campaigns that change your life

I must confess to not know of IDEO until now. I know, shame on me (their website is great btw).

Anyway, there campaign for Bank of America, ‘keep the change’, is of pure brilliance:

Based on ethnographic research that showed that target customers–boomer-age women with kids–tended to round up their financial transactions for both speed and convenience, IDEO developed a service that rounds up purchases made with a Bank of America Visa debit card to the nearest dollar, and then transfers the difference from the customer’s checking account to her savings account. That bit of financial wizardry also solved another problem: low savings rates among the members of the target demo. The campaign proved so popular that it drew more than 2.5 million customers in its first year, including 700,000 new checking accounts and one million new savings accounts for the bank. That’s no small change. (Fast Company)

Amazing. I wish my bank was doing that now.

It reminds me a bit of the Tap Project (from Droga 5), in which people are asked, for one day, to give $1 for tap water in restaurants, the money being given to charity to give clean water to people who need it.

Powerful ideas that change lives. That’s what I’m talking about. The solution is not always and ad. It actually rarely is.

And here is another one. That won’t change your life this time, but that made me laugh. Zuji, an online holiday site in Australia, wants to encourage people to take more holidays. So they are selling some items so cheaply that it helps you save for your holiday. Great idea. However, how many baked beans do I need to buy to actually save enough money for my holiday? What effect does selling cheap food have on their brand? It may work for baked beans, but it won’t work for much more products.

It’s nothing more than a stunt. A successful one mind you, it’s been talked about quite a lot, but it’s just that. A stunt. And it might be a bit confusing for punters at the end of the day.

Naked Monday

The weather sucks. So get warmed up by Fat Boy Slim’s new video. Another little viral perl.

que viva espana

Even at BBH, sometimes, we like to have a laugh. Only on Fridays. And only if it doesn’t last for more than 30 seconds. I was pretty close to getting caught on that one. But that’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.

Better quality here.

Project creative, any more entries?

Until tomorrow?

To the importance of pictures

It still surprises to realise how little people have learned over the last 10 years.

Pictures are the Internet most important asset. I decide about most things by looking at the pictures. And this is also what most people do.

Products, hotels, houses, places, experiences, and dare I say people, most of the most important things and choices in our lives are determined by looking at online pictures. And you can’t have too many pictures. It’s so easy to browse and you can rely on people to always find what they want.

I have come so disillusioned with transactional websites that when I want information, I actually look directly in Google pictures. It is most of the time much easier to find what you were looking for.

Or to type what you want in Flickr.

I couldn’t find any pictures of a decent pitcures (a 5*) on their websites so had to rely on tripadvisor and flickr to show me what it was like inside. I wouldn’t have booked it otherwise.

I wish some people could see how many transactions they missed just because they didn’t have enough pictures.

People love pictures. Facebook has become so popular because suddenly you could see everyone’s lives through their pictures. It’s that simple.

You can invest million of pounds in building social experiences, heavy transactional websites, you will miss the sale because of the quality of the pictures you put in (or there non-existence).

And there are million of ways to make browsing pictures really engaging and entertaining. Examples:

Mood stream from the Barbarian Group for Gettyimages

The Tag Galaxy

10 ways to interact with pictures (I think from Sumona for Gettyimages)

You can see more like that here.

Websites could just be pictures as far as I’m concerned. Make them bigger, put more of them, make it amazing to navigate. Everyone’s got a broadband connection, make the most of it.

Whatever you are advertising, invest in pictures.

More on the Google deal with Family Guy creator

A great article on the NY times about it.

Google and entertainment

Every now and then, when working on clients, we try to sell the odd short movies for our clients. Because it’s on the Internet, cost are low, etc.

But because of the nature of the web, it is very very difficult to actually drive an audience to a destination, as we’ve seen it before with Where are the Joneses (see episodic content on the web).

Some series have been successful, like Chad Vader

But many have failed.

The magic formula seemed to be combining screenwriting talent (preferably skilled at online narrative) and a succesful social platform.

For example:

- The guys from Lonely Girl 15 and Bebo have made one of the most successful online series in Kate Modern, with each episode racking up to 2 million views (in Bebo). Season 2 is on its way and seem to be even bigger.

