Mercedes Benz - #YOUDRIVE

Mercedes, AMV BBDO, & Stink have developed an innovative idea to help launch the new Mercedes Benz A-class.  On Saturday, October 6th viewers are invited to take part in #YOUDRIVE a campaign that's being billed as a social media first (at least in the UK).

Using Twitter, viewers will drive the action of a 3-part story that will be shown during the commercial breaks in the X Factor.  The spots center around a musician and a professional driver who are chased by 'the man' on the way to a secret gig.  In practice users are invited to choose what the characters should do next by voting on Twitter with the hashtag #YOUDRIVE.  Think of it as choose-your-own-adventure on a massive scale and brought into the television experience.  But wait...there's more!  The spots will also direct viewers to the lovely Mercedes Benz YOUDRIVE YouTube channel where they can view the ads as well as create their own story.  The final ad will also show the voting percentage /breakdown for each choice. 

This is quite an effort.  Obviously each of the possible decision paths had to be shot and readied for the voting outcome, but it actually pays of the much bandied about term of social TV viewing.  David George, marketing director of Mercedes-Benz UK, said the new A-Class vehicle represents a "new, younger, more dynamic' & that it's 'a modern Mercedes-Benz that encourages people to do what we know they enjoy – to get involved.'

What I find fascinating about this idea (and 'social TV' in general), is that the creative can't be separated from the media.  In other words, this idea, this execution only works if the media placement is spot on.  In order for this to be a success it needs to run against a TV program that is considering destination viewing, where liveness is important, and where the audience is passionate enough about the show that you can pretty much guarantee that they'll be around for the second spot and ultimately the following week for the third spot.  It's interesting to see how new creative ideas and formats (see the Coke Polar Bears during the Superbowl) emerge around premium programming where the 'liveness' guarantees a large and captive audience.

So check out the trailer below & if you're in the UK you can use this campaign as a good excuse for why you're actually watching X-Factor

Additional Articles: Brand Channel | Campaign

Felbelfin - Amazing Mind Reader Reveals His 'Gift'

I try not to show 'viral' videos too much on this blog.  From a brand perspective they're pretty much a mythical creature and cloud otherwise rational thought around online video.  Simply put, if viral is your strategy, then you don't have one.  That said, there's been one agency that seems to have cracked the code of producing amazing stunt campaigns that also tie back nicely to a single brand proposition and generate a huge response online.  That agency is  Brussels-based Duval Guillaume Modem.  These are the people response for the Carlsberg stunt with bikers in the cinema, as well as the TNT - Push For Drama stunt.

Their latest video is for Felbelfin, a Belgian financial umbrella organization.  As part of their 'Safe Internet Banking' campaign, they employed a 'psychic' with powerful abilities to see into people's lives.  Volunteers were told they were going to take part in a news show then brought into a white tent. Inside sat the psychic, Dave (btw - Dave seems like a rather normal name for a psychic, no?).  These folks tell Dave their names, he does some laying of hands and then starts telling them things that no stranger should know.  The injuries they have, their romantic situation, medical history, bank balance, etc.

Then Dave reveals his trick. A curtain drops & there's a room full of masked researchers on computers looking up the personal details of each person and feeding it to Dave through a hidden earpiece.

The message appears 'Your entire life is online.  And it might be used against you.  Be vigilant.'

Great piece of work for what would normally be a dry and boring message.  Again, hat tip to the guys at Duval Guillaume Modem.

2012 Election Season - 7 Eleven, Jetblue & Blippar

The 2012 presidential election is heating up in the States.  It's been interesting to see how brands are tapping into the interest around the US election.  Most are doing it poorly (I'll ignore those), but some are doing great work.  Three in particular stick out.

JetBlue - Live Free or Fly
I've heard people threaten to leave the US if their candidate doesn't win.  Apparently JetBlue has also heard this claim from both sides of the political spectrum.  They (and their agency, Mullen) have developed JetBlue Election Protection which will give a thousand sore losers the chance to get out of the country (at least temporarily) if their candidate loses.  Users are invited to go to jetblueelectionprotection.com and choose their political party (Democrat or Republican) as well as one of more than a dozen overseas destinations that JetBlue is offering up.  If your candidate loses, JetBlue may send you there.  The site gives you a sense of the current political leanings of the audience showing the polling so far among participants.  JetBlue is also doing their part, reminding people that the best part of Election Protection is to do their civic duty and vote.


