Super Bowl 2013: The Power Of Real Time Responses

The lights went off at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome during the Super Bowl 2013 game. Play was suspended for 37 minutes in an embarassing rush to figure out what went wrong.

During this time, a bunch of hilarious tweets were pushed out by various brands capitalizing on the moment to show a bit of creativity.

Tide has already adopted the "Newsdesk" approach to social media conversations by establishing a social media listening post with processes in place for rapid responses based on ongoing topics/issues going on in real-time, akin to an actual newsroom. See their amazingly quick response when Tide Powder Detergent was used to clean up the fuel spill during a car crash at a NASCAR race

Tide did it again with this tweet during the Super Bowl blackout.

Oreo did it with this supercool response ad - You can still dunk in the dark.

Audi used it to slam their rivals Mercedes Benz (given the match was held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome)

I have a firm believe that we don't always need the big clunky long drawn ad campaign that have been developed over many months and tested before being shown to the world. In the age of conversations, simple, well designed moments that tap on real time situations can build brands.

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Microsoft Windows 8 Activation

This is an awesome activation campaign by Microsoft in Portugal.

If you want to say "I'm simple to use", don't just say it, show it. In this activation, Microsoft uses children to do Windows 8 product demos. A great way to create an impactful brand experience for customers at point of sale.

I love how Microsoft prioritized the Win 8 messaging which is something many brands within this category find very difficult to do - Which product benefits should I communicate to address consumer barriers, how do I say everything in one piece of communication.

In this case, the Win 8 TV commercial focuses on the communicating that Win 8 is everything (at once) for everyone. However, a key barrier for Win 8 is that it is a paradigm shift from the old Windows experience that everyone has come to know and people are worried if they will be able to adapt and if the new user experience would be too complex.

What better way to solve this by ingeniously asking children to do Windows 8 demos to customers in an effort to prove that the new operating system is easy to understand.

Great moments strengthen the overall brand experience and as Microsoft puts it: "The moment speaks for itself".

 

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Landfill Harmonic

This is an amazing social project done by a truly remarkable group of people in Paraguay: An orchestra that plays instruments out of trash. A truly awe inspiring tale of the things that can be done when people band together against adversity and circumstances to create music and an emotional experience for everyone that watches this.

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Mobile Orchestra

This is a true testament to digital agencies, the ones that make and build things be it for their clients or for themselves. Those that go beyond creating web banners and microsites to actually building applications and physical objects; marrying the disciplines of design, sociology, hardware and software engineering.

Credit to AKQA for this great musical mobile orchestra in their collaboration with the Pacific Chamber Symphony to present Carol Of The Bells this Christmas 2012.

You can try it out with your own mobile devices here

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Face Retirement

Merrill Edge (a self directed online investment arm of Merrill Lynch and part of Bank of Amercia) has launched a really interesting online application that shows you how you would look in the future when you get old to prompt people into starting to save for their retirement.

The application is powered by ModiFace (a Virtual Makeover Technology company) that creates a composite photo of your face revealing wrinkles, spots, saggy skin and all the bells and whistles that come with ageing and being old.

The insight for the app came from a study conducted in 2011 where researchers found that we're often reluctant to save for retirement because deep down, we don't identify with the older person we'll one day be. It was nicely encapsulated into the quote "To people estranged from their future selves. saving is like a choice between spending money today or giving it to a stranger years from now".

Test subjects in the study also underwent a virtual reality simulatin that showed them a computer generated vision of themselves at retirement age and then asked them questions about money. Researchers concluded that those who interacted with their virtual future selves exhibited an increase tendenacy to delay gratification (i.e. save and accept later monetary rewards over immediate ones) and save more.

Try it for yourself here

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The Browser You Love To Hate

Love the new marketing campaign for Internet Explorer 10. Just to be clear, I hate IE. It's given me so many problems in the past and I have switched over to Firefox and Chrome and never moved back; Except when required while doing site and app testing. However, the new campaign for IE 10 is absolutely brilliant.

IE was once the dominant browser and has since fallen from grace by being inflexible and overconfident. The campaign is sparked by a very self aware point of view that progress takes time and humility to get back to the top and comebacks come in many shapes and sizes. Just give the new browser a chance, and you'll be convinced.

It starts off with a nice self depreciating TV commercial where an Internet troll follows news of the launch of IE 10 and sprews hate at every chance possible about the new broswer with a vegence. The message at the end is clear, some progress even a little, is good progress.

Users can also go on to The Browser You Loved To Hate to find out more about why and how IE 10 is in fact mounting a serious comeback.

