Hula Hoops: A World of Their Own

Check out the latest ad for Hula Hoops, around their 'A World of Their Own' campaign concept. It's pretty cool work by the 'puppeteer' to be able to move his fingers so freely. On the back of this, the campaign also features a microsite, calling on the public to produce their own 'finger puppet' short film. Fun stuff, and there already seems to be a lot of entries. Definitely worth a look.

No More Locked Doors

How many times have you been playing a first person shooter and you quickly start to realise that the huge sprawling city that the game occupies, is in fact block after block of locked buildings. You can't enter them and they play no significant role in the game other then as landscape. Unfortunately the cost/resources etc. to develop and render an entire city would be astronomical. What if, hoewever, there was a cheap and effective way to do it.....



This is potentially the biggest breakthrough in gaming technology.

Brainwave @ Krystle Nightclub

Rick O'Shea made the call and I hope you all answer it! Rick's asking for 2 favours, and they're not big asks either so lets just do it.

Rick is patron of the charity Brainwave and, as part of this years Horse Show Week, the charity is having a huge night out in Krystle Nightclub (replacing the old Horse Show Ball). We all know about the unspoken 'R' and the hard times that we're all in, but this really is worth it. Basically the entire club will be taken over for the night and there's space for 1000 dapper gents and beautiful ladies. In short, it's the perfect excuse to put the glad rags on and listen to some craic'n tunes from top DJs and an awesome live band.

All proceeds from the night go to Brainwave and will help them do what they do, so very well, over the next twelve months.

Tickets are now available on Tickets.ie - here

Ok, so that's the first thing. The second favour Rick asks is that you do exactly what I've done. POST IT! Do a write up, link it, and get the message out there.

Thanks folks :)

McDonald's Appoints VCCP

Yesterday Brand Republic carried a marketingmagazine.co.uk article by Joe Thomas, about McDonald's appointment of VCCP to manage its employment brand and recruitment advertising. The appointment came after a three month pitch process, with VCCP facing down DDB in the final round. Leo Burnett remains McDonald's lead agency in the UK.

VCCP's recent work includes O2's rubber duck tv ads (including an Irish version) and my favourite campaign of the year - Compare the Meerkat.

Nike: Love Fifteen

It's not the first time that Nike have been able to push out an ad almost before the final whistle blows, but this time they did it even better then usual. No sooner had Roger Federer taken home his record-breaking 15th Grand Slam win, Nike was on the tv (including BBC immediately after the match!) paying homage to the achievement. In true Nike fashion however, they didn't do it alone. Step forward Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, John McEnroe, Serena Williams and Pete Sampras.

It takes a big brand to do that and, quite simply, there is no one bigger when it comes to sports. This is an amazing piece of marketing. In the most subtle of ways Nike manage to reinforce their brand, their positioning, and enhance public perception. How?

Well, what does the ad tell us? Nike support winners. Winners support Nike. Winners use Nike. Nike are not bigger then any one person, and are humble enough to congratulate victory. That's powerful stuff. Also consider that they're capable of getting a 30 second ad on BBC - that's even more powerful stuff!

Bing Adds Twitter to Real-Time Search Results

When I first heard the news that Bing was incorporating Twitter into its search results (in real-time) I wasn't sure I thought there was much to talk about. Sure I find Twitter Search useful, but I use it in a completely different context to how I use normal search services. It wasn't until I considered what it meant for searches performed on specific people.

The convenience of being able to see a real-time feed of results for name mentions and comments, along side actual web results gives a more accurate and complete view of how someone is seen online.

Microsoft revealed that it has started indexing tweets from popular Twitter users in real-time on Bing. Furthermore, while they have started by only indexing the tweets of a few thousand people (based on follower count and tweet volume), the service would ultimately be expanded.

Bing displays these results sepperately from the main body of search results, but only when the search phrase includes "Twitter", "tweet" or the "@" with the name of the person they are searching.

Digital PR & Communities Manager

I am extremely happy to announce that my role within Cybercom has taken on an extra dimension. While I am still working as a Digital Account Manager, I now also have the responsibility of becoming Cybercom's Digital PR & Communities Manager.

I will act as brand ambassador and evangelist for Cybercom and all our clients, working to develop and manage all Digital PR and Social Media activities across all channels and platforms. As both a Blogger / Social Media Advocate and a Digital Marketer, this role allows me to combine all the elements I love most about my work, and expand them across the entire breath of clients that we have the pleasure of working with.

