Interactive music video_Cold War Kids: “I’ve seen enough”

Bouncing back on my article on changing business models in the movies and music industry, here’s a really great example of innovation by the Cold War Kids for “i’ve seen enough”, out of the album “loyalty to loyalty” launched in 2008.

The concept is very creative. Each of the group’s members was filmed 4 times, playing a different instrument each time. By clicking on the colors above, you decide of the instrument. It comes down to the same song in different versions from raw acoustic to electro-rock. You can mix and match or even mute or unmute each of the musicians simply by clicking on him.

I suggest you give it a try right here

Vending machines sell after-party shoes

Girls will definitely relate!

the description is on the website‘s homepage:

Basing on the insights that

– Most of the best nightclubs are located either at the top or the bottom of long stairs

– Walking in clubbing shoes is excruciatingly painful

– Western parties often involve some after party walking

Rollasole implanted vending machines at the entrance of nightclubs, offering classic ballet shoes for 5 pounds a pair in 4 different colors. Moreover, the shoes are accompanied with a matching bag for girls to carry the heels home.The concept has only been implemented in the UK so far, but should definitely gain some international exposure pretty soon.

Hard to imagine a club where such a concept wouldn’t appeal to most females…

Brilliant

Barclays’ spa: financial products in nail polish bottles

Recently stumbled upon the new micro site for Barclays: barclays spa.

I think it’s at least worth mentioning.

Many aspects to discuss here:

first, the message:

In a time, where individual deposits are increasingly important to banks’ survival, Barclays aims at democratizing its financial products, by simplifying to the largest public the comprehension of the contract stipulations and potential risks, but that is  no real revolution.

The innovation, in my opinion, is the visual representation of the financial product, which, in my memory, has never been done before, not on mass media. Giving it a shape, one of a popular mainstream product in this occurrence, concretises the product, reducing the uncertainty and customer apprehension towards financial products, especially in the current context.

Second: How the message serves the media plan:

By the same logic relating to the current economic context and the reticence of a large number of consumers to expose themselves to new financial ventures or even to financiers’ messages, and added to the very poor banner ad click-rate we know advertisers are getting online (the average is around 2%, check my article on that), Barclays emerges by intriguing customers and generating curiosity, not only through the comparison they make, but in a very large manner through the tone of voice adopted (very daring and unusual for an investment bank).

Third: the micro site

The site is one of the simplest i’ve been on. a single, single-colored page with a very concise, exhaustive, and simple text.

I think (and this is a very highly speculative opinion), that, in the minds of consumers, once you’ve (proactively) clicked on a banner, you can really expect almost anything, and that the effort the marketer has made to limit the bullshit to a minimum is highly appreciable and leads the consumers to return the favor by making the effort of reading the few lines posted, which, in this case, seems rather interesting (financiers’ opinions welcome)…

just a few thoughts… beyond that, i have to say i’m not so confident about the conversion rate they might be getting from this. i’m not sure if using mass media and trying to recruit new customers is the right strategy right now (even if the choice of host websites for banners seems pretty consistent). It could be harshly argued that the time is for retaining existing customers rather than fishing for new ones.

Anyway, I’ll try and post some quantified results if they’re ever published and i get my hands on ’em

cheers

2 girls 1 sub

Watch out!
almost not safe for work!
What’s cool is the sub bag is actually a Quizno’s, a seemingly popular competitor of Subway’s, but as it turns out, they declared having nothing to do with it. didn’t even pay for the product placement.
The advertiser behind it is in a very different industry
Enjoy 😉

The worst job in the world

We should really all join forces to help this man survive his job  🙂

Microsoft moving ahead of Apple in Mac V/S PC battle

In the ever-ending battle between the two manufacturers, it seems Microsoft’s last campaign “laptop hunters” has found attentive reception and long-lasting impact in the minds of consumers. The campaign basically positions Macs as too pricy, and features average 18-30 year-old people who would really like to find all they want in a laptop for less than a 1000$.

The study comes from Brandindex and concerns value perception of both brands concerning laptops. The graph is pretty self-explanatory:

Many factors play in favor of the campaign here.

First, it is mostly targeted at young adults, who typically have less disposable income than their older counterparts.

Second, with the whole economic situation, even higher-income consumers might tend to look for “value” rather than image.

Facing these circumstances, Apple’s strategy of agressing Microsoft by making it “defensive, old, complicated to use and unhip” doesn’t seem to be very rewarding.

On a scale from -100 to 100 (a score of zero means that people are giving equal amounts of positive and negative feedback about a brand), Apple fell from a score of 70 a few months ago, to 12.4 while Microsoft moved from nearly zero to 46.2.

These wide movements in brand perception are rather unusual in such a short period of time, and, according to brandindex are, in major part linked to the impact of the campaign in consumers’ minds.

The battle is far from over folks  😉

what goes around comes around

Here’s a very creative ambient marketing campaign from Big Ant International New York.

No words needed

Raising banner ads click-rates

Within the scope of the interminable debate on whether the internet is the new media revolution in terms of space buying or simply just another media among broader diffusion plans (this argument being mostly justified by very low banner click-rates), and with the rather sad given that the most efficient banner click-rates come from banners that say “don’t click”, and the fact that even those are only around 2.5%,

Apple and TBWA/ Los Angeles have taken the step beyond traditional and rich media banners.

here is the “interactive-with -the-web-page-i’m-featured-on” banner.

By extrapolating the “don’t click” effect to the simple human psychological reaction consisting of wanting what is forbidden, or dangerous, Apple took the system a bit further.

Another issue concerning banner ads is their placement out of context with the visual surroundings of the page on which they’re posted. Apple tackles the issue by placing a very specific ad for Ilife on pages publishing Ilife reviews such as that of the Financial times claiming that “iLife is still the best suite [of music, video and photo apps] out there.”

Added to the notoriety of the PC and MAC characters, this banner campaign will probably prove very efficient.

Will try to keep you posted if i get the numbers. meanwhile, check out the video

Nicole Kidman for…

i guess you should watch the video before you read my thoughts on it.

the product isn’t what you expect.

I’m not sure of my opinion on this, honestly. While the spot is very well executed , i’m having trouble determining the underlying message.

Is Schweppes trying to impose a more premium positioning? Is the “créateur de saveurs” tagline related to India’s famous spices and flavors? Did the creatives just run out of ideas and decided to use Kidman in the only way she’s been used in commercials (Chanel, L’oréal…), or did they figure the ending would be fun enough to generate awareness (if that was the only objective).

don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, enlighten me  🙂

Walking Fridge

The follow-up of Heineken’s walk-in fridge!

Now this has been around for about a week now. for those of you who haven’t seen it, enjoy.