Honda - The Great Unknown

The past couple of months has seen some great work from Weiden + Kennedy London (as well as B-Reel & Partizan films) for Honda's 'The Great Unknown' pan-European marketing campaign.  The campaign supports the launch of the new 2012 Civic.

The first phase kicked off with the launch of the new Honda Civic UK Youtube channel which (according to W+K London) 'introduced the campaign idea and was car-specific: the content relates to the various improvements and enhancements of the Civic.'  This included the adorable Happy Dog interactive film (see below), which highlights 'the journey the Honda engineers undertook- how they got to the final design of the Civic and the lessons learned along the way.'



The second installment,  Honda - The Experiment evoked the iconic Honda Cog commercial (see here) from 2003, brought to life through a physics based HTML5 game/challenge where: 'Each video window contains an object that interacts with those around it to create hundreds of possibilities and combinations. After six levels of solving chain reactions you get the chance to create your own and challenge your friends.'  The goal is to experiment and discover what works, just like Honda engineers do.

Warning, it's addictive and frustrating at the same time.  There's also an interesting making of video, that can be found here.



For the third and final installment of the campaign,  Honda launched the 360 degree interactive film 'Off The Grid.'  It feels very much like Google Streetview, but aims to take users to places 'off the grid' or part of 'the great unknown' that they'd never get a chance to see otherwise.  This includes new perspectives/views of places such as Antelope Canyon, an Alaskan glacier cave and an underwater sculpture gallery.  The locations and cinematography is incredibly stunning, and the Yellowbird 360 degree player means that users can control the perspective as the experience unfolds.   See below, but I highly encourage you to experience it yourself on the Honda Civic Youtube channel.  There's also a nice 'making of' video here.



In fact all three installments of the campaign can be seen on their Youtube channel.

Supporting Articles: B-Reel | PSFK | W+K London

Axe Anarchy - The Graphic Novel

Razorfish and Aspen comics have created a cool new campaign for Axe Anarchy.  A bit of background... Axe is looking to expand beyond their typical audience of young men.  They're introducing a new line of fragrances for both men and women called Anarchy.  To promote Axe Anarchy they've embarked in a co-creation project with fans to create an interactive graphic novel.

The Youtube channel is the hub of the campaign where fans are invited to shape the graphic novel by contributing storyline and character ideas (users contribute directly using Youtube, Facebook or Twitter from directly within the channel).  Think of it as a participatory version of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books.  Every few days, new chapters are added to the Youtube channel with story arcs evolving depending on fan input.  Additionally Axe is rewarding good ideas from fans by depicting (and tagging them via their social media handles) in the actual graphic novel.

While I really like the idea, I do question the strategy and wonder how effective it will be in attracting a female audience.  Regardless, take a few minutes to check out the Youtube channel and see for yourself.

via Andrew Bent

Supporting Articles: Digital Buzz Blog | Creativity | AdFreak

Israel Anti-Drug Authority - Adam Barak FB Timeline

McCann Digital Israel is running a clever campaign for the Israel Anti-Drug Authority using the new Facebook Timeline feature.  As far as I know it's the first campaign use of the Facebook Timeline.  They've created a fictional profile for Adam Barak and shows a photo comparison of a year in his life on drugs vs. a year where he stays clean.  The split screen photos shows his downward spiral into addiction (leaving out all the fun parts ;-)  You can see the profile here  (UPDATE: the campaign violates Facebook regulations on brands using fake profiles and has been removed).  

This sort of comparison has been done before, most memorably in the Faces Of Meth posters from the US, but it's a nicely done piece of work.  My favorite part is that the photos are of a real copywriter at McCann, Daniel Barak.

Supporting Articles: Campaign | Creativity | AdFreak

Doritos Crash The Superbowl Finalists + One That Should Be A Finalist

A few months ago I wrote a  post featuring the latest iteration in Doritos Crash The Superbowl competition.  Well the five finalists for the 6th annual Crash The Superbowl competition have been selected!   They're all amusing spots, though not mind blowing or particularly original.  Out of the finalists, my personal favorite is Bird Of Prey (see below).

What's interesting is the buzz around one of the submission that didn't make the cut.  I think it's far and away superior to any of the five finalist videos.  It's racked up nearly two million views on Youtube in the past week, far more than the views for the finalist videos on Youtube.  To be fair, the Crash The Superbowl site uses a different video player, so it's impossible to know how many views each of the finalist videos has racked up on CrashTheSuperbowl.com.

See the playlist below for the rejected video and the five finalist videos.  You can vote for your favorite at CrashTheSuperbowl.com  Predictions anyone?


Supporting Articles: AdFreak | Buzzilla | Devour

Delta - Your Bag's Journey

Ever wonder what happens to your bag after it gets checked in at the airport?  Delta recently released a video that shows what happens to a checked bag once it goes behind those black rubber flaps.  They put together a piece of luggage with six built in cameras that then traveled on a flight from Atlanta to New York City.  Obviously this bag got special treatment (there's no baggage handler rifling through the luggage to nick your electronics or chucking it haphazardly onto the baggage cart), but overall a very cool behind the scenes look at what a bag goes through to get from point A to point B.

The video (which has racked up about a million views in two weeks) is also an effective way to promote the new Delta mobile app that allows flyers track their checked baggage.

Supporting Articles: PSFK | Devour | USA Today

Heineken - #MYSUNRISE

Heineken has been going nuts lately with a bunch of attention grabbing campaigns in the run up to Christmas.  They recently kicked off a responsible drinking campaign centered around the idea that 'Sunrise belongs to moderate drinkers.'  The goal is to make responsible drinking aspirational as expressed in the the hero content of the campaign (see above video).  The main character rocks out during an all night party, but in a responsible manner.  Outlasting all his drunken friends, he ends his night by going home sharing a sunrise with star DJ Audrey Napoleon.

