Mini Cooper were releasing their new heart land model, with a key insight that mini drivers were known for their individual style. They created an innovative campaign to match that of its customers. INTERACTIVE DANCE FLOORS THAT RESPOND TO MOVEMENT!
Using a mix of Broadcast, Digital, Print, and out of home media to broadcast this event it gained a lot of media traction.
The campaign was kicked off with an incredible video showcasing the interactive dance floor using a bunch of talented dancers doing their thing. Three events were then held all over Australia where media, Mini customers and regular entrants got invited to experience the interactive dance floor. What I loved about the campaign was the experience it gave the customers. An event like this allows the customers to connect with the brand in a fun and tangible way unlike other forms of advertising that can sometimes feel like people are yelling in our faces. Providing an experience like this leads to large amounts of earned media as people want to talk about it. With mini partnering with VICE and this camping also going out through their networks it ensured the right people were talking about it.
After all nothing is better than your consumers speaking for your brand and I believe that is exactly what Mini achieved with this campaign.
Just before midnight I was doing the usual pre sleep internet troulling when I came across Beyond Blue’s latest campaign. After very successful campaign in support of the LGBTI community last year that used the metaphor of being left handed, Beyond Blue has come back with another powerful campaign.
The new campaign ‘The Invisible Discrimination’ is one that will stop you in your tracks and seriously make you think. Using a dark, slimy man wearing an awful black turtleneck jumper is used as a metaphor for the voice that second-guesses or judges Aboriginal Torres Straight Islander People. With a survey revealing that 97% of ATSI community have experienced racism. The one-minute thirty-second campaign cuts straight to the chase using ‘real life examples’ of when the ATSI people have experienced invisible and passive racism, allowing the viewer to feel effected and empathise with the character. I believe the most powerful part of this campaign is that the examples shown like people telling racial jokes in a pub, moving away on the train and being watched while buying milk as they are all situations we can imagine still happening today.
Finally the part of this campaign that makes it successful is the behind the scenes cut where you hear from the Indigenous actors about their real life experiences of passive racism. This version gave me chills up my spine hearing about other people’s experience of people moving away from them on the train or as a kid always being watched in shops as people assumed they would shop lift. This edit allows you to see that the people in the online video are not just ‘actors’ they are people who can directly relate to the campaign making it even more real and hard hitting than the first time you watch it.
Football has this unique ability to capture the attention of an audience to the point of obsession. The recent TVC put out by Foxtel has mange capture the essence of that obsession and showcase it to the world. They didn’t attempt to sell the game, they sold a culture, to a group of people whom were already a part of it.
The minute long TV ad features a reworked version of Tina turners “Simply the Best”, which is arguably the best NRL theme song of all time. Rewording the cult hit to include lyrics such as “You’re simply obsessed, way more than all the rest” .The cleverness of the lyrics have not only capture the heart of any league fan but has a created a statement that all NRL fans can agree on regardless of what team they support or how die hard they may be.
The ad isn’t filled with action shots and amazing try’s, or players staring down the camera asking you to join the team, just as it is in every other commercial that mentions the NRL or any sport for that matter, No, the Foxtel commercial is full of fans, from all teams enjoying the game. Fans who ignore phone calls, get angry at the TV and have some makeover whole they watch the game. Ordinary people who live and breathe for their team and game, the ones with a bedroom full of merchandise and are simply just obsessed. In every frame of this TV ad there is something fans can and will relate to and when you add some of the biggest names in the game doing the same things to the mix you have a winner. People love the idea that their not alone in their obsession that the people they are looking up to are getting just as angry at the TV as they are.
In my opinion Foxtel gets bonus points for the way they have incorporated there brand into the message, it’s not in your face Buy this product or rattling on how it’s packed full of features. Foxtel has let the ad speak for itself, with branding at the end and a bit of shameless product placement here and there. At the end of the message you know that you have seen an ad for foxtel so the brand message is effective, but you don’t feel like for watching a TV ad, it’s more like a YouTube video really.
