Long lasting CopyCat

The Copy




“Longer flavour.
Longer chew.”
Agency: Ogilvy, Cape Town, South Africa. 2010


The Original

“Long lasting taste.”
Agency: JWT/PPGH GROUP, Amsterdam.2006

Medical Afflictions of the Cartoon World

Aftonbladet|Digital concert experience

It's great to see a print title trying new things in the digital space. Sweden is one of the most exciting creative hot-spots of the moment, and work like this proves that traditional media owners can still be innovative, given the right environment.

Scandinavia's largest newspaper, Aftonbladet staged groundbreaking series of live online concerts to promote the Rockbjörnen Music Awards, giving away 140,000 free tickets to music fans around the world.

Previous Rockbjörnen award winners include legendary names from the music industry such as ABBA, Coldplay and Duffy, and Rockbjörnen Live is Aftonbladet's prize to the best live music of the year; celebrating festivals, concerts, artists and songs across eight categories.

Live-Löpet (or Live A-Board), saw a traditional newspaper develop a unique app to create an interactive digital live arena to present concerts from some of Scandinavia's hottest artists.

The artists performed live from the studios of Aftonbladet, and the performances were streamed live online at http://livelopet.aftonbladet.se/ and were accessible via unique fan access codes.

This digital concert format was designed as much as possible to replicate a traditional live recording. In order to secure a place in the audience, Aftonbaldet readers and music fans had to apply for tickets. Ticket holders were assigned a "seat". Just like at a regular concert, the audience could interact with one another, and the artist "on stage".

By pressing buttons on the Flash app users could applaud for an encore, take pictures to share via Facebook or email or call out to the artist or friends in the virtual arena. Concertgoers could see what their Facebook friends were up to during the concert. The artists could interact with fans through cues received on a large screen placed back in the studio.

Each of the seven concerts had capacity to entertain 20,000 fans, of which 8,000 were VIP tickets, which allowed viewers to see the concerts in HD. Concert tickets could be sent and posted on Facebook to invite friends along to the gig.

A series of video-enabled Aftonbladet headline A-Boards were placed around Sweden announcing the concerts, complete with countdowns to the event. These boards also screened the actual concerts.

Live-Löpet featured appearances by Mando Diao, Robyn, The Ark, Eric Saade, Salem Al Fakir, Ola and Anna Bergendahl. Samuel Giers, drummer, Mando Diao said: "This is definitely a move in the right direction and it's so cool to be a part of Live-Löpet. We have a lot of international fans and many of them can't get to our ordinary concerts, so this format suits us very well."

Nils Franchell, communications director, Aftonbladet said: "The Rockbjörnen Music Awards has been an institution in Sweden since its launch in 1979. Over the last decade we have seen massive shifts in the way people consume and enjoy music. CD sales have taken a hammering and digital music has become inextricably woven into the fabric of our lives. We asked: what is the relevance of our awards in an environment where our customers have already changed their buying behaviour?"

"We thought, given the massive shifts towards online buying, that the Rockbjornen Awards should reflect how people are enjoying their music right now rather than a retrospective look at last year's sales of CDs to decide who the winners are. So we shifted the timing of our awards from the traditional "awards season" in February/March to catch the end of the festival season just after the Summer and put the focus on awarding the best "live" performances."

"The technical mechanics of putting 20,000 people in a small room is something we could not have done without the guys from Prime. What they have produced, as people will see for themselves, is an experience that is amazing, just like actually being at a concert with one of these music stars."

Results:

45,000 fans from 63 countries logged in for the seven live concerts

2.4 million digital interactions took place across the total 105 minutes of broadcast (7 concerts of 15 minutes)

Outside Aftonbladet's own channels, Live-Löpet reached 2.1 million users. Previously, Rockbjörnen's homepage has averaged 85,500 unique visitors during the most intensive period. During the Live Löpet activity, this number reached 337,000 unique visitors - an increase of almost 300%.

