Aggregation Nation!

I've stumbled upon a site that is 'twitter buzz aggregation' on speed... there is a simpler version that conveniently aggregates planner tweets here....

The launch of
Google voice pays due diligence to the already well mumbled about thought that Google is on a perpetual mission to be the digital entry point to everyones online/digital world because of its 'aggregator' roots in search. (Google voice is a new tool that aggregates all the messages on all your different mobile devices to one site.)

As the aggregation trend grows it will become even more of an exciting challenge to get through to and engage our consumers by the more traditional forms of online display advertising...sites like igoogle and netvibes and pageflakes being the biggest challenge to 'homepage' sites that are used to making money from classic display advertising like msn, yahoo and aol (because they used to always be people's homepages.)

Facebook is also aggregating more and more of the things that we browse on the web, as we use applications like 'share' and 'post'... perhaps soon there will be sites that publish our userjourneys to our friends just as they can follow our real world journeys on sites like Google Latitude...hmmm yes. I predict Google's next app is a 'map my userjourney' app, with ratings.

Watch this webspace :) ...

Youtube content of the Week/29.08.08

1) The COI have come up with some crackers (from FARM and th1ng) to get young British people into learning a new language. These ads show case some great French Hip Hop. At last someone has used urban culture in a non cheesy, non commerical, non "we get hip hop and urban culture, no really we do" way. Plus I love french rhyme - there isn't enough of it in the UK....which is another point - the COI seem fresh because they are introducing a new strand to UK Urban music consumption. I wonder how many people in the UK currently listen to it.... :




2) A Great viral from Samsung, I would def pass this on, it's witty and clever, but most of all a fantastic use of CGI (I think?). Samsung has used an insight about the type of videos that are posted on youtube and turned it on its head - tres bon



3) EA games recently posted a youtube video response to a guy that had taken the piss out of a flaw in the Tiger Woods computer game on the site. This shows how 'on the button' the EA brand is, it shows it understands its customer, and it shows that the brand believes in itself. You can't help but feel big respect for this youtube video:



Fresh and Clean

What have a trainer, a burger and Kanye West got in common???

…Well.... a trainer, a burger and Kanye West lead me on a blog hunt to the SICKEST new album in the past year!! OMG anyone that hasn’t come across A Trak’s ‘debut’ album, ‘Running man’.… COME ACROSS HIM – it is AAAAAmazing. …The worst thing about it is that I can’t download it yet because it’s only in the States and I don’t do that illegal shiz.

Let’s back track….

I came across the track because I was on Kanye’s blog who was mentioning a famous artist who has made a Nike trainer out of a burger. This ‘trainerburger’ ( a very beefy Air Max 90) was first mentioned on ‘Fools Gold’, A trak’s blog. I followed the blog to A trak’s Myspace page, which is PR-ing his fantastic new album which has been produced in partnership with Nike + and is the most recent album addition to the Nike + playlist available on itunes.

So the planner point? Nike has mastered internet PR in a BIG way.

Serendipity (me tripping over things online) meant that the Nike brand received a hit every step of my internet path from Kanye’s blog, to A trak’s blog, to Myspace, to itunes. 4 hits in 4 minutes. And the reason?

• Nike commissioned Olle Hemmendorff, a Swedish illustrator to interpret a piece of iconic Nike clothing (PR drive no.1)
• Nike asked A trak to produce an album for Nike + (Pr drive no.2)
• A Trak wrote about Olle Hemmendorff on his blog (Pr drive (being endorsement) no.3) (A-Trak is signed to Kanye West’s record label)
• Kanye wrote about the trainers on his blog (Pr drive (being endorsement) no.4)
• A Trak has got all his web touch points covered – myspace, facebook, blog, itunes etc)
• People like me give him and Nike et al a shout out. (Citizen PR – luck drive no. 5)

And you know who also benefits??? Sony benefits. A trak has produced a song using a sample from Jose Gonzales which features in their first Bravia (Balls) ad. The track is called “Get em high remix” – check it out on A Trak's page

And hence my theory is proved: that the best way to get share of voice in 2008 is through PR worthy partnerships, with other PR worthy brands (including people). That’s because 2 amazing things is better than 1 amazing thing – and when a multimillion brand partners with a multi million selling artist and then commissions another successful artist etc... we see a lot of buzz and a lot of love…

Wooo I know, you can measure how much Buzz there is about a brand here, try it for Nike..

