In this situation, when does The Economist start to ask themselves whether their advertising on their own site is becoming counterproductive? I count four near-identical ads above the fold, but because they’re all the same red as the logo, I at first thought the logo was a fifth ad. Aside from being visually disturbing (the online equivalent of a “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE” infomercial), it also distracts from the content, which was what I came to the site for in the first place.
Maybe the underlying message is that subscribing is the only way to read an article without seeing four ads on the same page.
Back in April, Rob Campbell (now head of planning at Wieden+Kennedy’s Shanghai office) posted an “assignment” on his blog. He and some other account planning types, including Russell Davies and Gareth Kay, have for awhile now been running what they call the “Account [Planning] School on the Web,” or A[P]SOTW. They more or less take turns posting assignments on their respective blogs and accepting submissions from anyone who’s interested. Then they look at all the submissions, pick a “winner,” and provide useful feedback based on their significant experience in adland.
Having met Rob a few months back in Hong Kong, I check his blog sometimes and I decided I’d give this assignment a shot. The challenge was
I noticed this “ad” while coming up the escalator at Jing’an Temple station on the Shanghai metro the other day. See it there? On the ceiling. That’s the logo for Shanghai’s 2010 Expo. If you visit Shanghai these days you can’t miss this logo or the ubiquitous Expo mascot, Haibao. Both of them are everywhere—in parks, lining the streets, hotel lobbies, restaurants, taxicabs. You’d think it would be easy to find places to put your ads when you essentially have free reign to put them anywhere in the city, which is why I was surprised to see this placement. A bit hard to notice, much less read.
It also reminded me of something I’ve thought about before: the potential for anamorphic ads. Anamorphosis is “a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to…occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image,” and the technique has been used to create anamorphic art since the Renaissance. It’s still used today, in some pretty fascinating ways:
I’ve owned a Flip Video camera since July. I enjoy the product, so when I heard about the Cisco-owned product’s consumer ad campaign, I was especially interested. But when the ads started showing up on TV, I was immediately disappointed. The campaign is built around what Cisco is calling “flipable moments,” which apparently include a dog almost barking “I love you,” two young children having a screaming contest, or a woman doing a handstand on the beach.
For starters, it meant asking Facebook fans to contribute “flipable moments,” which Lipe defines as everyday spontaneous events shot on a Flip Video camera.
“We believe the effort of this campaign will help the brand become one of those devices you can’t leave your home without,” Lipe says. “If people leave home with their phone, email device and Flip, it’s a great day.”
So what is a flipable moment? The through-line for most of these is that they appear to have been captured on impulse. The people depicted in these 15-second ads have fun—they enjoy the little things in life, and now they’re able to capture them on video and share with friends and family. What a great concept for a brand to own! …a brand other than Flip Video.
Cool idea, but I was a bit disappointed they couldn’t get Tom Hanks to come recreate his famous rendition of “Heart & Soul” (sorry for the terrible video quality on that link).
An article on Mashable asks “isn’t [this] the definition of a perfect brand campaign?” because of the subtle placement of the VW logo and viral success of the videos. But should success be defined by
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