TRACTA :: 4eyes

Here’s another selection of clever, creative and cunning executions from around the world.  Enjoy!

Outdoor

Outdoor advertising expanded beyond the standard billboard long ago.  We’ve all seen examples of billboards that visually depict the message as well as just saying it.  Here’s another one, for road safety from the Colorado State Patrol. Not all outdoor advertising needs a billboard site, as this pedestrian crossing for a McDonalds in Switzerland shows.  And sometimes it doesn’t matter where you put it, if the message is compelling, it will get noticed.  Clever copywriting in this poster for Dayton Boots from Canada.

Online Banners

Some recent reports have stated that banner advertising is dead, and social is king.  But banner advertising still provides excellent reach, and is a great support for campaigns in other media.  And with the merging of Flash and interactive technologies into display ads, there is still a lot of potential for increasing engagement and interactivity.  This banner for Orcon Internet (from Special Group in Auckland) shows what is possible with a strong, innovative idea and good investment in production.  It’s been getting good press locally and internationally!

And taking interactivity to the next level, this campaign for a men’s fragrance from Brazil developed a truly expanding banner!

Partnerships

Not necessarily advertising, but business partnerships can form a platform for marketing initiatives.  One example is this partnership between Payless Shoes and Office Max, for the back-to-school season in the US.  If you spend at one store, you get a discount voucher for the other.  Both stores should benefit from increased patronage, and the consumer gets to save a bit more.  It’s a win=win=win!

And while it’s not purely commercial, ASB supporting NZ Police with their Serial Number Action Project shows social responsibility and community support.  It could also potentially reduce insurance payouts. Hmmm… ASB offers insurance — maybe there is a commercial imperative behind it?

TV/Video

Just one… a new “moment of joy” from Cadbury’s Glass and a Half Full Productions.

Cheers,

L’Oreal’s new beauty channel on YouTube is a fantastic example of what can be done with that channel with enough thought, and money.  Rather than posting their own content, they have aggregated the most popular “beauty advisors” on YouTube into one channel.  Yes, makeup is a big deal!

Again in 2010?!?

The All Blacks have done it again – this time surprising a primary school class.  What a surprise!  Read the story, watch the video, and get that “awwww” feeling!  The ABs are doing well with PR and brand extensions this year, and it’s great to see them doing well on the field too!

Create your own font with this spectacular online tool.  A nice, kind of subliminal, promotion (and database gatherer) for pen manufacture Pilot.

And have you seen the new Hell Pizza campaign?  It’s a choose-your-own-adventure video story!  With prizes to be won, and minutes upon minutes of engagement for eager fans!  See the trailer here and play the game here. You need a bit of time, and be warned! This video contains splatter-level violence, extreme pizza shots and gratuitous use of Kiwi idioms.

Have a nice week!

I’m not sure how recent these ads are, but I enjoyed them.

Auckland City Mission text appeal in conjunction with ASB… giving a new meaning to “cold hard cash”.  This is a great way of providing engagement for what is essentially a text campaign.  And it’s got robots!! (NZ)

Motorola highlights the deficiencies of the iPhone.  Aiming to leverage the “big noise” about iPhone in the market. (USA)

Smirnoff put on a party in movie theatres.  Another good example of creating engagement and a memorable brand experience. (Australia)

Sky Travel channel shows an innovative use of shopping mall poster advertising.  Turn them into 3D viewing booths! (NZ)

If you have any HOT ads you’d like to share, please do so in this blog’s Comments section.

Cheers,

Today is iPad day! Ü

Here are some of the cool things it can do

(is that an actual news article, or an ad?!?).

That is, unless you live in Hawkes Bay.  Ö

At least the iPad won’t have the same issues as the iPhone 4 (aerial issues), or the iPhone 3G (issues running 4.0 operating system), or … shall we wait and see?

One thing seems certain though, that electronic readers are here to stay, as Amazon.com reports it sells more e-books for the Kindle than real books in hard copy.  Check out this new NZ-made series on TV One for a not-very-distant future in which in which your carbon footprint is measured, everything is recycled and paper is too expensive to use. They have a library where people can go and see what books looked like.

This Is Not My Life.  8:30 Thursdays on One.

When Media Goes Bad

After TV3 was accused of copying CBS’s news tagline, you’d think they would have learned that they can’t count on geographic distance to protect them from claims of imitation.  But now they’ve done it again!

And this little pearler shows that even small media players have to be aware of the potentially (too) wide reach of their broadcasts!

Does this image mean anything to you?

If you “only read it for the articles”, then this site is for you.  It’s Playboy, but it’s safe for work.  WTF?!?

If you’re more the “long lunch” type, check out this effort from Germany.

