Genuine creativity that’s built from passion is nothing short of inspiring. It jolts ... it gets noticed... and it gets remembered. I hadn’t seen much of this genuine form of creativity recently, until 3 seemingly unrelated things popped up. A simple blog by a 17 year old with a passion for food, a jaw-dropping TEDPRIZE winning art project that started in France, and a stunning ad for Newfoundland and Labrador. What do these things all have in common? They share that genuine creative passion that makes things happen.
Living Lou blog – Grassroots quirkiness and a simple passion for food and life has jolted this blog into the top 150 blog-tracker rankings in only 10 months. Bloggers could learn a lot from this 17 year old teenager who casually comments on her life between stirring soups and making meatless Monday dishes! You’ll laugh out loud at the musings of a teenage girl that can really write and cook. It’s so authentic that you’ll be back to check on the latest! Her random Tweets – glimpses into the teen world – will have you smiling. Check it out at http://livinglou.blogspot.com/.
TEDPRIZE winner JR - This world art project stunned me when I casually found it yesterday. For those unfamiliar with TED, it’s a must bookmark site with the most interesting presentations you’ll ever see. TED stands for TECHNOLOGY, ENTERTAINMENT, DESIGN and is a small non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading. It prides itself on providing “Riveting talks from remarkable people, free to the world,” and you can find its videos featured at http://www.ted.com/. This TEDPRIZE wish winner is JR, a street artist from France who brashly pastes his oversized photographic images on the world’s streets, steps, and building as a voice for the human spirit. His project, http://insideoutproject.net/ has become as voice for those that cannot be heard. Watch this summary video of his work and listen to his captivating presentation - simply inspiring.
Newfoundland and Labrador – I’ve never been to this beautiful place, and never really wanted to, until I recently saw these stunning TV spots. Like a piece of art, these rare types of ads actually make you want to see them again. Colours, scenery, landscapes, and a sense of serenity and simplicity create a sense of curiosity with one ad building up to a remarkable tag-line, “When you’re always a half-hour ahead, you never feel the need to catch up.” Created by local agency TARGET, these creative masterpieces should win awards and will certainly build tourism. (By the way, whenever I see a new spot for Newfoundland and Labrador I wait until the end to see the name of the person to call for more information!) See three of their recently aired spots below:
Well finally something that breaks through the mundane online clutter - welcome to Toyota USA's Prius Goes Plural campaign. It's fun, catchy and simple enough to engage. The visuals and music, rather Sesame street-like in approach, get attention and the ditty might just stay in your head most of the day! No doubt this campaign will have people submitting their suggestions on the plural for a Prius. What do you think? Chime in below with your comments and plural suggestions and don't forget to add you suggestions to the the Toyota website at http://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/prius-family/
At this time of year when many are finding good cheer in the kitchen - baking or eating – how fitting to see those wonderful TV ads from Robin Hood flour. They get our attention and make us smile with the simple chatter of two young children in the kitchen - a little sibling rivalry and love all rolled into one. The featured ad this year is MAKING MEMORIES, where we see two animated children, idly chatting in the kitchen as children do about nothing in particular. The little one, Andrew, makes you want to hug away his fears, while his older sister, Elizabeth manages to do so with ease in a way only a sibling could – so subtle and endearing, managing to wrap Robin Hood flour into the warmth of the moment. Let’s hope Robin Hood keeps this campaign going and perhaps adds another episode in the future!
So what is it about those Robin Hood Flour ads and this campaign that gets our attention and engages us in this magical world of baking? First the ads are different and stand out in the barrage of other ads that we ignore. The adorable animated children that surfaced in 2005 are becoming almost a tradition in themselves – an animated short-film-of-sorts that gives us a glimpse into the lives of these two children, Elizabeth and Andrew. Watch and enjoy as Robin Hood flour helps create memories for these kids while also reminding us of days gone by. For detailed information on how the campaign was created by Redrover Animation Studios Ltd. for Smuckers Canada, (owners of Robin Hood flour) and their advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Canada, click here, http://www.richardrosenman.com/project/?cid=72 , and to read about Robin Hood flour’s marketing approaches go to this previous post http://mktgcliks.blogspot.com/2009/11/robin-hood-creates-baking-experiences.html.
Now that the Gap redesign logo fiasco has died down and the iconic clothing retailer is getting on with what it does best - selling classic, traditional and well-styled, American clothing, let’s take a look back at the logo crisis and give Kudos to the Gap for pausing to see what all the fuss was really all about - messing with the identity of a brand steeped in classic Americana - a little dodgy to say the least. Take note, logo changes of iconic brands need to be subtle, almost imperceptible to the public, a mere nudging in the right direction to reflect current times. You can subtly revitalize a brand without taking away its heritage with a radical redesign.
