AdDude's Insights

Well it has been a crazy year since this blog started last August. I was just finishing up University and college and now I am working on the National McDonald’s team at Cossette for almost a year. Time flies! It is so easy to lose track of all the cool stuff that has happened over the year in Advertising, marketing, and technology. So to commemorate this momentous occasion I am going to start an annual tradition: Wait for it…

The Best of Advertising This Year According to Lifson

1. Meet Milo- The Future of Interactivity- http://lifson.com/?p=258
Milo, which uses Project Natal for amazing interaction with an on-screen character is simply incredible. Microsoft makes this a must see!

2. How to Tell Your GF You Aren’t Having Beer With Friends- http://lifson.com/?p=800
The Andes Teletransporter was an incredibly humorous and unique activation that was truly integrated campaign that blended advertising with engaging Impact pieces

3. Esquire Comes Alive- http://lifson.com/?m=20091116
For their December issue, Esquire developed an Augmented Reality cover featuring none other then Robert Downey Jr. Downey introduces the issue and does a brief plug for the Sherlock Holmes movie. Bonus content was accessed and controlled on the Esquire website by installing an app and interacting with the Augmented Reality marker. This was pretty innovative for the print world

4. McDonald’s Burger Debate on Facebook and Up in the Air- http://lifson.com/?p=793
Once again a shameless plug for my team at Cossette, but this was pretty innovative and garnered a lot of press and interaction

5. If Marriage is Hell, Why Spare Homosexuals? http://lifson.com/?p=730
This clever and humorous video featuring Justin Long was created by opponents of California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state in 2008

6. Andre 3000 Brings Everyone Together For Nike- http://lifson.com/?p=738
This one is just cool featuring Kobe Bryant in the company of greats

7. Come For A Quickie- http://lifson.com/?p=720
Tourisme Montreal and Tourism Toronto launched a collaborative marketing effort designed to encourage people from both cities to see what the other has to offer. The campaign plays with the ongoing rivalry between Canada’s biggest cities, taking the Ashley Madison approach to travel and cheekily suggesting it’s OK to “cheat” on your city

8. Apple To Place Ads In OS- http://lifson.com/?m=20091106
This is a no-brainer, yet very smart move for Apple. A possible mechanic to the system would be that users could receive a free operating system upgrade in return for accepting the ads. Logic would also dictate that users would be happier to fill out certain information for the service, and it would ensure extremely targeted ads

9. Cossette and General Mills Add Latin Flare to Online Shows- http://lifson.com/?p=517
Mi Marido, Mi Angel (My Husband, My Angel), was created by Cossette for the Old El Paso brand. Fjord, the agency’s digital division, worked with CTV to have it listed at CTV.ca as a regular show

10. Amazing Anti Aids AD- http://lifson.com/?p=452
“AIDES graffiti” has great animation work against AIDS, promoting the use of condoms from TBWA Paris

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: 2009, 2010, Advertising, Best of, Cossette, Eric Lifson, Fjord, General Mills, Marketing, McDonalds, Microsoft, Newspapers, Nike, Shopping. | #

I’ve always thought that a brand is much more than which cereal or car you buy. You buy something greater than a product or service. With a brand you buy into the experience. I saw an interesting documentary on Hugh Hefner yesterday. He didn’t just create a magazine. He created a brand. He became the brand himself and manifested its philosophy into everything he did.

This brand experience  building is precisely present in the next brilliant ad from Argentina. This beer ad for Andes is a clever piece of creative. It is a full embodiment of the brand and the brand promise (fun with your friends, without any annoyances). Andes put booths called Teletransporters across various bars that create ambient sounds for when your girlfriend calls and you don’t want her to know that you are at the bar with your friends. This, people, is where advertising is heading. Thanks to Kruti (The Krut) for pointing this one out.

