Bridgestone on Stanley Cup Playoffs

For all the talk about TV audience declines TV hits its highest audiences during major sporting events and award shows. The Stanley Cup ice hockey playoffs in Canada is one of these major sporting events - some times this means you might see a great ad. Here is one of those ads that gets attention, arouses curiosity, and then ends with a brand mention that sticks - very memorable!

Great Presentation on Thinkbox.TV

Every now and then you come across a little gem on the Internet. Here is one from www.thinkbox.tv, the UK marketing body for a number of UK TV stations. The site is full of excellent ads, research, and cases. Click on the link below to watch their presentation, TV AND ONLINE:BETTER TOGETHER. It's full of excellent examples of how campaigns that couple TV and online media can benefit brands - some super examples, statistics, video clips of ads and recorded video responses from participants! What's the conclusion? TV and online creative need to visually connect, each media needs to play to its strengths, and when used together brand metrics increase and purchase interest too! This is no surprise and the results mirror research from North America - it's a MUST SEE due to the compelling presentation of facts and interesting examples and clips. Worth watching!

http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.1053

Creative video used to launch a book!

Here is a wonderful example of the creativity that oozes from the YouTube generation. Look at the video that was created to launch a marketing book! Louisa- you rock girl!

Creativity strikes again!

How could I resist linking to this wonderful animated short demo-film from one of the super new talented animation grads in Toronto. Exciting things ahead for this fellow!

Check out his demo to see the latest in creativity!

http://mcarnovale.blogspot.com/search/label/demo

UK - Creativity Strikes Again!

The UK seems to be a hotbed of creativity when it comes to the arts, whether it is in the field of music, film, or graphic arts in some form or other. Here we look at a viral video from the UK which cleverly uses the fact that viral videos allow viewers to watch the online version more than once, with just a click of a mouse. Nonetheless, most of us will watch a viral video just once, perhaps sending the link to a friend, or bookmarking it to share through social media. This viral video is different. It cleverly encourages us to watch it a second time - because it tells us we missed something. Very creative and memorable! What a smart way to get us to watch the video again, remember the message, and pass it along - as I am doing right now, pass it along!

How did they come up with this idea?! Watch this ad carefully and then watch it again looking for the elements they mention you missed. Thanks Ellen and Bob!



http://tinyurl.com/2zwhrf

Ronaldinho - Can't miss this ad!

I stopped Twittering, blogging, and watching TV when this TV commercial on SportsNet caught my eye. The music caught my attention, the amazing soccer skills of Ronaldinho kept me glued, and the ad made me curious enough the remember the brand- Nutrilite ... not that I believe this athlete owes it all the Nutrilite! Ronaldinho signed with Nutrilite in 2008 and supports their EVERY KICK COUNTS viral fundraising campaign that benefits children around the world. http://www.everykickcounts.com

War Child Canada Wins Bessie Award

This campaign gives me the chills and strikes a cord by getting attention without being too haunting. Unlike other PSA's I can watch this ad again and again and let the message sink in. War Child Canada creatively strikes a balance between shock value and relevant information that works. Their social media campaign scooped a Bessie Award yesterday for best online viral video.

This brilliant campaign uses viral videos to deliver a message that strikes a cord with viewers - no horrific images of child soldiers here, instead with a creative twist, we see typical Canadian parents and grandparents collecting weapons and raising funds to help children become child soldiers. This follows their equally brilliant campaign in 2008 where a Canadian summer children's camp is promoted as a fun place where children can learn the art of warfare.

These campaigns spread their messages through YouTube, Twitter, Blogs. and a PR campaign that prompted coverage through the mainstream press. Donations to war Child Canada in the 2009 effort increased by 38%.

Click below to see the campaign:

• Viral video - Help Child Soldiers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYbgWUcIojY
• Camp Okutta Integrated Video http://tinyurl.com/qef26p
• Slide Share information on the campaigns http://tinyurl.com/cd9tjt

Yes, I found it on Twitter! Trademark infringement and key word search.

