ING's I-Needtogo Viral Campaign

This is one of the best interactive online advertising campaigns I've seen in a long time. Created by Emakina, this online advertising campaign breaks new ground for big banks, and goes a long way to creating some freedom in that corporate banking space.

This is the perfect application for a this type of creative with ING promoting a free online bank account. It's perfect for a younger target market that's easily engagable online. This campaign also gives off a fantastic viral vibe while providing you with code to insert into your Blog, Facebook or MySpace.
Check it out at I-NeedToGo.com
Or, you can simply play it below - however, it's a lot nicer and larger on the official web site. But again, this is a very obscure campaign (but it smartly engages the users) - please feel free to leave your thoughts on this in the comments section.

Coke - 2 Great Hits, 1 Great Taste

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.

Snoop To Become An Aussie.

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.

Supercheap Auto Pit Stop Challenge Game

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!

Viral Marketing For Your Own Agency

With the world awaiting the release of the iPhone this month, ViralMedium has seized upon the opportunity for some self (less) promotion by attempting to hijack the hype surrounding the new gadget, and it's a pretty good plot!

Creating an online competition for budding film makers, or anyone with a video camera to create a viral ad for the new iPhone. www.myiphoneevolution.com gives you the chance to win $15,000 (wait for the catch) worth of Viral Advertisement from ViralMedium!

Some people say viral is dead, dying or is getting unfashionable in interactive circles. (trust me, it's not) But the campaign from ViralMedium is pretty smart, it works like any other viral campaign.

• Harnesses a popular event, idea or topic
• Creates a topical or engaging environment
• Gives the users the ability to interact with the campaign
• Offers some form of reward (in this case a cool $15k)
• Adds a campaign branded send to a friend
• Subtly highlights the creators brand in a positive sense

iPhone Revolution invites you to make your own 2 ½ minute video specifically to promote in any way, shape or form the new iPhone from Apple. On the back of this campaign, ViralMedium is giving themselves some great brand awearness (and possibly a legal battle), to a market that's screaming for publicity.

For the budget, viral marketing your own viral marketing company isn't just a great case study, it's an award winning investment that any main stream agency would kill to harness and with 10's of thousands of video entries and even more new client leads...

Who said viral was dead?

Coke Goes Mobile, With Content Ads

Does anyone actually want to view ads on a mobile phone, let alone interact with them? Is this the last straw with invasive advertising now targeting our personal devices? No, says Coke.

At the MSN Strategic Summit in May, Coca Cola delivered an interactive campaign to the market, perhaps the first big brand to "try the water" on your side of the fence. On your side of the fence indeed, you'll now see ads on your mobile phone when accessing WAP sites across the world.

For Coke, they see the opportunity to interact with users on their most personal device of all, as an opportunity not to be missed. “Coke is eager to reach its customers on the mobile phone as it is a highly personal device,” said Tom Daly, Group Manager of Strategy & Planning for Coca-Cola.

But of course there is a very fine line once you get into this medium, and it's with that mentality that coke will succeed. The younger generation are all about "content, freebies, and fun stuff" when accessing the Internet on their mobiles and this is where Coke's new mobile campaign really hits the mark.

In a campaign designed to be seen as free content rather than as an advertisement, cokes content ads certainly hit the mark. They pull you in by advertising free Coke video clips and engaging you with a fresh, funny bottle film short.

More importantly, you can down load the videos to your phone and share them with friends. It's this direction that hinges the success of the campaign and it's viral opportunities, which if you watch the video below, puts them in a great position.

Here's how it works:

1. Surf the web of your mobile phone
2. Be browsing one of the websites on the AdMob Network
3. View small banner ads "Free Coca Cola Animated Videos"
4. Be taken to a landing page describing the free content
5. Watch, Download, Share.

Sensis is currently just a few weeks away from launching a "test" run of Mobile advertising across it's content network; Whitepages, Yellowpages, Sensis, Whereis... From this, advertisers will gain a report outlining initial test results and future projections which can be used to investigate the opportunities into Mobile Marketing across mainstream Australian sites.

It's an interesting time, even exciting. But there is still the 2c per kb pricing on mobile bandwidth that might hold up a lot of this. I'd hate to start using websites on my mobile and being stuck with a bill to match.

Engaging Hyundai Interactive

When it comes to interactive campaigns and online advertising, there is one simple rule. It's got to be engaging. If it's not, people just won't take notice. But there is a line that you shouldn't cross - like I just experienced with the Volkswagen GT island on www.carsales.com.au - why in the world would anyone want to pretend to change fake gears on your banner ad? Or is it just me?!

This month we launched the Hyundai Mid Year Sale interactive campaign complete with the whole array of online advertising; Flash banners, Content ads, Search Marketing and Landing pages.

With initial campaign preparation we very carefully experiment with the level of engagement needed to lure in the customer. We complete a few concept banners and have internal test groups view demo pages with the concept banners in place, we get their feed back on what drags their eyes to the banner and then make adjustments to get the right feeling from our banners before sending off the best concept to client.