- Or in the States, a project mandated by Sprint and Suave and developed by Mindshare, was combining the savoir faire of professional writers and the experience of real mothers, while adding a few B-celebrity to the mix and promoting it on MSN. It’s called ‘In the Motherhood‘.

They were getting an average of 5.5M views per episode and a fair share of positive reviews. Not bad by any standard. Season 2 is on its way, with a bigger budget.

Now, although budgets were coming along and getting a little bigger each time, Google has come to play. And what do they do? They just hire the best man in the business. No, not Rob Campbell (although they also have), but Seth Macfarlane, the creator of family guy.

I actually wish I was in that brainstorm. “Ok, so we need to do some funny content that we could put on our sites to get more ad money. Who’s funny? That Groening guy? He can’t do it. Ok. The Seinfield dude? Nope, too old. Ok got it, what about Family guy? That’s pretty funny. Everyone nods in agreement.” Ha, the easy life. I wish every brief was as simple.

MacFarlane has created 50 webisodes that will aim to attract “prime-time television advertising dollars to web-only video content” The Register.

This will be a very interesting project to follow. The webisode will be about 2 minutes long, perfect length for the web.

So this could be an amazing partnership. One of the funniest writer joining the most successful online property ever.

I one day asked one of the creative I worked with to write me something funny ( I was young and naive). He replied that if he was funny, he’d be writing for the Simpsons. He had a point I thought.

But I guess he’d better be gear up, because they might be coming for his job.

Project creative, entry #2

This entry comes from Facu, from Buenos Aires.

Here is his personal blog: http://alwaystrytogowithsomethingelse.blogspot.com/

I will keep on gathering entries this week (if we get any more that is? Who’s next?).

Coke Zero

Life As It Should Be

The Fair Revolution

Unfairness can present it self in many ways, it’s Portugal’s Ronaldo getting a red card at the Euro or a beautiful amazon jaguar getting skinned by poachers in the jungle, it’s cake that makes you fat, it’s the guy who cut in front of you at the cue because “he knew” someone.

Yes, life is unfair. We all know it , Coke Zero too.

ENTER / Coke Zero’s Fair Revolution.

A campaign where Coke Zero provides an ear to all the unfairness of the world. And at the end, action, try to make some things fair again by it’s own means and by sponsoring those unknown heroes that do it everday.

TELL / TheFairRevolution.com

A space where Coke Zero’s audience can share the unfairness in their lives and the world around them.

As people enter The Fair Revolution it will start to come to life. Like the earth’s exhaust where the people of the world can share their stories and know that other people and Coke Zero are listening.

Websites, videos, articles, pictures, illustrations, blogs all in one place, saying one thing: this isn’t fair.

/ ACTION

As TheFairRevolution.com will display the stories of unfairness by rating, this meaning that all the users can rate the stories of the others, the highest rated would be the story the most people relate or feel solidarity towards.

Coke Zero will take action with these high rated unfairness stories and try to make them right, make them fair, with in all of it’s power and limitations of course.

SPONSOR / Unknown Unfairness Fighters

Coke Zero can sponsor the Unknown Unfairness Fighters, these are the heroes, the “brand celebrities”, the unknown unfairness fighters.

Coke Zero would help them economically but also tell their stories, what they do to make the world a little more fair, short documentaries that would go up on the web to open the debate.

Conclusion

This campaign is about taking action. Now a days, saying something isn’t enough. Brands have to get out there and do something real, and I’m not just talking about bringing people together, but doing it for a reason, this is Social Responsibility, the UN’s Global Pact, being green.

I think A Fair Revolution from behalf of Coke Zero works well conceptually. I’m not going to get into the execution ideas at this point, but Coke Zero should be the bad boy of Coca-Cola company. It already has the aesthetics, the attitude, now let’s bring it to life and do or try to do something for people’s lives, for real.

I don’t know to what extent this brand can get involved politically with some issues, but I think that would be a great way to go. An involved way of being a brand that says: Life As It Should Be.

Again, saying something isn’t enough, let’s double that bet and see what Coke Zero can really do for their consumers and all people who share it’s vision of life.

