Skittles - the Flavour of Awesome

Quite possibly my favourite brand ever. I don’t like the candy, but I love the ads. I’m not sure how that’s going to pay off for them but if it was going to rain for forty days and forty nights and I was in control of what goes in an Ark, I would definitely choose foot guy, beard guy, pinata guy and tube sock over the cadbury gorilla.

The Conversation Prism

I like to stare at it because it’s pretty. I’ve never bothered to look closely at it as the type is too small. I’m sure it does make a lot of sense though. It’s the type of image you want in a pitch book. It will make you look like you are so confident you know what you are talking about that a designer was assigned to the graphic for a good couple of weeks.

Evolving Advertising

The third Creativity and Technology conference looked at how agencies need to evolve for a digital age. Five main themes that kept making their way into conversation were identified.

1. Don’t separate interactive
2. Consider platform storytelling
3. Partner with tech companies, not just media companies
4. Game mechanics is the new marketing
5. It’s hard to laugh alone

Pump - Keep Moving

The mobile game unit ‘Pumpawakka’ allowed Coca Cola to take the Pump of ‘Keep Moving Stay Pumped’message to events. Users played a 60 second reaction game with high scorers receiving a free Pump from a connected vending machine. After a summer of events the unit was placed in one of Aukland’s biggest shopping malls, where it’s still being used.

Social Monitoring Tools

The latest dot com craze seems to be inventing a social media monitoring tool for brands – every day I seem to stumble on the name of a new system that does something different. The Social Media Monitoring Solutions Wiki attempts to list the different solutions and indicate what they monitor.

Re-enactment of WWII dogfight for Pacific TV Series

To publicise the screening of the TV series the Pacific Colenso BBDO New Zealand organised a re-enactment of a dogfight with a real New Zealand Kittyhawk taking on two Japanese fighter planes over a popular Auckland beach area – including explosions.

Pocket 14

Pocket 14 – a hybrid mobile-web application that brings rugby fans in New Zealand together online and brings the Super 14 to the mobile phone. People can use Pocket 14 to test their rugby knowledge, share photographs and participate in the Rebel Sport Super 14 at the stadia and while watching SKY TV, as well as getting live scores and checking the standings. All of the above functionality is available on mobile handsets with the web providing a place to register and check in on your personal standings on the leaderboard.

Young Guns - Worth the Pain

The Young Guns Awards call for entries website for 2007 revolved around a medical theme. Website visitors were invited to undergo a medical test online conducted via video with the resident nurse. On completion a diagnosis video was prescribed. The site gained widespread appeal with the creative industry gathering thousands of sign-ups.

Wellington Zoo - Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality technology made it possible to view a three-dimensional zoo animal on a print ad simply by using the live camera feed on a mobile phone.

Let me count the ways I 'Like' thee

In the debate about how to measure the value of social media investment there seem to be a few areas of discussion currently standing out from the many threads.The first is to ascribe a media value to your social media channels based on how many (impressions) ‘Likes’ or followers you have. The company currently pushing this view claim that, on average, a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over a year.

Elave - Nothing to Hide

Skincare range elave wanted to create buzz in the market with their range of skincare containing no chemicals. The Nothing to Hide campaign consisted of a viral video and a video shopfront for the online shopping website. naturally, as the brand has nothing to hide, all of the featured employees were naked, including the company owner.

Kit Kat - From Killers to Cool

In March 2010 Nestle and Kit Kat in particular were in the midst of a PR nightmare when Greenpeace targetted them in a campaign against deforestation in Indonesia caused by one of Nestles palm oil suppliers. Back in March the way they handled the situation was perfect fodder for a case study in how not to respond in a crisis in social media.

The Uniform Project - Sustainable Fashion

One dress design. 365 days. The goal to create a different outfit each day and to raise funds for a charity in India that schools children. What went from a small bloject in May 2009 ended up raising over US$ 95,000. These days it seems people who use the internet to raise money for small local charities are increasingly reversing the ‘think global act local’ mantra.