Microsoft has taken the humble approach in this one and it seems to be working quite well. A promise of something great without the flashy display of the browser and obivious and overzealous user testimonials.

See the full gallery on Posterous

#WellPlayed Microsoft. Well Played indeed.

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Recipeace

Bring peace amongst conflicting people and countries through the universal medium of food. Find out more at recipeaceday.org

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Dumb Ways To Die

An interesting approach to educate people on safety when taking the train (by Metro Trains). After all, it is incredibly silly to die in an accident that was a cause of you doing something stupid that could have been avoided. Check out the campiagn site at dumbwaystodie.com/ and the accompanying music video with a track that can be downloaded on the iTunes store for free.

 

 

 

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Amex Sync with Xbox

In additional to syncing your Amex card with your Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter accounts, you can now do so with your XBox gamer profile and earn card rewards and statement credits while you game

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LG: So Real it’s Scary

A awesome activation by LG wrapped around a great point of view: The New LG IPS Monitors – So real it's scary.

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The Mobile Way Of Life

The mobile phone has changed the way we live our lives. It keeps us constantly connected to people and the flow of information. Here's a quick exploration into this new mobile way of living

 

The Mobile Way Of Life from Vincent Teo

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Debunking Social Media Myths

These are the 5 common social media myths I hear about and I've created this deck to address each one of them

Debunking social media myths from Vincent Teo

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Ring My Bell

Aldo Israel placed a seemingly innocuous sign , with a bell in the middle of a busy street. The sign instructed people to take a pic of their shoes, upload it to Instagram, hashtag #ALDO, add their shoe size and ring the bell.

After ringing the bell, a huge mobile shoe box appeared with a free pair of ALDO shoes inside just for them.

An interesting on-ground activation no doubt that delivers the feel good surprise and delight factor and drives conversations for the brand. I'm wondering if it truly delivers equity to the brand over a longer term and ladders up to something that the brand can own, beyond a one-off tactical stunt.

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Lexus Interactive Video Print Ad

This is really freaking cool but honestly, it feels like something consumers will never ever get to see/try out in real life. As someone posted in the comment section of the video, it's an ad for people looking for ads (and not the car).

Nonetheless, this is really really cool.

 

 

 

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Zappos PinPointing

See the full gallery on Posterous

Zappos , the U.S based online retailer launched a Pinterest based web application takes users' pins and translates them into product recommendations from the e-tailer.

The app works by analyzing pins on a user's board and then providing product recommendations from Zappos based on the pinned image and the accompanying description; mirror a digital personal shopper that produces a wish list of items that this person may like.

Because the app works by simply entering a person's pinterest username, it also becomes a social commerce gifting service which you can use for gift ideas.

Here are my results when I gave it a try. Not exactly a great match but an interesting idea nontheless, similar to Facebook apps that leverage on your social graph and digital footprint to provide customized content to you.

Try it out for yourself here

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Old Spice Muscle Music

Meet Terry Crews (love him in The Expendables), the one man muscle band. This clip is hilariously entertaining and freaking awesome

P.S Clients, this is how to do viral - Unexpectedness, fun and participation

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London 2012: The Most Social Olympics Ever

London 2012 has been touted as the most social Olympics ever. Check out this slideshare presentation by Alex Balfour, Head of New Media, London Olympic Games 2012 which gives a detailed breakdown of the online traffic stats and facts from the official digital channels of the games.

 

 

London 2012.com olympic games digital round up 13 august 2012 from Alex Balfour

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The Poverty Line: What does it mean to be poor?

The Poverty Line is a truly inspirational project by photographer Stefen Chow and economist Lin Hui-Yi that sets out to answer the question "What Does It Mean To Be Poor? using photography and examines the (limited) choices that people face living at the poverty line around the world

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See The Future (A Short Film)

This is awesome short film created by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo as part of their graduation project from the Bezaleal Academy of Arts that gives us a glimpse of the future in a life filled with constant data and a unified digital experience

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The man who gave the world his number

An interesting social experiment  by Jeff Ragsdale, who went through a difficult break-up last year in 2011. He found himself isolated in NYC and in desperation, put his phone number on a flier along with a simple message to anyone who was interesed: "If anyone wants to talk about anything, call me".

The flier was posted all across NYC and garnered overwhelming responses, with tens of thousands of calls across the U.S and the world. Excerpts from all the conversations, text messages and voice mails were subsequently published into a unique book project Jeff, One Lonely Guy with the aim of creating a global, social and ongoing conversation similar to Postsecret

Here's his story as covered by BBC News

 

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