British Gas turns advertising on its head

Earlier this month British Gas launched a winter campaign emphasising the impact a broken boiler can have in the harsh British winter.

So what did they do?

First came the tag line ‘Being without heating or hot water can turn your world upside down’.

Next came the execution: in a media first, British Gas is literally turning Sky News upside down across 17 digital screens in railway stations across the UK.

Commuters viewing the digital screens have seen Sky’s show business news screened upside down, followed by an upside-down British Gas creative, that rights itself with the strapline, ‘Being without heating or hot water can turn your world upside down. With HomeCare, we’ll get you out of the cold fast.’

A simple idea that allows media to amplify a strong creative message.

Dentsu London for Canon - Paint Sculptures

Canon Pixma: Bringing colour to life from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Fascinating behind the scenes look at how Dentsu London reated the new Canon ads to life using sound to sculpt paint and high speed macro cameras to capture it. Brilliant stuff.

Here's the final result:


Canon Pixma Sound Sculptures from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Putting the audience in the advertising

Great piece of technology innovation in outdoor media for a Dutch campaign about violence against public sector workers. We like.

Via Chris Stephenson at Mediation

The Economist - Where do you stand?

The Economist have launched a new poster campaign designed to reach out to new readers. While maybe not quite up to the standard of previous iconic Economist campaigns it does at least prompt consideration of some serious topics for "Big Society".

You can vote on the topics on the campaign Facebook page.

If you haven't already, you should check out the new Economist blog for us media and marketing folks, The Lighbulb Factory.

Adidas - Star Wars Cantina

We defy you not to smile while watching this.

Most Ad Agencies aren't results focused!

Before all of our ad agency friends take too much offence can we just point out that this is supported by data from The Fournaise Marketing Group so please take any complaints up with them!

Their recent global study showed that many client marketers worldwide think their agencies are inssufficiently "results driven".

They interviewed 1,000 marketers around the world and found that 65% thought their agencies paid too little attention to return on investment. In the most developed advertising markets of W. Europe, USA and Australia as many as 70% agreed with the statement.

74% of respondents felt that their agencies didn't even have the tools and insights to allow them to focus their campaigns on the right audience. Which begs the question why they continue to retain them?

Another 71% are concerned that their creative agencies are far too driven by awards success and portfolio building and too little by delivering increased brand sales for their existing clients.

Overall, only 35% of global advertising agencies were described as "result drivers" focusing on improving their clients' revenues, while a further 43% were "result pretenders" presenting themselves as committed to proving payback on marketing expenditure without adequate processes in place to actually deliver accountability.
Finally, a dissapointing 22% of agencies were criticised as "dreamers" who "lived in the old 'Adland'" and had completely failed to adapt to the demands of the new media age.

Which camp does your agency fall into?

Sourced from WARC 14 April 2010

Nike support Tiger

Mawkish? Macabre? Whatever you think of the ad it's going to get both Nike and Tiger Woods talked about.

As Tiger returned to professional golf at the Masters today, Nike signalled their continuing support for their flagship golf sponsorship with a brave ad voiced from the grave by Earl Woods, Tiger's father and long time coach who passed away four years ago.

We've seen dead celebrity ads before (most recently for the new Citroen DS3 featuring John Lennon and Marylin Monroe) but this new Nike ad strikes a more serious, possibly sinister, tone. It's a brave bold positioning statement from Nike which seems to set out their stall as a brand that sticks with you along the road, however hard that road might be.

Whether it achieves it's objectives remains to be seen but you've got to applaud the bravery of Nike when Tiger's other corporate sponsors dropped him like a stone the moment his scandalous behaviour came to light.

OK GO - This too shall pass

Released on Youtube.

Over 3 million views. In less than a week.

More details here

*applause*

Vintage Ad Browser

"Advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century."


– Marshall McLuhan
 
A fantastic online collection of more than 100,000 vintage press and poster ads from the 1850's to the last decade in over 50 categories from Airlines to Xmas. We particularly like the Travel section (with nice contextual ads from online travel aggregator Kayak).
 
For the comic geeks amongst you (admit it, it'll make you feel better), sister site Coverbrowser is well worth a look.

"Hello Advertising World"

It's time ad agency thinking in the digital sphere moved beyond making a TV ad and putting it on Youtube.

In this piece from commercial production magazine, Boards, Scott Pinder from Crispin Porter & Bogusky, makes the case for technology integration inside the creative process.

As the digital advertising landscape moves beyond banners and mictrosites Scott makes a strong case for the addition of a 3rd member to the creative team of art director and copywriter - the technologist.

This cross-disciplinary approach makes a lot of sense to us. As brand managers look to deepen engagement with consumers and build longer-term relationships (rather than short-term TV advertising driven sales uplifts) true creative integration with, for instance, social media platforms and e-commerce solutions must be the way forward.

Belgian Ad Agencies Strike

Most of Belgium's major ad agencies, including the likes of JWT, BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi and McCanns have commenced on a one week virtual strike in protest at the way Belgian clients conduct pitches.

Many Belgian advertisers have failed to adhere to an indsutry charter that sets norms for agency pitches inclduing pitch costs and shortlist numbers. The agencies have retaliated by replacing their website homepages with one paragraph each of an open letter to Belgian advertisers.

*applause*

Superbowl Advertising

The results are in! The USA Today Ad Meter gives Snickers the top spot.

But perhaps of most note was the way advertisers, almost without exception, prompted viewers to visit their websites and share via Facebook and Twitter. Not that there was much worth sharing. Most advertisers used some combination of sex, violence and slapstick to attract the beer and pizza-sated audience for America's biggest sporting event.

Simples!