The reason with ad works so well is the fact it’s not trying to sell you the game of rugby league, they are selling a new way to enjoy the game that the target market already loves so much. They found a way to capture the essence of every fan and market that. It’s not on your face, it has minimal branding and it’s true to the target market, it may sound cheesy but its more of a love story then a commercial, something that an outsider may not understand, but those that live and breathe the football culture relate to every word, its A refreshing break form the status quo of sports related advertising. Not to mention it’s catchy as all hell.
Old spice is to its old tricks again, maybe not has brilliant and iconic as the well-loved ‘’I’m on a horse’’ campaign, but definitely an ad worth noting. At the start of the year old spice realised to the world the ‘’mom song’’ a 1 minute commercial about how old spice will make your son a man.
The ad tells the story mother coping with the loss of her son to manhood, brought on by old spice. This is done through an extremely well worded song, the chorus featuring the classic line “he smells like a man, and they are treating like one”. The ad follows several mothers around as they stalk their sons as they are on dates with girls and start to grow into young men. The Commercial does an excellent job of capturing a mothers struggle to let her baby grow up
The main reason the ad works is because somehow old spice has manger to speak to two completely different demographics at the same time. The ad works well for teenage boys because the idea of becoming a man will always appeal to them, the ad isn’t full of half-naked woman way out of anybody’s reach but just normal teenage boys, who are going on dates. Plus the idea of growing up and leaving your mother behind is always going to be a winner with teenage boys.
The ad also works with the people actually likely to buy the product, the mothers. The sheer humour of the ad is enough to make the brand stick in the older demographic heads. It’s something they can relate to, exaggerated for sure but all mothers feel the sense of their children growing up and leaving them behind. Adding humour to what could be a traumatic experience tackles the issue head on and makes the blow a little easier. The brand is going to stay with them through the catchy song and truthful lyrics. A stroke of Genius for old spice.
Although the Commercial wasn’t realised on TV here in Australia it did have a large online presence, and feature on almost every YouTube pop up commercial for about a month, and the facts that most people didn’t skip pass the annoying pop is a sign of the quality of the ad, it was interesting enough to keep the interest of some of the most easily distracted people….. Teenagers
So is this mom song as game changing as the legendary as the well-loved old spice ad, no but it does hold its own, much like the I’m on a horse campaign the ad targets those buying it more than those who will wear it, a brilliant marketing insight that old spice runs with. The advertisement isn’t going to be a YouTube success and lectures aren’t going to bring it up at the start of every year as an example but the Commercial hold its own, it does the job perfectly and isn’t just another run of the mill deodorant ad full of naked girls, cars and explosion. Well done I say.
So I was sitting on couch veg’ing out watching something on TV that my girlfriend picked and on came this Ad. It was so funny that it brought me out of my ‘chick flick coma’ and made me laugh out loud.
My girlfriend then turned to me and said, “ that’s disgusting”. I said to her, its so true and that what makes it hilarious. Everyone’s done it. Like everyone at some point has been caught picking their nose or rocking out to their favourite song whilst sitting at the red light in traffic and it’s only embarrassing if you get caught.
About a week later I get a call at work from my girlfriend. All excited she told me she bought a new car. Just like another Ad on TV she said “Guess what? I bought a Jeep”
I was so excited that she had finally got rid of the bomb of a car she used to have and for the rest of the day I was thinking of the first road trip we were going to take the Jeep on. It was going be awesome driving round in that new car.
But all that joy and excitement died when I pulled into the driveway that night when I saw the brand new car with brand new PINK number plates with LOVE HEARTS on them. I asked her why there were pink number plates on the car and she replied ‘Cos I liked them’. Then I asked her but what if my mates see me driving round in car with Pink Number Plates with Love Hearts on them.
At that point looked at me with a little grin and said “ it’s only embarrassing if you get caught ”
In Real Estate its all about Location, Location, Location.
In Comedy they say timing is everything.
