Great 80s style viral from Pixar

At first glance this looks like a typical 80s TV commercial, but it's actually a viral ad for the Toy Story 3 which is scheduled to premier in June. To introduce one of the new characters from the film - Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear - Pixar has created this fake retro commercial and uploaded it to Youtube. It's very convincingly done, the noise at the bottom of the screen and the distorted sound makes it look like it's been transferred from an old VHS tape. The Youtube account it is uploaded to looks very authentic as well with lots of other 80s commercials. All in all a great attempt to blur the line between reality and fiction.

Via: Yahoo Movies

Colour sensitive billboard by IBM

As a part of their Smarter Planet Agenda campaign, IBM created this billboard that changes colour according to the colour of clothes people in front of it are wearing. The result is a very simple form of interaction where no technical devices such as mobile phones or cameras are needed to be able to take part in the experience.

Inspiration Grid by Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels

I like this idea from Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels. On their website they invite people to upload pictures of the things that inspire them. When you flip one of the pictures on the grid there's a little explanation of why someone found it interesting. Nice way to share ideas and inspiration visually.

G-Star is entering into social media territory in their New York Fashion Week Competition

In a previous post I wrote about how crowd sourcing seems to be gaining popularity in advertising, but in this online competition by G-Star the crowd sourcing idea has had a social media layer added to it. People are simply encouraged to sign up for the competition by using the log in from their favorite social networking site. Then it's up to the individual Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Flicr user to impress the G-Star judges by uploading video, images and writing tweets showcasing their passion for fashion and denim. The most convincing social networking effort in each category is rewarded with a trip to New York Fashion Week where they get to cover the G-Star runway show, and get their reports streamed live on G-Star.com.

The aim is of course to get people to participate and engage with the brand in a more active fashion. But the way the competition is set up also allows G-Star to get a valuable presence in people's social networks and online conversations. Definitely a good attempt at integrating social media and advertising. It will be interesting to see what the development will be like in this area in 2010.

Spotted at Viralblog

Crowdsourcing

Over the last few months the advetising industry seems to have experienced increasing competition from crowdsourced advertising solutions.

First there was the story about Unilever dropping their long time collaboration with advertising agency Lowe back in August. Instead Unilever put up a $10.000 prize for creative ideas for the new Peperami TV commercial on the Idea Bounty web site.

Then there was the launch of the new agency Victors & Spoils in October that claims to be the first crowdsourced ad agency in the world.

And finally Pepsi owned brand Mountain Dew is asking consumers to vote for the best advertising idea on their web site. Both agencies and other creative individuals can submit their ideas.

And there's probably been lots of other similar examples that I haven't noticed.

A couple of years back London agency TBWA had a go at crowdsourcing ideas for some of their briefs. They called it The Big What Adventure and encouraged people to submit their ideas for different campaigns. I don't remember all the details but it's safe to say that it wasn't well received. Advertising bloggers all over the world lined up to have a go at TBWA and acused them of fishing for free ideas and exploiting consumers.

I don't know if it's a question of us becoming more used to the idea of crowdsourcing now or if TBWA really didn't offer a fair deal back then. But people definitely seem more open to crowdsourcing in an advertising context today.

It's going to be very interesting to see how the advertising industry will adapt to this potential threat, and if the corwdsourced business model will be more succesful this time round.

Absolut goes naked.

A new limited edition bottle with no label or logo has been launched by Swedish vodka brand Absolut. The only thing added to the iconic bottle is a small removable sticker proclaiming that "in an absolut world there are no labels." The new naked design is part of a campaign meant to challenge prejudice about sexual identities.

Via PSFK

Tetris!

I have always been fascinated by Tetris. Here are 2 very different takes on the game to enjoy this Friday afternoon. One is a low tech commercial for Freeboard skateboards and the other is an After Effects animation of a Berlin building block by Sergej Hein.

I love them both! More Tetris stuff!

Drinkspiration

I really like this little app by Absolut Vodka. As the name “Drinkspiration” suggests it’s a cocktail finder designed to help you decide on what to drink based on location, sound level, ingredients and time of day etc. I’m just thinking of the countless number of times this could have saved me from ordering yet another boring gin&tonic (don’t get me wrong, I like a gin&tonic as much as the next person, but variety is key here). When you have decided on a cocktail the app will tell you exactly what ingredients you need, so all you have to do is show it to the bartender or start mixing. I think this is one of those rare occasions where a company actually gets it right when it comes to branded content and comes up with something people would actually want to use.

The app also connects to social sites like Facebook and Twitter so you can share cocktail recipes and tell people where you’re having your new favorite drink. I don’t know if I would ever use that feature myself, but if it caught on with more active facebook users it could potentially give Absolut a much sought after presence in people’s social networks.

But I think the real strength of Drinkspiration is that it doesn’t overdo the advertising side of things. It uses the visual identity of Absolut but keeps the application looking stylish at the same time. It doesn’t limit it’s recipes to vodka based cocktails, but suggests drinks based on other kinds of liquor as well. So you don’t really feel like you’re being subjected to advertising when you use it, and I think that’s key to making it attractive in the digital age of today where you almost always can find an ad-free alternative.

If you have an iPhone then simply download it for free, otherwise you can check it out on youtube.

New stuff from Hi-ReS!

One of my favorite web design agencies Hi-ReS! has done a new really great campaign for The Economist.

Ever since I came across the Hi-ReS! designed site for the movie Donnie Darko I have been a fan of the way they use sound to create atmosphere and their ability to construct interesting little universes for the users to explore.

And the Thinking Space campaign they have created for The Economist is no different. It’s a 3D site showcasing the thinking spaces of a selection of creative thinkers like Spotify founder Daniel Ek and Georgia Tagliette who’s the head of International Media and PR at the Sónar Festival.

First of all, I think the design is exceptional. The 3D layout is so convincingly executed that you want to keep exploring the site and see the different spaces assemble and dissolve.

But the content is very interesting as well. I love the way you get a glimpse of these interesting peoples’ workspaces and thought processes, and the narrative voices give it such a personal touch.

It’s very clever how they make you see The Economist through the eyes of these interesting people, and how it almost becomes a peer to peer recommendation instead of an advertising campaign. I wasn’t really interested in The Economist before, but now that certain sections of the magazine come recommended by the founder of De-Bug Magazine Mercedes Bunz, I might give it a read.

More advertising like this Please!