31 October 2009

Sweden's most viewed YouTube advertising clip of all time.



With nearly one million views on YouTube, 31 individual Facebook groups, 79,000 Google hits, attention from nearly all of the big Swedish media (and a group of foreign press, too) as well as a storm of thousands of comments on many different blogs and forums, one thing can't be denied: seldom has a Swedish advertising clip succeeded in getting this much buzz. Or stirred up so many different feelings. Some think it's horrible, while just as big a group is captivated by the ad and really appreciates it.

Happily, it appears that the campaign has really achieved results – sales have more than doubled, while in June alone, sales managed to triple. Thus Apoliva has risen right to the top of specific categories to become a new market leader.

Forsman & Bodenfors have brought home 3 of One Show's prestigious metal pens

Last weekend the American awards ceremony One Show Interactive took place. One Show's prestigious metal pens are a weighty prize both physically as well as in the industry. F&B received ten nominations and took home four bronze pens.

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AMF Pension - MMS campaign
> microsite



All advertising from AMF Pension focuses on the idea that the future is bright and there are reasons to look forward to it. F&B wanted to make the question of a pension important for younger people by getting them to think about the future.

This campaign employed phone messaging and a web-based service where visitors could have their sent-in photos "aged" so that the sender looked 70 years old. The campaign included film spots (with Peter Siepen and Charlotte Perelli), outdoor boards, Internet banners and a web site.

During October 322,946 photos were submitted by visitors that wanted to see how they might look as 70-year-old retirees. The goal was 50,000 visitors.

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Wasabröd - Wasa Sandwich
> microsite



F&B created a web campaign for Wasa so that people could decide for themselves exactly how Wasa Sandwich should taste as well as how the packaging should look. Wasa gave F&B a number of ingredients they could imagine using, and then it was up to the people to decide.

On the site it was also possible for people to design the packaging for their own Sandwich, and then give their creations a name. Of course people could also vote for the entries they liked best. A jury will then decide which is the winning taste/design combination. That Sandwich will then be produced and delivered to stores. For real!

Go ahead and try to make your own Sandwich and don’t miss our great chef who will put it all together for you at the end.

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IKEA - Let's dance
> microsite
> Hockeystick (site takeover) / IMU banner / leaderboard banner / widget



This is a campaign to promote IKEA's wardrobe solutions. IKEA wanted to show their huge range of styles and all the smart features on the inside.

All the movements on the web site are controlled by sound and music.
So change songs, upload your own music, play on your keyboard or sing into the microphone.

When furniture becomes art. A domestic symphony.



IKEA furniture can transform into works of art... discover this "domestic symphony" that presents the large choice and flexibility of the designs of the Swedish company in a very original fashion.

Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Client: IKEA
Copywriter: Fredrik Jansson
Art Director: Anna Kask
Producer: Charlotte Most
Production Company: Jesper Kouthoofd
Director: Jesper Kouthoofd
Assistant Director: Emil Kullanger
Director of Photography: Emil Larsson
Stop Motion: Kim Keukeleire
Stop Motion: Tobias Fouracre
Stop Motion: Dana Behrman
Stop Motion: Kevin Walton
Producer: Anna Bergstrom
Post Production: The Chimney Pot

via Vanksen

WANTED: your ikea hacks. Whatever they may be - a funked up klippan sofa, an ingenious idea for your pax wardrobe, a creative twist on your kitchen countertop, or even advice on how to finally stop forby stools from wobbling, share your ikea hacks.

iCar Remote is a mobile remote control for your car


iCar Remote is an iPhone remote control for your car - David Blaine Street Magic
Control windows and even drive it! Awesome.

28 October 2009

Ever seen a flying flyer?


via Benoit Menetret

This is viral - 100 greatest internet videos in 3 minutes


via crossthebreeze

The sound of social music is now rocking the world.



The sound of the Orange Rockcorps
Innovative social music experience that allows people to create remixes of well known tracks using their voice and sounds produced by themselves and their friends.

Orange and RockCorps come together to help you to give something back to your community. Take part in Orange RockCorps this year and help transform your local area.

Orange believes in the power of people and that's why they've partnered with RockCorps to launch Orange RockCorps in the UK, making it possible for thousands of us to give something back to our local community.

