European fashion house Louis Vuitton has been accused of promoting prostitution after its models, including Cara Delevingne and Georgia Jagger, daughter of legendary Rolling Stones rocker Mick, stroll about the Paris streets.
“It is an extremely shocking representation of women,” says Dominique Attias, a leading lawyer who signed a letter in the left-wing daily Liberation.
Politicians, intellectuals and feminists have all attacked Louis Vuitton for using advertising to promote a form of prostitution chic, leaving US fashion mogul Marc Jacobs, the artistic director at Louis Vuitton to explain the motives.
Other signatories included Chantal Jouanno, a former centre-right minister, Laurence Rossignol, a Socialist senator, and the Scelles Foundation Against Sexual Exploitation.
An accusation that Louis Vuitton has “portrayed women’s bodies as an object and prostitution as something that is playful and enjoyable” has also been thrown by Attias.
“This is very damaging because we are trying to fight the idea, to which some young women in France subscribe, that prostitution is banal and just a way of getting money to buy clothes,” she says.
While Louis Vuitton state that they never authorised the video, with it instead being made for Love, the British fashion magazine edited by Katie Grand, a stylist and a consultant for Louis Vuitton, further spotlight has come on the brand after it was revealed that Jacobs stars as a pornography baron in the R-rated feature film Disconnect.
The letter in Liberation suggests that the fashion industry as a whole is seeking to make prostitution appear glamorous.
“What indecency, what ignorance, what indifference to play with the fantasy of chic pornography: the social condition of the immense majority of people who prostitute themselves is in no way enviable, and in no way happy,” it states.
Time spent watching broadcast TV dropped noticeably in quarter four of last year, however rapidly-increasing tablet penetration in homes is not a suspect behind the downturn.
Now in 27% of Australian households, tablets were found to be supplementary to ‘traditional’ television viewing, which dropped by about 10% quarter on quarter and 3.5% year on year to an average of 91 hours and 5 minutes per month.
Nielsen, OzTAM and Regional TAM’s ‘Australian Multi-Screen Report’ and a separate tablet study found only 2% of new iPad users watch TV programs broadcast on either free-to-air or subscription television networks via the tablet devices. Other screens, including smartphones and PCs, also fail to put a major dent in the dominance of the ‘big screen’ with the television set accounting for 93% of all video content viewing.
The additional tablet study, which tracked the introduction of tablets into 30 households over 12 weeks during the second half of 2012, suggests tablets quickly entrench themselves in Australian homes when purchased, CEO of OzTAM, Doug Peiffer, says. “Their role is complementary rather than rival to TV, which remains remarkably resilient in an era of extraordinary consumer choice.”
The tablet is most commonly used to consume TV content if a program is missed on TV for reasons of convenience and portability. Around a quarter of users claim to use the tablet to watch any kind of video content in a month.
People meters attached to TV sets of participants in the special tablet study show, after an initial exploratory period, household TV screen use returns to normal, with viewing of live TV in some cases rising. Both before and after receiving tablets, 100% of study participants said the conventional TV screen was their preferred and primary device for watching TV.
However, TV playback viewing activity via PVRs was slow to recover during weekdays, suggesting the presence of tablets is influencing the days people do their catch-up viewing, with PVR use reducing and consigned to weekends.
The lion’s share of TV viewership remains live, with 93% of content consumed during broadcast slots and playback accounting for only 7% or 6 hours and 30 minutes per month.
Average daily time spent viewing television has been consistent over the past ten years, even as technology and entertainment choice causes audiences to splinter across screens. Across calendar 2012, Australians watched an average of 3 hours and 11 minutes of TV a day, compared to an average of 3 hours 18 minutes in 2003.
The combination of extended screens (PC and mobile phone, tablet time not tracked) for used for watching any video content accounts for 7% of video consumption on traditional TV sets. More than 11.1 million Australians watch video content online via a PC or laptop, for an average of 5 hours and 54 minutes per month. Such viewing is highest among people aged 18 to 24 years at 11 hours and 36 minutes.
