Robinsons isn't the only British brand drafting off Andy Murray's historic win at Wimbledon yesterday. The Adidas ad above, posted to Twitter, is nice and simple and a worthy tribute. The tennis star's other sponsors, including Head and RBS, also congratulated their man on Twitter. Head even used the same headline.
Wook at the poochies! Wook at the widdle poochie-woochies! What else do I really need to say about Deep Focus's "Dog Goldberg Machine" commercial for Purina's Beneful dog-food brand? It's doggone adorable the way those mutts manipulate toys, food tins and tennis balls to operate a Rube Goldberg device that ultimately spells out the tagline, "Play. It's good for you," in dominoes. My jaw drops in a massive "Awww!" when I watch the ad, which has garnered nearly 1.5 million YouTube views in less than a week. You could never get cats to do this stuff. They'd claw the director's eyes and chew through the camera cords. But check out the choreographed canines. Oooh, does pooch-ums wike his Fwisbee? This is way cuter than the Honda "Cog" spot, which started the whole Goldberg trend in advertising. In fact, there wasn't a single dog in that commercial, though "Cog" spelled backward is … "Goc." So cuuute, I'm woozing my mind! Awww! Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Purina Beneful Agency: Deep Focus Chief Executive Officer: Ian Schafer Exeuctive Creative Director: Ken Kraemer Creative Director: Matt Steinwald Art Director: Scott Jones Copywriter: Micky Treutlein Producer: Sean Fleming Account Director: Jamie Julian
Production Company: Quiet Man Director: Johnie Semerad
Britain had to wait 77 years—until Sunday's win by Andy Murray—to celebrate another British male singles champion at Wimbledon. So, BBH London should feel fortunate that it had to wait only four years to add the proper ending to its now-famous Wimbledon commercial for Robinsons drinks. The spot, which dreams of the day when a British player would once again win the prestigious London tennis tournament, was originally put together in 2009. Murray made it to the semifinals that year, losing to Andy Roddick. He made it to the semifinals in each of the following two years as well, reaching the final in 2012, only to fall to Roger Federer. This year, finally, he triumphed—over Novak Djokovic. "Worth the wait, wasn't it?" says BBH's newly added voiceover at the end.
I did not. Maybe the trophy will get lucky tonight! RT @jode_d@andy_murray did you go to sleep with the trophy in bed next to you? #AskAndy
CREDITS Client: Britvic Robinsons Campaign Name: Wimbledon "Imagine" Original Client: Lesley Davey, Brand Director Current Client: Helen Gorman, Brand Director
Original Launch: June 1, 2009 Updated Film: July 7, 2013
Original BBH Team: TV Producer: Ben Davies Account Director: Sylvia Pelzer? Account Manager: Corina Cuddihy Account Planner: Nina Rahmatallah Engagement Planner: Darius Karbassion Creative Director: Nick Gill Creative Team: Daniel Schafer, Copywriter; Szymon Rose, Art Director
Original Production Team: Production Company: Blink Director: Benito Montorio Director of Photography: Antonio Paladino Postproduction: Phil Oldham @ Absolute Post Editor, Editing House: Andy Mcgraw @ Cut and Run Sound: Aaron Reynolds @ Wave
British brands, understandably, don't have much to say around the Fourth of July—until now. Newcastle Brown Ale, among the cheekiest of U.K. marketers, has turned America's most patriotic holiday to its advantage by inventing a new, completely made-up holiday: Independence Eve on July 3. The idea of the tongue-in-cheek campaign, created by Droga5, is to "honor all things British that Americans gave up when they signed the Declaration of Independence," Newcastle says.
To mark the new holiday, the brewer is introducing the "Revolutionary Koozie," which will be handed out at bars around the country this evening. It features the British flag on one side and the American flag on the other. At the stroke of midnight, you're encouraged to turn your beer 180 degrees and go "from honorary British subject to proud American with the twist of a fist." The campaign extends to digital with a transformation of the brand's Facebook page and a series of daily GIFs highlighting the differences "between British America and American America."
"Newcastle is a very British beer, and needless to say, it doesn't sell that well on July 4. So why not establish it as the beer you drink on July 3?" says Charles van Es, senior director of marketing for Heineken USA portfolio brands. "Unlike the Redcoats in the 18th century, we're picking our battles a little more wisely. By celebrating Independence Eve, we're taking liberties with America's liberty to create a new drinking occasion and ensuring freedom on July 4 tastes sweeter than ever."
