Coke gets interactive

Coke Zero has been getting interactive with the latest Bond movie. 

In a live marketing stunt at a railway station they invited Coke purchasers to take a challenge to win exclusive tickets for the latest 007 movie, Skyfall. Having to rush across the station to beat the clock Coke didn't make it easy for them.

A fun interactive marketing stunt that has gone viral with more than 2 million views.

See the video below:

Surreal ads from Drambuie

A very surreal advertising campaign from Drambuie, following on from their 'A Taste of the Extraordinary' press campaign. Did Dali have a hand in this?

Not the monsters you would want to meet on a night out!

See the ad below:



Drambuie's 'Extraordinary Bar' cinema commercial, written by Sell! Sell!, directed by Chino Moya and produced through HSI.

Teleport between cities

To celebrate the launch of the new direct TGV service between Lyon and Brussels, French train operator SNCF created a "teleportation device" that instantly transported the Lyon public into the heart of Brussels.

They created a box that was situated in Lyon's Place de la République on 21 September and invited passers-by to "take a look at Brussels", by peering through a hole in one of its sides. Multiple screens connected by satellite then transmitted their faces to another set-up in Brussels's Mont des Arts square, while also feeding back images and sound to participants.

The result was an intercity interaction with bands and all.

Take a look at the video to find out more. (Concept by TBWA Paris)

Get your running shoes on with City Peaks

Fancy a bit of a run in your lunch hour then take a look at City Peaks, a challenge that takes you to the top of the world.

Their website explains the challenge as, 'Office life is increasingly deskbound, and staring out at the city skyline while slumped at a computer isn’t good for our health or sense of adventure. So Digit thought: why not ditch the lift and turn taking the stairs into mountain climbs that make it fun to get fit? City Peaks Challenge is a game where players race each other up the office stairs. Inspired by tower running - the sport of running up the stairs of skyscrapers – it’s the ultimate cardiovascular exercise. Just 15 minutes of tower running equals the workout of a 30 minutes run, and with City Peaks it’s also fun.'

Basically they use NFC technology with players swiping their Oyster cards on readers at the bottom and top of the office staircase that record how far and fast they climb. Each player logs in online to start their climbing mission.

You can see how climbers are doing by tracking their flags on the faces of iconic London buildings, visualised as mountains. The first climber to place their flag on the summit conquers the mountain; then everyone’s scores are recorded.

Take a look here and see if you can take up the challenge and beat London's City Peaks.

Kopparberg talks and workshops

Swedish cider brand Kopparberg are continuing their interactive events aimed at giving something back to the fans with a series of free talks and workshops next week.

Based in London and Manchester the pop up spaces will play host to groundbreaking and talented trend-setters who will be sharing their stories and knowledge with Kopparberg’s Facebook fans. The workshops include doodle bombing with Hattie Stewart, talks from artist Margot Bowman, street artist Pure Evil and a question and answer session with Resident Advisor and Seth Troxler.

There will also be a discussion about the future of publishing with underground music magazine, CRACK and showings of LCD Soundsystem’s last concert entitled Shut Up and Play the Hits. As part of the Kopparberg ün-established campaign, it is a celebration of people who are innovative, ‘reject the status quo and follow their passions.’

There will be live streaming for those who can’t attend the event. For more information visit the Kopparberg website.

The Think Tank shortlisted for three Construction Marketing Awards

The Think Tank has been shortlisted for three awards in this year's Construction Marketing Awards for our work with SAS International and Rexel.

The shortlisted entries are:

SAS International - Best Product Launch
Rexel - Best Campaign over £25k
Rexel - Best Branding and Positioning

We are very pleased to have been shortlisted again this year and look forward to hearing the results on 6th December.

See the full CMA shortlist here.

Get your own classic Economist ad

Do you remember these classic Economist ads? Well now you can buy them as limited edition prints.

Russell Blackmore, who used to be an employee of The Economist, has formed a partnership with the magazine to print some of the most iconic posters.

