I love the way PNC Bank celebrates each and every festive season with its Christmas Price Index (based on the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’). A very neat and original way to dull the impersonal corporate edge of a banking institution, indeed. This year PNC upped the production ante with the creation of a train world that lives inside a department store window. Great craft work as you can see from the ‘making of’ video. By the way, merry Christmas.
MahiFX is a new forex trading website that was recently launched with an interactive infographic teaser campaign. The site basically asks you to enter your salary so it can hit you with some (rather depressing) statistics comparing your earning power to that of super trader John Paulson. This is a good lesson for anyone with next to no budget that you can create engaging communication with not much more than great type. It also proves there’s nothing wrong with a little humour in the serious world of finance.
Funny, tongue-in-cheek video from the Dutch National Maritime Museum that shamelessly piggybacks off the popularity of Facebook and its creator Mark Z. I’d give it ten out of ten for execution, especially the voiceover. Tonally it looks pretty progressive for a museum. I imagine the brief said something about attracting a new generation of visitors.
Hyperlocal in a marketing context refers to information and advertising created by local businesses for consumption by local residents in small, well-defined areas. It’s the antithesis of mass marketing and globalization really. I first started to think about hyperlocal when I wanted to launch an online magazine. But it’s equally relevant to small businesses that rely on locals for much of their turnover. So if you run a small business check out Street Fight , a website dedicated to the latest developments in hyperlocal marketing.
Red Bull Street Art View showcases street art from all over the globe. Tag your favourite spot, share it with friends and help build the world’s largest art collection. It’s a good, low-risk initiative from the drinks brand that has already attracted a number of uploads. I only wish they had added a comprehensive thumbnail gallery for easy reference – it takes six clicks to view one image! Some music wouldn’t have gone amiss either.
Small things amuse small minds. That’s why I can’t get enough of this new bookmark widget/app thingy from M&M’s in Denmark. It’s just so clever and utter nonsense. Go to the microsite, drag the space ship to your bookmarks bar then go nuts…go peanuts as you destroy websites across the net!
University of Farmers is a good example of how well video content can be integrated into a site. The only issue I had was the juxtaposition of this with the parent site, which looks bog ugly. Rabobank is guilty of much the same – a very sexy ad campaign supported by a very dour corporate website. For me, these kind of disconnects tend to send mix messages that simply confuse punters. Is it a warm friendly insurance company with a sense of humour, or, dull and conservative?
Yo. My man. You don’t have to be a Jay-Z fan to admire this rich media site filled with previously shot video, stylish black and white stills of the ‘hood and everything you could ever want to know about the performer’s career. I’m only surprised he hasn’t taken this opportunity to push his merch(andise) harder. I guess he knows what’s cool. Beyonce’s not-so-better half has nicely harnessed the power of his tweeps (tweeters) with a page overlay that lets fans add their voice (figuratively speaking) on a favourite lyric, show or moment.
It’s that time of year again for the Contagious round-up of the best in digital. Some of my personal favourites from recent CDs (editions 22 and 23) include: ‘Breaking the Cycle’ – a campaign from U by Kotex that shakes up the crimson tide category with its sheer honesty; ‘Let’s Colour’ – a Dulux campaign with great feel good factor; and, ‘Microsoft Kin’ – branded entertainment that had the balls to ask if a person’s social media friends were really friends at all.
