Notorious Beam Team

This particular ad has been around for a while but I still really enjoy it.

The latest website from 42 below vodka.http://www.42belowstories.com/Based on the award-winning creative - we can now go online and use the images provided to tell a story and of course forward it onto our friends.

Hugh MacLeod, the man driving Stormhoek wine’s recent marketing initiatives through his blog, Gapingvoid, has been thinking about ‘ooze’; a word he has used to abbreviate the term ‘Objects of Sociability’. ‘Ooze’, he writes, ‘is the future of marketing.’

What exactly does this mean? Put simply, Ooze is something that ‘allows you to engage with another person.’ Hugh predicts that in years to come, having something which gets people talking will be more important for brands than having a ‘Message’.

"What is an Object of Sociability [OoS, or "Ooze" for short]? "Ooze" is simply something that allows you to engage with another person. It could be anything. It could a party. It could be a bottle of wine. It could be a hyperlink. It could be a social gesture. It could be social currency. It could be doodling a cartoon on the back of a business card at a bar and giving it to the cute barmaid. You tell me."

This all chimes well for a company that is determined to pursue a course of making sure all its marketing promotes the idea of talkability. Any widget is a good widget. We want as many things to enter the social lexicon as possible and touch people's lives in a powerful way.

Thanks to Ellie for this.

I've been meaning to post this for a while. It's Mazda's "Global Brand Essence Site" which I think is fascinating. They've been very brave to open this out to the public but in doing so makes the brand far more accessible to the all the people working on the brand around the world. Far from giving the brand's strategic secrets away to competitors it makes Mazda seem confident in their marketing direction and must surely help to generate seemless global creative - even if their strapline does just say "Zoom Zoom"!

To see the site and view the video click here.

The concept of having a Global Brand Essence site, be it public or private is a very powerful idea.

"As if customized interiors and personalized number plates aren't enough, a company is now offering Porsche 911 owners "an extra personal touch", where they will replace the product type at the back with your choice of customized text. Let your creativity run wild and give your Porsche its own identity and a unique name. You can make up anything you want: 'made in Germany', 'back off', 'follow me' or 'have a nice day'... Or why not use the back of your Porsche to make a personal message like: 'no more Ferrari', 'my tird', or 'thanks daddy'."

Visit Name Your Porsche to give it a go if you happen to have a Porsche!

George Carlin describes the Modern Man using the buzz words of the day.

Simple & effective.

Thanks to Ellie Grant for this post:

Chris Anderson, Wired magazine’s editor-in-chief, recently published a book which is causing quite a stir.

The Long Tail: The New Economics of Culture and Commerce forecasts the demise of the hits-driven culture which defined the twentieth century, predicting instead that the emerging digital economy of the twenty-first century will herald a new entertainments industry relying just as much on ‘misses’, niche markets and mass-customisation.

See this video here for the launch party for the book in conjunction with Wired and Flavourpil.



Anderson argues that the twentieth century saw an entertainments industry physically constrained by the economics of supply-and-demand. Retailers would only carry content which they knew would generate demand sufficient enough to cover costs. Roughly translated, this meant that your local HMV would only have ordered as many copies of an album as they believed would sell within your local area. As a result, the twentieth century saw the ‘tyranny of the hit’ and a society of people who watched the same films, listened to the same music and read the same books. Anderson anticipates that as the entertainments industry moves into the digital world, the individual will become the focus as opposed to the mass market. Online retailers have the capacity to supply products that are in low demand or have low sales volume, though which collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters. Companies such as Amazon, NetFlix, iTunes and Rhapsody are at the forefront of this emerging trend, catering to individual preferences and tastes.



These are his three rules for ‘The New Entertainment Economy’:

1. “Make Everything Available”: offer anything and everything online on the off-chance that it will find a buyer. For the film industry, this could mean offering up previously underserved genres, such as Bollywood films, documentaries, foreign films, and independent flicks.

