Hasta La Creative!

Pereira & O’Dell continues to produce intriguing work for Skype, with their latest, “Turning the tide” marking a shift in approach.

Last year, the agency focused on the emotion of the personal connections it helped foster, through its “Stay Together” campaign and its highlight, “The Born Friends Family Portrait.” With “Turning the tide,” Pereira & O’Dell focuses instead on how the service helps a pair of journalists tell the story of Kiribati, the island nation that is in danger of being wiped off the map by 2040, thanks to rising oceans caused by climate change. Indeed, the people of Kiribati are already becoming the “world’s first climate change refugees” as the rising ocean levels have contaminated their food and water.

The “modern mobile news team” of Anna Therese Day and Gianluca Panella are telling the island’s story, and utilize Skype as an important. “…Skype is second nature to us,” Anna says, “Being able to instantly share information, images, files…it means you can get to the heart of the story quickly.”While this inserts Skype into the conversation, it doesn’t do a whole lot to differentiate the brand from its competitors. Still, Pereira & O’Dell crafted an affecting spot, allowing Skype to tell an important story that many viewers might be unfamiliar with (although the story has been covered by a few major news outlets, including CNN). The agency seems to have made a choice to value storytelling and allying Skype with an important cause over overt branding. How effective you view the spot as will largely depend on which of these factors you place the most value on. (more…)

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San Francisco-based shop Pereira & O’Dell switch gears from their tearjerking “Stay Together” campaign with their latest spot for Skype, “Rerouted: A Skype Travel Challenge.”

For the spot, Pereira & O’Dell chose a travel blogger, Mike Cory, who they gave the impression was recruited for a travel blog. Instead, on November 12th, they dropped him off at Instanbul without a clue as to where his next destination will be. To get home, he will be given a series of clues that he must piece together along with a Skype audience. His goal is to be home for Thanksgiving in an attempt to fulfill a lame “Turkey to Turkey Day” pun. Mike is powered only by Surface Pro 2, Windows 8.1, Skype, and the help of his audience. Without an engaged audience Mike could, presumably (but come on, not really), end up lost somewhere. It’s an interesting approach that should appeal to geography buffs the world over. Think of it like a real-life “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego,” but without all the stolen cultural artifacts and punily-named villains.

If you’d like to become part of the “Rerouted” experience, you follow Mikes progress at @SkypeMoments or Skype him directly at mike.corey8. Check out the official rules at skypererouted.com and help Mike crack the clues via Skype, Facebook, or Twitter with the hashtag  #reroutedclue. Credits after the jump.

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