1 Comment | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Alcohol, Andes, Andes Beer, Beer, Branding, Creativity, Hugh Hefner, Marketing, Playboy, Strategy. | #

Yep. He just went there! Eminem has just tapped the SlapChop guy to sell his new album. If there’s one person who’s always willing to forgive violence against women, it’s Eminem. So, I suppose it makes sense that Vince “ShamWow Guy” Shlomi would make his comeback in a manufactured-viral promo for the rapper’s new album. You might remember that Shlomi’s meteoric rise to infomercial stardom came to an abrupt halt when he got into a fist fight with a prostitute. Although the charges were dropped, the arrest and subsequent photos made Shlomi a television outcast. Now, he’s back, reliving his glory days in a lame Slap-Chop parody for Eminem’s upcoming release, Recovery. Because if you can’t escape your image as a guy who beats up hookers, you might as well partner with the rapper who pens lyrics like, “Put anthrax on a Tampax and slap you till you can’t stand.” Oh Eminem, if only you could ‘relapse’ into making good music and not lame gimmicks!

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertainment, Advertising, Eminem, Gimicks, Infomercials, Marketing, Music, Recovery, Relapse, SlapChop, Viral. | #

Kids under 13 aren’t allowed on Facebook, but that hasn’t stopped many of them from joining. Togetherville, a new social network for kids ages six to 10, hopes to draw them into a more age-appropriate setting. It’s free to join, and kids’ accounts must be created by their parents using their own Facebook logins. Parents can approve or reject their children’s friends and see what activities or games their kids are up to.

“The adults participate directly,” said CEO and co-founder Mandeep Dhillon, whose kids are eight, five and two. “Which is why this is not a digital babysitter.” Kids have separate logins to Togetherville, and the site looks different depending on whether a parent or a child is logged in. For kids, there are games, prescreened YouTube videos and other activities, such as educational applications, but no ads. I personally think there is definitely a strong market for something like this, however the fact that the parent has to be with the child at all times to operate this does not do much to help the parent.

There are even “quips,” Facebook-style status updates with a twist: kids choose from a preselected menu of updates, which change daily. Dhillon said that’s because when given a blank space to type in, kids tend to either write gibberish or get stumped on what to say. But if they want to, they can send in their own “quips” for approval.

Parents can send their kids virtual gifts, review their activities on the site or look at virtual art they’ve created. Togetherville plans to make money by selling virtual goodies for its games. Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Washington-based non-profit Family Online Safety Institute, said he hopes Togetherville will get parents to remove their young children from Facebook. He called Togetherville a “much safer environment.”

I see a vast amount of potential for this category and target market as they want to shield their kids from the dangers of the world. However, due to the nature of this interface where the parent has to be with the child at all times, I get the feeling that that is a bit difficult to engage the child. Is this site sticky enough to keep parents and their kids together and browsing? I think a site like this needs to be safe enough for the child to browse by themselves. If a child likes a site, they will click endlessly. Also, maybe I’m taking crazy pills or something, but how does this business make any money?! With no ads and prescreened YouTube clips, where is the revenue stream? Maybe sponsored applications, but is that constant enough? All in all a cute idea that has little substance. Your thoughts?

2 Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Children, Facebook, Kids, Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology, Togetherville, Twitter. | #

Right now, heart-stopping playoff hockey is one glaring reason residents of Toronto may be tempted to visit Montreal, but a new tourism campaign for both cities hopes to add to the list.

Today, Tourisme Montreal and Tourism Toronto launched a collaborative marketing effort designed to encourage people from both cities to see what the other has to offer. The campaign plays with the ongoing rivalry between Canada’s biggest cities, taking the Ashley Madison approach to travel and cheekily suggesting it’s OK to “cheat” on your city. A new Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by Edelman, running PR for the campaign, found 85% of Torontonians have had an affair with La Métropole at least once before, and half of those don’t always admit their indiscretions to friends.

“We want our residents to know that it’s OK to enjoy what each city has to offer,” said Andrew Weir, Tourism Toronto, in a statement. “Torontonians in particular often feel guilty that they like Montreal, so we’re officially giving them permission to confess their love–and of course, we’re encouraging Montrealers to do the same.”