So what were they thinking at the Gap? The purpose of redesigning the Gap logo was to capture a more modern brand image in line with store redesigns and new product introductions. The Gap wanted to reflect a more modern brand to consumers and turned to the logo as a way to communicate. The learning - be cautious when changing the insignia of iconic brands. Consumers are often emotionally attached to these brands, and their logos can pull at special memories such as a first pair of jeans, teenage friends, or that special shopping trip with a parent.
The background - on Monday October 5, 2010, the Gap announced a logo change at www.Gap.com, resulting in negative articles on Advertising Age and the Consumerist. This fuelled a flurry of negative reactions to the redesign in the mainstream media, on blogs, and on social networks such as Facebook with parody accounts surfacing on Twitter with @gaplogo, @oldgaplogo, and @craplogo. A saucy new website, http://www.craplogo.me/ mocked the new logo with an online logo-creator where visitors could instantly create spoofs of the new Gap logo.
A week later, rethinking its approach and responding to consumer backlash, the Gap announced its decision to revert to its old logo. The impetus; passionate comments supporting the old logo, over 1500 Facebook comments on the Gap page, and a flurry of negative comments on Twitter and in the mainstream media.
For a second year in a row Cadbury Canada is supporting kids in Ghana with a purpose in mind - sending 5,000 bicycles to Ghana so children can to go to school, do their chores, and hang on to their life’s dreams - a well suited cause for a company that sells chocolates and candies to children in the industrialized world, using cocoa as an ingredient farmed in Ghana – well done!
Cadbury is keeping their 2010 Bicycle Factory campaign open until November 14, 2010 so UPC codes from candy and chocolate wrappers can still be added - each UPC code represents a single part of a bicycle - each bike in the campaign needing 100 parts or UPC entries. In 2010, this campaign has already built 3799 bikes and is striving to reach its goal of 5,000 bikes by mid November. Real-time monitoring captures the campaign’s progress on its microsite of a virtual factory at www.thebicyclefactory.ca
Last November 2009, in its first year, the Bicycle Factory successfully delivered 5,000 bicycles to more than 200 communities in Ghana. Cadbury saw the Bicycle Factory program as an opportunity to help under privileged children, particularly those in Ghana, a region close to Cadbury’s heart due to its involvement in the country for over 100 years.
The Bicycle Factory is marketed in Canada with TV spots, Facebook pages (http://www.facebook.com/BicycleFactory), and a Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/bicyclefactory), all pointing consumers to an online microsite at www.thebicyclefactory.ca to enter UPC codes from Cadbury products such as Caramilk, Dairy Milk, Trident gum, Dentyne gum, Maynards Wine Gums, and Sour Patch Kids to help build bicycles. Each UPC adds an additional part to a bicycle destined for Ghana.
An impactful TV spot with its memorable music track from the Vapor Music Group kicked off the campaign in 2009 showing the multiple uses of a bicycle in Ghana - from a delivery truck, to an ambulance, to a school bus, bicycles in Ghana are shown to be more than a mode of transportation. Bicycles are an important part of life and can make a significant difference. Bicycles in Ghana give children access to education and sustenance, as well as economic and social opportunities. According to the United Nations, children often have to walk over two hours per day to attend school in Africa with 40 million children not attending due to the access issue.
In 2010 Cadbury brought additional attention to its Bicycle Factory’s efforts. Cadbury’s agency for the project, the Hive partnered with Frantic Films and JUJU films to create a 45 minute documentary Wheels of Change which aired on CTV in early October with 20,000 copies of the DVD distributed to the Free the Children's We Day event which challenges schools in Canada to make a difference at home and abroad. The documentary follows the lives of three children in Ghana who received the bicycles, using a lens to document how the program is making a difference.
As for success, in its first year the Bicycle Factory’s microsite received over 400,000 on-line entries which helped deliver 5,000 bicycles to Ghana. To date its Facebook page has over 1986 likes, CTV may be airing the documentary again in 2011, and Cadbury is on track for meeting its target of delivering 5,000 bikes in 2010. Cadbury Canada plans to continue its Bicycle Factory program in 2011 and is encouraging its sister companies in the UK and Australia to become involved. We wish you well!
Below you can click on links to the impactful Bicycle Factory TV spot, and a teaser showing the 2009 delivery of the bicycles in Ghana , and a trailer to the TV documentary Wheels of Change. Be sure to follow this program’s success by subscribing to its YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBicycleFactory
On the subject of creativity - here is a little something sent to me by a creative individual currently residing in Australia. Yes the Internet allows the word, images, and video to spread rapidly throughout the world. Since August 25 when this TIPP-EX video, A Hunter Shoots a Bear was uploaded to YouTube it has garnered over 11 million views in over 2 months (updated October 21, 2010), boosted by its creativity which engages audiences and provides a forum for interaction.
