BBC Blast Studio

I'm not sure why, but I hate when I wind up with lots of post that have videos. I dunno, it seems like cheating or something. Anyways, this one had to be shared because it's pretty incredible.

Fallon London and The BBC have just launched, what they call, "a simultaneously digital and experiential event". Blast Studio is a mix between an art installation and an online interactive experience. In real time, children engaging with the site will be able to control the studio itself. The whole thing will then be filmed to create TV ads. At the same time actual artists are going to be invited to express themselves in the studio together with the online audience.

So check this out...

Google News

Seems google has come to my attention on several fronts in the last week, so rather then write about them too much, I'm going to give an overview of the three developments that I think are most interesting.

Google Supports Newspapers
In a recent letter to the Office of Fair Trading (in the UK), Google has called for a relaxation of the rules governing newspaper mergers. Quoted as saying, "the present laws do not reflect the increased competition publishers face from search engines and internet companies". The letter went on to say that Google would be completely supportive of publishers such as Trinity Mirror or Johnston Press, were they to investigate merging their operations with local or regional newspapers.

Google's call has been seconded by senior executives at the Local Media Alliance, who are also asking for a relaxation of merger rules. Their own opinion being that present laws do not take account the large impact the internet has had on newspapers. Ultimately, they have said, a relaxation of the merger rules would allow newspapers to diversify their offering, increase their reach, enhance their content and reduce their overall costs.

Google's stance is understandable considering that it currently provides one of the largest news services in the world, through search listings, that it pays nothing for and receives advertising revenue (in the form of PPC ads appearing alongside the listings). Only a month ago Rupert Murdoch publicly asked, "Should we be allowing Google to steal all our copyrights?". In an extremely harsher statement, Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson recently said, "Google devalues everything it touches" and "it divides content quantitatively rather than qualitatively".

The Office of Fair Trading currently has these rules under review as part of the Digital Britain report. An announcement is expected in June.


Google Search Options
Google recently announced the addition of search options to your Google search results. This is their way of allowing users to refine their search results through an easy to use interface, without any knowledge of the standard Google search definitions. Google describe the new options as "a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier. Search Options helps solve a problem that can be vexing: what query should I ask?"

The easiest way to understand what Google Options has added is with this nice video:



For the general public I think these are great additions, but beyond the novice user I'm not sure they've add anything that I haven't already been able to do. Though I do like to write my blog posts directly in HTML so maybe this was never aimed at me.

Interactive Display Ads Hit Target Market Perfectly

To promote the New Zealand tv show Girl Racers, Tribal DDB created the following two ads. I'll be honest I was very much in two minds as to whether they were a bit too much to post, but when it comes down to it I considered the target audience that the tv show probably attracts and realised that these may be some of the most suited ads I've ever seen.

Seriously.

Think about who watches a tv show about girls who wear tight spandex onesies and drive really, really fast cars. In my opinion these ads hit the target market nail firmly on the head. I hope you agree....

A Blurred Line Between ARG And Viral Social Media

It all started back in November 2008. Following a 5 year hiatus from the music scene, information started leaking out that Eminem was working on a new album. In and off itself the news attracted some online chatter but nothing was confirmed. However, within a very short space confirmation of the forthcoming album, "The Relapse", began to pop up on various Social Media platforms. Although not in isolation, the most public tool in service was Twitter.

Use of Twitter or other Social Media platforms wasn’t a new move by any means, but the approach most definitely was. Over the course of the following 6 months Aftermath / Interscope Records created a stunningly impactful and captivating campaign. Flitting between Eminem's troubled public past and the new terrifying imaginary world from his latest album, the marketing team dragged fans into an eerie game of hide and seek. Using Twitter, a mix of disturbing thoughts and weblinks were filtered out to the digital community. All of this revolved around a fictional mental institution, Pompsomp Hills, in which the rapper was housed.

Besides the stark and grim mental images tweeted by the star, a number of images were also posted. These included a link to the album's cover, a collage of pills forming Eminem's face; screenshots of an iPhone game set in Pompsomp Hills; and a link to the following trailer for the album’s first single "3 A.M.".



Clearly set in the fictional institution, the video is both disturbing and frightening, as if some sort of demented cross between the Blair Witch Project and a Japanese underground horror. This was the precursor to albums microsite and interactive experience. Both these elements coupled with a “real” looking, amateurish website for Pompsomp Hills brought to life a stunning narrative that almost begged to be real.

Without doubt this was an integrated effort on several key fronts that started a long time before anyone was aware of where it would take them. And although the ‘clues’ were never hard to figure out, and sometimes as simple as a straight forward link, the campaign still stands out as one of note. Fans have been engaged and interacted with on a level that has not only created an exceptional amount of online chatter but ultimately an anticipation that will drive record sales.

Of course this isn't the first time an ARG has been used to promote an album. Most famously, Trent Reznor masterminded (of Nine Inch Nails) the "Year Zero" album release in 2007, that expanded the album's dystopian story line into a full blown audio, visual and mental experience, driven by hidden messages and microsites littered through out anomalously posted images and videos. Unsurprisingly perhaps, recent news has alluded to the concept being turned into a TV show.

Cadbury's Creme Egg: Twisted

In an integrated offline and online startegy, Cadburys have created an absolute craic'r of a campaign. The Cadburys Creme Egg Twisted campaign pulls together a great offline DM invitation with a Social Media driven online fulfillment. The campaign launched with ‘security strongboxs' being sent to all hardcore fans who have been talking about Cream Eggs on various Social Network sites.

The box contained 2 Cream Egg Twisted bars and an empty wrapper. Behind the empty wrapper, fans found a hole in the bottom where a third Twisted Bar had escaped. The boxes challenged the fans to visit the (then) exclusive campaign microsite and become agents of Cadbury's Intelligence Agency. Their task was to then track down the escaped Twisted Bars. After an initial exclusivity for the hardcore fans, online ads also went live directing users to the site.


The microsite utilises a Google Maps interface and clues via Twitter that agents would need to solve to locate the 16 targets, which all needed to be ‘gooed'. Agents were up with a chance to win a holiday in Morocco or a cash prize of £20,000.

The campaign has been developed by CMW, and represents my favourite work of theirs to date.