The Digital Marketer

Razorbombing at work

2012-02-10T10:08:00.001+08:00

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Touch the best of British Television

2012-02-10T08:18:00.001+08:00

An awesome campaign with a unique point of view nicely weaved into digital. This is how brands should engage in the digital space

1. Come up with a unique brand point of view
2. Identify the consumer insight
3. Give people a reason to engage
4. Weave in the right digital medium and platform

Great example of creating acts (actions), not ads. Kudos to BBC

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Painting with a Basketball - Yao Ming Portrait

2012-02-04T15:42:00.001+08:00

This is an interesting art project. Malaysian girl working in Shanghai paints a portrait of recently retired Chinese NBA star Yao Ming with red paint and using / bouncing a basketball.

She also did a portrait of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei using sunflower seeds - http://www.ohiseered.com/2011/11/huh-wei-wei-who.html

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Simon Sinek: If You Don't Understand People, You Don't Understand Business

2012-01-24T01:48:00.001+08:00

I'm a huge fan of Simon Sinek and this is a very inspiring (albeit long at 30 mins) talk. The reason why I do what I do (in reference to his "Golden Circle") is that I believe that technology can help make the world a better place for everyone and advance the human race - Including the use of technology in advertising and communications to shape and change human behaviors.

In this talk, Simon talks about the need for trust in all relationships and how human bonds are formed when people find themselves within a circle of trust. This same mantra can be applied to organizations as well. It's awe-inspiring as a motivational talk but also extremely relevant and insightful to the field of communications.

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Lonely Planet Friends for Friends

2012-01-23T12:21:00.001+08:00

Developed by the Miami Ad School and leveraging on a universal travel insight, this is a great use of the Facebook social graph to create a nice social travel utility.

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Lynx 2012 - Get It On For The End Of The World

2012-01-21T17:49:00.001+08:00

Lynx has always had a simple but inspiring brand idea - Get sprayed to get laid (or the official version which is "Grooms men to seduce") and the brand has been masters at bringing out new ways to communicate this each year.

Their newest launch, Lynx 2012: The Final Edition is inspired by the Mayan calendar, which is set to end its final cycle on the 21st December 2012 – when Mayans believe the world will end. The TV advert for Lynx 2012: The Final Edition was seeded online to drive awareness and generate buzz among the brand’s target audience, before the TV ad campaign broke.

The TV advert sees a young male building a wooden boat in preparation for the end of the world. After all his hard work, he sits down and sprays Lynx 2012 – The Final Edition and in true Lynx style, a number of beautiful women start to descend upon the boat.

On the digital space, Lynx also created a "Last Request Generator" which users can use pre-set or random words to generate their own last requests before the world ends. Lynx doesn't guarantee anything but there's a chance that they will fulfill that last request. There's also a timer on the site that counts down to 21 December 2012

http://www.lynxeffect.com/uk/last-request-generator

I wonder what happens if doomsday doesn't come - Will there be a Lynx 2013: Survivors Edition?

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Nike + Fuel

2012-01-20T09:21:00.001+08:00

Nike just launched the Nike + Fuelband, a wristband that measures physical activity and converts it to a universal measurement called "Nike Fuel".
This allows athletes to track their sports performance and more importantly, because it's a measurement of physical activity not just tied to one sport, it allows Nike to ladder this across all sports categories and socialize it with challenges, activities, experiences and campaigns across a gamified platform.

It's like Nike + Running but fueled by steroids. Pun intended.

The product launch is wrapped around the #makeitcount campaign. This is going to be huge for Nike.

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Flash Kick in London: Project Teamwork by Samsung Galaxy Note

2012-01-17T18:53:00.001+08:00

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Couple Up to Buckle Up

2012-01-16T23:06:00.001+08:00

What a unique way to use QR codes leveraging on a nice insight and a great post-scan experience

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"Where do we Land? A Converse China trip to Mongolia

2012-01-12T23:02:00.001+08:00

Awesome video by Converse China

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Crash Corsage

2012-01-10T22:19:00.001+08:00

This is an awesome non-branded mobile utility.

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Feel Good by Kleenex

2012-01-07T23:51:00.001+08:00

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John Jay from W+K On Creativity

2012-01-02T13:59:00.001+08:00

This is a really inspirational piece by John Jay from W+K and Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in the Business 2011.

It is all our job to break out of our silos and never let anyone define you by their terms. Here's to a great start to 2012.

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The Open Book Project

2011-12-26T15:17:00.001+08:00

A great platform idea by Reach Australia.

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JWTIntelligence: 10 Trends for 2012

2011-12-19T10:33:00.001+08:00

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Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

2011-12-17T17:11:00.001+08:00

As we close of 2011, Google Zeitgeist remembers the year through search

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Take the Ultimate Plunge

2011-12-09T09:55:00.001+08:00

The plunging cleavage is taken literally in this Wonderbra campaign

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Introducing Google Currents

2011-12-09T09:42:00.001+08:00

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Coca-Cola Where Will Happiness Strike Next: The OFW Project

2011-12-04T16:48:00.001+08:00

I've said this before and I'll say it again. Coke is one of the rare brands that communicates it's brand purpose in everything it does. Open Happiness, the joy and happiness that comes with every can of Coke you open and drink. Happiness comes in many forms and means different things to different people. For some, happiness comes in the form of nice material surprises, for others, happiness comes in the form of spending time with family and loved ones.

