Merry Christmas

Strangely engaging

I'm over 30 (ahem), I have no interest in BMXing to the point I'm not even sure it's called that anymore. And I'm not qualified in hip hop enough to tell if That's a Beastie Boy's track. But this trick little film is so, so watchable.


Danny Macaskill : Next level street trials from brainchild-films on Vimeo.

Thank god for Obama

Technique, baby. It's about technique.

The return of Wasssup

If the next President of the United States isn't behind this (and looking at his impressive grasp of the digital space so far I think he'd be capable of looking at something like this) then he should have been.

Barclaycard

A simple demonstration of the freedom of contactless payment. Lovely touches from the actor and director but what really makes the ad is surely the music.

London to Geneva

In one take, on one tank of fuel. A brilliantly simple way to demonstrate in 90 seconds the Volkswagen Polo Bluemotion's 74.9mpg fuel economy. Very nice work from Tribal.

iObama

Can't imagine Labour or the Tories doing it at the next election, but nevertheless, this is an impressive example of how the Barrack Obama campaign has embraced technology. It's an iPhone app that connects political activists to each other, to media coverage of the campaign and most importantly to instructions from campaign headquarters. Very cool and a good sign that the next President of the Free World actually has a brain this time.

Clicking the above should open the Store page in iTunes

Bald spot

Very simple strategy that appeals to the basic needs in all of us. As it should. Can't help thinking this is a bit pre financial crisis, though. Especially as the Lovemark for banks at the moment surely would be trust.

Website of the years

Genius, absolute genius...www.yearbookyourself.com

Me in 1958

Me in 1970

Me in 1988

MS vs Mac

Nice of Microsoft to remind us of a great campaign (Apple's, that is).

Yay...it's time for a fiesta...

Makes those of us working on miniature budgets weep, frankly.


Interesting to note that the people behind this were Microsoft Advertising, according to the NMA article that first flagged up the work.

Tiny street art

Discovered the book in Waterstones then the blog after. Bah, could've saved myself £6 if it had been the other way round. Never mind, it's actually easier to see what's going on in the book but take a look at the Little People - A Tiny Street Art Project, anyway. Or visit Slinkachu's separate blog.

17 years of time-lapse ageing

Begs two questions...

1. After 17 years, why did he stop?

2. What's the psychological trigger that, after having grown his hair long, makes him shave it all off? It happens six or seven times. You'd think he'd learn.

AdEaters

Hungry for more ads? 350 commercials in one night:


Night Of The Adeaters from The IPA on Vimeo.

Beer Goggles

So simple and brilliant that to tell you any more than the headline above will ruin it. Just click the lady above.

Too old for Volvo

All this time I've been telling myself I'm too young to consider Volvo. But now, after trying to play their interactive film, Rush I find the pace so frenetic that I'm starting to think I may actually be too old to understand what the hell is going on.

Not advertising

But a lovely, lovely idea.

The Hovis ad

Couldn't let it go by unmentioned as apparently people and the press are talking about this in droves. Creative Review thought the theme was hackneyed and the first ad person who mentioned it to me called it self-indulgent. Neither view is wrong IMHO, but neither view matters either. For its huge production budget and media spend Hovis has hit paydirt - fame. And TV ads are about making your brand not just recognised, but famous.

If you're a practitioner of advertising, 'watch' the ad again - only with your eyes closed - and listen to the soundtrack - genius.

Simple, brilliant, watch it.

Those Minis are so cheeky

Reminds me a little of the Corsa ad a few years ago in making small cars cute again.

Tasteless but fun

In very poor taste and published not quite quickly enough to be uber-topical but nevertheless this will probably fly virally.

Slick BBH site

Funny, just as we are working on our own site, using BBH as an example of how not to do it, they re-do it. Very smooth it is too - check out the 'global navigation.'

Pesky laws...

So, the law now says you have to make it clear that consumers know an advertising activity is indeed an advertising activity. Goodbye to the days of teasers, spoofs and the kind of games played by Gatorade in the previous post.

Notice how Oasis tackle the thorny subject for their latest microsite, where you get to decide the outcome of the current TV campaign:



Look hard and you'll notice the 'proof of advertising':

Gatorade Viral

This caused a lot of fuss in the US, gathering a lot of attention for the brand on TV news etc. when the catch was 'discovered' to be a stunt by Gatorade. Of course this kind if activity is now illegal in the UK, but this is an almost perfect exercise in how viral should work.

Inviting other agencies to educate you and your clients

Clever stuff this. Iris held a series of informal seminars down the pub where they invited luminaries, including those from competitive agencies, to talk about their subject to both staff and clients. Brave? No, wise in the current climate where information should be shared not guarded.

Best for me was Poke's Ian Tait talking on where he think digital experiences are going.

Nice one, Gordon...

Let's have another one. But I get the impression this was a nice idea that was sold to a client just to get it out there, rather than a neat solution to a client's brief. It is campaignable though (he sniffed).