Smartphone owners spend an average of 1 hour 20 minutes watching any video on the device each month.
Tablets are the device most likely to be used simultaneously to TV viewership, with 43% of people claiming to have done so at least once a month. On smartphones 40% were multi-tasking in concert with watching TV while 24% used laptops while watching the box.
Simultaneous tablet use is predominantly for activities unrelated to the TV program or advertising being watched, the most popular being messaging, shopping research and access of other entertainment content. Only one in three view content related to the TV program or advertising.
Technology in Australian homes is reaching new heights, the study also found. Digital TV is now practically universal, present among 98% of homes while household internet penetration is stable at 79%, with an average of 50 hours and 42 minutes spent online per month.
Internet-connected TVs can be found in 20% of homes, just behind tablets which are present in 27% of households after strong growth of 12% throughout the year.
Traditional broadcast television, however, still commands the most wide-reaching daily audience, hitting more than three quarters of the population every day.
Australia’s entertainment industry recorded $1.161 billion of retail sales in 2012, boosted by mobile gaming sales from smartphone and tablet users.
Australia’s Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) announced the figures today, which include revenue gained from console hardware, games software and gaming peripherals sold through retail outlets.
Despite a drop of 23% on 2011′s numbers according to market researchers NPD Group Australia, iGEA CEO Ron Curry states the data fails to include the increasingly popular mobile and digital gaming space.
“As Australians consume video games across a broader range of mediums, it’s becoming harder to get a true indication of the value of the industry via a single source. While there is a decline in traditional sales, the gaming industry as a whole remains buoyant as people shift towards a ‘hybrid’ model in their consumption of interactive entertainment,” Curry says.
Technology analyst firm Telsyte believes the digital and mobile gaming sphere will see an 18% increase in 2013 on the estimated $620 million generated in 2012.
“The growth in digital gaming is driven by mobile app gaming on smartphones and tablets, which is offsetting the decline in physical purchases and even pushing the overall games market into growth,” senior research manager for Telsyte, Sam Yip, says.
The continued hype surrounding the next-generation of Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox consoles is seen as a contributing factor to the retail revenue decline, which began in 2005 ahead of the release of the current console gaming systems.
Mobile advertising has experienced rapid change in the past six months as publishers respond to the burgeoning use of devices among most smartphone adopters, half of which claim they’re comfortable with mobile ads.
Mobile ad network InMobi’s mobile media consumption study found 54% of mobile users are as comfortable with mobile advertising as they are with TV or online advertising, while only 22% find them intrusive.
The high level of acceptance on what is a highly-personal device comes as good news for the industry and is evidence that improvements made to ad units over the past six months are keeping annoyance at commercial interruptions at bay, according to InMobi’s head of marketing, Marc Fine.
“Mobile ad units are evolving quite rapidly,” Fine says. “The competitive nature of the environment means there isn’t a publisher that isn’t putting user experience upfront.”
The majority of InMobi’s inventory is now between screen ads or ‘interstitials’, such as a unit shown between pages or between levels in a game, whereas at the start of the year more bottom of the page and interruptive ad units existed.
“We’ve definitely seen a shift in the past six months to ad units that don’t take away from the navigating experience or the user experience,” Fine believes, pointing to healthier click-through and engagement rates as a result.
The improvements to ad units comes as smartphone use continues to reach even deeper into the downtime of even late adopters of the technology, allowing publishers to capitalise on the use of the device as a companion to a range of experiences.
Of the 7.5 hours of media time each day, mobile accounts for 100 minutes, more than the 93 minutes spent online via desktop. Since the study was last conducted in February 2012, 50% more of the Australian population is using a mobile to alleviate boredom during downtimes or as a companion.
Most commonly, the smartphone is being used while ‘waiting for something’, a behaviour used by 86% of owners, up from 43% since February. Three in four now use their devices in bed, up from 30%, 66% while watching TV, up from just 36%, 64% while commuting and 48% while shopping.