Ps... A Trak also won the DMC World DJ championships in 1997 (I read that here)

Hear Busta Rhyme by doing time…

Subsequent to my last post I have found an amazing union of charity and entertainment that totally blows any other charity partnerships out the water!! BOOM! Orange are sponsoring RockCorps – an entertainment company that has good will at its heart. RockCorps put on big fat music concerts, with big phat music stars (Busta and Dizzy are head-lining the first UK one) … However instead of charging an extraordinary amount for tickets, their target market have to volunteer for 4 hours to EARN their ticket. This is triple excellence: (1) The target audience teenagers learn more about those around them by volunteering (2) Loads of people benefit from volunteer work (3) The system is totally democratic – you can go to the concert whether you have no money to your name, or all the money in the world, as longs as you ‘sing for your supper’.

The project has been hugely successful in the US and now Orange have bought it to the UK (also in partnership with Ch 4, Community Service Volunteers-one of the UK’s largest volunteer and training organisations and XFM). This event is being held at the Royal Albert Hall….I reckon the next event should be held at The O2, so that Orange and O2 can get into some form of bidding war over who can give the most to charity and thus solve world poverty…..here’s hoping anyway.

I first read about this here

(Painting above is by me)

Give back by washing

I love the new TV ad and campaign that Ariel are doing in conjunction with their Water Aid appeal.I can't find the TV ad, but here is the website.

Charity partnerships is absolutley what other charities should be doing in order to make 'giving back' easier for consumers. RED does it fantastically despite the large amounts of backlash it gets ( alot of people think the brand is totally self indulgent and doesn't give that much back... the self indulgent bit is true - Bono does my nut in)...check out buylesscrap.org a site set up to directly challenge the notion that consuming is the answer to poverty. I disagree with the site, although in essense it is a good way to get people to donate as extra to their consumption habits, I disagree that these partnerships are a bad idea. Consumption in Western society is impossible to stop, and if you can't beat it, join it.

The principal of putting charitable causese at the centre of consumer purchase behaviour, I think, is key, in fact it reminds me of the way we plan online brand communications/ol advertising. Brand partnerships like 'RED and American express', 'Marks and Spencers Bras & Cakes with Breakthrough breast cancer' and indeed 'Ariel with Water aid' allow consumers to donate without being forced to deliberatly reach for that bit extra from their wallets, which they are less likely to do - the donation is a seamless part of their shopping habits and probably means more donations, more often. When we go about planning online communications, the aim is very much the same, we want brand experience to be a seamless part of people's online behaviour/usership habits, rather than making them stop, think about it, and then probably not get involved with it (like when a charity volunteer stops you in the street.) I think the traditional donation model for charities is rapidly becoming out-dated. Charities should think of more ways to become part of real life behaviour; brand partnerships, donate per click sites and brands like Snow Leopard Vodka, which was set up with a charity cause at its heart, are I hope the cusp of the wave of a new and more charitable generation, where every bit of consumerism has an "ethical" slant (whether paradixical or not!).

Is technology innovation the key to ALL advertising?

If you to talk to anyone worth their salt in digital advertising, they will say that the best advertising is no longer about delivering a literal message, cleverly promoting a brand USP ("Red bull gives you wings"), but it is about building the value of a brand by delivering something tangible and long lasting to the consumer. Our generation of consumers are cynical, and rarely believe messaging, or care about ad campaigns, especially when it is delivered by a brand that has been around for a while. Fallon’s Gorilla has been an exception in the recent landscape- because it was a piece of creative that stopped people in their tracks, and reminded people about the nation’s biggest chocolate brand. However, in the majority, advertisers/brands are waking up to a reality that, in order to glean credibility or cut through in a cluttered market, they have to look at a consumer, listen to what the consumer wants, and deliver them a tool or a service that enables an ongoing conversation between consumer and brand. We have all heard people in the past year proclaiming advertising is now about giving and supporting, rather than telling or asking.... This bar has, as many will agree, been set by agencies like R/GA making Nike+. They succeeded in this vein because rather than telling people about how well they could jog with a new pair of Nikes, R/GA provided a running service that enabled people to run further and faster with their new shoes - letting consumers set themselves targets and listen to motivating music, rather than half believe a well worded one liner.

