24.9.09

Viral Marketing Campaigns flops

Mike Gravel: 'Rock'
 A 78-year-old former senator from Alaska running for president





Cheetos Orange Underground

The Orange Underground site features a deliberately scratchy video urging viewers to commit Random Acts of Cheetos (RAoC). "Coat your fingers with Cheetos and leave your mark. On someone's back. Someone's desk. Wherever you like." It encouraged visitors to fill people's shoes with Cheetos, crush them inside someone's laptop, or toss them into the dryer with someone else's laundry--and then post videos of their dirty deeds online.
The brand 
set up a blog & created a YouTube channel











Coors Code Blue

Coors's online adventures started with a beer commercial built around its new temperature-activated bottles. When the mountains on the Coors label changed color, excited Coors fans in the ad send "Code Blue" text messages to each other, indicating it's time for a cold one. The idea looked so cool on the commercials that Coors wanted people to do it in real life, until the company discovered that "text-messaging elaborate 'Code blue' alerts as shown in the commercial using mobile devices would not currently be technologically feasible" (
according to the New York Times).
Coors Code Blue

Instead, Coors poured money into the Web, creating Facebook andMySpace pages that allowed Coors fans to send "Code Blue" alerts to their pals. Apparently, Coors has never heard of Twitter.
Cold? Maybe. Cool? Not a chance.


Naming the campaign after the term used for hospital patients going into cardiac arrest. Maybe Coors should have included a free defibrillator with every six-pack.








 Sony 'All I Want for Xmas Is a PSP'

All Sony wanted for Christmas in 2006 was to create a little buzz for its handheld gaming platform. So its marketing company created a fake blog called "All I Want for Xmas Is a PSP," allegedly written by a teen named Charlie who's trying to get the parents of his pal Jeremy to pony up for a PSP. Bloggers who smelled a rat looked up the site's domain and found that it was registered to guerrilla marketing company Zipatoni (now called Rivet). 
The reaction was swift and brutal, and the site disappeared shortly thereafter.
SonyHow bad was the blog? To wit: "we started clowning with sum not-so-subtle hints to j's parents that a psp would be teh perfect gift. we created this site to spread the luv to those like j who want a psp!"
It gets worse. Along with badly executed teen patois came a video ofCharlie's cousin Pete rapping about why he too wants a PSP (when what he really needs is a job and maybe some hair plugs)












eBay 'Windorphins'

No, they're not anti-depressants. eBay's marketing geniuses dreamed up some 
blobby little cartoon characters to promote the site and the "endorphin" rush you get when you "win" an eBay auction ("win-dorphin," get it?).
Per the original press release of July 2007:
"We've all experienced that feeling you can only get on eBay--you know, the excited rush you get when you win that item you really wanted at a great price? ... Well, we've had a scientific breakthrough! According to our official scientists--after a lot of arduous, painstaking research--it can be linked to aeBayphenomenon called 'Windorphins.'"
eBay set up a Web site where you could create your own Windorphins, and spent millions on billboards, magazine ads, and TV spots promoting them. One billboard ad proclaimed, "Windorphins are like a ticker tape parade for your soul." A more accurate description came from the blogger who called them "happy, animated hemorrhoids." eBay quietly dropped the campaign a few months later in favor of one titled "Shop Victoriously." Ugh. As for the Windorphins: Now they're just plain orphans.










Wal-Marting Across America

They were Jim and Laura, two average Americans who hit the road in their RV , parking overnight at Wal-Marts around the country and blogging about the fine folks they met along the way. 

Wal MartBut the relentlessly upbeat entries about how everyone just loved working for Wal-Mart set off alarms in the blogosphere, and before long the blog was exposed as a fake. Though Jim and Laura were real, the trip was paid for by Wal-Mart and engineered by its PR firm, Edelman. Once people connected the dots, the blogosphere erupted, splattering both Wal-Mart and Edelman with mud and spawning yet another Web 2.0 neologism--the "flog," or fake blog.
Edelman, which helped write the ethics guidelines for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association but apparently forgot to read them, later admitted to creating two more flogs for Wal-Mart.




