Now this is also co-creation… The famous “I’m a Mac”-commercials remade by freelance copywriter Laurie McGuinness. Serious fun playing with the ‘other’ presumptions that are attached to Mac-users. Have a look and see for yourself.
The initiative of Dutch broadcaster BNN caused some stir. Not only within The Netherland, but also abroad: here (BBC), here (ABC) and here (France24) amongst others. Just do a Google-search on “Dutch Donor Show” and be astonished by the results (894.000)… In short: BNN said to air a show in which a very ill patient (kidney failure) would compete for a donor kidney. Afterwards the transplant would be arranged.
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In the movie above – made possible by Verizon in order to sell their broadband products – me, myself and I are the hero. Oh, and some aliens also… By uploading a simple portrait (made by cellphone, on the fly) I was able to star in a self-assembled movie. Picking storylines, scripts, props and speech snippets, the movie was made for me. When done, I received a link to watch the movie. A nice example of personalization. Not by name, but by face. And yes, I can use a hairdo! But don’t you like the car? I wonder if Aston Martin paid for this in-script sponsoring…
With the Internet as global, 24×7, connective medium around, pitches will never be the same. SitePoint – an Australian company – is offering business design-contests where talented (and would-be talents) can participate in contests for the design of, say, a website, a corporate logo, a complete stationary… The winner gets the job and gets paid. All the other participants get… Well, nothing? SitePoint is calling this form of ‘outsourcing’ crowdsourcing because of the huge amount of people who participate in these contests. Real talent will surface. The question is: will REAL talent participate. Everything has it’s price and when you’re a gifted designer, would you compete with thousands of not-so-gifted designers who will do the job for a fraction of the price you are working for? SitePoint is rather realistic about the quality however, hence this quote:
The Design Contests are not suitable for people who expect to walk away with the perfect design every time. Sure, you might get lucky, but often what happens is you come away with a good design that needs a few finishing touches.
While the number of awards for online activities is booming, the Webby Awards do take a special place in the crowd. Busy since 1996 and respected for their high standards in judging. Every Award is a brand in itself… This year the winners include the online shop of Nike Women and the ‘do-it-yourself’ E-Shop CafePress. It is nice to see that the juries and the public often disagree about who’s the winner in the (tremendous amount of) categories. But not in every category there is a different opinion: for the Philips Bodygroom campaign in the category Beauty & Cosmetics both were unanimous. In my opinion both public and jury where right here!
It is true that great inventions are in fact rather simple. And so is the GSM Doorbell. This is the kind of invention you could have imagined yourself. But you didn’t. And neither did I. Connecting your GSM to your frontdoor (bell and lock) is in itself so simple, though so practical. Imagine: you won an eBay-auction and the postman is delivering the package at home. But your are not there. The postman ring (twice?) and your doorbell connects with your GSM. You can speak to the postman, asking him to leave the package at the neighbour’s. Or ask him to come back tomorrow, when you are home. And this example is also truly practical: the kids are earlier home than you thought. (Or: your are stuck in a traffic jam and too late to be home in time). They simple ring the doorbell. You hear it’s your kids and you open the door from your GSM. Truly an invention that makes you wonder why it wasn’t there earlier. I mean: how long do we use frontdoors and cellphones?
Nice new idea to stretch the AXE-concept even more. Stickers to be placed at the well known emergency-exit signs we see everywhere. The idea is from Julie Bosteels (copy) and Ad van Ongeval (art) from Lowe in Belgium.
No risk, no gain. That’s what guerilla marketing (also) is about. On the website of specialist agency Interference Inc. we cannot (yet?) read about a recent campaign that went wrong: for Cartoon Network’s show ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force‘, the agency created a campaign that included ‘electronic advertisements’ in public places. In Boston one was mistaken for a bomb. Subway stations, part of the Charles River and a highway were closed for hours after dozens of the devices, which resembled Lite-Brite toys powered by batteries, were found in and around Boston.This was January 31st, 2006.
In the meantime, Turner Broadcasting (owner of Cartoon Network) and Interference Inc. offered to pay $2 million in restitution and other costs for the inconvenience and panic the stunt caused. Now, Jim Samples, President of Cartoon Network resigns due to the bad publicity the campaign caused. Guerilla marketing can indeed be of high impact, as Interference Inc. says on it’s website…