Van Es adds: "Like Cinco de Mayo or Thanksgiving Wednesday, Independence Eve is just another excuse to enjoy good times with good friends, but now with a new purpose. On July 3, we're lifting a Newcastle to our British heritage and the American freedom we all appreciate."
It was only a matter of time. YouTube's gurus of gluttony, the EpicMealTime guys, have partnered with the burger pornographers at Carl's Jr./Hardee's to promote the chain's new Super Bacon Cheeseburger. EpicMealTime host Harley Morenstein, fresh off a stint as AdFreak's guest judge of the world's grossest fast-food abominations, joins costar "Muscles Glasses" (aka Alex Perrault) in a series of TV and Web-only clips from 72andSunny unveiling the new burger. The promotion will also feature placement on EpicMealTime's YouTube channel, and customers can reportedly request an "epic" upgrade that ratchets up the bacon count from six strips to 12. The burger's actually pretty wimpy by EpicMealTime standards, but it's good to see that at least one chain was willing to embrace the show's gleeful gluttony. Check out one spot below and another, plus credits, after the jump.
CREDITS Client: Carl's Jr./Hardee's Campaign: "Bacon to the 6th Power"
AGENCY: 72andSunny Glenn Cole – Chief Creative Officer/Partner Matt Jarvis – Chief Strategic Officer/Partner Mick DiMaria – Creative Director Justin Hooper – Creative Director Rebecca Ullman – Jr. Writer Sarah Herron – Designer Sam Baerwald – Director of Film Production Molly McFarland – Senior Film Producer Brooke Horne – Film Producer Matt Johnson – Group Strategy Director Josh Hughes – Strategist Latanya Ware – Business Affairs Manager Sherri Chambers – Group Brand Director Alexis Varian – Brand Director Mandy Hein – Brand Manager Tim Sekiguchi – Brand Coordinator Melissa Harris – Sr. Print Producer Emily Hodkins – Communications Manager
Production Company: Christina Productions Justin Hooper – Director Christina Ritzmann- EP Jenny Lenz- Line Producer
Nike's "Just do it" slogan, unveiled 25 years ago this month by Wieden + Kennedy, might be the last great tagline in advertising history.
Yes, other notables have come since—among them, Apple's "Think different" and Volkswagen's "Drivers wanted"—but none have come close to duplicating the cultural impact and mass appeal of "Just do it." I frankly doubt that any ever will.
When 80-year-old Walt Stack jogged across the Golden Gate Bridge in Nike's first "Just do it" spot, chatting about his daily 17-mile run and joking that he kept his teeth from chattering in winter by leaving them in his locker, we lived in a more homogenous media world. At the time it seemed complex and cluttered, with some cable systems sporting 100 or more channels, and the recently launched Fox network broadening the broadcast funnel by 25 percent. All that was small potatoes, however, compared to today's ever-expanding digital/mobile/shareable/wearable mega-sphere, which has turned each consumer into his or her own media production and distribution channel, and to a large extent—despite the vaunted "social" nature of it all—isolated us instead of bringing us together.
Back in '88, a news image, song lyric, sitcom catchphrase or advertising slogan could spring to life in a way that's nearly impossible with today's media fragmentation. Modern content may be "snackable," but for the most part it doesn't stick to the ribs. Most of the lists, memes and apps are quickly, often instantly, discarded. Ideas have no time to build the momentum or gain the traction needed to become ubiquitous or, like "Just do it," beloved.
The "big idea" is, of course, a marketing cliche. It's considered old-school and somewhat outmoded, frequently derided by today's data-driven practitioners. That's a shame. Big ideas are, first and foremost, big. From a brand standpoint, they add rather than subtract, lending weight and substance to campaigns that can become unfocused and diluted by too many moving parts. Big ideas strengthen individual executions and provide platforms that make campaigns more than the sum of their parts.
"Just do it" was one of the biggest ad ideas ever, destined to cut across all conceivable psycho/socio/demographic lines in ways author Dan Wieden couldn't have envisioned when he tossed off the phrase in 20 minutes, concerned that the initial half-dozen ads in the campaign, spotlighting various subjects and different sports, had no unifying message.
