The Fun Theory

Even car manufacturers can leverage fun.

The Fun Theory, is the latest campaign by Volkswagen via ad agency DDB Stockholm.
It's not just about proving consumers with fun, but provides them fun in exchange for socially responsible actions. This reward has seen a marked increase in people caring out the action.

Check out the video's of a set of subway stairs transformed into a walking piano and a ‘never-ending’ bin that manage to change people’s typical behaviour for the better.





The latest one is the series has just been uploaded - check is out


And all of this with barely a reference to Volkswagen.

I wonder if there is not some big learning's in this for charities & governments?

Sort of related is a TED video by Rory Sutherland

He talks about how advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. He's point is that changing the perceived value is as powerful as changing the real value.
He is very entertaining & funny (adding some perceived value), but also has some real value in his content. Worth sparing the 10 mins to check it out here: http://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man.html

Augmented Reality goes mobile

Following up from Jacquie's post on augmented reality there is more (overseas) news on this technology;

The Wall Has Fallen: 3 Augmented Reality Apps Now Live in iPhone App Store

Lifting this technology from the fixed desk and taking it to the streets does feel like a step forward for uses & uptake in this technology.


Closer to home, well close enough for us to claim it (like Pavlova & Pharlap), a NZ company used AR for their Valentine’s Day activity.
Nothing says "I love you" like some Augmented Reality
Here is link to a video & more information
(hat tip to The Newspaper Works for the link)

A very 'fresh' approach to poster advertising

Just a quick one as the video speaks for itself.
Not only is it a 'fresh' way of doing a street poster it also (importantly) is a perfect fit for the brand & message.

Subvertising

From this....

To this!

Consumer discontent... it's nothing new...There's a whole lotta lovers out there and the yang of this means there's a going to be as many haters who have been defacing and bitching about brands since jesus was a boy. Still, there's no doubt consumers have found a louder voice than ever and are not afraid to use it in as many creative and interesting ways as advertisers can and do.

Trendwatching call this Transparency Tyranny:

Old economy fog is clearing: no longer can incompetence, below-par performance, ignored global standards, anti-social & anti-eco behavior, or opaque pricing be obscured. In its place has come a transparent, fully informed marketplace, where producers have no excuse left to underperform. TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY for some, TRANSPARENCY TRIUMPH for others

First there was Adbusters who have been challenging the old model of 'brand as dictator' since 1989.... today this style of anti-advertising or SUBERVERTISING can be seen through the likes of Banksy not to mention the millions of blogs and forums and ratings systems such as Amazon, Whirlpool.net, Vogue.com.au, tripadvisor.com etc etc

So naturally these are great places for like minded anti-brand/ Naomi klein lovers to congregate and share their views but... getting these subversive messages out to the broader community is happening through interesting and frankly very humorous means.

Let me introduce you to the Billboard Liberation Front (BLF) who are 'marketing for the people' and believe in 'establishing a new paradigm in street marketing'. They actually have more than a 30 year history but undoubtedly the WWW is giving them a bigger, stronger and more global voice. It's worth a visit to their site http://www.billboardliberation.com/ if not for their comical and undoubtedly genuine list of employees to read their manifesto which states that:

Each time you change the Advertising message in your own mind, whether you climb up onto the board and physically change the original copy and graphics or not, each time you improve the message, you enter in to the High Priesthood of Advertisers

A subvert according to Adbusters "mimics the look and feel of the targeted ad, promoting the classic double take as viewers suddenly realize they have been duped. Subverts create cognitive dissonance. It cuts through the hype and glitz of our mediated reality and, momentarily, reveals a deeper truth within...'


This creates a great debate about the importance of brand truthfulness and transparency and acknowledging that you can't ignore your brand's dark side. Every brand has one... have you had a conversation about yours lately?

Also just stumbled across this one too.. but if you are a little sensitive to the above image, don't click through...!

Recession Marketing - Seen on the Streets of London & on the TV screens of USA

We are all aware of the 'global credit cruch' so it is no surprise that across the US and the UK families have seen their income reduce in value.

In fact in the UK people were £14 a week poorer this September thanks to high inflation and limited wage increases.

So with governments in Britain & America talking about the coming of the dreaded R word, advertisiers are responding with value messages.

This ad from KFC captures the moment perfectly

In the US, Target is running TVC's under a new day - new ways to save tag line.

Coles is the Australian advertisier that comes to my mind when thinking of those that have jumped on the penny pinching banwagon here, with meal ideas under a price point. E.g. Feed 6 for under $35.

It is likely only a mater of time before we see more of this type of messaging....

A gallery dedicated to all things fresh and brave

As part of our Think Fresh month, OMD Melbourne have launched a Think Fresh Gallery to inspire and celebrate all things fresh and brave.

'Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties'

Eric Fromm

The Gallery consists of 3 sections:
1. Fresh communication ideas (communication examples from all over the globe which have managed to stand out and impress)
2. Creative inspiration (brilliant examples from other industries where people have gone beyond the norm)
3. A salute to the brave (those who showed a tremendous amount of bravery and left their mark on the world)

Heres a bit of a taste of what is being showcased in the gallery.....

