A BLOG OF STUFF
Entries in media (14)
Wednesday
Feb202008
Hyper Island Interactive Art Directors
February 2008 
Hyper Island is a digital media school in Sweden that has a remarkable amount of cool. You'd almost be willing to trust them with your career's future. They have a video on the Hyper Island page that has London agencies like Digit singing their praises. The concept and execution on their Interactive Art Director site is damn impressive. I like their student focus, their sense of humour and their diagrams of humans becoming digital. I also like their holistic viewpoint in the training of new communication pros. An ability to manage complex multimedia campaigns and explain them, let alone create them, is the new standard for creatives in all industries. I may have to take one of their night classes.
Link
Post a Comment | Share Article | Permalink | tagged animation, art, design, director, graphics, interactive, motion, school Friday
Jan112008
Sunday
Sep162007
The Retry "Art" Sampler
September 2007
A friend asked to see some art that I reckon is fairly decent at the moment. Instead of hiding it in an e-mail, let me share with everyone. I've blogged about most of these people or sites before but there's no substitute for an easy to click blog post to get motivated to look again. So, in no particular order, here's some food for thought:
John Copeland - Probably my favourite painter at the moment.
Jim Woodring - A great contemporary Surrealist
Jeff Soto - Giant robots and rainbows never looked this good. Jeff's work has been translated into a short film by 3 Legged Legs. It's amazing to see this fine-art-street-type style in motion.
Ashley Wood - Famous for concept art, comic books and being a "little" brash at times. He paints on real boards and sells the original pieces to collectors. He qualifies as a real artist.
[youtube=http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Yyn_AYtaw]
Hoogerbrugge - A Netherlands artist who uses drawings of himself to lay waste to the repititions of modern culture. Or something like that. This music video is the quick sampler of his work but check out the website for classic focussed Hoogerbrugge.
Michel Gagne - This is his 6th book, Frenzied Fauna: From A to Z.
ICanHasCheezBurger -There's a meme called Lolcats that many would not consider to be art, but it has beenappropriated accepted adopted by the masses and shares some of the traits of art: visual aesthetic, an underlying theory, self-imposed executional rules, a sense of history. Is it -ism or is it -crapism? Will people in 100 years time have retrospectives of Lolcats? And in case you think I'm writing total rubbish look up the definition of Art.
Artshole - A UK listing for art
Art Krush - The e-mail publication and this list will see you right.
Drawn! - All about Drawers!
Serious Painting
John Copeland - Probably my favourite painter at the moment.
Slightly Different Painters
Jim Woodring - A great contemporary Surrealist
Jeff Soto - Giant robots and rainbows never looked this good. Jeff's work has been translated into a short film by 3 Legged Legs. It's amazing to see this fine-art-street-type style in motion.
Ashley Wood - Famous for concept art, comic books and being a "little" brash at times. He paints on real boards and sells the original pieces to collectors. He qualifies as a real artist.
Interactive Media
[youtube=http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Yyn_AYtaw]
Hoogerbrugge - A Netherlands artist who uses drawings of himself to lay waste to the repititions of modern culture. Or something like that. This music video is the quick sampler of his work but check out the website for classic focussed Hoogerbrugge.
Kooky
Michel Gagne - This is his 6th book, Frenzied Fauna: From A to Z.
ICanHasCheezBurger -There's a meme called Lolcats that many would not consider to be art, but it has been
Where to find more
Artshole - A UK listing for art
Art Krush - The e-mail publication and this list will see you right.
Drawn! - All about Drawers!
Sunday
Sep162007
Large Provocation
September 2007 
I'm on the e-mail blast list of Agent Provocateur, not only because I like women in lingerie but because their web experiences are typically awesome. They partner with some great talent to bring a sense of humour and sophistication to frilly bits covering pink bits. Their latest endeavour, Lessons in Lingerie starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mindy and Tullulah is no exception. It's just fun.
And while Maggie and the girls look amazing trussed up in their silks, it's the illustration that links all the photos together that makes it great.
I can direct some kudos at the branding company behind the AP campaigns, Large. Based in London and Copenhagen they add quite of lot to fill out their clients curves (sales and sexiness). Their rhetoric is not especially ground breaking but the work is beautiful and effective. Which is usually more than enough.
