This is exciting. A thief prowling at another. I actually believe that bicycle thievery in San Francisco is pretty prevalent considering the police are now so adamant on nipping these crimes, they resorted to the idea of “Bait Bikes”. A very interesting approach where bicycles are now tagged with GPS devices. Indeed, this is almost like a case half solved. Obviously, for most oblivious thieves, this becomes the ultimate giveaway for them. San Francisco Police Department had their Anti-Bike Theft Unit coming out with a brilliant strategy to apprehend thieves through innovative means. I love how they would then mock the culprit who took the bait. As funny as it might seems, these bicycles were baits to lure the culprits to steal them and eventually had their faces recorded and posted on educational Twitter account, @SFPDBikeTheft. Not only is this humiliating, it is also very entertaining. Bicycle theft cases are on the rise and such measures are panacea to the perpetual crimes plaguing the society. Again, great use of technology, social media and creativity.
There were the times when you saw something but you actually did not, and thought your imagination or eyes are playing tricks on you. Now, what if that is true and this liberal act of fooling people’s eyes is all in the name of fun and surprise? Orange mobile, has launch a series of interesting outdoors, bringing that surprise element to the public. All these surprises with the effort to convey the message that Orange delivers bespoke services for your mobile bills when you travel. Check out my favorite among the four, the art gallery one. Below, are the rest of the campaign. Nice effort by advertising agency, Publicis for Orange Mobile.
They say injecting a bit of fun and quirkiness into your work, will garner you more traction for that bit of effort. Now, when you acknowledge that people are mostly interested in interesting work, funny contents and things that benefits them, crafting a great idea to success becomes a lot more easier. I particularly like how Wendy’s created this commercial where they convert tweets into love songs! People would tweet about the new Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and it would be sung and played. Very entertaining and amusing at the same time. All you need to do is to tweet or Facebook it with hashtag #PretzelLoveSongs. A new engaging way to communicate mutually using a passive media like TV.
“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.” Richard Branson
Being an innovative and bold leader, Richard Branson lives up to his name. Under his leadership, Virgin Atlantic had enjoyed significant success in all areas of their business. One of the key positioning for Virgin Atlantic would be the experience of flying. They emphasize this further by bringing the experience outdoors. Through the element of surprise, they gave the public a glimpse of what they would enjoy should they fly with Virgin Atlantic. You see an ordinary yet comfortable bench, then without much suspicion, you take a seat, ONLY to realize the drama that is about to unfold. You are greeted by stewardess clad in red uniform approaching you with drinks, you could see a drama, a real game taking place as well as the luxury of having a meal. This approach leaves a rather deep impression in the minds of the people and would generally keep them captivated by the surprises they get. A great way to share your airline’s brand experience with people who might not have try it before and potentially spur a successful conversion.
Driving is definitely sheer pleasure with great german technology. The emphasis on the experience of driving is one which most of us can relate to. That kind of emotional relation draws your clients closer to your brand. There are many ways to explore when coming out with a good creative idea. Whether it is to bang on an idea that shrieks of the brand name, a comparison between brands, a bashing approach or in this case purely on the emotional aspect of the consumer. BBDO has recently done a commercial for Mercedes. We see a guy in his Mercedes-Benz cruising around while he constantly takes a glimpse of the rearview mirror. A nice blend of smoothing music on the background extrudes a sense of calmness while building up a relaxing ambient. We witness joy, satisfaction and fulfillment in him. He gets carried away and eventually something bad is ABOUT to happen. The point to note here is the emphasis on the event that might happen should he continue to skive his attention off the road. Here, we see how the car effectively place him back on track. The commercial ends with the line “When your mind wanders, ATTENTION ASSIST brings it back”. While I have to admit most automotive car commercials could be rather serious and mundane, this is quite cleverly done.
“Designed by Apple in California”. Big deal? That was the question I had for myself towards the end of the commercial when this liner slaps across the screen. There wasn’t any new tech nor content in the commercial. Not even the slightest amusement can I derive from this commercial. It is simply dull.
Apple’s commercial, “Designed by Apple in California” seem to have garner more attention than it expected. But not in a really pleasant manner. The commercial received a low score of 489 out of 900 based on the Ace Metric scale. Apple commercials never used to be boring nor sterile in any fashion. I still remember the Apple vs Microsoft commercials featuring the Mac talking to Windows with lots of quips, barbs, sight gags, and one-liners. The recent commercial has been a flop by many and haven’t been getting a lot of healthy publicity.