Tricom Peso Campaign (OMD, Dominican Republic)

Fifteen per cent of the population of the Dominican Republic live abroad making the telephone a vital tool for keeping in touch with friends and family. When Tricom reduced the price of international calls to the same price as a local one it needed to make a big splash with a small budget. The solution was to put its message on coins and distribute them via a range of establishments. In total more than 150,000 one peso coins were used with one side of the coin carrying the message “Start calling for less than this to the USA”. The coins and the message made their way into the public consciousness by stealth and ensured that the message couldn’t be missed. The coins were only distributed in the capital city but have found their way right across the country.

Puma Golf Collection Campaign

On March 17 in Antwerp, 2,000 golf ball shaped helium balloons attached to Puma golf items were sent to float down a busy shopping street as well as taxi stands, trains and bus stations. People were free to take the items. Labels were attached to the balloons that described the collection and directed people to the Puma website. The effort aimed to convey the "packable, portable and playable" qualities of the line.

'It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all'

Edward De Bono

World Naked Bike Ride

The 4th Annual World Naked Bike Ride was held on June 9, 2007 in San Francisco, California. Basically, the purpose underlying the event is three-fold: one, to promote a car-free lifestyle, and decrease our dependence on fossil fuels; two, to freak out the 'squares', and to force the public to 'step out of its comfort zone'; and three, most controversially, to get a sexual thrill out of being an exhibitionist.

David Blaine

David Blaine is an American world record holding magician and endurance artist. He made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic, revolutionizing the way magic is depicted around the world.
On September 5, 2003, Blaine began his 44-day endurance stunt sealed inside a transparent case suspended 30 feet in the air next to Potters Fields Park on the south bank of the River Thames, London. The case measured 3 ft by 7 ft by 7 ft and had a webcam installed so that viewers could observe his progress. During the 44 day period, Blaine went without any food or nutrients and survived on just 4.5 litres of water per day.

What's the message for us?
When you have a different approach to solving a business issue, sometimes it takes real persistence to see it actually brought to life.

Phillipe Petit
Tight-rope walker, unicyclist, magician and pantomime artist, Philippe Petit was also one of the earliest modern day street jugglers in Paris in 1968. Philippe Petit is a French high wire artist who gained fame for his illegal walk between the former Twin Towers in New York City on August 7, 1974. He used a 450 pound cable to do so and also a custom made 26 foot long, 55 pound balancing pole.
Other famous structures he has used for tightrope walks include the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Louisiana Superdome and between the Palais de Chaillot and the Eiffel Tower. Petit currently lives in Woodstock, New York. A documentary film named "Man on Wire“ dealing with Petit's performance won both the World Cinema Jury and Audience awards at the Sundance Film festival 2008.

What’s the message for us?
There was never a brilliant business idea that didn’t contain the risk of failure.

'Man cannot discover new oceans until he has courage to lose sight of the shore'

Andre Gide

The Curio - Celebrating Media Creativity

With Think Fresh ‘08 upon us, we thought we’d look back at the life of media creativity and celebrate 10 of our favourite examples of great creativity and bravery from around the globe that you may not have seen before.

San Fran Zoo - Bringing out the animal in you….grrrrrr

The San Francisco Zoo have produced a beautiful campaign using a series of local bus shelters adorned with horns, butterfly wings and oversized ears representing all the animals at the zoo. The idea is, you get your photo taken in front of the sites to upload onto the Zoo’s website. The best pictures will be chosen for the Zoo’s advertising campaign. This is a new campaign but already hundreds of people have uploaded their photos. We love this idea quite simply because its fun, it has people interacting with it, and it hits the mark with sending people to the website. Check them out here: http://www.oursfzoo.org/


Making TV Advertising Event Viewing
Honda made TV history this year with 2.2M people tuning in to watch their TV ad in the UK. The 3 minute stunt took up an entire ad break in peak time on Channel 4 and saw sky divers jump from a plane to form, one letter at a time, the word Honda. The amazing thing about this is it was all done live. The media and creative agencies along with Channel 4 worked closely together to bring this great example of bravery to life. It could have been done as a pre-recorded ad, but they took the tag line, Difficult Is Worth Doing literally and did it the hard way. Garnering huge amounts of PR and discussion, before and after the airing, Honda’s UK media agency said: "It is the biggest, smallest campaign ever, just one spot but look at the impact.”


Dialing Up Creativity
When the 118 118 directory service launched in the UK, the brand was up against the category behemoth British Telecom. With two hirsute 70’s styled runners as the brand heroes, the campaign was truly brought to life through the unconventional comms: -Tens of 1000’s of 118 118 singlets were hung on washing lines in key cities for people to steal and wear -The runners travelled around the country for 8 weeks in a retro ice cream van entertaining consumers & giving away the 118 118 singlets -To make the shirts an icon in their own right, they were framed and hung in private health clubs throughout London. Within the year, 118 118’s prompted awareness was at 95% and the brand stole and has maintained the leadership position in the category.

