Chrome's Viral Goes To TV

I posted last week about Google's 11 short films that had been produced in a bid to push the Chrome browser. In a follow up, Google wanted to see if they could take a recently produced Japanese Google short and release it to a larger audience to promote Chrome. After speaking to their TV Ads team, on Friday Google announced that they'd be using Google TV Ads to run the "Chrome TV ad" on a number of TV networks from this weekend. Unfortunately this is all US based, but stay tuned, I wouldn't be too surprised if we saw it on our screens in the near future. For everyone who can't wait, here you go...

An Expression of Joy

BMW have just launched their latest marketing campaign for the BMW Z4 Roadster - “An Expression of Joy”

The ambitious campaign centres around a massive and very unique art project, bringing together video, outdoor, print, mobile and digital elements. The campaign features a painting two football fields in size created by artist Robin Rhode and filmmaker Jake Scott.

Utilising 160 litres of paint and 45 cameras, the pair filmed two Roadsters fitted with paint jets mounted behind their wheels, drifting and racing around the immense canvas, to create both a 30-second ad and a 30-minute documentary.

The documentary will be shown in the US on Discovery HD today, May 10 at 8:00pm. Repeats are scheduled throughout May and June, as well as a transition cross the water for airing on the European Discovery network. The 30-second ad will be used both on TV and onlin through MSN’s expandable video unit. This is the first time the unit will be used for a digital marketing campaign, allowing users to see the ads in full-screen mode.

In addition to MSN, video banners will also run on a number of high profile sites including CNN and Yahoo. Print ads are set to include an eight-page insert in Vanity Fair’s June issue, and coverage in several top end art and interior magazines. Outdoor will center on 10 international airports around the US.

However, beyond all this activity, the most interesting element of the campaign is the campaign microsite - “An Expression of Joy” which shows the filming process through a dynamic video interface, and features the mobile game, “BMW Z4 – An Expression of Joy”. The game has been developed for the iPhone and iPod Touch and has been available for download since March. An impressive 500,000 downloads have already been recorded. times.

Chrome Goes Viral

In his AdAge article, Michael Learmonth describes Google as having "ambled into the Safari-Explorer-Firefox derby" with the introduction of their browser Chrome last year, and to be fair it would be very hard to argue differently. Internet Explorer, the often controversial and always-included option, has been around forever and still holds as favourite for many web explorers. Safari, the streamlined mac browser, is without doubt the Apple users favourite. Firefox, the new kid on the block, has come out of no where to totally dominate many demographics of net users. So why try and take on these goliaths, and not do it with gusto and determination?

Well, they may not have done anything spectacular to date, but that has just changed. The global-hyper-mega-corp that is the world's search leader has releasing 11 short films to promote their offering in the browser wars. That's a lot of weight in this and it's sure to drive a serious amount of traffic and interest. But is it really likely to drive any downloads?

When I recently reviewed my site visitor stats, I was some what surprised to see just how big a percentage of them were Firefox users. Understandably this may be slanted by my content but still, it's a huge proportion.

Take a look and see what you think...

Buildings in Dublin that waste energy

Living in Ringsend I often walk into town along the Quays and it annoys me greatly to see all the office blocks with their lights on all night and no one in them. It's even worse when you see empty office blocks with the lights on. This said I was extremely happy to discover that John Callaghan (Cal-TV) is currently working on a short film project that will highlight the issue. John is putting together a list of buildings in Dublin city centre that waste energy by leaving their lights on overnight, which will be feature in the film.

I'm happy to say I was able to lend a (small) helping hand by taking some photos of buildings along the Quays. So, perhaps a little shamelessly, I think it would be worth everyone's time to stop by the project site and have a look around. With so much attention being paid to water wastage and recycling, unnecessary lighting is a huge environmental drain that seems to be overlooked by most.

Also, if you have noticed any such buildings, I'm sure John would love to hear from you (especially if you send a photo!). You can email him at turnitoffproject@gmail.com