It is rather unusual to have the protagonist in a YouTube video reach outside the video in a manner that totally relates to the product being marketed. In another creative twist the viewer is then encouraged to interact with the TIPP-EX video itself, repeatedly resulting in comical exchanges. Although many find this A Hunter Shoots a Bear YouTube video intrusive, creative, and memorable, others have commented that this approach could be improved. This is noted by Jonathan Ginburg in his blog post that questions whether the TIPP-EX branding falls short in this video. His blog post, How Engagement Can Fall Short, http://bit.ly/ceTdA provides some suggestions for improvement. Read his blog post and take a look at the video itself by clicking on the links below to see what you think - be sure to interact with the TIPP-EX video to benefit from the full extent of its creativity.
As we all watch the World Cup and enjoy the skillful teams and players from around the world, transit riders in San Paolo Brazil are also enjoying the creativity of Coca-Cola with its interactive electronic transit ad which was placed in mid May in two subway stations with over 270,000 riders per day. Passersby of all ages marvelled at the elongated eye-level billboard with images of fans within the billboard doing the wave to show excitement for the beautiful game. People took photos, video footage, and made gestures at the billboard to see its reaction. The result - considerable buzz in Brazil and around the world for Coca-Cola ,a major sponsor of the World Cup! Click below to see the billboard of the beautiful game in action!
After a year- long battle with United Airlines and the release of the now infamous United Breaks Guitars viral video, Dave Carroll has released his third and final song in the trilogy, as promised to United Airlines in response to their poor customer service and refusal to compensate him for breaking his guitar. United Breaks Guitars first made the rounds of the Internet last summer, boosted by the catchy tune and humorous video which popped-up on news programs around the world. Companies beware, social media works and United Breaks Guitars is a prime example.
The first song, released July 6, 2009, has received over 8 million views on YouTube over the past 8 months, with over 25 thousand comments. The second song, uploaded on August 17,2009 is reaching 1 million views, with the third song, just released on March 1, 2010, already enjoying over 64 thousand hits to date – and all for the cost $200 for the first video and about $600 for each of the remaining two! Of course, this pales in comparison to the millions of impressions generated by the songs’ exposure on TV stations such as CBC, CTV, BBC, and CNN ... just to name a few - not to mention a recent interview on THE VIEW.
Just when we were tiring of those cute animals in the Telus campaigns, their ad agency, Taxi, rose to the occasion and creatively took it up a level using humour and hippos to create the unexpected to get attention. Their new Hippo campaign, launched in early March, features two hippos, Ghost and Polita - a follow-up to their recent Hippo ad from the Telus holiday season campaign. Hazina the hippopotamus first appeared in a DDB created spot for Telus in a 2005 holiday ad campaign in Western Canada that used the 1953 "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas," song.
A little background – Telus first began their animal-focused ad campaign in 1999 with an eye-catching red-eyed-bright-green tree frog jumping out of a jar. This campaign still continues today using a consistently simple approach of a white background as the backdrop to a cute animals and the slogan, “The future is friendly.” TV spots use popular songs as memorable center-pieces of the ads, giving them stopping-power that gets attention.
The March 2010 Telus Hippo campaign features two humorous spots that will have you chuckling to their bold combination of music and unusual images. A large and awkward hippo portrays the Telus network as fast, nimble and extensive. The first humorous spot spoofs the hare and the tortoise fable, replacing the tortoise with a hippopotamus to showcase the network’s large size, also using a cute bunny rather than a hare! It uses the music “Speedy Gonzales,” by Pat Boone to ad a humorous touch and get attention. The second spot focuses on two hippos swimming in a water hole to the light-hearted tune "Splish Splash" by Mina Mazzini and uses clever editing to reveal the hippos are actually swimming in the face of a cell phone. The Telus spots use repurposed footage from the original 2005 Christmas spot and new scenes that include the new hippos-stars who are the brother and mother of the original Hazina who lives in a zoo is British Columbia. For all the animal lovers, Telus donates money to the Zoo for the use of the animals in their commercials and donated $10 thousand dollars for each of the first two spots.
Below you can see the two latest Hippo ads from Telus as well as their repurposed 2005 spot for 2009 – enjoy the hippos and humour!