Anyway, back to the AP site. They've tried to expand the experience by putting Mindy on Myspace and Facebook (we're BFBFF) and do-it-yourself book covers that you can share on Flickr. All of which seem to have had an unfortunately luke warm start (I'm not sure about Myspace because I can't find Mindy by searching. Myspace has the worst search on earth!) They also use the drip feed method of quality content fed to you over time. There will be more adventures released over time. If any brand should understand teasing it's this one. In the name of fun and commerce, go visit.
Agent Provocateur
Large
ps. The full credits are in the Comments. Thanks to Large for supplying the names I was missing.
Monday
Aug132007
SuperVirals.com - Viral Spam-sploitation
August 2007
How can you exploit the Viral culture to get your brand message out into the world? How do you do that without paying any real money for the videos themselves? I'll tell you how. Because the latest venture to try and cash in on viral advertising arrived as an e-mail from BestAdsOnTV.com this morning:
So I had a look. The venture is called SuperVirals.com and works like this: A brave brand gives them a one line brief (eg. "Show how Krazy you are for Krispy Kremes!") and then unpaid people (insert suckers here) go forth and make viral video that is then sent out into the world in a competitive burst for attention (they encourage the creators to "share yours like crazy"). The winner is determined by who gets the most hits and will be rewarded with the grand prize of AUD $3000 and some gear from Mambo.
It almost sounds like a recipe for success. Encourage people who like to make free content to make it for your client and then hand over a measly couple of bucks if they turn out to be the next Dove Evolution. Low overheads, easy access to talent and except for a few naive geeks losing some time, everybody wins. The perfect business model.
Except for a few details.
I'm not usually this cynical. Really. I love creative people making cool stuff. But SuperVirals.com is an exploitative business model and if they were making sneakers they'd be harassed by Oxfam. This is from their User Agreement:
You get no compensation at all, ever, they own your materials forever. Your song, your face, your ideas. They could probably sue you if you used your own song. In a worst case scenario, they take your idea, put some budget behind it and turn it into an international TV campaign and you get "zilch". I realise that most of this is legal stuff is to protect themselves but it hurts content generators. They steal your intellectual property without giving you the most basic of creative rights.
If that weren't bad enough, by making these Virals officially sanctioned they effectively handcuff creators and turn them into free hit-and-(mostly)miss idea generators who don't have the resources of even the most basic ad agency. Let me show you what I mean:
It's like you're WORKING for these guys. I'm a creative in the ad industry and these are the rules I live with! At least I get paid to do this and I get a budget so I can afford to get something like original music (or some semblance of it). They don't even give you a library to play with.
Here's my favourite piece of optimism from the FAQ:
They think someone would be foolish enough to PAY to make an advert? (Not even clients do that ;) )
Another bothersome aspect of this venture from a consumer position is that they hold all the Virals and then release them in one burst. As if the net were not full of enough crap already, an unlucky few will be inundated with amateur brand work informed by simplistic strategies and with little to no production values all for the same brand! I say unlucky few because the only people who'll see these ads are friends of the makers and I doubt I know anyone who has that great a need for a free Mambo T-shirt.
I suppose the brands who are using this service have very little to lose. The terms and conditions ensure they decide what they officially associate their brand with and for a few bucks they can side step their usual suppliers and potentially have a big hit. And Bush may apologise for Iraq.
If you have any ideas don't give them to these guys. For once the traditional advertising industry doesn't seem all that bad.
SuperVirals now live!
Get rewarded for your ideas at www.supervirals.com
SuperVirals is a new website where top brands throw down the gauntlet for you to create cut-through content.
It’s where great ideas see the light of day. No approval committees. No research groups. No crazy deadlines. Just simple one-sentence briefs…
Upload your video, image or audio ideas and, as they get shared across the web, the SuperVirals scoring system decides the winner.
Currently up for grabs is AUD $3,000 in cash and over AUD $6,000 of cool mambo gear, shipped to wherever you are in the world. An aerobatics flight and a skydiving trip are also yours to be won.