The new job for planners seems to no longer be about defining an insight that will be the springboard to create a strong brand message or positioning, it is about developing a role for the brand in consumer’s lives, a role with a large degree of longevity and a role that differentiates it from the rest of the market.

This topic was written about almost a year ago by R/GA's senior planner on Nike+, Anne Benvenuto. In her document on planning today, she states that planners need to do more than just mine an insight about consumer behaviour, they need to have at least 4 dimensions to a brief - Perceptual (what a consumer thinks), Behavioural (what they are doing), technological (how consumer is using apps/interfaces/platforms), cultural (dynamics in which consumer operates). She also states that we need two additions to the traditional creative team: an interaction designer (who understands interface design/forms of engagement) and a tech lead (someone that knows how technology works, what technology is coming up, what is possible). She is not the only one that thinks this, Ogilvy has the Ogilvy Lab in Singapore with a rocket scientist on its team, and on the less techy front, Crispin Porter is beginning to excel at product development - using products to change brand positing rather than TV/press campaigns (ie. they made a computer game about the 'Burger King' to sell in stores, or they made an electric guitar that plugs into a Volkswagen Brora - thus repositioning the car for a younger market). Crispin’s advertising model is about inventing something tangible rather than an idea delivered in semantics and images. Having said that, these campaigns were all supported by TV and poster advertising, so you could argue that traditional advertising is really the launch pad, it whetts the appetite, but has only a short term affect. Lastly, digital agencies are constantly endeavouring to provide technology solutions to brand problems, (lets face it, the online broadcast model is only a hygiene factor and generally is asked for by clients to spread the reach of an ATL campaign). In essence there is a growing sense that advertising should be about inventions - product and service innovation, something that moulds into the consumers lives, rather than disrupting it with the delivery of short scale messaging in literature or a 30 second film....I am not saying that
the disruption model is dead, merely that it is the beginning of what should be a longer lasting relationship, it is a short announcement, that now needs serious back up.

I agree with this 'product development' concept, but I wonder how this kind of strategy will pan out for low value commodities like FMCGs... is every FMCG brand going to be linked to a wider service offering in a couple of years? Is every brief for a new product variant going to have to go through a rigorous funnel of technology innovation?

I can see how it might work for brands that are linked to a specific activity (like running), in fact I was shown a great site the other day that would be perfect for the NHS to use in a digital anti- smoking campaign…Having finally found a use for twitter.com, quitter.com allows you to track how many cigarettes you smoke a day, it lets you record why you smoked and how you felt, and it also notifies all your friends that you are having a cigarette via web and internet...so if you really want to give up smoking, you can digitally track your 'will power' and compare it a community of smokers who are using the same service. It is the anti-smoking version of Nike+ , both services track ‘will power’, and allow you to mark how much you are achieving. I believe Weight Watchers also has a similar service, although one that is less holistic technology-wise (with no mobile or mp3 addition).

Will we have to link every FMCG to a certain behaviour other than eating or showering and expand that out then? And will consumers care? The Johnson’s baby website does this to an extent – allowing mums to track their pregnancy and linking them to a community, whilst offering up information and helpful advice. But should Johnson's also be developing a portable ultra sound service or a baby-steps pedometer in order to promote their moisturiser and shower gel?– Will this extra offering seal them as the leader in the market? Maybe I am missing the point here as those ideas don’t tap into a specific insight, but I can see this all happening…

I saw a brilliant TV ad by DDB today, promoting the new Phillips epilator. The ad uses a transvestite to promote the new 'sense and sensitivity' epilator - after all, what could be better proof that a hair removal device for women works, than showing that it works on a man's hardcore, thick hair? The ad perfectly disrupted the boring ‘look at my long, smooth, female legs' hair removal ad scene, hammering home a product truth. I'm already convinced, without any extra technology letting me remind myself when I next need to epilate. I suppose it is when the product life-span begins to wane due to a newer version from Gillette that Phillips will really need to use digital to involve me in an engaging brand loyalty programme.