7-Eleven - 7-Election
Convenience store giant 7-Eleven is back for the fourth edition of 7-election.  Customers can choose from partisan coffee cups (Romney cups are red, Obama cups are blue).  7-Eleven is then tallying sales for each to predict the outcome of the election.  This is the fourth election that 7-Eleven has done this and in each case it's successfully predicted the winner as well as coming within 1% of the actual outcome.  Unscientific? Yes.  Amazing?  Most definitely.

Check out the slate video about the initiative below and head over to the 7-Election site to see the current results.


Blippar - Blipp A $5 Bill To Donate To Obama
OK, this isn't technically a brand execution, but it's fascinating.  Blippar technology is probably the predominant app used by brands to execute mobile augmented reality experiences.  Blippar is taking a stance and coming out in support of Obama.  They've decided to throw their support and their technology behind Obama in an innovative way.  Fire up the Blippar app, point it at a 5 dollar bill and you can donate $5 directly to Obama's campaign.  The AR experience also has additional features such as the ability to create a picture of you high-fiving Obama, find your nearest campaign office to volunteer your time, listen to Obama speeches, etc.  I wonder if pointing Blippar at a $100 bill fires up a Romney experience?  Anyhow, check it out in action below:

The Friskies

Everyone knows cat videos are huge.  Hell, there are even agencies dedicated purely to catvertising ;-)  So it's not surprise that Friskies has tapped into this infinite well of content and appetite for cat videos by creating...The Friskies!  Billed as the Oscars for Cat Videos, the Friskies is offering a $15,000 Grand Prize for the best new cat video of 2012.  Here's the teaser video:
The only question is why it's taken this long for a brand to do this.  It's extremely fertile ground and a natural fit for Petcare brands.  Actually, I'm also confused as to why the contest isn't being run on YouTube, which again would seem like the natural home for this contest rather than a microsite.

Additional Articles: Fast Company

Dolce & Gabana - Video Comes To Print

Several thousand copies of the October issue of the UK Marie Claire includes a video ad in print.  The double page spread for Dolce & Gabana fragrances feature a 45-second video ad (including sound) which plays when the reader opens the page.  The technology was developed by Americhip and gives advertisers the opportunity to bring their print ads to life.  It's previously been used in Russian Vogue, but this is a UK first.  So is this the start of a wider trend or just a gimmick?  I haven't experienced it for myself, so I haven't a clue, but I'm intrigued by the idea.  See the video capture below that someone else was kind enough to upload to YouTube


On a more low-fi note, I just came across this Cannes winner from Brazil.  Developed by JWT for Coca-Cola FM, it turns a magazine into an iPhone speaker.  At first read I thought it must be similar tech to above, but in fact it was a genius low-fi execution.  A few strategic cuts in the ad and instructions on how to roll up the magazine turned it into an amplified.  Check it out below.


via PSFK

This Is Now

This has nothing to do with advertising, but I thoroughly enjoy it.  This is now is 'a highly addictive real-time visualization tool displaying all the photos as they happen within a city on Instagram.'  
This Is Now scrapes images from Instagram with the hastag #thisisnow and shows you a lovely representation of what’s going on right now in various cities around the world.  Play with it yourself at http://now.jit.su/ or check out the video capture below.



via: Urgent Genius & developed by @marciopuga, @mauriciomassaia and @PerThoresson

Other Things I Like (But Don't Have Time To Write Up)

Budweiser - Bud Clock
Great use of QR codes to turn Happy Hour into an interactive drinking game and extend Happy Hour through buying more Bud.

via: Banner Blog

Kit Kat - We Will Find You
Kit Kat has created a modern day version of Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket with a dash of dystopian Phillip K. Dick novel.  They've hidden GPS transmitters in four packs of Kit Kats on sale in the UK.  Opening the pack activates the GPS and Kit-Kat promises 'We Will Find You' within 24 hours and give the lucky recipient £10,000.  Very cool from a tech perspective, but the messaging is kind of creepy.


Gatwick Express - Tracks
To elevate the experience of the 30-minute train journey from Victoria to Gatwick airport (and of course boost online sales), VCCP has commissioned various artists to create a custom half-hour soundtrack that's synced to what riders see on the journey.  Customers who buy their Gatwick Express tickets online can download the tracks directly from the Gatwick Express website.

