RSS
 

Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

Some Great Ads

29 Mar 2006

There are (yet again) a few great ads that caught my attention of which I’m very fond. I like the ideas, I like the concept and I like the imaging.

Here’s an Aquafresh ad for your glow-in-the-dark-smile:

Aquafresh

via iPub

Here’s an older street ad for Zippo (and yes, it’s really burning) :

Zippo

via Advertising For Peanuts

And here are two playboy ads that target women, not men:

Miss March 2

Miss March 1

The caption suggests: I could be Miss March (the playmate, that is).

via Coloribus

 

How Copyrighted Are Commercials?

28 Mar 2006

Regarding the recent changes on YouTube, I began to wonder about the legalness of uploading and sharing commercials and viral clips. In my humble opinion, a commercial’s sole purpose is to create awareness through visibility and creativity. A commercial becomes remarkable if it’s funny to see or has an original script or idea to promote a brand or a service. I understand that commercials are created by a creative agency and that they are made for a brand, often registered and trademarked. However, what’s the use of commercial if it cannot be seen or discussed in public?

The ad agency surely made some expenses and paid actors, copywriters, scripters etc to generate the remarkable result. I understand this ad agency has ‘the rights’ to this commercial and so does the brand or company which ordered the commercial to be made. But what sane company would complain if the commercial is uploaded to a social network in order to increase visibility? Beats me. Still, YouTube makes it very clear in their disclaimer:

Max file size: 100 MB. Max length: 10 minutes.

Do not upload copyrighted, obscene or any other material which violates YouTube’s Terms of Use. By clicking “Upload Video”, you are representing that this video does not violate YouTube’s Terms of Use and that you own all copyrights in this video or have express permission from the copyright owner(s) to upload it.

Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts, or commercials without permission unless they consist entirely of content you created yourself.

What they are saying is very clear. No commercials can be uploaded unless you created it yourself or have permission from the brand or company that created the ad. I’m not going to write letters or send email to any company, begging for the right to upload a clip and talk about it, to put the clip on my site and generate visibility for it, which they don’t have to pay for. It’s free publicity, and very often it’s positive feedback.

I see the sharing and uploading of commercials as a reward for the company that created it, as a favor to generate some extra visibility, as an extension of their campaign into the third mass media channel next to tv and print. I fail to see the negative point in that.

I’ve asked YouTube via email what I should do with the commercials in my archive, and why they could be violating any copyrights. The answer I got was (bottom line) : the actors in the clips might sue for a loss of income.

Could somebody fill me in here? What exactly are ‘the rights’ for commercials, and why can’t we share them? What happens when an ad agency wants to create a viral? Do they pay the actor per viewer? I think any actor in any commercial knows that a commercial has a second life on the internet. Who didn’t forward a funny ad he got in his email yet? Isn’t that practically the same thing? If we keep being this protective when it comes to ads, blogs like mine and many others are living on the edge of termination. I feed on ads. I love marketing. I love great commercials. Don’t take away my right to express & illustrate my fondness for a great idea, please.

 

Don’t Be Like Dave

28 Mar 2006

Wasserman & Partners launched he ‘Road Sense’ campaign for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Tagline for this campaign is “it’s no fun if you’re dead” and the purpose is (yet again) to get young drivers to slow down and buckle up.

The cool site that came with this campaign has a neat concept: a take on MySpace, but then for dead youngsters. Impressive. On their ‘MyDeadSpace’ Victor & Sarah talk about what their interests were. Really, this is a great way of approaching the youngsters.

There’s also a quiz where you can ‘win prizes that are worth living for’, but you have to be from British Columbia to actually enter the competition, so most of the world can’t enter. It’s a fun quiz to take though, just for fun.

The viral part of the campaign is the ’send to friend’ section, where you can select a cool clip with some dead people to impress your buddies. If you just want to see the clips, that’s possible too, just follow the link they’ve provided. No maggots attached.

No Fun If You're Dead

The ‘Ask Death’ section is just hilarious. There are audio snippets from Death’s radio show where people call in for advice on a specific situation. You just gotta hear these, I laughed a lot :) You can also scroll through the archive which features some nice stories as well. Last but least, there a soccer game in which you can play against Dave. Try to win, it’s pretty hard.

Check out the site

There are some print ads too. Read the rest of this entry »

 

The Hills Have Eyes

28 Mar 2006

Soap Creative came up with a very spooky promo-site to promote a new horror movie called ‘The Hills Have Eyes’. This movie is in fact a new take on Wes Craven’s 1977 cult film about a family road trip that goes ‘terrifyingly awry’ when the travellers become stranded in a government atomic zone. (Hence the Geiger counter as loading sequence) – It doesn’t take long for our lovely family to figure out they’re not alone and that the seemingly uninhabited wasteland is actually a breeding ground of a blood-thirsty mutant/zombie family. And no, they don’t invite you for coffee.

The mini site is pretty decent and offers a lot of background info like a three-page long production note, cast & crew info and an ‘interviews’ section (which is not yet online). There’s a splendid trailer in three sizes which shows off some great footage. I like the fact that Alexandre Aja, the French director, included a lot of elements that ‘feel’ like the seventies, like the caravan the Carter family travels with. It has this ’streamline’ that’s very proper to that certain time (I think the streamline design movement started in the fifties already), you’ll see. Then again, a lot of ‘recent’ gadgets (cell phones,…) are included because this story ‘happened’ in 2005.