These examples are a couple of our favourite Grand Prix winners from the Cannes Advertising Festival. Yes, one is from our very talented cousins across the Tasman…we’re not being biased…this one is GOOD! If you want to see more great media work that’s won at Cannes, visit the site: http://www.canneslions.com.au/

Biomat Cleaning Religiously
To grow market share, Biomat washing powder specifically targeted the Jewish Orthodox sector in Israel, a market almost unreachable via traditional media as many don’t own TV’s or radios. Orthodox Jews have strong beliefs associated with aiding the weak, so Biomat connected their idea to this belief and developed a way to help the needy. “Bring your unneeded clothes to us, we will wash them with Biomat and distribute them to the needy” A Biomat-branded truck fitted with a giant washing machine was the main feature of the campaign. The details of the truck’s locations were communicated via street posters, at point of sale and in Orthodox press. Biomat's shares in the Orthodox sector, 15% of the Israeli population, grew by 50% after the activity, and the campaign has continued on.

Pago – A License to Print on Money
Pago is a virtual wallet linked to a bank account allowing users to text money to and from mobile phones. A great tool targeted at a young ad avoiding audience keen on innovation and technology. OMD NZ found that innovation and new media was the key to connecting with their target audience.
•The campaign used Hypertag and Bluetooth technology in bus shelters to give away free money vouchers, directly motivating registration.
• With permission from the Reserve Bank they created a media first by stickering $5 notes with the Pago image. The notes were then put into regular circulation, surprising the audience.
• An interactive billboard was made up of 30,000 post it notes for consumers to peel off so they could take the Pago message with them.
The campaign exceeded awareness results by 21% 2 months from launch. With a fresh and creative approach to out of home media as well as a coming up with a media first, this campaign was a great success in delivering a new brand and a complex message to a tech savvy target audience.

We couldn’t call ourselves advertising people if we didn’t showcase some of the brilliance from the OMD network.

Making a Tiny Budget Work
In a bid to increase their share of line rentals in the Dominican Republic, Tricom made the cost of phone calls to the US the same price as local calls, less than 1 peso. With only US$5K to promote this, OMD placed stickers on 1 peso coins delivering the message “Start calling the US for less than this”. They stickered 150,000 pesos and distributed them in busy supermarkets, circulating the coins at rapid pace. The coins spread throughout the country and within 1 year line rentals with Tricom grew by 260% with no other major activity in the period.

Breaking the Mould of Book Marketing

With the Disney’s adaptation of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe about to launch, this was the perfect time to reignite excitement about the book that started it all. OMD UK came up with a campaign to Read it before you see it. Copies of the 1st chapter were sampled extensively in cinemas and on public transport where the audience are looking for a read. Downloadable samples were also available online. This campaign broke the mould of book marketing in the UK and proved a success with the €145,000 budget increasing sales of the book by 800%.

A lot of great creative media work has been done with outdoor and as a channel it has been keen to showcase new technology and methods that deliver on creativity. Here are some great examples that we love showing how the outdoor medium has helped make the message stronger by encompassing the immediate surrounds.

Amnesty Brings Suffering to the Streets
Amnesty ran 200 poster sites throughout Switzerland to illustrate the Human Rights abuses that are taking place each day. Each poster image was matched to the surroundings and gave the impression that the victims were literally sitting on the streets of Switzerland. Orange-clad and hooded Guantanamo prisoners looked as if they were shackled and left on the Zurich pavements.
The campaign was discussed on over 400 blogs, triggered a editorial features about human rights abuse and achieved a twenty-four fold increase in traffic to Amnesty International’s website.




Making the Medium Fit the Message
TBWA in Brazil used one of the most polluted tunnels in one of the world’s most polluted cities to promote World Car Free Day. Instead of pasting a billboard in the tunnel, they scraped the grime caused by car fumes from the walls of the tunnel to write: “Walk. Ride. Bike. Take the bus. Use the subway for less pollution. 9/22 is World Car Free Day”. This idea won on PR by delivering $6M in earned media value and reached 4 million drivers in the city.



Heinz Souper Billboard
A giant 3D soup pot positioned on an outdoor site that faces three lanes of traffic heading out of central London for Heinz has been seen by an estimated 1.2m people each fortnight as they head home for dinner. The live pot is programed to emit steam and look like a boiling cup of soup. A great way to speak to hungry commuters on their trip home on cold winter nights.

Big Thinking for Small Spaces

When Ikea arrived in New York it wanted to make a big noise in the city that never sleeps. For the opening of its first store in the city, it tapped into New Yorkers’ pride in their local landmarks, combined with its traditional focus on affordability and recognition of small space living.

Four 20’x20’ pop-up room settings were fitted and furnished with Ikea products, giving the public a taste of what they could experience in-store. These living room-sized boxes were erected in busy outside spaces: Union Square, Borough Hall Plaza, Brooklyn Public Library and Cadman Plaza.
Other media used included bus kings, pizza delivery boxes, phone kiosks, guerrilla media, direct mail and even wrapping the buses and water taxis that transport visitors to the Ikea store.

No results from this campaign yet, but a really simple and effective way to bring the staple collateral of self-assembly boxes, which Ikea is well known for as an integral part of the media mix.