Hasta La Creative!

Residents of Cincinnati, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Antonio have probably seen billboards asking them to vote for adding either Barack Obama or George W. Bush to Mount Rushmore. I'm sure those billboards have prompted many questions, most of them variations on "What the hell for?" As it turns out, the answer is "No reason." The billboards were the idea of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, which admitted that the campaign was a bogus project designed to "measure consumer response." (The actual billboards sent people to RushmoreVote.com.) After the four-week campaign, more than 70 percent of respondents said Mount Rushmore should remain unchanged. Big shock there. So, not only were the billboards fake, they didn't really accomplish much that couldn't have been done quicker and cheaper. As for Mount Rushmore, they should put Grover Cleveland up there twice, just because.

Automobile test drives have been getting a bit more interesting lately. On the heels of the hugely popular Jeff Gordon video for Pepsi MAX comes this new campaign from Britain for the Renault Clio, in which unsuspecting drivers (guys in one spot, girls in another) get a sudden, unexpected dose of France when, prompted by the salesman, they push a "Va Va Voom" button on the dash. The interlude starts off romantic—a wheeled-in backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, lovers smooching, violins playing, roses and baguettes all around—but soon gets more salacious, as the drivers are treated to scantily clad hotties of the opposite sex gyrating around the car. Surprising everyday people during their mundane lives is all the rage in ads lately. This one certainly attempts to check all the boxes for virality. Scorch London and Unruly produced it. More credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Renault
Media Agency: Manning Gottlieb OMD
Media Planners: Laura Quy, Lauren Fisher
Production Company: Scorch London
Video Distribution: Unruly

Do you remember what life was like in Manhattan in 1993? The rats, the graffiti, the parties, the drugs, the … pay phones. Fear not. The East Village-based ad agency Droga5 and the New Museum have teamed up to give you a glimpse back in time—using that suddenly resurgent old communications device in the process.

Agency and client have launched "Recalling 1993," offering a raw, unfiltered listen to what was going on around New York City 20 years ago. The campaign turns pay phones into geo-located time capsules—dial (855) FOR-1993 from any pay phone in Manhattan, and you will hear a personal account of what was going down in that particular area in 1993, a pivotal year in the city's history. The recordings offer memories of everything from the World Trade Center bombing in the Financial District to the club culture at Limelight in Chelsea to the opening of Angels in America in Midtown.

The effort promotes a new exhibit at the museum, "NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star," which is running through May 26. There are more than 4.5 hours of content in total—over 150 recorded oral histories from real New Yorkers—so hopefully you have some extra time on your hands. See more in the video below, and listen to a sampling of the stories at the link above. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: New Museum
Campaign: "Recalling 1993"
Agency: Droga5, New York
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Executive Creative Directors: Ted Royer, Nik Studzinski
Associate Creative Directors: Ray Del Savio, Jerry Hoak
Copywriters: Colin Lord, Bryan Wolff
Art Directors: Jen Lu, Daniel Sumarna
Head of Integrated Production: Sally-Ann Dale
Executive Producer: Scott Chinn
Executive Interactive Producer: Lindsey Slaby
Producer: Jennifer McKenzie
Production Assistant: Goldie Robbens
Technical Director: David Justus
Creative Technology Lead: Fran Devinney
User Experience Director: Kathrin Hoffman
User Experience Designer: Eileen Tang
Associate Digital Producer: Ian Graetzer
Senior Print Producer: Jeannie O'Toole
Print Production Assistant: Annick Thomas
Brand Strategist: Matthew Gardner
Strategy Intern: P.J. Mongell
Researchers: Amelia Barry, Sarah Gancher, Bo Jacober
Group Account Director: Olivia Legere
Account Director: Caitlin Chandler
Account Manager: Louisa Cronan

Revenge billboards are getting to be a trend. Expensive but emotionally satisfying, they're great for anything from declaring spousal inadequacies to calling out cheaters. This one, in Greensboro, N.C., goes the extra mile by spoofing MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign. It reads: "Michael – GPS tracker – $250, Nikon camera with zoom lens – $1600, Catching my LYING HUSBAND and buying this billboard with our investment account – Priceless. Tell Jessica you're moving in! – Jennifer." Chad Tucker of Fox 8 News broke this story. Hopefully, he can track down Jennifer and film the fisticuffs we're all imagining.