User are becoming so addicted to the always-on appeal that many are also using in the bathroom, while spending time with family and in a meeting or class.
Nine in ten claim to have noticed ads while partaking in these activities, with in-app ads the most recalled, among 63% of the sample, followed by search ads and ads on retailers websites, recalled by 41% and 29% respectively.
The impact of mobile ads on purchase decision is also growing, according to InMobi. As offline media consumption, particularly print media, decline, the perceived influence of advertising in the digital environment is up.
Respondents to the research are growing increasingly likely to rate mobile as an influence on their purchasing decision, with 27% of this opinion, compared to 24% in February. The perceived influence of radio and outdoor was also up, while the impact of print and TV is believed to have dropped.
For Fine, this self-reported data tells of an increase in the efficacy of mobile advertising, but also highlights the importance of an omni-channel marketing approach. “Where mobile works the best is when it runs in conjunction with tv or radio, or outdoor… It’s that amplification of channels and the integration of messaging across multiple channels as to where you see the best results.
“That’s a trend that we’re going to see next year: it’s not about running campaigns in silos, it’s about cross-media amplification and how mobile can mobile can support and complement traditional channels like outdoor, TV and radio.”
A new campaign for the Cancer Council of NSW takes a serious men’s health message and implants it into a comical viral video in a bid to get through to hard-to-reach men.
‘Shit mates don’t say’, created by agencies Cicul8 and Projucer, puts a new twist on the ‘Shit girls say’ YouTube skit, promoting the idea that it’s what’s not being said that’s the problem when it comes to men and cancer.
Research from the Cancer Council shows that men are 84% more likely to die from cancer than women, with lifestyle factors and a general unwillingness to discuss health problems major factors.
Associate professor David Smith from Cancer Council NSW says the campaign is the first male-focussed campaign the Council has launched. “We’re talking to men in a language they understand… It’s about getting them to talk about the issues, think about their health and getting them to start the conversation.”
The video is compilation of a bloke saying out-of-the-ordinary things to his mate, including complementing him on his flow at the urinal, swearing off red meat and expressing his love for organic food, moisturiser, Prius cars, almond milk and zumba.
It closes with the line, “Your mates don’t say shit like this. But a healthy talk could be the first step in preventing cancer.”
To leverage the past success of the ‘shit-people-say’ memes, a consumer-generated feel was a crucial part of the creative, according to creative producer and co-founder of Projucer, Joshua Capelin.
“The piece was deliberately not over produced, including limited post production so as to appear citizen made, thereby increasing the authenticity of the message,” Capelin says.
To deliver the hard-to-convey health message to men in a positive light, it was important to embed it subtly in the execution alongside the pay-off of entertaining content, Capelin adds. “We hope some of the lines are recalled and seep into everyday conversations men have at work and during manly gatherings.”
The campaign is supported by a website that includes health tips and facts on cancer.
The quest for viral content has been lampooned in a hilarious parody video which pokes funs at the obsession for clicks, likes and views that exists in some circles of the marketing fraternity.
The video about viral videos, created to go viral by agency john st. introduces the world to Buyral, a service where you can buy views for videos, just like it’s possible to buy likes for Facebook pages.
“Want to make content that’s guaranteed to go viral? With new service Buyral it’s guaranteed!” the voiceover promises.
Rooms full of mouse-clicking drones click on videos non-stop to raise their view counts, and the service even provides innovative click outsourcing through nursing homes, schools and ‘clicktern’ programs.
What will this fantastic service cost? One million views can be purchased for just $29.99, while five million views is on sale for $32.99 for a limited time only, according to Buyral’s website.
Because millions of views result in millions of sales, right?
Viewership of broadcast television remained steady in the second quarter of 2012, with the average viewer watching 100 hours per month, a point it has hovered around for the past year.
The findings, from Nielsen and OzTAM’s ‘Australian Multi-Screen Report’, show that 95% of all video content is accessed through the traditional television set, despite an increasingly connected audience and increasing flexibility of content options.