Exciting times!

Levi's Go Forth

Levi's latest campaign, “Go Forth”, attempts to reinforce the Levi brand as the original working class hero, the pilgrim settler and the revolutionary patriot. Driven through tv, radio and internet, Strauss & Co. have gone back to their roots, paying homage to the pioneer spirit, declaring...

"I am the new American pioneer, looking forward, never back. No longer content to wait for better times… I will work for better times. ‘Cause no one built this country in suits. All I need is all I got. Bruises heal. Stink is good. Apathy is death. So I strike up for the new world! A new mightier world. The one I will make to my liking. For after the darkness comes the dawn. There is a better tomorrow. Look across the plains and mountains and see America's eternal promise. A promise of progress. Go forth with me, go forth."

Developed by Wieden + Kennedy the campaign aims to write the New Declaration of the Unites States of American. The new site, Go Forth, features the new declaration and users are told... “Take up your pen, you general of the new revolution. Add your words, your images, your voice to a new declaration, redefined in the spirit of today’s America. An America in which we hold these truths to be self-evident…”

A brave and bold aim you might think, but considering 'Obama's America' and the dreams that it has instilled in much of it's people, this seems like the perfect platform and call to action to reinvigorate a jaded and tired consumer. The imagery is vivid and inspiring, asking only that people pulled themselves up, knuckle down through hard times, and get the job done.

In a perfect fit, the tv ad for the campaign features an original wax recording of Walt Whitman reading his poem “America" overlayed on black and white vinettes. The ad is viewable on the site as well as a host of downloadable content including an MP3 of the Whitman recording, various wallpaper and larger posters.

Executive creative director Susan Hoffman describes Levi's ambition as a want to “refresh and reinvent the idea of a pioneering spirit for the times in which we live”.

Augmented Reality: London Tube Map

This is the latest example in a rapidly growing list of practical Augmented Reality applications that I have found. In this example the new iPhone 3GS can be used to navigate to the nearest London Tube station.

Ally Bank - Would You Like a Pony?

A clever and humorous ad for banking? Hard to believe I know, but sure enough Ally Bank and BBH have done just that.

Sunday Chilled

Why of why is there no where in Dublin to listen to music like this on a Sunday afternoon? Someone needs to start doing a jazz-fusion afternoon club.

Brüno's Australian Premier Hijacked

Sasha Baron Cohen's shock character Brüno, had his premier hijacked by an impersonator who was sent in by Nando's to promote their newest Piri-Piri sauce. Funny stuff, especially the look on Baron Cohen's face towards the end of the clip.

New Compare the Meerkats Ad

Everyone's favourite entrepreneurial, aristocratic, Russian Meerkat is back. Billionaire Aleksandr Orlov is back with the latest ad for his Compare the Meerkat site (not to be confused with Compare the Market!).



This is more fine work from Compare the Market's creative agency VCCP, and brings Aleksandr back to perform a Punch and Judy-style puppet show, complete with a baton-wielding fight scene. The ad will launch on July 5th and run on ITV1, Channel 4, Sky 1, Five, ITV2 and ITV3.

Aleksandr states:
"Despite many fans of previous advert, peoples still making mistake. New ad will let peoples know about my meerkat business, not other website, Comparethemarket.com, which is for humans searching for cheap deals on their car insurance."

The ads have had a massive resonance with the public and aside from boasting quotes on the site by 80% (according to the company), the ads have also driven a huge interest in the animals as pets.

Within other online channels the campaign is showing equal success with nearly 480k fans on Facebook and over 18k followers on Twitter.

Not Digital But Hilarious

Imagine yourself as a recently laid-off New York-based copywriter. You have lots of free time on your hands and need a way to put your creative talents to good use. What do you do?

Todd Norem was faced with this question, and decided to put his skills to use helping a homeless man in Minneapolis with new signs to use when he's out pandhandling.

What happened?

His new "client" Ed reported "at least a 800 percent increase in gross income on days his media ran."

Absolut Drinkspiration

A big thanks to Great Works' Planner François Bécar, who gave me a heads up on the latest campaign from Pernod Ricard’s Absolut Vodka. In a clever move to drive customer engagement and affinity, Absolut has just launched 'Drinkspiration', an impressive iPhone App that allows users to choose the right drink.

