Ad of The Week

With the risk of sounding like Jesse, this week my favourite advert goes to Droga 5 for their ad for VB.


There has been some controversy around the ad in Australia for linking patriotic respect with binge drinking. I don't agree with this at all. On the contrary, it is great to see a brand standing for something meaningful that people care about. A really strong emotional ad in my opinion.
As part of the campaign VB donated one dollar from every case of beer sold during April and gave 1500 kegs of beer to clubs for use on Anzac Day. The campaign has so far raised $1.1 million.

Scaredy-Cats

The latest research from Mintel suggests that fear of the recession is causing people to change their spending habits, rather than an actual change in circumstances.
Mintel reported that:

“While less than half of adults (43%) claim to have been personally affected by the recession, as many as three quarters (71%) of consumers have cut down on their spending as a result of the current economic situation.”

So how exactly are people reigning in their spending?
Research released by Booz & Co. this week found the following:

63% of British shoppers have decreased their outlay.
57% now eat out less
55% buy fewer new clothes
47% are purchasing less personal care and beauty products
45% of shoppers intend to visit hard discount chains like Aldi and Lidl more frequently
61% of participants said they would "trade down" on household products

The full report can be found HERE.

The Art of Storytelling

I think this ad for wind energy is a great example of how storytelling can be a powerful means to bring a boring category to life.

New on Slideshare

Week 2 brings 2 more additions to SaatchiPlanning’s Slideshare:

The Future of Advertising. WTF? by David Armano
Pretty much what it says on the tin, this is David’s take on the future. Lots of nice examples backing up his main points.

100 Words about Digital Branding by Mike Aruz
Short and sweet is probably the best description of this presentation. A lot of the content sounds obvious but it’s amazing how many brands get it wrong. Particularly agree with his point that “Your competition on the internet is everything else on the internet.

Does That Say 'Recession' or 'Recess Is On'?

Morgans Hotel Group (who own the Sanderson amongst others), have taken a head on approach to the recession.
From their website:


As part of their RecessIsOn campaign, they have released a series of 8 music videos shot in their hotels, to show that they are positively embracing the recession as a time for creativity to flourish.

When everyone else is talking about value, it’s a bold position to take. I think it’s a great strategy to have, that gets to the core of their business as a place to escape the outside world and as a facilatator to take time to enjoy yourself.

(For those interested, I took the above photo on Great Eastern St.)

Guerilla Wi-Fi

You may not have heard of guerilla wi-fi but THIS is brilliant.

Genius idea that's spot on for the brand.
I don't agree that "People use their laptops everywhere" is their insight.
It works so well because:

1. When you're in a cafe, finding a wireless network that someone has forgotten to put a password on is one of life's small victories, a bit like finding a tenner in the pocket of an old pair of jeans.
2. People become even more nosey if what they find adds an element of danger and a sense of "I really shouldn't be looking at this but..."

The car rental company SIXT used a similar idea for THIS campaign.

Via Adverblog.

What's Hot This Week #1

• ‘Our Song’ – one of the best facebook apps I've seen.
• Philip Carousel Ad – no idea how they did this but it’s pretty spectacular. Watch the HD version for maximum effect!
  
• Wired - new issue features the amazing JJ Abrams as guest editor. The writer, producer and director of the likes of Lost, Alias and the latest Star Trek, argues the importance of mystery in storytelling.
  
• Tweenbots – restoring faith in mankind.
• Jaguar Skills - 30 years of hip-hop, 538 tracks, 1 mix.

Think You're Targeting an Independent 20-something? Think again.

More people are living alone, more children are being raised by single parents and more grown-up children are living with their parents than ever before, according to the latest Social Trends report from the Office for National Statistics. The theme of this year’s report is the changing aspects of households, families and children.

What surprised me:

• Almost a third of men and a fifth of women aged between 20 and 34 live at home with their parents.
• The number of people living alone doubled from 6% of the population in 1971 to 12% in 2008.
• Single-parent households nearly tripled from 4 per cent of the total to 11 per cent between 1971 and 2008.
• In 2007 the lowest number of marriages were recorded since 1895.
• Women are more likely to give birth before they turn 25 than get married.

Free Drinks For Happy People

Following on from the launch of their 'Kindness as Currency' ad, Absolut are practicing what they preech all this week.