2. “Cut the price in half. Now lower it”: iTunes singles currently retail at $0.99 (79p in the UK). While the labels argue this price is too low, and fear that lowering prices further will drive consumers away from record stores, potentially leading to a massive CD retailer rebellion, consumers would often argue that $0.99 is too high when they could just use a peer-to-peer network to get their tracks for free. Anderson argues that if online retailers lowered their prices, consumers would actually buy more, meaning the industry wouldn’t suffer as much damage as it currently believes it would. He suggests that the entertainments industry as a whole could entice consumers down the Long Tail by lowering prices.

3. “Help me find it”: Online retailers need initially to attract consumers with hits and then guide them down the Long Tail using the ‘Other customers have bought…/Other users recommend…’ format, just as Amazon and iTunes do at the moment. You might therefore begin by buying Britney Spears’ Greatest Hits. A recommendation would encourage you to listen to Pink, which might lead you to No Doubt, which might lead on to some obscure 1980s Southern Californian punk outfit. A Britney fan will have been guided down the Long Tail and in the process discovered they have tastes which diverge radically from the mainstream.

If the entertainments industry follows Anderson’s advice, the future will see the provision of entertainment in abundance, endless choice supplied by digital and online retailers and opportunities for the consumer to discover something which he might never have found by wandering into town on a Saturday afternoon.

The author recently gave a talk about his book and hosted a book signing in Second Life with the help of Millions of Us . See what he had to say by watching the video.



Anderson’s book has got the Beam Team thinking about how the Long Tail theory might be applied to our booze brands. There are the obvious constraints relating to the physical distribution of alcohol; we can’t sell alcohol online in the same way Amazon shifts CDs, books and DVDs or in the same way iTunes allows us to download music. However, we can learn an important lesson from The Long Tail: If you create a supply, you might just find you have a demand.

We might find there are opportunities to draw consumers’ attention to these little-known brands and create a few ‘Global Microbrands’ in the process, especially if we consider that in the future, consumers might become used to always being offered such a wise choice in other areas of their lives. We could start guiding them down the Long Tail, attempting to broaden their tastes beyond the ‘hit’ global mega-brands.

For the economic and statistical theory of the Long Tail, and more basic facts, hit the Wikipedia page.

Have a look on Squidoo for more info.

Buy the book.

For a PDF of the Long Tail click here and be patient.

If anyone's got any thoughts or comments feel free to share. Thank you Ellie for this.

From Yes but no but Yes:

"Nike and Burger King get a lot of kudos for having innovative online offerings, but for my money, one of the most interesting sites created in support of a brand is Absolut.com. Over the years they've created many thought provoking pieces based around the arts, and are always updating and refreshing. Check out the latest piece to go live - The 100 Absolutes - where you can nominate your favorite - well, anything really. It's not a new concept, but I love the way that it's been implemented."

It's a great website, tremendous idea, looks awesome and also serves as a research project.

The site was created by Great Works from Sweden who have also built sites for Absolut Bling Bling and created the internal marketing material for Ruby Red.

New Campaign for Smirnoff. I am not a very big fan of the ads; but they have had some positive reviews on several blogs. Any one else want to share their thoughts? Please comment.

"This clip was from Late Night with David Letterman 10 years ago. Roughly 9 years later, Fallon shot a nice ad for Sony. Makes you wonder." Anita O'Shea



To see the Sony ad that this resembles click see below.



Comments on YouTube so far include:



See the previous post on Sony Bravia and Tango. I think's its amusing how Sony were happy for Tango to rip their ad off and now they seem to have nicked it from Letterman in the first place. It all reminds me of the Bacardi Salmon ad that appropriated an urban meme. I wonder what will happen!

Hennessy's new Christmas VSOP Fine de Cognac giftpack in the UK looks very stylish. They have collaborated with Central St Martin's Design College to create this much in the same spirit of last year's design by artist, Nadya Bertaux, below.



This design competition was hosted on Dexigner.com where you can find this rationale for the design:

"For the holiday season, the artist Nadya Bertaux and Hennessy have joined forces to give the Hennessy Fine de Cognac bottle a completely new gift box. Nadya’s work on the box takes its inspiration from a combination of her own work and the development process of the cognac.