BRAND:Rockbjörnen Music Awards
BRAND OWNER:Aftonbladet
CATEGORIES:EntertainmentPublishing &Broadcasting
REGION:Sweden
DATE:August - August 2010
AGENCY:Prime
MEDIA CHANNEL:Branded Content,Digital,Events,Online,Out-of-Home,PR,Print

PRIA|Golden Targets PR winners

The Public Relations Institute of Australia, the trade body for public relations professionals has named its best PR campaigns of the year at its Golden Target Awards.

The winners:

Government Sponsored Campaigns:

Water & Vine campaign by Peter Fuller of Fuller for the Grape and Wine Research Development Corporation

Australia experienced what became known as “the worst drought in 100 years” from 2005 to 2009. Severely reduced water allocations threatened the livelihoods of wine grape growers, as well as the $4 to $5 billion wine industry and dozens of regional communities along the Murray River. A Federally funded $1.3 million integrated communication strategy was delivered by Fuller and the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation.

Public Affairs:

Regional Cities Victoria – A Growing Solutions campaign for Regional Cities Victoria by Rachael Sweeney and David Hawkins of SOCOM

In 2008, new population projections indicated the State Government had substantially under-estimated how many people would be living in Melbourne by 2030. A rapid and unplanned increase in population would threaten the city’s highly publicised liveability, and the State’s productivity. Regional Cities Victoria believed encouraging significant population growth in the regions would ease the pressure on Melbourne and create a productive, liveable regional Victoria. Socom worked with the group to ensure the State Government’s policy for managing Victoria’s population growth included increased government investment in Victoria’s regions to stimulate population growth.

Issues Management:

Adelaide: Australia’s Learning City campaign by Mark Osborne of Education Adelaide

During 2009 Australia was labelled “racist” by the Indian media following attacks on Indian students. Australia’s reputation as a safe place to study was in tatters and the lucrative Indian education market was in danger of drying up as enrolments dropped and students returned home. South Australia’s international education marketing agency Education Adelaide, which has overseen the tripling of student numbers since 2002, launched an issues management strategy to re-establish South Australia’s reputation as a safe destination.

Community Relations:

Jesus. All About Life campaign by Sharon Williams and Sharon Ghatora of Taurus Marketing for Bible Society NSW.

In September 2009, the Bible Society launched the largest promotional campaign ever undertaken by Christians in Australia. Nearly 1800 Churches from 15 different Christian Denominations in NSW came together for the first time to focus on one task – bringing Jesus back into everyday conversations. The campaign presented a huge challenge with no product, service or event to promote, with a 2000 year old intangible.

Internal Communication:

Turning Around Morale and Employee Engagement within a Dispersed Construction Business campaign by Susan Pantall of Leighton Contractors

Employees of Leighton Contractors Western Australia were experiencing low morale and job insecurity after a period of negative publicity. This was largely due to industrial action on a high profile Perth project and organisational changes that significantly reduced the company’s revenue base. With no existing internal communication program in place, the challenge was to build morale, deliver communication that met the needs of the employees and build the company’s reputation.

Investor Relations including Merger Acquisition Communication:

Maintaining a Strong, Independent Profile For St George Bank Following its Merger with Westpac campaign by Robyn Sefiani of Sefiani Communications and Simon Covill of St George Bank.

After the St George merger with Westpac was passed in November 2008, Westpac committed to have St George operate an independent brand within the multi-brand Group. Over 2009 St George and Sefiani executed a national media relations campaign, themed “St George is open for business”, that leveraged consumer-centric surveys, sponsorship and executive profiling for maximum effect. St George achieved its key objective – maintaining its No. 1-ranked reputation among major banks – and St George brand consideration among consumers increased.

Consumer Marketing and Social Marketing – New and/or Existing Product or Service Including Prescription Medicines:

First winner -Intense Tomatoes Australian Launch campaign by Shay Ashton of BBS PR for SP Exports

SP Exports, Australia’s largest supplier of fresh field grown tomatoes, appointed BBS in 2009 to manage the Australian launch of the world’s first no mess tomato – Intense® tomatoes. BBS’ strategy incorporated traditional communication methods with an online social marketing program to target opinion leaders, generate a sense of excitement and drive sales.

