Fiesta Movement Reaps 50K Potential Buyers on $0 Ad Budget

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Ford evangelist Scott Monty's sent us some stats on the progress of Ford's Fiesta Movement, whereby 100 social "agents" drive around the country in Euro-spec Fiestas and complete appealing monthly missions related to volunteerism, adventure, style and design.

The results of the missions are broadcast on YouTube, flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

According to Monty et al., brand awareness for the Fiesta has risen to the equivalent of models that have been on the market for two to three years.

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by Angela Natividad    Oct- 2-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Trends and Culture



BEP Does 'Flashmob'-Esque Thing for Oprah's Season 24

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Black Eyed Peas partnered with Oprah to celebrate the 24th season of her show, which sought to drum up viewership with big kick-off fetes on Michigan Ave.

The pop band sang I Gotta Feeling onstage while a humongous crowd performed a flashmob dance routine on the floor.

We watched with polite interest, having been forced to watch many a flashmob over the past coupla months (especially since the death of MJ), and were left with three as-yet-unanswered questions.

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by Angela Natividad    Oct- 1-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Social, Trends and Culture



Hermes Makes Another Streamlined Sexy Expensive Thing You Can't Have.

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Never mind Birkin bags and pretty scarves. The object at left is a new and insanely luxurious piece of social currency dubbed WHY -- the Wally Hermes Yacht. Outfitted with 900 meters squared of thermophotovoltaic panels (that's their way of saying it's also green), it was designed in partnership with Hermes and a company called Wally, which specializes in futuristic boats and yachts.

The pricey contentment-eating boat porn was dropped into our laps by Wisey, author of The Digestif, who told us that WHY takes Hermes' luxury ethos to a new level: don't just sport your means around your neck or on your arm: LIVE INSIDE IT. Alongside whales or off the coast of Greece!

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by Angela Natividad    Oct- 1-09    
Topic: Brands, Packaging, Trends and Culture, Video



'Generation A' Baits Hook with the Mundane, the Insane, and Shreds of Divine Comedy

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Crush/Toronto, a master at taking a book's soul and turning it into pop art, drew us into the bosom of Douglas Coupland's The Gum Thief in 2007.

This year it's doing the same for Coupland's latest novel, Generation A. The approach is different: more existential, with some Tarantino pulp thrown in.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-25-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Promotions, Trends and Culture, Video



Let's Throw a Bunch of Numbers Around and Pretend They Mean Something

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"A lot of these "facts" are classic examples of how to lie with statistics."

"Brilliant collection of stats, the evidence seems to be compelling. Top sound track to so many thanks to you and Fat Boy Slim for an uplifting five minutes:)"

Had enough social media charts? Not so fast, this is the net--it won't ever run out of those. Welcome to the Social Media Revolution. (Maybe after reviewing it this is why Ad Contrarian is calling it quits for now.) It's ambitious factoids supposedly backed up by a ton of sources, but as with anything 2.0, there's just too many ways to look at data like this and still sound right. Regardless, those two comments pretty much sum up the two opposing camps of this brief look at social networks and internet trends. It's got a Web 2.0 proprietary name though: Socialnomics!

All I'm saying is, credit for not doing the enlarged rotating type thing.

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by Bill Green    Sep- 2-09    
Topic: Social, Trends and Culture



Guy Proposes to Girlfriend with Online 'Engagement' Ad.

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Impressive if a little in-your-face. With help from SheKnows, Deep Focus and VideoEgg, NYC-based creative producer Fred Ehrhard used video banner ads, a Diggable top-10 list and Twitter hashtags to convince his girlfriend to marry him.

In the event that you want to help the stalwart Fred along, use the hashtag #sayyesD to tell Delila, the girl in question, why she should weld her life to his FOREVAH. Handy-dandy twitter search, however, has informed us that she's accepted, so now y'all can stop stressing about the additional work that's been imposed on the hive mind.

Wondering if this is the last we'll hear about Delila and Fred. Probably not. We can see the Caturday headlines now: IM IN UR SOCNETS, ARRANGING UR MARRIAGE!

by Angela Natividad    Aug-31-09    
Topic: Online, Strange, Trends and Culture



Levi's Stops Costumed Volleyball Antics to Honor Sen. Kennedy

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Adrants reader Gareth sent over Levi's tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy. It appeared in the Sunday editions of the Times and the Globe and sports a rambling and whimsical quote from the Sen. ("The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die"), then a message from Levi's itself: "Let us continue his legacy of faith in the people and faith in the work that has yet to be done."

Wordy but loaded with gravity. We like that it remains sparing and casual; apart from the text, a hand-sketched version of the Levi's logo appears over its current tagline: "Go forth," part of a campaign primarily targeted to meatheads at uni.

The ad reminds us of Kenneth Cole's "Different Shoes" campaign, and it's a wonder to us that KC hasn't seized this opportunity to add Kennedy to its list of creative-friendly quotables.

It could just be that we didn't look hard enough though, so if we're wrong, send that bad-boy over.

by Angela Natividad    Aug-31-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Magazine, Newspaper, Trends and Culture



No Worries, Gamer. Time Warner Understands About the Laggage.

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If you've ever played a massive multiplayer online game -- or at least watched that one episode of South Park -- then you're well-versed in the frustrations of laggage.

Lag is when you're in a crucial scenario in the game, but a crappy connection speed leaves your character in a vulnerable position just long enough to compromise you and your team.

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Natural Women Make Comeback, Joy it Forward, Period Propaganda

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- Hey, little girl, feel better about your period.

- Joy it forward. Every time a beverage uses a happiness synonym that's not "happiness" (as in Happiness Factory), you can reasonably conclude you're dealing with Pepsi.

- "People like it, but they won't buy magazines with large women in them." More story here, props to MTLB for the link.

- Zippo makes branded entertainment leap.

- Intern-on-intern music video mayhem.

- Twitter elevator pitch contest. You have until tomorrow to enter and win a Flip!

by Angela Natividad    Aug-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Magazine, Online, Trends and Culture



British PSA Razes Perception About Mental Disorders

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"Schizophrenic Man Terrifies Kids at Party" is a YouTube piece released by English mental health charities Mind and Rethink under their "Time to Change" campaign. We like how it plays on our expectation of crass amateur video fare to illustrate two important messages:

o That people with mental disorders can function in society
o That retaining the stereotype of the off-the-hinge crazy person is counterproductive for everyone involved

It also reminded us that as kids, we were always screamy-scared about stuff we couldn't see, however facile or harmless said "stuff" actually was. And then, lightbulb moment, it was like hey, tripping out about schizophrenia is kind of like that.

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by Angela Natividad    Aug-25-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Good, Online, Trends and Culture, Video