A number of people have asked for advice on how to find an entry level job in marketing. There is no magic formula, but there are a number of important elements that will help you find that entry level job. Here is a checklist of things you need to do:
Create a dynamite resume
Create a business card
Write an interesting cover letter
Create a strong profile on LinkedIn
Develop a network of your peers
Network with business professionals
Bookmark relevant job sites and check LinkedIn for job postings
Sign up to your schools' career centre job alert list
Resumes Resumes - These are important calling cards for finding that entry level marketing job. Resumes are difficult to write so be prepared to edit your draft numerous times until it is a vibrant reflection of you. Your starting point is to make a list of things you have accomplished in your life. Group these accomplishments into three categories - (1) jobs, (2) projects completed in post-secondary marketing courses, and (3) your personal life. This list should not be a laundry list of job titles but instead highlight things you achieved in a job such as meeting sales targets, winning an award, or dealing with difficult customers etc. Using tangible marketing-related projects as examples of educational accomplishments will give your resume some substance and create interest in your achievements.
An example of a resume format that you may want to consider can be found at the following link - Resume Format. You will notice that this format includes a profile and a skills area at the top of the resume -remember people are busy and a solid profile and skills area will allow a reader to quickly determine whether you qualify for the entry level marketing job to which you applied. This profile and skills area should also be modified to meet the specific requirements of job postings. Resumes-applications will often be electronically scanned for keywords, so you can include the key words for the job posting and marketing skills in this area as well as throughout the relevant sections of your resume. Business Cards - Create a double-sided business card that has your contact information on the front - including a LinkedIn URL, with a list of your main marketing-related skills on the reverse. Your LinkedIn profile URL is in the settings area of your account, under public profile. Cover Letters - These should be short and be tailored to the job posting. An excellent resource for writing cover letters and getting a job in Canada is the book Landing a Job for Canadianswhich is part of the For Dummies series.
Networking & Websites Creating a network is an invaluable tool that can keep you informed on entry level marketing jobs that may not be posted. Do not hesitate to reach out to people in your network to help find that entry level job - people will help if they can. You can expand your network by volunteering and /or attending networking events in the marketing industry. These events are often run by marketing associations. The Toronto chapter of the American Marketing Associations has a number of networking events which students can attend at a reasonable price of about $20. Check this site frequently, http://www.ama-toronto.com/Events.html, and scroll down to see the reasonably priced events.
Attending guest speaker sessions at your educational institution is a MUST - networking with the speakers from the marketing field can sometimes help open doors that will lead to that entry level marketing job. Be sure to add your contacts to your LinkedIn profile.
Websites - Once your resume and cover letter are completed, register on the main job sites such as Workopolis and Monster for the entry level marketing positions that appeal to you. LinkedIn has host of job postings - review the following video to learn how to use LinkedIn to find a job LinkedIn for job seekers and review their Grad Guide. Please note, sales positions will provide you with relevant work experience which is very positively viewed by the marketing industry and can often be a way of getting into the marketing field. The following marketing-related websites have career/job areas and should be checked regularly for job postings that may interest you:
A job website that services graduating students and includes a number of entry level marketing jobs is http://www.talentegg.ca/ . Good luck, be patient, and persevere.
For those who had seen the Critic-Cal Short Attention Span viral video, it was no surprise that this campaign walked off with an award for Best Branded Entertainment at the 2009 Canadian New Media Awards earlier this month.
Doug agency created a fictitious character, Critic-Cal, as a rapper -film-critic with a short attention span to humorously engage young audiences and encourage them to attend the short film festival which runs mid June in Toronto. As part of this campaign Critic-Cal created a music video about the pitfalls of full length Hollywood movies This viral video ran together with a social media build which saw profiles on Facebook and Twitter. Traditional media also ran to complete this campaign for the Canadian Film Center's Worldwide Short Film Festival.
Words cannot do this campaign justice, so watch below and marvel at the creativity that was used to pull this campaign together and read about the details of the campaign that made it a success.
Many people interested in public relations have been following the UNITED BREAKS GUITARS story which first unfolded four months ago when Dave Carroll, a solo singer-song- and member of the then relatively unknown group, Sons of Maxwell, uploaded his song UNITED BREAKS GUITARS to YouTube, describing his on-going, year-long saga with United Airlines which refused to compensate him for the $1,200 damage it inflicted on his Taylor guitar worth $3,200, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo. The song, UNITED BREAKS GUITARS, instantly garnered attention on YouTube, going viral on the Internet to the tune of over 6 million views between July 6th 2009 when it was first uploaded, until today November 13, 2009, where it still inflicts negative publicity on United Airlines who have done very little to deflect this negative publicity.
News coverage of UNITED BREAKS GUITARS was extensive following Dave Carroll’s video-upload to YouTube. The story was covered around the world by media giants such as CNN, BBC, and the CBC, by influential Internet blogs such as the Huffington Post and Mashable, and by reputable newspapers and magazines such as the New York Times and Rolling Stone Magazine. The coverage slowly died down after a few weeks, increasing yet again with the upload to YouTube of the second song in the trilogy of UNITED BREAKS GUITARS that was promised by Dave Carroll to his supporters, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg.