"It was a simple thing," Wieden recalls in a 2009 Adweek video interview in which he discusses the effort's genesis. Simplicity is really the secret of all "big ideas," and by extension, great slogans. They must be concisely memorable, yet also suggest something more than their literal meanings. Rather than just putting product notions in people's minds, they must be malleable and open to interpretation, allowing people of all kinds to adapt them as they see fit, and by doing so, establish a personal connection to the brand.
Exchanging tweets is no substitute for helping people think, dream, or in Nike's case do things in a new way. "Just do it" was open to interpretation, and many folks adopted it as their private mantra. And not just in the realm of fitness and exercise. They just did all sorts of things as they strove toward personal goals. These ranged from starting businesses to popping the question, and in some cases extricating themselves from bad relationships. As a result of the line's resonance, Nike's brand image soared.
It's worth noting that "Just do it" is not a typical feel-good marketing tagline. There's a hard-edged, suck-it-up aspect to the phrase that runs counter to most advertising pablum. It's empowering but makes no promises, implying, in fact, that tough, hard work and personal sacrifice might be involved. On that level, it's an honest slogan, more so than most, and that's a big part of its appeal.
Perhaps the line's attitude stems from its ironic and unlikely origin. Wieden says he channeled, of all pop-culture figures, double murderer Gary Gilmore, who in 1977 became the first American executed in a decade, and famously told his executioners "Let's do it!" before facing the firing squad. That says something about the obscure, inexplicable nature of creativity—and brings me to my final point about why we might never see a slogan on the magnitude of "Just do it" again.
Big data doesn't necessarily kill big ideas, but it can thwart inspiration by attempting to quantify the unquantifiable. Because media is so splintered compared to 25 years go, brands will continue to target based on statistics, eschewing bold strokes for brief inroads in the hope of quick sales. Few creative teams "just do it" these days. They study, filter and refine their ideas into narrow bits of communication—lists, memes, apps—which, while seemingly focused and on point, are ultimately fleeting and insubstantial, little more than static.
"Just do it" belongs to an era when brands were brave enough to run with their visions and invite consumers to dream along with them.
In 1957, when Elvis recorded "All Shook Up," grinding and groping was referred to as heavy petting. Today, it's called an ad campaign for adult sexual aids. To launch a trio of new lubricants, Church & Dwight's Trojan brand picked a dreamy, breathy, super-slow cover of the classic Elvis hit by the indie duo Avila. The result is a pretty darn effective set of spots from agency The Joey Company featuring couples in various stages of romantic dry humping. But it's OK, viewers, because they're married, as evidenced by the prominent wedding rings on display. (There must still be backlash against TV ads for this genre of products, or marketers might be able to skip this too-obvious prop altogether.) The attractive folks in the ads aren't the only ones getting lucky. The song shot to the top 10 on iTunes, where it's been for six weeks. It found its way into the Trojan campaign via L.A.-based music marketing and licensing firm MediaHorse, which also landed Avila's cover of "My Favorite Things" for a Victoria's Secret holiday campaign. See all the spots below.
If you're ever tired on a subway or train, be careful—a new advertising medium might put some ideas in your head. Literally. BBDO Düsseldorf has developed a special window for public transportation that uses a transmitter to silently release high-frequency oscillations that your brain will convert into sound. Futurama fans will note the similarities between this and Fry's Lightspeed Briefs dream, and Transmetropolitan fans could draw parallels to Information Pollen. I'm sure people who aren't huge nerds also have something to compare this to, but hell if I know what it is.
"He can't ball, he just tall." With smack talk on his sneering lips, 5-foot-9 forward Anton Barrels makes his commercial debut in this Nike Basketball spot from Wieden + Kennedy, set during a shirt vs. skins draft in the Maryland hometown of real-life 6-foot-9 superstar Kevin Durant. The ad, directed by David Gordon Green of Chelsea Pictures and edited by Geoff Hounsell of Arcade Edit, introduces Durant's KD VI Nike shoe, and he gets chosen first for the local game. It's all a big in-joke, because Durant was famously taken second in the 2007 NBA Draft, trailing Greg Oden, who's probably worn casts more often than sneakers during his injury-riddled pro career. (Where's Greg's new footwear line, you heartless bastards!? Dude's got doctor bills to pay!) The commercial is amusing even if you don't know the backstory, though it helps. Frankly, I was rooting for Barrels, a sweat-soaked, tie-and-tank-top-wearin' everyman, to be the top pick, because his misplaced moxie steals the show. Sorry, Kevin, but in my book, you're still No. 2. Credits below.