Second winner – Oroton Blogger Outreach campaign by Natalie Musico and Jaselyn O’Sullivan of bellamyhayden: chatterbox

bellamyhayden:chatterbox was engaged to promote Oroton’s The Studio, their new online store. Through highly targeted and individualized blogger outreach program to the top 10 influential fashion bloggers in Australia, bellamyhayden:chatterbox engaged these influencers and recommend their readers visit the Oroton website.

Third winner – Fresher Tastes Better campaign by Melanie King of 303 for the Australian Olive Association

303’s challenge was to find a sticky and compelling idea that would get the Australian media and general public behind an Australian product to get maximum exposure for a very deserving primary industry. In creating the ‘Fresher Tastes Better’ concept using blind taste tests at food shows and in the media led by campaign spokesperson chef Matt Moran, 303 generated a tremendous amount of coverage by more than 58 million pairs of eyes and increased sales by 20 – 30% in the six month campaign.

Business to Business Marketing – New and/or Established Product or Service: Recipe For Foodservice Success campaign by Lee McLean of Professional Public Relations for the Incremental Marketing Group on behalf of Unilever, Simplot and Fonterra.

In 2009, IBIS World research was forecasting that the next two years would see negative growth for the foodservice industry. Recipe for Foodservice was developed as a business-to-business program to better equip hospitality businesses in the running of their restaurants and eateries during an economically turbulent 2009. Foodservice companies Unilever, Simplot and Fonterra partnered to provide collective support to their customers and other eateries by sponsoring this program which offered practical business advice and encouragement in a non-competitive environment.

Special Event/Observance: Back to Burrinjuck campaign by Liane Sayer-Roberts of Sauce Communications for State Water.

To celebrate Burrinjuck Dam’s centenary, the program was designed to engage Yass residents and downstream communities in recognising the significance of NSW’s first major irrigation dam and the contribution of the people connected to it. The pinnacle of the program was the opening of the dam wall to the public for the first time in 20 years, with demand so high that the scheduled tour program was doubled.

Environmental: Developing a Long Term Plan for the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth campaign by Judith Bleechmore and Janet Pryor of the Department for Environment and Natural Resources.

Drought, over-allocation of water and climate change have left the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth region’s internationally significant wetlands on the brink of suffering irreversible damage. An opportunity existed to plan a community engagement strategy that informed, consulted and collaborated in a way that developed the best possible long-term plan for managing the region’s future.

Health Organisations: FebFast 2010 campaign by Sally Tyrell of Haystac Positive Outcomes for FebFast.

FebFast is an education and charity campaign encouraging individuals to work towards a healthier lifestyle by inviting people to forgo alcohol during February and secure sponsorship for their efforts.

Corporate Social Responsibility: DDA: Community Engagement Program by Celina Weis of QR Passenger.

The Queensland Rail Disability Discrimination Act Community Engagement Program is an initiative developed to obtain community input into the development of non-discriminatory and accessible Rail services. Since the introduction of the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Queensland Rail has worked to systematically identify and remedy the barriers that have historically impeded access for our customers with disabilities. To engage with customers who have disabilities a variety of strategies and activities are used including, reference groups, forums, consultations, information sessions, educational experiences, marketing materials and community sponsorship. The program has ensured Queensland Rail achieves its obligations under the DDA and ensures their services are in line with community requirements.

Low Cost/Pro Bono: Cat Haven Christmas campaign by Jessica Reid for Cat Haven.

In 2009, as an unpaid volunteer, Jessica Reid implemented the shelters first Christmas media and communication campaign. The campaign addressed the euthanasia of thousands of cats at Cat Haven occurring when the shelter is inundated with animals leading up to and during Christmas. Nearly 200 more cats lives saved during the largest cat dumping month and nearly 700 more saved between July and December compared same periods the previous year. These rates are also the highest the shelter has seen in its statistical history.