One thing we almost always steer away from is tacky interaction between the user and our banners in online advertising. The whole "click to use the gearstick" of the latest Volkswagen campaign is one of the poorest executions I've seen in a while and it not only doesn't interest me to play with their gear stick but is completely non engaging - it's a static, boring, pointless banner. At the end of the day, that is a waste of their online advertising budget.

The Hyundai Mid Year Sale campaign banners use animated flowing lines to draw the users attention, while featuring simple clear and concise text to give the user a exactly what they are after - simplified, direct information that gives them everything thing they need to know before clicking that ad. (you can view our ads on all the car sites with a great example being the island on the home page of carsales.com.au)

Clicking through brings you to the new Hyundai Offers Landing page. Where we addressed an issue that would be important for all car companies, including Hyundai - that's getting the entire range to look good on a single page, be engaging and usable and interactive.

Hence our interactive team came up with a 3D perspective wheel that allows us to show off every car in the range on a single screen with some interactive eye candy to boot! The Hyundai Offers page gives users the ability to select the car of their preference to see the latest offers on that vehicle, with functionality to book a test drive, order brochures and compare cars against other brands!

Our search marketing component provides a steady flow of traffic to our offers page through strategically targeted key words and ad copy. We are careful not to be too generic and balance a campaign to be effective on both volume, exposure and conversion. It's also important to note that research and strategy play an enormous part in the success of search marketing, which is one of the fastest evolving industries on the planet.

One of the major advantages of a successful campaign is a rounded experience for the user and ensuring that at every click they are comfortable with the process being directly related to the original call to action. This means that once a user clicks your web banner or Google ad that the page must replicate similar content to that of which they expect to see, and not go straight to the home page or worse too deep into the website.

This is where landing pages are extremely valuable and are loaded up with the most relevant content to engage users and provide them with options to further explore and take the next step. Get this all right and your user will be funnelled down the path of your choice.

Hammer & Coop Campaign

In a clever campaign, Mini gets tonnes of action with their own Hammer & Coop. You've probably seen the banner campaign on the home page of Ninemsn, Mini have created their own mini-series, a cheesy action comedy with a man and his car.

It's a 6 part webisode series that's actually pretty darn good. Directed by Todd Phillips who surprise surprise, directed Starsky & Hutch. The website has some pretty cool features - seamless flash video, a fantastic action hero name generator and an entire extras section. Check it out. It might just be more entertaining than YouTube today.

New Mobile Content - It's Out There

After just getting back from holidays and really wishing I could ease back into the working life gently (how naive I am!), I had quite a highlight in meeting a very interesting lady from 5th Finger today.

We spoke about mobile content development and delivery. Note that I'm a little skeptical about this kind of content, from your typical $4 per message through to your WAP/GPRS download charges at $0.02c per kb - such a rip off that I predict this is the one thing holding back the mobile content revolution in Australia.

We chatted about a few really funky ways to create and deliver content. One in particular that burnt into my mind was a fantastic infra red & blue tooth technology that allows you to transform any sign, poster, Adshell or whole locations (ie. events) into a mobile content delivery device.

WOW. What a way to interact with your customers - with out the message costs and data transfers. It's even got a skeptic like me interested.

There are so many uses for this technology, take any big event. So as you walk through the gate with your tickets, walk past the huge sign that says "download your free event guide now" or "turn on your blue tooth or infra red device" and you think what the hell? I didn't bring my laptop or PDA. Seconds later your mobile phone message tone goes off and bingo! Press ok to receive the "Bathurst 1000 Event Guide & Wallpapers" that are now automatically transferring to your phone via the handy integrated blue tooth transceiver embedded in that advertisement.

Neat huh? So I went away thinking what kind of amazing content you could create for these type of events, program guides, wallpapers, ringtones, videos, pictures, articles and even competition entry forms that link straight back via a users WAP/GPRS to your database!

Geez, I'd love to see that in action so we can diversify our mobile content advertising & delivery services. Seeing media advertisements with actual "bonus" content or better yet "free offers" that you can instantly access on your mobile while out walking around.

Needless to say, my day got even better.

Walking through Wynward station I noticed a great piece of artwork from Coke. It had a fancy back light that was doing some pretty cool movement lighting up different parts of the ad. I'd seen these in bus stop AdShells before. Then I took a double take on the headline "Turn on your blue tooth to get a free Coke Summer Mobile Game". I couldn't believe it. My blue Tooth was already on and by the time I read the headline my phone had beeped and I was receiving the free game!

Shame it was the lamest version of space invaders with a coke bottle thrown in I've ever seen but the concept is brilliant. While standing there, 2 other people both downloaded the game in about the 1minute I was there reading the poster for any extra details.

Imagine this in supermarkets, shopping centres and specialty stores providing you offers and discounts as you walk past signage or into stores. Or better yet, getting custom content at the footy or cricket - stats, videos, wallpapers, articles, interviews and more...