Finally, if you’ve ever played with fridge magnets, you’ll get this ad.

Cheers,

Artistically driven, this press ad from MAF highlights the dangers of buying imported timber.

Here’s an excellent example of integrating real-time content (in this case, Twitter feeds) into an ambient experience, from Tourism Canada.

Car advertising taken to the next level, with a virtual test drive from Toyota in Germany.  A number of advertisers are incorporating “augmented reality” into their campaigns, such as 42 Below.  This sort of thing can definitely generate increased brand interaction within a loyal audience, and create interest while the technology is new and interesting.  There must be more potential than just delivering cool pictures on a screen though… that’s what I’m waiting to see!

Here’s the best collection of old NZ ads I’ve seen, from the Film Archive.  With classics such as Mr Dollar introducing decimal currency, Raro the instant breakfast drink, Cadbury Crunchie train and heaps more (did you know there were ads for bananas in the 1960s?  Maybe you do, if you were alive then..).

Finally, here’s another chance for you creative types to get something for free.  Design your own personal wrap for a new Mini Cabriolet, get it made and keep the car (for 4 months).

Cheers,

Another review of the weird, wonderful and wish-we’d-done-that campaigns happening around the world…

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 (NZ campaign)

The email I received from Smile City

The site it took me to, which encouraged me to download and install IE8, with a special window which would then present clues to “find Kevin”

The Facebook page which has a full profile for Kevin, to generate affinity with the 18-34 year old crowd

The result?  839 friends on Facebook actively following the campaign.  That’s really not many – perhaps the barrier to entry (using Internet Explorer) is too high?

Outdoor integration and a bit of digital…

Are these outdoor campaigns?  Ambient?  Creative?  Digital?  Interactive?  Integrated?  Or just clever stunts?

Sony branded jeans. 

Singapore Navy’s Where’s Wally?

Durex iPhone app (taking both brand engagement and friend-to-friend viral infection to a new level).

Danish energy company’s breakthrough power-saving tool (you can do it too)

For the football fans

I thought the digitally animated replays on news sites (NZ goal vs Slovakia here), but this is just awesome (except perhaps for England fans).

Enjoy the rest of the World Cup!

Cheers,

Inspiration below!  Some of the more creative ad executions I’ve seen lately, both on and offline:

McDonalds makes outdoor advertising interactive. Using a big outdoor video screen in Sweden, McDonalds invited passers-by to take a photo of products appearing on the screen, which they could take to the nearby store for FREE FOOD.

A tactic that has been taken up recently by big brands is to create a story.  A big story that dedicated fans can follow.  Like sending someone on a world trip and documenting their travels (with brand association thrown in).  Coke are doing it with something they call Expedition 206, sending three “ambassadors” to every country where Coke is sold (there are 206 of them) to find out what happiness means around the world. And KIN - an American smartphone – is sending one person around the world to meet all of her Facebook friends in real life.  Follow the journey on Facebook.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, we are seeing the evolution of music videos. Shihad’s new music video has an interactive edge.  Watch it here.

And the evolution of music marketing.  We know people are passionate about their music, so why not draw them in for prolonged engagement in the lead-up to a new release?  That’s what 30 Seconds To Mars have done, with a local online scavenger hunt.  Details here.  It seems complicated, but this sort of communication (it all starts with Twitter) to dedicated followers is becoming more common and isn’t as hard to set up as you might think!

The online job search market in New Zealand is highly competitive.  Seek is trying to generate brand loyalty and ongoing engagement through the creation of online games that tie in with their advertising campaigns.  Meanwhile, TradeMe has started a video series following four job-seekers, tying in advice and tips for others looking for work.  It is being promoted heavily across the TradeMe suite of sites, and you can see it here.

Until next time!

Cheers,

Social media. Heard of it?  Use it personally?  Professionally???

While recommendations from Social Media sites are still not as well regarded as true word-of-mouth from friends or family, social media channels are an important means of connecting with current and potential customers.  The common rule of “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket” still applies, so social media should not be seen as THE solution to all marketing problems, but should definitely be part of the mix.  And not just for da yoof, as Facebook is experiencing biggest growth amongst the 50+ age group. 

Pepsi are taking this on board, as they commit more to social media conversation and interaction with their customers, rather than just shouting messages.  They have even gone so far as not placing an ad in the Superbowl this year (the first time in 25 years), reasoning they get better return on investment from alternative media.

Here are some tips on effective use of video marketing for small-medium businesses.  Of course it includes social media distribution!  I hope we all know this already, but it doesn’t hurt to reinforce the basics!

