Online Advertising Blog By Aden Hepburn. Covering Online Advertising, Search Marketing, Social Networking, Search Engine Optimisation, Online Creative, Top Interactive Campaigns From Around The World, Award Winning Websites, Digital Strategy & The Best Online Advertising Campaigns.
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Carlsberg Beer Viral Ad Campaign
Well, it's about time I started cataloging the best online viral ads. And what better way than to start with this new Viral Ad from Carlsberg Beer. Where they take on the very famous Mentos & Coke style experiment. There have been plenty of people jump on this bandwagon, but perhaps this might just be the best yet?
Seems that the XGAMES have launched a new site for the upcoming August 2-5 competition. This site seems less about the compeitions and more about the stars that will attend. What i'm interested in, is the graphics & animation.
They are slick. Infact, this site is so well done i'd be supprised if it didnt win a few awards. Unfortunatly, the navigation is possibly the worst i've ever seen, but if you have some time to burn you probably won't even notice you wasted 20mins trying to find all the secret parts with in the website.
This concept reminds me of the Eminem website, it's got the same DNA and finger prints all over it. That site was created by We Fail and i'd presume these guys created the new XGAMES site too.
In breaking news this afternoon, The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed action against Google in the Australian Federal Court. With allegations that the search engine has engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.
We are told that Google has breached the Australian Trade Practices Act. This has come from Google failing to "adequately distinguish between sponsored links on its search results and "organic" search results."
The word is that Google has denied the claims, and will fight them in the courts and win, because the claims are with out merit. This is the first claims of its kind in the world, one that if won - might create a precedent world wide for future claims.
Google will appear in court in Sydney, some time in August. View the Report here, on the ABC's website.
It's an interesting scenario, one which might open them up to some amazingly large lawsuits if this case is won. However, I'm sure Google will pull in every layer in town to secure a win here.
If you have not seen this new campaign, I'm not sure what rock you have been hiding under!
It's every where. All over TV and Online from NineMSN full page commercial breaks and MySpace block outs to Yahoo and every other website that is in some kind of online advertising network!
The new coke campaign - 2 Great Hits, 1 Great Taste - is a blast. Literally, the new creative has not just been created into the usual flash banners and rich media from site to site. This time, Coke have gone to great lengths to ensure the campaign pulls some might - they went almost exclusively flash video with page takeovers, commercial breaks, media buzzers and more...
You can view the clip for your self below thanks to YouTube! I think it was The White Agency who ran this campaign for Coca Cola. A simple campaign with huge impact - and for a campaign like this it's through $$ spent on Media Purchases.
Well, you'd never suspect it, but... MTV Australia (with agency Lowe Hunt) has launched a new interactive campaign to petition the government into letting Snoop become a citizen! The government banning of snoop has work wonders for the campaign, as this was actually shot prior to him being banned! What luck for the campaign, as this registered on all the news bulletins for the days surrounding the event and pushed the campaign live with some fantastic publicity.
The campaign has a series of 16 webisodes, with the next one released every Wednesday. Luckily for you, there are already 4 awaiting your viewing pleasure. (yep, there is nudity) It's actually a pretty funny campaign, and I applaud Lowe Hunt for the scripts.
On top of everything you get to see there, there are of course some downloads and the ability to interact with the site by posting well wish comments for snoop. Fantastic campaign, can't wait to find out the stats. Make sure you check it out here.
Firstly, view the YouTube video advertising clip below. The buzz is here & it's flying through the blog-sphere. YouTube's new video advertising has been seen, live on YouTube for the first time. Was this their engineers caught out or a live Beta test for their new video advertising platform?
Ofcourse, the advertising has now been pulled - or at least I can't replicate it going back to this YouTube Link now. Is anyone else having any luck getting the video advertising on YouTube now?
So the verdict - the new YouTube video advertising platform seems to be right on the money. It's non-intrusive, it's clean, it's sleek, it's as user friendly as anyone could have predicted. A small transparent bar across the bottom of your videos fades in, and the advertisement slides across. You can minimise the video ad panel or bring it back up. (Great option.)
Clicking a video advertisement on YouTube then shows the thinking of a great company - it doesn't just launch a new window to the advertisers website, it pauses your current clip, and launches a panel with in the current video to play a full streaming ad.
