November 11, 2006
Dove Evolution
Dove’s “Dove Evolution” viral video has brought three times more traffic to their CampaignForRealBeauty.com site than their Super Bowl ad did last year.
Posted by richard ting at November 11, 2006, 04:12 AM
November 09, 2006
Coke, Pepsi, Nike, Adidas Top-In Game Advertisers
People recalling in-game ads... that can't be a good thing.
by Dan Dormer
Gamasutra is reporting that Phoenix Marketing International have released a study examining the effectiveness of in-game advertising. The report indicated that Coke, Pepsi, Nike and Adidas were the brands the most "active adult gamers" could recall. 54% of the gamers surveyed could recall at least some of the in-game advertising from sports games, such as Madden NFL 07. It also should be mentioned that the company asked gamers to recall not specific advertisements featured in-game, but products they remembered seeing. Along with the aforementioned brands, KFC, Burger King, McDonald's, Samsung, BMW, Ford, Gatorade and Mountain Dew (Extreme!!) were also some of the popular products gamers recalled seeing. And the majority of the games players could recall ads from were sports games -- four out of the top five being not only sports games, but EA titles.
Posted by richard ting at November 09, 2006, 05:51 AM
August 29, 2006
Coca-Cola GTA Commercial
Coca-cola did a commercial about their drink with their own style of grand theft auto.
Posted by richard ting at August 29, 2006, 02:52 AM
July 18, 2006
Who is Benjamin Stove?
GM's Alternate Reality Game Yields Real-World Results
Carmaker's Offbeat Online Effort Hypes Ethanol Campaign, Logs 1.8 Million Page Views
[from AdAge.com]
For four months, Christopher Love was plagued by a nagging question: Who is Benjamin Stove? A painting of mysterious crop circles plays a major role in the online GM game designed to promote its ethanol campaign.
Mr. Love, a 26-year-old from Albuquerque, N.M., was caught up in the mystery with thousands of others across the world, spending between 15 minutes and four hours every day trying to solve it. But what he and his fellow detectives didn't realize was they were really involved in an intricate commercial, part of General Motors Corp.'s "Live Green, Go Yellow" ethanol-ad blitz.
'Four-month commercial'
"Who knew a four-month commercial could be so fun?" Mr. Love told Advertising Age in an e-mail. For GM, the feeling is mutual. The automaker's first trip into the world of alternate-reality gaming nabbed the company a small but highly engaged audience for what ordinarily might have been a mundane message: the benefits of ethanol. More than 1,000 players came along for the four-month romp through "a modern-day mystery," said GM's Bob Kraut, director-brand marketing and advertising operations.
The mystery-solving gambit, dubbed "Who is Benjamin Stove?" kept the auto giant's role as backer concealed until late in the process. The goal: Create prelaunch buzz for the ethanol-ad blitz. Alternate-reality games, or ARGs, are catching on with marketers. ARGs ask players to solve mysteries by seeking out clues online and, increasingly, offline as well. Microsoft used an ARG in 2004 to market Halo 2, Audi launched its "Art of the Heist" game last year, and ABC is using an ARG to keep "Lost" viewers intrigued throughout the summer.
1.8 million page views
GM's effort attracted 1.8 million page views through mid-April, with 383,829 consumers spending an average of nearly 17 minutes per visit, according to Stefan Kogler, senior VP-creative director of new media at Campbell-Ewald, which designed the game. (To put that into perspective, a niche cable network such as the Travel Channel might snag about 400,000 prime-time viewers on an average night.) GMD Studios -- the Winter Park, Fla., outfit that created Audi's "Art of the Heist" game -- executed the GM game.
It launched in early January at whoisbenjaminstove.com. There, fictional 29-year-old Tampa, Fla., resident and Newton, Iowa, native Tucker Darby asked for help unraveling the mystery of an antique painting of crop circles he bought in the sale of the Stove family's farm estate in Newton. Benjamin Stove, the farm's last owner, had disappeared without a trace. (Tucker Darby's online picture is actually the ad agency's Brad Fairhurst; other Campbell-Ewald execs appear as well: Christine Wilson posed as Sarah Randall, cynical publisher of debunkette.com, a website on the paranormal and Chris Zientek was Benjamin Stove, who spent his life trying to solve the crop-circles mystery.
Check out the Benjamin Stove site.
Posted by richard ting at July 18, 2006, 12:20 PM
July 17, 2006
Pink Your MySpace -- Victoria's Secret
Check out the Victoria's Secret PINK MySpace resource for backgrounds, code and much, much more. The only way to get to the PINK page is to have a friend let you know the location.
Posted by richard ting at July 17, 2006, 04:27 AM
July 13, 2006
The Coke Show
Visitors to Coke.com can take part in "The Coke Show," monthly "challenges" testing their creativity. In the first challenge, set to run through August, users are invited to submit short videos, but they're not limited to creating ads or odes to the brand. Instead, Coke is asking for 45-second video expressions of "the essence of you." Visitors will rate submissions, culling them down to 10, which will be judged by a group of professional filmmakers.
Posted by richard ting at July 13, 2006, 08:26 AM
Coke + Mentos Viral Piece
Posted by richard ting at July 13, 2006, 08:19 AM
July 05, 2006
Adidas on MySpace
Adidas just recently joined the bandwagon of brands launching profiles on MySpace. To coincide with the World Cup, adidas created a page on MySpace where visitors can sign up to win an XBox 360, view player bios and photos, upload a video to try out for the Impossible Goal Team and download wallpapers and exclusive videos. As of today, over 45K friends have linked to their profile. Not bad.
Posted by richard ting at July 05, 2006, 11:56 AM
The Office "Make Your Own Promo" Contest on YouTube
Create a 20 second promo for NBC’s “The Office”. Shoot your own original footage plus you may use the optional “The Office “ music and graphics provided in a download kit at http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/contest/. Winners’ promos will appear on NBC and “The Office” Web site on NBC.com. For complete video instructions and contest details go to http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/contest/.
Posted by richard ting at July 05, 2006, 11:49 AM
The Ultimate Clean-Up with Snoop Dogg
Orbit gum's latest ad launched last week and features the Orbit Girl coming to the rescue of a foul-mouthed Snoop Dogg. "The Ultimate Clean-Up" shows the rapper being sent to hell, thanks to his filthy mouth. The Orbit Girl comes to the rescue and the spot ends with a cleaner, kinder, Snoop Dogg dressed in white and kickin' it with the ladies up in heaven.
Posted by richard ting at July 05, 2006, 11:41 AM
Gypsy Cab Project
The VW Rabbit is back. It's the first part of a multimedia campaign created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. In addition to the wild postings and billboards that are running nationally and in Canada there are two online components for you to check out as well.
GypsyCabProject.com
VWfeatures.com/rabbit
Posted by richard ting at July 05, 2006, 11:15 AM
June 28, 2006
Marktd
Marktd is to marketing as Digg is to technology. Registered users submit marketing articles to the virtual library, and other users “mark” the ones they like to provide a scale of importance. It’s a really easy way to keep up with industry news without having to wade through all the trade publications.
Posted by richard ting at June 28, 2006, 03:03 AM
June 22, 2006
Droga5 Nabs Top Cyber Honors
Newcomer Droga5 took home the top Cyber Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Droga5, the Publicis-backed creative boutique led by creative chairman David Droga, who is also chair of this year's film and press juries, was honored for Marc Ecko's "Still Free" viral film.
The short promotes the hip-hop clothier's graffiti-based video game, which features a mysterious tagger who spray paints Air Force One. The game triggered a wave of media coverage, causing the Pentagon to deny that any such defacing actually occurred.
Posted by richard ting at June 22, 2006, 11:47 AM
June 20, 2006
Audi -- Art of the Heist
This campaign has been around for a while. It's already accumulated a ton of awards and really broke the door open around alternate reality advertising campaigns. Here's a link that was sent over by Steve Wax over at Campfire Media. It's a terrfic presentation that McKinney did to highlight the narrative progression of the campaign.
Posted by richard ting at June 20, 2006, 11:49 AM
Volvo Cars -- The Hunt
Volvo buried a Volvo XC90 inspired by Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. You have the opportunity to find it. And if you find it first, you can keep it. Simple as that. On the website, you'll see a treasure map. This map will help you to find the Volvo XC90, all you need to do is learn how to read the map.
Posted by richard ting at June 20, 2006, 11:33 AM
June 14, 2006
Organic Starts Emerging Platforms Practice
NEW YORK Organic said it would start an emerging platforms practice to help clients determine the opportunities in social networks, video games, video on demand and other new digital channels.
The new group will bring together practice leaders Organic has developed in these areas, combined with its "persona room" to form the Organic Experience Lab, the agency said. Organic has developed persona rooms for clients like DaimlerChrysler that replicate the living and working areas of target audiences.
To lead the unit, the San Francisco-based Omnicom Group shop hired Chad Stoller, who served 13 years at The Arnell Group, most recently as director of communications solutions. At Organic, he will be executive director of emerging platforms, reporting to CEO Mark Kingdon.
"Clients really want to understand how they become integrated in the digital lifestyle," said Stoller.
With the explosion of digital media, several agencies have begun emerging platforms practice areas. Interpublic Group, for instance, has set up an emerging media lab in Los Angeles to introduce clients to new platforms.
Posted by richard ting at June 14, 2006, 03:28 AM
June 13, 2006
Motorola Mobilizes MySpace
Here's another instance of a brand infiltrating the popular social network, MySpace. Not sure how impactful these branded profiles are anymore. Especially since this one particular profile for the motoQ is really just a glorified product feature that would typically be found on a branded website. In my opinion, I still think the Nikesoccer MySpace profile is the one to beat. Not only does it not shove product down the consumer's throat, it also fosters dialogue about the members of the community. The other content giveaways on the Nikesoccer profile are fresh as well.
Posted by richard ting at June 13, 2006, 10:11 AM
May 11, 2006
Mazda CX-7 EarthSearch
Check out the MAZDA CX-7 EarthSearch Sweepstakes Game. The SUV You Never Saw Coming. First you have to search the earth and find where it's hiding. Do so and you could win other prizes as well, like an Apple Powerbook®, a Magellan® Roadmate 800 Navigation System or a 30 GB Video iPod®. Just download Google Earth below and start searching the most famous locales in the world to find the most exhilarating SUV on the planet.
Posted by richard ting at May 11, 2006, 03:00 AM
May 08, 2006
The Gamekillers for Axe.
Here's a really well-executed campaign for Axe called the Gamekillers. The concept and voice are very appropriate to the consumers that they are targeting. There's also a bunch of multi-channel ideas mixed in there. Overall, nice concept, nice execution.
Posted by richard ting at May 08, 2006, 10:20 AM
May 04, 2006
Truth In Advertising
A great story about how a marketing campaign is made. Speakers say what they think and not what they should say. Mad funny.
Posted by richard ting at May 04, 2006, 05:45 AM
April 25, 2006
Wes Anderson Amex Commercial
Here's a brilliant Wes Anderson My Life, My Card ad starring Jason Schwartzman.
Posted by richard ting at April 25, 2006, 07:22 AM
April 19, 2006
Honda Sponsors MTV and VH1 Pink 'Flashmob' Concert on Broadband and Mobile Platforms
[from theautochannel]
'Flashmob' Video Clips Available Through VH1 Mobile and MTV Mobile
MTV and VH1 will paint their respective broadband and mobile platforms "pink" with content from an exclusive flashmob concert in New York City with platinum-selling LaFace/Zomba artist Pink. The concert footage features music from Pink's latest album, "I'm Not Dead."
The "flashmob" concert was the result of a contest launched last fall in conjunction with Honda and its advertising agency RPA to promote the launch of the 2006 Honda Civic. MTV and VH1 worked with Honda to develop the extensive 12-week "Honda Civic Under The Hood" campaign featuring a unique series of music-based interstitials that drove viewers to various media platforms to enter their zip codes, giving the region with the most entries a "flashmob" concert by a national music artist. VH1 and MTV joined forces for the first time ever in creating a cross-channel multiplatform campaign that amplified the reach of the networks' live music franchises to support the launch of the 2006 Honda Civic.
On April 5, text messages and emails went out to contest entrants informing them of the Pink "flashmob" concert in New York that evening. The first 200 to respond to the message won access to the event at Crobar.
Posted by richard ting at April 19, 2006, 04:21 AM
April 05, 2006
Porn Star Jameson Whacks For Adidas In Podcast Campaign
[from mediapost]
PROVING THE RULES FOR ONLINE viral campaigns may in fact be different than for over-the-air and cable TV ads, adult film star Jenna Jameson stars in the first of a series of new advertising podcasts created for sneaker maker Adidas. The campaign, created by New York-based Tronic, utilizes a whack-the-mole theme in which Jameson attempts to "pound the living daylights out of six cute little gophers that keep popping out of a coin-fed machine." The podcast is part of the revival of adiColor, a 1983 Adidas campaign in which Adidas shoes could be personalized with colorful markers.
Posted by richard ting at April 05, 2006, 01:35 AM
Chevy Slammed By Consumer-Generated Ads
[from MediaPost]
Perhaps Chevy is getting what it deserves by asking consumers to create ads for them, writes Stuart Elliott of The New York Times. As a new means of "engaging" consumers with brands, some advertisers have asked consumers to make their marketing messages for them, offering some kind of incentive to the user who creates the best ad. Chevrolet, using video shot for a 30-second TV commercial for its 2007 Tahoe, in which the vehicle careens down a sunflower-lined country road, did just that, and some of the responses they've gotten haven't exactly been what a media agency would like to see consumers doing with their client’s brand. At the end of the video clip, one consumer posts, in white lettering: "$70 to fill up the tank, which will last less than 400 miles. Chevy Tahoe." Part of the idea here is that consumers will share their video creations with friends--but not these kinds of creations, which, the Times says became the most widely-circulated videos of the Chevy Tahoe on the Web. Says another, using an image of the Tahoe driving through the desert: "Our planet's oil is almost gone. You don't need G.P.S. to see where this road leads." Advertisers, who've become enamored of late with user-generated content, "buzz," and engagement, are learning the hard way that these opportunities can be a double-edged sword. The lesson here: there is a context for consumer engagement and viral marketing; just because consumers don't necessarily hate advertising doesn't mean they love plugging your brand for you, either.
Watch the Chevy Tahoe videos on YouTube.
Posted by richard ting at April 05, 2006, 01:02 AM
March 08, 2006
Saatchi and Saatchi Toilet Campaign
Excellent guerilla marketing campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi New York to highlight the public restroom shortage in New York. Cardboard people were placed around certain locations to get people's attention to the problem.
Posted by richard ting at March 08, 2006, 07:06 AM
Room 116 Blog
I snagged the above photo of a Sony Walkman print ad on the Room 116 blog site. It's an great blog site hosted by Bryan Chiao over at Anomaly in New York City. Excellent resource for those non-traditional advertising wonks out there.
Posted by richard ting at March 08, 2006, 06:58 AM
TBWA Blog -- Lisbon
Thanks to Harshal Sisodia for the link. Check out the TBWA\LISBOA blog, which is a part of the TBWA\ network which, in turn, is part of Omnicom Group Inc, one of the world’s largest communication groups. The TBWA\LISBOA office has a team of 50 people who work on a wide range of areas such as: brand management, creativity and ideas, design, research and strategic planning, traffic and TV/Radio/Photo production.
There's a ton of cool ideas posted on this blog. Give it a look.
Posted by richard ting at March 08, 2006, 06:51 AM
February 28, 2006
Run London + Google Maps
Nike has selected digital agency AKQA to develop a new online community and mapping tool to promote the sportswear brand’s Run London campaign. The RouteFinder tool lets runners create, measure, save and share their running routes with a community of runners all over the capital.
The tool has been integrated with Google Maps interfaces with Run London-branded graphical elements. Users can search the city by postcode, distance, or type of run such as hilly, flat or park, for routes other runners have created.
Alternatively, users can begin creating a run of their own by clicking points on the map. They can save a list of favourite routes, send them on to friends and browse the top-five routes of the season.
Posted by richard ting at February 28, 2006, 04:43 AM
February 25, 2006
NIKEiD Europe Banner
This link was sent over to me by my lovely wife, Chloe Gottlieb.
It's the European NIKEiD banner that lets the user play with the feeling of customization by banging away on their keyboards. It's a nice way of drawing users into the site experience.
Posted by richard ting at February 25, 2006, 06:37 AM
February 18, 2006
Onitsuka Tiger - Lovely Football Campaign
Check out the 'Spread the Lovely' campaign for Onitsuka Tiger. It's the world's first online karaoke competition. Thanks to Erik at strawberryfrog for the link.
Posted by richard ting at February 18, 2006, 02:59 AM
February 07, 2006
Super Bowl Ad Aftershocks Reverberate Across Web
[from nytimes.com]
It used to be that those super-expensive Super Bowl ads would disappear forever following the Big Game. Nowadays, Madison Avenue is trying to figure out what extended after-life these ads receive on the Web really means. This year's ads are now widely available on a multitude of formats—streaming Web pages, downloadable email files, video podcasts, etc.—prolonging the discourse that follows almost indefinitely. Super Bowl advertising is a media event in and of itself, making the estimated $2.5 million price tag for the 30 second spots seem like "something of a bargain," according to Stuart Elliott of The New York Times. Advertising executives who oversaw the purchase of these ads agree. "What's happening in the postgame more than made up for the cost," said one. Not only that, but the Internet media giants know these spots generate traffic, and advertisers. AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo--the big four Web companies--as well as sports sites like ESPN and NFL.com, have all put up video clips of the Super Bowl commercials. In fact, yesterday, Time Warner's AOL said that a record 23 million Super Bowl commercials were streamed by yesterday afternoon--and the company even sells a video ad before showing each Super Bowl spot.