Jawbone Films

JawboneFoul-mouthed racists, homicidal laundry employees, a shark-infested swimming pool, mauled teenagers, and Russian mobsters drowned in their own borscht. The latest Tarantino/Rodriguez gorefest? No, it's a collection of viral videos created to promote Aliph's Jawbone Bluetooth headsets. The idea: Despite what's going on around you (murder, mayhem, sloppy kissing between male rugby players), you can drown it all out using the Jawbone's new "NoiseAssassin" technology. Nice.
In the worst of the four videos, a racist jerk enters a Chinese laundry, insults everyone, and gets smothered with a dry-cleaning bag and beaten to death by the employees--while an oblivious bystander enjoys a crystal-clear cell call.
"I don't have virgin ears and I've dropped an f-bomb or two in my life," notes Patrick Byers, CEO ofOutsource Marketing and purveyor of The Responsible Marketing Blog. "But this video is incredibly insensitive, offensive and violent. The Jawbone brand is creating buzz all on its own. They didn't need to resort to exploitative or offensive virals."


Aqua Teen Hunger Force and 'The Bomb'

Aqua Teen hungerForceHow do you promote a cartoon starring anthropomorphic versions of fast food? The creators behind the Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force thought it would be a neat idea to attach hundreds of small billboards styled like Lite-Brite glowing toys to buildings, bridges, and underpasses in cities across the country. But when the Boston police mistook the battery-operated signs for terrorist bombs in January 2007, all hell broke loose. The city shut down highways and parts of the Charles River for several hours. The masterminds behind the signs, Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, were arrested, and Turner Broadcasting System had to pay $2 million to clean up the mess. (Berdovsky and Stevens were eventually sentenced to community service.)
But this viral-marketing disaster may have actually helped the show's image, says Barak Kassar, group creative director of full-service marketing firm Rassak Experience.
"Adult Swim's young male audience relish anti-establishment cartoons and likely relished the news footage (which they probably watched on YouTube) of the 'busted' yet unrepentant gonzo marketers who were contracted by the network," says Kassar.
Of the dozen major cities where the signs were placed, only Beantown mistook a marketing gimmick for a terrorist plot. But after all, said Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley, "It had a very sinister appearance. It had a battery behind it, and wires."


Microsoft Vista's 'Wow'

It was a marriage made in marketing hell: a lame product with an even worse catchphrase. Yet "The Wow starts now" was only the beginning of Microsoft's desperate effort to drum up enthusiasm for Vista, its years-late-and-many-dollars-short operating system.Wow
The campaign hit rock bottom with the Web site that Microsoft created for Vista fans to display their "Wow" moments. By having users upload photos and video clips to ShowUsYourWow.com, Microsoft hoped to show off Vista's nifty Aero interface. Unfortunately, Aero was too processor-intensive to run on many machines, leading to a class action lawsuit over the "Vista Capable" stickers used to promote the OS on underpowered systems.
"In 1994 we represented CompuServe, which had a product called 'Wow' with a slogan 'Bring the Wow into your life,'" notes Richard Laermer, principal of RLM PR and author of 2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade. "Twelve years later, Microsoft's doing it. Using 'Wow' is like sleeping on the job. Whoever came up with that campaign for Microsoft should be shot."
Our favorite ShowUs moment: a video of Claudio, a bone-thin topless transvestite in a blonde wig, shaking his booty and lip-syncing to Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie." Wow

Yahoo's $100M Marketing Campaign: “It’s Y!ou”


사용자 삽입 이미지


Yahoo outlined its 
new global branding campaign today, dubbed “It’s You!”, which is focused on the personalization of its homepage and products. The campaign, which has a budget of more than $100 million, includes tag lines that will be featured on the homepage such as “It’s time to get personal” and “The new Yahoo lets you do it your way every day.” The company also released an updated version of its Yahoo search product. The update, shown to the media last month, includes a left-hand column that lets users filter their results by using Search Monkey data. The layout resembles Microsoft’s Bing, which is interesting since the two companies inked a search deal in July.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said that the ad campaign isn’t a short-term marketing scheme, but a harbinger for the company’s new direction and its products going forward. “What we want to do is show (people) what the new Yahoo is about so they come (to the site) all the time,” she said.

The ad campaign will launch in the U.S. on Sept. 28 and in the UK and India on Oct. 5. Yahoo will roll out the campaign to other markets, including Brazil, Canada, France and Hong Kong, throughout the next year. “It’s you!” will be featured online and through a variety of other mediums such as TV, print and radio. Yahoo said it expects to see a shift in consumers’ perspective of the company brand within 12 months as a result of the campaign.