CREDITS Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Global Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke Art Director: Jason Campbell Copywriter: Nathaniel Friedman Account Supervisor: Jordan Muse Account Executive: Jessica Shaw Executive Producer: Matt Hunicutt Producer: Chris Capretto
Production Company: Chelsea Pictures Director: David Gordon Green Director of Photography: Eric Treml Executive Producers: Allison Amon, Lisa Mehling, Pat McGoldrick Head of Production: Adam Guliner
Editorial: Arcade Edit Editor: Geoff Hounsell Assistant Editor: Sean LeGrange Managing Director: Damian Stevens Executive Producer: Nicole Visram Visual Effects: Airship Post Visual Effects Producer: Greg Heffron Color: Sean Coleman at Company 3 Sound: Jeff Payne at Eleven Sound Color Company: MPC Colorist: Mark Gethin
I'm not sure I'd swipe my passport through a vending machine, regardless of the reward, but perhaps I would if I were Canadian and needed a beer badly enough. Molson Canadian recently visited several European cities and placed fully stocked beer fridges in public places there. The catch? The fridges could be opened only by scanning a Canadian passport. Footage from the sites was then cut into the 90-second online ad below, from ad agency Rethink and director Jonty Toosey of Partners Film. A :30 broke on TV during the Stanley Cup Finals. The campaign also brings back the classic tagline, "I am Canadian."
It's a fun idea, and continues the trend toward more installation-based public branding and entertainment stunts. Coca-Cola has always done that very well, of course, but these days everyone's trying it—from Hot Wheels to those crazy Fantastic Delites stunts. Beer fridges that won't open are particularly galling, of course, and wondrous when they finally relent—as we learned last year with the JWT office fridge that only opens when everyone has done their time sheets.
Making-of video and credits for the Molson effort below.
CREDITS Title: "The Beer Fridge" Client: Molson Canadian
Agency: Rethink Creative Directors: Aaron Starkman, Chris Staples, Dré Labre, Ian Grais Associate Creative Director: Mike Dubrick Art Directors: Joel Holtby, Vince Tassone, Christian Buer Writers: Mike Dubrick, Aaron Starkman, Matt Antonello, Dave Thornhill Account Director: Ashley Eaton Broadcast Producer: Clair Galea
Production Company: Partners Film Director: Jonty Toosey Executive Producer: Aerin Barnes Line Producer: Neil Bartley Director of Photography: Bruce Jackson
Postproduction: Rooster Post Executive Producer: Melissa Kahn Editor: Marc Langley Assistant Editor: Nick Greaves
Postroduction: Fort York VFX Music, Sound Design: RMW Music Producer, Composer: Steven MacKinnon
Would you like an NHL championship with that? Leo Burnett in Chicago found an appetizing way to support the Blackhawks during their Stanley Cup run this summer, creating a special bus-shelter display for McDonald's featuring custom hockey sticks shaped like french fries. The copy reads, simply, "Go Blackhawks." (McDonald's may have had something of a rooting interest—the company is based in Oak Brook, Ill., after all.) As part of the campaign, the chain will donate hockey sticks (though not the actual ones from the ad) to local youth hockey programs.
Ad agency Jung von Matt/Neue Elbe and directing duo Alex & Steffen stage an orgy of CGI insanity, referencing various effects-driven fantasy blockbusters from the past 20 years, in this lighthearted yet heart-pounding German spot branding Fanta as "The official sponsor of FANTAsy." When a giant Transformers-type cyber-terror lays siege to a desert castle, a pro wrestler gets catapulted into the fray, bouncing harmlessly off the bot's metal hide, and a plucky princess slides down a saurian's back to save the day. Turns out the action—superbly staged and worth several viewings—is taking place in the imagination of a little girl at a family picnic. The intricate sandcastle they've built sits nearby, its parapets manned by action figures. Some might say it's a sad commentary that a kid's imagination is fueled by soda-pop-culture/Hollywood hype, though in our media-saturated age, this seems about right, and the melee she envisions provides more thrills than most mega-budget flicks can manage. Good thing they didn't probe her brother's imagination. That little devil would've used the robot to conquer the world and hogged all the Fanta for himself!