Posted by richard ting at February 07, 2006, 05:51 AM
Amazon Testing Contextual Ad Program with Affiliates
[from Clickz]
Leveraging its massive affiliate network, Amazon.com has launched a third party contextual network to rival the likes of Google and Yahoo. The Internet retailing giant is testing a program that distributes third-party contextual ad links to its affiliate network. Like Google's AdSense, Amazon and the affiliate each receive a cut (though the split is undisclosed) when users click on ads that are targeted based on the page's content. The text links appear alongside affiliates' links to Amazon product pages. Amazon said the move is intended to develop and maintain long-term relationships with its affiliates. Thus far, only those affiliates hand picked by Amazon are participating in the beta test, which started January 27.
Posted by richard ting at February 07, 2006, 05:46 AM
February 02, 2006
Ad Mob - The Mobile Advertising Marketplace
Pay Per Click Ads Go Mobile. AdMob, the world's first pay-per-click
mobile ad marketplace. Buyers can now reach consumers right on their phone and target by region, platform. Sellers can monetize your existing mobile products and services
Posted by richard ting at February 02, 2006, 12:18 PM
Bannerblog
Banner Blog started in June 2005 to showcase* online advertising, much of which goes unnoticed. BannerBlog was created by Ashley Ringrose who works at Soap Creative, a small & friendly independent agency and Ashadi Hopper who works at RMG Connect.
Posted by richard ting at February 02, 2006, 08:41 AM
January 16, 2006
Create a TV Ad Campaign For $500
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Spot Runner is the first Internet-based ad agency that makes it easy and affordable for local businesses to advertise on TV. With Spot Runner's revolutionary approach to commercial production, media planning and media buying services, local businesses now have access to a powerful marketing tool that was previously out of their reach. Advertisers can choose from a comprehensive library of professionally produced ads which can be viewed, purchased and personalized in a simple process online. With its proprietary media planning engine, Spot Runner also creates customized media plans by using some basic information entered by the advertiser, such as their industry, target demographics and budget. The entire process, which can traditionally take months and hundreds of thousands of dollars, now takes just days and at a fraction of the cost. Spot Runner manages each account by securing the ad buy, placing and tracking the ads, and analyzing viewership and demographic information.
Posted by richard ting at January 16, 2006, 07:52 AM
January 02, 2006
London Lee
This is an MP3 blog specializing mostly in classic soul, funk, and dance music.
Posted by richard ting at January 02, 2006, 12:51 PM
December 22, 2005
French Alternative Marketing Blog
Here's a great French Blog site that focuses on street, guerilla, and buzz marketing activities.
Posted by richard ting at December 22, 2005, 11:42 AM
I Have An Idea
The mission of the site is to serve the industry as a mechanism for communication, self-analysis and intellectual growth. They will document the world's creative community and disseminate this priceless knowledge to help it grow and flourish. The site promises to ask questions, challenge the establishment and the norms, and make every possible effort to add fuel to the industry they so passionately love.
This is not a website. It is an interactive project, an online and accessible pool of knowledge to which users can and should contribute.
Posted by richard ting at December 22, 2005, 11:29 AM
Agency of the Year
Winners in each of the following categories: Online Agency of the Year, Best Creative, Best Media Planning and Buying, Best Search, and Best Web Design and Site Development will be announced on January 12, 2006. The event is scheduled to take place from 6-8pm at the Yale Club of New York City, 50 Vanderbilt Avenue.
Posted by richard ting at December 22, 2005, 10:11 AM
December 10, 2005
Palladium Shoes
[from mediapost]
Talk about an innovative way to sell shoes. Palladium shoes is tapping in to the Geocaching phenomenon (a game where players use GPS receivers and Web clues to find hidden "caches" around the world) to hawk its men's and women's travel shoes. For starters, each page of the Palladium Web site refers to the Geocaching game. The pages display each of nine shoe styles in a "home city," and provide travel information and cache clues for that city. Even better, Palladium is placing clues on non-Palladium sites. Clues will be hidden in different retailer-determined locations and announced on public geocaching sites. Posters will go up in the cities where the hidden caches are placed.Targeting "Urban Nomads" ages 22 to 38, and launching this month, the campaign tag line fits like a glove: "The Destination is the Journey." The Republik created the campaign.
Posted by richard ting at December 10, 2005, 05:34 AM
HBO Good Gift Seeker
Check out the HBO Good Gift Seeker that was created by Atmosphere BBDO NY.
Posted by richard ting at December 10, 2005, 05:06 AM
Honda, The Impossible Dream
Honda, The Impossible Dream is a :30 second spot done by Wieden + Kennedy for Honda. The accompanying on-line experience is a great statement that brand advertising extends way past just a :30 second spot. Not sure which agency did the on-line work.
Check out the site.
Check out the TV spot.
Posted by richard ting at December 10, 2005, 04:47 AM
Entertainment Anytime
Here's the Sprint Entertainment Anytime viral campaign done by Organic. It's a nice simple idea that's well executed, although it smells like a subservient chicken rip-off. Seems like the Crispin Porter work is still inspiring many throughout the industry.
Posted by richard ting at December 10, 2005, 04:36 AM
November 23, 2005
Nordstrom Silverscreen
The Nordstrom Silverscreen(tm) is about combining music and fashion in a fresh, entertaining way. Unfortunately, the campaign feels stale and boring. The quality of music videos is so choppy that it really detracts from the experience. There are supposedly other pieces of cool interactive content that users can directly download to their desktops. However, I never got that far because I couldn't get past the crap videos.
Anyway, the site has a video remix of the Go-Go's classic "Our Lips Are Sealed." It's the original video (complete with pre-Ross and Rachel fountain dancing) with a modern twist and a new remix by Fatboy Slim.
Check it out.
Posted by richard ting at November 23, 2005, 11:43 AM
November 18, 2005
The New Next: Viral Comes Into Its Own
[from mediapost]
In place of crass, one-off Internet stunts that have given viral techniques a bad name, marketers and agencies have begun to realize that many eager consumers truly want to get involved and participate in this narrative-based entertainment, and to place themselves in a position to interact with the story and the brands.
The granddaddy of viral campaigns is, of course, the work done for the 1999 film "The Blair Witch Project." The trend is full-blown by now. For a wake-up call, check out any of these campaigns I've tracked, all of which have broken some new ground in this emerging genre.
They include Sega Games' "Beta-7"; Audi Auto's "Art of the Heist"; Halo's "I Love Bees"; Lincoln Mercury's "Meet the Lucky Ones"; Mini's "Men of Metal"; Honda U.K.'s "Change Something" (about which I intend to write in more detail in a future New Next); Stella Artois' "Sable & Shuck"; Rainier Beer's "Tim and Chuck" show (which I talked about last month); and Virgin Mobile's www.billythefinger.com.
Posted by richard ting at November 18, 2005, 05:32 AM
November 13, 2005
Bacardi Live Llymit Site
The Bacardi Live site just recently launched and it feels really well designed and programmed. I like the animation effects, page transistions, supremely easy navigation, and rock solid usability. The site feels industrial strength with zero bugs or site defects. Reminds me of the NIKEiD.com site. For all the lads out there, you'll love the videos and pictures of the Bacardi Girls. Simply lovely.
Check out the site.
Posted by richard ting at November 13, 2005, 01:31 AM
November 08, 2005
Honda Branded Entertainment Site
[from mediapost]
What does a burro have to do with a Honda Element? That's just one of the questions being answered in a campaign that likens the traits of unusual animals with the Honda Element. (The Element and the burro both carry a lot of stuff; feel free to tuck this away with your other useless trivia). The campaign was created by RPA and was designed to showcase the features of the Element in an offbeat and humorous way. In one of the six TV spots, the Element is referred to as a "hodgepodge." The Element's response? "Where does a platypus learn a word like 'hodgepodge?'" The TV, Web, print and outdoor, ads drive consumers to the Element and Friends Web site, where visitors are given their own virtual Honda Element to maneuver around an island in an online game. Along the way, they encounter the animals from the TV commercials.
Posted by richard ting at November 08, 2005, 11:29 AM
October 26, 2005
iPod Nano QR Campaign on Tokyo Metro
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From the heart of Japan's youth culture -- Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district -- Flickr user Purpin describes how Apple is advertising the iPod nano:
"As part of their rather unique advertising campaign, huge iPod nano posters now adorn the platform walls of Toyoko Line Shibuya Station. As you depart the train you'll be faced with a stream after stream of 1:1 iPod nano cutouts, in which you can pull off and take home. Much to my suprise, I later realised that these cutouts weren't made of cardboard but of plastic, and are very rigidly built too. On the reverse side were the URL and QR Codes of a site where you can download iPod nano wallpapers for your mobile phone."
Posted by richard ting at October 26, 2005, 03:15 AM
October 24, 2005
In Japan, Billboards Take Code-Crazy Ads to New Heights
[from wsj.com]
Northwest Airlines is harnessing Japan's love of gadgets to open a new frontier in interactive advertising: tempting consumers to access prizes and games by scanning giant bar codes with their cellphone cameras. In its latest Tokyo outdoor campaign, Northwest Airlines, the fourth-largest U.S. airline by traffic, is covering the city's billboards and subway stations with ads containing the bar codes, which look like huge geometric Rorschach tests. The ads taunt passersby to unlock a message hidden inside the square of black and white pixels called a QR code, which requires a special reader to decode.
Sound complicated? Not in Japan where already some 30 million people carry the special readers around, tucked inside their cellphones. With a snapshot, the information is decoded, directing the phone's Web browser to coupons, games or further details on a product. QR codes have grown in popularity in Japan over the past year, showing up thumbnail size on magazine and newspaper ads as a quick automatic link between print and online media that doesn't require the customer to type in an Internet address or remember a special code. Similar attempts in the U.S. haven't caught on, probably because the scanners aren't built into an existing gadget.
Read more.
Posted by richard ting at October 24, 2005, 05:08 AM
October 22, 2005
Bluetooth Marketing for Nike
|
In Barcelona, in Plaza Cataluña, Nike has installed a huge outdoor ad featuring tennis player Rafael Nadal, and powered with Bluetooth technology. By turning their Bluetooth connection on, users can download the new Nike Pro Tv spot and an exclusive Nadal screensaver. The campaign was planned by Media Planning Barcelona. |
Posted by richard ting at October 22, 2005, 02:03 AM
October 14, 2005
Mercedes R-Class Site
Here's a cool site that shows motion by using lots of panning and rotating of still images.
Posted by richard ting at October 14, 2005, 07:24 AM
October 13, 2005
Perfect Dark Zero Campaign
Microsoft is hoping this game will be their next Halo-caliber success for Xbox 360.
“Visitors to this intriguing site are caught in a dark web of email, online and mobile phone experiences that come together to promote Perfect Dark Zero, the highly-anticipated video game exclusively for the Xbox 360 console. The multi-pronged viral campaign assembled by interactive marketing agency AKQA was launched on October 4, and kicks off with an email that directs you to a web video where you'll witness your own "death" at the hands of Joanna Dark. You then get a chance to send the sexy heroine to "take care" of a friend of your choice, who'll receive a similar email directing them to the web video—and once they get there, you'll receive a cell phone call from Joanna herself, informing you that the job is done.”
Posted by richard ting at October 13, 2005, 08:06 AM
Mini Roof Studio
Add a photo of your roof graphic to the Mini permanent collection.
Check it out.
Posted by richard ting at October 13, 2005, 07:54 AM
October 11, 2005
Wonderbra Site
Here's the latest Wonderbra site called 'Experience Wonder You'. Aside from the nice-looking ladies in the site, it's actually a really well designed site that simply tells the story of the four various effects of wearing a Wonderbra. Each effect aligns with the product benefit story of each story so the user walks away from the site better 'educated' about Wonderbras. The clean visual design, smooth animation, and simple storytelling make this a cool site.
Posted by richard ting at October 11, 2005, 04:51 AM
October 04, 2005
Absolut Metropolis
In its new campaign "Absolut Metropolis, the vodka brand Absolut picked up eleven "creative types" off the streets of Tokyo and asked them to put together an outfit/artwork inspired by the "Absolut" brand. I can't tell from the website whether these are "real" amateurs or recent Bunka graduates or what, but each individual conveniently has a different extreme-subcultural style. Put together, they are like a street-fashion Justice League Jr.
Posted by richard ting at October 04, 2005, 12:52 PM
September 26, 2005
Sony PlayStation bubble wrap exploitation
[via Joseph Cartman via Joystiq]
For those of you that can't get enough of that sweet sweet packaging crack called bubble wrap, then check out this addicting Playstation marketing campaign that was done in Malaysia.
Posted by richard ting at September 26, 2005, 09:34 AM
August 29, 2005
Nokia 20Lives, Advergame
[via adverblog]
Following the success of Nokia Game, on September 19th Nokia will introduce a new interactive adventure, Nokia 20Lives (the site doesn't work yet), combining the online and mobile experience in a unique challenge. Nokia 20Lives uses video and animated images on the Internet, as well as SMS, email and voice messages to share information with the players. During the game players have a chance to win a mobile phone or compete for the grand prizes, such as helicopter ride, spa weekend or trip to a Formula 1 weekend in Monaco, related to the lives of the 20 characters. To take part in Nokia 20Lives, participants need to have access to the Internet, an e-mail address, and a mobile phone with the capacity to receive short messages. Nokia 20Lives is open to all mobile phone users over the age of 16 in the 21 participating countries, and there is no participation fee.
Registration for Nokia 20Lives opens on August 29, 2005 at www.nokia.com/20Lives/, and players can register during the game until October 11. Nokia 20Lives will kick off on September 19 and it will be played until October 13, covering 21 European countries in 11 languages.
Posted by richard ting at August 29, 2005, 01:22 AM
August 11, 2005
3rd Annual MSN Creative Awards
MSN Creative Awards Celebrate Pioneers in Online Advertising.
Some of the U.S. advertising industry's most entertaining, effective and innovative online campaigns earned kudos last night at the third annual MSN Creative Awards, presented by MSN(R). Eight prominent agencies received a total of $50,000 to honor their groundbreaking work in four categories of online advertising for campaigns that appeared on MSN sites over the past year. The winners were chosen from more than 300 creative entries representing over 130 brands in a competition centered on the theme of Web pioneers.
Posted by richard ting at August 11, 2005, 01:26 AM
July 27, 2005
Burger King sexual captions an 'honest mistake'
[from Agenda Inc.]
Sexual double entendres were removed overnight from Burger King's new website, CoqRoq.com, but the company claims it has received no complaints from consumers or other outside groups, AdAge reports. The deleted content included captions, under photos of young girls, that read: "Groupies love the Coq" and "groupies love Coq."
The captions were there when the site went live yesterday, but according to Edna Johnson, SVP for global communications for Burger King, malfunctions in the Flash and XML programming were responsible for putting the captions up. A misspelling of "Burger King" had also been fixed, she said.
The site, created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky of Subservient Chicken fame, is designed to look like a rock band site. (The band is named CoqRoq, the lead singer Fowl Mouth.)
Check out the site.
Posted by richard ting at July 27, 2005, 06:41 AM
July 26, 2005
GAP Viral -- watchmechange.com
Here's a GAP viral piece by Crispin & Porter. WatchMeChange is similar to what other clothing retailers are doing with their Virtual Mannequins. However, this one is more for fun than finding clothes. You get to customize a person to look like you, choose some clothes, and then watch it dance and strip. Stupid shit, but it's from Crispin so it must be good.
Posted by richard ting at July 26, 2005, 06:18 AM
July 24, 2005
PSP Cutout Guitars
From today, if you happen to see a giant cardboard cut-out of a guitar, then you should know that it is your duty to interact with it.
In a bid to liven up the streets of London, PSP presents CutOut and will deposit 500 1.75m-tall electric guitar silhouettes around town, designed by Peter Saville and complete with frets and dials.
It is hoped that people will want to pick them up and play them, reinforcing PSP’s message of freedom and fun.
‘The guitar is the defining icon of electric pop culture,’ says Saville, who had an open brief as to what template he would design. ‘I wanted to design a super-sized cut-out for custom colouring and anarchic pantomime. I wanted to inspire people to feel like a child feeling grown-up.’
Fifty of the CutOuts will be signed by Peter Saville, but undoubtedly the real finds will be the 20 CutOuts that have been customised by 10 of the UK’s most hotly tipped newcomers from the fields of photography, art, graphic design, illustration, sculpture, textiles, product design, and silkscreen printing.
Posted by richard ting at July 24, 2005, 06:02 AM
July 18, 2005
Nestea Hopes Site Goes Viral
JUXT Interactive has created an absurdly interactive web environment for the new Nestea drink, Nestea Ice, geared to the 12- to 24-year-old male. The site incorporates original music videos, a design feature that allows visitors to create T-shirts, a short film, and other means of keeping visitors on the site as long as possible, writes MediaPost. Nestea is counting on the fact that the site will take advantage of the viral potential of the web. Since its launch in late June it has attracted about 2,200 unique visitors a day, but that is without the online ad campaign that will launch soon. The campaign will also include TV, point-of-purchase, radio, PR, and sampling.
Posted by richard ting at July 18, 2005, 03:52 AM
July 16, 2005
Everyone Runs. Eventually
Here's an addicting advergame from Saucony in support of it's new Saucony Propel shoe.
Posted by richard ting at July 16, 2005, 03:27 AM
July 13, 2005
PINK Asks Young Women to Show Cards, Thongs
Victoria's Secret PINK brand is challenging young women to take up cards and take off their jeans with the launch of a strip poker Web experience created by agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky.