Let’s put it this way, in my mind, traditional ads (if they are good enough) still do a great job of launching a product or reminding people of its existence, but digital will become essential to maintaining a brand’s lifespan through innovative consumer loyalty programmes. Regardless of my fears and doubts regarding FMCG brand strategy, I believe that digital technology is a brand’s NOS, - it’s the button that needs to be pressed in order to inject new life into a brand, and help it pace far ahead of the others after initial launch. Nike ‘turbo powered’ its way ahead in the trainer market quite literally... The key for other brands will be taking this learning and applying it to the brand, consumer and campaign in a way that isn’t just technology for technology’s sake, but something that truly takes the brand streets ahead of its competitors. Whether we need to employ a techy or interface designer to develop a service technology promoting Flora or Tropicana is debatable – but I bet once one of them is employed, and cracks a technology use for this market, there’ll be no stopping the innovation efforts of the likes of P&G or Unilever - will it be the digital agencies that finally crack this and finally own the main brand relationship? Will traditional agencies be pushed aside to be briefed to launch campaigns already defined by digital agencies, that have thought up campaigns with consumer/technology insights at their heart? Watch this space….

Check out DDB ad: Once, Twice, Three times a Lady:

http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=e378593c

Doig is a legend

I went and saw Peter Doig’s show at Tate Britain the other day. I didn't know of him before... apparently his stuff sells for some serious doe - £11 million for a painting to be exact… and I can see why – I freakin’ loved it.

Doig takes scenes, either from reality or from films and embellishes them with his own take on texture, realism and imagination. Even though his style is largely unique, I found each of his paintings really different. Some of them are really mystical, and others are more blunt, more realistic. I loved ‘Gasthof zur Muldentalsperre’ (2002 - above). It is a painting of two different photographs mapped together, one is of a dam and lake from a German postcard originating from 1910. The other is a photo of Doig and his mate in fancy dress – they are in costumes from the ballet ‘Petrouchka’ from when they worked at a theatre and had their photo taken. The mysterious, fairytale quality that Doig manages to evoke is brilliant – and the idea is as delightful as its delivery.

The second that really got to me was ‘Metropolitan (House of Pictures)’ (2004). According to Tate Britain, Doig came across a painting by a 19^th century French artist ‘Honore Daumier’ of an arts connoisseur looking intently at prints. Doig loved the stance, outfit and expression of Honore so painted him, ironically looking at Doig’s own work. To the figure he added facepaints, as he was living in Trinidad at the time, and apparently during Carnival it is common for Trinidadians to paint there faces white and nose and cheeks red to mock Europeans (hehe- good for them!!)

Anyway, the squares actually reminded me of some of my own paintings. If only I had used him as an influence – I reckon I could of taken some of my work further than I got. My own influences were Edward Hopper, Lichtenstein and Ken Howard. I love a mixture of abstraction and realism, and variable textures and colours are essential to my paintings. Below is a painting of my school art room (2002). It was a pretty boring brown room at the time, but there was so much creative work hanging on the walls, that it influenced the colours in my work. The second two, I did when I was in California (2004) and are reflections of my obsession with palm trees. For Palm 2 (second painting), I painted the buildings in abstraction, as I was staying in a yucky peach coloured modernist motel. In my mind it was a great place, but in a painting its realism looked ugly to me. Plus the light at the time had a huge purple/pink effect on the wall. Laslty, I wanted the colours to reflect my own fairytale existence on the sunshine coast.

My favourite thing about Doig is that he often takes things that he finds interesting from other works of art (film, photos, paintings) and puts it into his own work, playing with time, space and the medium (in most cases oil) itself. It’s cheeky, ballsy and LEDGY. Big up Doig, thank you for backing oil painting in contemporary art.

(pic 1. ‘Gasthof zur Muldentalsperre’ (2002), Peter Doig, Tate Britain, pic 2. ‘Metropolitan (House of Pictures)’ (2004), Peter Doig, Tate Britain, Pic.3 Art room, Lucy Hurst, Pic 4. Palms, Lucy Hurst, Pic 5. Palms 2, Lucy Hurst.)