A great brand story is one that immerses viewers completely and brings them into the story emotionally. In this series, Coke brings the story of how it created true happiness for a few of the 11 million Filipinos working overseas and away from their family.

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Norte Photoblocker

2011-12-02T13:26:00.001+08:00

Quite a gimmicky idea but I like the thought of leveraging on a unique brand point of view on something so relevant to the category and creating a branded utility around it.

It's a nice twist that is sure to create conversations for the brand

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Norte Photoblocker

2011-12-02T13:24:00.001+08:00

Quite a gimmicky idea but I like the thought of leveraging on a unique brand point of view on something so relevant to the category and creating a branded utility around it.

It's a nice twist that is sure to create conversations for the brand

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPm7iWo0Tg4

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MARTINI: LUCK IS AN ATTITUDE

2011-12-01T23:28:00.001+08:00

Great video that encapsulates the brand point of view nicely. Luck is indeed an attitude. A unique POV that helps create a great brand story

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The Last Person on Earth Who Does Not Use Online Banking

2011-12-01T17:54:00.001+08:00

Driving online banking sign ups is something that every bank does. Transaction migration is a great way for banks to move low involvement transactions to self service channels and save costs. However, most online banking campaigns are boring and undifferentiated. This is by far the most interesting campaign done by Turkish bank Garanti to get users to start banking online.

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Russian Facebook Roulette

2011-11-30T15:08:00.001+08:00

I don't know how I missed this from before but it's a really interesting campaign using a digital equivalent of the "Russian Roulette"

In this case, if you do lose, you virtual life (aka Facebook profile) will be lost forever.

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Seconds of Beauty

2011-11-29T13:16:00.001+08:00

Montblanc and Leo Burnett Milan pay homage to the chronograph which records time to the accuracy of a fifth of a second with a short film challenge. People are invited to seize the moment and submit a second long tribute to this small unit of time (one second) for a chance to win a Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph

This is an edited list based on the video submissions from the first round

Check out the campaign here: http://www.montblanconesecond.com/

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Moosejaw X-Ray App

2011-11-27T20:42:00.001+08:00

Another AR app that is sure to appeal to men (and women too).

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Penningtons Styled To Surprise

2011-11-27T20:36:00.001+08:00

This is an awesome AR execution at a department store. Advertising is about being able to engage consumers at the right place and right time and to shift perceptions and drive behavior or action. What digital allows is for brands to create amazing experiences along the consumer journey that will excite and delight customers and bring the brand that much closer to them.

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Life Edited

2011-11-27T18:32:00.001+08:00

A short TED talk by Graham Hill about how to live happier with less stuff (plus reduce your carbon footprint and save more money).

I love this talk as it is very much aligned to my point of view about how we should look at living life. Too many people live their lives based on the accumulation of assets and stuff and end up being unhappy, stressed and in debt. The idea of editing your life and living in a digitized and minimalistic way is about keeping what's the best of the best and quality over quantity. It's the same principle of curation over aggregation or hoarding.

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Lays Potato Machine

2011-11-27T01:31:00.001+08:00

Storytelling is an essential art in communications; Our minds have been primed for them since young and people love to be inspired and immersed in other's stories. Stories are a great way to change behavior and to shift perceptions. What digital provides is a way to visually and mentally immerse users into the story; in a way where they are not just consuming as viewers but engaging as participants.

This is an awesome digital activation by Lays Potato Chips. Instead of handing out regular packets of Lays for people to sample, Lays immersed consumers into the brand story - from potato to potato chips and used the platform as a way to drive trial.

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IKEA: Catch the Swedish Light

2011-11-23T06:51:00.001+08:00

Another great idea by everyone's favorite Swedish furniture company

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Volkswagen The People's Car Project

2011-11-20T23:05:00.001+08:00

Great platform idea playing on the brand name (Volkswagen literally means "People's Car") as well as the evolving Chinese culture where people engage socially (and vocally) online and are taking an active stance and genuine interest in wanting to be part of China's rapid development.

"The People's Car Project" campaign takes the company's name at face value and invites the people of China to design their own car by spreading and discussing their ideas on a variety of platforms.

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Augmented Reality - NatGeo and Tesco

2011-11-20T22:56:00.001+08:00

Here are some really nice AR executions by NatGeo and Tesco of late

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Online Checkout in Real Life

2011-10-28T14:04:00.001+08:00

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What Steve Taught Me About Advertising

2011-10-07T15:07:00.001+08:00

This is my tribute to Steve Jobs and what he taught me about advertising. Steve was a visionary, a forward thinker and a great user experience and product designer. In a very big way, Steve changed the world. He was one of the crazy ones. The way we now see, hear, touch and interact with things and technology, we all owe to him.

However, Steve also taught us what advertising and communications was truly about: Values. This was way back in 1997, during his second tenure back at Apple when they launched "Think Different"

Steve talked about how complicated and noisy the world was and how difficult it was for brands to get people to remember them. In order to do that, brands needed to be crystal clear on what they wanted consumers to remember about them.

Even great brands need constant investment and nurturing if it is going to continue it's relevance and vitality in people's lives. The way to do that is not to just talk about product features or the technology and how a brand is better than it's competitors. Steve preached about the need for brands to talk about who they are and what they are about. Our customers want to know who we are and what we stand for; Where we fit in this world and in their lives. And to do this in a way where it resonates with consumers at a higher emotional level. To touch their souls and connect with them instantly.