The site, at PinkPantyPoker.com, targets women aged 18 to 24 with a first person gaming experience akin to several others the agency has created for clients such as Method and Burger King.
Site visitors go up against a group of five other characters, attractive men and women, in a game of five-card draw. Each round has a loser, and that character must remove an article of clothing. If the user on the end loses, his or her arm extends into the screen and drops a shirt, skirt or pair of pants, as the case may be.
"We're excited about this one because it brings together game-like qualities, but it's all about the product. Your goal is to see the product," said Jeff Benjamin, Crispin's interactive executive creative director. "It's a different way of showing a catalog."
The strip poker experience is intended to spread virally, so PINK hasn't deployed an ad buy to promote the site's launch. Benjamin said some banner ads have been created and may be placed around the Web if the client decides it wants to boost traffic. He claims early traffic reports are good, and he expects the site to be a hit with men as well as women.
At the end of the game, an e-mail forward feature sends a message reading, "Supermodel Alessandra is throwing a Panty Poker Party with her friends Chris, Bobby, Theresa and Tatiane. Check it out at [URL]. Hope you've got your lucky bikinis on."
PINK has been a CPB client since mid-2004. The agency has completed some banner advertising for it in the past, but this is the brand's first "major" online initiative.
Posted by richard ting at July 13, 2005, 07:16 AM
July 01, 2005
Nike Women: take sport, add music
[from adverblog]
Scholz & Friends Stockholm is behind the new Nike online marketing effort to support the Women Moves campaign. The agency has created a website to present the Nike Women Moves concept with a series of animated dancing silhouettes. Infotainment content explains visitors where to find the best dance courses and which trainer suits them best. A short film "The true tale" is also available. Don't expect too many special effects: the soundtrack is pretty good and so is the cartoon concept, but Nike used to do better.
Posted by richard ting at July 01, 2005, 02:20 AM
LEXUS TO LAUNCH PODCAST MARKETING CAMPAIGN
[from adage.com]
Signs 26-Week Deal With Calif. Radio Station KCRW
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Toyota Motor Sales USA's Lexus division has become the latest mainstream brand to seize on podcasting as a marketing tool. Lexus has bought into a podcasting campaign through public radio station KCRW in Southern California.
The luxury auto company has signed a 26-week deal to sponsor podcasts at Santa Monica, Calif., public radio station KCRW. The pact was signed on behalf of the Southern California Lexus Dealers and goes into effect tin October.
Lexus joins marketers such as General Motors Corp., Audi and Warner Bros. that are investigating this emerging technology that combines attributes of the Internet and radio to create a new sort of hybrid.
Podcasting is a method of distributing digital audio files across the Internet for users to download onto their iPods and MP3 players to listen to at their leisure. Some 22 million Americans now have a device that plays such files.
“Podcasting is a way to reach a fresh audience, a niche audience,” said Bill Flitter, chief marketing officer and founder of RSS ad network Pheedo. Audi, for example, is sponsoring a podcast for Autoblog. But Lexus also joins brands like condom maker Durex that want to appeal to younger, hipper consumers who are never far from their iPods and the desire to experience media of their choice when and how they want it.
Posted by richard ting at July 01, 2005, 02:13 AM
June 29, 2005
BringtheFast.com
Check out Verizon's branded entertainment campaign to build awareness of Verizon as a broadband company and its online DSL and FiOS products.
Posted by richard ting at June 29, 2005, 03:30 AM
June 10, 2005
Audi Touts Success of "Heist"
Audi of America is crowing over the results of its alternate reality gaming (ARG) "Art of the Heist" viral campaign. The company says the game has generated four times more online buzz for the A3 compact car, has engaged more than 200,000 people in a single day, and has attracted 79 percent more qualified visitors to the Audi Web site, as compared with previous efforts.
"'The Art of the Heist' represents a true innovation in the way Audi connects with its target consumer," said Stephen Berkov, Audi of America's director of marketing, in a statement. The effort, which began on April 1 in New York, revved up with the fictional theft of an Audi A3. Since then, game players have followed -- and participated in -- the adventures of Nisha Roberts and Ian Yarbrough, two specialists in recovering snatched art, as they track down digital clues hidden in Audis across the country. The tale of game designer Virgil Tatum, who is developing a game based on Roberts, also plays into the narrative.
The ARG was created by Audi's long-time ad agency, McKinney + Silver, in partnership with Campfire, which is an collaboration between Mike Monello and Gregg Hale of Haxan Films, GMD Studios and Chelsea Pictures.
Besides running online advertisements encouraging people to help find the stolen A3, the company has created a microsite at stolenA3.com where gamers can follow the action. Audi has also created a fictional site for Roberts and Yarbrough's company at lastresortretrieval.com, and a site for Tatum at virgilkingofcode.com.
The campaign also uses blogs and wild postings to keep the public updated about the alternate reality action. Additionally, game players have themselves created wikis (define) and fan sites, such as heist.smirkbox.com, to help others follow the narrative.
Posted by richard ting at June 10, 2005, 01:20 AM
May 31, 2005
The Clio Awards winners
[from adverblog]
The "Subservient Chicken" campaign created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky has been voted the "best of show" at the international Clio Awards. The campaign was awarded for the was for excellence in the brand building and its fresh approach. If you go on the Clio Awards site is not so easy to exactly understand who has won what. Anyway I tried to do my best to find out which were the best campaigns. Dentsu Tokio has won the bronze in the "self-promotion" category for its Interactive Salaryman. Crispin Porter + Bogusky Miami won the silver in the "Fresh Approach" category also for the MINI Robots campaign and the bronze for Virgin in the "Banner Ads" category. R/GA New York won the bronze in the "Fresh Approach" category for Nike Lab, the bronze in the "E-Commerce" category for Nike ID and again a bronze in the "Brand Building" category for Nike Lab.
Among the shortlisted entries for the Internet awards in the "banner ads category" we also find Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco with HP iPod Paterson Campaign, AgenciaClick, Sao Paulo for Instituto Nokia (Code-Blood - Tattoo campaign), Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand for the New Zealand Army campaign, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Singapore for the Levi's 501 Lived-In Banner.
AdWeek has an article which makes more clear who has won the awards and the categories in which no gold has been assigned.
Check out the Clios Awards Site.
Posted by richard ting at May 31, 2005, 11:06 AM
May 28, 2005
iCoke, Attempts of Interactive Youth Marketing
[from adverblog]
New Media Age reports this week Coca-Cola is getting ready for the global launch of iCoke, an highly interactive youth marketing program. The initiative has already debuted in China and Canada and should be supported by on-pack promotions to drive traffic online.
iCoke Canada is basically a loyalty marketing initiative which invites young users to collect points in order to gain prizes. The Canadian website features a competition which instantly gives away a Sony LCD Tv by inserting the PIN code found on the can. There is also a co-marketing section, the "Games Lounge" together with Sony Playstation. The "Download" area will offer mobile content such as wallpapers and ringtones but it's not active yet... It has a sad "coming soon" message which is one of the best move you can do to disappoint your audience.
I know naming a brand or a campaign is not simple, but "iCoke" isn't the most original name they could have come up with. Of course it's easy to remember, but it sounds so much like Apple. Furthermore I don't like the logo (look at the right side of this post) which doesn't say anything about Coca-Cola's personality and brand. All right, enough critics for me, let's wait for the iCoke launch in other countries.
Check out the site.
Posted by richard ting at May 28, 2005, 11:11 AM
May 26, 2005
The Spicy BBQ Burger - Paris Hilton
[from mediapost]
PARIS HILTON IS TOO HOT for TV (and the Internet, too). More ads taking advantage of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith." Wendy's wants consumers to "do what tastes right." Let's launch! Paris Hilton's ad for Carl's Jr.'s Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger is so hot that not only have watchdog groups labeled it soft-core porn but the ad crashed SpicyParis.com, a site featuring a 60-second version of the ad. The 30-second spot launched May 19 on the West Coast and shows Hilton eating The Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger while washing a Bentley in what's been labeled a "bathing suit." Throw in some not-so subliminal images (hello gushing hose) and the final product will still leave viewers asking, "What burger company was that for?" Mendelsohn|Zien, Los Angeles created the ad.
Posted by richard ting at May 26, 2005, 01:50 AM
May 20, 2005
The Mazda "Car Wars"
[from adverblog]
DMC London is planning, seeding and tracking a new viral buzz for Mazda. The campaign, called "Car Wars" features a web-exclusive film created to raise brand awareness and boost demand for the Mazda B-Series pick-up.
The video shows three men trying to impress a sexy sophisticated woman by flashing their car keys (one driver owns an Aston Martin, one has a Porsche and a guy has a Mazda B-Series). Who will she pick and why? I know you can guess the answer, but watch the video anyway, it's funny!
Posted by richard ting at May 20, 2005, 06:34 AM
May 19, 2005
NYC2012 - City of Dreams
There's a new feature on NYC2012’s website—the City of Dreams. This application allows people to enter their names and their dreams for the 2012 Olympics in New York, and creates a graphical city skyline using those entries. Anyone can visit the City of Dreams and add their own contribution.
Posted by richard ting at May 19, 2005, 06:12 AM
May 16, 2005
Red Bull Creativity Contest
Submitted by blogger, Daniel Harvey. Red Bull introduces their Creativity Contest campaign which borrows upon various elements from previous campaigns and websites. Brands like Nike, Vans, and Fila have given up their products for artist re-interpretation for years. While, the full screen sliding action pioneered by Frost Design and the faux z-depth action done by Matthew Mahon are gaining steam in design circles. Overall, the site is well designed and well executed. Unfortunately, I can't read Dutch or French so I can't fully tell how compelling the artist renditions are.
Posted by richard ting at May 16, 2005, 10:39 AM
May 12, 2005
BUILD YOUR OWN NIKE SHOE -- ABOVE TIMES SQUARE
[from Adage.com]
New Billboard Promotion Is Activated by Mobile Phones
May 09, 2005
by Kris Oser
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In its customary way of going for ever bigger and more different promotions, Nike has purchased a build-your-own-shoe media placement on the 23-story-high Reuters sign on the Reuters Building in Times Square. The Nike build-a-shoe sign on the Reuters building in Times Square. Click to see larger photo.
Real-time designing
The promotion, which is part of the sports apparel giant's NikeID campaign, lets passersby with a cell phone to call a toll-free number to access the technology and use the dial pad to choose aspects of a sneaker they prefer and build it in real time on the sign. After first picking out the colors of the laces, swoosh, uppers and mid-sole of the sport shoe and then customizing it with initials or other personal tags, the consumer is sent an SMS message with a picture of the personalized shoe and the Web address (www.nyc.nikeid.com) where it can be purchased. The technology is available between noon and 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
"The more you allow people to stop what they are doing and interact with a brand, the better it's going to be," said John Mayo-Smith, vice president of technology at R/GA, the interactive agency that handled the campaign. "But just as important, the people who are watching the sign are getting a brand experience, too."
Nike would not comment for this story.
Posted by richard ting at May 12, 2005, 03:08 AM
May 09, 2005
Grocery Store Wars
[from mediapost]
Okay, it looks like just about everyone is attempting to capitalize on the upcoming release of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith." The Organic Trade Association (OTA) and Free Range Studios have launched a five-minute movie online. "Store Wars: The Organic Rebellion" features Cuke Skywalker, Princess Lettuce, Chewbroccoli, and other organic rebels played by real vegetables (I hope none were injured through the making of this film). They are dressed as Star Wars characters and battle with Darth Tader, the evil lord of the Dark Side of the Farm. By spoofing a pop culture phenomenon like "Star Wars," OTA hopes to attract a new generation of organic consumers, especially those who grew up watching the movies.
Posted by richard ting at May 09, 2005, 10:20 AM
May 08, 2005
AMEX - My Life My Card
This is a cool campaign that AMEX runs. A different item every day. Limited Quantities. Special Cardmember-only prices. Users can only make purchases at given times. Last Christmas, the site was selling BMW Z3s for $4500 (not 45,000) and Treo 600s for $150.
Posted by richard ting at May 08, 2005, 12:59 PM
April 27, 2005
Nokia Concept Lounge
Here's a mediocre brand experience from Nokia Belgium. There's a sweepstakes component that enters you in for a chance to win the Nokia 7710 smartphone. You can also check out future Nokia concepts as well as learn about the Nokia Benelux Open Design Awards.
Posted by richard ting at April 27, 2005, 07:45 AM
Google Starts Pilot Program to Serve RSS Ads
GOOGLE THIS WEEK ROLLED OUT a test program to serve ads into RSS feeds, the search giant confirmed Tuesday. The program debuted on Longhornblogs.com, a blog devoted to information about an upcoming version of Microsoft Windows. Robert McLaws, one of the authors at Longhornblogs.com, posted on the blog early Tuesday morning that the sites' RSS feeds were now including ads served via AdSense. Although McLaws said on his blog that he couldn't release many details, he stated that if Google decides to launch this product, AdSense publishers could expect to see a wider-reaching public beta within the next few weeks. On the other hand, McLaws wrote, the ads in the test feeds could be temporarily removed, or may be discontinued altogether. He did not respond to requests for comment from OnlineMediaDaily.
In November, Yahoo! announced it was looking into serving RSS ads, and in February, the popular blog BoingBoing.net announced it was experimentally hosting ads in its RSS feeds through a partnership with Feedburner, an RSS and Atom syndication technology company, and Overture. Also in February, Kanoodle and Moreover announced a joint effort to create publisher tools for serving ads into RSS feeds.
Posted by richard ting at April 27, 2005, 07:38 AM
April 07, 2005
Audi - "The Art of the Heist" Becomes Reality
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[from ARGN]
The new ARG that we reported on just a few days ago, The Art of the Heist, shocked players yesterday when it became a real world example of just that: A major heist in the middle of New York City!
Players found clues yesterday that there was going to be a party at a car dealership on Park Ave. at 7:00 pm last night, and made plans to meet up at what they anticipated to be some sort of in-game event. Once they arrived, however, they discovered that instead of a party, someone had apparently stolen an Audi show car! There was plastic over one of the doors, an area inside that showroom that was cordoned off with police tape, and security guards outside.
A woman with a clipboard handed out flyers, and there was a sign asking for further information, along with a phone number to report to. Calls to the number reportedly connected with Audi of America.
Since its beginning just a few days ago, The Art of the Heist has unloaded a boatload of material for players to digest, including acess to dozens and dozens of emails, videos, photos, documents, voicemail messages, and now a missing car. We have to say that this is the most explosive beginning to any Alternate Reality Game we've seen so far. Players have been busy developing resources and getting organized, as the links below will attest. Stay tuned for much more on this one.
Posted by richard ting at April 07, 2005, 10:45 AM
April 06, 2005
touchingisgood.com - A Nintendo DS campaign
What a weird campaign. Nintendo DS is encouraging users to grab a camera (and a mannequin hand) and photograph something cool to enter into their contest. They'll pick a few of the best photos and send them a Nintendo DS or... some cold hard cash.
If you don't have a mannequin hand, don't fret, they'll even mail you a mannequin hand!
Check out the site.
Posted by richard ting at April 06, 2005, 02:43 AM
March 27, 2005
Nike Commercials on the PSP
Check out the PSP site.
Check out the Nike Air Zoom Huarache 2K5 commercial.
Check out the Nike Shox VCIV commercial.
Posted by richard ting at March 27, 2005, 03:40 AM
March 25, 2005
Volvo V50 site
This site's been up for a while and it won a Cannes Cyberlion during the 2004 season, but i'm still posting it because it's such a great experience. The main objective for this site is that the car is a great driver’s car and also the safest car in its size ever built by Volvo. The sign-off for the whole campaign is Have Fun. On the site you go on a nice trip to the beach, read all about the features and experience almost everything about the car, both inside and out.
It was designed by Forsman & Bodenfors in Sweden.
Posted by richard ting at March 25, 2005, 05:35 AM
March 22, 2005
The New Pitch - Do Ads Still Work
[from the New Yorker]
THE NEW PITCH
by KEN AULETTA
Do ads still work?
In the introduction to his 1963 best-seller, “Confessions of an Advertising Man,” David Ogilvy apologized for writing “in the old-fashioned first person singular.” In the intervening decades—the years of, among others, Madonna and Donald Trump—that modest impulse has faded. The inclination now is more toward emphatic self-promotion. Linda Kaplan Thaler, who today enjoys an Ogilvy-like reputation as one of advertising’s creative talents, co-wrote a book on marketing in 2003, and advised her peers, “Don’t worry about whether the news is good or bad. Just get covered. . . . PR breeds PR.”
I thought of Thaler when I began to look into whether advertising, which plays such a large role in the American economy, might be ailing, and how it was being affected by new media and by new technologies. (Last year, more than five hundred billion dollars was spent on advertising and marketing in the United States—half the worldwide total.) Thaler still believes that the old-fashioned advertising model works; and it seems to work for her. Although the industry’s growth has slowed in recent years and profit margins have shrivelled, the Kaplan Thaler Group, which she founded in 1997, has flourished.
Thaler, who is fifty-four, has been around long enough to have seen the business change. In Ogilvy’s day, within a single mile of Madison Avenue one could find America’s—and therefore the world’s—most celebrated ad agencies: Ogilvy Benson & Mather, Young & Rubicam, McCann-Erickson, Grey Advertising, Ted Bates & Company, J. Walter Thompson, Benton & Bowles. Agency people saw one another while dining or drinking at Pavillon, “21,” and other establishments. The business was romanticized and mocked in popular culture, sometimes as a trade where failed poets became embittered copywriters and had too many Martinis along the way. It was portrayed as manipulative, in books like “The Hidden Persuaders”; as ruthless, in movies like “The Hucksters”; and as innocent (or sinister) fun, in the memoirs of some of its practitioners.