Have fun out there.

The note from the agency explains the genius of this viral ad.
"Last week saw some of the worst storms in recorded history to hit New Zealand and what defined this in the hearts and minds of New Zealanders was viral footage and News coverage of a falling tree almost hitting a car in Nelson, South Island. 99 Auckland thought about the Jeep brand proposition of 'Have fun out there' and what would happen if a Jeep was there? The original footage was sourced, and we recreated the scene of a Jeep owner doing just that, 'Having fun out there.' The viral was sent out a day after the news coverage aired, to maintain relevancy."

A lesson in branded ecommerce

This site from Australia's Crumpler bag brand demonstrates how creativity can directly aid sales. The design is based on a photo of a Japanese vending machine and features slightly insane product demo videos - see the film for the Mahoubar rucksack to see what I mean.

The State of Art Direction

An interesting piece following on from last month's article in CR

Follow your instinct

Brilliant interactive campaign from Samsung in Canada. Literally, follow your instinct...

iPint

Just about the cleverest, yet simplest way to use technology for marketing I've seen yet.

The New Football Pools

Nice stuff. Was made aware of the new Football Pools by a passing cab, clearly showing the URL (literally driving traffic online). Got to the site and found a nice mix of user-centric design, marketing messaging and UGC functionality. And they've managed to make it look good too.

Snickers game

Feel free to embed in your own blog, profile etc.

Hmmm...

You have to watch it to not believe it.

NikeLab

So here it is, Nike's release for the Olympics. '28 sports, 40 game-changing technologies.' Couldn't get it to work on my lame machine.

Pencil Rebel

Beautifully art directed site where you solve increasingly more complex puzzles. Not sure why, or for what.

www.pencilrebel.com

Clucking: Climbing and...

Is that Paul Kaye under the thick German accent? A wonderfully simple and very rude idea.

Powerful stuff

A life in Post-It notes

Quite touching, really...

Honesty from a presidential hopeful?

Hopewood Charms Press At Yacht Event With Views On Taxes - video powered by Metacafe

The Heinz 'Gay Kiss'

Hard to believe this ad has been pulled, simply because of a quick kiss between two men.

Illumination from the past

Hard to believe this is a blast from the past...Ikea, 2003.

Lovely, but unconvincing

Very nice idea, very nicely made. But will it make you stop at pint number 8?

Small but perfectly formed

Nice online campaign that neatly turns around perceptions of the Smart car's, erm, shortcomings.

Mobile marketing

Useful 10 minute read on Wikipedia on understanding what is and isn't viable when advertising via mobiles. Phones, not vans, that is.

Minimalism

Cute, very cute.

Not made for TV

Made for online.

Watch the online film, then visit the site. Then weep at the budgets.

The site: www.kitkat.fr/

Lovely banners

Unfortunately they're for uber-corporation Microsoft. By McCanns. But they were put together by Firstborn, so that's alright.

Guidelines for online success

At just 337 pages long this is instant online knowledge in an (online) book. I'm so convinced that hardly anyone in the agency will read it that I've just put it in writing for the whole world to see. Shame. Maybe if I changed the title above to FREE BOOK!, more people would click on the link...

In-banner game

For the new Will Smith film, Hancock. Cute, very playable and technically solid. First time I've seen a leaderboard in a banner, too.

Drink Cycle

Very simple, very clever.

The world can be a wonderful place...

If we all thought like this. Don't you agree?

1st person is all the rage...

There's 1st person, visual device, then there's 1st person interactive. Welcome to Rec...

Rec Movie

The cleverest advertising yet.

As an expression of things to do to make yourself feel great, I think racing Cadbury's airport trucks pummel the gorilla.

It's been a long time coming but the aglassandahalffullproductions.com site is now up and looking and feeling virtual world wonderful.

Yes, it's self-reverential. Yes, advertising has shown it's inner workings before. But I don't think a campaign has ever been done this well. And for anybody who still doesn't get it, it's really quite simple. It's about how good you can feel eating chocolate.

aglassandahalffullproductions.com

Kind of interesting

An interactive movie. Because it's from the States I suspect a UK audience might not get the most out of it - there's a phone number to call which I guess is pretty important to the storyline. I didn't have time to explore the idea properly. Let me know if you do.

The Secret Location

iTunes breaks out

No longer just a piece of software, this cultural phenomena is the latest brand to develop it's own festival. Some interesting acts...

Classic Levi's ad

I've just been reminded of this ad. Always loved the music, which pre-Google took a little while to track down. It's by Biosphere.

Doyouthinkhesawus

Is it the music, the way he looks at you or just the sheer cheekiness of this little dinosaur that makes you smile?

It's never to early to think about the agency Christmas card

By pure coincidence this Christmas card is from the same agency as our new MD.