A lot of things will change for a brand over time - the market, the brand's place in a market, the product, the distribution strategy
but core values should not change. It is fundamentally what the brand stands for.

Apple doesn't just build products that let people do their jobs, access music and content on the go or any of the many innovations that have changed consumer behavior. Apple believes that people with passion can change the world (in their own big and small ways ) for the better and the people who are crazy enough that think that they can change the world are the ones that actually do.

Think Different is a point of view that honors people who actually do that and as a result have changed the world and moved humanity forward.

And Apple didn't just talk the talk, it walked the walk. This same point of view set the stage for what Apple would become in the years that followed (and will follow): thinking different and implementing seemingly crazy ideas that no other company aside from Apple could have pulled off. And they succeeded, time and time again. Apple didn't follow the latest trends and fads in technology but forged its own path and became the company that everybody else wanted to be.

And Steve, you are by far the craziest one of them all. Thank u for your brilliance & foresight and for making it possible for us to do what we do daily. You will be dearly remembered

Don’t move products. Instead, enrich lives.” - Steve Jobs

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Don Draper Presents Facebook Timeline

2011-10-05T15:41:00.001+08:00

One of my favorite scenes in Mad Men slightly adapted for the present. Context is the same but the product shifts from the Kodak Carousel to Facebook's new Timeline.

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Create a State of Chaos

2011-10-02T23:57:00.001+08:00

This is how brands can use the digital space to create conversations about what it stands for and to articulate its point of view in a way where it will resonate with consumers.
State Farm's POV is that whatever unexpected happens to you, it has you covered.

What better way to demonstrate this than to unleash a robot of destruction to blow your home to smithereens. State Farm's "Create Chaos In Your Town" allows you to create a personalized rampage of destruction on your own home (or any other address) using imaging from Google's Street View.

Be prepared, Be very prepared. Unleash your own chaos at http://chaosinyourtown.com

See the full gallery on Posterous

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My Next Trip

2011-10-01T23:25:00.001+08:00

This is an awesome Foursquare application using the API - Type in a city and get a 2 day itinerary based on user tips and recommendations on Foursquare.

Check it out on http://www.my-next-trip.com/

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The Art of Appropriation

2011-09-28T00:23:00.001+08:00

Appropriation is the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work. It's a great technique for creating and developing new ideas and concept by taking a small part, from something created by someone else and using it for your own purposes without permission. It's a fancy word for stealing (on a small scale), but it's vital to any creative business. We "steal" and "borrow" all the time.

I love the word because as strategic/digital planners, we research, collect and curate ideas and content from multiple sources and then adapt them in relevant ways into what we do; whether in the form of consumer insights, data/analytics, creative stimulus or strategic frameworks.

Stealing other people's work lock, stock and barrel not only says that you're an asshole, but that you also lack the talent to come up with your own original ideas.

But appropriating ideas from another source is about being inspired and translating someone else's ideas and thinking to a new purpose. There's a lot of skill and intuition involved in identifying relevant content and trends from different sources and weaving them together and recognizing that the same thinking or framework used there could also be applicable to what you need to craft.

"Good artists copy; great artists steal"

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Carlsberg stunts with bikers in cinema

2011-09-27T12:44:00.001+08:00

Wow. This definitely calls for a beer. Never really liked Carlsberg but this is a great way to create a conversation.

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KLM Live Reply

2011-09-23T01:15:00.001+08:00

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have launched the "KLM Live Reply". Users who Tweet to KLM during the allotted campaign time might be lucky enough to receive a "KLM Live Reply" - Essentially, KLM will replace the normal Twitter typed responses with a living alphabet made up of 140 KLM employees. This dedicated crew responds to tweets and posts in a unique way, by running around and assembling the answer live before your very eyes, within the hour.”

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PayPal: Future of Shopping

2011-09-20T10:55:00.001+08:00

Just a Google launches their highly anticipated Google Wallet, Paypal shows us what the future of shopping would look like

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7UP China Time Travel Commercial

2011-09-20T09:00:00.001+08:00

Cardinal rule about creating viral videos: Humor. Understand your audience (societal issues, culture, trends, memes) well; make the commercial funny enough and people will pass it on.

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Adidas Shootter

2011-09-15T16:38:00.001+08:00

More brands are starting to deliver engaging and immersive digital experiences using information gleaned from the consumer social graph.

This latest one by Adidas Japan comes in the form of a Japanese mini soccer game and uses Twitter integration to challenge you to score against an opposing team (i.e. Any one of your Twitter connections). The catch is that the more followers the opposing team has, the more opponents you have to shoot pass and this increases the difficulty of the game.

Check it out at http://www.shootter.jp/

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30 gifts to 30 strangers in Sydney

2011-09-12T23:56:00.001+08:00

This is an awesome video by Lucas Jatoba. It ends with the quote: "Men's first responsibility is to be happy. The second is to make everyone else happy"

How true. Gave me goosebumps watching it.

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Jane the Concussion Slayer

2011-09-11T01:02:00.001+08:00

I'm a huge fan of Jane McGonigal, the game designer, researcher and author from the Institute of the Future. She's been called the public face of gamification and evangelizes improving the quality of human life and social ills through game mechanics. Her TED Talk on Gaming Can Make A Better World is by far one of the best TED talks I've heard.

In 2009, she suffered a traumatic brain injury and had difficulties recovering from it. Jane decided to create a game, SuperBetter to help her recover. This has now been released as a platform SuperBetter that helps people suffering from any aliments, from obesity to a broken leg to addiction through pervasive game play.