When you think about it, we are already accustom to this format. Australian tv networks already do a very similar thing, they run small ads horizontally across the bottom of popular programs with out too much debate. I personally won't be upset by the launch of YouTube Video ads by Google.
It's looking very positive, a lot of skeptics that were worried about ads taking over YouTube will "hopefully" be satisfied with this. There will of course, be negative publicity from with in various circles - but in the end - something has to pay for the bandwidth and on top of that, everyone is out to make a buck.
So finally, after all the worry, it seems we need not about YouTube being over run with Google Video Advertising. Would love your comments on this topic!
Today the Interactive team at IdeaWorks launched a fantastic new game for Supercheap Auto, called "Pit Stop Challenge". It's a fast paced flash game (or branded entertainment) based around their racing sponsorship with the Supercheap Auto Racing team in which the player competes against the clock to pit the racing car in the fastest possible time.
The player gets a 3D rendered view of the racing teams garage, and has tools and spare parts on hand to pit the car. You've got to change the tyres, disc brakes and refuel the car to get it back out on the track...
The idea behind the game was to leverage the racing teams popularity and engage users online by providing them a platform in which they can interact with the new Supercheap Auto website. Users not only battle for a place on the Top 100 leaderboard, but can challenge their friends to the game, with options to challenge up to 4 friends at a time.
Playing the game is an intense experience if your trying to beat your friends, a large pit time counter lets you know exactly how your going along the way. Users drag and drop elements into position and bolt on the replacement parts before sending the car back onto the track.
This game is a great example of branded entertainment and how it's effectiveness helps users interact with your brand online. Not only are we producing a fantastic game for Supercheap Auto, we are also providing a full suite of reporting options to track who is playing, how they got here, where they live, how long they spend playing the game - and that's just the tip of the iceberg as far as reporting goes.
So if you have a spare few moments (like the increasing % of people playing online games) give it a shot and see if you can beat my 27.430 second pit stop!
$243 Billion will be spent with online retailers in the U.S. alone this year.
Gone are the days where people would only use websites to check emails and do research. Now, with broadband access to almost 50% of the US and rocketing figures in Australia, (that's 140 million people using high speed Internet) websites have the ability to serve up an experience and not just content.
It's primarily the experience that continually entices customers to make the plunge online. But it's also the little things like;
The Effectiveness of Online Advertising
More User-friendly Websites
Greater Online Security
Cheaper Product Prices Online
More Diverse Payment Methods
Easier Price/Product Comparisons.
Our Time Poor Lives
One thing yet to catch on in Australia is the range of online stores. Retailers still seem to be stuck in an age where that customer coming through the shop front in their only chance and their websites should just be used to direct customers to the store.
Quite simply, their businesses will suffer in the next 2-3 years if they don't catch on fast. There will always be the people who do their research online, get the prices and go in store to make the purchase.
Those days are numbered for an increasing % of consumers, with the decrease in spare time for shopping and easier access to money - we will see consumers turn online in record numbers to make purchases over the next few years.
Retailers shouldn't have anything to fear by setting up an ecommerce store, the worst that can happen is people use your online store for research/pricing and end up purchasing instore. Sure, you invest big $$ in your rent with a shopping center like Westfield, hell - you even pay more based on how much money you make (shouldn't everyone?!).
It's time retailers in Australia woke up to the potential of Online Stores and invested in their future - cost and risk are minimal, while the upside potential multiplies each year by increasing factors. Last year (2006), in the U.S. alone a staggering 35% of all Internet users made online purchases, which is expected to leap dramatically this year.
While we might not have the appropriate range of online stores in Australia, that doesn't stop us buying online - another thing that Retailers should be looking at is the latest stats from Roy Morgan stating that 36.20% of all Australian Internet users have purchased something online.
Chances are, they bought it from the U.S. or UK. Another worrying factor for some, while for others it's a golden opportunity to get into the coming online retail boom in Australia. Have you ever bought online? Do your favourite retailers sell online in Australia? Would love your comments on this.
As Head of Interactive at IdeaWorks, Sydney, Australia. I lead the Interactive Creative Direction, Digital Strategy, Website Production, Online Advertising & Business Development.
If you have not seen this new campaign, I'm not sure what rock you have been hiding under!
into the usual flash banners and rich media from site to site. This time, Coke have gone to great lengths to ensure the campaign pulls some might - they went almost exclusively flash video with page takeovers, commercial breaks, media buzzers and more...