Among the 45% of Australians who accessed broadcast or non-broadcast content on PCs, the report estimates an average of three hours and 58 minutes were spent watching video per month. However, this figure does not include current estimates for time spent watching video via smartphones and tablets, which were last collected in quarter four of 2011.
Young Gen Y’s are the most likely to engage in multi-screen behaviour, with people aged 18 to 24 years spending the most time per month (six hours and 25 minutes) of any age group watching video on a PC. They are also the most likely to watch TV via catch up or playback means, with 9.6% engaging in this behaviour.
CEO of OzTAM, Doug Peiffer, says, “Australians love television and are increasingly using new devices to stay in touch with their favourite programs and enjoy video whenever and wherever they wish.”
60% of online Australians aged 16+ multi-task by using their TV screens and computer screens simultaneously, the report also found, indicating that the second screen continues to play a complementary role to TV viewing rather than threatening to replace it.
Broadcasters are seeing the complementary nature of the second screen as an opportunity, with both Channel 7 and Channel 9 releasing social TV apps this year. As of August, Channel 7′s Fango had been downloaded 537,000 times, with over 50,000 polls and more than 90,000 trivia questions answered during the month.
Channel 9 launched its social TV app ‘Jump In’ to coincide with the 2012 London Olympics but is yet to engage in promotion of the app outside of the Games’ period.
Nielsen’s contract to supply metropolitan television audience measurement has been extended by OzTAM until 2017, and the service will be improved to incorporate metrics for viewing across multiple screens, which OzTAM hopes to make available to advertisers later in the year.
OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer says the extension of the contract provides continuity as Nielsen and OzTAM work together to enhance the service. ”This new agreement leverages OzTAM’s substantial investments including the introduction of its time shift viewing service, upgrading all panel homes to the state-of-the-art UNITAM metering system and decisions this year to increase the size of the OzTAM panels.”
OzTAM’s panel will increase from 3035 homes to 3500 homes over the course of the year, taking the number of panel homes to 950 in Sydney, 900 in Melbourne, 650 in Brisbane, 500 in Adelaide and 500 in Perth.
In addition, 10% of OzTAM’s 3500 panel homes will have both their TV sets and their PCs metered for viewing of broadcast TV content.
CEO of Nielsen’s Television Audience Measurement in Australia David Ellem, says, “Television viewing habits are evolving as new technologies create additional opportunities to view and we look forward to working with OzTAM to help Australian media owners, agencies and advertisers understand and leverage these developments in the coming years.”
The new agreement takes effect on 1 January, 2015 and continues through 2017.
The effectiveness of video pre-roll ads on tablets is far superior to its performance on PCs, a study from InMobi and MobExt has found.
With tablet penetration forecast to reach 40% by the end of the year and tablet web usage growing at an unprecedented rate, the study highlights the lean-back nature of users and popular after work consumption occasion as factors delivering a more engaged audience to video ads.
Head of marketing at mobile ad network InMobi, Marc Fine, says advertisers are finding pre-roll video ads on tablets “incredibly effective”, particularly when hyperlinks are embedded into the video for consumers to act on calls to action. “Consumers are much more open and receptive to pre-roll ads on tablets because it is a lean-back experience,” he says. Pre-roll ads on PCs (desktops and laptops), on the other hand, fall prey to lean-forward behaviour which often sees the consumer skip the ad or open another tab while the ad plays.
The key on tablets, Fine says, is to match the ad format to the content type, for example running short rather than long spots preceding short video clips, and getting the context right.
Tablets are most commonly used in the home after 6pm at night, and second screen behaviour among Australians is common with 59% supplementing TV with tablet use. The device is used in equal measure for entertainment and life administration, the study found.
Its strength for delivering rich media content sees 80% of users accessing video content and 78% playing games. News and social media apps are also highly popular among users, opening up opportunities for in-app advertising, which Fine says is also proving highly effective.
With web tablet inventory also starting to flow, predominantly from overseas currently but increasingly from local sources, Fine advises media planners to treat the device as a separate medium rather than lumping it in with digital offers.