The path to profits was once fairly straightforward: clients paid agencies fifteen per cent of each advertising dollar, and most of those dollars went to the three television networks. In 1965, advertisers could reach eighty per cent of their most coveted viewers—those between the ages of eighteen and forty-nine—just by buying time on CBS, NBC, or ABC. “You could put together a media plan in an hour,” Roy Bostock, the former chairman and C.E.O. of the MacManus Group, recalls. “When we introduced Scope, in the mid-sixties, we were able with television advertising in the first four weeks of the ad campaign to reach more than ninety per cent of U.S. television households ten times.”
By the late nineties, some clients began to rebel against paying a flat commission, preferring fees, usually billed by the hour. (Linda Kaplan Thaler says, “I sometimes worry that clients are paying us for the hours we spend working on projects rather than the worth of the ideas.”) And the agencies have long since left Madison Avenue—a street now frequented mostly for its luxury stores—for other parts of Manhattan and the rest of the world. But the name remains a synonym for an industry that bears little resemblance to what it once was.
Posted by richard ting at March 22, 2005, 12:19 PM
Old Spice - When She's Hot
The good 'ole video/audio mixer brought to you by Old Spice. Music by the X-Ecutioners.
Posted by richard ting at March 22, 2005, 06:43 AM
March 18, 2005
NBC Gives New Meaning To Buying 'Space,' Premieres Show On MySpace.com
[from Mediapost]
IN A FIRST OF ITS kind deal for NBC, the peacock network Wednesday night debuted new prime-time comedy "The Office" via a webcast on MySpace.com, a week ahead of its March 29 broadcast TV premiere. MySpace.com is the kind of "social networking" site that NBC's promo team hopes will generate water cooler talk in advance of the TV debut. Vivi Zigler, senior vice president of marketing and advertising services at the nework's in-house NBC Agency said it is the first time the network has webcast its content online. A nearly 13-minute clip of the premiere will be available at MySpace today through the end of the month.
As other cable and broadcast networks have relied on large Web portals like America Online and Yahoo! to Webcast their content for promotional purposes, Zigler admitted that MySpace was an unusual choice of venue for NBC. "We specifically wanted to avoid the big portals because that's been done," Zigler explained, adding that the network liked the younger composion of MySpace's audience.
In fact, MySpace has a sizable member base. The site, a subsidiary of Intermix Media, Inc., attracted 8.9 million unique visitors who generated 4.6 billion page views last month, and was the seventh most trafficked Web domain in February, according to comScore Media Metrix. "What was really controversial was previewing it so early before it hit TV," said Zigler, adding: "'The Office' is not your ordinary show, so it's extra important to let as many people as possible actually experience it, and understand it, and get it."
At MySpace, users can fashion profiles, blog, instant message, e-mail, download music, create photo galleries, and search classified listings, events, groups, chat rooms, and user forums. Registered MySpace users can join "The Office" group on MySpace to share their own office mishaps through personal profiles, blogs, and other MySpace features.
It's becoming more common today for cable and broadcast networks to partner with major Web portals to Webcast new shows as a promotional gimmick. A few examples include America Online teaming with Bravo, an NBC-Universal-owned entity, to Webcast "Queer Eye for the Straight Girl," and before that Warner Bros. previewing its teen drama "Jack & Bobby" on AOL. Showtime and Yahoo! getting together recently to Webcast "Fat Actress" is another example.
"The Office" will air regularly on Tuesdays at 9:30-10 p.m. EST on NBC.
Posted by richard ting at March 18, 2005, 06:03 AM
March 15, 2005
Subaru Leads with Interactive for Product Launch
[from clickz]
When Subaru was plotting how to build awareness for its upcoming B9 Tribeca luxury SUV -- a new model, in a new space -- the carmaker went online to build and maintain excitement for a 6-month pre-launch campaign. The campaign was developed by New York interactive agency R/GA, part of Interpublic Group. It aims to introduce prospective buyers to Subaru's first 7-passenger luxury vehicle. The online campaign includes a mini-site at b9tribeca.com, and an online sweepstakes. Site visitors are encouraged to opt-in to receive information by e-mail as it becomes available. An online B9 Tribeca giveaway incites users to sign up.
Offline efforts are comprised of traveling interactive kiosks that will provide information and capture customer opt-ins at major auto shows. Subaru will also organize events at the shows for existing owners that will encourage opt-in to the e-mail list. "Our goal is to harness the pent-up demand for the product, to build awareness, and to let people start engaging with the brand," said Jonathan Rivard, manager of Subaru's CRM group.
Read more.
Check out the site.
Posted by richard ting at March 15, 2005, 10:39 AM
Infiniti Sponsors Mobile-Enabled Site
MOBILE CONTENT PROVIDER AVANTGO ANNOUNCED Tuesday that it will offer a mobile-enabled Web site for college hoops fans, sponsored by Infiniti's newest luxury sedan, the Infiniti M. The mobile site will be able to deliver game day scores and statistics to users' mobile phones and devices, and will build brand recognition for the M sedan by presenting information about the car's features, with vehicle specs and high-resolution photos. In 2003, Infiniti sponsored a similar mobile site for March Madness to promote its FX45 SUV.
Posted by richard ting at March 15, 2005, 10:08 AM
March 13, 2005
New Balance Sneaker Ads Jab At Pro Athletes' Pretensions
By JOE PEREIRA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 10, 2005; Page B1
Most sneaker makers, hoping to sell more shoes, seek allies in the world of professional sports. But New Balance Inc. is taking a different stance on athletes: disparage them. The company's latest television spots, due to start airing this weekend, feature a stern young basketball player who dispenses advice to "some of the pros out there." He says: "Just in case you forgot, this is what a pass looks like. This is what a floor burn looks like." The last dig occurs as a player in the background dives for a ball.
The none-too-subtle message of the campaign, "For Love or Money," is that that pros perform for the latter, not the former. The ads, created by Boston agency Boathouse Inc., continue more than a decade of iconoclastic marketing that has served New Balance well. Closely held and relatively unheralded, the Boston-based company has amassed a 13% market share of the U.S. athletic footwear market, and has moved into the No. 2 spot behind Nike Inc., according to retail sales tracked by researcher NPD Group Inc. All the while, it has gained traction without the aid of celebrity pitchmen.
New Balance's surge began in 1992, when, with only 3% of the market, it launched its "Endorsed by No One" campaign in an industry that even then was paying top stars millions to plug sneaker brands. New Balance ads give pro athletes jabs, not glory. But that effort didn't take on professional sports directly, the way "Love or Money" does. Suggesting that National Basketball Association stars are lazy is a risky strategy, as the professionals and their big-name friends in sneakerdom could wind up attacking New Balance in turn.
"The last time I checked New Balance was in business to make money and the ads are designed to make consumers spend money," says Mike Bass, an NBA spokesman. "Our players play for love but happen to make a lot of money." New Balance will spend $21 million on the campaign, just about its entire promotional budget for the year. That is a pittance compared to the $1.4 billion that Nike spent on marketing and ads last year. On its restricted budget, New Balance can't really compete in securing endorsers, so its downside in alienating stars is minimal.
Boathouse, a four-year-old agency, is known for, among other things, bringing the bull back into Merrill Lynch's ads. It began working on the New Balance campaign after the Olympics in Athens.
At the games, the U.S. fielded a second-string basketball team after stars like Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Jason Kidd declined to play. Losses to Puerto Rico, Greece and Lithuania, embarrassed the Americans. Following the games, the agency surfed Internet boards to find what people were saying world-wide about sportsmanship. "It came back very clear to us that the behavior of certain athletes was a common focus of discussions," says James Overall, a partner and creative director at Boathouse. "What some of the athletes say and do are just unbelievable," says New Balance CEO and founder Jim Davis in an interview. "Whether they like it or not, they are the role models for our children."
Posted by richard ting at March 13, 2005, 02:29 AM
March 03, 2005
Frito-Lay Urges "Millennials" to Seize the Moment
In late January, billboards with the cryptic message "inNw?" began appearing across the country. Since then, the campaign expanded to TV, text messaging, and a Web site that reveals that solves the mystery. The campaign's message: "If not now when?" The mysterious effort is promoting a new Doritos flavor, Black Pepper Jack, to 16-24 year olds, a group PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division calls "Millennials."
"'If not now when?' is all about living life in the now and taking advantage of every single opportunity possible," said Lora DeVuono, advertising VP for Frito-Lay North America, in a statement. "This attitude is what is important to Millennials, and it's how they look at the Doritos brand."
The main agency behind the concept and the traditional advertising is BBDO New York. Tribal DDB Dallas created the Web site and online advertising. Hip Cricket, a Connecticut-based mobile marketing firm, designed the mobile marketing interaction. Spending on the effort wasn't disclosed.
Read more.
Check out the site.
Posted by richard ting at March 03, 2005, 12:18 PM
February 26, 2005
Pimp My Burger
[from adrant]
Apparently, Burger King is going viral again with PimpMyBurger, a site which contains a video featuring some dudes rapping about a chicken burger getting pimped. Some Whois research revealed the site is registered to Munchen, Germany-based Omnicom agency start-munich which list as one of its clients Burger King. At the end of the video, the date of March 1 is mentioned indicating, perhaps, the date all will be revealed.
Posted by richard ting at February 26, 2005, 11:36 AM
February 25, 2005
MSN Search Finds Viral Campaign
[from mediapost]
by Shankar Gupta
NOT CONTENT WITH its massive television, Internet, and radio advertising blitz to promote its newly released proprietary search engine MSN Search, MSN apparently has released a viral campaign, “MSN Found,” to promote the search site.
An MSN spokesperson declined to comment on the viral campaign, other than to say: “There is a lot of great content to be found out on the Web. ‘Found’ complements MSN Search by finding more of the unique content on the Web.”
When the MSN Search marketing blitz was being announced, an MSN executive told OnlineMediaDaily that an agency called 42 Entertainment would be creating virals to promote the search engine.
42 Entertainment declined to comment on the campaign, and referred any questions to MSN’s public relations firm. An MSN spokesperson confirmed that 42 Entertainment worked on the viral campaign, saying: “MSN works with a number of third-party companies, and 42 Entertainment has worked on this and a number of other Microsoft projects.”
Read more.
Check out the msnfound.com site.
Posted by richard ting at February 25, 2005, 10:52 AM
February 24, 2005
New Delivery Service for Lazy Videogame Nerds
Pizza is just a few key strokes away. While playing EverQuest II just type /pizza and a web browser will launch the online ordering section of pizzahut.com. Fill in your info and just kick back until fresh pizza is delivered straight to your door.
Posted by richard ting at February 24, 2005, 06:07 AM
February 23, 2005
3M Security Glass Ad
Posted by richard ting at February 23, 2005, 06:13 AM
counterfeitmini.org
Those Crispin & Porter guys are back with another faux-site for the Counter Counterfeit Commission. Here's the mission statement of the CCC taken directly from their website. "At the CCC, we're dedicated to putting an end to the victimization associated with purchasing a counterfeit MINI Cooper. We cooperate with MINI and international law enforcement to pursue criminals. But there's one other crucial partner we need to recruit: YOU. We can't do this without YOU. Educate yourself about the problem. Learn how to detect a fake. Know when you're being hoodwinked. Together, we can put an end to this appalling injustice. Together, we can make our streets genuine once again."
Posted by richard ting at February 23, 2005, 03:15 AM
February 18, 2005
Interactive Viral Campaigns Ask Consumers to Spread the Word
[from nytimes.com]
By NAT IVES
During the early days of Internet advertising, skeptics often argued that Web ads would never sell prosaic packaged goods effectively.
As more Americans become comfortable with the Web, though, major marketers are increasingly asking agencies to produce elaborate, interactive online campaigns - even for grocery store goods that hardly anyone researches or buys online.
One of the shiniest lures online is the developing field of viral advertising, in which companies try to create messages so compelling, funny or suggestive that consumers spontaneously share them with friends, often through e-mail or cellphone text messages. The goal is the exponential spread of ads that are endorsed by consumers' own friends.
The best-known viral success may be the offbeat "Subservient Chicken" site, created to promote a Burger King chicken sandwich. The site, which shows a person in a chicken suit who seems to follow typed commands from Web surfers, has drawn 13.9 million unique visitors since it went live in April 2004, according to the agency that created it, Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Miami.
Posted by richard ting at February 18, 2005, 04:28 AM
February 08, 2005
GoDaddy Turns to Web After Fox Pulls Ad
PROVING ONCE AGAIN THAT CONTROVERSY can be a boost to marketing, GoDaddy used the Internet to parlay an ad censored by the NFL into big post-game buzz. GoDaddy bought one spot in the first half and another in the second, but the NFL reportedly convinced Fox to withdraw the second ad mid-game, after the first one ran. The ad featured a buxom spokeswoman in a tank top, who nearly suffers a wardrobe malfunction while testifying before a Congressional panel about what she would be doing on her proposed ad.
After Fox refused to air a second ad, GoDaddy came up with a post-game strategy to write about Fox's decision in the blog of CEO Bob Parsons, which also contained links to the ad. The tactic worked, said Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Intelliseek. "They pursued an edgy strategy from the very beginning," Blackshaw said. "People related to that ad on a whole bunch of different levels. There was sexual titillation, and advertising industry insiders got into the whole mocking of the FCC censorship."
Other ads that were generating heat online, like Federal Express's ad--which featured Burt Reynolds getting kicked in the groin by a talking bear--had their buzz cut into by GoDaddy's controversy, Blackshaw said.
Posted by richard ting at February 08, 2005, 09:05 AM
February 05, 2005
Meet the Lucky Ones - Mercury Vehicles
The Lucky Ones is a series of character-based web-isodes created by Mercury Vehicles. Surprisingly, there's zero brand tie-in or product benefit story in any of the web-isodes. The web-isodes are well written, well produced, and remind me a lot of Wes Anderson's style in the Royal Tennembaums.
Posted by richard ting at February 05, 2005, 01:53 AM
February 04, 2005
McDonalds Wants You To F*ck Its Sandwiches
I'm not quite sure what McDonald's was thinking when they launched this Ad banner unit. It looks like the copywriter may be a bit out of touch with urban slang.
Posted by richard ting at February 04, 2005, 12:44 PM
January 26, 2005
Like Crispin Porter
So there seems to be another one of those viral faux sites floating around on the web. Now it's a site poking fun at all the agencies striving to replicate the amazing success of Crispin's Mini Cooper and Subservient Chicken campaigns from last year. I guess the "I want it to be Like Crispin Porter" mentality reached its crescendo with Advertising Age's recent crowning of Crispin Porter as the Agency of the Year. Given Crispin's recent history of viral faux sites, one would be stupid not to think that Crispin didn't actually seed this latest prank.
Here's a quote from the homepage, "At Like Crispin Porter we create work that is like Crispin Porter's work. Of course Like Crispin Porter is not exactly the same as Crispin Porter. We don't have clients. Or an office. Or a staff. In that sense I guess we could have called ourselves Like Grey Worldwide Canada. But we didn't. Because we're Like Crispin Porter."
Posted by richard ting at January 26, 2005, 10:33 AM
January 24, 2005
Web Surfers Crack G.M.'s Mystery Ad
[from nytimes.com]
Can an advertising campaign based on a teaser survive after its secret has been let out? The marketing team at General Motors hopes so, after some Web surfers spoiled a national promotion that was intended to gradually reveal a secret message. Under the campaign, which is about half completed, each day a billboard in a different part of the country divulges a word (or a punctuation mark) in a message. A billboard in Arlington, Tex., for example, says "you." One in New York City shows a period.
The billboards also promote the Web site www.findthemessage.com, on which G.M. explains that it created the campaign to spread "a message so important we need the whole country to tell it." But some Web visitors quickly found that most of the "secret" message is included in the site's source code. In a posting on the site's bulletin boards, a Web surfer using the name "J1mmy" wrote that the message was: "This is the last time you will ever have to feel alone on our nation's roadways."
Read more.
Check out the site.
Posted by richard ting at January 24, 2005, 01:18 AM
January 20, 2005
BMW To Launch Mobile Effort For 3 Series Models
[from MediaPost]
By Shankar Gupta
Boomerang Mobile Media, a cellular-based media company, has launched a campaign to bring mobile device users an early look at BMW's new 3 Series models with a Web site featuring photos, graphics, and product information that can be accessed by mobile phone.
To access the mobile site, users call 703-286-BMW3, and receive a voice message welcoming them to the site. "You can go into the site and you get exposed to the new 3 series; you can look at pictures, statistics, all the information that you want to know," said Lou Schultz, Boomerang chairman. "Think of it as dropping a catalogue on your phone," he said.
Customers can also opt-in to receive product alerts, which will come out as the new model nears its launch date, and will be sent to their mobile phones. Consumers are expected to get the number from BMW's Web site, where it will soon be posted, Schultz said. The company also intends to give consumers the number at auto shows or other major events. "They can actually get into it and see all the material while they're at the auto show versus going back home and maybe getting back on the Web and maybe not doing it," said Schultz.
Posted by richard ting at January 20, 2005, 07:07 AM
January 19, 2005
VW suicide-bomber viral spot a hoax
So here's the disturbing viral VW ad that's been circulating on MediaPost and advertising blogs. It's a short video of a suicide bomber driving up to a cafe in a VW Polo and trying to blow up the spot. Instead, he only manages to blow up himself while the VW Polo stays intact. The video ends with the tagline, "VW Polo, small but tough". VW and DDB have denied any involvement with this video.