Nice, if somewhat over-stated piece in Saturday’s Guardian on “marketing phenomenon” and “saviour” of TV advertising that is Aleksandr Orlov.

The animated meerkat is credited with capturing the hearts and minds of the Great British public, the holy grail of advertising, and forcing the competition to radically re-think their marketing strategies.

The Russian furball has catapulted comparethemarket.com from zero to hero in less than a year. It is now the 4th most popular price comparison site in the UK and Aleksandr’s “Simples!” catchphrase looks set to make it into the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Gocompare has retaliated with Gio Compario , a fat, annoying, moustachioed opera singer who boasts a paltry 3,072 fans on Facebook versus Aleksandr’s 647,817.

The lesson here seems to be: do it differently, do it better, or don’t bother doing it at all.

Simples!

Top 20 TV ads of the last decade

Thinkbox have hosted a compilation of the top 20 ads of the last decade.

"ITV asked a panel of 8000 viewers to vote for their favourite ads of the last ten years. From dancing eyebrows and talking meerkats, to a car made of cake and the world’s longest waterslide, these are some of the TV ads that made us smile, think and want more. Most importantly, they delivered great business results for the advertisers."

The Role of TV in driving online response

Thinkbox have today posted a new study on their website which outlines the relationship between TV Advertising and Online Response. Working with MediaCom, econometric modelling was used to further delve into the data and prove that TV is really becoming as cheap as online in terms of the true cost of acquiring each customer.

Good to see a more rounded view of how direct response works rather than the previously one dimensional last-click-wins approach so often touted. Proof of the value of investing in more sophisticated measurement techniques as well as the folly of ignoring the tried and tested mediums of the past in preference to the shiny new path to riches too often rashly promised online.

Top Ten Online Marketing Campaigns of the Decade

GoViral have just published a list of the top ten online campaigns of the decade.

40 campaigns were shortlisted by the great and the good of the digital world and were then put to the vote (albeit only just over 1,000 people voted). What's perhpas most notable about the awards is that the top rated effort - Eepybird's Mento's & Diet Coke experiment - wasn't instigated by either brand proving two key points about the new media landscape:

1. It's easier than ever for independent content creators (or "people" as we like to call them) to say something about your brand which resonates with your consumer (also "people" by the way)

2. Those brands who are sharp enough to spot what's going on and run with it rather than trying to suppress it in some sort of pique - "I'm the brand manager/creative director/media strategist (delete as appropriate) - how dare you be more creative than me"! - can reap huge rewards.

Enjoy the creativity on show here and have a very Merry Christmas everyone.

Bus stops, but not as you know them

It seems that the Italians' reputation for doing it better is entirely founded.

This month saw the unveiling of the EyeStop, a new, state-of-the-art bus stop designed for the city of Florence that looks set to revolutionise bus stop advertising.

Outdoor planners, steel yourselves...

The solar-powered, glass, steel and stone structure is partially covered with touch-sensitive screens and features a range of interactive services. Passengers can plan their journey on an interactive map, surf the web and even monitor their real-time exposure to pollutants.

Best of all, the Eyestop allows passengers to track the exact location of the next bus and 'glows' at varying degrees of intensity as it approaches - surely the nirvana of bus travel?

A more formal prototype will be rolled out in October - ample time to get ahead of the game and start thinking about how you might use it for future campaigns.

Advertising inside our homes?

As crazy as it sounds, it may be a future outlet for marketers, and a revenue source for homeowners. David Gianatasio at Adfreak speculates that the success of “sponsored cities”, where ads support, and are plastered on all manner of local buidlings / property, in combination with the struggling economy will create a demand for ad supported homes. Would you agree to let ads invade your home for some money off the rent or free WiFi? In a way, we’re almost there already. Think of all the advertising that sneaks into your home anyway: telemarketers, internet-mobile-television ads - why not make them pay you for taking up mind-space? To explore Gianatasio's idea further please visit http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2009/03/advertising-is-everywhere-or-it-soon-will-be.html .

PS Thanks to psfk.com / Adfreak for the tip off

More sensory branding

Another great example of sensory branding, this time from Roche - the world's largest cancer-treating drug company - and McCann Erickson Portugal.

Breast cancer is the cancer with the highest incidence in Portugal. 4,500 new cases are detected annually and the death rate is one of the highest in Europe. The marketing challenge was to "create a simple, low-cost action that would raise awareness of the importance of self-examination".

The innovative solution was to distribute 50,000 stress balls with a stone inside, designed to simulate a lump. Each ball featured the tagline: "You don't see breast cancer. You feel it. Do the self-exam.", and was accompanied by a 'how to self-examine' leaflet.


The balls were distrubuted to women on the street, in the workplace, in hospitals and at theme-related events. And the results? A 22% increase in mammograms and a 28% increase in hospital visits.

Smoke and Mirrors and Rice Krispies

In a strange case of ‘now you don’t see it…now you do’ branded packets of cereal could soon be appearing in the kitchen of the Big Brother house in the UK as part of a plan from Endemol to insert product placement into catch-up content that is viewed online.

The super-indie has signed a deal with MirriAd, which specialises in digitally inserting CGI overlays into film to look like they were part of the original footage.

The technology will allow the indie to generate revenue by embedding branded props, signs, logos, videos or animations into the likes of Deal or No Deal or Coleen's Real Women when they appear on commercial catch-up content websites.

Product placement is banned in programmes produced for UK -television but there are no restrictions on embedding advertising in online content.

Can’t wait to see cupboards full of ‘pukka’ Baxters Soup in Jamie’s Kitchen or Catherine Morland munching on a ‘Sub of the Day’ in catch-up versions of ‘Northanger Abbey.’