Verizon have launched an extremely agressive new advertising campaign, directly targeting Apple's iPhone. The strange this is, they won't tell us what it is they're selling! While it's clear that the device is a Google Android phone with a host of superb features, there is little other information available.
Debuting your ad during a Saturday night playoff game between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels is a sure fire way to generate a lot of attention. Usually that attention workd best if there is something to focus it on, a product perhaps. Considering that the last two/three weeks has seen a lot of twists and turns in the US mobile market, it would be safe to say that most people are still wondering what is going on. For months there were numerous rumours doing the rounds that Apple would would soon cancel its exclusive agreement with AT&T and allow the iPhone to be sold through other mobile networks. Then two weeks ago Verizon were seen to take an extremely public swing at AT&T with their new TV commercial. Then we have this latest add. So what's going on?
While the campaign creative may lack a brilliant creative it does have a certain je ne sais quoi. Perhaps it's just the thought of Samson taking on Goliath, as any mobile launch must now seem in light of Apple's bid for world domination, but it's fun to see someone taken down a peg or two (ok ok I don't yet own an iPhone). In the ad Verizon really don't hold any bars and hight the iPhone's potential failings: the lack of a physical keyboard, the inability to run multiple third-party apps simultaneously, the inability to take photos in the dark etc. etc.. The ad finally ends with "Everything iDon't ... Droid does. November."
"There's no summary about the product, and you don't know who the brand is," said Karl Barnhart, managing director and partner at CoreBrand. "It's clever, but you have no idea what this is for."
The ad also offers up a URL at th end - www.droiddoes.com, which, if visited, brings users to a Verizon page featuring a countdown in non-recognisable numerals and an bit of dialogue - "Do you wish you had a robot sidekick that moved at light speed and lived in your pocket? Input your e-mail and Droid will notify you when compromise has been deactivated." The site has been created by McGarry Bowen, New York.
Whatever the phone may be, it's certain starting to brew up a lot of talk and speculation:
"It's unclear who they're aiming this campaign at," said Rene Ritchie, editor of The iPhone blog. "A lot of this is inside baseball, and seems to target people with particular pain points with the iPhone."
Roger Entner, senior VP at Nielsen, said "we've seen the Samsung Instinct try to bash the iPhone, but it didn't attract new customers," - when vendors take on the iPhone head-on, the device had better live up to its claims and all the ballyhoo.
"It's found a way to attack both sides of the story," said Andrei Jezierski, partner at marketing consultancy i2Partners. Referring to Verizon Wireless' push parodying the iPhone's "There's an app for that" campaign, which shows a map of Verizon's dense coverage area compared to AT&T's, Mr. Jezierski said, "Anytime you bash the iPhone, it's a great way to get attention, and 'There's a map for that' is a way for them to keep beating on the 'It's the network, stupid' message."
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
What iDon't, Droid Does
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tim Berners-Lee Apologises
I wasn't going to post about this as I thought most people had seen it but a few friends last night hadn't so here you go....
Tim Berners-Lee, the man who effectively invented the internet, made a tongue-in-cheek apology for the forward slashes at the beginning of internet addresses. The forward slashes have long been an annoyance to web users and Tim finally confessed that the // in a web address is actually "unnecessary".
The Times newspaper was told in an interview that in hindsight internet URLs could have also worked without the forward slashes.
"There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time," he said.
Making Cadbury’s Make-A-Wish
Following on from my post yesterday about the new Cadbury's Make-A-Wish site, I though people might be interested in seeing the stills from the shooting of the videos, and the original character and set development proposals...
Monday, October 19, 2009
MTV's Online Music Awards
I spotted this great story over on Revolution Magazine. The virtual world Habbo Hotel has teamed up with the MTV Europe Music Awards to create an online MTV-branded space for users of the site to hang out back stage and become pop stars, and they even have the chance to win a virtual award. The virtual awards allow Habbo members to visit the main stage, walk on the red carpet and access several back stage areas. Habbo members also have the option to vote for their favourite artists, and participate in a number of competitions and activities in the build up to the actual MTV Europe Music Awards.
Christian Batist, senior vice-president of marketing at Sulake Corporation, the creator of Habbo, said, "Music is the sole biggest asset that our teen users value in their lives, and thus we are extremely happy to partner with MTV Europe Music Awards. The highly involving activities in Habbo will allow us to activate a massive music-loving user base to take part in the awards. We aim to generate massive amounts of votes for the MTV Europe Music Awards from our Habbo audiences around the world."
Habbo Hotel, which is a virtual world geared towards teens, attracts over 14 million monthly unique visitors.
Cadbury’s Make-A-Wish
Cadbury’s have just launched a new microsite for the UK and Ireland to support their sponsorship of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The site, which has been developed for Cadbury’s by Weapon7, introduces ‘The Wish Workshop’. ‘The Wish Workshop’ is the home of five unnamed, quirky characters who have a strange language all of their own.
The site offers five different films, all produced in a really cool old-school stop-frame animation. They show the five characters making and launching new wishes. The wishes which are represented by stars, will be added to the sky everytime new real-life wishes happen. The site also features a live stream to the homepage of all donations. Essentially visitors can see donations as they happen in real-time, including any donation that they make themselves.
Promotion of the site and campaign will be done on the 16million plus selection boxes that Cadbury's will sell over the Christmas period.
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