Posted by richard ting at January 19, 2005, 11:20 AM
January 18, 2005
A Consumer's Guide to Times Square Advertising
CREATIVE TIME and TIMES SQUARE ALLIANCE PRESENT:
CHRISTINE HILL'S 'A CONSUMER'S GUIDE TO TIMES SQUARE ADVERTISING'
Artist Christine Hill's handheld interactive wheel uncovers the dollars and cents behind the spectacular signage in the world's preeminent center of outdoor advertising. Hill compiled captivating facts and figures into an imaginative and thought-provoking artwork cum resource for the consumer. The artwork continues Creative Time's tradition of enlivening Times Square through art and helping audiences to see and interpret the environment in a new way.
OPENING EVENT
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19, 2005, TIMES SQUARE
Experience the tradition of old-time glamorous entertainment distribution! Performers costumed as classic 'cigarette girls' will distribute 'Consumer's Guide' while providing interesting tidbits of information about Times Square advertising.
CIGARETTE GIRLS DISTRIBUTE 'CONSUMER'S GUIDE'
NOON - 3 P.M. and 5:00 - 7:00 P.M.
VARIOUS LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT TIMES SQUARE
GUIDED TOURS
5:30 AND 6:30 P.M.
DEPARTING FROM TIMES SQUARE INFORMATION CENTER
(1560 Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets)
Pick up the free handheld artwork at the following locations through April 19 or while supplies last:
- Times Square Information Center (Seventh Avenue, between 46th and 47th Streets)
- Printed Matter (525 West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues)
- International Center of Photography (1133 6th Avenue, between 42nd and 43rd Streets)
- Ronald Feldman Gallery (31 Mercer Street, between Grand and Canal Streets)
- AXA Gallery (787 Seventh Avenue, at 51st Street)
'A Consumer's Guide to Times Square Advertising' is also available on our website as a download, print, and assemble yourself artwork!
Posted by richard ting at January 18, 2005, 09:08 AM
January 14, 2005
Advertising on Blogs
Ad Network BURST! Media has begun to sell advertising on blogs represented in its network. One of the first advertisers to launch a campaign was Kyocera Wireless last week on Screenhead, Gizmodo, and Defamer (all part of Gawker Media). The Kyocera Wireless campaign is running expandable leader boards promoting the advergame "Red Carpet Blitz" which features the company's new wireless camera phone, the Koi/KX2. The purpose of the game is to demonstrate the phone's various features. Media Revolution created the campaign.
Posted by richard ting at January 14, 2005, 11:44 AM
January 09, 2005
21121.com - Adidas Campaign
My friend, Rei, spotted a bunch of OOH wild postings from Adidas last week. They were scattered all over the downtown area of NYC. There wasn't much to the postings except for an Adidas logo and a URL push to the www.21121.com site. Once again, not much is revealed on the site except a launch date of 2.07.05. Does anyone out there have any information about this campaign? Holler back.
Posted by richard ting at January 09, 2005, 08:29 AM
January 08, 2005
Nokia Fashion Collection
Inspired by the glamour, energy, and sophistication of the 1920s, the Nokia Fashion Collection fuses art, fashion, and technology. They've created wearable art and the ultimate objects of desire. Browse the Collection at their online boutique, www.NokiaInStyle.com.
Nokia hired David LaChapelle, photographer and director to direct the TV spots for this campaign.
Posted by richard ting at January 08, 2005, 04:50 AM
December 23, 2004
Virgin Catches Viral Marketing Bug
[from mediapost]
by Shankar Gupta
The latest virus going around the office isn't the flu--it's Chrismahanukwanzakah.
The Internet spot, a cartoon jingle from Virgin Mobile USA that dismisses the theological concerns of the holiday season, proclaims: "Whose faith is the right one/that's anybody's guess/what matters most is camera phones for $20 dollars less." Virgin Mobile's product is no-contract cell phones, and the ad tries to draw a connection between not having to commit to a single faith during the holiday season and not having to commit to a single cell phone plan.
The ad is the latest hit in viral ad campaigns, and has been receiving extensive press in major news outlets like the Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Sun-Times, and the Boston Herald. The Web-based part of the campaign is accompanied by TV spots that aired on MTV and affiliated networks, like Comedy Central and SpikeTV, and in-store displays featuring the omni-denominational cast of the ad: A many-armed, sitar-playing Hindu Santa Claus, a dreidel-toting, afro-sporting, gold- toothed, black angel, and a reindeer whose antlers support a Hanukah menorah.
The intent of the Web-based part of the campaign was to harness the buzz that advertisers so covet. Fallon, the company that created the ad for Virgin Mobile, had the intent all along to utilize viral advertising to spread the word about the ad and help brand the Virgin Mobile no-contract phones, in the newly founded tradition of Burger King's SubservientChicken.com.
Posted by richard ting at December 23, 2004, 11:34 AM
December 22, 2004
Come Clean
Check out the Come Clean site.
[read the NYTimes.com article]
Entertaining Web Sites Promote Products Subtly
MARKETERS usually try to slip their names into every conceivable venue - like cellphone screens, bathroom posters and TV shows via product placement. But there are times when an ad that almost disguises its sponsor can be more effective. Many of these ads have taken the form of specialty Web sites, like www.subservientchicken.com, which is intended to entrance visitors with humor, video or games.
Subservient Chicken, perhaps the year's most prominent example, allows visitors to type orders to someone dressed in a chicken costume, who is seen obeying, as if on a live Webcam. The site, a promotion for the TenderCrisp chicken sandwich sold at Burger King, says little about Burger King or the sandwich, although there is a discreet link to the Burger King site.
Other marketers have moved into specialty Web sites, including Alaska Airlines, which operates a parody site at www.skyhighairlines.com, and Best Buy, the retail chain, which is creating specialty sites tied to particular campaigns, products and audiences. At one site, Best Buy depicts a fictional Slothmore Institute (www.slothmore.com), which brags of "enabling greatness through sedentary living."
A note from the institute's fictional founder, Dr. Harvey Funkel, explains. "Here at Slothmore we believe that everyone deserves to achieve one's dreams and aspirations," he says, "especially if one's dream is to never achieve a thing." The idea is that stay-at-home sloths may as well surround themselves with a stereo system, which, incidentally, visitors can check out by clicking on a Best Buy banner ad at the bottom.
Posted by richard ting at December 22, 2004, 07:28 AM
December 09, 2004
New Integrated Campaign for Treo
AKQA has developed an integrated campaign for Treo. The campaign includes online advertising, print, television, outdoor (airport), and a Web site. The Web site launched at the end of November and invites consumers to experience life with a Treo in a choose-your-own-adventure format. Print work appeared in issues of Business 2.0, BusinessWeek, The New Yorker and Hemispheres, and 15-second spots are running during "The Today Show," "The O.C.," "Good Morning America," and "Next Top Model."
Posted by richard ting at December 09, 2004, 11:48 AM
December 08, 2004
Pondering Podvertising Possibilities
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
By Steve Rubel, CooperKatz & Company
Savvy online marketers have a whole new medium to exploit: It's called "podcasting." Could this be the next BMWFilms.com?
You can?t walk 50 feet in a major city without seeing them. You can spot them a mile away by the dual white wires that dangle from their ears. They?re young, technically savvy, loyal, enthusiastic card-carrying members of the burgeoning iPod Nation. They represent an attractive demographic of early adopter influencers that marketers covet. And, thanks to an emerging revolution in online audio content called podcasting, there are all kinds of new and exciting ways to reach them through ?podvertising.?
The iPod is white hot this holiday season. Apple shipped more than two million of the portable audio players in the most recent quarter ending in September. Analysts now estimate that the Cupertino, California-based company will sell another four million devices this quarter alone. A recent Merrill Lynch report even noted that iPod adoption is outpacing the Sony Walkman?s rapid rise during the 1980s.
As the iPod Nation swells, it is spawning a completely new online content medium called podcasting -- a play on the words broadcasting and Web-casting. A podcast is a time-shifted audio program that can be created using a simple microphone-equipped PC. It is distributed to subscribers via RSS. Users who subscribe to a program's feed receive new episodes on their Mac or PC as they are released. The audio file is then subsequently automatically synched to an iPod or equivalent MP3 digital music player, allowing the subscriber to listen to the time-shifted program at their convenience.
Podcasting was hatched last summer by former MTV VJ-turned-entrepreneur Adam Curry. Since then it has been widely evangelized and adopted by the blogging community. In just two months the number of Google results for the term ?podcasting? jumped nearly 1,000 percent, from 5,950 pages in early October to more than 500,000 pages this month. Surprisingly Google still doesn?t even recognize the term (it asks if you mean ?broadcasting?), but don?t take that lack of recognition to mean that the content and audiences aren't there yet.
Posted by richard ting at December 08, 2004, 12:22 PM
December 06, 2004
MySpace.com -- Pitch to Online Crowd Mixes Pop Stars and Personals
[from nytimes.com]
The home page of MySpace, a Web site for social networking, features a profile of the teenage idol Hilary Duff. Yes, her music is there, and so is marketing for a Procter & Gamble deodorant.
By NAT IVES
PROCTER & GAMBLE, the country's largest advertiser and an eager pursuer of new marketing methods, has begun an experimental promotion for its Secret Sparkle deodorant using music stars' personal profiles on a social networking Web site. Under the deal, the MySpace.com home page features a profile of the singer Hilary Duff accompanied by logos for Secret Sparkle, an extension of the Secret brand that went on sale a year and a half ago.
Those who view Ms. Duff's profile can try to win an iPod in the "Secret 'Discover the Secret Strength of Today's Hottest Rising Music Stars' Sweepstakes," and sign up for more information on Secret Sparkle, other Procter & Gamble products or Ms. Duff. The promotion will feature a succession of other artists and their MySpace profiles until it concludes at the end of this month. The promotion, narrow in focus and low key by design, is in some ways the opposite of a Super Bowl commercial, the expensive epitome of traditional advertising. But P.& G. has decided that mass marketing will keep losing effectiveness as media choices and consumer control grow, so it has made charting new paths to consumers a priority.
"This is the first time we've tried this," said Michelle Vaeth, a communications director at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. "We really hope it works, because we recognize that MySpace.com is a growing and important player in the social networking Internet space." Social networking sites, particularly those friendly to music fans, are a growing destination for the company's target audience. "We have to be where they are in this online world," Ms. Vaeth said.
The Secret Sparkle promotion represents some firsts for MySpace as well, although the site has collected most of its revenue from advertising almost since its inception in September 2003. "Procter & Gamble is a new advertiser for us," said Chris De Wolfe, chief executive at MySpace in Los Angeles. And while celebrities had been permitted to use MySpace to promote themselves and their work, the campaign with P.& G. is the first instance of the Web site's combining consumer product advertising with a celebrity listing, Mr. De Wolfe said.
If P.& G. considers the effort a success, it could mean much more ad revenue from packaged goods companies for social networking sites like Friendster, Multiply and MySpace as well as business-oriented networking sites like Ryze. Marketers hope these sites will make it easier to start and track communication about brands among friends and contacts. People who register on sites like MySpace and Friendster can set up a home page with photos, a profile and links to others in their social networks. Users can browse for friends, dates, partners for activities or contacts of all kinds and invite them to join the users' personal networks as "friends."
"As the peer-to-peer marketing takes over, word spreads very quickly throughout the site," Mr. De Wolfe said. "My thousand friends see Hilary's profile and see the branding and request to be her friend."
Advertisers are clearly intrigued, if unsure how best to use the sites. The diverse group of marketers using banner ads on MySpace includes the Consumer Research Corporation, DesignerBag4Free.com, Radio Shack, Verizon Wireless and WinSweepstakes.net.
Since June, the MySpace Music section has allowed performers or their record labels to create profiles and offer downloads of their songs, streaming videos and other material. R.E.M., for one, promoted its newest album by posting it on MySpace Music for free listening for two weeks in September. And over the summer, MySpace promoted movie releases by being host to profiles for "Ron Burgundy," the character played by Will Ferrell in "Anchorman," and "Jason Bourne," the Matt Damon character in "The Bourne Supremacy."
Friendster also sells banners and boxes on its pages, which currently display ads for companies like Cingular, the College Loan Corporation, the Kissimmee-St. Cloud Convention and Visitors Bureau, and T-Mobile. Target recently used Friendster to support one element of its holiday campaign, free recorded wake-up calls from the likes of Heidi Klum and Darth Vader that shoppers could request on the Target Web site. Target posted "profiles" of the callers on Friendster.
As with many things online, though, there is the potential for confusion. In addition to millions of real profiles of real people, users have posted countless fake profiles. A search for "Hilary Duff" on MySpace produced 99 profiles under her name, including one that describes a 22-year-old man in Yakima, Wash. Then there are profiles operated by publicity executives at Hollywood Records, Ms. Duff's label, part of the Walt Disney Company. Even this reporter, who travels in decidedly unfamous circles, was able to secure the apparent friendship of Ms. Duff on MySpace in a matter of hours.
Posted by richard ting at December 06, 2004, 01:04 AM
December 01, 2004
New J&J Baby EyeWonder Ad
In-Game Video Ad with Zoom and send to Friend
Posted by richard ting at December 01, 2004, 03:44 AM
Rbk Streets
[from Trendcentral]
Rbk Streets: Reebok recently launched this interactive website where consumers can play games, as well as learn more about Rbk personalities, footwear and apparel. Aspiring musicians can also submit demos in MP3 format to the 50 Cent studio, which will be reviewed by the real 50 Cent. If you play on Rbk Streets, you might just earn enough Street Cred to win some major prizes.
Personally, I like the 'city' environment idea and using the cityscape as a navigation. I've seen this before on IBM's Software City and Nike's Battlegrounds, but I can't stand the overly 'ghetto-fied' or 'urban-fied' visual aesthetic. It just feels so gimmicky and outdated. Anyway, let Reebok keep their ghetto-bling-campaigns. I think Nike's trying to message their audiences on a slightly more sophisticated level.
Posted by richard ting at December 01, 2004, 02:35 AM
Discover Card Snowball Fight
Check out the new online multi-user snowball game by Barbarian Group/Goodby Silverstein. Fun stuff.
When you get to the site click on Holiday Games.
Posted by richard ting at December 01, 2004, 02:35 AM
November 27, 2004
GIFTMIXER3000 from Crispin Porter
Borders Books and Music has launched GIFTMIXER3000. The Borders Books and Music Giftmixer3000 is similar to an audio mixer but instead of bass and treble to come up with just the right sound, you mix the personality traits of the gift receiver to get just the right gift. There are five mixer controls from romantic to funny. As you make adjustments, Giftmixer3000 adds commentary. The Giftmixer was promoted via an e-mail that was sent out to millions of Borders e-mail subscribers. Created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the objective is to drive traffic to Borders online holiday catalog and the brick-and-mortar stores.
Posted by richard ting at November 27, 2004, 07:08 AM
November 23, 2004
Fallon's films on Amazon.com
Fallon Worldwide, the Minneapolis agency that wowed the advertising world with its short Internet films for BMW a few years ago, is back in the movie-making business. The agency recently unveiled a similar series of films it created for Seattle-based Amazon.com to help promote a lesser-known aspect of its business -- the sale of apparel and personal-care items. The films are accessible on the Amazon.com Web site. Using well-known Hollywood actors such as Minnie Driver, Chris Noth and Daryl Hannah and the production genius of Tony and Ridley Scott of RSA USA Inc., Fallon created five short films, ranging in length from four to seven minutes each, for the company.
"We used no paid media to drive customers there," said Rob Buchner, chief marketing officer for Fallon. "Amazon is a network unto itself. ... They have roughly 32 million registered customers. During the holiday season, many multiples of that will travel through their turnstiles."
Credits at the end of the films include not only the names of actors, but names of products featured in the films. Shoppers can click on the product names and be transported to an Amazon page that provides details and the option to buy the products. In the second film, Agent Orange, which is now playing, customers can buy items such as a Fossil Philippe Starck Watch for $95 or orange Converse Chuck Taylor shoes for $37.99. Amazon did not return calls seeking comment in time for publication.
"What we want is to get millions of people in a busy frame of mind to stop, pause and be left with a good entertainment impression and be enlightened to everything available at Amazon," Buchner said. "When people go the extra step to get involved with a piece of entertainment or communication and have a good experience, they will keep coming back for more." Since the first film debuted on Nov. 10, Amazon.com reported a double-digit increase in traffic to its site, Buchner said. In addition, products featured in the films enjoyed banner sales days, he said. The films are so popular, in fact, that viewers are downloading them.
"I do think it instantly helps remind people that Amazon is not just a bookseller," said Geoff Sass, director of interactive for Minneapolis-based Olson + Co. But Chris Cortilet, Interactive creative director for Periscope in Minneapolis, isn't sure the connection is that obvious. Cortilet points to a new ad campaign for Burger King and Fallon's BMW films project as the best of examples of how this medium can work.
Posted by richard ting at November 23, 2004, 12:51 PM
November 22, 2004
Bloom: Multimedia exhibition by Tronic Studio for AQUOS
Tronic was commissioned by curating agency Formavision to create a multimedia installation for Sharp Aquos. Opening Dec. 1st from 7-9pm at 137 Wooster Street.
Posted by richard ting at November 22, 2004, 12:27 PM
November 02, 2004
Red Bull Copilot Air Race
Red Bull Copilot Air Race has launched. The site is an interactive sports experience that allows users to get close to flying without actually sitting in a cockpit. The second-edition Copilot features U.S. aerobatic champion pilot Kirby Chambliss as he navigates a twisting Red Bull Air Race course. The site offers multiple chapters to learn more about the man, machine, and course that make up the Red Bull Air Race. The race chapter contains eight different camera angles, a multi-plane course simulation, and various audio selections.
