Curated by Stuart Fogarty stuart@admaticallycom for AFAO'Meara Advertising, Streamabout The Video Agency and Admatic Ireland.
All comments will be posted - promise!
Not a big fan of Coke (which is like giving a compliment with one hand and taking it away with the other) because of the high level of sugar which damages kids. There's an average of 11 cubes of sugar in a can of Coke. But I am a big fan of the type of activity that Coke have done to market themselves. Like the surprise of spreading a little happiness on a grey day as the video shows. It's a great little idea. What's more too, is the video production which is super, although I don't know who made it. It gets across the spirit of the day using gentle cutaways of people being happy in an almost 'secret filming' way and yet it tells the story of the greenery being rolled out. Like every good online video, it should have a start, a middle and an end. The music track is ideal and certainly feels "commissioned" rather than stock library music. It builds brilliantly. The reveal of the bottle shape at the end leaves something for the viewer coupled with a lovely end graphic which was not cheap to do, I can tell you. So a great story, well told. And a great story to "share" as I am doing with you, which is the whole point of video. Nearly 60,000 personal up close views, in 2 days. That's real one-to-one marketing. So it's a classic example of online video doing a great job for Coke. Exactly the way video was intended to be used. Little bit of trouble, little bit of thinking and you get something that's viewable and shareable. Good for Coke. Pass it on.
You may know about Piers Morgan, the former newspaper editor now on CNN replacing Larry King. You definitely know about the gun control controversy that still rages in the US.
You may not know that a petition was started to have Piers deported from the US which got 109,000 signatures meaning, under law, it had to be dealt it. But The White House have said he can stay.
Morgan then tweeted "Thanks for keeping me Mr. President, much appreciated".
However, it began a tweeting battle and Mr. Morgan is not exactly shy, giving as good as he got. So much so, he decided to have the petition mastermind, on his show - perhaps thinking it would do some good.
A man called Alex Jones who is also a Texan Broadcaster (The Alex Jones Show ironically) and I think it's fair to say, an advocate of no gun control.
This "interview" went out live - mad idea in itself - but it has gone crazy on Social Media all starting with YouTube. 6 million views already and it's becoming viral as an attempt to influence gun control - by both sides! You have to see it. And it brings up something else about the relevance and usefulness of YouTube. Because it is. A national treasure.
I have to say I thought we should not let the Connecticut Shooting pass. There is a huge amount of online activity and tributes to the victims. In fact it is the news story of the week that has dominated the world's media. It's shocking and it's sickening. So I saw this and thought it was about as fitting a tribute you could get and has gone viral. No harm just to take stock of a world gone mad every now and again. It's the cast of The Voice singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah as the show finished on Monday night. Each singer holds a card bearing the name of each child and their age whom were killed, murdered, last Friday. And it shows the power of online even at times like these.
Almost 30 million views in a week (250,000 likes), greater than the population of the country it came from - Australia. In fact it's an Ad but also a public service announcement and trust me, they're very hard to get right. This, you're going to love. Now tell me a commercial can achieve that amount of views, almost all unique? And at a media cost of eh, zero, nothing, nada. Traditional Broadcasters need to watch out. This is real competition. This commercial, broadcast onYouTube, of course doesn't look like a commercial, but rather a piece of animation with a very original, strong music track made to look like an informational piece. In fact it's an Ad for the railway and again, something I know quite well. I looked after Irish Rail (Ireland's national railways) for many years and helped developed many campaigns including one quite well known called "We're not there yet but we're getting there". I also worked on many safety campaigns for the railway including one called 'Head Height' created by the great John Walsh which won many awards. But this viral for Melbourne Railway, is something special. Called 'Dumb ways to die', it's a real clever way of showing you how to behave around trains and does so in an amusing (listen to the lyrics) and visually entertaining way. Ideal for the kids who notably get themselves killed around railway tracks - so it will save lives. Created by McCanns, the soundtrack is being played at railways stations to remind passengers and railway staff are seeing something they're not used to - smiles. So good for them and good for McCanns and good for Melbourne Railway. They deserve every award going for cracking something as tricky. I know, I couldn't have done it.
You may have seen the Coke "happiness" 2010 on-street campaign where a truck dispensed cans of coke to passers by with something else to cheer them up - a football, flowers etc and filmed their reaction. Kinda' candid-camera but very effective. Now they've done it again for the launch of the James Bond movie 'Skyfall' called 'unlock the 007 in you'. Surprising in that it was in Antwerp in Belgium, the world's second most boring city after Brussels. Apart from giving out free Coke they also sent passers by on a "mission" to get something more - limited edition tickets. The public reactions were filmed and went on YouTube getting 3 million views since Thursday - another viral with 98% 'likes'. As the public went to get their Coke, a violinist played the James Bond theme. As they were given tasks, various obstacles were put in their way. Told, for example, to "go to platform 6", a floor cleaner blocked their way or a girl called them by their name enthusiastically (if you know what I mean). A fruit seller spilt their oranges, or a group of joggers came up the stairs at the same time. You get the idea. It's pretty effective in giving us a smile as well as a video to pass around to friends. Using too, its 53 million Facebook fans, it has an immediate way of spreading the word. By the way, Disney by comparison, has only a paltry 38 million fans on Facebook. The video too, then turns viewers into Facebook fans itself - an additional 400,000 last week alone. So all in all, a good way of using video on YouTube as well as social media. And doing a great job for the brand although I don't like saying it on behalf of a brand like Coke. But fair is fair. It points to interesting ideas online and great promotional ideas as well as avoiding the cliched and done-to-death, flash mob. Please, enough already. Relatively inexpensive too and that adds to the whole concept. Good ideas don't have to cost a fortune and if it brought your brand 400,000 followers a week, how else could you achieve that except online. Engagement.
I'm sorry but I've nothing to add to this. Go full screen (the little squares in the bottom right of the video) and turn up your sound, then play.
There's nothing to say except it's for Coke Latin America produced by Landia. Supertramp Roger Hodgson's song who has tweeted that he loves it.
Like Coke, Hate Coke, it matters not. 2.5 million views, gone viral. And it deserves to be passed on. Update today - has gone to 6m views.
(If you're interested in the way Google has brought Coke into the digital age, there's greatness here http://streamabout.blogspot.ie/2012/03/ad-agencies-have-future-thanks-to.html featuring creative Harvey "I'd like to teach the world to sing" Gabor. Well worth it.)
Every Agency has looked at using security camera video, but never like this. We've looked at using youtube videos, but never like this. We've even tried to look at developing good news, but no, never like this.
Stunning. And this is my shortest blog ever. It's not laziness.
