Kookmeyer Institute

You’re most probably blind if you haven’t seen any of ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ campaign by W+K, but in any case here’s the case study. Man, I wish I had worked on it.

Via Creativity

Tweet nicely about Old Spice and it could be you receiving a personalised message viewed by millions on YouTube, just as fans including Ellen DeGeneres, Perez Hilton and Rose McGowan have already. I wonder if these celebs are actually  paid ambassadors. Not a silly idea when you consider the respective popularity of all involved. In any case, I’m impressed by the way the brand is monitoring social media and acknowledging folk. It reminds me of a nice email I sent to the makers of Cyclops yoghurt last week. They didn’t even reply (!) so I wrote again, saying I lied and that their yoghurt really sucked. Yeah that’ll teach ‘em.

Most websites don’t need much to stand out. But they do need something, even if it’s only a simple click and drag to view sunnies from either side. I’m working on a marine safety site at the moment. Fairly bog standard product stuff that I want to make more memorable by introducing a ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ theme to the landing page, based on survivors’ testimonials. Wish me luck!

Have you ever seen a more beautiful looking chart?

Some people laugh at Rhys Darby or Funniest Home Videos. I, on the other hand, tend to be more amused by interesting juxtapositions. Think Sue Collini, potty-mouthed sexual predator and top-level executive on Californication, and, Hit Girl, the precocious assassin and star of Kick-Ass. This is one of the better movie sites I’ve seen, with just the right level of engagement (cf. Sherlock Holmes), including a widget for more pre-release updates, and great tone of voice.

I thought Hail the Villain must have been a new PlayStation game. Crap band, nice illustrated technique.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest show, Love Never Dies, is now playing in London with ticket prices starting from a reasonable £25. Which is somewhat less than it cost to produce this nicely crafted website. Navigating the amusing yet fairly simple circus games I started to wonder how well this really promoted the actual show. That was until I clicked on the gallery which reveals a heap of behind-the-scenes coverage featuring actors, stage managers, scenes, the after party and more. To me, this is the kind of stuff people are really interested in and one of the best ways to find a true brand connection. For other brands, the content could be a factory tour, backstage at an event or a virtual seat at an important board meeting. Whatever it is, I think it helps break down the barriers between brand and consumer.

I’d like to think I’m impervious to the tactics of advertisers. Too smart and too strong to be so readily influenced. Alas, it took all of five minutes browsing through this new-ish Umbro site to reverse a lifetime of hostility toward the brand. Check out the nice mix of football fodder and pop culture (emerging bands on MySpace not Oasis), the way they have a laugh at themselves in the fashion faux pas gallery and the nice tone they’ve struck in social media. Hopefully we’ll get to see more content that reflects/explores the company’s Mancurian upbringing.

I’m a sucker for big picture backgrounds plus video content. And this site for Mercedes has both in spades. If I was being fussy, I’d argue some of the interactive prompts, such as those encountered in the test drive, don’t feel very natural or entirely convincing. We can be so desperate to engage users that we don’t see how it can get in the way of enjoying content. Still, a pretty good effort. There’s also an iPhone app that lets you race through tunnels like the one in the shoot.

The producers of a bitter tonic water in Argentina recently gave jilted lovers the chance to immortalise their revenge by posting their feelings on a website. From these the best 72 messages were published in an illustrated book released on…you guessed it…Valentine’s Day. I rather admire the originality of this project, which demonstrates a certain entrepreneurial flair (over 2,000 copies were sold in three weeks), as well as the crossover between real and digital worlds.