T-Mobile Flashmobbing - Trafalgar Square chosen for next Advert

Firstly... no this is not a joke... Today will see an army of people congregate in London's Trafalgar Square for another taste of the Liverpool Street T-Mobile 'Life's For Sharing' Flashmob. The video trailer for the event due to be held at 6pm - 7pm Today (April 30th 2009), was posted on T-Mobile's YouTube channel on Sunday 26th April, and is swiftly making its way around the web, entitled 'T-Mobile's Next Event - Trafalgar Square' (shown below).



I am however a bit scepticle of how this will be received, not because their last dance was only 3 months ago (I mean that was fantastic), but mainly because there seems to have been a lot of copycat attempts in the meantime which may have stolen T-Mobile's thunder (Such as the below for example). I'm sure it will be great, and lead to some great work off the back of it, but I can't help but think that we're not thirsty enough for a repeat just yet.




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100 Single Ladies Flashmobbing - Trident UnwrappedT-Mobile - Flashmobbing Liverpool Street Advert


HT to Joe btw

The Call of the Sirens - Agent Provocateur

Summer is approaching, and with it a chance for Agent Provocateur to showcase their line in another rather risque video. The latest video shows Karen Elson, wife of White Stripes' singer Jack White is promoting the summer collection in a campaign called The Call of the Sirens.




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Apple Celebrates 1 Billion App Downloads on iTunes

To mark the milestone of 1 billion application downloads by iPhone and iPod users on iTunes, Apple run a number of homepage takeovers on New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNET.com. The takeovers once again show the continuous clean and simple creative we associate with Apple, and finishes by thanking consumers for their help (shown below).



The one billionth app downloaded, "Bump" created by Bump Technologies, was downloaded by Connor Mulcahey, age 13, of Weston, who was hailed the grand prize winner of Apples one billion app countdown contest. For this he received a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule and a MacBook Pro (not bad going for an app costing a couple of dollars).



Apple '1 Billion App Downloads on iTunes' (New York Times) - Image 1



Apple '1 Billion App Downloads on iTunes' (New York Times) - Image 2

South Park mentions Susan Boyle in latest episode

As you may of heard there is a certain lady called Susan Boyle creating a bit of a Twitterstorm over the last week or so, and whilst I was desperately trying to avoid writing about her, I kind of feel compelled to mention this recent update. It was tweeted today by Telegraph.co.uk that South Park (not being a show to miss an opportunity to poke fun at the latest hot topic) have namechecked Susan Boyle in their latest episode (see below).



You can view the full Telegraph.co.uk article here 'Susan Boyle is namechecked on South Park' and for all of those who are interested in how a normal everyday cat-lady can go from zero to hero in a matter of tweets, please read Nick Burcher's post entitled: Susan Boyle - Google Insights for Search shows her global celebrity status!.



Susan Boyle - Mentions Chart (www.twist.flaptor.com)



Susan Boyle Performance - Britain's Got Talent

TimeToConsider.co.uk - Mysterious Poster Campaign hits the Capital... again!

This is a slightly random one for me, mainly because I'm not a huge fan of surprises. This latest mystery outdoor campaign of which all agencies involved are apparently sworn to secrecy (according to Twitter) is no different, and although I'm sure it will drive us all crazy, will, like the Times 'Mystery Black Poster Campaign', get us all blogging and tweeting like no-bodies business. The posters consist of some rather stunning although controversial images (shown below), with a very 'Dove' (Unilever rather than the bird) like question posed to the onlooker. Directing people simply to the website 'www.timetoconsider.co.uk' when they are greeted with further images, and an opportunity to comment with their views.



Time to consider - Hunting 'Birthright or Brutality?'



Time to consider - Chickens 'Justifiable Cruelty?'



Time to consider - Old Man 'Pity or Pitiful?'



Time to consider - Tanks 'Deterrent or Provocation?'


It will be interesting to see once again how this plays out, especially as every day more and more of us are becoming further established within the blogging and social communities of which we integrate within our everyday routine, as well as the tools and services available to us to help us do this. Will this create the same stir as the Times campaign did? I don't know, but it will be fun finding out.

100 Single Ladies Flashmobbing - Trident Unwrapped

'Trident Unwrapped' have have carried out a nice piece of guerrilla activity by means of a flashmob in London's Piccadilly Circus, to promote a new competition offering tickets to an exclusive Beyoncé 'I AM' show at London's 02 on 15th November 2009. So how do you promote something like this? How about 100 Single Ladies, dancing to 100 Single Ladies by Beyoncé in Piccadilly Circus (that oughta do it).



For those of you interested in order to enter all customers need to do is purchase a pack of Trident gum, then enter the last four digits of their barcode to enter the ticket ballot.