09 October 2009

Show us where you work - inside the advertising agency

CR is devoting the whole of the November issue of CR to looking at the creative workplace and on life in the studio or agency...

Inside Duval Guillaume - the office edition
# this image was floating on thin air somewhere on our servers, I don't know who's magnificent shot it was. The owner can claim this image in the comment section.

CR wants to find out about where you work, what your studio or creative workplace is like, even what the view outside your window is. So if you're a designer in a studio, or you work in an agency, if you're a creative working on your own, we want to see what your space looks like.

I work at Duval Guillaume, but you knew that of course. Duval Guillaume is based in an old factory. The building was completely renewed by Jo Crepain, a respected Belgian architect who unfortunately passed away in december (2008).

Inside Duval Guillaume - the office edition
# this image was floating on thin air somewhere on our servers, I don't know who's magnificent shot it was. The owner can claim this image in the comment section.

The postal adress of the agency is Antwerpselaan 40, B-1000 Brussels most people enter the building via the front porch on that adres. But that entry is actually the backdoor. Jo integrated the large manor house on the back of the factory when the factory got re-opened. Because the old large manor house houses the reception desk, visitors get a warm welcome. A cosy but chique Jori treats waiting visitors well.

When visitors actually enter the working ground of the agency going passed the receptiondesk they are confronted with the enormous majesty of open space. Most people intuitively look up to see the grandeur of a huge glass bricks roof symbolising the importance of a Team. The roof would collapse if ever 1 brick would break.

@Pietel has a very nice set of the DuvalGuillaume atmosphere

Design, designer, designst

Undeniably the nicest guy in the advertising business

Stijn loves cows and horses. Spends his freetime on a farm. Doesn't drink. Never goes out. In short, your typical creative internet guy. Stijn Pauwels was the founder and Creative Director of Milk&Cookies, made websites for the rich and/or famous (Diesel, Prada, MTV, dEUS, La Fille d'O,...) and is leading the interactive design department @famousbrussels

When I started my career as an intern at Milk&Cookies I could barely find most of the tools in Photoshop let alone know how to build a website. Working on the new website of Culture Club got my dragged down the whole interactive design thingy with Stijn leading the way. He's undeniably the nicest guy in the advertising business.

The ugliest buidling in Belgium is going down down down down!

Nominate the ugliest building in Belgium on www.hetlelijkstegebouw.be.

Dear Belgium, tear down this building!

There's an abundance of awardshows for beautiful new buildings and modern architecture. Tomorrow Belgian architects celebrate the Day of Architecture and to honour that Jan Stallaert will professionally tear down Belgium's ugliest building.

The ugliest country of the world
40 years ago Renaat Braem described Belgium as 'a stitched plaid of madness' in his manifesto "the ugliest country of the world" and called the Belgian Order of Architects to join a movement against "the proliferation of architectural dullness"

From october 10 till november 6, 2009 every Belgian can submit a picture of a building he or she would like to tear down.

Ugly buildings make a large portion of the Belgian population truly unhappy.
According to philosopher Alain de Botton one of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kind of walls, chairs, buildings and streets we’re surrounded by. Alain de Botton wrote a book: The architecture of happiness.

Tear down to start again! May the ugliest brick win!

Ackward and unforeseen circumstances are being reported to Belgian drivers

Badmintonning vikings reported near the E19 from Antwerp to Brussels.
Tuesdaymorning Belgian drivers, travelling from Antwerp to Brussels, stumbled upon two Vikings playing badminton on the side of the road.

Touring Mobilis' additional GPS functionalities offer drivers extensive updates so they can 'really' know everything about what happens on the Belgian roads. Belgian drivers can thus avoid, or be prepared, to literally all unforseen circumstances.



Tuesdaymorning, around 16h, all nationwide radiostations broadcasted:
"attention all drivers, the police warns drivers on the E40 from Brussels to Ostend for a bag of french fries, please keep your distance and switch lanes."

$5 Million up for Grabs!