Since then, while YouTube views of UNITED BREAKS GUITARS continue to climb, the first song having reached over 6 million views, publicity has changed direction, moving into customer service speaking engagements. Dave Carroll has appeared at a number of events including Washington’s congressional hearings on passenger rights. One of his latest engagements was at a Customer Service and Social Networking conference in Colorado Springs where ironically, traveling yet again on United Airlines, his luggage was lost, taking an unfortunate detour via Calgary and Dallas-Fort Worth before it was found and re-routed to its correct destination. Once again, negative publicity swirled around United Airlines and YouTube views of the UNITED BREAKS GUITARS songs climbed to reach over 6 million views.
All in all, these episodes have catapulted Dave Carroll’s music to popularity. His websites have increased from 40-50 hits per week to over 50,000 after the first few weeks of the upload, to over 250,000 during the height of his publicity. Sales of his music have consequently increased from 1-2 songs per day to hundreds of songs per week with UNITED BREAKS GUITARS reaching popularity on iTunes in Canada and the UK during the summer months. Dave Carroll even starred in a recent TV commercial supporting local Canadian TV stations in their David and Goliath battle against giant cable companies, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKLS6sNKRGU.
Robin Hood flour is one of those iconic Canadian brands associated with caring family traditions and old fashioned goodness. Picture a scene of a young child baking with its mother, smiles all around, and there you have it, the Robin Hood flour brand and all that it represents, even 100 years after it first hatched on the Canadian Landscape in 1909 in Saskatchewan. The Robin Hood flour brand of the 21st century has managed to capture its heritage and old-fashioned goodness by creating contemporary baking experiences that help people bake with ease and confidence. They have crafted a website at http://www.robinhood.ca/ that would be splattered with batter from frequent use if it was hard-cover, and its most recent venture lies in the creation of pop-up stores, BAKE BATTER & ROLL, that help create baking experiences for the 21st century consumer. Visitors to these stores can decorate cookies and cupcakes to their hearts’ desire, bake the goodies at the Toronto location, and call on helpful assistants who may be needed to help create that memorable baking experience.
Robin Hood flour has its origins in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan where its flour mill dotted the Prairie landscape and from where many of its first employees originated. There it created that top quality flour which is recognized by Canadians by its deep rich yellow bag with the Robin Hood archer, and remembered for helping to create traditional baking experiences. Until recent decades, Robin Hood employees that could trace their careers back to those Prairie origins were fondly referred to by others as the Moose Jaw Mafia, a tight knit group of loyal people who helped nurture this iconic Canadian brand into what it is today. Not long ago, those long serving Robin Hood employees could nostalgically recollect the times during the war when residents of Atlantic Canada would collect the white Robin Hood woven flour bags, sold in the province at that time, to make curtains during hard times. Today the familiar rich yellow, bag stamped with the Robin Hood archer, still represents that top quality flour you can trust, but it also stands for a brand that understands how it can help create baking experiences that resonate with the 21st century consumer who multi-tasks and may not have the luxury of time to bake.
So how does a brand maintain its high quality standing in a market that has become increasingly commoditized and marginalized? No easy task, particularly when the category is low profile and not growing in relevancy. Despite the challenges, Robin Hood Flour today continues to remind us that it is the King of Flours and relevant to 21st century consumers. In the past few years with the help of Ogilvy & Mather, Robin Hood flour has managed to create advertisements, websites, direct mail pieces, and targeted retail programs that break through the clutter of invisible communications with memorable messages that resonate.
Their website at http://www.robinhood.ca/ is a delightful example, a destination where bakers become immersed in an abundance of recipes and everything “baking”. The revamped website is a very welcome addition to this brand whose first foray into a companion brand website was a short step away from very little. Today, recognizing the needs of 21st century consumers, Robin Hood flour has created a website that uses social media to connect with consumers and does not shy away from using video to make their recipes even easier to use. Consumers can join the site to swap recipes, vote on polls, join a forum, rate the recipes, add comments to the recipes, and save them to a personal recipe box. Time sensitive promotions and featured videos give the site a fresh feel which results in a website that encourages visitors to surf, sign-up and indulge in recipes and treats that can be found just beneath the surface.