“Tablets should be considered as a new device to reach consumers during the evening period when they’re in their lean back mode and more receptive to watching advertising,” Fine adds.
Erfan Djazmi, director at media planner MediaCom, seconds Fine’s sentiments, adding the use of the same creative elements across multiple screens can deliver a strong ‘media multiplier effect’ for brands. “Mobile and tablet are key components to a multi-screen approach particularly as they are commonly consumed in parallel to traditional media channels such as TV,” Djazmi says. Tablets can drive dwindling engagement with traditional TV advertising back up when used as a multi-screen approach, Djazmi adds.
The study also found that the ease of content access on tablets is impacting on the use of offline avenues among its fanbois, with one in three reading hard copy books less, around one in four consumer offline newspaper, magazine or TV content less, and 16% of shopping less in physical stores since buying a tablet.
Around three in five users have made a purchase on their tablet from home with the device at its most powerful during the awareness and buying stages of the purchase cycle, while smartphones are referred to more for research and engaging with user-generated content.
InMobi’s and MobExt’s study into how consumers are using their tablets was conducted between January and April with a sample of over 600 Australians.
Epic brand video alert! Lego has put the story of its origins into a 17-minute animated film of epic proportions.
As the play block and iconic children’s brand celebrates its 80th birthday, it has revealed the fascinating story of its inception. Founded by struggling carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen who suddenly lost his wife to illness, the brand has grown to become the world’s third largest manufacturer of play material.
From dark beginnings, the short film tells the story of how Ole started by making toys for his four sons before making a name for himself as a maker of fine toys. In 1934, the company was named Lego after the Danish phrase ‘leg godt’ which translates to ‘playing well’, which unbeknown to Ole meant ‘I put together’ in Latin, setting the brand’s future in building blocks in stone by pure chance.
Watch the story of Lego’s journey through world wars, out of the ashes of a fire which burnt down its entire factory and drawings and out of wooden blocks into plastics. It’s 17 minutes of your life you’ll never get back, but we think a good investment of your time.
YouTube is encouraging users to link their account with their other Google accounts, a move which would see real names used instead of anonymous monikers and potentially make users think twice before posting negative comments.
The video-sharing site wants users to show their full name and picture by linking to their Google+ account, thereby creating a single Google-wide identity for a more seamless experience. Linked accounts have been part of the YouTube sign on process since March, but existing users who missed out on linking will be prompted with the option of unifying their YouTube personality with their master Google account.
Digital culture news site Mashable speculates that one of the reasons behind the move was to reduce the amount of negative and hurtful comments the YouTube community makes, a characteristic of the platform that Julia Gillard was exposed to after being called “immoral” and as domineering as “Chairman Mao” following her Google+ Hangout last week. At Google’s recent I/O conference a developer said the site would be undergoing some changes to prevent bullying in the comments section, Mashable reports.
Instead of hiding behind a nick name, users with a linked account will go by their real names as displayed on Google+ when commenting on and uploading clips. Users will be able to remove old comments they may not want to associate with publicly, by reviewing their content which also enables editing of old playlists and videos.
“We’re giving you the ability to change how you appear on YouTube, with the option to use your Google+ profile on your YouTube channel,” YouTube writes on its blog. “One Google-wide identity was something that proved popular with new YouTube users when we began offering it in March, so we are now extending it to existing users.”
YouTube now asks users if they want to use their full name when leaving a comment. Users that decline must then choose a reason for doing so, such as ‘my channel is for a product, business or organisation’ or ‘my channel name is well-known’.
“We’ll help you review your YouTube content before your full name starts to display,” YouTube says in a message. “And if you change your mind, you can switch back to your username.”
The change will not be forced upon users. “We realize that using your full name isn’t for everyone. Maybe people know you by your YouTube username. Perhaps you don’t want your name publicly associated with your channel,” YouTube writes.
The prompts will first appear to users in the US, with plans to roll out internationally soon. Brand channels won’t yet have the same option to link Google+ and YouTube, but may be offered the opportunity in the future.