Through her creation Nadya Bertaux evokes the mysterious evaporation of the eaux de vie during the cognac production cycle, which has the poetic name "the angels’ share ". This gift box symbolises this mysterious phenomenon, and the series of strips that she makes allow us a glimpse of the warm, amber colours of the cognac."

From PSFK

"To combat the local movie bootleg market (which continues to improve in quality and sophistication), films in China and Hong Kong are being released in legal DVD formats simultaneously with theatrical screenings. The price premium of an authorized DVD has been reduced as well in an attempt to lure buyers into "trading up."

An original copy now costs around RMB 13 compared to a RMB 9 counterfeit. To offset the reduction in premium, the new DVDs are front-loaded with advertising. For instance, Motorola put an ad for their new Moto Krzr phone in The Banquet DVD.

Perhaps a modified product placement rate structure for DVDs/online video will also be considered in the future?"

It's interesting to see Remy making use of sly, innovative media. In addition their increasing use of the Centuar is noteworthy. It's a good example of making the most out of the East meets West dynamic.

From Textually.org...

"Text Messaging is now moving from the private sphere into the public one reports The Economist via Chicagoist. "New technologies allow text messages to be displayed on the sides of buildings, on public screens in cafés or on vast digital displays at sporting events and festivals.

Such “digital graffiti” can be used in various ways: to capture the mood of a gathering, boost a brand, or to spark public dialogue.

... The earliest examples of digital graffiti appeared in Europe, where text messaging took off years ago, unlike in America where it has only recently become popular. In 2001, for example, at the Speaker's Corner building in Huddersfield, England, a tickertape-like display showed the results of a text-message poetry contest.

The latest digital-graffiti systems are rather more elaborate. ... Wiffiti allows a passerby to text a message to be displayed on a screen, a wall, television...

Eight “Wiffiti” screens (a name derived from “wireless graffiti”—it has no relation to Wi-Fi networking) have been set up in coffee-shops in American cities, sometimes with the support of sponsors."

The implications for our brands are interesting. A branded screen in a student union would be a great form of physical social networking. Or it could be made more upscale by locating it in a style bar.

Thanks to Sunita for this, I've got a feeling this will develop fast.

From Contagious Magazine:

"A new company named crayon was launched this week by a group of marketing bloggers: Joseph Jaffe, author of the Life After the 30-Second Spot (blog can be found at www.jaffejuice.com), co-hosts of the PR podcast For Immediate Release Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson (www.forimmediaterelease.biz), and podcasting music pioneer CC Chapman (www.cc-chapman.com).

The company’s definition eludes traditional marketing categories: in Neville’s words, ‘We’re neither an agency nor a consulting practice as is traditionally defined. What we are is whatever you want or need us to be. I like to think of us as a true mash-up that combines the best in traditional and new thinking about marketing, advertising and PR.’

The company aspires to be a 100% Web 2.0 venture, one that claims to be the world’s first New Marketing company, one whose focus is unambiguously set on the world of blogs, virtual worlds, podcasts, and experimental marketing.

crayon will be both a virtual and a real company: one of crayon’s claims to fame is to be the first company to launch simultaneously in Second Life and the real world (see image facing for a look at their office). ‘Second Life symbolises the thinning line between the real and virtual worlds,’ says Joseph Jaffe, a.k.a. Divo Dapto in his avatar form. ‘With our team located in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, California and England, Second Life emerged as the perfect way for us to complement our dispersed geographic presence to meet and interact, not only with each other but also with our clients, vendors, and partners.’"

Here's their Second Life Office:



It's a great example of the speed of change and the fact that the possiblities of doing exciting projects that span the real and virtual worlds are not just a flash in the pan.

Convergence.

From the Fallon Planning Blog:

"Reuters reports on the latest in corporate marketing ventures into the virtual world of Second Life. Pontiac is staking their claim, albeit in a slightly unexpected fashion. Their angle in is buying virtual real-estate: 6 virtual islands that they will lease out for "free" to residents in exchange for the promise that those new land-owners will breed a "vibrant car culture within the community".

Dubbed Morotari Island, Pontiac plans to issue out "parcels of land around Motorati Island to Second Life entrepreneurs and artists who wish to create their own projects devoted to car culture." Users who want to get in on the bid can go to the islands Morotari life website (still under construction), to pitch their ideas in hopes of getting a piece of the land on which to lay out their creations.