Reports surfaced earlier this week that Yahoo was preparing to unveil a marketing campaign focused on the 
size and scale of the company and personalization of its products. Examples of the campaign have already sprouted up in New York, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bartz hinted at the upcoming “It’s You!” campaign during the company’s July earnings call, saying that Yahoo’s “Q3 plans include an initial wave of incremental marketing spend which will increase substantially into Q4 and next year.


사용자 삽입 이미지


Since 
Bartz took the helm of Yahoo in January this year, the CEO has made sweeping changes to the beleaguered Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s image, including rolling out a revamped homepage and updated versions of its Mail and Messenger consumer web products that tap into social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Bartz also has been quick to correct widespread assumptions that Yahoo is a search company, trying to set it apart from rivals like Google and Microsoft.

Releasing fresh versions of its products isn’t the only way the company is trying to redefine its image.
Yahoo is looking to offload Zimbra, an open-source email company that it acquired for $350 million in 2007, in an effort to slim down its portfolio, AllThingsD reported this week.

When asked to confirm whether the company is selling Zimbra, Bartz said, “We don’t comment on whether something is being shopped or not. What I can tell you in the spirit of the question is that Zimbra technology is very, very important to our mail system.” But she added, ” The technology is already integrated into our system.”

According to Bartz, 76 percent of the U.S. population are Yahoo users and 581 million people visit the site each month.


사용자 삽입 이미지

23.9.09

Tattoo yourself...Lebanon Impact BBDO is BUSTED

tattooyourself2000
tattooyourself2007
THE ORIGINAL?
Rio Sul Shopping Center –
2000
Source : Cannes Archive Online, Luerzer’s Archive,
Agency : Salles / D’Arcy (Brazil)

LESS ORIGINAL :
C & F Cosmetics & Fragrances “Love yourself” –
2007
Source :
Pikasso Gold
Agency : Impact BBDO (Lebanon)

via 


22.9.09

Tools for Tracking, Measuring, and Evaluating Brand's Online






Online brand-building enables  to reach beyond the people  can connect with in person and allows  to measure the impact of your actions. Since online personal-branding efforts are easier to track and measure, you can see how your brand pervades the World Wide Web. Here are five easy-to-use Web tools to help you get a handle on how powerful and prevalent your virtual personal brand is.
1. Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts)
Google Alerts notifies you via email when your name shows up on the Web, and it provides links to the reference sites so you can see exactly what's being said. 

2. TweetBeep (www.tweetbeep.com)
TweetBeep is like Google Alerts for Twitter. It enables you to track Twitter conversations that mention you, providing hourly updates so you can stay connected to and respond to relevant conversations. You can also track who's tweeting your website or blog.
3. Online ID Calculator (www.onlineidcalculator.com)
Tto measure the strength of one's online reputation. In doing research for our book, Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, Kirsten Dixson and I learned that when people google someone, they judge the results based on two factors: volume and relevance.
The Online ID Calculator will give you a basic understanding of your current online ID. If you use it before and after a major online personal-branding campaign, you can see how the campaign affected your score.
4. Bit.ly (www.bit.ly)
This is a great service for tracking the links that you include in your Web-based articles, blog, and Twitter posts. It's helpful because it shortens standard URLs, but its true value lies in its tracking tools.
With Bit.ly, you're able to see in real time how often your links are clicked, helping you understand the relative popularity of the items you post. It's a great way to measure which sources are most popular (use different bit.ly links for your blog and Twitter posts, for example) and which posts and links generate the greatest interest.
5. Addictomatic (www.addictomatic.com)
This is a useful tool that provides a comprehensive snapshot of how your brand shows up across many online search engines, including video search engines. Type your name in quotes (e.g., "william arruda") and see a custom page created just for you, with input from Google, Twitter, Bing, FriendFeed, Twingly, YouTube, Digg, Flickr, Delicious, Bloglines, Truveo, Wikio, Yahoo, Technorati, etc. You can also use Addictomatic to get a picture of what's happening on the Web in your area of expertise.
* * *

Tok & Stok :::Stok clearance









‘Sale’ signs are so ubiquitous these days that retailers often struggle to cut through the clutter and get their discount offers noticed. This was the problem facing Brazilian furniture retailer, Tok & Stok, and its solution was one of the most innovative poster campaigns of the past few years.

In Brazil, Tok & Stok has built up a reputation has a high-end furniture retailer. Its design style is minimalist, uncluttered and clean and this had to be reflected in its advertising campaign. It was also imperative that Tok & Stok drew a large crowd for the sale as it was its biggest of the year and the retailer had a new range of stock waiting to go on display.