Staff blaster Christmas card

Letting chickens fly

Sweet ad, brilliant, brilliant strategy.

I've had Kate and Sophia

Now it's Amy, Andre, Cara, Dave, Lewis and Roxanne's turns.

Bebo are following Kate Modern and Sophia's Diary with a new online only series, this time a reality travel show called The Gap Year.


C&P'd from Bebo: "Gap Year HQ have sent six travellers around the world on a six-month trip of a lifetime. We’ll be bringing you a brand new video every single day of the week, giving you the latest exciting and memorable footage from every corner of the world. As well as this, the travellers will be sharing their own photos, blogs and videos on their individual profile pages..."

It's a brilliant idea and is deservedly acquiring many sponsors, from Doritos and Sony PSP to Trident Gum and The RAF's recruitment program - bang on for the yoof target audience. Less bang on from a, ahem, slightly older advertising bloke's point of view is the lucky people they've chosen to send around the world with a camera. I have to agree with Jason Kemp in NMA that auditioning clean-cut middle class kids has made the content frankly boring.

Endemol and Bebo have missed a trick. It may be less aspirational to the pony riding gals of England's middle shires but how much more interesting would it have been to take a poor kid who's never been further than the boundaries of his sink estate and send him around the world with a small camera crew? I'm thinking the sponsors' ROI would have been a lot greater if the original idea had been based less on the aspirational and more on the inspirational.

bebo.com/thegapyear

Live Mac Monkey cam

I don't know how long they'll keep this up for, but when I visited on 11/06/08 there was a chap dressed in a monkey costume on the end of the camera who does tricks at your request.



I did have the app embedded but it slowed the blog down too much. Instead, here's the link:

Mac Monkey

Strangely watchable...

Billed by Monkey Magazine as 'The best TV advert ever' this is actually a viral for Samsung's Beautiful Performance campaign.



I'm not convinced by the lingerie though. Maybe I should watch it a few more times.

Viral or public information service?

Films about cooking popcorn with mobile phones are doing the rounds at the moment. Interestingly, the person who sent them to me thought they were virals on behalf of a brand.

Genius agency site

I wonder how many clients will travel down the wrong path...

Red Brick Road Agency

So many ad agencies insist on shoe-horning an idea into their site which often becomes just tiresome eye candy. RBR, on the other hand, would prefer to make a point and just let their work do the talking.

The most beautiful experience

Truly outstanding piece of craftsmanship, right up there with Get The Glass. We've seen a lot of pop-up book effect sites this year, but this one has a valid reason for using the technique.

When you've opened a pop up, click and hover your mouse over it...

ecodazoo.com

WITOI.

The internet event of the summer?

A realtime balloon race across the internet. Very simple, very awesome. Very Poke really.



Orange will be flying their balloons across websites and blogs (including this one) in a few weeks' time. The idea is you pick a balloon and see how far you can fly it across the internet. Epic levels of engagement and absolute branding gold. Probably pick up a few Golds too, while it's at it.

Cruel, but very funny

How to do digital

As a digital creative in an integrated agency I often find myself having to 'open the door' to my offline colleagues. Now I can simply point them to this excellent advice by fellow Digital CD, James Coooper at Dare, on Simon Veksner's even more excellent Scamp advertising blog .

Adam & Eve and jiggyness

Not sure of the strategy, but it made me laugh

Pervarotti

Just plain wrong.



In the words of the agency that created it:

Hopefully some of the more cultured amongst you might be interested in Wired Creative Video's latest web creation to promote the work of The 'Gran Teatro Pervarotti: the home of obscene puppet opera'.

The work is multi textured: Arias from the masterworks "Frigolletto" and "Don Gayovanni" manage to reach beyond traditional boundaries and are deeply offensive to almost all sections of society on many different levels.

Marvel at it here:

http://www.wiredvideo.net/pervarotti/

The American Scene

Artists, not advertisers this time.


The British Museum's The American Scene, prints from Hopper to Pollock is running until September and it's well worth the visit. You can just about do it in a long lunch hour, or better still on selected Friday evenings you can see the exhibition accompanied by a live jazz band.

Beautiful thought, beautifully made

What if we could live the best moments again? Publicis Paris' new spot for Orange.

http://bestadsontv.com/ad_details.php?id=14235

Film for RNID

I'm not sure that all the people in the agency have seen this film I made recently, but if you haven't and you haven't donated, please do.

Hope for everyone that believes in the value of creating a brand, no matter how small the business

Just discovered a sweet little shop in Covent Garden called Hope and Greenwood. Everything about this cute sweetie shop that's designed to look and feel like a post war confectioners is beautifully observed. They don't really need a website but it gives you a taste of the place.

Freddie says...

This isn't really a blog. It's just a neat way of collecting those interesting things I find or I'm sent on a daily basis. Feel free to share them with others or even share your thoughts with a comment. Please don't be offended if I don't reply...I'm actually a bit busy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Starr