Hasta La Creative!

Japanese natural cosmetics brand Shokubutsu Hana and TBWASMP have floated an unconventional idea in the Philippines to help clean Manila’s grievously polluted Pasig River—an 88-foot-long billboard made of vetiver, a grass that absorbs deadly toxins. Vetiver is often used to treat waste water and landfills, and the billboard can cleanse up to 8,000 gallons a day.

On its website, Shokubutsu Hana says the effort represents the company’s belief in “healthy beauty brought about by the restorative power of nature” and commitment to “provide not only a clean message but also a clean future.” Additional vetiver signs are planned for the ailing waterway, which was declared “biologically dead” in the 1990s after decades of contamination from industrial runoff and sewage. The Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission and Vetiver Farms Philippines are also partners in the project.

A similar concept sprouted in the Philippines three years ago, when Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund created a 60-by-60-foot billboard covered in Fukien tea plants to absorb air pollution.

The notion that social-issues campaign should not just call for action, but also take action themselves or facilitate change, is growing. Recent examples include Peruvian billboards that generate clean air and water, a “Drinkable Book” with pages that filter contaminants and a “Blind Book” designed to teach sighted folks how vision-impaired people feel when denied access to literature because it is not published in a format they can read.

Via PSFK.

Outdoor, Print
Domingo

Super Resistant Cutlery.

Advertising Agency:Pubblica, Bogotá, Colombia
Creative Director:Ronald Bastidas Vélez
Art Director:Christian Vanegas
Copywriter:Ronald Bastidas Vélez
Illustrator:Christian Vanegas

Film, Online
Coca-Cola

Corvo Island is the smallest and most isolated point of Portugal. Its a little dot in the middle of the ocean. So small that they don’t even have an official football team (the only town in Portugal without one). We decided to bring to each of the 398 inhabitants a coke with their name on it. And since their are closer to brasil and the Fifa World Cup than any other Part of the country, we organised a soccer game with Pauleta, an Azorean legend of Portuguese Football.

Advertising Agency:Grand Union, Lisbon, Portugal
Creative Director:Alex Rodrigues
Art Director:João Gomes
Executive Producer:Tânea Tavares
Account:Mafalda Amâncio
Production Agencie:Filmes da Mente

Ben Fender, chief executive and founder of the experiential specialist Drive Worldwide group, explains why Drive bought the London-based Figure Digital, the first “virtual reality agency”.

It’s time to redefine performance delivery, says AdConnection’s chief executive, Catherine Becker.

In the latest of a series of videos from Marketing and creative agency Team Darwin called ‘Bums on Seats’, offering career advice from the UK’s leading marketers, we ask whether marketers are suffering from a lack of digital skills.

Lobbyists for the music industry and streaming music services are gearing up to battle one another after the Justice Department said it will review decades-old agreements that govern songwriter royalties.

The review, which follows court battles between rights holders and Pandora internet radio, will “examine the operation and effectiveness of the consent decrees” dating back to 1941 with two major songwriter groups, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music Inc., the department said in a notice today.

The review could lead to changes in the rules governing how much Pandora, the leader in internet radio, pays songwriters each time their works are played. Ascap and BMI, both based in New York, represent hundreds of thousands of songwriters, composers and publishers. They’ve argued in court disputes with Pandora that the agreements with the Justice Department don’t take into account the rise of digital media. Pandora has argued that it is isn’t on an even playing field with terrestrial radio and may not be able to sustain its buisiness model if rates keeps climbing.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Despite a name that would seem to promise simplicity, marketing-automation technology can be a tricky proposition. Getting implementation right the first time is crucial, given the time and effort it can take to align systems and stakeholders.

Last week at the Business Marketing Association’s annual conference in Chicago, three marketers who have gone through the process — Lenovo demand generation strategy manager Mike Ballard; Solar Winds director of marketing and demand generation operations Heather Burton; and Molex Incorporated director of global marketing operations services Don Gushurst — shared what worked for them — and what didn’t. Here are 10 best practices for getting marketing automation up and running smoothly.

1. Hire an expert Marketing automation isn’t plug and play. To use it effectively, you need a power user. “Find somebody that you can bring onboard who’s an expert in it,” said Ms. Burton. “I didn’t pull the trigger fast enough and because of that I’m a little bit delayed in my implementation.” You can, of course, outsource some tasks to partners or the vendor. But Mr. Gushurst said that means optimizing the system more slowly, which holds back more ambitious uses.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Print
Opel

Use your mobile without using your hands
The Siri Eyes Free System with voice recognition now available in every Opel.

Advertising Agency:Tapsa Y&R, Madrid, Spain
General Creative Director:Tute Ostiglia, Susana Albuquerque
Creative Director:Adrian Rios, Juan Cenoz
Art Director:Adrian Rios
Copywriter:Juan Cenoz

Print
Peta

When you buy, you become part of it.
Poaching is driven by demand. So the day you stop buying, they stop killing.

Advertising Agency:Lowe, Singapore
Group Account Director:Andrea Aranador
Copywriters:Mihir Dhairyawan, Joseph Cheong
Creative Directors:Andrew Ho, Sheng Jin Ang
Art Directors:Andrew Ho, Sheng Jin Ang
Chief Creative Officer:Dominic Stallard
Executive Creative Director:Dominic Stallard