Now Look What You Did

I've been doing a bit of research on production companies and going through show reels etc. Some of the work out there at the moment is simply amazing - cgi and animation that would put Hollywood to shame. One company MAKE, a Minneapolis design studio that specialises in motion graphics and animation, are doing some really cool work. Unfortunately it was a pair of public service announcement videos of theirs that caught my eye. The two videos, "Cigarette" and "Trash", are both fully animated and were pushed through a dedicated microsite. Their message is all about your actions having an unexpected affect on the environment.

Is it just me or would you agree that they're a little bit too much? I mean, whatever about "Cigarette" which is possibly just funny, "Trash" on the other hand is just depressing.

Display Ads: Sound or No Sound

I got involved in a really stupid conversation yesterday about whether sound had a positive or negative impact on online advertising. I took the stance that sound in itself means nothing and it's all about how that sound is used. Obviously if you're talking about in-banner video then it's pretty essential, but beyond that, what does it do for actual engagement in non-video ads?

My point seemed to be lost on my co-conversationists so I said I'd find them examples to show my point.

Consider the following two ads. The first uses sound as its main engagement. The call to action is to engage and create sound. The second, however, is driven by a complete absence of sound. IMHO both are good, low weight, eye-catching ads. They serve there purpose and 'get the job done'. The creative is simple but hard-working. What impact does sound have? Well a great deal, but both by its presence and absence.

Snoop Dogg Walk in Fridge

Heineken struck a chord with there Walk-In Fridge ads; one of those ideas that really captures a cultural spirit. And the latest 'spoof' version is just as good.

What would Snoop Dogg's Walk-In Fridge look like? Well, to announce his upcoming summer tour this is the video revealing all...



The full line-up:
'Walk-in Fridge'
'Walk-in Fridge Spoof'
'Walking Fridge'

4320:LA

I've been waiting for someone to do something really cool on Twitter from a brand point of view. Sure @twitchhiker got from the UK to New Zealand on nothing more then the gratuity of strangers, and Fox's Biscuits and Compare the Meerkat are both making great use of Twitter (imho), but no single brand has done anything really, really special. At least that was hat I thought.

V Australia and Virgin Atlantic are in mid-campaign for their 4320:LA competition. The proposal: 3 friends spend 3 non-stop days in LA living the life of movie stars - they have to tweet every minute for the entire time they are there - 4,320 minutes to be exact - if they do it, 3 round the world tickets.

So what did they have to do? The First Stage was simple - the 3 entrants who submitted the best 3 entries got through to Stage 2. For Stage 2 each entrant nominated 2 friends to form their team. These 3 Teams then completed a mini 72-minute challenge set by Nova Radio's Ryan, Monty and Wippa (how Australian are those names!). The challenges involved various physical activities which tested each Team’s physical and/or mental agility and teamwork skills. Overall each Team was then judged on the following;

• the outgoing nature and personality of the Team Members;
• the number of Twitter followers each Team Member has; and
• how frequently each Team Member uses Twitter and the current and past activity on their Twitter account.

Following these 2 stages, the lucky 3 people were whisked off to LA to get down to the real work. The 3 chaps who got through to Stage 3 were:


Their original entry tweet was: "We'll go one better. Pose with one new friend every minute in LA. That’s 4320 friends, to help us have the time of our lives."

I think this is a brilliant promotion, an excellent use of Twitter and something entirely original. Fair play to whoever came up with this - if anyone knows the agency behind it, please let me know.

Each of the lads was asked for a one line description of themselves...

Kelvin
The world's most gifted footballer never to make it. Culinary master - the creator of 'McYap.' Unwavering belief that geeky kids are cool.

Matt
He's Bruce Wayne (Office Geek by day/Party King by night). Loves karaoke & marathons. Parties like he runs, it’s all about the long-haul.

Nathan
Daredevil skier (often coming off 2nd best). Once resulted in a de-gloved chin and lacerated tongue. (Improving his tolerance for chillies).

Augmented Reality: Business Card

I recently wrote about the Augmented reality ID that The Astonsihing Tribe are currently working on. Definitely one of my favourite AR Apps that I've seen, but I think this might be just as good.

James Alliban recently stumbled across this video and was inspired to created a really special business card. As a developer, James loves the potential that Augmented Reality offers and was dtermined to use it to enhance his business card and give people the opportunity to really learn something about himself. So James created this brilliant Augmented Reality Business Card:



James recorded his video bio and had a 3D grid of coloured planes printed on the back of his new business card. These planes then become the colour points within the video. James had his cards printed by the fabulous people at Moo.

While I was thinking of business card, I couldn't help but be reminded of perhaps the greatest business card moment in a movie!