The creative by Sid Lee includes mobile confession booths in each city until June 7, featuring a hotel-like room with an inviting bed where residents can put on a bathrobe and confess their affairs with Montreal or Toronto on camera. The videos will be uploaded to QuickieWithMontréal.com/PtiteViteavecToronto.com, where users can learn more about each city, see what others said about the cities and vote on their favourite confessions. One winning confessor from each city will win a trip to Toronto or Montreal.

But while many Torontonians have visited Montreal, Sid Lee co-creative director Jo-Ann Munro said the biggest challenge is to convince Montrealers to head West on the 401 for the weekend. “Apart from the Anglos, no one in Montreal is that interested in Toronto,” she said. “For Torontonians, it’s more about convincing them they haven’t seen everything in Montreal on previous visits. But your average 35-year-old francophone Montrealer still has the old impression of Toronto that the sidewalks roll up at midnight and it’s still the pinstriped, blue suit of cities. So this campaign, using this sexy language to talk to Montrealers, is a good tone for Toronto to take.” Thanks to Marketing Mag for pointing this out.

2 Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Marketing, Mobile, Montreal, Sid Lee, Toronto. | #

This is just marketing 101 strategy. Don’t go for the whole piece at first, just build segment by segment. This is a perfect offering for such a diverse city like Toronto. The new wireless carrier Mobilicity wants Canada’s urban ethnic communities as its customers, offering plans with unlimited calling and texting to countries such India, Pakistan, Bangladesh as well as China and South Korea.

The company is offering flat-fee plans ranging from $15 to $65 with a variety of features including caller ID, unlimited North American calling and unlimited global texting. “You can text China, you can text India. You can text wherever you want with no additional fees, unlimited,” said CEO Dave Dobbin.

Dobbin said Mobilicity is appealing to new Canadians with add-on plans that will allow unlimited calling to several countries. Customers can add $20 a month to any of Mobilicity’s voice plans starting at $25 to have unlimited calling to East Asia and South Asia.

Mobilicity launched its advanced wireless network in the Greater Toronto Area on Friday and plans to be up and running in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa later this year. Toronto agency Dentsu was hired as creative agency for the brand late last year.

“Clearly, we are looking at serving the new Canadians that are coming to our country,” Dobbin said. “We are looking at serving the ethnic communities that are out there.” Dobbin said his company can make these kinds of offers to customers because the business has been built to be low cost.

Independent technology analyst Carmi Levy said Mobilicity has come up with specific customer target groups instead of trying to directly compete with the established players. “Instead of boiling the ocean by targeting everybody, they’re taking a more realistic approach by segmenting their marketing efforts toward demographic groups that have not traditionally been well served by the national carriers,” he said.

Dobbin also has an eye to scoop up other customers who would like to make a switch. “We are looking at serving people who have been undeserved by Canadian wireless companies.” New company Public Mobile, aimed at Canadians who don’t already have cellphones, has said it plans to launch its network in Toronto and Montreal this month. Globalive’s Wind Mobile launched last December and Quebecor’s Videotron will launch its new wireless business in Quebec and eastern Ontario later this year, delaying a planned summer launch, while Shaw Communications has said it will launch in late 2011.

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Ethnic Marketing, Marketing, Mobile, Toronto. | #

I believe we are at a crossroads in the advertising and marketing world. Although social networks like Twitter and Facebook are integral to create engagement with consumers. Advertising concepts need to transcend media vehicles. This campaign involves an integration using Twitter for one of my favourite brands.

According to Marketing week, Audi is asking Canadians to re-write cinematic classics in 140 characters or less as part of an online ad campaign from Lowe Roche that promotes the efficiency of the new 2010 A3 TDI model. While banner ads direct online users to EfficientFilms.ca–where they can add their own synopsis of their favourite movie–Geoffrey Roche, chief creative officer at Lowe Roche, said the effort is also spreading virally.