How could I resist blogging about a great article I found on Twitter from Ad Age! Yes this is definitely one of the best magazines for keeping up-to-date with marketing developments. Even if you reside north of the border (yes in the great white north - Canada), many of the articles are relevant. This latest one on trademarks and search word advertising is a keeper. It talks to the perils of using a competitor's brand name as a key-word trigger in an online search word advertising campaign. You might ask why you would do this in the first place? Well, use your competitor's brand name to trigger your sponsored ad and then switch them over to your product with your ad - genius ... but is it legal? Read more by going to http://adage.com/ and searching for "Has the Law of Fair Use Caught Up with Keyword Litigation?" The article is fascinating and gives excellent examples - of course the answer is not simple. Alternatively, follow Ad Age on twitter at http://twitter.com/adage .

Heinz Web Design

When looking for an example of good web design I can never find one - but low and behold I stumbled upon this super design for Heinz while reading a white paper on Search Engine Optimization! Yes, those free white papers do work! So here it is http://www.heinzbaby.com/english/ - a clean, simple design with good sized tabs, self explanatory navigation buttons, well balanced graphics and easy to read content. The visual design is gorgeous with beautiful colours that draw the eye through the home page and into deeper content within the site. Finally the website even includes an offer front and centre to encourage engagement and stickiness. Well done Heinz ... and of course Non-Linear Creations. You can see their portfolio at http://www.nonlinearcreations.com/portfolio/ .

LinkedIn

LinkedIn - a great invention - a Facebook of sorts for professionals - social media for adults! But oh so annoying in many ways. First, take that landing page - how do you get rid of that HUGE section about email/classmates/colleagues? Try deleting it off your page - impossible! Customer service tells me I need 30 contacts for this to disappear! Oh my gosh - now I have an inferiority complex and I'm scrambling to add contacts from years gone by so my landing page seems less like an ad for Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail! Here's another point - most people that I know, even those with umpteen contacts on LinkedIn, do not know how to use it. So here are 2 super links courtesy of that social media giant - YouTube!

• What is LinkedIn? http://tinyurl.com/pmm6tw
• LinkedIn Job Search; http://tinyurl.com/rbpq5a ( - a must watch!)

If you are a recent grad, http://grads.linkedin.com/ from LinkedIn will serve you well!

Clio Awards

A bowling alley and bikini clad bowler used to advertise hair removal - a definate chuckle from Ogilvy and Mather Japan which earns them a 2009 Clio!



There are always some doozies such as the Crest Bulldozer ad, but one of my fav agencies Rethink again shows its outstanding creativty with their silver placement in the innovation category. Check it out - http://www.clioawards.com/ Any favourites?

Useful spam?

Actually it's got to be a first - a piece of useful spam! Usually it gets stopped by a wonderful contraption called Quaranitine that appears every few weeks in my email - but today it got through. Yes marketing genius from the people at Brunico using their email list to pass under the radar of Quarantine's spam barrier. The result is yes, I added yet another online newsletter subscription to my inbox with http://www.stimulantonline.ca/. It looks interesting and different - perhaps a fresher version of adforum.com (?) and it has that handy unsubscribe button at the bottom. Time will tell ...what do you think of this site?

Twitter

If you are not a Twitter user try signing up to get easy updates on information relevant to you! In a few clicks you can follow magazine websites such as Advertising Age and Marketing Magazine, or association websites such as the Canadian Marketing Association or the Association of Canadian Advertisers. Follow people that give you relevant updates - journalists are my favourite and they are often looking for story ideas and your input on live TV shows! People that do not know Twitter think it is about hearing when people eat lunch - there is a lot more to Twitter than this ... although it is also a super way to stay in touch with friends.

Twitter works on a business and personal level; 1-You can gather information from reputable Tweeters to keep up-to-date on the latest, 2- You can post information to your followers and become a source of information, and 3-You can build up a network of people with shared interests, whether this is professional or personal. http://twitter.com/