In fact one of the reasons attributing to the commercial’s bad reviews was the lack of information as well as the tonality depicted. While Apple remains a tech giant in it’s league, it has given viewers great disappointment by delivering a commercial that focus solely on it’s branding. Recently, Apple has been going under a lot of fire by the general public as well as their fans for the lack of unveiling great technology. People are starting to see a drop in the company’s standards in terms of their products and business operations.
As a solution to the lost of market share, it is natural to adopt an approach to regain consumer confidence by taking up the branding option in your marketing communications. This could be a desperate attempt to revive the spirits of their dying fans. I have to say, too much of these is not going to work. I theme these commercials as ‘fillers’. They aren’t exactly the kind of commercials you want to show to your viewers at this point of time. Your fans want ‘gamechangers’, new tech that would awe them. An arsenal of new equipment to let them stay amazed and keep their faith in the brand. Definitely not some rapport building brand commercials during such dire times.
Strides made by Apple towards their goal of regaining confidence has been futile. I hope to see more amazing work from Apple that would rekindle my love for the brand. Do you like the new Samsung commercials? What do you think of them compared to Apple’s new commercials?
An ad can aim to draw attention by means of the impact it triggers to the end viewer. Sometimes we do not need out of this world visual effects or zany jokes to grab people’s attention. What we can do is really simple: Be truthful and be the bad guy. Show the viewer what the bad guy does in the most crude manner ever possible. Bring these sins to light. An ad campaign by KBS+P for World Vision Canada drives the message that ‘No child should ever be for sale’. They ran the two videos portraying young children as products to be sold using direct response TV style of pitching and this crude way have raise quite a bit of attention. The host of the videos introduces the young children’s name and how much you can drive these children to work long hours with exceptionally low wages. Disgusting as you might think, but I assure you this message is very real. There are many unfortunate children going through this notion.
So, do you think this is a powerful way to convey the message? Feel free to give your comments.
Sharp Electronics awe us the perks of embracing innovative technology to enhance in-store shopping experience. A nice video here to demonstrate how consumers can now see themselves virtually ‘wearing’ what they may or may not be trying on at the store. The Magic Mirror was developed for UNIQLO clothing stores, empowered by a 60″ High Brightness Professional Display and launched during the Digital Signage Expo 2013. This is yet another innovative approach to further add a little bit of touch to polish up a better shopping experience. Not only does the mirror allow you to take a snapshot of yourself (or what you may be virtually wearing), it also has an accompanying tablet that syncs to your social platforms. As technology advances, we will definitely see our retail shopping behaviors and habits changing.
I had a good laugh when I saw the ads by BBH London for the British soft drink brand, Tango. They are known as the ‘AAARGH’ ads. What you do see in all the 3 executions is the reaction of the person after gulping down the soft drink. Some times a simple yet exaggerating execution could result in a rather memorable ad. However, the results could be dicey if the creative work is not well managed. This tv spot is short and sweet with a highly impactful effect simply illustrated by those exaggerated expressions. This is great work produced without being encumbered by any stale traditional advertising formula. I like it.
One of the things that fascinates me the most is the creation of great technological inventions that enriches our lives and make the world a better place to live in. Breakfast New York has just created this really cool work which they can be proud to say it is The World’s most Advanced Street Sign. The project which they themed ‘Points’, is a street sign with really cool features. It also has a rather sleek look to it. The street sign is actually socially connected, which means it can display pretty much information from the social world and transmit that information on the street sign itself. So now, it not only brings you information, it also gives you directions and adjusts itself as the day goes by. You can even select from the menu on the street sign for tweets, coffee or dinner! Impressive technology with display from 16,000 LEDs across the 3 full directional arms.
Will there be more features to come? This question pops up as I was admiring the work through the video. I began to ask if there could be more added features. What if the street sign could be a wifi point for people to tap in and surf their smartphones? What if there were a power point for cyclist to charge their electric powered bikes? What if it is placed in the middle of the business district and it displays the current stock xchange? There are still a lot to be done and more creative ways to execute this interesting idea. This is after all, a great idea that opens up many possibilities for us.
Zack Chia 