The App bases it's recommendation on the following inputs

• your mood
• the time of day
• the weather
• alcohol type
• drink color
• shape of glass
• type of venue, and more

The best thing about the App, however, is how it integrates with your Facebook and Twitter accounts and incorporates GPS functionality to give a live trend forecaster showing in real time what cocktails are being ordered around the world.

François said “Absolut is the first cocktail brand to have their own application,” and “is trying to position itself as innovative and the application shows just how creative and bold the brand is in reaching out to consumers in many different ways.”

Click here to download the free application on iTunes.

Google Ad Planner

Anyone using their Google Ad Planner account will have noticed a distinct change. From today Google has launched their redesigned account interface, offering four key improvements:

• Find sites and manage your media plans more efficiently
• Review full data for a site simply by specifying the site's URL
• Merge and copy media plans
• Navigate between pages without losing the audience you're working with

In addition Google have removed the Google Analytics filter restriction that previously affected publishers.

Budweiser Lyrics - TV Ad

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a great blogger preview of the new Budweiser Lyrics TV ad, hosted by WHPR. The event was introduced by Charles Wong, Budweiser Marketing Manager, and Matt Delahunty, DDB Account Director, and gave a crowded room of bloggers first glimpse at Budweiser's latest TV outing. The ad itself will go live on the 4th July, coinciding with Independence Day, and is the first Budweiser ad to be created for a foreign market that will also feature in the US.

The ad is driven by The Beatles song ‘All together now’ and is shot entirely from a moving train going around Chicago's L track. As it passes different people and locations, the lyrics to the song are spelt out in fun ways. Total filming time took 50 hrs over a 5 day period, in some serious cold temperatures. Obviously the logistics of all of this should not be lost - consider that every missed take required a full loop of the track to get back to the shot location. This meant that everyone had to be in perfect position at the exact moment needed. Beyond this it was also necessary to make sure that for each shot the train was going at the right speed to catch the action and keep in time to the music.

The ad also marks a first, as it will mark the launch of Sky’s Green Button technology. What this means is that the ad will appear exclusively through sky's system for the first week of the campaign.

So without further delay, the ad...



I have to say I absolutely love the ad. I've always loved 'All Together Now' but in this case I think it perfectly fits with the positioning and attitude that Diageo are trying to reflect. In the context of the current global economic situation the emotions drawn from the ad are exactly what people want - a 'pull together', 'can do' , 'get it done' attitude. Obviously this also fits in brilliantly with Obama's America.

The ad also forms the backdrop to a larger digital campaign based around the new Alltogethernow.ie Website (going live this Saturday 4th July). The site calls for people to upload their own take of one of the 'lyrics' through a video or photo of themselves holding up a number, letter or word. The site also provides behind the scenes footage, Director’s tips and a host of other content.

The ad was Written by Dave Henderson and Richard Denney, and filmed by Director Chris Palmer. The music was performed by ‘The Hours’.

Also, check out this great video from Krishna De of her interviewing Matt from DDB's last night:



Finally, a huge thank you to Cliodhna, Kate and Ruth for a great evening.

Gen Y - The Lost Generation

Fantastic use of copy, with an equally gripping VO. I really like this.

Who to Target with Social Media

I wrote a while back that the last 12 months has seen Social Media move from a why idea to a how idea. Brands are no longer questioning the use of Social Media, they are starting to question how to use Social Media. Whether they like it or not the conversations are happening, and brands are now realising that the question is whether or not to participate, not whether or not to create.

Unfortunately for a relatively small country we have to consider the size of the target markets that can be reached through Social Media platforms. The latest figure I heard for the Irish market are:

• Twitter - 41k
• Facebook - 610k
• Bebo - 1.7m (though this is considered to be very skewed to minors)

So what's my point? Well, my point is that Social Media campaigns either rely on large populations to enable sufficiently large target markets to make Social Media viable, or target huge generic demographics (all women, or all under 50's) that can be achieved in smaller overall populations. Generally speaking though, people often fail to see the ways to effectively use Social Media without either of these situations. Social Media is about creating content and engaging in conversations where your target market is - if all your potential customers use Facebook, then you engage with them on Facebook. But consider that instead of creating the content and driving the conversation yourself directly to your potential customers (who very few may be active within Social Media), you entice others to do it for you. You instead target a very small, specific demographic of people within the Social Media environment.