Here's a video of her talking about Super Better:

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Volkswagen BlueMotion Roulette

2011-08-23T10:31:00.001+08:00

How do you make a technical, abstract product benefit interesting? Fuel efficiency is not something you can get people particularly excited about to find out more.
Volkswagen did it by turning the entire experience into a roulette game; getting people to guess how far the new Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion will run on one full tank of gas. The winner gets to win a car. As each person could only make one guess, participants had to find out more about the car, technology and route in the process, making it an absolutely engaging experience.

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Driving User Engagement Through Gamification

2011-08-17T23:43:00.001+08:00

Gamification is a buzzword you might have started hearing lately. It refers to the use of game play mechanics in non-game scenarios and applications, in particular consumer web and mobile sites as a means to encourage users to engage with the site or platform in specific desired behaviours.

Gamification or game-based marketing works well in this age of information fatigue, where users are constantly bombarded with an overload of information, product pushing and marketing messages from a variety of different media sources.

Instead of purely pushing website or mobile content and expecting users to consume, engage and act in the desired outcomes, users now become players. If they perform certain tasks, such as commenting on articles, emailing links to friends, checking in to specific locations, they win points and badges and compete with others within the same ecosystem which helps extend the longevity of the engagement by making it much more addictive.

Game-based marketing allows brands the ability to build in their marketing content into the game flow and user journey and leverage on mechanisms such as leader boards, points, badges and prizes to encourage and get users to perform specific tasks such as sharing the content with friends, providing feedback (rate, like) or submitting content that would be beneficial to the brand.

Gamification in Loyalty Programs

The business of engendering online loyalty and engagement through gaming techniques is not new – rewards programs for airlines, hotels and credit cards have been using game mechanics to drive sustained engagement and loyalty with consumers for a long time. Typically airline customers enroll in programs to accumulate frequent flyer miles according to the distance flown on that airline or its partners. These days, there are so many other ways to accumulate miles such as making transactions through co-branded credit cards. When customers hit a certain level, they are rewarded with upgrades, free air travel, airport lounge access and priority bookings. Points can even been redeemed for other goods and services.

In addition, loyalty programs like Cathay Pacific’s Marco Polo Club have multiple membership tiers. Users start with the entry-level green tier and then move up the ladder once they acquire enough travel mileage to meet the next tier’s threshold. Each tier provides additional rewards to customers but more importantly, it is a status symbol or badge for users to display proudly for having achieved an exclusive level that differentiates them from the masses.

In the 2009 film “Up in the Air”, George Clooney plays a man who relishes his perpetual travels and has a personal ambition of being the 7th person in history to collect ten million frequent flyer miles with American Airlines, for which he will receive a special gold emblazoned card with life time privileges.

Most famously, Foursquare gives you badges and rewards in the form of check-in offers plus special offers for “mayors”. Other websites such as LinkedIn (progress bar that subtly urges you to add more details to your profile), GetGlue (offering badges when you review shows) and Groupon (countdown timer for buyers to nab deals before time runs out) all employ gamification to drive user interactions. The list just goes on.

Gamification in Utility

To be effective, gamified applications have to connect something already meaningful to users or wrap themselves in a story that makes it meaningful for them.

To encourage people to get fit, Nike + is a gamified utility that makes running interesting by adding scores, challenges, trophies and competition to what would otherwise just be a self-tracking running application.

Mint.com is an online service that allows users to track and manage their personal finance. It is a gamified system where the “game” is your financial health. New players walk through their financial lives on a digital quest and receive a checkmark for each completed task with the progress tracked on their financial profile. When their profile is complete, they can unlock their player dashboard to see how they are doing and create goals such as getting out of debt, saving up for a new house or vacation.

People love eating and everybody wants to discover where they can get the best food. Enter Foodspotting, the crowdsourced application that allows you to take pictures of food, say what it is, and pin it via geo-location to the restaurant. Like Foursquare, you get points for doing all this and earn badges for tagging certain types of foods in pictures and participating in guides.

Even mundane activities such as doing chores and completing your to-do list can be gamified and made fun and entertaining with applications such as Epic Win and Chore Wars.

Gamification to Drive Campaigns

Game-based marketing can also be applied in short term campaigns to drive a desired user behaviour and engagement.

Two interesting and recent campaigns that incorporate gamification are Mini’s “Getaway Stockholm” and Jimmy Choo’s “To-Catch-a-Choo“.

The Mini

The former is a week long virtual-reality game that requires users to hunt for a virtual Mini with their phones and then play the classic hide and seek game to prevent other potential takers from swiping it. The person with the Virtual Mini at the end of the game wins an actual Mini Countryman.

The latter is a scavenger hunt around London that requires users to try to “catch” a pair of Jimmy Choo sneakers from clues based on where it had “checked in” on Foursquare.

Such social gaming has tremendous viral potential as well as being fun for participants. Both Mini and Jimmy Choo have been smart in creating a game that enables people to build new social circles, introduce the brand and product name into conversations and enhance the value in which the brand is known for within their respective target audience.

Blueprint for Gamification

So how does gamification apply to your brand? One way to look at it is how applying game-based marketing can help make interactions with your customers more engaging by driving participation.

A game by definition is a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles. Players opt in to play the game because it has compelling and defined goals and rewards, an established game play (mechanics) and a dynamic feedback system (of points, levels, badges, achievements and leader boards).

