Yesterday ended Stockholm MediaWeek. It was two not a traditional two day seminar, instead it was innovative done as a television show. The days were full of inspiration for journalist, media and advertisers (they sort of live together and now they al wants to be ONE with the consumers). I think one of the best speakers where Carlos Viladevall, Managing Director at Magic Touch from Spain. Carlos did show a lot of creative campaigns. Some of them were a mix of art and advertising, I call it Artisation (the advertising world really need a new word). Some call it Artvertising but Artisation is for me when advertising it self is becoming art.
Does how say advertising is slowing down take a look here:
World’s Top 50 Agency Companies. Adage.com
That is big Advertising money and the biggest agency of them al is Dentsu in Japan.
The city of Stockholm is now becoming ONE with the politicians at Stockholm.se. It is the new official gateway. If you’re thinking of arranging a wedding they do have this romantically offer in the City Hal:
The ceremony is free of charge. After the marriage you documents are sent back to the Tax Office for registration. If you need some other document besides the marriage certificate to verify your marriage in your country please contact the Tax Office. Stockholm.se
Is Amnesty carton killing the Olympic spirit in Beijing? Sport is something nice that we al are becoming ONE around, with headlines as this from China it feels good:
One World, One Dream, One Mountaineering Team. Beijing2008.cn
But with other headlines as: “Ad turns Olympic torch into shock baton,” it doesn’t feel as good.
Amnesty International is launching a hard-hitting ad campaign, featuring an animated character being given electric shocks, to highlight human rights abuses in China in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. Guardian.co.uk
Watch the tone in the video. It is done carefully not to ugly (torture is ugly and not told normally by an carton). I think it is because Amnesty know it can backfire to use sport to get the massage out. They do it good and they have set up a campaign site here Amnesty.org.uk/china
Some charity organizations are starting to cross the line when things can backfire. Like doing event the same day/week that a pedophile has raped and killed a little girl. They do kill their brand by doing things like this – it is too desperate and overkills the message.
The new game version of Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA 4) are having problems. The game is freezing and there are reports about problems with online killing. Could this be the first peace project done by a programmer how got enough of al the killing?
The graphic is excellent; soon will Hollywood try to follow (but they don’t got the same budget).
Did ask some gamers that were sleeping outside a shop to by the game last week: What’s the best thing with GTA 4? You can shot cops! A shocking answer, but that is and has always been the point – if it shock people it’s popular (but it’s not fun if you are a cop).
It is an extremely violent game that have got journalist to nearly pray for parents on television. The effect is that it will only see more if parents don’t like it – so it’s a tricky question. Coke did a “nice version” of GTA 4 in its commercial and its already classical.
It is really smart move; it talks both to kids (hidden points for gamers). And it cool down parents like cold Coke. The question is why not more brands are doing what I call Debriefing Branding?
It was not me saying it but the advertising guru Lee Clow from TBWA say at the Leadership Conference for the American Association of Advertising Agencies. In the end of his speech he did talk about making advertising for iPhone:
When you have a product that speaks so eloquently that we’re going to change everything, you don’t let advertising get too much in the way, so you basically just show people the iPhone.
Lee Clow, TBWA
Recommend reading the article “TBWA Guru Lee Clow Says Online Branding Still in Infancy” by Alice Z. Cuneo.
When brands buy the right to name a building after their brand x, it’s called “naming.” But it is a risk to use places that consumers already have a relation with. Don’t use naming, as raping of strong relations be twin fans and their tribe places. Sometimes is better to think twice before buying places as famous Madison Square Garden in NY and turn it to a naming place just because you have the money and can do so. For fans how have been going to this tribe monuments for generations it will be mix feelings (most brand managers don’t want to have meetings with hooligans). But if it’s done when a new building is getting build it can be seen as a corporate social responsibility, a good way to tap into the local community. If it ad value into being a fans, the experience ore save money on tickets etc it will make sense. But at the same time its really strong and personal feelings for a lot of fans naming their stadium – this is a consumer fighting for the colors like warriors on a mission (they are not the type of people how call consumer support to complain – they take action).
When these state-of-the-art stadiums and arenas are built, fans of all ages will spend decades cheering on their teams in a venue named after a (presumably) financially-robust corporate brand. Brandchannel.com
It is also important to see the naming project over a long time period, at least 10 year. “Enron Field” doesn’t sounds like a good idea today, after Enron its previous names for the stadium has been “Astros Field” and latest “Minute Maid Park.” Coca-Cola, paid a price exceeding $100 million for the naming rights to the stadium for 28 years. Paying that kind of money and then get a nickname like “The Juice Box” is not fun but it’s the fans how owns the right to create nicknames. A good start to find a naming project is to look at how old the stadiums are at the places you like to try out a naming project (but do get the fans singing for you not against your brand).
More ore less is the success of eBay.com based on word of mouth and PR. But now is it now so new anymore so I think they should develop the seller and buyers model into next step.
Here is a simple idea that will give new fuel for more buzz and PR around eBay.com. Instead of having the old traditional way of selling and buying stuff with money they could take it way back into let people exchange stuff with each other. Like I have this car and I want a motorbike to ride this summer… People can then discuss what is a relevant exchange. It can develop into a lot of different solutions but it will drive traffic and of course if the buyer doesn’t have the motorbike I want he ore she maybe have the money I need (but that’s the next level).
eBay.com got more than 100 million people around the world that is probably billions of things that can be exchange in a year.
After 5 years of studies is 