With a week since the Cannes International Festival of Creativity wrapped up, Marketing mag has had time to reflect on what really stood out from the much-hyped Lions awards. The awards break down ad craft into over fifteen categories, drawing out the best of the best from around the globe and highlighting specific elements of the executions that excelled.
Most of the campaigns we’ve chosen to feature in our take on the best 10 from the field won the coveted Grand Prix award in the category they were entered in. In some cases, some of the campaigns won more than a single Grand Prix. With so many to choose from it was a difficult list to compile, and we’re sure you have your personal favourites. Let us know what they are in the comments. Let’s start with our number 10…
10. ‘Repellent Radio’ by Talent São Paulo, Brazil, for Go Outside Magazine
The Grand Prix winner for the Radio category – Brazil’s Talent Sao Paulo for ‘Repellent Radio’ for client Go Outside Magazine – was lauded for its innovative use of a radio frequency to repel mosquitoes. By turning listeners’ radios into mosquito repellent, Publicis Groupe-owned Talent used radio for experiential marketing. During deliberations, jury president Rob McLennan, executive creative director of Network BBDO in South Africa said, “We’re all looking for a piece of work that changes the environment of radio that’s never been done before.”
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9. ‘Hilltop Re-imagined’ by Grow Interactive for Coca-Cola/Google
The winner of the Grand Prix for Mobile re-imagined Coca-Cola’s classic ‘Hilltop’ commercial for a modern audience, in the digital age. Fulfilling the promise of the original ad, it allowed users to connect with strangers by sending a Coke around the globe to an unsuspecting recipient. The ad was available on mobile phone apps in Google’s AdMob network, across iOS and Android devices. Made possible through AdMob rich media ads, coupled with custom-designed vending machines, viewers can truly ‘buy the world a Coke’, with a few taps on their mobile phones. Once the Coke is delivered, recipients are not only treated to the generosity of a stranger thousands of miles away, but they can also say ‘thanks’ by sending a message of their own back to the user. That message is delivered to the user’s inbox where they can read the note and view a video clip of the recipient’s surprised reaction upon getting a free Coke.
8. ‘Help I Want to Save a Life’ by Droga5, New York, for Help Remedies
By making marrow registration a part of an everyday act, and a part of a mass-produced consumer product, Help Remedies reached a huge, new audience and reinvented the way marrow registration is done. The campaign set out to recruit thousands of new donors by making the process incredibly simple. It allowed people to donate when they were already bleeding, by furnishing them with a simple marrow registry kit into a box of over-the-counter bandages. Since its launch ‘Help I want to save a life’ has been seen by over 50 million people. Help’s bandage sales have increased by 1900% and the number of marrow donor registrations has tripled.
7. ‘Unhate’ by Fabrica Treviso, Italy, for United Colors of Benetton
The modern miracle of Photoshop was at display in full force in this cheeky press execution. The ads featured world leaders, generally taken to be at odds with each other, locking lips. Three versions were submitted – USA and Venezuela, Palestine and Israel, and Germany and France. The campaign won the Grand Prix in the Press category.
6. ‘The Invisible Drive’ by Jung von Matt, Hamburg, for Daimler, Mercedes Benz B-Class F-CELL
One of two Grand Prix winners in the Outdoor category was a campaign for the Mercedes-Benz F-CELL – the first hydrogen-powered car. To draw attention to this innovation the German agency made people experience F-CELL the same way the environment does – like it doesn’t even exist. A B-Class F-CELL was disguised with mats made out of LEDs on one side and a camera on the other side of the car so that projected what was happening behind the vehicle thereby making it invisible.
5. ‘The Solar Annual Report 2011′ by Serviceplan Munich for Austria Solar
The Grand Prix in the Design category went to Serviceplan Munich’s ‘The Solar Annual Report 2011’ for Austria Solar, which was printed on paper to only be visible under sunlight. The design company use environmentally friendly photo-chromatic colours in just the right amount so you could not see anything without UV exposure. The brief was to develop a remarkable medium, which had to portray Austria Solar as a consistently innovative inter-trade organisation of the Austrian solar industry.