As such, the four basic building blocks that create a game system involves developing goals for players, creating rules that limit players and force creativity and interaction, providing a dynamic feedback system for the progress of the players in the game and making the game voluntary.

Before jumping into gamification, brands should consider the following:

- What are the particular behaviours you are trying to reward? Is it for users to peruse, share and/or submit content?

- Understand your reward points system. Define the types of goals, how achievements are rewarded, different types of rewards and leader board mechanics to drive competition.

- Know what will make the game compelling. Just because it is a game does not mean it will be fun. Good game design, mechanics and a well thought out user journey and game flow are some principles that will help make the experience engaging and addictive.

There are many examples of companies currently using game thinking and mechanics to influence and drive behaviour. With more brands leveraging on gamification to engage users, it will not be surprising to see that within the next 5 to 10 years, almost every consumer interaction online and mobile will have some form of game mechanics built into it.

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You LOL you LOSE!

2011-08-16T15:06:00.001+08:00

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The LivingSocial Taxi

2011-08-14T22:28:00.001+08:00

Living Social has been the lesser known of the daily deals site (especially in Asia) as compared to Groupon.

The company started as a social discovery and cataloging network company that offers daily deals based on handpicked experiences that can be shared with friends.

Their point of view is to surprise and delight consumers every single day and the company digs deep to deliver this by designing total experiences that delight consumers and bring an adventurous and loyal following to local businesses

This POV is manifested very nicely in the form of the Living Social Taxi where unsuspecting passengers who have hailed the cab have to make a choice—carry on to their original destination, or 'roll the die' and go for an exciting experience.

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New Balance Urban Dash

2011-08-11T14:37:00.001+08:00

New Balance drives in-store visits in NYC with an AR app. Similar execution to the Mini Getaway in Stockholm done late last year.

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Introducing: Layar Vision

2011-08-05T14:06:00.001+08:00

Layar's new real-world object recognition protocol will change the way we view and use Augmented Reality

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Speedo Pace Club

2011-08-03T08:24:00.001+08:00

Speedo launches an online community and mobile app - i.e. The Nike + for Swimming.

The Speedo Pace Club provides training programs to help all levels of swimmers improve their fitness and stroke technique.Swimmers are able to find swimming pools, track their times, share them with friends, and receive support from a swimmer’s social network within Pace Club. Alongside training is content from the world’s top swimmers that includes tips on training, your diet and an insider’s perspective from the heat of competition.

The Speedo Pace Club has five components. It lets users form a virtual swim team, via Facebook, helping them connect online for the support, recognition and motivation they need to achieve their swimming goals. It even allows them to give fellow team members a virtual high five, when appropriate. The club will also award virtual swim team members virtual badges and discounts on Speedo merchandise once they reach certain levels of achievement.

Great to see platform type ideas from classic brands.

Check out the site at: http://paceclub.speedousa.com

You can also download the mobile app at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speedo-pace-club/id448067082?mt=8

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Building Social Currency: 3 Things You Need To Know

2011-07-27T10:50:00.001+08:00

Many agency folks would be familiar with this scenario – getting client briefs with campaign objectives to create something that will go viral or generate “buzz”. Perhaps this may have risen from the success of campaigns like the Old Spice Guy that now has every marketer pandering to leverage on earned media to help amplify marketing efforts in light of reduced budgets.

Achieving buzz and getting something to go viral is an outcome of a well-developed and -executed campaign and not the objective. Creating content that ignites conversations is the objective. Content is what starts conversations and the content must have social currency in order for people to want to share it as part of their everyday social lives.

Social currency is what helps businesses create unique brand identities and provides the accessibility and permission to continually interact with consumers and customers.

Social currency involves creating a sense of community and strong affiliation between consumers and users of a brand. It usually involves getting these participants to co-create content and is communicated by the brand through pervasive storytelling that delivers a unique point of view.

Here are three key pillars for developing social currency:

1. Value

In order for brands to achieve engagement with its audience, it needs to consider the value that the content will deliver. Looking at it from the user’s perspective – what’s in it for them to participate and be engaged?

If the content has high value, then not only will the recipients be more likely to engage with it, but they will also be more likely to engage in conversations with the brand, compelling them to pass along the content to their friends because it has social currency.

Value can come in the form of entertainment, information, or utility.

Entertainment includes things that bring users pure delight and can come in the form of music, videos, humour, and games. Most Internet memes stem from frivolous content that provides humour, silly and frivolous entertainment that users can associate and appreciate. Value could also come in the form of content that employs gaming mechanics (an actual game or game-based interactions) that requires active participation and engagement, resulting in fun and competitive entertainment. An example of this is with men vs. women in the Trivial Pursuit experiment.

Information contains things that are emotionally useful to users such as knowledge, gossip, fame, or exclusivity. An example of knowledge as valuable content is information that is developed or curated and provides thought leadership. These are usually produced in various formats such as videos, slideshare presentations, and blog posts. Opportunities to gain fame or exclusivity are also extremely compelling value-drivers if you look at the popularity of reality shows around the world.

Utility covers value that is functionally useful and includes monetary rewards such as prizes, vouchers, and free trials as well as utilitarian applications that can make life easier, help users save time, or enable them to perform certain valuable tasks. Value is also provided by connecting participants as members of a shared community in mutually beneficial ways. One great example of this is Nike +.