What do I mean? Well content is king as we all know, and content created by your peers is generally given a lot more weight then corporate messages, at least in the digital world. So go after the poeple who can do this for you - bloggers and Social Media advocates. This isn't something that hasn't been thought of; I'm not professing to have come up with this idea. I do however think it's a very good method of promoting yourself through the best channels available to you, in one of the most credible fashions.

Of course I have a great example of this being done. Experience Commerce, a social media agency based in Mumbai, recently launched a new campaign for the Mitsubishi Cedia called The Great Driving Challenge. The campaign is described as "[a] kind of a reality show on the web; where web, mobile, travel, automobile and competition are nicely woven together".


The Great Driving Challenge is a competition where couples (1 male and 1 female) compete to win Rs1,000,000 by blogging and tweeting for 12 days while they are travelling. The campaign creates a huge amount of UGC all about Mitsubishi Cedia, including votes and testimonials about driving it. So ultimately when you go online and search for the car, what you see is a huge amount of complimentary reports. The campaign is also supported by a full suite of online and offline advertising, as well as a number of clever user interactive activations in shopping centers.

The benefit from a campaign like this is huge - if you have multiple people all creating content about your product or brand across a wide collection of Social Media platforms, you end up with more positive press and user endorsements then you can shake a stick at. In the case of Ireland you also have a method of utilising Social Media without the need for an extremely large population (and yes I know the population of India before anyone is too smart - but this type of campaign is not dependent on a huge population). The key to a campaign like this is to get on board that small, select, key group.

There is, however, a very important thing to consider. I cannot be bought, and I would hope that none of the other bloggers I know could be bought either. So if you expect me to write about your product or brand, expect an honest response. If your product or brand don't hold up, you may be facing a torrent of bad online coverage.

Top 10 VW Ads

Campaign (part of Brand Republic) have a great article on the top 10 VW ads of all time as selected by DDB London (TV ads that is). I joyfully sat and watched everyone of them - remembering how good the quality of ads have been from VW over the recent years. Unfortunately my personal favourite was the terrorist viral that did the rounds a while back, though VW have always maintained this was not produced by themselves. If it wasn't I hope they did find out who did it and gave them a job!

From DDB's selection, my favourite is 'Singing in the Rain (2005)'


Terrorist Ad

O2 Scrum on the Beach 2009 (UK)

With a top prize described as 'the stuff that dreams are made of', O2 UK's latest campaign, Scrum on the Beach, offers the chance to play at Twickenham. However, before you get to prove your skills with a rugby ball in front of a packet Twickenham arena, you've got to get the hard part out of the way. Turn up your style and skills to the on-looking English Rugby Team as you compete on the sand. The teams that show the most flair on the sand will be picked to play in a special tournament at Twickenham.

The roadshow will also offer the public the opportunity to compete on Batak™ Duel competition stations for chances to win rugby goodies and pick up autographs from the English Team.

Dates and Locations:

• Martello Bay, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex 4 July, 11-6pm
• Marine Parade, Great Yarmouth 11 July, 11-6:30pm
• Ainsdale Beach, Southport 18 July, 10-5:30pm
• Boscombe Beach, Bournemouth 25 July, 10-7pm
• Weymouth Beach, Dorset 1 August, 10-6:30pm
• Tynemouth Longsands Beach, Newcastle 8-9 August, 10-4pm
• Skegness Beach, Lincolnshire 15 August, 10-5pm
• Lusty Glaze Beach, Newquay 28 August, 12-7pm
• Lusty Glaze Beach, Newquay 29-30 August, 12-11pm

To register your team just email 'scrumonthebeach@therfu.com'.

Augmented Reality Shopping

I've posted about Augmented Reality numerous times now, and although I've said it before, I'll say it again; Augmented Reality rocks! This is where cutting edge is for me. This is the place that digital marketing can go to create the most interactive, most engaging, and most dynamic creatives and campaigns.

I was lucky enough sit in on a Cybercom 'Friday Session'* presented by Marty. Marty gave a fantastic run through of numerous Augmented Reality applications. Afterwards I said, in my mind it's clear that the next step is Augmented Reality shopping - being able to "try on" clothes in a virtual store before buying them. Well guess what? There' no need to wait....