Don’t push me

THE ORIGINAL (click on the image to watch video)
Japp Energy Bar – 1995
Source : Cannes BRONZE LION
Agency : Leo Burnett (Norway)

LESS ORIGINAL (click on the image to watch video)
BoomBoom Energy Drink – 2010
Source : GR8 film Production / Lebanon
Agency : Unknown

Another Arabic Copycat[er] |Seif El Degwi

Original

Client: The Foot Shoe Store

Country: Indonesia

Another Original 

Bianco Footwear “Sale” – 2001
Source : Cannes Outdoor SHORTLIST
Agency : … & Co (Denmark)

Copycat

Client: Essere

Agency: Talent

Designer: Seif El Degwi

Country: Kuwait – 2010.

TBWA turns its agency site into a slideshow

Agencies like nothing more than reinventing the agency site. We've seen the drab, Flash-heavy, barely usable site recast as a blog, a YouTube channel, a Facebook page and a Twitter stream. 


Now, TBWA goes with the slideshow. The shop created a new "storytelling platform" that underpins the site. The end result looks a lot like a slideshow to me, although it does have the flexibility of showing work in a coherent fashion with a mix of media. Overall, the navigation can be a tad confusing. It's still quite a bit better than your run-of-the-mill agency site with a runaway pencil.

Is the Flash-powered agency site obsolete?

There's something interesting going on with agency Web sites. Ironically, many of the shops that pioneered immersive Flash sites for clients are turning their backs on the high-tech immersive approach when it comes to their own sites.The Barbarian Group, EVB and Juxt Interactive are going this feeds-over-Flash route.

Big Spaceship, creator/builder of HBO "Voyeur," is the latest shop to use a simple WordPress blog to show off not just its portfolio but feeds from its blog, Twitter and Flickr accounts (including lots of photos from something called Moustache Day 2008). The idea is to show the company's thinking in real time rather than treat the agency site as a static art piece.

The bonuses: a WordPress site is cheap and easy to update regularly. Meanwhile, traditional shops are still generally going immersive. McKinney, Leo Burnett and BBH are examples of what some call Flashturbation. It all comes down to the purpose of the site, whether it's to impress potential clients, new hires or just be there in case someone gets lost coming to the office.

The agency site reborn as YouTube channel

It was inevitable. BooneOakley, an independent shop in Charlotte, N.C., has scrapped its Web site in favor of a YouTube channel. Visitors toBooneOakley.com are redirected to YouTube, where they are greeted by a three-minute clip showing the story of "Billy," a marketing director who hired an agency owned by a holding company, got fired and then got killed by his pissed-off wife. The site has links to work and partner bios, and it uses the YouTube ability to embed links inside videos. It's an interesting approach to build a Web presence directly on a platform rather than a stand-alone destination, but you have to wonder about choosing only video as a way for BooneOakley to tell its story. The news section, for instance, is a video clip about the Obamas using the agency's initials in naming their dog. And while YouTube's "hotspotting" is a clever way to move around to different videos, the navigation is far from straightforward. I kept having to click back to the Billy intro video to get to other parts of the site.

Agency sites reborn on Facebook, Twitter

BooneOakley won praise for ditching the tired agency site in favor of a clever YouTube channel to show off its stuff. With social all the rage, Grey Stockholm has taken the next step: It's traded itsdedicated agency site to go all-in on Facebook. There, users can "Like" Grey, see work, comment on posts and do the regular Facebook things. Not to be outdone, Argentine shop Kamchatka has recast its site as a Twitter account. Actually, several. Each section of the site has its own Twitter handle. On the surface, this makes lots of sense. Facebook pages are getting more and more powerful, and plenty of campaigns are ditching the microsite in favor of the Facebook platform. Twitter is the current belle of the ball. But at the same time, both sites feel unnecessarily gimmicky. Thanks to APIs, sites can have all the social functions of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without having to choose one or the other. It would seem to make more sense to integrate all sorts of social tools into a destination site rather than choose one platform over another. 