2. Story-ability

Ever since the dawn of time, storytelling has been one of the primary ways humans have communicated. Humans crave stories and technology constantly advances the art of story telling that helps marketers connect. Value is created through ongoing narratives that educates, inspires, informs, and connects consumers, participants, and members of the brand community.

In order to tell a compelling story, brands must have and provide a unique point of view that users can draw an affiliation with. The point of view is formed from the brand’s unique purpose within the digital landscape and how that point of view comes together to provide value and association with what consumers need and crave for.

Puma created that connection with “after hours” athletes by paying homage to the champions of late night games from foosball to beer pong, night golf, and even the highest number of karaoke hits one can belt out within an hour via its branded community Puma Social. If 5 a.m. cab rides are more your style than 5 a.m. runs, then this platform for fans of old school diversions to come together and share in social exchange and friendly competition was tailor-made for you.

Sometimes, stories can be used to build digital movements where brands come together with consumers to rally behind a cause that is fuelled and amplified by the use of technology and social media. Pepsi Refresh is one such movement where a brand and its consumers band together to try to make the world a better place.

3. Co-creation

Not all content that comes from the brand needs to be created from within the organisation. Brands need to involve consumers in the act of creating content and conversations. Value is established through the collaborative efforts of participants who share, curate, and edit each other’s (and sometimes the brand’s) efforts. Good examples are Burberry’s Art of the Trench and Vitamin Water’s Flavor Creator.

The ultimate proof of social currency is when your content is remixed and or parodied as it happened with Cadbury’s Gorilla and Old Spice Guy.

Maybe the secrets to creating something that will go viral lies in Jennifer Aniston’s viral video for Smartwater that parodies a bunch of Internet memes including dancing babies, kicking a random guy in the groin, and being aptly named the “Jen Aniston sex tape”.

For marketers who need a viral cookbook, the above three key ingredients will provide a good framework to help you create more buzz than an entire swarm of bees put together for the next campaign and beyond.

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Coke & Happiness

2011-07-04T16:27:00.001+08:00

Why Coke is such an awesome brand. One great point of view. One single message. Happiness.

The happiness that a drink of Coke provides. Happiness that is timeless; that always resonates with people. What happiness is, means, or looks like may change, but the emotion remains relevant.

In this series, Happiness is about turning the negative into positive. Great ad.

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Twitter Job Hustle

2011-07-04T10:26:00.001+08:00

Ingenious way to get noticed and hired via Twitter.

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The Idea

2011-07-02T20:52:00.001+08:00

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Renault: The electric life

2011-06-28T09:58:00.001+08:00

Nice point of view from Renault on their electric cars. We've mentally tuned out the fact that most of the things we interact with and use daily are powered by electricity. So why not our cars? Instead of just telling people they should switch, they come to the conclusion themselves. That's what great storytelling does.

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Volkswagen Linkeduit

2011-06-15T16:29:00.001+08:00

First interesting social campaign I've seen on Linkedin and a great use of the Linkedin API.

LinkedUit uses the LinkedIn API to create a Top Trumps type game where players compete against other LinkedIn contacts with LinkedIn data (such as number of connections, current position, work experience) used for scoring.

This is a great video that shows LinkedUit in action. You can visit the site here: http://www.linkeduit.nl

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Gaming can make a better world

2011-06-08T00:00:00.001+08:00

A great TED Talk about how we can use gamification to help make the world a better place. All the key elements of building behaviors through pervasive game play and game mechanics are weaved together nicely into a story as told by Jane McGonigal from the Institute for the Future.

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Interactive Youtube Music Machine

2011-06-02T11:01:00.001+08:00

This was submitted as part of the YouTube Cannes Young Lions 48 Hour Ad contest. Great idea and use of the number keys to skip to sections of the video and a great tie in with the campaign objective.

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Westpac Impulse Saver

2011-05-27T15:04:00.001+08:00

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The Best Excuse Ever

2011-05-27T01:49:00.001+08:00

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Death Can Catch You Anywhere, Anytime

2011-05-26T01:08:00.001+08:00

IF I DIE is a unique Facebook app that enables people to leave a message that will leave a message that will only be published after they die. To get the word out on this unique service (since nobody thinks they will die anytime soon), the agency involved used APIs from popular location based services such as Foursquare and combined with Twitter searches for "Facebook Places" to track thousands of check-ins worldwide. With this information, they knew where someone was in real time and could communicate the message to the person in context to his/her location (the message being "Death can catch you anywhere, anytime, even at [Your current location]). A morbid but interesting execution which I think can be used in spirit for some pretty interesting brand campaigns leveraging on people's real time locations.

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Donate A Word

2011-05-24T18:33:00.001+08:00

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Pepsi Social Vending

2011-05-23T13:34:00.001+08:00

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Fiat Street Evo

2011-05-23T13:32:00.001+08:00

Love this idea of turning street signs into QR codes that each sell a feature of the new Fiat Punto Evo and leveraging on a piece of technology to create a more engaging experience to what could have possibly been just a car catalog

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The Real Cost of Social Media

2011-05-22T23:38:00.001+08:00

A great infographic, especially for client side marketers to understand the true cost of leveraging on Social Media. Yes most social media tools are free, but social media marketing takes a lot of effort and resources to do well.

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Volkswagen Scirocco Cup Augmented Reality Advergame

2011-05-21T23:34:00.001+08:00

This is a little dated (from last year) but a great example of leveraging on technology (Augmented Reality) to deliver an immersive experience.

