No Social Media in China

Since riots broke out in Xinjiang province in early July Social Media sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been completely shut down from within China. However during the last week reports have also started filtering out of China that Chinese Social Media sites such as Fanfou, Digu and Jiwai have now also been shut down. It seems that the Chinese authorities have massively extended their crackdown on all Social Media both domestic and international.

This is a major development in Chinese censorship and represents the first time that there has been a full order to censors both Western and Chinese sites. A Shanghai-based digital analyst has commented that the cause of the shut downs is still completely unknown. While it has become common practise for the Chinese government to operate shut-downs during politically sensitive times and events, there is nothing specific coming up. The last major Social Media shut-down was seen in the lead up to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square riots.

In good news, Tim Haynes general manager of Starcom IP China, said "Despite the censorship efforts, Chinese netizens have discovered alternative methods of accessing sites such as Twitter. There are always alternative avenues to be found to access these sites. As soon as someone puts a wall or barricade around them, there’s always a way around it."

What’s Next In Marketing & Advertising

During the week, Paul Isakson Head of Strategy with Space 150, gave a presentation at Marketing 2.0:unfiltered, an event put on by Espresso. Paul's presentation was an updated version of a presentation he gave about a year ago at one of Space 150's monthly 'What's Next?" sessions.

Paul was asked to talk about what's going on in marketing and how things are changing. The updated presentation looks at the industry a year on and shows Paul's insights on how the industry is changing.

DC Shoes & Ken Block

How do you engage an audience for seven and a half minutes? DC Shoes decided the best way to do it was to let Ken Block do what he does best!

Even if you've seen Ken stunt drifting before, this will blow your mind. Sit back and be amazed...

Open Happiness

For those of you (us) too young to remember, the year was 1971 and for the first time in advertising history the world was confronted by a tv spot that did not fit into a nice 'advertising' box. Coca-Cola's "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" ad campaign completely distorted the line that previously existed between advertising and pop culture. People loved it, and not just Americans or British audiences, it was a global phenomenon (there's a great overview of the whole experience in the Library of Congress) .

So it may have come as no surprise to many that Coca-Cola would attempt the same feat again, however this time they have taken it a step further. "Open Happiness" is a massive collaborative project involving Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green, Panic! At the Disco's Brendon Urie, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes and Janelle Monae. A veritable Smörgåsbord of modern pop music. But how do the two concepts differ and how are they alike?

The following is the full 4min 25sec "Open Happiness" video, directed by Alan Ferguson. See if you can notice the single most significant thing about this video...



--Update--
The original 'full version' video for this, features a coke logo at the very end. That video was removed from YouTube and this is the only replacement I could find, unfortunately the logo has been edited out in this.

Did you get it? It's fairly obvious in those last 2 seconds. For 263 of 265 seconds of video, there is not a single Coca-Cola logo in sight. That is without doubt one of the most expensive pieces of "adver-tainment" that you will come across, and even though the logo only comes in at the end of the piece, you knew the whole way through exactly what it was for. The brand is more then a logo. The brand is a collective of all the work that has been put into it in every piece of advertising and marketing you have ever seen.

"Open Happiness" was produced by Polow Da Don and Butch Walker, writen by Cee-Lo Green (and co-written by Polow Da Don and Butch Walker), and directed by Alan Ferguson.

In a follow up to an earlier post of mine, you may enjoy the new extended version of the Calvin Harris 'Coke Creatures - Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La Dance Party'...

Kwik Fit Obama Viral

Barack Obama endorsing Kwik Fit!

Seriously?

Well, not quite. The most powerful man in the world isn't actually putting his name behind the chain of tyre and exhaust centres. According to Marketing Magazine Kwit Fit produced the film for the Kwik Fit annual general meeting. From there, the rest is history.

The viral is a mix of clips from speeches by Obama and was put together by DDB London.



hat tip to Nick for this one :)