to quickly and (relatively) easily get mobile users to a site/app.  While there are definitely some absolutely abysmal executions out there, here are a couple of recent ones that work extremely well.


EMART - SUNNY SALE
The first example comes Emart, the Walmart of Korea.  The Sunny Sale (created by Cheil Worldwide)  aimed to drive sales during lunch, which is a typically slow time for the retailer.  They created clever shadow QR codes which are only be readable/active in certain light, ie. between the hours of 12-1PM.  Users who scanned the sunny sale QR codes received special offers, coupons, etc.  It proved so popular they expanded it from 13 to 36 locations in Seoul.  Over the course of a month they sold over 12,000 coupons and increased store membership 58% month or month, but perhaps most impressive they increased sales by 25% during lunch hours.  Who says QR codes can't be effective!?


Additional Articles: Adverblog | AdFreak


GUINNESS - QR CUP
The second example comes from BBDO New York for Guinness.  The QR code is printed on the glass and only works when Guinness (or another black/dark liquid) fills the glass, so don't try filling these glasses with lager, etc.  Once full scanning the QR code launches a site that easily/automatically tweets, checks in, posts a status update or sends an Instagram photo about where you are and the fact that you're enjoying a pint of guinness.  Very clever.

via Digital Examples

MERCEDES-BENZ - QR TROPHY
Prior to the official car launch, you'll often see speculation about the new model based off photos of the car 'spotted in the wild' on various aficionado sites.  Manufacturers combat this by wrapping the cars in plastic and generally camouflaging them so the new body/shape can't be deciphered before launch.  Jung Von Matt/Alster has cleverly tapped into this behavior by turning the camouflage of the prototypes into a form of media.  They've wrapped the new Mercedes Benz A-Class prototypes in QR codes.  The QR codes contain links to an app in which users hunt for trophies based off spotting the new A-class and give them a chance to win a trip to launch event.  Nice expansion of the idea of owned media and tapping into the existing behaviors of passionate car fans and paparazzi. 


Additional Articles: Digital Buzz Blog

McDonald's - Mein Burger

It's always nice to see examples of crowd-sourcing and co-creation done right.  To be fair, it's hard to do those types of campaign in a way that doesn't feel gimmicky and benefits both the user and the advertiser.  The 'Mein Burger' campaign comes from Razorfish Germany to celebrate the 40th anniversary of McDonald's in that country.  The competition invited users to create their own burger via the 'Burger configurator' with the winning creations chosen by public vote and eventually appearing on the McDonald's menu.  It's all about the execution in this case as Razorfish created a compelling experience for users to generate their own bespoke burger creation.  Perhaps more importantly, they also provided the tools to for users promote their burger creation and encourage their friends, as well as the general public, to vote for the eventual winners.  The winners not only had their Burger creation added to the menu, but also starred in their own McDoanld's TV commercial.  Check out the case study below.


Oh yeah, the eventual winner was the Preztelnator, a burger with ham, italian cheese, american cheese and pretzel-like bun.  Sounds...errr...interesting.

Additional Articles: Laughing Squid

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

BONUS: Simon Says Chrome Experiment

Remember the Simon Says toy game from the 80s?  As part of a Chrome Experiment Daniel Christopher has recreated an HTML5 browser based version of the game.

Take two minutes and have a play around with it here.


via Nathan Reuss

P&G - Thank You Mom

Wieden + Kennedy have kicked off the P&G 'Thank You, Mom' campaign with the beautifully shot and evocative film 'Best Job' which was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Biutiful, 21 Grams + the Nike 'Write The Future' spot from 2010).  The film shows different Moms around the world nurturing their kids throughout the years as they move toward their moment of Olympic glory.  Check it out below.


The spot is just the first step in a much larger campaign from P&G leading into the Olympics and further extends the Thank You, Mom campaign that they ran for the 2010 Olympics.  In addition to the above spot, P&G is also encouraging the general public to say 'Thank You, Mom' and let her know you appreciate her.  You can submit your story through video, images or just a brief few words to let your Mom know you care.  So go check it out on the P&G Youtube channel and Facebook page.

Additional Articles: Adverblog | AgencySpy | W+K London blog