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Axe Multiple Girlfriends App

2011-05-20T13:11:00.001+08:00

I like that this is a really simple app delivered based on an interesting consumer insight that generated enough social currency (buzz, viral lift or whatever else you want to call it) to spread through people's social networks via Facebook.

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Tsingtao Beer - Strangest Beer Culture

2011-05-11T01:37:00.001+08:00

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The Lynx Stream

2011-05-09T13:59:00.001+08:00

Ever been too drunk after a night out to remember what happened? Introducing The Lynx Stream; an app that captures and records unforgettable nights out.

The Lynx Stream collects every video, picture, text, tweet, check-in and status update a group of friends makes to produce an automatic Stream of the night and highlight video, which can be watched and shared online

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Reebok The Promise Keeper

2011-04-15T11:12:00.001+08:00

Reebok is venturing into the app and utility market for running shoes, trying to expand it beyond sports but into consumer lifestyles like Nike+ (the clear leader and a classic case study for building branded platforms) and Adidas miCoach.

The Promise Keeper will ensure that you make your runs as scheduled. The idea is that by keeping your friends all over the web aware of your running plans, you'll have no choice but to get yourself up off the couch and out of the door.

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The Hectic Schedule of a Social Media Manager

2011-04-14T13:25:00.001+08:00

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Viral Videos

2011-04-13T16:16:00.001+08:00

How's this for a viral video? It has all the ingredients of fun, entertainment and exaggeration. It doesn't even matter that it's not real.

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Hyundai Accent 3D projection mapping

2011-04-10T02:34:00.001+08:00

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Google Goggles vs Sudoku

2011-03-31T14:41:00.001+08:00

In case you didn't know this, you can now solve all your Sudoku puzzles via your mobile using Google Goggles.

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First iPad 2 Augmented Reality Application

2011-03-18T00:14:00.001+08:00

This will open up a whole lot of Augmented Reality opportunities for brands

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Lynx Excite Angel Ambush London Victoria

2011-03-16T10:10:00.001+08:00

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Mercedes Benz - Transparent Walls

2011-03-11T10:47:00.001+08:00

Mercedes have developed a new "pre-safe" feature where dangers are identified by the car at an early stage, which then automatically takes counter measures to avert them.

Rather than just tell consumers about the new feature, they created an interactive installation to demonstrate it:

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How to make a video go viral

2011-03-08T13:00:00.001+08:00

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Building Sustainable Campaigns Through Platforms

2011-03-06T21:36:00.001+08:00

aditionally, agencies have always been rooted in developing campaigns for their clients. This form of classic advertising creates episode-like outbound messages across all channels. With the advent of digital, this same way of working has been extended online.

Platforms vs. Campaigns

Agencies would build individual campaigns that usually result in the creation of a campaign microsite and the deployment of online media to drive traffic to that site.

However, this form of individual campaign experience requires constant traffic driving and has no long-term benefit. Campaigns are short-lived and usually extend the delivery of the brand promise to the digital space and ends after a certain period of time. They follow an up and down cycle. As soon as the campaign has finished and the online media has run its course, the audience dissipates.

What the evolving digital landscape now allows us to do is create a brand platform experience. This arises from the fact that digital creates many unexpected connections between people, technology, and brands and has the power to go beyond the category and shape conversations in society.

Platforms are revolutionising the way brands market to their customers. They are built to last and grow over time; while campaigns are short-lived, platforms are evergreen.

A digital platform is based on utility and provides something that the consumer and audience will feel like using again and again. The best and most pervasive platforms become part of the audience’s lives. Even after the media spend ends, the money and energy invested in campaigns pay off in ongoing participation with that platform.

A great example of a platform is Nike+. Nike+ stems from the Nike+iPod sports kit that is embedded into your shoe, which communicates with your iPod or iPhone device and is able to store information about your runs such as distance, pace, and calories burned.

On the digital front, this is centered on an online platform (nikeplus.com) that gives users the ability to analyse their running data, set goals, track their progress, connect with fellow runners, and participate in group challenges.

Think about it, Nike+ has literally reinvented running – from a traditionally solitary activity to something both fun and social. Digital platforms have the ability to not just change customer perceptions and get them to engage with the brand; it can even compel them to change their behaviours and get them to start running and staying healthy.

Platforms are digital destinations that encourage ongoing engagement. They are more like services and tools vs. your usual information-driven campaign microsite.

Platforms + Campaigns

Even a platform rich with information is no good unless people know it’s there. That’s where campaigns come in.

Nike has showed with its activation campaigns the power and synergies of platforms and campaigns when you run them together.

Platform-centric campaigns such as the Nike Human Race, Men vs. Women, and Nike City10K Singapore vs. Kuala Lumpur all feed and build equity on the Nike+ platform, allowing the audience to participate in social challenges that help them get fit.

These campaigns don’t just drive brand awareness; they activate the existing platform community and provide new value to them. Additionally, they drive new membership and as they develop reach and frequency over time, create long-term value for the brand in the form of an owned media channel of customers and advocates.

Building a destination that gives people a reason to return and creating seasonal messages to remind them to do so is what creates great synergy between platforms and campaigns.

How Do We Create Platforms?

In this day and age, good digital planning revolves around platform ideas and not just (digital) channel tactics. Great platform ideas have the ability to change audience behaviours. This then becomes an own-able behaviour that brands can have, and with such branded behaviour, the audience literally becomes your ads.