Check out www.supervirals.com now.
cheers,
beamo,
bestads
spreadtheword
So I had a look. The venture is called SuperVirals.com and works like this: A brave brand gives them a one line brief (eg. "Show how Krazy you are for Krispy Kremes!") and then unpaid people (insert suckers here) go forth and make viral video that is then sent out into the world in a competitive burst for attention (they encourage the creators to "share yours like crazy"). The winner is determined by who gets the most hits and will be rewarded with the grand prize of AUD $3000 and some gear from Mambo.
It almost sounds like a recipe for success. Encourage people who like to make free content to make it for your client and then hand over a measly couple of bucks if they turn out to be the next Dove Evolution. Low overheads, easy access to talent and except for a few naive geeks losing some time, everybody wins. The perfect business model.
Except for a few details.
I'm not usually this cynical. Really. I love creative people making cool stuff. But SuperVirals.com is an exploitative business model and if they were making sneakers they'd be harassed by Oxfam. This is from their User Agreement:
By submitting a Content Idea to SuperVirals, you will automatically assign all rights (including intellectual property rights), title and interest in that Content Idea to SuperVirals forever without any payment by us to you or any third party.
You get no compensation at all, ever, they own your materials forever. Your song, your face, your ideas. They could probably sue you if you used your own song. In a worst case scenario, they take your idea, put some budget behind it and turn it into an international TV campaign and you get "zilch". I realise that most of this is legal stuff is to protect themselves but it hurts content generators. They steal your intellectual property without giving you the most basic of creative rights.
If that weren't bad enough, by making these Virals officially sanctioned they effectively handcuff creators and turn them into free hit-and-(mostly)miss idea generators who don't have the resources of even the most basic ad agency. Let me show you what I mean:
A: To help your idea make it through to the live phase of a SuperVirals competition, and to give it the best chance of winning it's worth sticking to a few simple common sense rules:
- Don't diss the brand…
- Don't show or encourage anything illegal…
- Don't include ANY copyright protected material such as any pre-recorded music and clips from TV or DVDs etc...
- Do keep your private parts covered up!
- Don't be boring!
- Click here for the SuperVirals Acceptable Content Guidelines.
It's like you're WORKING for these guys. I'm a creative in the ad industry and these are the rules I live with! At least I get paid to do this and I get a budget so I can afford to get something like original music (or some semblance of it). They don't even give you a library to play with.
Here's my favourite piece of optimism from the FAQ:
Q: Does it cost anything to enter a SuperVirals competition?
A: Nope. Zilch. The brands on the site have paid to tap into your creative talents.
They think someone would be foolish enough to PAY to make an advert? (Not even clients do that ;) )
Another bothersome aspect of this venture from a consumer position is that they hold all the Virals and then release them in one burst. As if the net were not full of enough crap already, an unlucky few will be inundated with amateur brand work informed by simplistic strategies and with little to no production values all for the same brand! I say unlucky few because the only people who'll see these ads are friends of the makers and I doubt I know anyone who has that great a need for a free Mambo T-shirt.
I suppose the brands who are using this service have very little to lose. The terms and conditions ensure they decide what they officially associate their brand with and for a few bucks they can side step their usual suppliers and potentially have a big hit. And Bush may apologise for Iraq.
If you have any ideas don't give them to these guys. For once the traditional advertising industry doesn't seem all that bad.
Monday
Jul092007
The Viral Palette
July 2007
One of the problems that Marketers are concerned with is how do they maintain Brand Values while trying to maximise reach with Viral Media. They're uncomfortable with the stunty craziness associated with YouTube but realise they can't miss out on the opportunity. What do they do?
I'm going to bust the misconception that you need to be off strategy and whacky in order to get millions of people interested in your content. In fact, the most viewed, most memorable corporate content is all about brand strategy and brand values. You have to have something to say, why not say what you believe in?
Instead of talking about the sociological theories of viral media or showing a powerpoint slide with the "marketing approach" shopping list (which only provides the illusion of brand control) I'll show some examples and do a quick precis of what I believe they do. This is by no means an exhaustive list of options but I'll try to cover the main bases.
How do you get people to pass along your message? Here's what worked for a few brands.