Please welcome the new Crash The Superbowl campaign

Vimeo teamed up with Doritos this year for the Crash The Super Bowl contest! It's simple: make a commercial that ranks in the top three on the USA Today Ad Meter and you win. Check out great tips and tricks from last year's winners, the Herbert Brothers. Visit the site for details.

Belgium's ad shops show world-class potential

A major haul of Cannes Lion awards reflects the growing international respect for Belgium's ad agencies.
By Mark Tungate. 2 October 2009 — Campaign

A major haul of Cannes Lion awards reflects the growing international respect for Belgium's ad agencies.

Many Belgian advertising professionals remember a night just over a decade ago when they stood around at a Cannes beach party asking themselves: 'How the hell do we win a Lion?'

'In those days, we used to celebrate just because a few Belgian ads had made it on to the shortlist,' one of them recalls.

Those days' are apparently over. At this year's Cannes festival, Belgian agencies scooped no less than 28 Lions, 11 of them gold. The haul made Belgium the biggest European winner after the UK. And what's more, the biggest prizes went to nimble, quirky little agencies with names such as Boondoggle and Happiness.

So what's behind this new wave of Belgian creativity? You only have to dig a little to unearth one source: Duval Guillaume.

With few exceptions, the founders of the agencies that are winning prizes have either passed through or been inspired by this pioneering Belgian shop.

'Duval Guillaume was the agency that showed us we could do things differently,' Stef Selfslagh, the creative director of Boondoggle, says 'We were stuck in a typically Belgian mindset of self-deprecation. We either tried to imitate work being done in other markets, or just complained that we couldn't be creative because we didn't have the budget.'

Guillaume Van der Stighelen, who founded his agency in 1996 with Andre Duval, confirms that the pair set out to change the game. 'We were in a perfect position to be creative, because we had no choice. We were a small agency, in a tiny market, working in three languages, with no money. And we were tired of people complaining about the lack of budget and the conservative Belgian approach.'

In fact, Van der Stighelen felt that Belgians had an aptitude for creativity on a shoestring. 'We're famous for making comicbooks. What are they if not Hollywood on a budget?'

He was also inspired by Belgium's fashion industry. Designers such as Martin Margiela and Dries van Noten had emerged from Antwerp to take the fashion world by storm. 'They proved that Belgians could not only be creative, but could shake up an entire industry.'

Joeri Van den Broeck, a creative director at the Belgian agency Famous (who was on the Film jury at Cannes) confirms that the success of Duval Guillaume encouraged a new school of thinking. But he identifies what he thinks is another important factor.

'Partly because of a lack of budget, Belgian creatives very rapidly embraced the possibilities of the internet. Combined with a simple, humorous approach, that has suddenly put our kind of advertising at the forefront of the industry. It parallels the way the business is going.'

Selfslagh agrees. 'It's no surprise we've come into our own in the middle of a recession, because we've always had to work in tough circumstances.'

This has frequently meant turning to cheaper, non-traditional media, he says. 'If you analyse our wins in Cannes, they're largely in areas growing in importance, such as digital and direct. Boondoggle started out as a digital agency before it decided to embrace all media platforms, because now they're merging.'

Boondoggle's media gold Lion, for best use of media, went to the 'banner concert' for Axion youth banking. The agency built a box the same shape as a banner ad and recorded budding rock bands playing live in the cramped space. The banner-shaped videos were placed on popular sites. Visitors who watched the performances could click through to see other concerts. They could then vote for their favourite band. The campaign connected the bank with youth and gave a bunch of young musicians a boost.

'It was a simple, amusing idea that had a slightly surrealistic feel to it,' Selfslagh says. 'In other words, it was very Belgian.'

Another small agency, the 30-strong Happiness, founded four years ago, won two media golds with its 'car dance party' for Toyota's Aygo Music runabout. The campaign featured two Russian 'car dancers' called Boris and Uri, who showed viewers how to dance in their cars via TV, viral, banners and posters. Consumers were invited to post their own 'car dance' videos on YouTube. The best competitors would be invited to an outdoor event where they stood a chance of winning the car.

The campaign saw 2,900 videos posted in the first month. The clips attracted 793,000 unique views in total. 'Car dance party' became a summer hit with its audience and Toyota reached its sales target.