How incredibly cool is that! Sure it's not 100% accurate or spot on, but it's cutting edge, it's not meant to be perfect. However, give it 6 to 12 months and as it transitions from cutting edge to leading edge, I guarantee this will be picked up by every major online clothes retailer. Consider that this technology could tell you what size clothes to buy. No more guessing as to whether an American 'M' is an English 'L'!

Augmented Reality Posts
Augmented Reality By Hand
Augmented Reality Top 10
Augmented Reality: Shopping for Glasses
Mobile Augmented Reality Game
Augmented Reality Music Video
Augmented Reality Pizza
Eminem's Relapse Augmented Reality
Papermotion
WWF Augmented Reality
What's In The Box? (ARG)

*Friday Session - every Friday 1 or 2 agency staff give a short presentation on a topic of interest to the whole agency. This could be on a new Social Media tool, new International Digital news or holiday snaps of a far off place. Either way, it's a place for everyone in the agency to get together and wind down for the weekend.

Billy Jean Moonwalk FlashMob

Last Friday at Liverpool Street Station (the same location as the T-Mobile FlashMob) an impromptu FlashMob came together to pay tribute to the late Michael Jackson. The event was sparked off earlier that morning by Rob Manuel, founder of web pranksters b3ta.com, who Tweeted "If I claimed there was a mass moonwalk being organised for 6pm at Liverpool Street Station would anyone believe me?".

This was then picked up by @Markcorrigan. The rest so they say, is history (I could have gone with a really bad pun there!)

Augmented Reality By Hand

It seems stupid but I had never even thought about doing Augmented Reality with drawn symbols. Of course it makes sense once you see it, and in my mind lends itself to something more - perhaps some sort of Augmented Reality based game where users had to discover symbols or solve problems, to see what's hidden in the code.

Google Voice: Update

Last Tuesday I posted about Google Voice, Google's phone and voicemail management system. Essentially this is Google's offering to allow you to unify all your telephones - including mobile, home, and work phones, into a single phone number. Previously the service was only on offer to existing GrandCentral customers. However, as of Thursday, Google are now rolling out invitations to everyone who requested an invite. Full details are available over on the Google Blog.

Adsense Opens For iPhone and Mobile Applications

Last Wednesday Google announced that Adsense was expanding to the iPhone and other mobile application platforms. A trial program has been in place with a small group of publishers such as Sega, Shazam, and Urbanspoon since April, to test and trouble shoot the new service. While the current offering will still be in beta, Google says that they see this as a way for developers to be rewarded for their work, and also to extend their contextual ad network.

Of course for advertisers, this means that the opportunity is now available to expand existing Adwords campaigns into various mobile applications. Some of the benefits that are offered are targeting traffic from specific applications and locations, and of course, targeting by specific keywords and categories.

The following is a testimonial from Howard Steinberg, Business Development Director at UrbanSpoon:

Display Advertising: Click for Fun

Cheers to Brian for sending this one around the office. Perhaps a perfect example of how to drive huge interaction rates, brilliant engagement times and, ultimately, grab attention and retention within your consumers.

Michael Jackson

Without doubt the world's greatest performer has died. Yesterday evening Michael Jackson passed away, following a cardiac arrest at his home. I feel truely sorry for everyone who never had the chance to see him perform. I saw him in Lansdowne Road in 1992 - no one has ever come close to doing a better gig in my opinion. Michael Jackson really was the King of Pop.

Chris Cornell - Bill Jeanie


Some of Michael's Moves

Facebook Connect

Spotted this great presentation from Razorfish, explaining exactly what Facebook Connect is and how it could be integrated into existing services. Worth a look if you're not completely familiar with Facebook's data portability function.

The 2010 Mustang

In 1990 Roger Keeney was involved in a farming accident. A piece of metal struck him in the head and when he regained consciousness he was unable to see anything. He had completely lost his sight. It might seem odd then to hear that Roger was given the chance to take the newest Ford Mustang convertible on an amazing ride; reaching speeds of up to 90mph and pulling doughnuts.

The 62 year old won the chance to do this by participating in Mustang's '10 Unleashed' promotion. The promotion asked people to describe their ultimate Mustang experience in 250 words or less. Sounds simple.

For anyone who likes cars (especially Mustangs!), watch Roger's entire video diary here.



If you have any interest in performance cars or drifting, check this out...

