Hasta La Creative!

As far as photocopying is concerned, you cannot help but think if photocopying machines have a mind of their own in the real world. But if you want to promote the quality and reliability of your product, this Double A paper commercial is one for the books!

Using the famed boom of the movie “The Transformers” as part of its storyline, you just got to hand it to the makers of this video commercial for conceptualization. You just have to know how to maximize advertising opportunities while minimizing costs for talent fees known to be outrageous these days.

As if Rick Astley wasn’t getting enough inexplicable renewed popularity, here’s a bit more. A brilliant digg user decided to solicit the help of fellow dig users on a level of epic proportion when he discovered that the New York Mets are holding a contest to vote for the 8th inning sing-a-long song. Potential to be quite possibly the largest Rickrolling of all time.

And for those not too familiar with the concept of Rick Rolling, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Around the year 2003, an Internet prank known as “rickrolling” appeared involving misleading links redirecting to the music video. It increased in popularity as a 2008 April Fool’s Day joke through various media, including YouTube rickrolling all of its featured videos on that day, and a website allowing people to Rickroll their friends phones.

In ‘a couple of weeks’, about 13 million people had been ‘rickrolled’ into watching Astley’s video, the BBC reported on 1 April, 2008.”I think it’s just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it,” Astley told the Los Angeles Times in late March 2008, adding: “That’s what’s brilliant about the internet.”

So now the link has been dugg over 8000 times, and it’s spreading on fark and 4chan as well. Tomorrow is the final day to vote. It’s certainly a very real possibility that the NY Mets (and fans) may have just been Rickrolled like never before. Which says a good deal for internet memes and the significance of internet users (like those on digg) in swaying public polls – and who knows what else. Just something to think about while you try to imagine a packed Shae Stadium sinning “never gonna give you up…”

Ok so today is April Fools day and while jokes and pranks are spreading all around, sometimes you just cannot distinguish the funny ones from the serious ones. Remember, jokes are jokes but when it comes to drawing the line you better be careful.

Take this video ad for example. You will probably end up playing an April Fool’s joke on your friend or co-worker wherever you may be. However be careful because just like this guy, you may end up getting the false impression of being the fool on April Fools Day!

This spot (by Saatchi, Moscow) introducing Russia to Gmail is certainly an orchestration of simplicity and visual presentation, impressive in it’s own right. I’m more interested, however, in the fact that the stop-motion bare bones style was used. Especially for something as digital as Gmail. Does it make it more human to have people entering the search terms and starring your messages? Does it become more personal and more accessible? I’d like to think there is a specific and logical reason behind it, and not just someone wanting to do some cool stop motion construction. Either way, it’s an impressive execution that’s fun to watch.

To say that the digital world is evolving would be both an understatement and stating the obvious. However it’s fascinating to observe the shifts and the push and pull from media and viewers alike. “Digital” and “viral” are no longer the marketing catchphrases they were a year or two ago, and many consumers are not pulled in by just any viral or digital marketing tool. With news of Havas planning a digital media arm, Havas Media Lab, and other agencies and holding groups attempting to similarly tackle the beast that is digital media, it’s becoming an interesting time to watch trends.

How does a YouTube video of Spongebob Squarepants clips mixed to Soulja Boy have nearly 27 million views and the evolution of dance video rise to the top YouTube clip with nearly 75 million views? Is there any possible application to branding and marketing at that level or is the “entertainment” vs. “advertising” paradox insurmountable in the YouTube age? I can’t say I have the answers, but it’s interesting to ponder as both the internet culture and the marketing structures are evolving.
It’s also interesting to see the changes in the media being produced. The novelty of “internet video” has all but worn off, so successful media has to be truly tailored. And just for some practical application and a bit of advertising candy, here’s one of the newer viral’s that has caught my eye, done by W+K Amsterdam for EA Sports FifaStreet 3. Interesting? Successful? Effective? Are those even questions that can be answered right now?

Howdy doody all. Okay, so I am a huge film buff and this past year, especially within the past two months, two Viral movie campaigns have been kicking into overdrive with varying levels of celebration. The two movies that have been hitting the internet are Cloverfield and The Dark Knight.

Although I was pumped when I first discovered Cloverfield, I have grown weary of its un-engaging marketing techniques. It is just clue after clue after clue with little payout. Check out all Cloverfield news here.

The Dark Knight Marketing, on the other hand, has been brilliant, engaging, and they have always ensured all of their clues have given the fan some sort of reward for his troubles. Check out an example of one of its sites here. The rest of the Dark Knight campaigns are clearly better thought out and more generous to those who spend their time researching movies. I think The Dark Knight viral campaign is one of the best of the year.

Of course, not all viral campaigns are for movies, so please let me know which ones you think are the best.

Take care party people.