A couple of guys jump an airport fence under cover of darkness and tag "Still Free" onto the fuselage of Airforce One. It's a political statement. Well, it's a corporate political statement. Marc Ecko and Droga 5 decided to make a film that embodies the spirit of the Ecko clothing label: The Art of Street Graffiti, Freedom of Speech (Ecko had sued New York City over the right to a graffiti competition) and champion of the youth. The sheer audacity of the prank meant it spread like wildfire. Ecko quickly (nearly the next day) explained why they did it in a statement from the owner himself where he mentions all of his Ecko properties. He did it for the kids of America, because he believes it's the right thing to do, because it creates an altruistic brand character for people who sell t-shirts to kids from the hood and the burbs. They claim nearly 80 Million views.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP0iSJQLfJ4]
Buy the Still Free t-shirt
Read about the Still Free Game
The Marc Ecko Brand
Still Free Official Site
A woman sits down in a studio full of lights. Through time lapse we see her transformed from a normal person with pimples into an idealised fiction on a billboard. This is an invitation from the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to take part in their sponsored classes. It's also the most viewed film of 2006/7 in the world. We all know the story, you can read the story here if you missed it. Why does it work? Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty is all about debunking stereotypes. In this case they expose the very techniques used by their competition that they have vowed not to use. It's a moral and ethical statement from Dove. It's perfectly on strategy and connects with people. It might have gone terribly wrong but they displayed the right amount of honesty to be believed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U]
Something that is hardly thought about is the amount of PR that contributed to the free exposure. The film needed to be amazing but without real world support it would never have reached the number of people it did in the end. Evolution has also been flighted in a number of countries as a full duration (75") TV spot and was the 2006 Superbowl ad for Dove.
Find out how you can be part of the Campaign for Real Beauty
VW Passat had 120 new things to say about their car. How do you possibly explain 120 features in any meaningful way? Especially when they couldn't be vague, "the VW Passat films needed to communicate a very specific technical feature of the car". What Arnold Worldwide did was commission 120 short films. You may only have ever read about this campaign in a business paper but 120 films to dramatise 120 new features on a car is something to remember. Distilled to the nth degree, this campaign is only about the number "120". You may only watch 5 of the films ever, but you know they are part of a set of 120 (each spot opens with it's serial number eg. "38/120"). You may not like all the films, but you'll love some of them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKpQAvL8MeY]
You could say that VW tested 120 concepts and then aired the favourites on TV to everyone who didn't see them online. Buzz and research all in one package.
See the first 25 films at Brand New School
You land on a site where a Mini suddenly erupts from a traditional looking banner. The thing drives out of the box! It then invites you to follow the car, promising that it won't take you to the Mini site. What ensues is a fun ride through the darker recesses of the web. Stuff you didn't know you could or should search for is brought to you via your Mini web adventure. The campaign in Britain for Mini at the time was "It's a Mini Adventure" and was supported by TV spots featuring Martian attacks and Print showcasing comics about mad scientists driving invisible cars. I suppose one of the reasons it worked was that it used real websites as it's destinations, not made up weirdness. Respecting the web even as they drove all over it.
The Mini Showcase
The California Milk Processor Board brought their "Got Milk?" campaign to the web with a brilliantly realised "board" game. It's a bit like Monopoly with mini stage games and some amazing animation. They've brought the production values of Pixar to a website. It's just so well done that people can't help but tell other people about it. Yes, there is the "milk is good for you" educational messaging liberally spread throughout but you forgive it any heavy-handedness because of the sheer entertainment they give you. The game is educational, fun, engaging and all about the milk. It's also the centre of their new campaign, 7 TV spots and a poster/print campaign drive to the game.
Play Get The Glass
In 2004, at a time when webcams were finally getting headway on the net and ordinary people could see each other talking on the other side of the world, Crispin Porter + Bogusky engaged the skills of The Barbarian Group to help Burger King tell people that you could Have Chicken Your Way. How better than to go to a site where you can order a guy in a chicken uniform to be an idiot? You'd think that after all these years the guy in the chicken suit would be tired... well, I'll tell you a secret. There is no guy in a chicken suit. The interaction perfectly demonstrated the BK promise of "Have It Your Way' though.