Karen Corrigan, the Happiness chief executive, says there's no great secret to Belgium's recent success. 'It's an understanding of media, a no-nonsense approach and the ability to surprise people. To a certain extent, we're not making advertising. We're not into storytelling. I don't think you need a narrative - you just have to give people a good moment.'

Corrigan adds that Happiness is a great believer in user-generated content. 'Everyone is media these days, so you have to find ways of connecting with people.'

She employs in-house trendspotters to monitor popular culture on- and offline in search of inspiration. 'It's no use waiting for other people to tell you what's going on. You need to catch trends early and get involved in them. I'm always looking for people who have that kind of vision.'

Happiness has developed other smart ways of working, too. As well as the Belgian agency, it has established a small production company called Bliss Interactive in Vietnam. 'Bliss is one step further than Happiness,' Corrigan jokes. But the move gives her access to seriously talented - and economical - producers of content.

Given its position at the centre of Europe, Belgium suffers from a surprising lack of international clients. But could it be about to have an Amsterdam moment?

'It certainly deserves one,' Van der Stighelen says. 'Belgium used to be known for making the most boring advertising in Europe, but that's certainly no longer the case. And it's quite possible that these awards will attract creative talent from other markets, giving Belgian an even more international feel.'

He adds that clients should not assume Belgian agencies are now biased towards digital. 'If we think a client would get better results through a radio or a newspaper ad, we will help them. But the point is that we're not locked into any one solution.'

Corrigan believes that the recession could give Belgium a valuable window of opportunity. 'Tell them all to come here,' she says, referring to clients. 'We can do it faster, cheaper and better.'

Creative juice will build your traffic - introduction

Yesterday I gave a lecture to a bunch of Postgraduate students "Managment Interactive Communications (MICa), talking about Site Promotion, Traffic Building & Visitor Mgmt. I'll post parts of that course under: Creative juice will build your traffic.

KHM

There is a strong demand for marketers who can combine marketing acumen with analytics and turn insights into leading strategic marketing communication campaigns. This involves capturing and harnessing vast amounts of information to provide insights about how to market to different customers with targeted one-to-one communications.

With "mica" the KHM has created a postgraduate platform for students who are passionate about online media marketing, information-technology and interactive communication techniques.

This postgraduate course has an emphasis on customer relationship communication strategies, loyalty programs and management of direct and interactive communications campaigns.

The Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen -"Mechelen University College"- is a professional oriented higher education institution offering a wide range of bachelor degree programmes and is actively involved in research and consultancy. The Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen has about 4400 students and offers 16 professional bachelor degree programmes (anno 2009).

The KHMechelen creates modern learning environments for its students in which they can develop their talents under supervision.

07 October 2009

Why bimbo's, beaches and boobies always hit some viral charts

Why? ... euh Lord knows.
No flow, evil juice, lame performance, ... yet 400.000+ views. Gotta love the audience!

03 October 2009

The Man Who Walked Around The World - Johnnie Walker, The True Story



High production values recap the true story of Johnnie Walker in 6 minutes. How do you sell a brand’s story? The answer here was the simple, straightforward truth and it resonated. It is mind boggling that it could be done in a single shot.

Entertain with high production values and vision. Be truthful. Inform.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, not Chicago

Chicago Reacts to Not Getting the 2016 Olympics

The Olympics were awarded to a South American city for the first time when the International Olympic Committee on Friday voted for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Games.

Rio de Janeiro beat Madrid in the final round of voting, 66-32. The committee delivered an unexpectedly early knockout blow to Chicago, which was eliminated in the first round. Tokyo was gone in the second.

Jacques Rogge, the president of the committee, made the announcement, sending crowds in Rio de Janeiro into celebration.

The announcement was shown live on Rio’s Copacabana beach, where tens of thousands of people had begun the party early in front of a main stage flanked by screens.

As the envelope was opened in Copenhagen, a loud scream rose from the crowd. Confetti exploded from the stage, as the people, dressed in shorts and bikinis, jumped to samba music and waved Brazilian flags and balloons of green and yellow, the national colors.

The scene was different earlier in Chicago as throngs in Daley Plaza gasped in disappointment when Rogge announced that Chicago was out.