All brands after Facebook Likeabilty

Brands will do just about anything to get people to like them, particularly on Facebook, where it means the promise of viral passalong. Corona Light is dangling an interesting offer. Like the brand on Facebook, and your photo will soon appear on a 150-foot digital billboard in Times Square. The beer brand, with help from Pereira & O'Dell, is collecting the photos now, and will run them on the board from Nov. 8 to Dec. 6. (You can set it up to automatically post a photo showing your image on the board after it appears.) It will be interesting to see how the effort draws in fans for the brand, which currently has 38,000 Facebook Likes. (One note about the execution: For some reason, the application requires you to upload a photo from your computer even though Facebook probably has dozens of photos of you already.) This isn't entirely new.Time magazine ran a similar promotion for its Person of the Year issue back in 2005. 

Facebook, saved a local restaurant

To see at the happy crowd at Bistro 17 (facebook|website) on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, you’d never think that just 3 months ago, they were close to shutting down for good. Owner Anna Buckingham says,

“Business was so slow at that point, even during the tourist season, that we were wondering if we should call it quits.”

But now this French-themed restaurant with mouth watering brie and an obsession with containers and dogs is a word-of-mouth sensation and always busy. In fact, they’re one of the few restaurants doing really well in the off-season

.

From closing to thriving… To what do they owe this remarkable turnaround?

Fortunately for Anna, one of her regular patrons runs a Hilton Head Island Facebook page with 65,000 fans.  Anna tends to make friends with all her customers. So they teamed up, and created this winning combination:

• 
  
• Promotion and contests on the Hilton Head TravelTell Facebook page.
• Radio-style call-in contests
• Free mimosas

Partner With Large Facebook Pages

I’ve used this tactic myself in the past. When I was helping a Myrtle Beach hotel group grow its fan-base, we partnered with a large (200,000+ fans) Myrtle Beach destination Facebook Page to run a contest. The hotel group only had about 2,000 fans before this co-promotion. Within 24 hours we had crossed the 5,000 fan threshold and had 1,000 new emails from people who had indicated they were interested in receiving discount stay offers.

And it’s worth it to partner with smaller pages, too. Previous to this contest, we met another local marketer who had a Myrtle Beach themed page with 8,000 fans. He generously re-posted our contests for a few weeks and helped us gain hundreds of new fans.

Radio Style Call-In Contests

You’ve heard these all your life. I had too, so it was kinda thrilling to participate in one. And they work surprisingly well on Facebook. This means we should try to repurpose tactics that worked before the Internet and find out they work with the Internet.

Watch a video of how to answer Facebook contest call-ins!

Complimentary Alcohol? How Can You Go Wrong With That?

You have to be careful. Choose the wrong alcoholic drink, and you attract the wrong crowd.

But Bistro 17 chose to give away bottomless mimosas with breakfast. They’re not the first restaurant in the world to do this – in fact, none of what we’re talking about is completely new, but it all fits together and it gets more business. Fortunately, people who just want alcohol don’t tend to be attracted to the bottomless mimosa concept. It’s a common brunch item, and it fits the Bistro 17 menu. It’s also the kind of sparkly incentive that attracts more people and adds to the social lubrication that makes it fun restaurant to spend time at.

Passions and Promotion

Anna would shoot me if I didn’t mention her passion – Bistro 17 is dog friendly. They have dog bowls and treats on hand. She says,

“When people have their dogs here, they talk to each other more, and it’s a completely different place.”

For the business, it provides a unique advantage – one that increases social activity, which will solidify customer devotion and increase chances for word of mouth activities.

For example:

What can we learn from this to apply to promoting other local businesses? Having a secondary passion helps promote a local business.

Lessons: Social Is The Common Theme

If you haven’t noticed, being friendly and building relationships is core to all of the strategies mentioned above.

• Make Friends: People with large Facebook pages don’t post your stuff for free if they don’t like you.
• Focus on Service: No matter how much you promote a service business, if the people aren’t friendly, you don’t have service, and you won’t be able to keep or multiply the customers.
• Alcohol makes people friendlier – generally 
• Use Social Objects: Both the Bistro 17 doggie dishes and the patrons’s dogs are social objects – they make conversations easier to start and they warm the heart. Smiles are more likely. And smiles at restaurants are good for business.