...

Compared with other corporations that have simply set up shop within SL to operate as they would in the real-world, GM seems to have put more thought into what a brand may need to do to in order to truly integrate itself into this type of new media/virtual world atmosphere. Allowing residents to incorporate Pontiac as part of their own user-created projects provides for a much different level of interaction than simply seeing a billboard on the street or a sky-scraper on the horizon. Enhancing and facilitating a consumer experience rather than creating and controlling it for them. I like it."

For the rest of the article, which is great, click here.

Bud has launched a new microsite featuring a music streaming service called Pandora which Erika Warren previously commented about here.

Essentially Bud let you listen to music over the internet on their own terms.



Nice.

Cheers to Michael Iskas for this.

Jim Beam in Bulgaria have used YouTube as a medium to spread the word about their in bar table football promotion. It shows how YouTube videos can be integrated into a communications plan to stretch promotions furter.

See the link below to see their dice tournament.

Dice Tournament 2005

Thanks to Rachel Wicklow for this.

Heineken's new commercial was shot on location during the filming of the the next James Bond film, Casino Royale. A YouTube video takes a behind the scenes look at the approach Strawberry Frog took for the creation of the commercial. Actors are featured. Set designers and assistant directors are interviewed. Strawberry Frog Head Creative Kevin McKeon disucsses the genesis of the project.

My tea arrived the other day from Blends for Friends and it looks, tastes and is amazing!

Thanks to Alex Probyn for providing a quite brilliant personalised tea service. Visit his site and create the perfect customised gift for a friend.

This is absolutely brilliant.

Maker's Mark have created a microsite allowing you to make you own mini film based on a range of genres. Read the blurb below for more. But make sure you give it a go on the site which is here: http://www.directyourdip.com/



"This is a fully integrated campaign, with a huge interactive component, that includes a special 16-page feature section in the November issue of GQ magazine titled, "25 Greatest Movies - Style with Substance." Maker's Mark will be running a four-page ad unit to create conversation the Maker's Mark way. In addition, the brand will be running lots of banner ads on various movie-related sites that have a high index among our core adult consumer. These sites include: fandango.com, rottentomatoes.com, moviefone.com, imdb.com, movies.com, ifilm.com and men.style.com (GQ's site). The campaign will run from October 22 - December 31. The campaign will deliver 31,512,758 impressions over the two-month period.

Furthermore, the link to the site will be sent to all 330,000 Ambassadors via Bill Mail. This will be sent the last week of October, prior to the GQ issue hitting the newsstand. The idea is to give our Ambassadors a sneak peek. We also know that our Ambassadors love to share cool stuff about the brand, so this will certainly be one they'll share. Think about it, if half of our Ambassadors sends it to 5 friends each, that's 825,000 brand messages. We are also doing events in Washington D.C. and Austin featuring one of the top 25 movies. Maker's Mark collectible posters have been created for these events."

A screen shot from my directorial debut and its supporting poster are below. Needless to say the film will probably win an Oscar or two.





Thanks to Gareth Brown for sharing this. I'm sure we'll see some excellent press coverage and very dodgy videos!

Stella has launched a holistic campaign in Toronto based on glorifying a glass of their beer. It's based on placing the glass in the centre of a trap which has been made into a street installation and online game.

From Adverbox.

"The Beer Company has unveiled The Trap at the corner of Bloor & Avenue in Toronto. The complex installation is five meters high and weighs more than two tons. In the middle of The Trap, on a pedestal, sits a tempting chalice of Stella Artois.

It’s only in Toronto until October 25th. After that it’s on its way to other major cities including New York and San Paulo."


Online game called Le Defi ties the online game into the real world promotion. Users are encouraged to challenge friends to unravel their trap.



No promotion is complete without cool coasters. These ones show the way the promotion evolved.





What strikes me most is the way Stella has used the internet to PR their work. Although this is a local project, based in Toronto, it is getting global exposure via advertising blogs, Flickr pictures and the fact that the content is interesting enough to interact with and share.