Robin Hood flour’s latest venture that helps create baking experiences for the 21st century consumer is found in the form of pop-up stores, BAKE, BATTER & ROLL, mini-bakeshops set up for a short period of time, scattered around Canada. These stores are cheerfully decorated with baked treats and centered around a giant pink rolling-pin-shaped table where people can bake, (Toronto only), and decorate cookies and cupcakes, (all stores). Cleverly, Robin Hood has recreated an environment where families and friends can connect by having fun baking home-made goodies ... 21st century-style! Here, if needed, friendly assistants help steer the task at hand, immersing visitors in the Robin Hood experience of treasured memories and baked goodies that can be taken home and enjoyed. These pop-up stores can be found in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Richmond B.C., with an online version at http:/www.robinhood.ca/bakeshop. The Toronto store is located at 1034 Eglinton Avenue West and will be open in November on weekdays from 4.30 pm – 8.30 pm and 9 am - 5 pm on weekends. Visitors must pre-register at http://www.robinhood.ca/bakeshop and may need to go on a waiting list. In western Canada, BAKE, BATTER & ROLL pop-up stores will briefly appear at the West Edmonton Mall on November 7th and 8th, Cross Iron Mills in Calgary on November 14th and 15th, and B.C.'s Richmond Centre on November 21st and 22nd.
Click below to visit the Robin Hood flour website, to view their current TV campaign featuring the charming Elizabeth and Andrew, and for perspective, to view a nostalgic Robin Hood flour ad from 1980.
STAYIN' ALIVE is the Childhood Cancer Foundation's annual fundraiser created to help raise funds for their cause. This is one of those meaningful marketing campaigns that run under the radar, working on small budgets and the sheer elbow grease of dedicated individuals who make a significant difference to people’s lives. The Childhood Cancer Foundation runs such campaigns out of a small office in Toronto manned by four individuals. The foundation helps support children afflicted with cancer and their families. They produce brochures and educational kits for these families and run fundraising initiatives which provide funding for childhood cancer research. While you and I may be relaxing on the weekend, putting up our feet in front of the TV, Mary Lye, their Director of Marketing and Communications, can be found personally spearheading their community-based, local fundraisers, whether this is at a local mall, at a Marlies’ hockey game, or at the University of Ottawa’s Shave for the Cure fundraiser ..... Creative to the core, Mary also drives their new online initiatives that see teenagers with cancer being able to communicate and connect with each other through a private social network found on the CCFC website at www.childhoodcancer.ca.
(Click to enlarge image)
The Childhood Cancer Foundation relies heavily on their annual October fundraiser, STAYIN’ALIVE to support their programs. This year, on October 29, 2009 the STAYIN’ ALIVE gala will transform the Palais Royale in Toronto into an upbeat social event. The sounds of live Cuban music will have supporters tapping their toes to Latin rhythms, sharing conversations over exotic dishes, and exchanging quips while considering bids on silent auction items.
Tickets for STAYIN’ALIVE can be purchased at http://childhoodcancer.akaraisin.com/Common/Event/Home.aspx?seid=2502&se=1. The event also includes a silent auction where participants can bid on an opportunity to skate with the Marlies, Toronto’s junior A hockey team, or bid on a personal portrait created by portraitist, children’s book illustrator, musician, and Jazz FM show host Laura Fernandez, or Toronto Raptors’ tickets, just to name a few items in their silent auction!
Combine the power of Twitter with the cache of celebrity endorsement and you have a powerful fundraiser ready to roll. Comedian Drew Carey, and the host of CBS’ The Price is Right has put his celebrity name to work, using his ability to drum up publicity to draw attention to an individual’s personal fundraiser. After seeing an @ message through Twitter, Carey was alerted to the fact that cancer afflicted Drew Olanoff was auctioning off the name @drew as a fundraiser for LiveStrong, a cancer research foundation started by the cyclist Lance Armstrong. Drew Carey initially bid $25,000, increasing the amount to $100,000 if he managed to reach 100,000 followers on his Twitter account. A few days later, on a live broadcast of a CBS morning show, (host station of The Price is Right), Drew Carey exponentially increased the amount to $1 million if he managed to reach 1 million followers on his twitter account by December 31, 2009, thus demonstrating the power of social media to spread the word. Drew Carey also offered to pro-rate his donation if a lesser number of followers was reached.
The result? Drew Carey’s Twitter followers increased from 13,000 on October 3 when he first put in his bid for the @drew Twitter name, to 50,000 on October 7, after the CBS broadcast. By October 16, his Twitter followers had reached 99,473 and counting...!
Drew Olanoff, a 29 year old blogger and avid social media user from LA has been fighting Hodgkin's disease since May 2009 and turned to the power of social media to help him through his illness and raise funds for cancer research. Blogs, Tweets, and websites have given him a sense of support and community, while his, “Blame Drew's Cancer” campaign provides a sense of purpose and meaning.