Posted by richard ting at November 02, 2004, 01:31 AM
November 01, 2004
Dove Interactive Billboard in Times Square
New Yorkers have been treated to an interactive billboard in Times Square serving as a public forum for people to debate, "What is beautiful?" Passersby can cast their vote via cell phone and a running tally appears in real-time on the billboard. So what does the billboard look like? It's an image of Irene Sinclair, a 96-year-old woman whose wrinkled face now graces a sixty-nine feet high and forty-four feet wide billboard above the Marriott Marquis. Viewers decide if she's "Wrinkled?" or "Wonderful?" as the ad questions: "Will society ever accept old can be beautiful?" The billboard is part of Unilever brand Dove's global campaign for real beauty, which challenges the stereotypical view of beauty. The "What is Beautiful" campaign was created by Ogilvy & Mather.
Posted by richard ting at November 01, 2004, 01:06 AM
October 25, 2004
Chicken Fight - Crispin Porter
[from Adweek]
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is upset with Burger King about the www.chickenfight.com promotion created by Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. The site allows users to pit two guys in chicken suits -- representing different chicken sandwiches -- against each other in a cage match. Not funny, according to HSUS president and CEO Wayne Pacelle, who says in a statement, "Whatever the intent of this promotion, the effect is to make light of chicken fighting. Cockfighting, which is illegal in 48 states, is a disgraceful practice not only involving animal cruelty, but drug trafficking, illegal gambling and human-on-human violence."
Check out the site.
Check out the subservient chicken.
Posted by richard ting at October 25, 2004, 05:07 AM
October 22, 2004
Mazda's Blog+Viral Campaign Falls Flat
[from marketing vox]
Mazda's new blog-cum-viral marketing effort proved to be pretty lame, and its failures reveal one of the dynamics limiting large advertisers in their exploitation of new forms of marketing. The campaign takes an old set of video "viral" ads that never became very popular months ago and attempts to rejuvenate them by creating a fake blog to tout them. Compounding the first failure (not understanding that a viral ad isn't just a :30 - perhaps with a dirty joke or a flash of skin - that gets streamed onto the internet) Mazda committed the same mistake with the blog.
In the first instance, it thought its TV ad could become a viral spot. In the second instance, it thought it could suffice as the main content of a blog. Viewers may begin to think that perhaps there's a creative director in Mazda's ad agency that has a bias toward canned video. It appears that in neither case did Mazda consider putting the vast resources required to create a well-produced video spot toward creating a well-produced online campaign. Or, if it did, it paid too much.
Posted by richard ting at October 22, 2004, 11:30 AM
October 21, 2004
Nissan Maxima Urban Meltdown
Starting today, the 2005 Maxima will be positioned in live street scenes that will create an effect of an urban meltdown, causing nearby objects -- such as street lamps, trash cans and parking meters -- to melt and droop. The Maxima will appear at prime locations in New York and Los Angeles, positioned beneath backdrops of large print ads that portray a burned, charred effect caused by the "hot" Maxima. In New York, heaters and glowing lights will be placed around the vehicles to enhance the ultra sensory effect.
Posted by richard ting at October 21, 2004, 01:34 AM
October 20, 2004
Aquos - Moretosee.com Campaign
If you've been watching any baseball lately on Fox Sports, you probably have seen the Aquos advertisements with URL placements leading users to moretosee.com. It's a Sharp integrated ad campaign that was developed by Weiden and Kennedy. The site content consists of tons of product info, but also has a few unique blogs from three different personas. It also seems like one big puzzle with, of course, your now ubiquitous faux content section in the form of a message board.
Posted by richard ting at October 20, 2004, 12:51 PM
October 19, 2004
Advertisers Will Triple Spending On Video Game Ads By 2008
[by Ross Fadner]
New figures from the Yankee Group claim the U.S. video games industry reaches more than 108 million gamers 13 years of age and older, who will have spent $7.4 billion by the end of the year. Advertisers have long wanted to penetrate the gaming market, but haven't yet been able to in any meaningful way. Despite the video games industry's size, advertisers only spent a meager $79 million on placing ads in games last year--a number the market research firm anticipates will grow to $260 million by 2008, according to the Yankee Group report.
Michael Goodman, senior analyst for the Yankee Group and author of the report "Marketers Look to Video Games to Drive Their Message Home," said that ad dollars have become "a very necessary revenue source" for game publishers as the cost of development for new games continues to rise.
Goodman pointed out that most games currently cost between $5 million and $15 million to produce, but that costs will increase as technology improves. Meanwhile, Goodman said that only 10 percent to 20 percent of games break even. "It's a hit-or-miss market," he said, adding that consumers will not be willing to spend more than the $50-per-game they are used to paying, so game developers will need to learn how to monetize their available inventory.
Posted by richard ting at October 19, 2004, 11:11 AM
October 15, 2004
RSS Feeds Hunger for More Ads
No online medium is safe from advertising anymore.
In recent weeks, more companies have started bringing advertising to RSS feeds, the popular platforms for aggregating content from multiple sites in a single place. In the past, RSS feeds have typically been free of ads.
By most accounts, companies, analysts and bloggers have reported little complaint from readers, noting that they can "vote with their feed" simply by unsubscribing.
Companies that are employing advertising in RSS include Topix.net, a news site; Moreover Technologies, a search-services company founded by mass blog publisher Nick Denton; Feedster, a news and blog syndication service; and Weblogs, the parent company of Engadget, a popular tech product blog.
Posted by richard ting at October 15, 2004, 12:32 PM
October 13, 2004
Viral Marketing Manifesto Launched
Adrants reports the International Viral + Buzz Marketing Association has presented a viral marketing manifesto, which also summarizes the association's mission.
THE VIRAL MARKETING MANIFESTO
All members of the VBMA share the conviction that Viral Marketing, Buzz Marketing and Word-of-Mouth Marketing (and other related marketing approaches that harness network-enhanced word of mouth) are based on the principles outlined below, and that we work constantly on improving these marketing techniques:
1) We strive to
a) identify only those people who will be interested in a particular marketing message,
b) deliver the message to them in a way that makes it an enjoyable or valuable experience,
c) provide it in a manner that encourages them to share it with others.
We will therefore be providing a benefit to our audiences and their acquaintances and in so doing, to the brands for which we work.
Posted by richard ting at October 13, 2004, 02:12 AM
October 06, 2004
Nokia N-Gage Guerilla Campaign
http://kotisivu.mtv3.fi/kallevee/
http://kotisivu.mtv3.fi/tuomaskoo/
The two links above apparently belong to freshly launched guerilla marketing campaign for Nokia N-Gage. The pages are in Finnish only, but basically the plot goes like this.
The boys claim they have found a cd-rom from train which was labeled UNFINISHED MATERIAL. FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY. The cd-rom contained seven Nokia N-Gage adverts. The two boys decided to "put them into internet" even though their father said they should not.
Posted by richard ting at October 06, 2004, 12:06 PM
September 24, 2004
Lee Jeans - 90 Foot Babe
Lee Jeans launched its teaser campaign online, in the form of a blog. The blog, written by "90-Foot Babe," has garnered a fair amount of traffic since launching, due to the fact that there is a phone number, complete with message, on the ads and flyers that are being distributed around major metro areas. Fallon Worldwide created the TV campaign for Lee Jeans, and lookandfeel New Media developed the online pieces.
Posted by richard ting at September 24, 2004, 10:46 AM
September 23, 2004
Advertisers Beware: Blog-Fortified "Copy Cops" at Your Doorstep
by Pete Blackshaw
Blog and bloggers have made a huge mark in 2004, and this should give every major marketer and advertiser pause for deep reflection.
Bloggers gave Howard Dean's campaign early, unexpected momentum. They fanned the flames of the Iraqi prison crisis with rapid distribution of photos, especially the most controversial ones. They catapulted into the mainstream Burger King's "Viral Chicken" campaign, as well as the controversial "Swift Boat Veteran for Truth" anti-Kerry video. More recently, blogs have showcased new and promising ways for brands like Microsoft, Nike, Nokia, Sun, and HP to reach out to consumers and other stakeholders.
But let the word go forth - to marketers and agencies alike -that the blog revolution brings with it unmistakable tradeoffs and potent new "rules of engagement." Ignore them at your peril.
New Rules of Accountability
Like it or not, bloggers promise to hold marketers to new levels of accountability, impacting just about everything advertisers do, say, and claim.
Posted by richard ting at September 23, 2004, 10:54 AM
September 18, 2004
Newest Video Ads from EyeWonder:
Sky Captain
Video Banner Ad Tabs and Downloads
Check it out.
Sega NHL 2K5
Video Banner Ad with Polling
Check it out.
Posted by richard ting at September 18, 2004, 12:19 PM
September 16, 2004
BMW1derland
BMW uses Macromedia Director MX, Flash MX, and Fireworks MX to deliver BMW1derland, a game/entertainment experience for its new BMW 1 Series, which targets a younger, funkier audience. (Sep. 16, 2004)
Posted by richard ting at September 16, 2004, 02:52 AM
September 03, 2004
Diesel Dreams
Posted by richard ting at September 03, 2004, 02:54 AM
August 30, 2004
Blogging Goes Mainstream
by Tobi Elkin
Irreverent soliloquies on obscure pop bands from Asia, blow-by-blow accounts of fishing trips in Alaska, hand signal guides, and rapid-fire political debates spanning the ideological spectrum - virtually any topic on someone's mind, is fodder for bloggers. Blogs can be full of useless, arcane drivel and raunchy gossip.
In the so-called blogosphere, everybody's a content creator, editor, publisher, diarist, and critic. Quirky and acerbic rants are par for the course. Once largely an underground phenomenon, blogging has gone mainstream, attracting marketers particularly eager to get in front of hip 18- to 34-year-olds and savvy influencers.
To be sure, the majority of the blogosphere's millions toil alone for the pure pleasure of it, faces glued to the glowing screen of a PC monitor on a 24/7 basis. They are addicted to the art of blogging and are passionate about the process as a means of self-expression and creativity. They like the concept of self-publishing, building a community, and creating a dialogue based on common interests. But as with any emerging media form, marketers are racing to figure out how to harness the blog. Many will view blogs as yet another tool with which to target niche audiences of tastemakers and influencers.
Probably the best example of the buzz-generating power of blogs is Gawker Media, publisher of several popular blogs that combined have managed to rack up some 15 million total page views per month. Monthly unique page views for each property range from 300,000 to 900,000.
Gawker Media's portfolio consists of Gawker, Gizmodo, Fleshbot, Kinja, Wonkette, and Defamer. Currently the toast of the mediarati, Gawker Media has a target demographic aged 26 to 35, according to advertising data on its Web site, although founder and publisher Nick Denton says he's focused primarily on 18- to 34-year-olds. Either way, the influence of Gawker Media properties extends far beyond those groups. Wonkette's avid following includes Washington, D.C., power brokers, wily political operatives, and elected representatives and their staffs.
Posted by richard ting at August 30, 2004, 12:03 PM
August 27, 2004
A Site for Banner Ad Freaks
Tari Akpodiete has what might be called a mildly unnatural preoccupation with banner ads. For the last couple of years, she's been copying just about every one she's come across onto a website, and in the process has built what she believes is the largest collection of such ads in the world.
This month, the Toronto web designer decided to make that collection publicly available. And her site, Banner Report, has become at once a veritable banner ad museum and a tool where designers of new ads can investigate the countless styles that have been tried in the past.
"I thought it would be a good resource for creative types and people who might have an interest in that kind of thing," Akpodiete said. "It has become a little bit obsessive, though."
Perhaps, but the 15,000 banner ad samples she's gathered do display a remarkable range of styles, features, dimensions and animation, all searchable by keyword, size and type. For designers involved in making the next generation of banners -- an advertising medium often criticized as annoying and ineffective -- more attractive and profitable, Akpodiete's site may well be a gold mine.
"It gives designers a feel for what banners work and what doesn't," said Marque Guilbeault, the creative director of online marketing firm Contestix. "A lot of banner designs are based on the original site that (they are) representing. This can give designers creative ideas beyond just banner ads."
Posted by richard ting at August 27, 2004, 01:01 AM
August 25, 2004
Mobile Media Market Surges, Interactive Features Become Prevalent
by Ross Fadner
New data from Enpocket's quarterly mobile marketing report, Mobile Media Monitor, shows that mobile phone ownership and usage continues to increase rapidly. The study's findings reveal that 128 million US adults now use a mobile phone, and usage of different interactive mobile features like ringtones, games, and text messaging continues to surge.
Mobile phone penetration increased 8 percent from 53 to 61 percent in the third quarter, according to the results. Mobile, in general, is often thought of as a youth medium, but its highest penetration actually occurs in the 35-49 age group, where 7 out of 10 people have a mobile phone. Usage and income are also intertwined: 83 percent of those earning $75K or higher regularly use a mobile phone versus 38 percent among those who earn less than $20,000 per year.
Despite this, most mobile marketing initiatives are geared towards younger demographic segments. For example, on the strength of several interactive text messaging initiatives by major media companies, text messaging, received a quarter-over-quarter boost. Three percent of mobile phone owning adults have sent text messages to a TV show-more than double the tally from last quarter-and two percent of adults have sent text messages to a radio station, also more than double the second quarter figure.
In other key findings, Java and BREW mobile game downloads grew a whopping 75 percent quarter over quarter, from 4.4 million downloads in the second quarter to 7.7 million downloads in the third quarter. Mobile game downloads doubled quarter over quarter among 18-25 year old phone owners: in the second quarter, 11 percent of 18-25 phone owners were downloading games versus the third quarter, in which 22 percent downloaded games. For advertisers looking to penetrate this fast growing mobile segment, advergaming is a viable consideration point.
Posted by richard ting at August 25, 2004, 12:57 PM
August 23, 2004
Trends In E-Mail Marketing: Dynamic, Personalized Messages
While e-mail is an accepted and proven form of delivering marketing messages, professional marketers are looking for better ways to build customer loyalty and generate a greater return on their marketing investments.
The future of e-marketing is utilizing dynamic content - or matching messaging and offers to recipients' demographic data. Though this approach is much more involved than standard e-mail marketing practices, it yields much higher results, as well as longer-term and more value-added relationships.
Dynamic content refers to sending highly personalized e-mails based on database-driven customer preferences. It can take the form of customized subject lines, greetings, offers or content and accompanying images within the body of an e-mail. This strategy allows marketers to send timely, relevant messages that resonate with recipients on an individual level. Dynamic content applications are becoming more readily available as add-on features to many e-mail marketing software packages.
Posted by richard ting at August 23, 2004, 12:56 PM
August 21, 2004
The Future of Media, MIT-Style
By David Cohen
August 18, 2004
Last week, I visited the MIT Media Laboratory in Cambridge, MA. Though Interpublic and McCann have been financial supporters of the lab throughout the years, I've never had the opportunity to visit and tour the facilities. With some clients funding research, I was given able to accompany a group of visitors to the lab for a one-day immersion session.
All I can say is, that's some very cool stuff.
Though it's impossible to grasp, in an eight-hour visit, all the work being conducted at the lab, we did get to sample many different research areas. Some of that research is direct applicable to interactive marketers.
Our guide was Dr. John Maeda, associate professor of design and computation and director of the Physical Language Workshop at the Media Lab. Maeda is spearheading research that embraces the concept of "simplicity." As reported by The New York Times (May 20, 2004), "Despite the lip service paid to 'ease of use,' 'plug and play,' and 'one-click shopping,' simplicity is an endangered quality in the digital world... and it is time to break free from technology's intimidating complexity." Think Google: simple, quick, intuitive.
Posted by richard ting at August 21, 2004, 09:57 AM
August 20, 2004
Consumer-Generated Marketing
By Dawn Anfuso, Editor
Word-of-mouth isn't new, but Web enables marketers to tap into it (first of two parts). The conversations that consumers have with one another online -- in message boards, blogs, email listservs and product review sites -- represent the largest collection of word-of-mouth data that has ever existed. BuzzMetrics, a research and intelligence company, was created to mine these conversations and uncover market insight. We talked with Jonathan Carson, president and CEO of BuzzMetrics, to learn more about how marketers can leverage the word-of-mouth channel.
iMediaConnection: You're calling it word-of-mouth. We've been using the term consumer-generated publishing or marketing. Are we talking about the same thing -- blogs, discussion lists, and so on? What else is included in this category?
Carson: When we are talking about word-of-mouth, we are talking about the conversations and commentary that consumers create. It is the person-to-person spreading of ideas. Specifically, BuzzMetrics focuses on all of the online dialogue consumers engage in, including message boards, blogs, email lists, product review sites, chats, corporate gripe sites and personal home pages among other things. These are the traditional forms of content, but there are other very exciting types on the horizon. Huge numbers of individuals are posting photographs online, which is kind of an extension of the old Web cams. Social networking sites have added a whole new element of communication, and they introduce personal reputation systems and rankings on a global scale. These could have huge ramifications for marketers.
iMediaConnection: How is consumer-generated publishing affecting marketing efforts?
Carson: Already, this content is having a huge impact on certain vertical sectors, whether marketers are engaged in it or not. It has been well documented that the entertainment industry is largely driven by this chatter, and so online buzz campaigns have become a standard part of its marketing mix. Nobody doubts the power of this channel in the political world, either.