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Philips Carousel Short Film - Cinema 21:9 LCD TV

This is a very nice short film by Philips for the launch of their new Cinema 21:9 LCD TV (shown below), which can be fully appreciated and interacted with on their new website www.philips.co.uk/cinema. The movie, entitled Carousel, directed by Adam Berg, quite appropriately lasts 2 minute 19 second and is filmed in one continuous tracking shot.



The interactive film on the site allows the user to explore the world of film seeing parts of the film through the eyes of the director, and the special effects and lighting experts.

Audi Vs. BMW Tactical Outdoor Campaign

This is a brilliant tactical execution from the US which saw an ad targeting BMW, completely stopped in its tracks by a speedy response by BMW. Santa Monica advertising agency, Juggernaut Advertising, initiated a tactical outdoor marketing campaign on behalf of BMW Santa Monica, in response an Audi A4 outdoor campaign challenging BMW with the headline “Your move, BMW.”



As shown in the picture above, BMW SM promptly showed their response to the ad with their BMW M3 creative featuring the headline “Checkmate.” This is a very nice example of tactical advertising, which has certainly gained a bit of additional coverage off the back of it. There is video below showing a little bit more, for those interested

BMW Z4 “An Expression of Joy” - Augmented Reality

Here is a brilliant idea which uses a reasonably new technology in an extremely interesting and innovative way. As part of the new BMW Z4 “An Expression of Joy” campaign BMW have released an augmented reality tool which takes its idea from the TV ad featuring artist Robin Rhode in which the BMW Z4 drives over a huge canvas painting as it drives (shown below).



Taking this idea of “An Expression of Joy” one step further, the augmented reality tool allows the user to create their own virtual piece of art (shown below), by taking the BMW Z4 for a spin around their desk treating it as the canvas. Once the user is happy with their masterpiece they are able to submit them to a gallery on Facebook. For anyone wishing to try this out, the tool can be found here - Create your own Expression of Joy



I really like this idea, as the 'Create your own Expression of Joy' Augmented Reality tool seems like a completely natural extension of the campaign. Admittedly the technology is such that your computer needs to be fast enough to handle this program, but it definitely shows what is possible and the way in which things could be moving towards. Another slightly earlier example of augmented reality was shown at the end of last year in this print ad for new MINI Cabrio in Germany, which again proves how easy it is to integrate the technology into a media campaign.



Update: A comment on YouTube claims that, 'The music for the UK version of the BMW Z4 “An Expression of Joy” advert, according to the official statement from the BMW Marketing Department, is that the song is untitled and was written by the Marketing Department specifically for the advertisement. Unfortunately, there seems to be no plans to release it as a single'.

Samsung - YouTube HD Camera Trick Challenge

As you may have guessed the last post was to demonstrate that Samsung are not new to seeding the odd viral or two. Using this to their advantage they have challenged the users of YouTube to unravel the mystery of their latest video (Scooby Doo style). The idea is simple, the below clip was shot on the new Samsung I8910 HD phone, using its 8 megapixel camera that can record and output video in HD format.



The Challenge: The Video was shot in one take, with no post production or special effects of any kind. Everything we see in the above video was apparently done "in-camera". Samsung's challenge to us is to figure out how we did it. Their only hint: it's worth watching in HD!

How very mysterious!!


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Samsung - Gadgets Grand Prix Viral

As you may be aware, Samsung have a history of seeding mysterious virals by the dozen (well not quite that many, but you get the idea). Anyway here is the latest edition, a stop motion stationary race around the desk, entitled GADGETS GRAND PRIX set to "Ready steady go" by Paul Oakenfold. Pretty cool, plus we hear that a miniature Vin Diesel is driving the Digital Camera.





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Baker Tweet - Twitter tool for Bakers

Baker Tweet is a piece of hardware that allows bakeries to update their followers as to when there is anything new about to come out of the oven. The below video explains all, but basically the baker can turn a dial and select the relevant product, then with the push of a button a tweet is sent.





If you wish to find out more you can visit Poke (the creative brains behind this), or follow Albion's Oven on Twitter @albionsoven to see what's coming out of the oven.

Pattex: 'Power Tape Peut' webcam girls

I know what you're going to say... "If I see one more ad for electrical tape I'm going to scream", well hang on just a sec, let's see one more just for fun. Pattex presents 'Power Tape Peut' a series of videos on their site, which certainly make you look at this product in a different light.



The above video as mentioned is just one of a whole series, which can be found here: www.powertape-peut.com



Enjoy!

WWF - Coins Outdoor campaign

This is a fantastic campaign I stumbled across today by the WWF in Brasil, raising donations in a rather innovative and different way. The magnetic posters were placed across Cinemas, Gyms, and Reception areas in company buildings, and relied on a paint by numbers type method of placing certain coins on the highlighted positions to reveal the hidden creature.