You can find Drew Olanoff at @drew and @BlameDrewsCancer on Twitter. You can also follow his campaign’s progress on the campaign website at http://www.BlameDrewsCancer.com where people are invited to blame the small and not so small things that go wrong in their lives on Drew’s cancer. People are invited to tweet their woes on Twitter with the hashtag #blameDrewsCancer. Well intended tweets use humour to cheer on Drew Olanoff is his battle with cancer. The tweets intentionally range from the sublime to the ridiculous and come from friends, from people unknown, and from well known celebrities. Actress Alyssa Milano BlamesDrewsCancer for the Dodgers losing their game, while a_inawindstorm BlamesDrewsCancer for a car needing new tires. To date, almost 14,000 people have blamed over 33,000 things on Drew’s cancer.
The, “Blame Drew's Cancer” campaign is also using the power of YouTube to spread Drew Olanoff’s social media campaign to his friends, supporters, and well wishers. Friend and music artist Paul Dateh wrote the song, “Blame Drew's Cancer,” weaving it into a music video that encourages viewers to add their name to the cause. You can watch this musical message and tribute at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHDiurJY3lg and add your support by tweeting your woes at http://twitter.com/?status=I+%23BlameDrewsCancer+for+.
You can join Drew Olanoff’s fundraiser by following @DrewFromTV on Drew Carey’s Twitter account at http://twitter.com/DrewFromTV. Each follower will result in a $1 donation from Drew Carey to the LiveStrong foundation, (up to a maximum of $1 million). Details can be found at http://milliondollardrew.com/ and Drew Carey’s personal blog at http://drewfromtv.blogspot.com/.
Below you can watch the Drew Carey’s CBS interview where he announces his $1 million pledge, a CNN Skype interview between Drew Carey and Drew Olanoff, and listen to Paul Dateh’s YouTube music video tribute to his friend.
It isn’t often that a sodium reduced product gets attention, but this initiative from Unilever’s Knorr Sidekicks manages to take a humdrum food item and give it a cute emotional twist that makes even the most cynical viewer smile. Introduced in late August with an integrated marketing communications program that uses magazine ads, TV spots, and a microsite, consumers are introduced to SALTY in a TV spot that drives the campaign. In an effort to meet consumers’ demand for healthier food choices, Knorr Sidekicks have introduced low sodium versions of over 20 items in their Sidekicks’ line, essentially replacing them with a lower salt version of the original. Now items such as rice with Cheddar and Broccoli, Scalloped Potatoes, and Butter & Herb Pasta come with 25% less sodium.
The TV ad, SALTY, uses animation and live action, centered over a sound track of Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” to engage the viewer in the spot. Alone, many may tout these elements as ordinary, soppy, or even annoying, but they manage to cleverly work together in this spot, making one hope that the animated character SALTY, may surface in another spot for the product ... maybe even become an emblem for other Knorr salt-reduced products.
The microsite at http://www.sidekicks.ca/default.aspx, is fully integrated into the campaign, showing SALTY in the opening screen and humourously using a short slide-show of snap shots to take one down SALTY’S memory lane. In addition, the microsite provides recipes, dinner planners, time savers, tips on healthier eating, and product information. It also allows consumers to sign up for monthly newsletters which provide recipes and tips, thus providing the Knorr Sidekicks’ brand with a database of consumers to which they can market directly.
Below you can see the SALTY commercial for Knorr Sidekicks and the making of the SALTY ad which cleverly demonstrates the intricacies that go into a spot that intertwines animation with live action footage. SALTY'S character development, design, and digital modeling was crafted by Bigshot Toyworks, the animation created by Sons & Daughters, and the spot directed by David Hicks for ad agency DDB Canada.
The fun Cadbury Eyebrows campaign from the UK is now officially in Canada with an added twist that makes it uniquely Canadian! “Have you found the Eyebrow Language decoder on DairyMilk.ca yet?” This starts the latest Canadian Tweet for @DairyMilkCanada on Twitter. Already enjoying over 735 followers, (October 15, 2009) Cadbury Dairy Milk is Tweeting about their fun new EYEBROWS campaign which originated earlier this year in the UK, and is currently unfolding in Canada with a set of unique creative elements that is getting a buzz. Some people love the campaign while others wonder about its relevancy to chocolate! For the sceptics, the connection is made clear by Cadbury, irreverently poking fun at itself on its YouTube channel, stating that the ad is, “Yet another feat of ridiculousness and joy,” a feat that gets attention, starts conversations, and creates memorable engagement with a product that too is fun. This Cadbury Eyebrows ad is linked below, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVblWq3tDwY).