But we also see tremendous levels of shopping research occurring through these channels. Users read the recommendations that other users post to help them research their purchase decisions. Perhaps more exciting is the direct engagement that takes place as part of the shopping process, which we see all the time. For example, someone goes into a forum and asks for recommendations for a product purchase, and existing owners come out of the woodwork to endorse or slam the product. If you are trying to decide which $3,000 plasma TV to buy, who are you going to trust -- the 20-year-old sales clerk at Circuit City or an online super consumer whose passion in life is to track the high-end home-theatre market? These influencers are closing big deals every day.
Posted by richard ting at August 20, 2004, 09:44 AM
August 17, 2004
Mobile Marketing's Red Hot Summer
From new .MP domain names to wearable devices and astro forecasts, mobile's heating up. If it seems like everyone under the sun is talking or texting on a mobile this summer, you're probably right. OVUM Research's prediction that the number of wireless devices worldwide will exceed 1.5 billion in 2004 is coming true. Pastel-tinted, multi-modal handhelds and "power e-wear" are de rigueur this summer for the new techno-chic connected generation.
The hottest sport for savvy brand leaders and marketers this season is leap-frogging to the forefront of this mobile marketing movement. To keep you ahead of the game, here are some of the best opportunities for you to cash in on mobile commerce, content and community.
At the top of the mobile marketer's list of resources is last week's launch by Saipan DataCom, Inc. of the DotMP ".mp" Internet top-level domain (TLD) package that includes a complete mobile Internet content platform with a suite of mobile content publishing tools. The previously unavailable .mp extension is the only TLD dedicated solely for Mobile Internet sites. All .mp domain names (acmehats.mp, for example) display properly on mobile phones. Gib Bintliff, the firm's president, believes that users will easily equate .mp with the mobile Internet, because "mp" is synonymous with "mobile phone".
One in every 100 people owns a domain name. Marketing applications for dotMP abound, especially in light of VeriSign's figure that says one in 100 people on the planet own a domain name. More than 63 million Web sites are already online and over 4.7 million new registrants joined the list of domain owners in the first quarter of 2004, a 21 percent growth year-on-year. GenY mobile favorites alone could span from Nike.mp to Snapple.mp to AmericanIdol.mp.
Enough daydreaming. Don't forget that many trademark holders often engage in defensive registrations of newly available TLDs. However, Bintliff says, "dotMP is not about brand protection -- it's about brand projection."
Posted by richard ting at August 17, 2004, 03:00 AM
August 02, 2004
Agency Biggies Struggle To Define Role In Rapidly Evolving Interactive Market
by Ross Fadner
Interactive agency bigwigs convened Wednesday at Jupiter Media's annual Advertising Forum in New York to discuss--and quite possibly define--the changing role of ad agencies in a medium that leans heavily on technology and publisher-side solutions.
An interactive ad campaign can involve the effort of marketers, publishers, agencies, third-party technology providers, third-party consultants, campaign optimizers, the ad solutions departments of major publishers and portals such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo!, and--oh yeah--interactive ad shops.
Sarah Fay, president-CEO of Carat Interactive, says there's definitely an element of "co-opetition" going on between agencies and the varying service and solutions providers. "[Carat Interactive] believes in the agencies' role as more of a strategist/consultant," she said. "We live in a world where you need to integrate or die, and you're taken to task if you're not playing ball."
Posted by richard ting at August 02, 2004, 12:10 PM
Traditional ad agencies continue to shun online
Susie Harwood
Traditional ad agencies are still shunning online advertising, forcing media owners to go direct to clients, despite the massive increase in online ad spend. A new breakdown of ad sales figures published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau for the first time revealed that 49% of the £353.6m spent online last year was direct from clients, and only 51% through agencies. Danny Meadows-Klue, chief executive of the IAB, said that this is disproportionate when compared to traditional media channels, where the majority - somewhere between 80% and 90% - of media spend goes through agencies.
'We want online advertising to be a very easy decision for every client and to do that we need to get agencies more involved,' he said. But Greg Paine, director of strategy for interactive marketing at AOL UK, said that although he is seeing more work come through agencies than last year, it's not always easy to get access to them. 'We still have enormous problems getting to talk to strategic planners at traditional agencies who are in charge of budgets. Some of them just don't want to know.' Andrew Walmsley, COO of digital media agency i-level, agreed that traditional agencies haven't done a very good job on the digital side. 'You might think that as an online specialist we're delighted about this, as it enables us to win more work. But the reality is it makes the sector look bad.' But Nigel Gwilliam, head of digital at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, argued that one of the reasons that online sees a higher volume of direct work is because tools like search have a low entry threshold. This can make it much easier and cheaper for small businesses to market themselves. 'We shouldn't discredit the fact that small businesses can market themselves on the Web,' he said. 'I think it's a very positive thing.'
Posted by richard ting at August 02, 2004, 12:08 PM
Marketers Reveal Dark Side Of Search, Cast Shadow On Agencies
by Ross Fadner
Search engine marketing (SEM) is helping to put the interactive medium back on the map. But as a panel of search marketing professionals noted recently, all is not rosy in the hallowed land of search. Thursday, interactive agencies received a considerable amount of criticism from search engine marketers speaking at the Jupiter Media Advertising Forum in New York City. Kevin Ryan, director of market development and worldwide agency relations for Wahlstrom Interactive, kicked off his presentation by sharing his favorite quotes from top-level SEM executives regarding the role of interactive agencies in search engine marketing. Among them was this direct hit from the CEO of an unnamed, top five SEM firm: "Agencies don't get it. They just don't get it, and they never will." Ryan said that advertisers have three choices when starting a search marketing campaign, they can either: staff up, hire an SEM firm, or force their agency to adapt. The panel, consisting almost exclusively of search engine marketing firm executives, unanimously agreed that the second was the best of the three alternatives presented by Ryan. Ryan pointed out that the tenuous relationship between agencies and SEM firms is exacerbated by clients' overall lack of understanding of SEM. Differences and difficulties in fee structures lie at the crux of the problem. SEM firms think agencies receive too much from sales commissions, while agencies feel that SEM firms demand too much from an already limited budget. Ryan noted that the industry is in need of education and industry standards from organizations like the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) to help solve these disputes. Dana Todd, co-founder of SEM and Web development outfit SiteLab International, opined that because the search marketing landscape is so cluttered and confusing, the commission model itself might be in jeopardy because "the financial model is so tricky on both sides." Todd added that relationships between SEM firms and agencies can be fundamentally flawed. "You can't control what you can't understand," she said of interactive agencies. Todd said that agencies need to understand that SEM isn't just media buying. As Shari Thurow, Web master and marketing director for GrantasticDesigns.com said, "The hot thing is search advertising. Search engine marketing is not just search advertising," but search engine optimization as well. Thurow noted that this involves boosting clients' natural search results as well, by optimizing their Web sites for keyword crawlers. Clients are often reluctant to do this, but she said that Web development services are crucial to boosting free traffic from search engines. She also noted that agencies are often unwilling to pay for these specialized services. While the bonds tying agencies to SEM firms may be fragile, the interactive industry must not forget that it is still struggling through its recent turnaround on the shoulders of search. As Jupiter analyst Gary Stein noted, "(search marketing) is shaping up to be a marathon, but the last few meters have been treated like a 10K," meaning that SEM firms and interactive shops would do well to slow down, play nicely together, and have faith in the industry's ability to help them work out these kinks.
Posted by richard ting at August 02, 2004, 11:00 AM
July 27, 2004
Corporate Creativity - Diesel & Zoo York
• Diesel recently initiated a street art project in which artists are encouraged to design a blank outdoor wall in designated areas in Milan, Genoa, Florence, and Rome. Other cultural activities that Diesel is sponsoring include talent support for emerging fashion designers, an international music contest, and an on-line flash film festival.
• In Melbourne, clothing companies such as Zoo York, Etnies, World Industries, Eckô, and Mooks are giving out stencils and stickers with their product in the hope that their consumers will give them free advertising by placing them around town. According to our local reporters there, these efforts are paying off, as there has been a significant presence around town.
Posted by richard ting at July 27, 2004, 01:12 AM
July 15, 2004
Big Brands Advocate Integrated Marketing Approach
by Tobi Elkin
Two of the biggest consumer packaged goods marketers urged agencies and marketers to deploy consumer-centric integrated marketing approaches, experiment with new media, and develop holistic marketing platforms that will enable them to execute a single idea across all media. Tim Kopp, section manager, Beauty Care Division, Procter & Gamble, told Ad:Tech-Chicago attendees that it doesn't take a big budget to test and experiment with emerging media including the Web, digital video recorders, and wireless. "You need to be constantly in touch with your consumer beyond the occasional focus group ... You have to look for new ways to connect with consumers," Kopp said Tuesday during the Ad:Tech panel "Big Brands...Big Thinking."
Posted by richard ting at July 15, 2004, 12:36 PM
June 18, 2004
RSS: A Medium for Marketers
Email marketers get often stopped by spam filters. Their challenge to deliver a legitimate promotional message to users' mailboxes is gettin harder and harder. The end is near... But, wait, don't desperate, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! It's called RSS, and it's here to save a lot of jobs in the email marketing industry...
As pointed out today on ClickZ, RSS is, indeed, a medium for marketers, not just a tool for lazy web surfers who want to have all the content they're interested in just one click away.
But the main point I'd like to focus on, is exactly this: lazyness. I tend to forget to turn my feed reader on, and I tend to assume this is something that might happen to several other users. So will RSS really help email marketing to survive?
Posted by richard ting at June 18, 2004, 01:30 AM
June 15, 2004
Nike-Gawker Deal tests 'Art of Speed' Online Feature
A Blog That May Not Be a Blog
June 14, 2004
By Kris Oser
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Nike's new "Art of Speed" blog on gawker.com is a public experiment that other marketers will watch closely. The results of this collaboration could reveal a lot about whether a mainstream marketer can marry its message to the hip, satirical content of a blog such as Gawker, and, in doing so, gain access to the influential, early adopter blogging crowd.
The Art of Speed, which appeared earlier this month, showcases the work of 15 innovative filmmakers to interpret the idea of speed -- a branding concept Nike is pushing leading up to the Olympics. It was masterminded by interactive shop RG/A, which developed the site, the trailer and the introduction of nikelab.com. While R/GA is responsible for the overall Art of Speed campaign, creative for the blog is handled by Gawker's creative team.
Posted by richard ting at June 15, 2004, 10:52 AM
June 10, 2004
Eyeblaster Debuts New Video-Based Ad Product
Rich media provider Eyeblaster today launches a new video-based advertising solution for video content streams. Eyeblaster's VideoClip Module (VCM) is positioned as a format that can offer additional ad inventory for publishers, and presents advertisers with a TV spot-like buy with interactivity to boot.
Eyeblaster says the new format will allow national brand advertisers that are often reluctant to allocate funds to interactive media to re-purpose existing video assets and TV commercials online, thereby reducing production costs. The VCM also enables advertisers to add interactive elements such as clickable Flash animations, data capture, dynamic email, file transfers, and links to promotions. Unicast recently debuted an upgrade to its Video Commercial that offers a similar interactive overlay that can run adjacent to the unit, or at the end of the spot.
Posted by richard ting at June 10, 2004, 01:50 AM
June 08, 2004
Nike Tries a New Medium for Advertising: The Blog
Gawker Media, a small company that operates snarky Web logs on culture and politics, like Gawker and Wonkette, has begun blogging on behalf of major advertisers.
The company's first paid blog is for Nike. Called Art of Speed, the blog will spend about a month showcasing a series of 15 short films on the theme of speed, all commissioned by Nike. Gawker Media Contract Productions, a new division of Gawker Media, will supply layout, commentary, links and other features. Terms were not disclosed.
"A lot of marketers are interested in Web logs as a medium," said Nick Denton, publisher at Gawker Media in New York. "One thing to do is to run advertising campaigns on the sites. Some marketers are moving one step beyond that and looking at other ways they can engage this new form of independent media."
The approach, Mr. Denton stressed, is borrowed from the print tradition of advertorials and special advertising sections.
Posted by richard ting at June 08, 2004, 04:38 AM
May 17, 2004
Product Placement Via Online Games
Marketers are increasingly turning to videogames--console-based, online, and so-called advergames that are built-to-order by advertisers seeking to create the ultimate in branded experiences. Product placement and promotion in videogames are part of the broader trend toward branded entertainment.
The trend is likely to spread across all media as marketers try to surround consumers with their brands everywhere they go. But there are unique opportunities in the online space. Take online games, for example. With each new plotline, episode, segment, or character downloaded, gamers can view new in-game advertising and promotional messages. The ability to swap out and update specific messages is easier with online games. The process also requires more monitoring and labor. With online games, there is an opportunity to interact with players, perhaps via instant messaging or opt-in, permission-based methods. There is the possibility of more data collection.
But how much intrusion will gamers accept? It's an entirely fair question. Poring over gaming blogs, MediaDailyNews reporter Ross Fadner noticed some strong reactions against heavy-handed, awkward efforts at product placement.
At this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, otherwise known as E3, we can expect more developments in this area-this despite a few years of false starts. Despite the enormous success of its PC-based version of the game, Electronic Arts couldn't make a go of The Sims online. McDonald's and Intel appeared in the game. But no one can count EA out. At E3, the software publisher announced a deal to build online versions of its games for play on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox Live online gaming service.
The deal will offer popular EA titles including NCAA Football, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and James Bond 007 in online versions for the Xbox Live service. I smell plenty of product placement opportunities here. Bounce Interactive Gaming, the new gaming unit formed under the banner of Y&R Advertising, and others like Starcom MediaVest Group's Play unit, are likely to jump on opportunities to negotiate integration on behalf of brand marketers. Media agencies, in particular, are in the catbird seat in terms of envisioning methods by which to streamline the process of brand integration for publishers and brands. But they can also be influential in creating branded experiences online that cause the least amount of disruption in the gaming experience.
But in the end, gamers will decide whether something offends or entertains, is valuable or simply gratuitous. For marketers, brand loyalty is at stake.
Tobi Elkin
Executive Editor
MediaPost Communications
Posted by richard ting at May 17, 2004, 05:32 AM
PointRoll Spawns A New Child--TomBoy
Who in the interactive industry isn't familiar with the PointRoll children: FatBoy, BadBoy, and TowelBoy? Today, PointRoll gives birth to its fourth child TomBoy, a gender-neutral enabling technology aptly named for its ad unit-neutrality.
PointRoll claims that TomBoy's value proposition to advertisers and agencies lies in the fact it can be deployed using any Web design tool, to any existing ad space, and file sizes can be unlimited.
PointRoll says TomBoy ads may contain any combination of messaging or imagery--video, audio, animation, Flash, Java, Gif, or JPEG. Within a TomBoy ad, says Jules Gardner, president-CEO, PointRoll, "you can build your own Web site if you want," in addition to being able to "track every conceivable action inside the ad."
According to Gardner, TomBoy won't expand, unlike other PointRoll offerings, because he says there's no need for it to. PointRoll's new ad campaign for the format says TomBoy offers advertisers "more K than you know what to do with."
Posted by richard ting at May 17, 2004, 05:26 AM
April 14, 2004
RSS Offers Targeted Ad Opportunities
RSS, or XML Syndication, has the potential to offer unique and targeted advertising opportunities to online publishers and the marketers they want to attract. Even though the majority of XML Syndication activity exists in community blogs frequented by tech-geeks, information technology (IT) professionals, and other types of early adopters, an advertising market is beginning to evolve.
Robert Scoble, a technology evangelist for Microsoft Corp., notes that lack of visual stimulus and clutter drives the functionality of an RSS feeder. He says it enables the user to scan content more easily and without distraction. The market opportunity for advertisers is via text ads.
“In my RSS news aggregator, “I’m able to scan a large number of stories or content very quickly without having to be distracted by color, by advertising,” Scoble says, continuing: “but I’m not talking about advertising--like text ads, because I think there’s actually going to be advertising in RSS. Google figured out a very effective way of advertising, which is to use text, because the human eye can process that very quickly and not get distracted.”
Posted by richard ting at April 14, 2004, 11:13 AM
Putting Blogs in Their Place
This chief of New York Times Digital once famously planned to spin off the online division and take it public. That didn't happen. But now that his operation is turning a tidy profit, Martin Nisenholtz is back to making declarations. In a recent keynote speech he said online journalism "needs a Pong" - a transformative application - and that blogs aren't it. Is he dismissing a threat to big media hegemony, or is he onto something? Wired inquired.
Posted by richard ting at April 14, 2004, 11:11 AM
Demon Tiger
Asic Tiger's fictional character, Demon Tiger, hosts his own blog about everything which is Asics. It serves as a nice underground advertising tool within the sneaker head communities.
Posted by richard ting at April 14, 2004, 03:27 AM
April 01, 2004
Will 'Moblogs' Mean Mo' Money?
Although new cell phone models increasingly come with cameras attached, wireless companies with huge investments in new high-speed networks and fancy phones fear people won't find a corresponding new need to take pictures and send them--for a fee--over the wireless Internet.
Posted by richard ting at April 01, 2004, 12:42 PM
Blog of blogs
Kinja.com could help make sense of the blogosphere.
The man who gave the world commercial Weblogs including Gawker and Wonkette is now offering digests of blogs covering 14 subjects including baseball, sex, and politics. Subscribers to Nick Denton's Kinja.com can enter the addresses of blogs they read and also receive digest excerpts. Sample digests say each "contains the newest writing from web logs picked by editors at Kinja."
Kinja.com's service, a blog of blogs, is designed to help people who have heard about blogs become comfortable with them. "Weblogs have probably reached 10 percent of the Internet population," Denton said. "Our goal is to reach the remainder," he told The New York Times.
Posted by richard ting at April 01, 2004, 01:13 AM
March 22, 2004
Time to Reinvent the Ad Agency?
Time to Reinvent the Ad Agency?