There is also the ability to set up wireless networks of "Hypertag" technology, tracking users around at delivery points, reporting on downloads and offer delivery. Hypertag technology can be placed with almost any traditional media placements.

You might just see something like this at the "Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000" this year ;) This type of mobile advertising and content development is certianly something IdeaWorks has its finger in and will continue to grow with the surging mobile market.

So connect consumers with your Brand. Engage them. Deliver.
It's also not nearly as expensive as you think!

On Toyota's Mind Website

I just checked out a new microsite from Toyota, called On Toyota's Mind. My first feelings (apart from the amazing graphics) were WOW, that's exacly the same style as "The Creative Mind" microsite from Adobe.

Sure, Toyota have spent a bucket load more cash on this site than Adobe, and dam it looks great with that semi-realistic render, but essentially it's exactly the same as Adobe's Creative Mind site, only with different content! Right? I guess this runs back into the age old concept that nothing is new anymore, and creative agencies just "base" new campaigns on artwork that is already out there.

While that statement may not be true, as I'm sure not everything humanly possible to create has been created, more and more we see new advertising campaigns and more recently new websites that have a striking resemblance to others, even as high profile as Adobe and Toyota.

As you can see, even more so once you get into these sites and explore each of the minds, you'll notice the trend of clickable objects, funky characters and intuitive navigation. This goes right across the board for both websites. So my question is where does a creative agency cross the line and steal an idea, rather then expand on a style?

None the less, this new microsite from Toyota in which users get to explore the offerings from Toyota in a visual world is top notch. From Swedish agency SWE and growing interactive agency North Kingdom is a fantastic compilation of flash animation, 3D renderings and design. Not to mention featuring some very cool features from Toyota's Cars. Check it out here.

BCF Fishing Classic Game

Last friday we launched BCF's first flash game called BCF Fishing Classic. It's been produced specifically to give a little something back to the 60,000+ members of Club BCF. The basics of the game are; catch as many fish as possible while avoiding the junk, seagull and standing still. The faster you catch fish and the more they weigh in at, gives you longer playing time.

Once you make a big catch, it's now time to dish out the bragging rights - by clicking the Challenge your friends button you can send out the challenge (with your score) to 4 mates at a time. This really became the viral aspect of the campaign, in which our goal is to not only give back to the loyal members, but to also attract new customers.

The vision here is to have current customers or regular users of the website challenge friends who have not yet experienced BCF, by bringing them to the website through the hook of a cool little flash game which then gives BCF the opportunity to establish thier credentials, range, experience and branding. Obviously we are searching for a % of these people to become customers, and dare I say with the success of these stores we would be looking at a high conversion rate here.

Oh, almost forgot the game stats. 15,000 unique players in the first 5 days! What's your best score? I had a best catch of 55kg - so far!

I must say, this was a great project to work on, we (especially me) got right into the fishing spirit and the entire advertising agency dropped production levels by at least 20% around testing time ;)

New Lynx Website: Lynx Blow

In a another great interactive campaign for Lynx, this time for the UK, we see Dare Digital introduce a new style of interactivity with it's Lynx women! Using a pretty funky flash audio application where visitors can use their microphone or gaming headsets to "Blow" warm air on the Lynx lady that for some reason is wearing next to nothing, out doors in the snow!
(Ofcourse the guys won't complain)

Visitors are taken through the steps of setting up their audio equipment, before attempting to "Blow" off the the thin garment our Lynx lady is wearing! The warmer you get her, the closer her clothes are to coming off. Can you actually get them off? Well, you'll just have to check out the website.

Elf Yourself from OfficeMax

So you have probably already heard about it, recieved it in your email or saw a link on some random website for it? It's here - Elf Yourself. This is the viral campaign to launch the OfficeMax holiday season connection with it's customers. It's the Flash microsite that lets you upload a photo of anyone you like, attatch their head to an elf before watching them dance to Christmas tunes! There is probably 2 things you didn't know, one being why in the world would anyone shop for Christmas gifts at an office supply store and the other being the 20 microsites that are part of this campaign!
Tucked away at the bottom of the page is the OfficeMax logo, rolling over launches an interactive menu with links to all your microsites. Each microsite features a simple yet endlessly entertaining mini-game or interactive experience, from arm-wrestling the reindeers' to choreographing the big fellas' dance moves with North Pole Dancing.
OfficeMax enlisted no less than 8 Interactive agencies, 3 production companies and an editorial company. Plus thier major advertising agency, Toy. This campaign was designed to replace the lame e-cards repeated season after season. So these microsites needed to be fun, interactive, addictive and appeal to people looking to send their friends and loved ones a little bit of Chrsitmas Cheer!
My only question is - will this actually help sell more Christmas gifts from OfficeMax? Probably not directly, but what it will do (as a good viral or interactive campaign should do) is to have the OfficeMax name and branding burnt in the back of your mind hopeing to take advantage of you as you rush around this christmas, driving past an OfficeMax store only to realise - oh wait, they have christmas stuff this year, I played their funny Christmas games and I think they even have an MP3 player for $99! ;) Campaign Justified.