From their website:
"For one week, kind gestures such as giving smiles, high fives and simply saying good morning are going to become currency and earn their givers coffees, drinks and cinema snacks, as we bring to life our vision of An ABSOLUT World where currency is replaced by kindness."



I think it's a great initiative and gives some much needed direction to their idea of an 'Absolut World'. It's certainly a change in direction from their Kanye West spot.
However, I think the execution lets the idea down. Had I not seen the events in London the idea of 'Kindness as Currency' would probably have passed me by. Would it not have been better to carry out the acts of random kindness first and use real footage for the ads?

Via PSFK.

Ad of The Week

The first ever ad of the week on this blog goes to a beautiful piece for Coca-Cola by McCann Erickson Madrid.
A great ad although I must admit I wish it hadn't been for Coke.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality has been around for a while but it seems to be everywhere at the moment!
So what exactly is it?
It's an environment that mixes both virtual and real-world elements.
The possibilities of using it in advertising are massive, particularly now nearly everyone has a camera on their phone.
One of my favourite examples has been in making baseball cards appealing to the video gaming generation.



Links to other examples:

Mini, Wikitude, Twitter Feed, iPhone, Game

UPDATE:
Interesting article in AdWeek this week.

"Marketers should think about how to leverage this kind of technology in retail locations, on products or in static advertising -- linking their tangible assets with useful content from the web and added interactivity."

Only in Britain

It's official, the Brits really are a miserable bunch. A recent bit of research carried out by ICM showed that economic confidence is lower in Britain than in any other leading country. Indeed only 4% of Brits think the economic situation is likely to improve in the next three months, while 67% think it will worsen. Compare this to the US where only 46% think the national economic situation will worsen (via The Guardian).

Why is there such a big difference between the Brits and the Americans? During an interview on Johnathan Ross, Steven Fry pointed out a fundamental difference between our two cultures.

“There is one phrase I probably heard more than any other on my travels: Only in America!
If you were to hear a Briton say ‘Tch! only in Britain, eh?’ it would probably refer to something that was either predictable, miserable, oppressive, dull, bureaucratic, queuey, damp, spoil-sporty or incompetent - or a mixture of all of those. ‘Only in America!’ on the other hand, always refers to something shocking, amazing, eccentric, wild, weird or unpredictable. Americans are constantly being surprised by their own country. Britons are constantly having their worst fears confirmed about theirs. This seems to be one of the major differences between us...”

I think the Brits do have a tendency to worry more rather than just get on with it. Indeed in January and February this year Anxiety UK, the country’s largest anxiety disorders charity, has reported a doubling of calls to its telephone helpline.
Source: Mental Health Foundation, In The Face of Fear, January 2009

Keep Calm and Carry On anyone?

Heroes and Villains

Research by Wunderman shows that when people lose a large amount of money and their dreams and hopes along with it, they go through a process similar to grieving for a lost relative.
It's going to be interesting over the next few months to see people going through the anger stage. How and at who will they vent this anger? Who are going to be the heroes and who are going to be the villains of the recession?
One might think that the bankers are going to be an easy target as we saw at the G20 riots, in the line up of Time magazine's "25 People To Blame For The Financial Crisis" and my personal favourite, a blog dedicated to those pictures of brokers with hands on their faces. There is also a general feeling of disgust towards greed as we've seen with the recent spate of bossnappings and the viral online game about CEO pay.

So who will be the heroes of our age? Hollywood is set to glorify the vigilantes who steal from the rich, with the release of Public Enemies this summer and Robin Hood next year. Perhaps it will be people like The Yes Men - two con men who target big corporations. One of their biggest projects wiped $1 billion off Dow's stock price.

But when we move out of the anger stage of grieving will our feelings change as we come to accept what has happened? Will there start to be a feeling of sympathy for the high-flyers who lost everything? This is certainly what the makers of The Company Men will be hoping for by the time the film is released next year. The film stars Ben Affleck as a corporate high-flyer forced to downsize after losing his job, Porsche and six-figure salary and the strain this puts on his family's life.

New On Slideshare

On SaatchiPlanning's Slideshare this week are two new presentations:

The Glass is Half FULL by Marta Kagan
Advertising On The Edge by The Economist

Both argue the need to advertise in a recession.
Full of good quotes, stats and links to resources!