Hell.ie Pizza

Cheers to Damien for finding this (or at least posting about it so I could find it). I'm fairly sure there is no better Pizza company website, anywhere. Not only are these guys based in Dublin, not only do their pizza's look totally delicious, not only do they have a load of other mouth-watering foods, but when you get bored you can play with the devils! Honestly - chuck them around the screen - brilliant!

VW: Meet The Volkswagens (Display Ad)

I think this may be my favourite ad this year. For one it looks fantastic - extremely well designed and visually impactful. Secondly it works perfectly - no bugs or stalls. Finally, without appearing to jump on a bandwagon, it utilises a mainstream trend to pull you in and encourage engagement. Fantastic work!

The Future of Packaging

I won't spoil this by saying anything first, just watch...



Between the advent of e-paper and mag-ink technologies it's not hard to imagine this as a very realistic future of advertising. I'll admit that the photo-taking bit is probably a good deal further away and obviously forget the empty box with a camera popping out of no where, but otherwise I'm almost surprised that someone hasn't done something similar for highend products that could easily offset the cost.

Honda: Dream the Impossible

Honda have put together a series of documentary films called Dream the Impossible. They describe their company as believing in the Power of Dreams with a rich history of making impossible dreams come to fruition. The purpose of the films is to document Honda's advancement as a company. There are currently three films up, and all are worth watching if you want to be inspired or motivated to think beyond the now.

Mobility 2088


Failure: The Secret to Success


Kick Out The Ladder

Orange: Glastonbury Mobile App

I posted at the beginning of the month about Orange's great 'Spot the Bull' competition to win tickets to Glastonbury (check it out if you haven't already!). With the festival starting this Wednesday Orange have released their latest addition to their Glastonbury sponsorship, the latest version of the GlastoNav Mobile App.

GlastoNav, produced in association with the Guardian Guide, is a free mobile app that provides fans with an interactive guide to the festival. The app gives users stage times, the full festival line-up, the ability to create their own schedule for the weekend and an interactive map of the site. On top of this there's also a wealth of festival news, advice and alerts. It also allows users to share their schedule with their friends using the app.

The fun doesn't stop there though. At noon every day a ‘bull' icon will appear on the interactive map. Users just need to get to that spot to find a life-size bull with a code word written on the side. They then click on their map to be in with a chance to win exclusive VIP access to the Pyramid Stage for one of the featured performances.

Spencer McHugh, brand director, Orange UK, said "Orange GlastoNav is the best way to plan the perfect Glastonbury weekend, and sharing your schedule with friends means you will never miss meeting up for your favourite bands."

As a bonus Orange has also entered into a partnership with Bauer for everyone who downloads the app to get 50% off an annual subscriptions to Q Magazine.

Glastonbury starts on the 24th June.

Google Voice Now Has 1 Million Numbers!

There was some really big news last month when Google went ahead and reserved 1 million phone numbers. Following months of beta testing, this looks like the first sign that Google Voice may finally be ready to roll out. Going back to March of this year, Google annonunced it's latest service - Google Voice (their development plan for GrandCentral which was acquired in 2007) - a service that would allow users to unify all their phone numbers (work, personal, home, mobile etc.) into a single number.

Up until now GrandCentral has been opperating in Beta, but these 1 million numbers (all of which are level 3 numbers) surely indicates that Google are close to adding a significant amount of additional users. Unfortunately a Google spokesperson would only say "as a matter of policy, we typically do not comment on contracts with third-party technology suppliers."

Beyond unifying all your number, Google Voice proposes a number of new, really cool, features. Pop over to the Google Voice site and check them out (via handy YouTube videos!).

Uniqlo Calendar

I'll say nothing, just check this out.

I love Uniqlo so much.

Brilliant Music!

Brilliant Video!

Brilliant Application!

Brilliant Idea!

ComCast Highspeed Broadband

Hilarious ad from ComCast for their new highspeed broadband.

Google Maps Car in Dublin Today!

News reports are surfacing across the interweb that the Google Maps Car has been spotted around Dublin today!

Cloud Computing

A nice little video explaining the origin of Cloud Computing from IBM's 'A Smarter Planet' site. As they point out, there's also a more detailed article in the New York Time's here.

Tweet to Ads, Live!