The vendor contracts for New York's pay phones expire next year, so the city put together a Reinvent Payphones Design Challenge to get some free labor out of an already overworked design community. Oh, and to keep its pay phones relevant, I guess. Still, I like the idea of keeping these phones from total obsolescence. Sage & Coombe Architects won the public vote with its really cool "NYFi" design, reimagining pay phones as multipurpose kiosks comprising free WiFi hubs, bus-ticket machines, MetroCard dispensers and bicycle share stations. There were six others finalists, which you can see here. The city won't use any single design in its entirety, but was simply looking for ideas—and gauging what residents want. When the project is finished, whatever the finished design looks like, we'll surely have to explain to future generations what those weird boxy street-corner things are when they watch movies made before 1997. Via Wired.

So, you're feeling kind of blah and waiting for the elevator and sipping your latte, and the door opens and some guy is choking some other guy on the floor, and you're just like, Whatever, it's probably some stupid marketing stunt for some indie gangster movie because oh my god even these nontraditional ads are getting so tired.

Viral marketing agency Thinkmodo—the professional ambushers who also did the Beauty Shop Scare video that we posted last week—says this latest clip shows regular bystanders, not actors, happening upon what appears to be an attempted murder, and that every precaution was taken to ensure the safety of all parties involved. The clip, promoting the movie Dead Man Down, your average underworld revenge fantasy rom-com starring Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace, features such choice responses to the crime-in-progress as beating the attacker about the head with a bouquet of flowers and spraying both him and his victim with a fire extinguisher. Because everyone knows if you see a person being strangled, don't panic—just reach calmly for the nearest fire extinguisher, remove the pin, stand eight feet back and aim at the base of the strangling while squeezing the handle and sweeping the hose from side to side.

There's also a lot of staring awkwardly and then scurrying away, and one guy who takes a picture—all masterfully emphasized to produce amused incredulity and Internet bravado among the YouTube masses.

Despite the creators' claim that it's not manufactured, it's pretty hard not to imagine the movie's lawyers getting a nasty ulcer over this—unless it was staged. As one random, surprisingly level-headed YouTube troll put it: "I hope you guys did this experiment in a state that doesn't allow concealed carry, I would have shot that mother fucker." Because where's the fun without a little debate.

Marketers just won't let people waiting in bus shelters have any peace. Case in point: The Weather Channel and ad agency Iris recently tricked out one shelter with hidden sprinklers to promote the client's latest Android app. The app apparently provides such precise forecasts that you might never again be caught in surprise downpours. As an actor checked the app and hurriedly opened his Weather Channel umbrella, the sprinklers were activated, putting a damper on the other people's daily commute. (At certain bus stops, the sudden shower would also have washed away a buttery baked-potato smell.) Bottom line: I feel empowered knowing that, thanks to the Weather Channel, humankind will no longer have to guess what the weather will be like inside covered spaces!

Lima, Peru, gets about half an inch of rainfall per year. Yet the atmospheric humidity is around 98 percent. UTEC, the country's major university of engineering and technology, took this peculiar problem and—with help from ad agency Mayo Draftfcb—devised a unique solution: a billboard that draws moisture out of that humid air and turns it into potable drinking water. Check out the case-study video below to see how it works. The billboard wasn't just a nice gesture, either. It served as a recruitment tool to get more students to apply to the university.

On a related note: Burt's Bees is capturing rain water with a billboard of its own—the same interactive board from Baldwin& that delighted Minneapolis last year with its "hydrating" coupons. In the video below, see how the ad is continuing to give back with an interesting second act as a prototype for a rain catchment system.

The recession has either changed the way advertisers do business or has forced us to reevaluate the ways in which we do business. The focus has shifted to the effectiveness and efficiency of an ad campaign rather than stressing the  campaign or ad variables such as reach and effective frequency.

If you work in a media department, then measuring effectiveness and efficiency is something you’ve likely done for years with little to no fanfare from the client side. Well, the climate’s changed, and clients are concerned more than ever — with good reason — that their ads and campaigns meet efficient, effective, and measurable goals. Their priority is to connect with the target audience in a manner that’s more in-tune with a reduced budget. Clients are are requiring or searching for agencies capable of providing campaigns that work harder and smarter.