The posters were designed to look like furniture and left in places that would surprise and amuse the public. Some were made to look like tables, some chairs; others were rolled up into a cone and attached to the walls of malls and give the impression of lampshades. Every poster was almost entirely white with a simple Tok & Stok logo and discount offer, relating to the item the poster was suppose to represent, in one corner.
The posters gained a lot of attention in Brazil and enhanced Tok & Stok’s reputation for sophisticated furniture solutions. The interest translated directly into sales with the retailer selling out of its discount stock in a matter of days.




BRAND: Tok Stok

BRAND OWNER: Tok & Stok

CATEGORY: Retail

REGION: Brazil

DATE: Aug 2009

AGENCY: DDB Brasil

MEDIA CHANNEL

Out of HomeAmbient

Wispa Gold Bar::: For the love of Wispa

We’ve decided to give our advertising space to you guys as a thank you for all the love you’ve shown to Wispa. We've bought thousands of billboards all over the UK and Ireland so that you can share your special messages with the world. Yes that’s right, you let us know your special message and if it gets selected we will post it on a real billboard in the location of your choice.So whether you just want to say 'hi' to a special friend who lives in a different city, or wish your Mum Happy 60th Birthday, now is your chance. All you have to do is submit your special ‘gold’ standard message along with an explanation of why it is so special, and let us know which city you would like your billboard to appear in. We will do the rest.So what are you waiting for? Make sure you submit your message by 3rd October 2009 to be in with a chance of winning.

Talk Talk:::Put-Pocketing

Londoners tend to expect the worst when they see somebody loitering near their bag, and usually they would be right to. But telecoms operator, Talk Talk, has launched a campaign employing ex-pickpockets to distribute cash to people in London without them even realising.

Certain factions, including those that have previously been pick-pocketed, have taken issue with the idea. But the campaign has been given the blessing of the Metropolitan police and each ‘put-pocket’ – as they are being called – carries ID, in case he is caught in the act, and is watched by a minder.


20 put-pockets roamed around the traditional pick-pocketing heartlands including Leicester Square, Oxford Circus and Covent Garden as well as on the tube network. Once they had found a ‘mark’, they would approach and slip a crisp £20 note onto their person, along with a branded Talk Talk card. The telecoms company plans to distribute over £100,000 in this way. Strategically placed signs, reading ‘Rejoice! Put-pockets operating in this area’, warn the public of the put-pockets presence.


A YouTube video showing the operation in action has turned into a very successful viral. The scheme has been in operation since July and so far none of the put-pockets have been rumbled.





BRAND: Talk Talk

BRAND OWNER: Carphone Warehouse

CATEGORY: Telecoms/ Mobile

REGION: UK

DATE: Jul 2009 - Oct 2009

AGENCY: In House

MEDIA CHANNEL

Ambient

Aviva car insurance:::


Aviva wanted to engage consumers when they would be in the right frame of mind to think about car insurance. The obvious solution was to target motorists when they were actually on the road, so the insurer decided to advertise with In Your Space.

In Your Space displays advertising on the sides and back of its trucks. According to the media owner, 64% of motor vehicle traffic is via motorways and major A-roads, which are covered by its moving billboards. It recently carried out a £70,000, 12-month long research programme to provide the likes of Aviva with specific targets.

Aviva’s campaign is running on a total of 210 ad sites - termed as ‘high reach billboards’. The lorries carrying the ads will cover more than one million miles of road. If estimates prove correct, the campaign will communicate to over 24 million motorists every month, with each motorist expected to see the adverts at least 7 times, delivering a total of 508 million impacts over the three-month campaign period.

With TV advertising overloaded with insurance companies, it makes sense for a car insurance firm such as Aviva to move its advertising into a more relevant space for its target market, although the environmental impact of such advertising may concern insurance customers in the future.