In an industry first, Nestle (US) are preparing to launch a campaign allowing users to Tweet directly into their online display ads, live. Developed by SocialMedia, the new concept, coined 'Twitter Pulse', is currently being tested as part of a drive to promote its Juicy Juice fruit drink.

The ads will carry a range of questions such as ‘How do you stimulate your child's mind?' and ‘How important are vitamin enhanced foods to you?' Users can then use Twitter to answer the questions by posting tweets directly into the ad. Through use of a #hashtag the Tweets will also appear on the campaign Twitter profile.

When users clickthrough on the ads themselves they are brought through to the Juicy Juice's YouTube channel, where they can see a number of videos with useful information for parents.

Google: Real-Time Search

Without doubt, one of the largest growing areas within the Search Industry is Real-Time Search. That is the ability to search resources (usually User Generated Content and Web2.0 self-publicising platforms) that has just been created/uploaded. The best example of this is Twitter Search, which allows users to search through Tweets within real-time. This contrasts against traditional Search Engines that need to index and catalogue webpages before they become available through the engine.

A recent article on Revolution discussed how Google will integrate itself into this new area of search. The article quotes the unofficial Google System blog as saying that a real-time search service from Google would most likely deliver results sorted by relevancy that could integrate into Google's main results page. According to Revolution, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt has made it clear that Google is interested in the growth and potential of live search.

At the recent Zeitgeist Europe, Google co-founder Larry Page said, "People really want to do stuff in real-time and they [Twitter] have done a great job about it. We will do a good job of things now we have these examples."

In an update to their article Revolution also had the following statement from Google:

"At Google we strive to connect people to all the world's information, and this includes information that's frequently updated such as news sites, blogs and real-time sources. While we don't have anything to announce today, real-time information is important, and we're looking at different ways to use this information to make Google more useful to our users."

Augmented Reality Top 10

I spotted this great article on Brand Republic listing Alex Smith's (of Zed Media) top 10 examples of Augmented Reality. Most of them have been covered here on Digitology but there are a few quality examples that you should check out.

Bloggers Report Robot Sightings

A digital campaign has launched to promote 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen', which is based around two 'blogs' carrying stories of sightings of giant robots around the globe. The two blogs, The Real Effing Deal and Giant Effing Robots, are both conspiracy style sites, informing the public of the hidden truth about these strange giant robots. The sites feature regular blog posts, imagery and video footage of "transforming" robot sightings across the world.

The videos are really well done and show a host of locations such as Tokyo, Berlin, Barcelona and the UK. There is also one brilliant video of a robot sighting at the Champion's League final in Rome.

The campaign has been produced by Rubber Republic for Paramount Pictures and is being promoted worldwide. The blogs are supposedly run by characters from the film. Rubber Republic say that "the overall objective of the campaign is to allow fans to get more involved in the film's back story and find out what has happened since the first instalment".

Heath Tyldesley, marketing director for Paramount Pictures International, said: "Extending the narrative of the film into the real world prior to a film's release is a great way of building buzz and awareness among fans and viewers, rewarding them for their engagement with the first film. Directors are really embracing broadening the platforms of the films narrative to include the web and Michael Bay is no exception."

Matt Golding, creative director at Rubber Republic, said: "These clips not only take the world of the film into new spaces where fans can engage online, but also provide additional content around the film driving awareness of the release."

Microsoft $10k Give-Away

It seems that Microsoft Australia have really decided to go after Firefox's growing marketshare. In a rather intering online campaign, MS are offering (AUS)$10,000 to one lucky person who finds where the cash is "buried" on the internet.

The campaign has been activated from Microsoft's own site (http://www.microsoft.com/australia/ie8/competition/) but users have to follow Microsoft on Twitter (@tengrand_IE8) for clues to find the money. However, they have to do it with Internet Explorer 8! The site states:

"But you'll never find it using old Firefox.
(So get rid of it, or get lost.)"

Interestingly there is a dialogue box on the Microsoft site that is not viewable through Firefox, so users are forced to use Internet Explorer 8 to see any content there. Obviously Twitter works perfectly through Firefox, leading me to question their use of the micro-blogging site. Obviously it makes sense to "fish where the fishes are" (as someone I greatlty respect often says) but at the same time, if the entire campaign is driven to use Internet Explorer 8 instead of Firefox, surely they could have based everything through the Microsoft site?

Cheers to Gav for passing this on to me.