“We’re getting lots of hits,” the majority of which are favourable, he said. However, one car blogger complained that the campaign is “ruining movies,” laughed Roche. “There will always be one or two [critics] like that,” he said.

Here are a few samples from the site:

•Airplane: An ex-pilot with a drinking problem gets on a plane. The crew falls ill. Surely he can land it. But don’t call him Shirley.

• Avatar: Humans try to obtain Unobtainium. Unsurprisingly, they don’t get any.

• The Wizard of Oz: Dorothy learns why girls love shoes.

• Groundhog Day: Bill Murray wakes up. Bill Murray wakes up. Bill Murray wakes up. Bill Murray wakes up.

The campaign “takes advantage of Twitter and forces people to tell a story in 140 characters,” said Roche. The Audi A3 TDI is incredibly efficient and “our campaign duplicates that approach to efficiency by allowing people to have fun while practicing being efficient,” he said.

I am a little torn about this campaign. I think that the concept is cute, but there is not enough brand link to Audi. There is nothing that makes me think more favourably about Audi (the brand) here. There is nothing here that adheres to Audi’s brand DNA. It has a distinct personality that is getting buried in this campaign. I think this feels like using Twitter just to use Twitter. Am I being too critical? What are your thoughts?

1 Comment | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Audi, Automotive, Cars, Engagement, Lowe Roche, Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter. | #

According to Marketing Magazine, women fill a third of marketing and advertising management roles. Women are making greater inroads in non-traditional occupations and fields of study, says a new study released Thursday by Statistics Canada on women in the workforce. In the 10-year period from 1996 to 2006, women went from a minority to a majority in a number of fields, including human resources, as administrative services managers, machine operators in textiles, as managers in art, culture, recreation and sport, and in insurance and real estate sales.

The female share of employment as sales, marketing and advertising managers rose from 25% to 34% in the same period. Gains were also made in some occupations considered non-traditional for women. For instance, the category for police and firefighters was 15% female in 2006, up from 10% a decade earlier, the report said.

“Certainly one of the major drivers, I think, has been the rising educational attainment of women, and changes in their fields of study at the university level,” said Kathryn McMullen, co-author of the study.
“Beyond that, too, I think there’s been strong efforts in some fields, and I am thinking specifically now of police officers and firefighters, to actively recruit women into those occupations.”

Architecture, sales and the physical sciences are other areas in which women are increasingly being represented. Just 17% of architects, urban planners and land surveyors were women in 1996, but that rose to 25% a decade later. Overall, looking at the 25- to 64-year-old age group, women went from 48% participation in the workforce in 1976 to 76% last year. In terms of education, the data show that more women in the 25-to-44 age group have a post-secondary education than men. But in the over-45 demographic, more men than women have post-secondary education.

2 Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Careers, KFC, Marketing, Statistics, Women. | #

Ladies and gentlemen, here is a fantastic ad from Vodafone Italy to show their latest ‘Smart’ tariffs. Using a crazy “Incredible Machine” (props if anyone remembers that game) like apparatus, the ad uses a brilliant domino effect to show a variety of cool apps interacting to bring the campaign tagline to life – ‘piu smart conVodafone’ (Smarter with Vodafone).

What is interesting about this campaign is that this may be picking up on a trend of these crazy technological contraptions as can be seen conveniently by a previous blog post of mine about rock group OK Go’s crazy new music video with a bit of a similar concept. Click here to see that entry: OK Go… Again 

Does this step on any toes? Too close for comfort? You be the judge.

Take a gander at this:

3 Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Italy, Marketing, Mobile, Stunt Marketing, Trends, Vodaphone, Vodaphone Italy. | #

Even if you don’t like the music of OK Go, you have to give them credit for the creativity of some of their videos, including the classic and iconical “Here it goes again”.

These days they bring some magic again with the video for the first single (“This Too Shall Pass”) of their new record. Looks like a single-take, which is amazing, and even if it weren’t, who cares, almost a million views in three days speaks really well about it, check it out:

1 Comment | In: Uncategorized | tags: Advertising, Marketing, Music. | #