Even after the hype of the World Cup 2010 is dying down, viewers still find themselves humming that catchy K’Naan song. Renown for its ever-innovative marketing campaigns, Coca-Cola has done it again by turning “Wavin’ Flag,” hitting the scene during the Vancouver Olympics, into a walking, singing Coca-Cola commercial during the World Cup by adjusting the melody ever so slightly.
Reaching #1 on the music charts in over 17 countries, Coke has essentially gotten their signature sonic logo stuck in the heads of millions of consumers worldwide, which will last long after the end of the World Cup. It is their largest ever integrated marketing campaign to date and considered much more effective than merely paying an artist to mention their brand in a song.
So if the K’Naan song happens to be playing while you’re eating meal, it is no coincidence that all you want is a Coke.
You know, the type of ads that literally scream at you to look at them, confuse you, blare sounds from areas unknown (which then let your coworkers know you aren’t working), etc.
The ads will integrate HD video content and aim to continue to provide viewers advertising content, now with integrated editorial content. I’m all for innovating the simple and old-school banner ad a bit, but making ads bigger, more intrusive and more disruptive isn’t the answer from my perspective.
As the story points out briefly, internet users don’t respond well to these types of ads, so I’m not sure making the ads bigger and more disruptive is the answer. The word after all is disruptive (root word; disrupt) and thanks to dictionary.com, I can say with certainty that associating an ad with any of these feelings might not leave the viewer feeling to good:
1. to cause disorder or turmoil in
2. to destroy, usually temporarily, the normal continuance or unity of; interrupt
3. to break apart: to disrupt a connection
I regularly review recent ads and videos from all over the country (if you don’t already, check out/subscribe to Out to Launch, a witty blog full of soon-to-be or recently launched campaigns, promotions, sites, etc.) so as I went through the list of the Cannes Ad Festival winners of 2009-10, I was surprised to run into only a few spots I had seen before.
Always a supporter of diy technology development, I thought it was interesting to see that someone decided eating cupcakes with one’s hands was obviously outdated.
Enter the ‘Cupcake Cannon’ created by the folks over at Kamp Grizzly in Portland.
Apparently they made this for the recent Johnny Cupcakes ‘Suitcase Tour’ stop that rolled through and according to the story on their site the cannon they developed was “a steam-punk style pneumatic cupcake cannon and set the stage for eating frosty delights at 120psi.” The video was captured in HD and is now making its way around the web.
Who know watching people get blasted with cupcakes, in slow motion, with good tunes playing in the background would be so much fun. Nice work guys!
I grew up on these as a kid (Sesame Street and 3-2-1 Contact), and finally Al Jarnow is being recognized for his brilliant work. These animations have resurfaced and offer a trip back to simpler times of wonder and discovery. Introducing Al Jarnow, the mastermind behind the short films embedded into our collective memory. Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnowcompiles a retrospective of Jarnow’s familiar animations along with his more obscure shorts.
There’s also a sweet disc compilation that comes with a 60 page book chock full of articles, stills, and production notes. It’s presented by the Numero Group, and includes all of Jarnow’s short films as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary on his journey from realist painter to filmmaker, detailing his creative process and sources of inspiration.
If anyone ever wants to take me to ROFLcon I will be all over that.
Till then, you can check out a video by Motherboard talking with some of the speakers of the event, including I Can Has Cheezburger, Regretsy, Autotune the News and more. It’s an interesting look into the humor, industry and downsides Interweb LOLz can have on the lives of those not intending to become viral sensations. Watch the video.
GE assembled a veritable dream team of agency partners (including HyperQuake) to help drive the conversation around how technology and innovation can help solve some of the challenges we face today in health. Occupying space on 5th Avenue and 44th Street, the two-week event — filled with a mix of seminars and thought leadership panels — highlights the transformative role that technology and innovation play in delivering better health to more people.
Healthcare: A shared experience
GE came to HyperQuake to help develop a common narrative structure and character storylines to set the stage for the events for a variety of visitors (Physicians, Healthcare Administrators, Customers and Consumers). Through a series of short videos, this narrative became the consistent thread for connecting the goals of Healthymagination to a shared set of experiences all people may have as it relates to Healthcare.
Character narrative and storyline videos presented in the Healthymagination Showcase, New York City, October 2009.
Characters and experiences we can relate to.
On display throughout the futuristic space were 23 of GE’s latest healthcare innovations that spotlight breakthroughs in areas such as miniaturization, mobility, healthcare IT and molecular imaging used in cancer detection. The personal impact that these technologies can have was told through a series of patient vignettes told in first-person videos throughout the event space.
Project Agency Partners included: HyperQuake – Character Storylines and Narrative Development; Local Projects – Media Design and Production; Thinc Design – Exhibit and Sculpture Design; Urban A&O – Architectural Design.
So you may have remembered a post we shared in the blog here a year or so ago about how Old Spice was on a quest to reinvent their brand.
Hit unexpectedly hard when AXE launched onto the scene, Old Spice had to step up its coolness factor and remove the ‘your dad’s deodorant of yesteryear’ tag.
The brand’s choice: retain the character and identity, but flaunt it. Make it fun.
For a refresher course on what the brand did, check out the original post.
Fast forward to today; Old Spice unleashes upon the general public a series of pretty much the most hilarious commercials myself and from what I can gather, many others of have seen.
With the commercials, the brand has moved more aggressively (I’m being literal here) into the body wash category. This move is probably again thanks to AXE pushing hard in the segment and Old Spice wanting to build loyalty so men are using their whole product line.
So, the commercials retain the old-timey whistled jingle, but that doesn’t come until the end. Up front, they use chaos, comedy, confusion, old-school Batman style visual descriptions (think POW! & WHAM!), a well as Godzilla style demolition.
The manly man approach is clearly still there, they’ve just built on it to make it more over the top.
GE assembled a veritable dream team of agency partners (including HyperQuake) to help drive the conversation around how technology and innovation can help solve some of the challenges we face today in health. Occupying space on 5th Avenue and 44th Street, the two-week event — filled with a mix of seminars and thought leadership panels — highlights the transformative role that technology and innovation play in delivering better health to more people.