4. ‘Small Business Gets an Official Day’ by Crispin Porter + Bogusky for American Express
This campaign from hot shop Crispin Porter + Bogusky won two Grand Prix awards, scoring top of the class in the Direct and Promo & Activations categories. Originally released in 2010, the campaign saw American Express create ‘Small Business Saturday’, a new shopping day right after Black Friday, to help small businesses entice more customers. The challenge in 2011 was to cement its place as an official shopping day in the US, and drive solid business outcomes to America’s independent, brick-and-mortar retailers. American Express built a marketing campaign that communicated the importance of small businesses, while driving home a call to action for consumers and small businesses at the local level. Consumers were asked to shop, and small businesses were provided with the tools they needed to get the word out to their customers.
The campaign sought to create a community, and drive demand for goods and services at small, independently owned businesses. In the end, 103 million Americans shopped small including President Obama, who took his daughters on a shopping trip to a bookstore in Washington, DC. The US Senate even declared Small Business Saturday an official day. In just its second year, it had become a permanent fixture on the holiday shopping calendar.
3. ‘Share a Coke’ by Ogilvy & Mather Sydney for Coca-Cola
‘Share a Coke’ narrowly missed out on a Grand Prix gong, but picked up multiple gold, silver and bronze Lions during the awards. With the campaign Coke wanted to adapt to the changing digital environment and needed a campaign that would encourage people to connect with the brand both online and offline. So in Summer 2011, Coca-Cola wanted a big idea to combat the competition and get Australians to sit up and notice Coke. A campaign was needed that would make a big splash and disrupt and excite Australians. The execution chosen saw people’s names printed on Coke bottles and the infamous Coke billboard in Sydney’s King’s Cross as well as many other integrated uses of the personalisation tactic.
This experiential campaign saw innovation come to the fore with R/GA designing the user experience for a new Nike product – Fuelband. The highly-lauded product and campaign won the Cyber Grand Prix and a Titanium Grand Prix (recognising break-through innovation) in the Titanium & Integrated category.
Fuelband is a device that tracks your daily activity using a common, universal metric called Fuel for every active body out there. In designing the user experience R/GA ensured ease of use: set your goal, and get from red to green and animations to cheer you on when you reach a goal. Data visualisations show where you were most active daily, weekly, monthly, and beyond. Bluetooth synch technology wireless syncs your Fuel to the platform so when you finish your day the statistics are automatically updated.
1. ‘Cultivate’ by Creative Artists Agency for Chipotle
This campaign for American fast food brand Chipotle won Grand Prix for both the Branded Content & Entertainment and Film categories. Chipotle wanted to raise awareness of its sustainable and healthy food practices and inspire a broad audience to care about their food. Creative Artists Agency created the platform ‘Cultivate’ invite customers on a ‘food culture’ journey. It launched with an animated short film on the state of the food industry called, ‘Back To The Start’, which depicts the life of a farmer as he slowly turns his family farm into an industrial animal factory before seeing the error of his ways and opting for a more sustainable future. Backed by Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’, performed by country music legend Willie Nelson, the film asked fans to download the track on iTunes, with proceeds going to the Cultivate Foundation and FarmAid.
Distributed using a digital-first strategy, the film first launched on YouTube with no paid media support. The launch was supported with an earned media plan and the social media assets of Chipotle, Willie Nelson and Coldplay to a collective audience of 21 million Facebook fans. Next, the campaign added paid digital while shifting to the big screen with Back To The Start spending eight weeks running on more than 10,000 theatrical screens across the nation. Finally, the campaign ran in its entirety, during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards to an audience of over 40 million viewers. It ignited a conversation in pop culture, with over 5000 relevant mentions across blogs, Twitter, news, forums, Facebook and earned 11,024,870 impressions via Twitter alone. To date, the film has been viewed over six million times on YouTube and earned over 300 million media impressions.