BRAND: Aviva car insurance

BRAND OWNER: Aviva

CATEGORY: Automotive

REGION: UK

DATE: Aug 2009 - Oct 2009

AGENCY: AMV/OMD

OTHER AGENCIES:Posterscope

MEDIA OWNER: In your space

MEDIA CHANNEL

Out of Home

Target:::Bag a billboard



Fashion is a personal thing. Ask two women arriving at a party dressed in the same outfit and you’ll really see the ‘handbags’ come out. Knowing this, fashion retailer Target has come up with an environmentally friendly way of making sure the handbags, at least, will always be unique – by making bags out of billboards.
In the past, Target has shown a preference for commissioning high profile artists to create designs for its fashion ranges. The artists it has commissioned to design its billboards this time round are equally high calibre: Michael Anderson, Laurie Rosenwald, Charles Wilkin and Josh Goldstein have all signed up to the project. Their billboard designs will be erected in NY Times Square on Labor Day and remain up until the end of October.
Once they have been taken down, the vinyl designs will be turned into 1,600 limited edition bespoke bags using an Anna Sui tote bag model. Every bag will be unique and made from 90% recycled material. So, consumers passing through Times Square are advised to keep an eye out for their favourite parts of the billboard designs as they could soon be wearing it on their arm.
The bags will be available to order on Target’s website from September 4th, ready to be shipped from January 2010. A clever, cost-saving campaign that gets consumers talking about the brand and thinking about the environment.

BRAND: Target

BRAND OWNER: Target Corporation

CATEGORY: Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear

REGION:USA

DATE: Sep 2009 - Jan 2010

AGENCY: Mother

MEDIA CHANNEL

Out of HomeAmbient

Whisper:::Period drama


‘That time of the month’ is one of its politer descriptions, but the onset of a woman’s period has neverbeen something for them to get excited about. Attempting to reverse this trend, Singapore-based hygiene brand, Whisper,

decided to try and improve women’s perception of their own menstrual cycle and in doing so build brand affinity.

Research conducted by global communications company, MS&L Singapore showed that only 22% of women were able to correctly identify the various stages of their own menstrual cycle. Not only was there a lack of understanding about the biological goings-on, a woman’s period was also seen as something of a taboo subject in Singapore.





To increase awareness, Whisper built a dedicated website, ‘Happy It’s Here’, that identified the various stages of the menstrual cycle and provides helpful tips and ideas of activities and exercises, such as kickboxing, that women can perform to help relieve their pent-up frustration. Visitors to the site are directed to aFacebook group where they can discuss why they are happy about the onset of their period as well as offer a sympathetic shoulder and encouragement to others.






The group currently has over 4074 members and is growing daily. Aiming to improve women’s perception of their periods is an ambitious campaign objective but if Whisper can pull it off, the public perception of its own brand will improve dramatically.




The Whisper “happy it’s here!” initiative aims to help young women embrace their womanhood by sharing the many positive secrets of the menstrual cycle and encouraging open conversations around it within a community of like-minded women.

Whisper is dedicated to creating happier periods for women. As the first to bring new and innovative feminine care products such as Ultrathin products and pads with wings, Whisper continues to play an integral part in the lives of women in Singapore and around the world.

Website:http://www.happyitshere.com.sg

Images above are from Happy it's here media and blogger reception


BRAND: Whisper

BRAND OWNER: P&G
CATEGORY: Pharmaceuticals/ Healthcare
REGION: Singapore
DATE: Aug 2009
AGENCY: Leo BurnetO
THER AGENCIES: ARC Singapore
MEDIA OWNER: Facebook
MEDIA CHANNEL

Mobile or Internet

WWF:::The Impact on Global Climate Change"meltdown"

Most people only get to experience the Arctic region through nature programmes on TV, so the problem of Arctic warming is not something we are immediately aware of.

WWF wanted to make sure that ‘out of sight’ did not mean ‘out of mind’ by highlighting the risks of Arctic warming and show the direct effect of climate change in the Arctic on the whole planet. A major report compiled by WWF, entitled Arctic Feedbacks: The Impact on Global Climate Change, reveals that rapid retreat of ice could lead to the sea level rising by one metre in this century alone, threatening a quarter of the world’s population. Warming in the Arctic could also substantially increase carbon dioxide and methane emissions in the atmosphere as a great quantity of those gases are stored in the Arctic’s frozen soils or wetlands. WWF wanted to ensure that climate change was seen as a political priority for the months leading up to the United Nations Climate change conference in December.

To coincide with the release of the report, WWF teamed up with Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo to create 1,000 tiny ice sculptures of people. These were positioned on the steps of the music hall in Gendarmenmarkt public square in Berlin.

The sculptures began melting in 30 minutes, perfectly illustrating the impact of melting ice caps on humanity.











BRAND:WWF

BRAND OWNER: WWF

CATEGORY:Charities

REGION:Germany

DATE:Sep 2009

MEDIA CHANNEL

AmbientPR

7 Skills for a Post-Pandemic Marketer

The impact of Covid-19 has had a significant impact across the board with the marketing and advertising industry in 2020, but there is hope...