Creative project Coke Zero, first entry

This comes from Ed Smith, and looks pretty good. (btw Ed is looking for a job as a digital planner…).

Again, there is no right or wrong at this stage. I will collate more entries next week.

Coke Zero

‘Life As It Should Be’

Coke Zero Universe

Welcome to the Coke Zero Universe. A campaign where the audience don’t just participate in it, they create it. By unifying the Coke Zero’s target audience and gathering all the interests of the young 21^st century male together to create their Coke Zero Universe. The twist is that instead of the brand telling the target audience who they are, they can tell us. This is life as it should be…

Part 1

CokeZeroUniverse.com and Coke Zero Remote Control (for internet browser)

The Coke Zero Remote Control for your internet browser is a free to download application which acts as a remote control to browse the internet (this will fit in internet explorer). Like the Stumbleupon.com application you can vote on each page you visit whilst it also learns what you like by recording your favourites. When everyone does this The Coke Zero Universe will become a world of websites, youtube clips, articles, blogs all collected and shared by Coke Zero’s target audience.

Also in the style of Digg.com you will be able to add a Coke Zero Universe icon onto your website, blog or article which will direct traffic to your site and in doing so will also help build the Coke Zero Universe. This will allow people to rate your site, article etc – Zero being the highest score, naturally.

Using your Remote Control in your internet explorer you can navigate to these sites via categories or using the ‘Channel Flicker’ to randomly select a page.

Categories can include for example:

Sport

Funny Stuff

The Weird Web

Girls

Cokezerouniverse.com will act like a magazine of what people have found and shared whilst it will also display the highest rated sites, articles, videos etc displaying exactly what the Coke Zero target audience like. This will also be where you can get the Universal Remote Control for your Mobile (see part 2)

Part 2

Coke Zero Universal Remote Control (widget for mobile phones)

Turn your mobile into the Coke Zero Universal Remote Control. With Coke Zero’s free to download widget, your mobile can become the young male’s personal lifestyle guide. Bored and stuck on what to do? Turn to your Universal Remote to find out what’s on near you.

Your Universal Remote Control, just like your sky remote at home, will be split into several categories with each displaying a list of what’s on around where you are, e.g.

All Channels

Entertainment

Sport – e.g. football game or sports club

Culture

Activities

Movies

Music - e.g gigs

Still can’t decide what to do? Like the remote for your browser another feature of the Universal Remote Control will be the ‘Channel Flicker’. A system that will pick at random an event/place/shop etc. for you to go and check out and rate.

By visiting cokezerouniverse.com you can add to Coke Zero’s offerings on the Universal Remote Control by adding anything you think people should know about from a piece of graffiti to a summer festival for example.

This is a remote with intelligence, delivering personalized content tailored to the user’s own tastes and localized to their present location.

How will this work?

GPS technology will track the mobiles location thus the Universal Remote Control can filter the content to events in your present location

Working in the same way as Sumbleupon creates a memory based on how you rate each event/place/gig, the more you use it the more personal the service becomes

Visual style ideas

I’ve put together a few examples of visually how this campaign could look. Bellow is the work of Eric Tan. I feel his work is perfect for the campaign, its fun messages and attractive to the target audience.

Also I found this poster for the film Metropolis which in a strange way summed up whole campaign and too could be inspiration for the visual approach.

Summary

This campaign allows it’s consumers to embrace and be apart of the coke zero culture by involving them and allowing complete interaction. Also this campaign, particularly with the Universal Remote Control provides a perfect platform for Coke Zero to launch any other marketing initiatives for example an event. The remote control and the mobile phone are the 21^st century’s young male’s gadget/companion/best friend/life support and are utilised for them to create a culture around Coke Zero, which they, the audience choose. Life As It Should Be.

Robinsons - return to Tastebuddyland

It’s Friday… And I’m procrastinating more than usual.

Thought you might want to waste 5 minutes too.

Have a play at our new online game for Robinsons. It’s obviously targeted at a young audience, but it’s cute and entertaining. Well done Rich, Andy and Johan.

http://www.raisethemonrobinsons.com/buddies/

(I have one little doubt about it, let’s see if you find it)