From Adverbox:

"This campaign, created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for the new Saturn Aura, provides potential customers with a video introduction to the manager of their nearest Saturn retailer. Specific advertisements were developed in 22 stores across six market areas - Buffalo N.Y.; Dallas; Harrisburg, Pa.; Indianapolis; Las Vegas, Nev.; and Raleigh, N.C. - all recorded individually to provide the local information.

The campaign is created through a relationship with Google using their new click-to-play video ads on sites across Google’s network of content partners using geo targeting and Google Earth to create a very personal experience.

The agency made the Google click-to-play medium work for Saturn in a way that would be impossible with most traditional media. The campaign showcases the best of all worlds: the visual engagement of television, the interactive abilities of the web and targeting so sophisticated that it makes possible the things that direct mail, mobile marketing and customer-relationship marketing only dream of. All this in a non-invasive way. Its an opt in world."

To see the interactive Google Video ad click here.

Another nifty aspect of the campaign is the option to chat live with a sales rep over a MSN messenger style interface.



It's a brilliant example of a campaign offering consumers the option of permitting a brand to do something useful for them. It ties the trade in really well to the ATL advertising which seems particularly pertinent to the booze industry. As Paul, who found this site wrote:

"It would be awesome if the CC website could feature new or really cool bars/clubs from around the world and of course have a couple super-hot bartenders show you how they make their favourite CC drink."

Thanks to Paul Crowe for this.

From Advertising Age:

"A-B named the aspiring hip-hop mogul -- aka Shawn Carter -- "co-brand director" for Bud Select today, noting, in a press release, that the rapper "will participate in Budweiser Select planning sessions to provide his unique spin, thoughts and insights on various brand programs."

The release added: "Jay-Z also will be involved in providing direction on other upcoming Budweiser Select television ads, radio spots, print campaigns and several high-profile events."

...

It's not known whether Jay-Z -- a onetime pitchman for Heineken -- will supplement or supplant A-B's incoming CEO, August Busch IV, as the brand's primary spokesman. It was also unclear whether the rapper intends to drop references to Bud Select into song lyrics, as other hip-hop artists have done with brands such as Courvoisier, Hennessey, Cristal and Don Perignon.

According to San Francisco consulting firm Agenda, which tracks brand mentions in song lyrics for its annual "American Brandstand" survey, no beer brands were mentioned in hip-hop lyrics during 2005, although import brand Corona did land three mentions during 2004."

Thanks to Natasha Baghat from Publicis Dialog New York for this.

From New York Times:

"The humorous campaign, getting under way this week, transforms the name of Perrier, the French sparkling water, into words that end in “-ier.” The reworked brand names, appearing on bottle labels, postcards, stickers, swizzle sticks, umbrellas and coasters, include “Luckier,” “Sassier,” “Crazier,” “Scarier,” “Prettier” and “Riskier.” (There are no audio elements, and thus no confusion over whether to pronounce it “RISK-ee-ur,” or “risk-ee-AY.”)

Riskier, indeed. The campaign, by agencies that include Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in New York, breaks the rule that a venerable brand name, with a value built up through decades of marketing spending, is sacrosanct."

For more click here.

Thanks to David Javitch for this.

Absolut launched a guerrilla assault on Edinburgh recently. The operation involved an unbranded onslaught of men in Raspberry outfits, polystyrene raspberries and promotions in bars. It all culminated with a huge party on Princes Street and a reveal of a series of special billboards. Outside the club was a pimped out VIP bus for special Absolut Raspberry fans.



From Marketing Week:

"Absolut, the premium vodka brand, is behind a guerrilla marketing campaign that has flooded Edinburgh with raspberries and images of raspberries this week.

The TBWA/London-created activity is designed to sell Absolut Raspberri as a long drink to enjoy with lemonade. It will unveil outdoor creative urging consumers to "Unleash the Raspberri" and has booked sites across the city, which is where Maxxium is based.

Absolut is also running a mobile sampling unit and will be handing out "privilege" cards, giving consumers admission to exclusive events, bar entry and priority taxi access to support the campaign reveal.

Unbranded activity has included giant raspberries brawling in the streets, boarding buses and drinking in Edinburgh bars.