- - - - - Update - - - - -

Lukasz in work directed me to this site...

It's from a Mozilla Linguist and Coder, Mitcho. Clever! Check him out here or follow him on Twitter.

Win a House on Twitter

Back in 2007, Channel 4's 'Grand Designs' featured a house in Cheltenham owned by Tim Bawtree. Tim's £800,000 house failed to sell and soon after the airing property prices in the UK started falling. Faced with no certain turn-around on the current market, Tim decided to give the house away. Honestly.

Tim's plan is to link a microsite for the house to a Twitter account and generate enough traffic to sell ads on the site to raise £820,000 to cover the price of the house (and all costs) and allow a donation to 'Help for Heroes'.

Ads on his site are being sold for £100 a block, and Tim needs 90% of the blocks to be bought for the give-away to be activated.

The winner will be chosen at random from Tim's Twitter followers

Tim said: "Similar things have been done, but there was no hook. The hook here is that people can win a house for free, which will drive traffic from Twitter to the home page."

Koogle

According to a Brand Republic article, a new Search Engine is about to launch specifically aimed at orthodox Jews. The Search Engine, named Koogle, will allow orthodox Jews to search the net without breaking any Torah commandments. The site has been designed to meet guidelines provided by orthodox rabbis and will ensure that no sexually explicit material is shown.

The site will be Hebrew language based, offer a filter for ultra-orthodox Jews (so cannot have things such as TVs in their homes), and will not allow any activity on the Sabbath.

The name 'Koogle' comes from Google and the traditional Jewish dish 'kugel'.

36% of all Advertising will be Online Advertising by 2013

In a report on the British Entertainment and Media Market, PricewaterhouseCooper have concluded that 36% of all advertising will be made up of Online Advertising by 2013. Although these are UK based predictions, the figures indicate an almost 100% increase in Online Advertising spends in just 4 years. This follows an April report from PricewaterhouseCooper that showed UK Online Advertising expenditure had grown by 17.1% year on year in 2008 to £3.35bn, an increase of £540m compared to 2007. This was a growth from 15.5% to 19.2% of total UK ad expenditure.

Phil Stokes, the leader of the entertainment and media practice at Price Waterhouse Coopers, said:
"We anticipate fundamental structural change in many of the business models across E&M sectors to happen imminently. Perhaps surprisingly, a slowing economy will accelerate the migration to digital technologies among both providers and consumers of content, meaning the industry that went into the recession is very different from the one to emerge the other side. Segments will have to consolidate, the least loyal customers have already left, higher quality products will be valued by both consumers and advertisers, and digital distribution will have become mainstream -- commanding fees more in line with its value. For each of the industry's diverse segments, the winners will be those who focus on driving and leading change which delivers real value for consumers."

Tampax: ZackJohnson16

This is an odd one for sure. In fact it's beyond odd, I'm surprised that Proctor & Gamble were able to be convinced that this was a good idea. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying it is a bad idea. I'm just surprised that the Brand Manager on this campaign was willing to go down this route. Seriously good move on thier part - forward thinking, risky and definitely leading edge!

The new Proctor & Gamble Tampax campaign is based around 16 year old Zack Johnson. Zack has the mis-fortune to wake up one morning missing his 'boy parts'. Instead Zack has 'girl-parts' and doesn't know what to do. Things get even worse for poor Zack when 9 days later he gets his period.

The campaign utilises online short video interviews with Zacks family and friends, a video-blog, a blog and a micro-blogging feed, all brought through a dedicated microsite. The campaign is not branded with P&G or Tampax but does feature regular mentions of Tampax products from the point that Zack gets his period.

The first episode of Zack's blog already has 6,036 views on YouTube, and his Twitter profile has 973 followers.

Vodafone Twitter-Google Maps Mashup

Vodafone UK have launched a great Twitter and Google Maps mashup that lets users tweet where they’re going on holiday and have it automatically appear on their microsite map. The site also gives a trend analysis of what users are talking about in relation to their holidays.

Users just have to drop the '#ukhols' hashtag, their age, the first half of their postcode and where they're going into a tweet. All of this comes from the same guy that developed the #uksnow hashtag system that allowed users to tweet their post code and amount of snow, to create a truely accurate snowfall map, Ben Marsh.

The whole campaign is designed to promote Vodafone's drop in roaming charges this summer.