In addition, advertisers (namely P&G and Coca Cola), have instituted Value Based Compensation (VBC)  arrangements made up of a pay-for-performance (P4P) layout that can be attained in addition to a base fee.

The Nielsen Company has just announced that a new software product, Rapid Campaign Evaluation (RCE), a fast and inexpensive means to review ad performance in just over a week. Due to the costs incurred when an ad or campaign is launched, RCE will give agencies information quickly so as to allow them to respond in an appropriate manner.

Richard Reeves, associate director of Consumer Research Services at the Nielsen Company, notes an agency not only will have the ability to evaluate their own endeavors but the ability to evaluate their competitor’s as well.

“Whenever a new commercial is executed,” Reeves says, “there is always that element of anticipation about how it will perform in the ‘real world.’ If it’s a competitor’s ad — you are usually left worrying about the damage it will do to your brand.”

RCE was designed and tested in Australia to measure the strength (or weakness) of TV spots. How many people saw or heard the ads or whether the audience was able to determine the advertiser and the take-away message will provide advertisers with almost “real-time” data they can then use to readjust their tactics such as:

• An ad that performed strongly may provide justification to increase spend.
• An ad with mediocre results could be re-edited to clarify the brand message and increase brand cues, or it could be taken back into qualitative research for fine tuning.
• An ad can be created or ad spend can be increased if RCE showed strong effectiveness measures for a competitor’s ad.

In just over a week, agencies will be able to view data in order to evaluate effectiveness or lack thereof, ensuring clients get the biggest bang for their buck.

While advertising “gurus” have bandied back and forth as to the fairness or plausibility of the VBC model, companies, such as Coca Cola, have already put it into action. In truth, it’s the most equitable payment arrangement; agencies require media vendors to prove their performance. Why shouldn’t clients require the same from their agencies?

Nielsen’s new software is just another step in the ongoing evolution of the industry.

Jeff Louis has over ten years of brand-building, media strategy, and new business experience. His passion is writing, while his strong suit seems to be sarcasm.  You can follow Jeff on Twitter or become a fan on Examiner.com.

Did you hear the one about the 15-year-old who decided to run his own study on the media consumption patterns of teenagers? It’s quite the research… er… story… lesson.

Ben Kellogg of Group SJR forwarded me the article after we had spoken about an entirely unrelated subject. To be quite honest, I didn’t jump right on it… my laptop had died, losing files, email contacts, and programs. I just kept resetting the email reminder. Until today.

Matthew Robson, a 15-year-old intern working for Morgan Stanley, conducted a media study called “How Teenagers Consume Media.” The conclusions caused a bit of an uproar, mainly because one teen does not represent all teens. Yet, it could also be said that the overall observations coincide with many teen media habits. The teens I know, for instance, would rather be online than in front of a television. Either that or doing both… watching TV and surfing the Web, interspersed with texting. Although there is absolutely no statistical backing for a survey of one, we can draw some general inferences from Robson’s writing.

General conclusions for the study include:

• Most teenagers are not regular listeners to radio, instead opting for online streaming services
• Most teens watch television, but frequency varies by season. Additionally, now that TV shows are webcasted as well, there’s less worry about missing an episode
• Teens do not read traditional papers because “they don’t have the time” (I am sure they have the time… it’s just that papers don’t rank highly on the priority list)
• Console gaming, interestingly, is not of interest to teenagers… and the main factor is cost. Costs for consoles and games are beyond most budgets; however, multi-player, interactive online games are popular
• The Internet is where teens interact socially, conduct research for school, create videos, IM, and otherwise connect to others… except for Twitter. Matthew states that teens do not use Twitter*
• Teens love music, but are not paying for it
• Viral marketing is enjoyed and supported by teens
• They do not use directories unless it’s online, etc.

*According to the graph below from Sysomos, teens comprise 30% of Twitter users:

This is directly in contrast with Robson’s assessment.

But hey, he is 15 years-old, and while he may be intelligent, his judgment is missing the crucial benefit of time. However, Morgan Stanley should not be lacking in the judgment column… or, in retrospect, maybe that’s exactly what they are missing…

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Brand Project Manager, Writer & Blogger. Unlike the all the other blog writers for Talent Zoo, Jeff is cute and nice. Tweet him @jlo0312. Just kidding about the nice part.