My Top 5 Campaigns- Week of 2/07-2/13

I’m going to try something new.
Every week, I’m going to post my top 5 favorite campaigns/videos/advertising-related news bits, and explain a little bit about what they are, why I love them, and exactly what they look like (through links, etc.). Shoutouts to my BFF Meg for giving me the idea. We’ll see how this goes.

1. For this week, number one is going to have to be the upcoming campaign for the Academy Awards that I discussed in my last post. Oscar.com features a live count-down to the event as well as an in-depth look into what goes on backstage before, during, and after the show, along with predictions, message boards, a fashion section including last years looks as well as the evolution of style, opportunities for viewers to receive mobile alerts, videos from past Oscars, etc. The Facebook fan page includes a discussion board, links to the Web site, and opportunities for fans to view photos and nominees. Through making use of social media in these ways, this year’s Academy Awards show will have more opportunities for engaged viewership than ever before.

2. Though this is kind of out-dated, I was recently introduced to VW’s “Fun Theory” guerilla campaign in which advertisers took seemingly mundane activities (walking up the stairs, throwing something in a garbage bin) and made them fun by adding simple changes. See the YouTube videos below:

– “Piano Stairs”
– “The World’s Deepest Bin”

Guerilla marketing at its finest.

3. Yesterday, several Belgian agencies went on strike to protest the recent neglect (rejection?) of a charter between agencies and clients that stated rules for putting out bids for agency pitches. The strike is a virtual one, featuring the now closed Web sites of 20 of Belgium’s finest agencies (including branches of BBDO, JWT, Ogilvy, TBWA, etc.) that explain what the charter is, how it works, and why the agencies are on strike. Though only lasting one week, the virtual protest will nevertheless have an important effect on the way pitches are done internationally. To view their story, click: http://www.famous.be

4. Super Bowl ads, especially:
– Google “Parisian Love”

– Snickers “Betty White”

– Vizio “Forge”

– Dodge “Man’s Last Stand”

5. Super excited for Sprite’s new campaign. It’s about time the brand came back. In addition to creating globalized packaging, Sprite’s new campaign will move away from the “Obey Your Thirst” slogan featured in their campaign years ago, and will introduce itself as “The Spark.” Featuring music and films stars, online music and social media content, as well as creating the Sprite Step Off competition, the campaign will be the first creative that Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) has done for the client, which they recently won. For more info on the campaign, see the AdAge article here.

That’s all, folks. Happy Valentine’s Day weekend (go see the movie)!

Re-Mediation

It’s been crazy lately.

First, the Grammy’s makes use of social media integration like they’ve never done before- using YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWdbMaOzYTE), Twitter (@thegrammys), and a whole new website (Grammy.com) to keep up in real time with the flow of sharing going on online during the course of the show.

Next, Google airs a TV ad during the Super Bowl. Now, I know this doesn’t seem incredibly huge, but the fact that Google has never done a television ad before, and the fact that this ad, according to an AdAge article, ranked as the No. 2 most liked out of all Super Bowl ads on social media sites such as Twitter, says a lot not only about the fact that it was aired at all, but also about Google’s reputation. The ad itself, “Parisian Love,” plays upon Google’s very simplicity, and by doing so shows us how important it really has become in the lives of everyday people.

And finally, the Oscars is launching a social media campaign. Venturing into lands they’ve always been too conservative to enter (they said it themselves), they’re making use of more ad agencies than ever, and learning from the mistakes made during the Grammies, are fine-tuning their live streaming and social media capabilities to allow a totally integrative experience before, during, and after the show. The new website will be a huge draw for consumers wanting to see what goes on backstage, as well as the Facebook app that will allow users to share videos and stack their opinions of winners against others’. It will provide an opportunity for the Oscars to increase their television share- an important move, since viewership reportedly dropped 13% last year, which was the third lowest in Oscar history.

All I have to say in light of these new developments is: finally.

I’m extremely excited to see what Oscar comes up with, and how they make use of that integration during the show. Though they’re not planning on using Twitter, I’m sure the Twittersphere will more than make up for that with the huge amout of material available on both Facebook and Oscar.com. And even though what the Grammy’s did was fantastic, the opportunity for the Oscars to learn from their mistakes (both the Black Eyed Peas’ attempt to integrate user fan videos into their performance and the lack of marketing that left many consumers bereft of 3D glasses during the Michael Jackson tribute) presents a whole new dynamic for experience.

In my TV & Electronics Culture class, we’ve been learning about a concept called re-mediation- that is, the capability of one form of media to both copy and improve upon another one. For example, a piece of paper in real life is more real, but less limited, than a “piece of paper” in Microsoft Word. They both have their limitations, but in a way, the Word program improves upon our traditional perceptions of paper by allowing us unlimited fonts, ink, and paper itself.

In a way, I feel like this is what these three entities are doing- taking their traditional form of marketing through TV, radio, and word-of-mouth, and improving upon them by copying other forms of media. Social media has its drawbacks, as does television advertising in the case of Google; however, combined with traditional platforms, they offer them unlimited exposure and engagement among their user base- and the opportunity to make themselves a lot more relevant to their target audiences.

I guess its time for us to get with the program….literally.