So how will you access your favourite social media sites in 2011?  Desktop, laptop, netbook, smartphone, game console, television?  What about a games console/smartphone in one?  There are whispers that Sony is planning to launch a Playstation smartphone sometime in 2010.  Where will it end?  And when can I get my hologram-video-phone-watch like they have in the movies?!

In more local news, TVNZ have made a couple of announcements recently.  Reservoir Hill - TVNZ’s first online-only, interactive programme for teens – has been nominated for a Digital Emmy.  That’s the real deal, so they can be very proud of themselves.  It’s not often NZ-produced TV gets awarded anything!

TVNZ today also announced they will be launching a new channel on Sky.  It will be available as part of the Sky start-up package, and will be called TVNZ Heartland.  Content will be entirely NZ-made, sourced from TVNZ Archives.

My picks for programming: A Dog’s Show, Country Calendar, maybe University Challenge and Krypton Factor?  It will be a challenge to present “old” content that is relevant and not just reminiscing, but they say they are aiming for a 40-64 year old demographic, so perhaps reminiscing is the way to go.  The channel will carry advertising: TVNZ say they are in the process of approaching selected advertisers for exclusive agreements with the channel.  Read TVNZ’s report and see an interview with John Fellet (Sky TV) and Rick Ellis (TVNZ) here.

Ads of the week

Two more outdoor executions that utilise the environment to carry the message.

Painting the town red… and blue and pink and yellow and green…

Clever, but I don’t know about walking through in a white shirt…

Cheerio!

As we March on through the year (geddit?) I realise there’s a need for entertainment as well as education in these posts.  So here goes.           I hope there’s something in here that tickles your… well, whatever you like to have tickled. Careful though, you might learn something!

Email marketing: how to ensure your message gets read.  The Marketing Association show they know how to utilise word of mouth.

Are you on Twitter?  Are you going to be away from home?  Probably not a good idea to post that information until you’re back, with sites like this one around.  It’s supposed to be raising awareness of the issue, but isn’t it doing that by inciting crime?!?

Some helpful advice from Stuff.co.nz on Facebook etiquette.  I initially thought this was a dumb idea for a news story, but in fact it raises interesting questions, especially within small industries in a small country like NZ!

For our design friends… Photoshop has just celebrated its 20th birthday.  See their reminisces and celebrations here!

The AXIS Awards… CAANZs’s’ celebration of those who are willing to pay to enter and pay to attend a back-slapping ceremony (no cynicism here).  They have however created one of the most addictive online games I’ve seen in a long time, to help generate agency enthusiasm for the event.  I just wonder if it’s original??

Amongst the media maelstrom that is the Olympic Games, I came across this Facebook Fan page.  Apparently Facebook took it down because it wasn’t actually a product, organisation or charity.  But under pressure they’ve put it back up.  Love those pants!!

And finally, can anyone tell me why cultural groups (and the NZRFU) may have been offended by this Coke ad from Japan?

Cheers,

Welcome back!  After last week’s post, talk about invasion of privacy being big this week!

Surely most of you have by now seen the footage of the poor Australian banker whose email use flashed up in the background of a live finance report?  If not, see it here.  In 4 days it’s been seen by over 2 million people!  No word yet on whether the banker will keep his job.

But as promised, this week will be iPad week on Four Eyes.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock you will have heard that Apple have released their latest innovation.  The iPad.  Few, however, are singing its praises.  Most of the coverage lately seems to be what it’s missing – no camera and no widescreen – or calling it “a big iPhone without the phone“.

And while it’s not necessarily representative of the product’s quality, there has also been plenty of comment about the name (which was incidentally first coined by Mad TV <<warning: adult themes and ribald humour>>).  In the interests of good taste I won’t share any more with you… suffice to say that the “sanitary” nature of the word “pad” has been exploited to the full.

Will the iPad revolutionise communication, publishing or advertising?  Probably not.  But it probably is a sign of things to come: a fully integrated, portable system as capable as a desktop machine but including a phone, full internet capability, GPS, personalised settings and applications – all working together.  And Apple may be leading the way with its user interface – a touch screen and motion-sensitivity.  But I still think a hologram-projecting watch is the holy grail of communications (sorry, couldn’t find a picture – I guess they haven’t been invented yet).

Something for the creatives amongst us now.  And to inspire creativity in all of us…

I liked this ad for a design school – appreciate the craft and the content!

There’s something about a pukeko – see how the latest Genesis ad was made (no mention of budgets…).

There’s a new image subscription product that claims to provide one of the most complete offerings in the marketplace, with monthly/annual subscription costs covering all images used, rather than a per-image billing system.

And to round things off, a bit of nostalgia for you all.  This is what NZ Reality TV used to look like in the 80s.  Classic!

Have a uniting and controversy-free Waitangi Day and I’ll catch you next week!