The Canadian Cadbury Eyebrows campaign engages chocolate lovers with TV spots, billboard ads, transit ads, and commuter newspaper ads. It also interacts with Canadian consumers through the social media they use. Twitter, (@DairyMilkCanada), directs followers to YouTube mash-ups and a microsite. Its Canadian Facebook Dairy Milk Eyebrows page, (http://www.dairymilk.ca/facebook), entices people to become fans and win chocolate for a year. Its YouTube channel, (http://www.youtube.com/user/glassandahalffull), provides a forum for video responses, comments, video ratings, and viewings. The Eyebrows ad currently boasts 4,855,072 views on YouTube, 12,892 comments, and 123 video responses from around the world – all creating a buzz for their chocolate, (October 15, 2009).
Also unique to Canada is the billboard, transit, and commuter daily newspaper campaign, EYEBROW LANGUAGE, which you can see in Toronto and Vancouver. This part of the Eyebrows campaign teases consumers with ... “Wheel of Fortune / hangman-type” ads that ask people to decipher the message by going to the Cadbury Dairy Milk microsite at http://www.dairymilk.ca/. Here a language decoder is provided together with other fun elements such as a downloadable ringtone from the commercial's song, "Don’t Stop the Rock," by Freestyle.
The daily commuter newspaper ads are designed with the characteristics of the media in mind. Ads run in the daily commuter newspapers Metro and 24 Hours in Toronto and Vancouver over a 4 week period. The headlines are written in “Eyebrow Language” and ask the readers to decipher the message. Cleverly, the first ad of the week brings attention to the campaign, the second ad of the week engages the reader with an opportunity to win a prize, and the third ad of the week provides information on the contest-event which occurred the previous day! Ads that took place early in the campaign in Toronto had decoders go to a local mall at a specific time, twirl, clap three times, and yell chocolate to win a prize. Video clips and photos of these mini-events are being uploaded to the microsite for this campaign.
For the second year in a row the streets of Toronto were flooded with musicians as top music artists and less well known musicians busked for change on September 29, 2009 to raise money and increase awareness for War Child Canada. Busking for Change successfully raised money for War Child Canada on the streets of Toronto and Calgary with over $100,000 being raised in 2009, over double the amount raised in 2008! War Child Canada is a young charity, (founded in 1999), that provides humanitarian assistance to children afflicted by war. The charity has well known associations with the music industry and uses social media to spread the world and garner support from individuals. It communicates through its YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/warchildcan, and its website at http://www.warchild.ca/. In addition, it uses Facebook to communicate to "fans," http://www.facebook.com/pages/War-Child-Canada/10359721433, MySpace to post music tracks from its fundraising albums, http://www.myspace.com/warchildheroes, and Twitter to spread the word on fundraisers and cause-related issues. War Child Canada has been recognised over the years for its inventive and creative marketing approaches that yield results.
Busking for Change was pioneered three years ago by Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace and three years later approximately 50 recording artists busked for change for War Child Canada on the streets of Toronto, a similar event taking place later in the week in Calgary. Chantal Kreviazuk, who lends her name to a number of charitable causes, and is married to Raine Maida, led the way at First Canadian Place, determined to raise $30,000 for War Child Canada and specifically for a Darfur youth centre. Other musicians such as Sass Jordan, Shiloh, Brian Melo, Never Ending White Lights, ill Scarlett, and USS, just to name a few, could also be found Busking for Change and wooing pedestrians to part with their change for War Child Canada. One could also donate online to this cause at http://www.warchild.ca/.
War Child Canada has a well known association with the music world. Earlier this year singer song-writer Liam Titcomb spearheaded a two month summer fundraiser, traveling across Canada to raise money for the cause – his inspiration, involvement in Busking for Change last year in Toronto and seeing the generosity of the human spirit.
War Child Canada recognises the power of music and the ability of well known recording artists to rally people around their cause. They released three albums over the last few years, benefit compilations, with contributions from celebrated music artists such as McCartney, Radiohead, and Our Lady Peace. The latest album, HEROES, released in Canada in March 2009, included 16 cover songs selected by top musicians from their music repertoire. Each musician designated a more recent artist of their choice to record their song selection for the War Child fundraiser. The album was released in the UK, the US, and Canada. Music icons that lent their support to the War Child fundraiser are Bob Dylan, Roxy Music, The Clash, Paul McCartney, U2, David Bowie, Joy Division, The Kinks, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Iggy Pop, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Blondie, and Leonard Cohen. You can hear clips from the War Child HEROES album on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/warchildheroes. Further details on War Child Canada’s marketing efforts can be found at http://mktgcliks.blogspot.com/2009/06/marketing-awards-war-child-canada.html .
Below you can see War Child Canada's promotional piece for Busking for Change, a video clip on the event from the Torontoist, and a fundraising piece for War Child Canada from Chantal Kreviazuk.