Order the Chicken
The Alexa.com Stats (demonstrating a very long ROI tail)
Two gorgeous and crazy girls stole the new Diesel Intimate collection, kidnapped a nice guy, locked themselves (and him) in a hotel room. Then, using six video cameras they broadcast their experience 24 hours a day, live for 5 straight days on diesel.com. Branded Reality Interactive TV. As a viewer you could participate in their experience so it became your own experience. They blogged, took photographs, had parties and generally lived the perfect Succesful Life. All, of course, in Diesel's Intimate Collection. Unlike the Subserviant Chicken above, this had a lifespan of only 5 days. It was a short, powerful experience for viewers and then Diesel moved on. Which is exactly how a rock star would do it.
Watch what happened over those 5 crazy days.
Nike and Apple collabrated to create Nike+. Not just an iPod add-on or a social website but an entirely new product. Their video tells it better than I can, but this is a situation where the agency, R/GA, forged a new worldwide business with their clients. It's a bit of a holy grail to be honest and probably required the blood of virgins to be sacrificed to actually make it happen. They've created a tool that's useful, fun to use and includes a community of like-minded users from all over the world. At the core of it is a back-end sales tool that R/GA originally developed independently of Nike+, it's purpose is to sell shoes with as little fuss as possible. They hand over this powerful application for the price of a widget that sticks to your shoes.
The iTunes store even added a Nike Sport Music section with special workout mixes, athlete inspirations, podcasts, etc. A well rounded product. Is it an ad though?
Nike+
The hack around if you don't want to buy a pair of Nike.
Buy your own Nike + iPod Sportkit
A guy named Justin tinkers with a system of broadcasting video signal from a small camera on his body, from any location, to a website. It takes him about 6 months to figure out the technology. When he does he goes live 24 hours a day. Real time. From his car, to his office, to the first virtual date between Justin.tv and iJustine, his life is laid bare for us to view at our leisure. Which is a trend young people are exhibiting online, sharing everything. As near as I can tell no one other than Justin has created any PR buzz, brand experience or ad awards with this technology. Yet.
Watch Justin.tv
The Alexa Stats
I've obviously missed out on about 99% of the cool stuff on the web. What I hope I've collected are some awesome pieces of brand work that defy the "whacky" label. User generated content about a kitten falling asleep may grab eyeballs but no one believes it when there's a logo stuck on the end. These brands have told the truth, been honest and generally surprised us. I've missed out on the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero launch and about another 8 million other clever ideas. Oh well. Maybe later.
Presentation Created & Assembled by Ivan Pols, Associate Creative Director @ Ogilvy Toronto
All works are copyright of the respective brands and agencies.
ps. An experiment gone wrong:
Chivas "This Is The Life"
pps. Here are a few other interesting experiments:
See More Side Effects
Volvo - The Hunt
Ikea - Come into the Closet
BMW - Pace
I'm going to bust the misconception that you need to be off strategy and whacky in order to get millions of people interested in your content. In fact, the most viewed, most memorable corporate content is all about brand strategy and brand values. You have to have something to say, why not say what you believe in?
Instead of talking about the sociological theories of viral media or showing a powerpoint slide with the "marketing approach" shopping list (which only provides the illusion of brand control) I'll show some examples and do a quick precis of what I believe they do. This is by no means an exhaustive list of options but I'll try to cover the main bases.
How do you get people to pass along your message? Here's what worked for a few brands.
Take a Stand
A couple of guys jump an airport fence under cover of darkness and tag "Still Free" onto the fuselage of Airforce One. It's a political statement. Well, it's a corporate political statement. Marc Ecko and Droga 5 decided to make a film that embodies the spirit of the Ecko clothing label: The Art of Street Graffiti, Freedom of Speech (Ecko had sued New York City over the right to a graffiti competition) and champion of the youth. The sheer audacity of the prank meant it spread like wildfire. Ecko quickly (nearly the next day) explained why they did it in a statement from the owner himself where he mentions all of his Ecko properties. He did it for the kids of America, because he believes it's the right thing to do, because it creates an altruistic brand character for people who sell t-shirts to kids from the hood and the burbs. They claim nearly 80 Million views.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP0iSJQLfJ4]
Buy the Still Free t-shirt
Read about the Still Free Game
The Marc Ecko Brand
Still Free Official Site
Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2006
Tell the Truth
A woman sits down in a studio full of lights. Through time lapse we see her transformed from a normal person with pimples into an idealised fiction on a billboard. This is an invitation from the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to take part in their sponsored classes. It's also the most viewed film of 2006/7 in the world. We all know the story, you can read the story here if you missed it. Why does it work? Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty is all about debunking stereotypes. In this case they expose the very techniques used by their competition that they have vowed not to use. It's a moral and ethical statement from Dove. It's perfectly on strategy and connects with people. It might have gone terribly wrong but they displayed the right amount of honesty to be believed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U]
With over 150 million U.S. dollars worth of free media exposure through millions of hits on YouTube and every talk show in North America and Europe singing its praises, our Unilever clients say this piece has to have the highest ROI in the history of advertising.