Texas copywriter Matt Bull became an ad-industry folk hero of sorts last month, when his first solo client work became an instant Internet sensation. But if you thought his billboard promoting Chicken Scratch restaurant—located "between some trailers and a condemned motel"—was odd, check out his first self-promotional board.
Bull, the owner (and sole employee) of The Department of Persuasion, tells Adweek that the coverage of his work for Chicken Scratch won him even more free publicity in the form of donated ad space. "Clear Channel Outdoor wanted to do something with me after your article," he tells us. "They gave me a month of digital boards to promote myself. I decided on something very, very silly."
As you can see above, the billboard simply says "SlothPunchClub.com." Once again illustrated by artist Elliott Park, the board directs viewers to a blog post by Bull, who says he's going to donate the URL to whomever comes up with the most creative way to use it. "Slothpunchclub.com is your domain to do with as you please," Bull writes in the post. "Anything at all. It could be an online graphic novel, a flash game hub, a text-based MUD, a collection of skewed illustrated poems disguised as children's picture books, a poorly written blog about second-tier sororities, an elaborate mythos for sloth-based fantasy neckbeards. Those are some free starter ideas. It would even make an excellent base for spreading malicious trojans. Not my business, frankly."
Ideas for the URL can be sent to slothpunchclub@gmail.com. Bull is also encouraging the winner and any participants to consider donating to Dallas-based charity Baal Dan, dedicated to helping street children in India.
Say what you want about Domino's (it's an abomination unto the Lord), but it has one of the better branded Pinterest projects I've seen in a while—Second Hand Logos. Since Domino's recently redesigned its logo, Crispin Porter + Bogusky got to thinking about what happens to a company's old signage, clothing, store materials, etc. So, the agency commissioned 10 artists to make stuff with old Domino's employee shirts, pizza boxes and other company ephemera. Lots of it is for sale, and Domino's is being gracious enough not to demand a cut of the artists' sales, which is pretty cool of the company. More of the work will roll out in the coming days. Doesn't make this any less accurate, but this is a good example of effective consumer outreach.
My colleague Tim Nudd recently wondered if Apple, at a crucial time of transition in the company's history, had lost its voice in the new "Our Signature" manifesto commercial. The company speaks clearly and with great confidence, however, in "Making a Difference One App at a Time," a 10-minute film by TBWA\Media Arts Lab that focuses on how third-party iOS apps can profoundly change people's lives.
Now, I initially assumed that such aspirational advertising, especially in a long-form outing, would veer into mawkish, tear-jerk territory. I was mistaken. The muted, documentary-style approach strikes the perfect tone, and "Making a Difference" says a whole lot without ever getting overly sentimental or offering pie-in-the-sky promises about making the world a better place.
"Making a Difference" both tells us why Apple's products are great and shows us that they are, introducing viewers to a range of people who use or develop vastly different apps that run on iPhones and iPads. We meet a nurse who uses the technology to make diagnoses in remote, rural areas of Kenya; an Olympic medal-winning amputee rower who programs her prosthetic legs; a Native American woman striving to keep the Cherokee language alive; and, most poignantly, a non-verbal youngster who finds his virtual voice and now talks to his family and friends via iPad every day.
In a way, these are small, intimate stories that gain considerable power (and a truly universal vibe) when woven together. Yet, the piece as a whole never feels forced or overblown. There's a cool, almost detached aspect to "Making a Difference"—achieved with lingering Steadicam shots, fluid editing and an elusive ambient soundtrack—that's analogous to Jonathan Ive's Apple product designs. His vision, at its best, is gorgeous yet restrained, evocative and efficient with all elements in harmony, and the same can be said for this film. It has great form but also function, with viewers learning quite a bit about iOS apps and feeling like we're part of the conversation.
Intriguingly, all four stories are ultimately about enabling and facilitating various types of communications. The apps—and, by extension, the Apple products they run on—are convincingly cast as high-tech translators. Working together, humans and machines create a new language of hope, change and deeper understanding.
Microsoft vents its inferiority complex with Apple yet again—by humiliating Siri—in this new spot from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, following a similar ad last month that got more than 5 million views on YouTube. The new spot compares Dell's XPS 10 tablet to the iPad. Microsoft is still smarting about the "Mac vs. PC" ads, to judge by the tone of these ads, which is a shame, because that Dell tablet looks cool enough to stand on its own. And if you think this is harsh, I wouldn't be surprised if future ads take potshots at the Sony Xperia after what happened at E3 this year.