By Sean Carton
March 22, 2004
www.clickz.com/experts/ad/lead_edge/article.php/3328541
Should the ad agency be reinvented? These days, that question may seem pretty pointless. We've changed to deal with the Internet's challenges. Take a hard look at your agency (or your internal marketing department) and examine how things get done. You may realize things aren't as different as you thought. That's bad.
Most agencies now handle traditional and interactive through parallel structures. Sure, account supervisors may oversee an entire account through all channels (to some extent), but in the trenches most agencies maintain parallel structures: one runs online stuff, the other runs offline. Creative functions the same way. There are traditional creatives and interactive creatives. There's some convergence on the media end, but most agencies assign specific media to media buyers.
Where does search engine marketing (SEM) fit in? Mobile? Where does Web development (not ad production) fit? Where does database management and its links to CRM, direct e-mail, and sales force automation fit? Who handles strategy? Who directs creative? Who really understands all that's going on?
To be fair, things are much more complicated than 10 years ago. We still work in traditional media (radio, TV, print) but also have content with a host of digital (and soon-to-be digital) options. Web sites, e-mail, SEM, advergaming, product placement, and VOD. Challenges from DVR, digital satellite, and direct mail. And there's relatively esoteric online media, such as blogs, RSS, and viral marketing. Saying there's a lot of stuff to consider is an understatement.
Many traditional media are going digital, threatening the way advertising's been done for a nearly a century. Addressable cable boxes and capabilities to targeting TV advertising are on the horizon. DVRs provide new possibilities for on-demand, long-form spots. VOD is cropping up. Though it's mostly ad-free (at least on my Comcast network), that's bound to change and create new challenges. Even print isn't immune. New developments that allow customizable, high-res PDF creation on the fly offer a host of new possibilities for localized national advertising.
The list goes on. Like it or not, technology has a major impact on how advertising works. Yet advertising has been slow to respond. We still don't have an industry-accepted definition of an online impression (it's being worked on), much less a definition of a TV "impression" for addressable cable (that's being worked on, too). Meanwhile, savvy clients accustomed to the Internet's accountability are demanding the same accountability in traditional media. It just isn't there.
All in all, the traditional agency model is in trouble in at least five ways:
Niche providers: Look at your agency. Unless you're a big multinational with a whole stable of linked companies providing every service imaginable, you probably outsource many core tasks. E-mail marketing companies, SEM companies, and Web development companies do a lot of the work, and take lots income, for many agencies. Even media companies are getting in the mix. Many agencies outsource media buying to big buying companies. Many of them are adding creative to their mix, effectively competing with the agencies.
Measurability: As stated above, savvy clients are used to actually measuring how many people saw an ad, at least online. The growth in pay-for-performance online advertising habituates clients to only paying for leads they get. Expectations change and quarter-by-quarter return on investment (ROI) goals are set. Measuring services are pressured to come up with better metrics. As a result, justifying what we do is getting harder. As addressable set-top boxes come down the pike, things will only get hotter.
Data: A byproduct of all this measurement is measured data. Who owns it? You? The client? The third-party server? The cable company? Who can access it? How can it be used? Does your agency have database management capabilities to store, much less analyze, it? Can it be shared among various media systems? Will there be standardization? If you can't yet answer these questions, you'll probably soon stay up nights trying to answer them.
Technology: Keeping up with the latest media offerings and capabilities is a huge task. Even if someone in your agency is tasked with keeping up on the latest, getting that knowledge to others who need it is a huge challenge.
Because it's so tough to keep up, many agencies turn to niche companies (e-mail, SEO, CRM, Web development) to handle technological stuff. These companies can be Trojan horses when they're in front of a client who suddenly realizes she's paying an agency to be a middleman but it isn't adding much (perceived) value.
If agencies want to get back into the game, they must invest substantial time and financial resources. Along comes another technology, the cycle repeats. But resisting technology doesn't work.
Payment: Commission-based compensation has been on the way out for a while. Most work today is on a fee or project basis. Longer relationships aren't as common. Spending $50,000 to pitch a $150,000 project doesn't make sense. Outsourcing drains income (more important than bogus "billings"), yet agency structure hasn't changed. The risk factor is way up, while margins are going way down.
What's the solution? Options for agencies to study to plan future strategies:
Concentrate on creative: Losing money on outsourcing and hemorrhaging on the demand of today's media climate? Your structure makes multiple-layer account management a profit-suck? Cut back. Focus on creative. Creativity will never be a commodity.
Concentrate on strategy and outsourcing management: The flip side is to get rid of creative and become a brand strategy and marketing management company. Fire the creatives, ditch media buying, outsource everything. Focus on managing the relationship with the client and with your stable of vendors. Think of yourself as a producer (in the film/TV sense), not a one-stop shop.
Find a strategic resource who understands the new world: Only keep account leaders who fully understand new challenges. Tough, but manageable if you do what's necessary. With management that sees the big picture, other pieces could fall into place.
Define roles and boundaries, and get it in writing: Another temporary patch is to clearly define roles and responsibilities of everyone in the agency and all outsourced vendors. Don't assume vendors won't poach your clients. Don't assume everyone in your agency knows what to do. Trust, but verify.
Give up and concentrate on one channel: A risky strategy, but worth considering. Don't want to deal with traditional? Don't. Don't want to deal with the Net? Don't. It may be tough (or impossible) to land large, full-service accounts, but if you pick your clients correctly and become an expert in one thing, it could work.
Do everything: Become a multinational conglomerate. Way easier said than done, but the current climate may validate the benefits of big holding companies. However, if they can't correctly manage the whole advertising supply chain, they're in same boat as the small players.
Educate and collaborate: Probably the most achievable and immediately actionable of all strategies. Everyone, client and agency, is in the same boat. Have the courage to raise these issues with clients. Work together to come up with the best solution. You may be surprised at the response. Recognizing there's a problem is the first step to recovery.
Posted by richard ting at March 22, 2004, 03:39 AM
March 18, 2004
Advertising on IM Has Yet to Pop
by Ross Fadner
Advertising on instant messaging applications has yet to catch on in a big way, but MECA Communications (May Everyone Connect Always), a Redding, Calif.-based company, wants to change that.
MECA provides a software application whereby multiple instant messaging platforms (like those offered by MSN, Yahoo!, America Online's AIM, and ICQ) are consolidated into a single application that offers advertisers marketing and promotional opportunities. AOL's instant messenger incorporates space for paid advertising. As of yesterday, house ads for AOL 9.0 Optimized appeared on the AIM product.
The skin of the MECA window offers advertising opportunities. Consumers have the option of choosing the background or skin of his or her MECA window. The types of skins vary from geographic locations to Rolling Stone magazine covers. When users chat with one another, they have the opportunity to share skins, and to interact with favorite brand images. MECA says that 10 million skins are shared on its platform every day, at a growth rate of 20 percent per quarter. However, MECA executives declined to specify how many consumers have downloaded the application. The MECA user base is primarily females ages 18-29 and males ages 13-24.
Instant messaging is hot--93 percent of 13-to-17-year-olds and 84 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds use IM, according to Opinion Research Group. Whether IM aficionados will put up with advertising on the popular platform remains to be seen.
MECA said it provides rich media-enabled inventory beneath the message text, branding opportunities on buddy list pages, and a new cross-promotional feature that incorporates content integration into the messaging marketing mix. The MECA service also allows its users to interact with the actual content produced by advertisers through media channels that appear beneath in the MECA window. For example, one channel may offer users the ability to stream a MP3 file or view clips of one of Elektra Entertainment's artists. Another channel might contain information about a user's favorite sports team, and offer discounts on related merchandise. A marketer could also implement sweepstakes, discounts, and coupons via the skins.
Bruce Klickstein, President, MECA, says that promotional opportunities abound within this kind of infrastructure. "The channels concept provides the ability of total content integration," he says. "Anything on an advertiser's Web site can interact with the messaging system. We're taking content and engaging consumers by merging with the instant messaging protocol--taking advantage of the instant nature of it."
The channels system is also completely viral in nature, as the users choose which channels they want to receive based on interactions with friends' channels. "We're using instant messaging as the infrastructure," adds Klickstein. "This is not some big brother branding company doing this, it's your friend Joe."
The MECA marketing mix allows for fully interactive campaigns like the channel partnerships or short, quick campaigns. "We wanted to give advertisers a simple turnkey way to experiment in the instant messaging space," notes Vijay Chattha, a company spokesman. Another plus for marketers is that it offers them the full sweep of AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN users. MECA pre- launched with five channel partners, including Marvel, Reunion.com, HipWave, and Astrology.com.
Interestingly, MECA has yet to strike a deal with any of the major instant messaging service providers. Klickstein concedes that MECA has been trying "for years" to strike partnerships with AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!, noting that the marketing potential of an alliance could be huge. "It's going to happen whenever they're ready," says Klickstein. However, the online kingpins may have other ideas.
Posted by richard ting at March 18, 2004, 03:34 AM
2003 Global Brands Scoreboard
Check it out at:
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/brand/2003/index.asp
Posted by richard ting at March 18, 2004, 03:21 AM
Eyewonder's New Format Offerings Indicate Broader Adoption of Video Ads
Wednesday, Mar 17, 2004
by Kate Kaye
The online video ad space just got a bit more crowded---sort of. Streaming video technology firm Eyewonder, Inc. has rounded out its player-less streaming video ad offerings with new formats and a host of interactive features. The expansion indicates a broader commitment to Web video among advertisers and agencies, and represents a competitive shift in strategy for Eyewonder.
“Up until six months ago we didn’t feel the market for online video advertising was ready to handle and proactively support all these different features and formats,” explains Mike Griffin, executive-VP sales and marketing at Eyewonder. The company made its decision to expand its format menu after gauging advertiser client interest, which has grown gradually.
Until now, says Griffin, advertisers “have been walking before they run” when it comes to experimenting with streaming video. “They’ve walked a long way,” he concludes.
Banner ads, multilayer ads, expandable ads, floating ads, pop-up ads, and pop-out ads are among the latest additions to Eyewonder’s format lineup. In the past, Eyewonder’s streaming technology has enabled audio and video mainly within standard in-page units. Eyewonder has also developed a custom format that plays video directly within the latest version of America Online’s Instant Messenger client, AIM. Eyewonder’s technology deploys video automatically with no need for a player or plug-in, and detects user bandwidth to optimize the viewing experience.
And there is another significant switch for the company, according to Griffin: Eyewonder’s official relationships as streaming video partner with ad tech providers Eyeblaster and PointRoll are kaput now that Eyewonder is offering competing formats. Griffin emphasizes, however, that a future pairing of Eyewonder video with Eyeblaster or PointRoll formats is not ruled out.
Like its streaming video competitor, Klipmart, which offers similar ad formats, Eyewonder hopes to guide advertisers away from simply streaming its television ads online, toward integrating interactive capabilities to take full advantage of the what the Web has to offer. In conjunction with its new formats, Eyewonder has unveiled features that can be mixed and matched, including video zoom, a zip code locator, email collection, file downloads, video replay, slide shows, and frequency capping, as well as polling with real-time results. In addition, the dynamic data feature links ads directly to databases, to enable access to such things as up-to-the-minute weather reports or real-time stock tickers.
“These features allow the advertiser to create a dialogue with consumers, and allow the user to have more control over the experience to get more information out of the ad unit,” adds Griffin.
Ads for Intel’s Centrino chip and Motorola that use the new formats are currently running. The Intel ad using Eyewonder’s video pop-out format launches a separate window featuring additional video clips, and allows the user to submit an email address for more information. An expandable ad for Motorola that launches a small video window from a skyscraper-style ad unit can be seen currently on ITV, a U.K.-based commercial TV network Web site.
Eyewonder recently made a foray into video content publishing through relationships with online teen community site Bolt.com and health care information provider Choice Media. Both are using the company’s technology to deliver video content, as well as selling Eyewonder-enabled in-stream video ads that run within that content. “Using our technology for in-stream ads as well as in-page ads opens up inventory levels for video ads online,” suggests Griffin, who believes that in-stream video ads could help bring about the promise of attracting TV-like ad budgets to the Web.
Posted by richard ting at March 18, 2004, 02:57 AM
Eyeblaster Teams Up With Yahoo! To Promote 100K Banner Format
Thursday, Mar 18, 2004
by Kate Kaye
In its advent, rich media advertising spelled doom for the plain vanilla banner ad. Now, it just might come to the banner’s rescue. Ad technology firm Eyeblaster has teamed up with Yahoo! to promote Eyeblaster’s 100K Polite Banner unit. In addition to running a 100K banner campaign in trade publications, Eyeblaster is hoping that Yahoo!’s decision to slash additional technology fees will coax more advertisers to try the gradually loading unit.
“Awareness of the 100K banner is not as high as we’d like it to be, so we’ll be stepping up the marketing of the format,” affirms Paul Kadin, executive-VP, marketing and strategy, Eyeblaster.
Typically, site publishers won’t accept banners with file sizes exceeding 30K in order to ensure quick page loads. The 100K Polite Banner, however, has a maximum file size of 100K, and is accepted by Yahoo! as well as publishers that accept other Eyeblaster formats. Because the larger Eyeblaster banners load in stages, they don’t slow down page loading. In addition to ensuring a non-disrupted user experience, the units allow for more creative leeway. The Polite Banner technology can be incorporated into any of Yahoo!’s standard banner formats, including monster ads, north banners, rectangles, skyscrapers, and super banners.
“Advertisers can create a richer experience, and the polite loading won’t affect user experience,” a Yahoo! spokesperson says. “It’s a win for both consumers and advertisers.”
And that could translate into more banner ad sales for Yahoo!, especially in conjunction with the new pricing incentive. Eyeblaster, like other rich media technology providers, charges publishers a fee to use its ad technologies. Publishers usually pass that cost on to advertisers by tacking technology fees onto media fees. Although Yahoo! is playing down the price reduction, its decision to remove the technology fee from the cost of running 100K Polite Banners on its site indicates that the Internet giant is willing to put its money where its mouth is. The pricing change is effective immediately, according to Eyeblaster’s Kadin.
To help promote the format, Eyeblaster will launch a campaign employing the 100K Polite Banner unit. Ads that read: “All banners on Yahoo! now support 100K, powered by Eyeblaster” will run in ad industry trade publications.
Posted by richard ting at March 18, 2004, 02:40 AM
Times Co.'s New York Times Digital Embraces The Fatboy; Signs With PointRoll
Thursday, Mar 18, 2004
by Ross Fadner
Since it began offering its services to content providers’ bottom line at no additional serving fee to advertisers, PointRoll has reeled publishers in right and left. In its latest coup, PointRoll today said it added the New York Times Digital, the digital unit of The New York Times Co., and its NYTimes.com and Boston.com properties, to its PointRoll Included network.
The PointRoll Included network consists of advertising tech-serving relationships with national and international publishers, portals, and networks including America Online, Microsoft Corp.’s MSN, and Yahoo! The idea behind the network is to propagate advertisers’ usage of PointRoll’s rich media products both by making the cost of using PointRoll comparable to that of standard banner and leaderboard ads, and by simplifying the buying process. PointRoll’s Included network gave advertisers incentives to use more rich media advertising; rich media was often viewed as cost-prohibitive by some advertisers.
Jason Krebs, VP-sales and marketing, NYTimes.com, says that NYTimes.com has worked successfully with PointRoll in the past, and that progressing to the next level was simply economical. “In the past we saw many repeat purchases of PointRoll,” he says. “Then they came to us with a more economical equation that improves our bottom line.”
Krebs observes that rich media ads like PointRoll’s are beneficial to publishers, advertisers, and consumers. “We’re thinking about the needs of our readers first and foremost. Certain forms of rich media ads are absolutely beneficial to our readers because it gives them more information within the banner,” he says. He adds that advertisers are also served because readers don’t have to leave the site to interact with ads.
Robert Levitan, chief marketing officer, PointRoll, notes that Yahoo! was the first major content publisher to enter the PointRoll Included network. “Before,” he says, “all the major publishers accepted PointRoll, but it was never included in their media kit.” Yahoo! joined PointRoll Included in July of 2002. Levitan says that the new business model was “honed and perfected by Yahoo!” in the fall of 2003.
PointRoll’s ads are mini, stand-alone HTML Web pages, notes Jules Gardner, CEO-PointRoll. “Any technology you can use on a Web page can be used inside a PointRoll ad,” he says. He says that the business model shift reflects the natural evolution of the PointRoll product and rich media in general. “The more PointRoll’s ads are served up, the less dependent agencies will have to be on their ad server,” Gardner says, adding that “ad serving from an agency perspective may cease to exist.”
PointRoll’s ad technologies consist of the floating BadBoy, the banner snap-out TowelBoy, and its most popular, the rollover FatBoy. PointRoll claims that 10 percent of consumers presented with a FatBoy rollover actually scroll over the ad for more information. Consumers who scroll over the ads interact with them for an average of eight seconds. Since PointRoll ads don’t show up in a new window, pop-up blockers can’t block them.
The addition of the NYTimes.com properties caps a successful week for PointRoll, which landed another big fish on Monday--CBSMarketWatch.com. “We’re adding ten more vertical category leaders in the next month,” Levitan says. PointRoll executives also told MediaDailyNews that a new advertising technology is on the horizon--one without any size restrictions--in the near future.
In cutting back the cost of its ad technologies both to publishers and advertisers, PointRoll has shown that it’s willing to sacrifice revenue for exposure and ultimately, increased volume. But offering rich media at no additional cost could backfire. The rest of the rich media community could soon follow PointRoll in lowering costs to advertisers in order to generate increased sales and awareness for the interactive ad formats.