Something that is hardly thought about is the amount of PR that contributed to the free exposure. The film needed to be amazing but without real world support it would never have reached the number of people it did in the end. Evolution has also been flighted in a number of countries as a full duration (75") TV spot
Find out how you can be part of the Campaign for Real Beauty
Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2007
Cannes Film Grand Prix 2007
Say It All
VW Passat had 120 new things to say about their car. How do you possibly explain 120 features in any meaningful way? Especially when they couldn't be vague, "the VW Passat films needed to communicate a very specific technical feature of the car". What Arnold Worldwide did was commission 120 short films. You may only have ever read about this campaign in a business paper but 120 films to dramatise 120 new features on a car is something to remember. Distilled to the nth degree, this campaign is only about the number "120". You may only watch 5 of the films ever, but you know they are part of a set of 120 (each spot opens with it's serial number eg. "38/120"). You may not like all the films, but you'll love some of them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKpQAvL8MeY]
the Arnold-devised 120 Feature Films web blitz that began in the fall not only represents what's being called the largest use of online spots for a single branded entertainment initiative, but also illustrates the new roads agencies are taking to create a buzz-worthy campaign.
The amount of online buzz around the films has resulted in between 15 and 20 of them being formatted for broadcast. Considering that the spots were relatively inexpensive to make (around $2,000 per film says Weist), spreading them across various mediums certainly gives the client much bang for the buck.
'boards
You could say that VW tested 120 concepts and then aired the favourites on TV to everyone who didn't see them online. Buzz and research all in one package.
See the first 25 films at Brand New School
Cannes Cyber Bronze 2006
Have an Adventure
You land on a site where a Mini suddenly erupts from a traditional looking banner. The thing drives out of the box! It then invites you to follow the car, promising that it won't take you to the Mini site. What ensues is a fun ride through the darker recesses of the web. Stuff you didn't know you could or should search for is brought to you via your Mini web adventure. The campaign in Britain for Mini at the time was "It's a Mini Adventure" and was supported by TV spots featuring Martian attacks and Print showcasing comics about mad scientists driving invisible cars. I suppose one of the reasons it worked was that it used real websites as it's destinations, not made up weirdness. Respecting the web even as they drove all over it.
With four destinations within one journey and three unique journeys created, the user is unlikely to go on the same adventure more than once.
The Mini Showcase
Cannes Cyber Gold 2007
Play The Game
The California Milk Processor Board brought their "Got Milk?" campaign to the web with a brilliantly realised "board" game. It's a bit like Monopoly with mini stage games and some amazing animation. They've brought the production values of Pixar to a website. It's just so well done that people can't help but tell other people about it. Yes, there is the "milk is good for you" educational messaging liberally spread throughout but you forgive it any heavy-handedness because of the sheer entertainment they give you. The game is educational, fun, engaging and all about the milk. It's also the centre of their new campaign, 7 TV spots and a poster/print campaign drive to the game.
Play Get The Glass
Cannes Cyber Gold 2007
Fake Real
In 2004, at a time when webcams were finally getting headway on the net and ordinary people could see each other talking on the other side of the world, Crispin Porter + Bogusky engaged the skills of The Barbarian Group to help Burger King tell people that you could Have Chicken Your Way. How better than to go to a site where you can order a guy in a chicken uniform to be an idiot? You'd think that after all these years the guy in the chicken suit would be tired... well, I'll tell you a secret. There is no guy in a chicken suit. The interaction perfectly demonstrated the BK promise of "Have It Your Way' though.
