Wow, 2.8 million clicks for a banner campaign! Uniqlo had a sale and decided to spread the word via a widget embedded by willing blog and website owners. Click the widget and the page transformed into a Uniqlo Lucky Ticket that revealed great deals or a tote bag prize. I encourage all brands to copy this idea and see if they get the same results. It will help if you have an uber cool, global brand with plenty of disciples (I can’t see the same idea working for Hallensteins or Barkers).
Telling kids what they can’t do must be a tough job, so kudos to JWT Sydney for dreaming up this iPhone app.
It’s a racing game hijacked by a phone call that warns against the use of mobiles while driving. I had a better idea – simply raise the legal driving age to 23 – but I don’t think anyone was listening.
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.
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.
Money doesn’t make an idea good. But it can lead to great execution which is often enough to capture many people’s imagination. Take a look at this interactive video for Stella using Facebook connect then consider how effective it would have been as a plain old HTML email. The answer: probably not half as much. I particularly like the way photos from people’s profiles are seamlessly integrated into the plot. That plus the reward of a free movie when you forward the promotion to four friends (a nice touch to leverage existing Stella content).
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.
Take a look at the future of publishing (possibly). Adobe talks as if the new iPad is the best thing since sliced bread but can it really add that much more to users’ online experience? Rather than merely sexing up the way titles are packaged, I think publishers need to focus on more new ways to truly engage users, be it journalists replying to comments on every story, asking users what they want, giving them buying power, creating targeted events or finding a better solution to banner advertising.
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