Developed by AKQA, the campaign was launched across four cities (London, Ho Chi Minh, Rio de Janiero and San Francisco) through a teaser campaign.  Sofas featuring the hashtag #mysunrise were strategically placed in locations that offered the best sunrise view.  Consumers were encouraged to post photos of their best sunrise moments, tagging them #mysunrise and then submitting them to the Heineken Facebook page.  The sunrise images are showcased there and mapped according to the  photo location.  Additionally each week the best sunrise images are retweeted by Heineken to their followers.

Most responsible <fill in the blank> campaigns focus on the negative consequences of too much <fill in the blank>, so it's nice to see Heineken turn this on it's head by making responsible drinking an aspirational endeavor.  That said, good luck with that during the holidays...

via my colleague Yandis Ying

Supporting Articles: Marketing | Brand Channel

Hyundai Holidays

Over the past year Hyundai has been active in using musicians, particularly on Youtube, as the linchpin for several of their campaigns.  Last holiday season they enlisted Youtube indie-rock stars Pomplamoose in a series of holiday TV spots.  In November they launched their RE:GENERATION music project to promote the new 3-door coupe, the Veloster.  The project is a unique documentary film that follows five modern DJs who, through the use of technology, are changing the way the world creates and experiences music. The end result of the project was five new electronic music tracks influenced by genres across the musical spectrum.

As part of this season’s Hyundai Holidays campaign they’ve tweaked their previous activity in a way that’s appealing to both the TV and Youtube audience.  Hyundai (and their in-house agency Innocean) have enlisted the creators behind two of our favorite pieces of user generated content from 2011.  Remember the touching father-daughter cover of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - “Home”?  What about the awesome Whole Food Parking Lot song from Fog & Smog? (note: if you haven’t seen either of those, stop reading right now and check out them out.).  Hyundai has enlisted the creators of both viral hits as part of a series of holiday spots (see above or here).  While using Youtube stars as the subject of TV spots is nothing new, they’re also giving users a forum to showcase their talents or express their wishes for the holidays.  The end of each commercial features a call to action encouraging users to upload a video to the Hyundai Youtube channel where they feature top submissions as well as the umbrella for all of Hyundai’s activity across Youtube, Facebook & Twitter.

Supporting Articles: AllThingsD | AgencySpy

Geneva Labs - Christmas Carol Torture

Great idea from Akestam Holst for Geneva Labs sound systems.  Users must suffer through audio hell to get to audio heaven.  The idea is that you have to endure listening to Jingle Bells as long as possible to qualify for a discount on a Geneva Sound System, the top 3 most tortured victims will get the discount.  Kind a combination of the Whopper Lust campaign from CP+B and the Peugeot Take The Car Challenge from Volt. back


Check it out yourself...http://www.xmascaroltorture.com/


Supporting Articles: Creativity | Adverblog 

Eristoff Vodka - The Wolves Of London

Eristoff Vodka just wrapped up a nice guerilla marketing campaign for their UK launch.  The campaign developed by Us London and pd3 has been ongoing since early November.  It kicked off with 'the arrival of a mysterious circus from Georgia coincides with videos surfacing online that appear to show wolves at large around the capital. Meanwhile, a battered Dakov Circus van is seen and heard on the streets of London, strange growls and howls emanating from inside. But all was not quite as it seems…'

The guys at Popsop described it better than I can in the following except (see full article here):


In the first week of November, a website for the fictional circus (www.DakovCircus.com) appeared, promoting it’s ‘Circus Freak Out’ event in East London, as did listings in Time Out and London blogs.  But an announcement on the site alluded to the ‘Wolves of Vale’ act being postponed due to “unforeseen circumstances.”


Faux-UGC Videos were then seeded across sharing sites and social networks, purporting to show sightings of wolves across South and East London, with supporting Twitter activity to drive interest and excitement.


In the last phase of the campaign a Dakov-branded van, complete with bespoke sound installation, was taken around high-footfall areas of South and East London after dark, complete with eerie howls, growls and bangs emanating from within. ‘Dakov Circus Freakout’ posters appeared in the same areas, and online activity made connections between the ‘Wolf’ videos and the Dakov Circus van and site.
....
The goal was to create some mystery and intrigue, a moment of ‘maybe…just maybe’. Eristoff’s target audience of 18-24 urbanites are media savvy and quick to spot marketing tricks. Some called it, some didn’t…and a few people (but only a few) spotted that Dakov is an anagram of Vodka.

Supporting Articles: PSFK | The Inspiration Room

Turtle Beach - Mission Iraq

Fiveight are the distributors of Turtle Beach gaming headsets.  They wanted to "show a tough, discerning market that Turtle Beach gaming headsets don’t just make the gaming experience sound real – it feels real."  So how are they going about doing this?  They've chosen a hardcore FPS gamer, Phil (handle: StatiC) from New Zealand and are bringing him into a real war zone...Iraq.  "Gamers play in virtual warzones every day and night, and they want the immersive feeling of combat, so we thought we’d take that experience one step further" says Fiveight’s Ben Ward.

Developed by Droga5, Mission Iraq is a five part mini series that will follow Phil's journey and experiences in Iraq.  Definitely a new take on an immersive experience, but not without controversy.  Regardless it'll be interesting to see how his adventure plays out.

Supporting Articles: Adverblog | National Business Review