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Archive for the ‘Interactive’ Category

The Pants Whisperer

29 Nov 2006

There’s a themed site for Durex (the condom brand) which is called ‘The Pants Whisperer’. On the site you go to an over enthusiastic therapist who’s overjoyed about penises (and the surrounding christmas decoration). Funny questions as ‘If I would offer you one million dollars for a night with your penis, what would you say?’ can only be answered by clicking on of the three ‘Yes’ buttons that appear. There’s also a penis name generator (apparently mine is ‘Ron the hammer of Thor’). Hilarious moments. Stories about the origin of the word testicle and lots more of comic relief assure you pleasure for a little while. Yet another great moment in penis history. In the ‘bang it’ section, consumers are invited to upload short clips of people or things they’ve been banging. Police cars, deers… you name it. You can see the site’s not been around for long yet, because there’s only a handful of short clips in the archive. I think the background music is totally cool. It reminds me of ‘muzak’ and tv-dinner music from the 50s and 60s.

Have a laugh at The Pants Whisperer | Thanks, Frank

2 Comments

Posted in Advertising, Campaigns, Interactive, Marketing

Australian Navy Recruits Game-Style

08 Nov 2006

The Australian Navy has launched a site which allows you to discover all about life Royal Australian Navy on board. As pointed out by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Defence Force’s key recruiting demographic spends less time in front of the TV, and prefers to go online or play video games, that’s why as a recruiting tool they have launched a site which very much looks like a videogame. The American army has already walked this path before with their America’s Army online game. Seems now the Aussies have taken that same road, be it a little less sophisticated. Still, nice work by Visual Jazz.

Experience this game | Via Adverblog

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Posted in Campaigns, Games, Interactive, Marketing

Riskville

01 Nov 2006

Take a look at this theme website for Rexona For Men, the deodorant with attitude. At Riskville, men are challenged to find out their ‘risky inner man’ by means of tests and situation simulation. One of the things I’m really fond of is the “101 things to do before you die” list. It features quite some things that seem totally kick-ass to do, and I think I’ll go make up my own list and try to accomplish it. Other funny things to try out are the “Risk Profiler” which rates your willingness to take risks and gives you tips on how to live life to the full. Interactive goodies are on the site too, for instance the DIY desktop creator, a tool that lets you upload a picture and edit it so you look like an instant stunt man. You can also win a prize. A two day stunt trip (aka stunt weekend), to really suit your stunty needs. Alas, I think it’s Australia only. Still, the site is quite entertaining.

Agency: Lowe, Australia
Check out Riskville | Thanks, Pieter

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Posted in Advertising, Campaigns, Interactive, Marketing

Second Life Tour

25 Oct 2006

I’ve been collecting some news items about Second Life to use them in a presentation, and I figured I might as well line them up here too because it’s an attempt to capture the situation as it is today. I realize that this post will only be a snapshot of the moment, but I needed a list of ‘things that happened’ in Second Life for myself so I’d no longer have to remember them by heart. It’s also becoming quite impossible to refer to all the known cases of companies that have started something in the virtual world because it’s growing out of its proportions. So, here goes the run-down of the remarkable things that happened:

Read the rest of this entry »

23 Comments

Posted in 2.0 +, Advertising, Interactive, Marketing

Hairy Mail

24 Oct 2006

Welcome to Hairy Mail, the first web-based back-hair messaging system. While your first reaction is going to be ‘ewww’, your second reaction is probably even going to be a degree worse. This viral campaign is launched by ‘The Truth’ and is part of their global actions against smoking and its hidden truths. Be sure to check out the singing cowboy on the homepage of ‘The Truth’. Quite scary.

Fact:
Sodium hydroxide is a caustic compound found in hair-removal products.
It’s also found in cigarettes.

Send some Hairy Mails | Thanks, Frank

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Posted in Campaigns, Ethics, Interactive, Marketing

Important Export

23 Oct 2006

I received an e-mail from the interim agency I used to work for a few years ago, before I went back to school to get a degree. I didn’t quite expect it because it’s been a while since I heard from them, but apparently they’ve started an extended campaign to search for new dynamic people to fill in some job spots. At first sight it looked like a dull regular e-mail, but I clicked through and ended up on a damn funny website called importantexport.be. On that site Peter Van Den Begin, one of my favorite Flemish actors was totally going wild in a character role that really fits him quite well: the deranged crook/lunatic business man. The site itself is in Flemish/French but I must say the French version doesn’t have half the charisma of the Flemish one.

On the site you have to answer 5 simple questions, which are part of your job interview at the ‘important export’ company. The questions aren’t the main reason for this project though. The meaning of this site is infotaining. Unique Interim wants you to be aware of the fact that a lot of promises (like 200K a year) aren’t always what they seem to be, and that finding out too late about the general terms and conditions of a certain job might not always be the most pleasant experience of your career. ~~Don’t know which agency did this, but~~ The agency behind it is The Parking Lot and it’s quite good.

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Posted in Advertising, Interactive, Marketing

Touch Me Tender Interface

21 Oct 2006

A little while ago I received an e-mail from Stan Kravetz, the COO of KsanLab. Over at KsanLab, they’ve been developing a tactile interface that looks really slick. The ‘Touch Me Tender’ interface is a product which is designed in order to use “natural” human interaction to avoid intermediates such as menus, mouse and so on. It makes interaction more convenient and eliminates the need for any special IT education. So it opens a door for new customer experience for a broader range of users. Interesting perspective. Not ground-breaking (I’ve seen such concepts before), but I’ve never seen the ‘paint’ application as extended as it is pictured in the clip below.

Over at KsanLab, they see following applications of Touch Me Tender at the moment:

Development of interactive P.O.S. terminals those can be integrated with web projects, services and campaigns.
Entertainment at shopping malls, restaurants, airports, museums, etc.
An experiential marketing tool: a customer interacts with the product in a tactile way (selection and virtual test of make-up, clothes, furniture).

What I’m fond of is that instead of focusing on the ‘gaming market’, they’ve shifted the focus to the ‘marketing market’, and by doing so they’ve drilled a far bigger audience. [Plus it got them on this blog :)]

More info? check out www.KsanLab.com

Other slick interfaces on Marketing Thoughts:

1 Comment

Posted in Design, Interactive, Technology

Lola, Bambi & Candy

20 Oct 2006

Announcement: “Welcome to LynxJet Planet, the flight service that takes off where other airlines end. Not only do we take you to the world’s most exotic cities, we take you to the city’s most exotic girls. Your very own Lynxjet Mostess will act as your personal Tour Guide, catering to your desires and tastes. She will also offer wise tips on how to interact and charm the local beauties. So get aboard! The next flight to Tokyo, it’s just about to leave.”

Indeed you’ve got it right, it’s time to explore a new planet!

Registering is quite easy, but it takes a while before you’re logged in and the Tokyo level is loaded. Actually, the level didn’t load at all. I’ll retry later today, but it looks promising and fun!

Update – Tokyo is Live. The gameplay isn’t all that good, however the artwork has something from “softcore manga meets pixel art” and that makes up with a cuteness factor 8. Maybe it’s my computer, but the Flash reacts really slow to the clicks. First of all you’ve got to select an avatar. Next, apparently, you’ve got to go around and meet girls. If you stand on the spot next to them, you can ask them questions. Spraying Lynx deodorant will make the flashing question bar go more slow so you can choose what to ask. If you don’t spray Lynx, chances are big you’ll screw up.