Norton - Top Result

Norton, the provider of internet security tools has launched a great new initiative, Top Result.  Developed by Naked Communications in Stockholm the campaign allows users control the first impression they make when people search for them online.  The idea builds off the insight that first impressions no longer happen in person and that often people do some digital sleuthing before meeting someone in person.  Top Result allows people to protect their reputation by securing their own search results and hopefully ensure that their result shows up first when a search is done for their name.  Unlike reputation management sites which attempt to influence the actual organic search results when searching for your name, Norton results simply buys AdWords for each user & foots the bill for those paid search ads.  You simply go to the Norton Top Search website and enter their name and then basically create a standard Google AdWords Ad.  You can then choose a link such as your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn page and then see a preview of how the search result will appear.  In order to make sure that nobody is hijacking another person's identity, you're required to verify your identity via Facebook.

It really is a brilliant idea and one that solves a legitimate concern from users about the lack of control of their online identity.  As Contagious points out: 'Norton's Top Results campaign is a perfect example of a trend Contagious coined - Marketing as Service Design - with the brand aligning its core values of security, trust and protection with a simple but effective digital tool. The brand has matched an unmet need with its core brand values, and is executing that in a way that uses the existing technology in a smart way. Using Google's ad spaces is a cheap, elegant solution that taps existing media and infrastructure and puts them to great use rather than trying to build its own website.'

Additional Articles: Contagious | Mashable

La Casa Eco & Sodimac - Skip This Behavior

As skippable pre-roll advertising becomes more and more prevalent, it's fascinating to see the emergence of clever ways to leverage the format.  In particular I've seen more and more advertisers creating skippable pre-roll advertising that somehow incorporates the 'Skip This Ad' button that appears on YouTube TrueView ads.  The latest and perhaps most clever execution comes from La Casa Eco & Sodimac in Chile.  Developed by Mayo Digital, the pre-roll aims to raise awareness about bad ecological habits and do it in just a few seconds.  For example, as the pre-roll starts an infographic type image is shown with the message:

'With that lightbulb that stayed on all day, you could've washed three full loads of laundry.

If you want to change this habit, the first change begins at home.'

A visual call out in the form of a pointer encourages users to click the 'Skip This Behavior' button.  Once a viewer clicked on the button they were redirected to a site packed with various ecological tips.  The result was that over 80,000 Chileans chose to 'skip a behavior' over the course of one week.  Very nicely done.  Check out the case study below.

via Adi Ziv-AV

Intel & Toshiba - The Beauty Inside

Last year Intel & Toshiba brought us 'The Inside Experience,' a social film project that was billed as the first of it's kind.  While I wasn't personally a huge fan of The Inside Experience as it played out, respect to all involved for pushing the boundaries and blurring the lines between web series, short film and social media campaign.  It's an interesting and rapidly developing area, so I'm glad to see that Intel & Toshiba are back to present 'The Beauty Inside.'  Created and developed by  Pereira & O’Dell, B-Reel and director Drake Doremus, 'The Beauty Inside' is a film about Alex (Topher Grace), a guy who wakes up looking like a different person each day.  Interesting storyline, but what's innovative is how the film uses that premise as a way to include and facilitate audience participation.  As the folks over at B-Reel describe 'it is Hollywood’s first film that gives the audience a chance to play the lead role. Alex can be a young, beautiful redheaded women one day while an overweight man late into his 40s tomorrow. He chronicles his ever-changing appearance as webcam diaries on his Toshiba Ultrabook. While fun and intriguing at first, Alex quickly realizes his limitations as he falls for Leah (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).' 

Split into six episodes, 'The Beauty Inside' is a 30-minute social film that allows users to audition to play the role of Alex.  Users can choose from a list of script outlines that are based on the upcoming episodes and audition throughout the campaign by uploading a webcam video or photo of themselves.  It's a nice way to foster audience participation in a way that fits seamlessly into the story rather than a clunky social media bolt on.  Of course there is a social mechanic as getting friends to view, like and share your audition film increases your chances of being included in the film.  Check out the trailer below as well as the first episode.  The film (as much has been posted so far) can be seen at The Beauty Inside YouTube channel.