Order the Chicken
The Alexa.com Stats (demonstrating a very long ROI tail)
Cannes Cyber Gold 2005
The Limited Experience
Two gorgeous and crazy girls stole the new Diesel Intimate collection, kidnapped a nice guy, locked themselves (and him) in a hotel room. Then, using six video cameras they broadcast their experience 24 hours a day, live for 5 straight days on diesel.com. Branded Reality Interactive TV. As a viewer you could participate in their experience so it became your own experience. They blogged, took photographs, had parties and generally lived the perfect Succesful Life. All, of course, in Diesel's Intimate Collection. Unlike the Subserviant Chicken above, this had a lifespan of only 5 days. It was a short, powerful experience for viewers and then Diesel moved on. Which is exactly how a rock star would do it.
Watch what happened over those 5 crazy days.
Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2007
Make A Useful App
Nike and Apple collabrated to create Nike+. Not just an iPod add-on or a social website but an entirely new product. Their video tells it better than I can, but this is a situation where the agency, R/GA, forged a new worldwide business with their clients. It's a bit of a holy grail to be honest and probably required the blood of virgins to be sacrificed to actually make it happen. They've created a tool that's useful, fun to use and includes a community of like-minded users from all over the world. At the core of it is a back-end sales tool that R/GA originally developed independently of Nike+, it's purpose is to sell shoes with as little fuss as possible. They hand over this powerful application for the price of a widget that sticks to your shoes.
The iTunes store even added a Nike Sport Music section with special workout mixes, athlete inspirations, podcasts, etc. A well rounded product. Is it an ad though?
Nike+
The hack around if you don't want to buy a pair of Nike.
Buy your own Nike + iPod Sportkit
Cannes Cyber Grand Prix 2007
Immersive Content
A guy named Justin tinkers with a system of broadcasting video signal from a small camera on his body, from any location, to a website. It takes him about 6 months to figure out the technology. When he does he goes live 24 hours a day. Real time. From his car, to his office, to the first virtual date between Justin.tv and iJustine, his life is laid bare for us to view at our leisure. Which is a trend young people are exhibiting online, sharing everything. As near as I can tell no one other than Justin has created any PR buzz, brand experience or ad awards with this technology. Yet.
Watch Justin.tv
The Alexa Stats
I've obviously missed out on about 99% of the cool stuff on the web. What I hope I've collected are some awesome pieces of brand work that defy the "whacky" label. User generated content about a kitten falling asleep may grab eyeballs but no one believes it when there's a logo stuck on the end. These brands have told the truth, been honest and generally surprised us. I've missed out on the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero launch and about another 8 million other clever ideas. Oh well. Maybe later.
Presentation Created & Assembled by Ivan Pols, Associate Creative Director @ Ogilvy Toronto
All works are copyright of the respective brands and agencies.
ps. An experiment gone wrong:
Chivas "This Is The Life"
pps. Here are a few other interesting experiments:
See More Side Effects
Volvo - The Hunt
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Thursday
Jun282007
Diesel's Liquid Space
June 2007
Diesel have done something beautiful. This image creation is absolutely startling and I can only imagine what a treat it would have been to see this live.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCcTRjxP-Fc]
Creative Review have a great article.
Diesel
"Diesel’s Creative Team (under the direction of Wilbert Das) based the show on an aquatic theme entitled “Liquid Space” and brought together Barcelona animation studio Dvein – who worked on the CGI visual effects and 3D animations – and Danish multi-media production agency, Vizoo, who provided the innovative technology for the show, which they had created themselves. Neither studio, say Diesel, had previously worked on anything like this before."
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCcTRjxP-Fc]
Creative Review have a great article.
Diesel
Friday
May182007
This Is Real Art
May 2007 
I've been a huge fanboy of Paul Belford for years. He's the Art Director's Art Director. Inventive, prolific and an award winning machine (including 6 D&AD Silvers and 5 Silver Nominations - mostly with good old design!). He was at TBWA/London and then became a CD at AMV.BBDO & Leagas Delaney and now he's a CD at This Is Real Art. They do some very cool stuff. A pity they are only hiring juniors.
This Is Real Art