Author Archives: Dan

Idea of the day: On to off to on. But with fire.

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I’m always a fan of things that make a literal link between the digital & real worlds, and this idea from Mini combines this link with everyone’s favourite element.

As we speak, a Mini Countryman is suspended on a stand at the Brussels motor show using a stout-looking rope. By ‘liking’ the Mini page on Facebook, you get one shot of flame to try and burn through the rope, and you can see this play out live. Whoever’s flame finally burns through, wins the car.

What’s nice about this above & beyond the execution is that it is traditionally quite hard to get anyone other than car geeks to care about motorshows, or even realise they are taking place. By using the Brussels show as a backdrop, Mini can serve some new model news from the show to people who wouldn’t otherwise have any time for it.

Video showing how it works below, or log on to Facebook and have a go – although be warned, there’s a bit of a queue..

Idea of the (yester)day: What is more valuable than gold?

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The answer is branded gold.

Not a comms idea, but very interesting from a brand value perspective. The ever-surprising John-Paul Gaultier has released a limited edition of branded one ounce gold ingots, capitalising on the extremely bullish market for the precious metal as the recession continues to outstay its welcome.

The bars carry his distinctive branding, and are on the market for just over $1,800 each. The genius of this is that this price is 10% more than the market value of the metal itself.

The three things I love/hate about this are:

1) It turns investors into consumers – increasing both his target market and his brand reach
2) And the reverse: it turns a luxury item into a (vaguely) sensible investment, turning a flagging market for fripperies on its head
3) It is literally a solid-gold indication of his brand value – if people will pay $100 for a $2 t-shirt with your name on, why not see how far you can stretch?

Idea of the day: Get in the game

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Behold the next generation of interactive video, delivered of course by those miserly, ROI-obsessed accountants over at Nike. Oh no wait.

This is a good example of elevating what is ultimately just another ad into something rather more interesting, simply through the tech employed. Over 100 cameras captured a bizarre scene unfolding as talented basketballist Chris Paul runs rings around everyone – or as Nike would have it, Quick Controls Chaos.

Users can speed up or slow time, move to anywhere on the court, zoom in on particular events (like the police horse or the flammable chef) and learn why they happen – all the while unlocking access to new features and new content.

The teaser is below, but the real action is here at the site – go and have a play.

Not sure the shoes are for me though. Bit showy.

Idea of the day: Anywhere here, cabbie

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OK this is a little past the moment of prime cultural relevance, but I really wanted to share this idea from Coca-Cola / Leo Burnett in Columbia.

Basically a guy dressed as Santa gets in the back of a cab, and starts giving directions about where he wants to go. It gradually becomes apparent that the destination is in fact the cabbie’s own house. Rather than this being a sinister festive car-jacking, Mr Claus then tells the driver he’s got the night off with his family, and Santa will be driving his cab and making him money for the night.

A nice, simple feel-good execution of Coca-Cola’s ‘ownership’ of Xmas which gives them a strong story to amplify.

Here is a video about it in Spanish:

Idea of the day: Book the weather, not the holiday

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The Miami School of Advertising & Virgin Holidays have come up with an interesting way of re-framing the purchase of a holiday.

First of all you input your budget, your point of departure and your preferred weather – this latter in some detail, not just temperature but wind, UV index etc.

Interestingly, you then book the holiday without being told the destination. You finally get to find out where you are going the day before you leave – the only way that Virgin can come close to guaranteeing the weather you’ll get.

OK, it sounds a bit ‘out there’ as a replacement for 2 weeks with the family in Tenerife – but actually as a decision engine for a week or weekend break for people with less responsibilities it could be an interesting option. Even more so if they build cultural choices into the system (music, architecture, museums, etc).

Jerry Lloyd-Williams’ POV on this is that it needs a visible list of possible options before anyone will take the plunge. Perhaps this is the role for social here – demonstrating people’s positive experiences.

Virgin Book by Weather from Otilia Dobrea on Vimeo.