Instead of looking at insights and then trying to plan a campaign around customer behaviours, platform ideas allow brands to decide how they want to shape that behaviour.

Platforms are rooted in communities and communities succeed if they solve a need, share an interest/passion, and connect people with those they care about.

The platform has to create value for its audience and this can be in the form of information, entertainment, or a utility. The platform should offer multiple levels of involvement, from creating and commenting to consuming content. In addition, the content provided should be curated by both the brand and its members so that the audience has new ways of discovering content.

In turn, a platform should provide brands with:

A marketing/owned media channel
Relevant content (via co-creation and crowdsourcing) that attracts people within the category
A place for applications and services to be built on
A place for consumers to talk to each other and to the brand

Platform ideas often do not fit into the client mould because of the long-term commitments. They are difficult to build and require a large commitment in terms of resources and budgets.

A key challenge for agencies to be able to deliver platform ideas is to have a connection with clients in top management. As we all know, many great ideas have been killed at a junior level before it even reaches upper management. This is especially important for platform ideas because it often requires a paradigm shift and will need the influence and buy-in of the company CEO.

The output of advertising has to change along with the changing digital landscape.

With platforms, a brand can reach its customers through meaningful personal experiences, two-way communication, and innovative technology.

Digital platforms unfold as they go, with the ability to build long-term communities over an indefinite period of time. When executed correctly, they provide scalable growth and the basis for long-term relationships and an in-depth interaction and connection between the consumer and the brand.

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Volkswagen - Fox at Planeta Terra

2011-03-04T00:36:00.001+08:00

Interesting campaign by VW Brazil using Twitter and hashtags to drive awareness and interest to youngsters that their trendy car, The Fox would be at the biggest music festival in Brazil; The Planeta Terra Festival.

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M&Ms Spaceheroes electro

2011-02-28T16:02:00.001+08:00

This M&M's online execution in Denmark using javascript apps launched from a page bookmark is an interesting way to deliver engaging experiences literally
anywhere on the web.

Simply go to http://www.m-ms.dk/spaceheroes/ to get the bookmarklet; drag it to your browser's bookmark bar and you're good to go.
Proceed to any website you like; click on the bookmark link on your browser and it launches the game on that site.

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Thank you A 1,000,000 Times

2011-02-25T12:20:00.001+08:00

Porsche could have posted a simple status update to thank its 1 million Facebook fans. Instead, they decided to add the names of its 1 million Facebook fans onto a 911 GTR 3 R Hybrid and display it in the Porsche Museum.

Want to find out where your name is? Check out this microsite: http://www.porsche.com/microsite/facebook/international.aspx

Simply an awesome way of showing appreciation to your fans.

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Coca-Cola Happiness Store

2011-02-25T01:18:00.001+08:00

A convenience store is converted into a happiness store, delivering "doses" of happiness to unsuspecting shoppers. Where will happiness strike next?

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The Speed Camera Lottery - The Fun Theory

2011-02-12T20:43:00.001+08:00

Great campaign by VW - Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do? Can fun really change human behavior?

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Love / Hate: The Advertising Relationships

2011-02-12T20:36:00.001+08:00

Great video on the dichotomy of advertising. You love it as much as you hate it. That's why you still do it.

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How to make work-life balance work

2011-02-08T14:48:00.001+08:00

Possibly one of the best and most relevant TED talks I've seen.

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Virtual holiday dinner 2010

2011-02-07T23:28:00.001+08:00

Great X'mas idea by W+K Amsterdam

Over three days 156 people from 6 continents gathered to have a holiday dinner together, screen to screen. From families separated to strangers meeting for the first time, they all toasted to this season of togetherness.

A little thing called facial tracking software allowed the people calling in via Skype to move their dolls by simply moving their faces; making it as realistic as virtually possible.

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PETA Campaign Against Animal Cruelty

2011-02-02T12:16:00.001+08:00

Interesting execution by McCann Singapore for PETA using Stickybits (the iPhone App) to bring a bit of interactivity to their outdoor ads.

The ads shows a range of leather goods on OOH mediums that are selling at huge discounts.

When users scan the barcode provided to find out the "sale" price using the Stickybits app, they are directed to videos staring celebrities (who support the PETA cause) illustrating how animals are exploited/killed to fashion these products.

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Google Demo Slam - Skydiving

2011-02-01T00:59:00.001+08:00

Love this!

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Xbox 360 TVC

2011-01-28T01:41:00.001+08:00

An old TV commercial that never got screened. But a really awesome one from Sony Xbox 360

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Rockem Sockem - The Augmented Reality Version

2011-01-25T16:10:00.001+08:00

This is ultra cool - Mattel and Qualcomm have joined together to bring the Rock Em' Sock Em' game to life in a whole new way with Augmented Reality.

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RUN Fwd: - THE GLOBAL EKIDEN RELAY

2011-01-25T00:05:00.001+08:00

Nike RUN Fwd is the latest campaign that rides on the Nike+ platform. Taking a queue from the ancient Japanese sport of Ekiden, a popular winter relay whereby teams run over long distances and hand over leadership with the exchange of a sash, Nikhe Run Fwd is a team relay that encourage users to form teams to run in a relay.

Another brilliant campaign that leverages on teams (along with Men vs Women and Nike City 10K Singapore vs Kuala Lumpur) by Nike that is sure to engage existing members and drive new users to the Nike+ platform

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