Screencap 1

Screencap 2

There are two games for this movie. The first one is the ‘Mutant Hunt’ game. A rather simple game that seems to have taken over the concept of the K-fee Turbo Drink virals I posted about earlier, and a rather popular take on the let’s-have-you-really-focused-before-you-get-scared idea. You have been warned.

The site also features a nice 3D shoot’m up game, where you need to run through some sort of coal mine with a flash light and a shotgun, hunting for mutants. Pretty adrenalinish and certain to make your heart beat a little faster. Your goal is to reach the exit, obviously.

Mutants in the Mine

Exit Level 1

The download section has some wallpapers, a screensaver and some AIM icons. There’s also a rather large photo gallery which has some cool vintage-looking pictures. Worth checking.

Cool car, isn't it?

Check out ‘The Hills Have Eyes’
See the trailer (link to large version)
Play the ‘Mutant Hunt’ (advergame)
Play ‘Run For The Hills’ (3D, Shockwave required)

via Adverblog

 

Adidas +10

28 Mar 2006

Martin has been helping out with the new Adidas campaign and pointed me to a mini site he’s been seeding. The site, dedicated to football is also about the release of the new Predator Absolute shoe. A Flash animation takes you on a tour through the features of the shoe (I never knew there were so many parts in a football shoe!) and after the tour, you’re invited to reassemble the shoe against the clock yourself.

Adidas Predator

Other sections of this branded site are the ‘players’ which features 5 screens where in every screen a part of the powers of the player is revealed and illustrated in an original way.

The ‘TV room’ features commercials, player interviews and behind the scenes edits. It’s pretty fun the see, so you’ll definitely have to check this section. There are 7 commercials. All of them are funny. Concept: twelve international players go through the streets of their cities looking for a dream team to compete against.

Cole vs. Cisse – (England vs France)
Xavi vs. Gomes – (Spain vs Portugal)
Kaka vs. Riquelme – (Brazil vs Argentina)
Nakamura vs. Del Piero – (Japan vs Italy)
De Jong vs. Kuranyi – (Netherlands vs Germany)
Maestroni vs. Lozano – (US vs Mexico)

The ‘Downloads’ section has wallpapers, screensavers and ads. Yes, ads! High Quality PDF versions of screenshots from the superb commercial they’ve aired a while ago. Here’s the YouTube link for that clip.

The ‘Gear’ section is a store where you can see all kinds of boots, jerseys, pants and hardware (like shin protectors etc) and is more or less mandatory. Nevertheless, it’s well designed.

You can also play some games on the site in the quite extended ‘Games’ section. You’ll have to register to play, but it’s worth it.

Last but not least, in the ‘Pro Skills’ section you can learn how to practice your moves and improve your game. The ‘Bag of Tricks’ link currently features Morientes displaying his skills.

Check out the brand new site | Thanks, Martin

 

The Necessity of Open Marketing

27 Mar 2006

‘Always On’ featured an article (it seems to be the debut of a series) which titles: Open Up Or Shut Up. This article points to the fact that CEOs, marketing executives, and PR professionals who don’t have the courage to deploy new open media tools will be left behind. Interesting to read.

Early adopters across industries, from Microsoft to Budget Rent A Car, are embracing open media technologies to create a dialogue with customers, while others are left leery, fearful, and dismissive. Open marketing assumes your customers are smarter than you, at every stage of the business process, from product build to post-sale service.

Companies that have not yet moved to embrace the open marketing revolution are often not even aware it’s being waged. Yes, they have heard of blogs, and they are aware that they are somehow significantly moving forward, but they lack the sense of urgency to address the need to adjust their marketing mix. The buzz of the day could well be your products, your brand—with your reputation on the line.

Steve Rubel, a pioneer in open marketing, coined the term “conversation gap” to identify the distance between product categories and specific brands. Companies can now quantify, in an almost real-time state, the number of mentions about a category and the number of mentions about their brand, and establish programs and methods to close the distance.

Read much more at Always On | via Putting People First | Thanx Daan B.

 

Faux Absolut Ads

27 Mar 2006

I don’t know if Absolut is that pleased with these ads, but they did appear for the Bucharest Traffic Police and were created by Mercury Promotions Romenia. They don’t have the ‘wow’ factor, but it’s the first time -I think- an official campaign uses the Absolut trademarked way of advertising. Notice how they bypassed copyrights by adding an ‘e’ to Absolut. The ads were posted in police stations, toilets from bars and restaurants.

Absolute Tragedy

Absolute Stupidity

via Houtlust | Marketing Post

 

10 Modern Marketing Facts

27 Mar 2006

In an attempt to capture the main aspects of today’s marketing environment, James Cherkoff at Modern Marketing listed up 10 facts any marketeer should be aware of:

  1. The consumer is in control.
  2. The consumer is sceptical and increasingly resistant to advertising.
  3. Media fragmentation is pervasive.
  4. Mass markets are being replaced by niche markets.
  5. Corporate executives are under greater levels of scrutiny.
  6. Companies that understand Internet Culture best will benefit most.
  7. Consumers are mobilizing themselves in new, powerful ways.
  8. The broadcast model isn’t working.
  9. Broadband is a mass medium.
  10. User generated content (CGM) is influential and growing rapidly.

Read more about this | via Customer World