In Advertising they say Content is King.
On February the 4th when ‘the world plunged into the darkness’ the team from 360i assembled in their war room, applied the above principles and created what I believe is one of the best advertisements of its time.
For those of you who don’t know let me give you a little bit of the backstory. During the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII when a power outage at the Superdome stopped the game for 34 minutes, Oreo’s advertising team sent out a tweet that said, “Power out? No problem” with a picture of a single Oreo slightly lit with the caption “You can still dunk in the dark”. Within moments of the tweet being published it had over 15,000 Retweets and over 20,000 Facebook likes.
Now I know what you’re thinking, it’s just a coincidence that these things happen at the same time. But let me tell you, there’s no such thing as coincidence in advertising. Oreo’s advertising agency 260i had a Social Media team with Strategists, Copywriters and Artists ready to jump on anything interesting that might happen during the world’s biggest sporting event.
So why do I think this is one of the best Ads of it’s time?
Location, Location, Location – Where else can you get over 30,000 people talking about your product within seconds of placing your advertisement other than Social Media? Timing is Everything – When a major event happens in the world most people hear about it first through Social Media. Oreo was ready and when the opportunity presented itself they pounced. Content is King – It’s a simplistic image and message but beautifully summed up the moment.
BMF’s hilariously charming ‘Ready When You’re Not’ ad for ALDI’s Mamia nappy range will leave you laughing infectiously. The ad features a series of shoots with babies making “that face” and using their nappies at the most inappropriate times.
This is a situation all parents are familiar with as babies always seem to choose the wrong time to need to go. From the wedding ceremony to the family portrait, and the horrified look on the parents’ faces once they recognise “that face”, you can’t help but burst into laughter.
The Mamia nappy range is definitely ready when you’re not.
No body denies the hunger of The Hound, especially when it involves some good chicken. The HBO blockbuster show Game of Thrones depicted in its first episode of the new season on 6th April 2014, The Hound tearing apart a bar, murdering thieves and kicking some serious ass for being denied the opportunity to sink he’s golden teeth into some fresh chicken.
BAM! KFC was on the attack; 10 minutes after the show aired they released the above ad on Facebook. It was huge, it was like Oreo jumping on the Superbowl black out and releasing on twitter “you can still dunk in the dark”. It’s simple, clever; it nails home and connects with a huge target market of Game of Throne and chicken lovers. This released a spark across the internet, t-shirts and parody memes have spread and even know all I can think is how badass KFC’s chicken is…. It works!
I personally think they should release a whole line of GOT themed products and ads. The brand of Game of Thrones is steam rolling ahead building momentum and popularity. This Facebook ad is a reflection upon KFCs online presence. If you decide to have a gander onto KFC’s Facebook page you will find monster burgers that crush cities, sexy beach babes and wearing chicken strips as wedding rings.
Now I am not certain this is a video created by KFC but this is what happens when an idea sparks. Its like a forest fire, it spreads and inspires others. The capitalization of the episode gave KFC huge social media awareness. There presence often gets drowned out by McDonald’s ads on television but it seems Kentucky Fried Chicken as taken a step up and taken a totally different medium to battle there competitor.
The message in this video is that “every homeless person is someone’s child – treat them with respect”. I thought this was quite a smart ad in a few ways. Firstly when you’re watching, you don’t know what they are trying to sell or figure out what the ad is for. When in fat, they are not selling anything; they are only raising awareness to respect everyone.
Another interesting point is that they try to pull on the heartstrings of the audience, by using actors/images of different ages groups, from infants, kids and up to the elderly. The people in the ad are also given ‘names’. Therefore making them seem more ‘real’, that they could actually be either your brother/sister/aunt/uncle etc. This brings home the fact that everyone on the street has a family out there somewhere.
The length of the ad was suitable, as the message was easily conveyed within the timeframe. There is no negative about this video. It’s a good length for a public announcement, TV ad, YouTube commercial and other short social media platforms.
AdBare 