Photo credit - Scaryideas.com



Video of WWF - Coins campaign in action


Hat Tip to Scaryideas.com

Keira Knightley Women's Aid ad

Women's Aid, the UK's domestic abuse charity, has created this new ad with actress Keira Knightley shown below. The advert, called "cut", was directed by Joe Wright, the director of Atonement and sees Keira Knightley driving back for a film set and arriving back home to find her boyfriend enraged. The ad finishes with the line 'Isn't it time someone called cut?'

MINI United Celebrates 50th Birthday

MINI is officially 50 years young this year, and to celebrate MINI United is coming to the UK. The MINI United festival is a celebration of all things MINI, and takes place every two years with previous events in Misano, Italy and Zandvoort, Holland. 2009 will also see the largest MINI United event to take place to date with MINI fanatics travelling from all across the globe to join in, held at Silverstone and taking place from May 22nd to 24th.



Guests such as Paul Weller, Calvin Harris, Chris Thompson, Raygun, and Twisted Wheel will be entertaining over the weekend, with a host of events for everyone from die hard MINI fans, to adrenalin junkies. There is also a MINI United community set up, which also includes everything from festival programmes, competitions, as well as maps and further information of the weekend.

iVillage/ Wii Fit - Louise Redknapp helps promote women's fittness

Nintendo have launched a new initiative with iVillage to promote the Wii Fit to a women only audience. Driven by a TV ad explaining enough to provoke an interest, the ad featuring Louise Redknapp drives female viewers to iVillage.co.uk/wiifit where iVillage and Wii Fit have created an impressive area of the online community site for anyone wanting to find out more about lifestyle and fitness.



Once on the iVillage Wii Fit channel of the site users are invited to design their own workout, get further tips on things like 'Getting fit after having a baby', and 'Healthy eating', it even has quizzes, blogs, and competitions. There is also the chance to try out the Wii Fit for free by looking at tour dates arranged around the UK.



This is a great campaign, and I really like the way that the Wii Fit is fully integrated into the iVillage site, too often does a partnership have a pasted on feel, and you do not get that in this instance. I also like the amount of activities and information on offer for users visiting the site, and the room in which the campaign has to grow.

Schweppes - G20 Apprentice advert with Sir Alan Sugar firing world leaders

Personally I really like it when a brand can jump straight on a time sensitive event and have a bit of fun in a way which will resonate well with their audience. This is an example by Schweppes from the Times and Guardian today which has used a combination of the topical news stories of the G20 Summit with activity commencing today in London, as well as the popular TV show The Apprentice which started again this week.



The advert for the Schweppes 'Experience Matters' campaign features black and white sketches of political and business personalities including Gordon Brown in the boardroom being fired by Sir Alan Sugar. Other creative executions for the campaign features city workers clutching to icebergs with the the line 'The Global Meltdown Continues'.

National Geographic - Blue Whale Enters London Waters

Firstly no... Wally the whale hasn't made a appearance back to the London's capital, this is the work of National Geographic Channel to celebrate the premiere of Blue Whale Odyssey on Tonight (Wednesday 1st April at 9pm) and the launch of its new channel, Nat Geo Wild HD. The Blue Whale tail was on display in the Serpentine throughout yesterday, Tuesday 31st March, and measures in at an impressive 10ft high by 20ft wide, and is based on a Blue Whale 80-100ft in length.



Photo credit: David Parry/PA Wire


A few months ago it was posted that for the launch of the Eden channel a life size model of a polar bear and cub were floated down the Themes (Eden launch Channel with Iceberg in the Thames)

April Fool's Day - BMW, Waitrose, MOD ads

Well it's April Fool's Day and so bring on the pranks. Today saw a host of brands creating ads in the spirit of April 1st, including BMW, Waitrose, and even the MOD, trying to put a smile on the faces of us Brits and our morning commute. Here are a few that I spotted today:



BMW - Metro 01.04.09


BMW appeared in a number of papers this morning including the Times and Metro, with an ad highlighting the public to their new Efficient Dynamics Magnetic Tow Technology. Allowing drivers to hitch a ride from the car in front using magnets.



Waitrose - Metro 01.04.09


Waitrose were also on the ball today selling Pinanas in Metro (a cunning cross-breed between Pineapples and Bananas). Not only did were Waitrose direct people to the store for this product, they also were kind enough to point customers in the direction of their half price strawberries if the Pinanas were sold out.


MOD - Metro 01.04.09


Lastly the MOD were appealing to those with their wits about them in papers such as The Sun and Metro, with the message 'Not been caught out today? We should talk'.