Mother New York made up a word, "MIDWULS," using the last seven digits of Optimum's phone number, and created an integrated campaign around it. MIDWULS, we're told, is "that incredible feeling that comes when you get a great deal on TV, phone and Internet" by signing up with Optimum. The launch commercial shows folks in different situations saying "MIDWULS," and goofs on sci-fi-game addicts, Game of Thrones fanatics and Web-lovin' street gangs ("Yo, this is our hotspot!"). The campaign goes all-in, with a Wikipedia page (it's been deleted), a Tumblr (fairly amusing), an online store (every item is "sold out"—ha!) and the requisite #MIDWULS hashtag. (It's possible that Michael Bolton's next album will be titled MIDWULS.) I initially wondered if perhaps Mother deleted the Wikipedia entry itself as a postmodern, meta media move. Then I realized, even if they had, it would be a meh-ta move at best. The work tries a little too hard to be clever, like I just did with "meh-ta," and already feels played out. "MIDWULS" is amusing as a one-off, but I doubt it will spell success in the long run.
If you are male, the moment you have a child you are required to drastically alter your sense of humor in ways both profound and irreversible. Where before you were witty and sharp, you must now become broad and pun-heavy. This is mostly so you can embarrass your offspring, although, counterintuitively, it is also guaranteed to make them love you more. (The whole thing is probably evolutionary in some complex way.) This Sunday, for Father's Day, Heineken will celebrate this oddity of the human condition with a #dadjokes campaign from Wieden + Kennedy in New York. You submit your cheesiest dad joke with that hashtag to @Heineken_US, and the brewer will meme-ify its favorites—posting your joke next to stock photos of awesome dads through the ages. Heineken will add its own #dadjokes throughout the day, too, and all of them will be archived on a special #dadjokes Tumblr. Join in Sunday, and make it the most groan-inducing site on the Internet. Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Heineken Project: #dadjokes Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York Executive Creative Directors: Scott Vitrone, Ian Reichenthal Creative Directors: Erik Norin, Eric Steele Creatives: Mike Vitiello, Jessica Abercrombie Designer: Cory Everett Account Team: Patrick Cahill, Jacqueline Ventura Brand Strategist: Jeremy Daly Art Producer: Michelle Chant Interactive Producers: Mutaurwa Mapondera, Victoria Krueger Director of Integrated Production: Lora Schulson Director of Interactive Production: Brandon Kaplan Business Affairs: Quentin Perry
Gillette has a super-geeky Man of Steel tie-in and YouTube takeover going on right now, where they ask an impressive list of celebrities, "How does Superman shave?" Bill Nye, the science guy, offers a theory based in materials science. Super-geek movie director Kevin Smith suggests he uses a piece of the spaceship he came to Earth in (while detailing and dismissing some super other amusing theories, including the one from the comics that he uses his heat-vision reflected in a mirror to burn each hair off). The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik (whom you may know as Blossom, and who also has a real Ph.D in neuroscience) puts forth that Superman has super-Nair. Finally, the MythBusters guys give five or six theories before landing on the Large Hadron Collider. Surprisingly, but not in a bad way, no one said with a Gillette razor. It's a smart idea and a great tie-in. Ad agency Concept One came up with the notion for Gillette. If you want to hash over your own theory, tweet at #HowDoesHeShave. Or just search it to geek out on the crazy pseudo-science theories. Asking comic-book nerds to argue an absurd bit of superhero minutiae on social media? Their evil plan just might work! More spots below.
Jell-O's new "Jigglevision" social campaign from Crispin Porter + Bogusky is not quite as titillating as it sounds. You write a brief message on the brand's Facebook app using various "Jigglevision" patterns as camouflage, then share the note with friends via email or social media. Recipients decode the message by reading it through a red Jell-O gelatin snack lid. Just like they do at the NSA! Integrating social and real-word elements is cool, in theory. But if someone sent me a Jell-O jiggle-message, my first and last thought would be: #FML. Also, needing a Jell-O lid to play implies that you have to actually buy some product. Come on, that's not what social media is about! Kids will probably love this modern spin on a throwback idea (assuming they don't make a sticky mess of the computer), but to me it just feels a little insubstantial. Then again, given the product, what did I expect?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