Hundreds of giant raspberries were then scattered across city parks and witness appeal boards asking members of the public for their help."

This all fits in with previous Absolut Raspberry work which you can see here.

Johnnie Walker has set up a tasting society to guide men through the world of their whisky's and modern life. Dedicated emails are sent out to invite suitable men to attend these sesseions shown above.

Here's a sample of the email:

"From sports metaphors to steak orders (black and blue, of course), you know how to talk to men in their language.

But your talent doesn’t make it up to the bar. His Johnnie Walker® perplexes you. You know it’s a whisky, but isn’t it a Scotch, too? And which label is the best one? Black? Red? Blue? (It may as well be Greek.)

Starting today through this Thursday, you can take the Johnnie Walker Journey at AmericasMart (at 250 Spring Street, building 3, 15th floor) and become an expert in no time.

Johnnie Walker invites you and three friends to experience all five of its Scotch whisky blends — including the legendary Johnnie Walker Blue Label. You’ll get cocktails and hors d’oeuvres while a Johnnie Walker ambassador teaches you the secrets to man-drink vocabulary. And in no time, you’ll know your single malts and pure malts from your blends.

R.S.V.P. for this exclusive event here and enter “Flavor” in the access code. The event is free, but the invitation is nontransferable, and all guests must be over 21.
You’ll leave The Johnnie Walker Journey an expert on the drink — and the art of man-speak.

And the next time you’re at a bar, you’ll do the ordering for him.

Go to journeyexperience.com to R.S.V.P. for the Johnnie Walker Journey."

On the site is a link to their "Striding Man Society" which gives members access to a range of services such as personalised bottles, e-cards and access to exclusive events.



This is a good way of bringing the upper marques to life and shows that Johnnie Walker is in touch with its consumers.

Brilliant video showing the amazing effects of make up and photoshop. What would we do without it?



It's all intended to put an end to girls feeling like they should change the way they look such as those in this video...



If ever there was an example of a brand that lives off talkability Dove must surely be in the reckoning. The Campaign for Real Beauty seems contrived to many but owing to its roots in an undeniable truth its success is guaranteed. The debate about will continue for years and Dove will always be in the centre of it.

I recently read about Blends for Friends in the BBC's excellent cooking magazine, "Olive". Alex Probyn is a master tea blender who has cut loose from the corporate world and has set up his own Global Microbrand called "Blends for Friends".

Visitors to the site are encouraged to submit a brief pen portrait of their friend they want their tea blended for and Alex will set about creating the perfect of tea for them, which will arrive beautifully packaged, customised and very swiftly. It's an idea that has really caught my imagination.



You can imagine a similar concept working for a small batch whisky... or as a prize for a competition.

Alex writes...

"After years as a master tea taster, blending for one of the world’s leading tea brands, I started to get frustrated with the restricted styles and flavours of tea I could use for large-scale commercial packs of tea. In an attempt to exploit my knowledge and to test my creative skills, I began to blend individual teas and herbal infusions for my friends and family based on their personalities. My creations became world famous (well, family famous at least!) and they asked me to blend for their friends so they could give a personalised gift that really meant something to the recipient."

To visit his site and possibly make an order click here.

For more about Global Microbrands you simply have to visit Gaping Void.

Maker's Mark recently did a promotion at Selfridges where the over dipped bottles are showcased as part of the brand's individuality.






To see some amazing examples of other Maker's Mark images from Flickr see below and click here.

Click above to see the construction of Starwood Hotel's virtual enterprise. It's a great example of what global brands can do and highlights the importance of brand's entering Second Life understanding what consumers are interested in.

Click here for previous posts about it.

BBH has pipped Leo Burnett to the post by launching their agency in Second Life.

Have a look at the video below to see what the space looks like. There has been plenty of chat about the functionality of these spaces. But crucially the idea of bringing creative thinkers together virtually is very powerful - especially for global networks.



To see more stills and description of the space see this article from Adverlab.

Really cool poster site for Heineken.

Thanks to Paul for this.

Watch this before making a viral - don't think it's going to be quite so viral as some of the videos it references though!

Thanks Paul for this.