Crazy New Coke Ad

Happiness Factory I get. It's fun, it's got history, there's a story, it develops. Sure it's a little wacky, that crazy world going on inside a coke machine, but at the same time it makes sense - there is some sort of believability in it. Then Coke comes out with this...



I need someone to explain it to me. I really do. Where did it come from and what is it all about exactly? I just don't see how it fits in with anything else Coke are doing.

---UPDATE---

I completely missed that this ad is part of a much larger campaign. The music for this ad was done by the genius Calvin Harris! (interview below) and there's a fantastic microsite too! The funny thing is, after messing around with the site for a while - I totally get this ad, and I'm really starting to love it.

Jane Russell’s Original Irish Handmade Sausages

I had the pleasure yesterday evening to be invited to a little offline digital get-together organised by Jane Russell from Jane Russell’s Original Irish Handmade Sausages. The event was a simple meet, eat and greet by way of a roof top terrace BBQ. Jane has just launched a new range of (fantastically delicious) homemade sausages and wanted to share them with some bloggy types (which apparently I'm one of - who knew?).

Hosted in the always enjoyable Odessa Club, this was a great event. Though don't think for a moment that I'm swayed by the awesome free samples that Jane was kind enough to give us. There was an impromptu interview done by social guru Darragh Doyle (a big thanks to Darragh for the introductions), and as soon as I can get my hands on it I'll pop it up.

Jane has taken the bold (though increasingly sensible) option of engaging the digital and social media community to help get her brand out there. So don't be surprised as, over the coming months, you start to see Jane moving into the digital social media world. I for one can't wait - everyone needs to try their scrumptious sausages.

Pop down to Listons, Morton's in Ranelagh or Donneybrook Fair, in either Donneybrook or Greystones, to pick up some now.

Seth Godin: The Tribes We Lead

This is yet another fantastic TED video that I have to share. Here Seth Godin talks about the way in which the internet has moved from being a tool of mass communication and gone full circle to restoring the age-old human dendancy of forming tribes. Essentially being driven by the Social Media boom, Seth argues that the drive to share ideas and values, creates tribes that allow ordinary people to lead and create change. As a massive advocate of this movement, Seth rges everyone to become part of a tribe, or multiple tribes, and make changes happen.



In case you don't know who Seth Godin is (perhaps because you've been living in outer space for several years?); TED describe Seth as "an entrepreneur and blogger who thinks about the marketing of ideas in the digital age". For everything you'd like to know just visit http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/.

For other TED video that I like see here and here.

27Letters

GettyImages have just released a really sweet application to allow you to keep up with current visual trends from across the interweb. 27Letters will display the 27 most talked about, referenced and reproduced images for the month. Getty say it covers everything from “advertising to art, through to politics and celebrity.”

If you like, there's also a facebook group that you can join.

Chrome's Viral Goes To TV

I posted last week about Google's 11 short films that had been produced in a bid to push the Chrome browser. In a follow up, Google wanted to see if they could take a recently produced Japanese Google short and release it to a larger audience to promote Chrome. After speaking to their TV Ads team, on Friday Google announced that they'd be using Google TV Ads to run the "Chrome TV ad" on a number of TV networks from this weekend. Unfortunately this is all US based, but stay tuned, I wouldn't be too surprised if we saw it on our screens in the near future. For everyone who can't wait, here you go...

Our Rock Stars

Maybe it's because I'm a geek, but this is totally hilarious...

An Expression of Joy

BMW have just launched their latest marketing campaign for the BMW Z4 Roadster - “An Expression of Joy”

The ambitious campaign centres around a massive and very unique art project, bringing together video, outdoor, print, mobile and digital elements. The campaign features a painting two football fields in size created by artist Robin Rhode and filmmaker Jake Scott.

Utilising 160 litres of paint and 45 cameras, the pair filmed two Roadsters fitted with paint jets mounted behind their wheels, drifting and racing around the immense canvas, to create both a 30-second ad and a 30-minute documentary.

The documentary will be shown in the US on Discovery HD today, May 10 at 8:00pm. Repeats are scheduled throughout May and June, as well as a transition cross the water for airing on the European Discovery network. The 30-second ad will be used both on TV and onlin through MSN’s expandable video unit. This is the first time the unit will be used for a digital marketing campaign, allowing users to see the ads in full-screen mode.

In addition to MSN, video banners will also run on a number of high profile sites including CNN and Yahoo. Print ads are set to include an eight-page insert in Vanity Fair’s June issue, and coverage in several top end art and interior magazines. Outdoor will center on 10 international airports around the US.

However, beyond all this activity, the most interesting element of the campaign is the campaign microsite - “An Expression of Joy” which shows the filming process through a dynamic video interface, and features the mobile game, “BMW Z4 – An Expression of Joy”. The game has been developed for the iPhone and iPod Touch and has been available for download since March. An impressive 500,000 downloads have already been recorded. times.