These are from their 'White out of Red' ad campaign and are available hand framed in a limited edition of 250. They were originally created by Abbott Mead Vickers.

See more of these at Creative Review or buy yours at Sonic Editions.

A cat that will do anything for a car ride

This cat in an ad for the Toyota Corolla goes to any lengths to get a ride - even when it passed to the the other side.

Very, very funny.

By Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand

Print ads that come to life

Looking for a way to bring your advertising to life then take a look at this print ad for Lexus. With a little help from an iPad the ad comes to life.

Lexus developed a special technology for this that it's calling "CinePrint."

"Most traditional mashups feature print ads that redirect to a digital experience away from the printed page," the automaker says. "CinePrint technology flips that on its head, creating a tactile and visceral connection that brings one closer to the printed page with a multi-sensory experience that combines sight, sound and touch."

Take a look at the film below to see how it works. Brilliant!

Number One Hit Product Recall

In this great marketing ploy Australian pop duo, Yolanda Be Cool, have announced an international product recall of their hit song "We No Speak Americano."

Their hit "We No Speak Americano" reached No. 1 on the charts in 16 countries and remains in the charts in many places even after two and a half years.

They have decided that they need to move on, mainly to their next album. So they've officially declared that the beats "are no longer fresh" in "We No Speak Americano," and they're calling on radio stations, DJs and fans worldwide to remove the song from their playlists and destroy any hard copies of it.

See the press conference below:

Parkour Dominoes

Combining dominoes with freerunning, this video featuring Jason Paul is a bit engineered but  still good fun.

The Human-Powered Freerunning Machine is part of Redbull’s Parkour sonsorship.

Hold onto your seats!

Spotted in Rotterdam

Things have gone a bit dotty on the streets of Rotterdam.

Dutch art studio Vollaerszwart  has created a new installation called Let’s Stick Together, that has livened up the city streets with 50 000 fluorescent pink stickers as part of the De Wereld van Witte de With art festival.

See more here on Boredpanda.com

Office sector outlook

Our guest blogger Helen Parton takes a look at current office furniture trends.

Orgatec, the biennial exhibition championing all things workplace, is rapidly approaching. Before you all head to Cologne, let's consider how the office landscape has changed in the last few years.   

Now that even those so staunchly resistant to the open plan working concept such as the legal profession have wholeheartedly embraced it, what office workers are now crying out for is somewhere to think and be contemplative. Private phone booths, high back sofas, noise absorbing panelling, you name it, it's all about finding a way for concentrated work to take place.  

Collaborative working still remains at the heart of how we work today but the break out space has to aesthetically please and sustain a number of functions nowadays - a few mismatched pieces of furniture will simplify not cut the mustard. When myself and Kerstin Zumstein wrote our book, Total Office Design, (published by Thames and Hudson in 2011) offices such as Microsoft's Amsterdam headquarters by Sevil Peach introduced the idea of 'activity-based working': work wherever you like in the building or even at home as long as long as the job gets done.  

Now in, increasing numbers of forward-thinking companies, you're just as likely to see the CEO perched on a bench in the cafe as the boardroom and hardly anyone, apart from finance departments who need designated desks to crunch those all important numbers and print confidential documents, working nine-to-five at the same workstation day-in, day out.  

Another important trend in workplace design is a reaction to our continually wavering outlook to the economy. It seems that almost daily another report from another institution comes out saying we're either teetering on the brink of economic collapse or actually it's not so bad after all. Little wonder businesses are confused, which is why interior designers and facility managers are opting for furniture and fixtures that can adapt to a changing number of staff. Lots of the projects we featured in the book adopted this principle from the PostPanic production studios in Amsterdam to the Student Loans Company in Darlington.  

Flexibility, whether that's in terms of where your staff are working or how many of them you employ at once is where it's at in workplace design in 2012. Let's see what solutions Orgatec presents to meet these demands.

Unexpected signs on the tube

Here are a few funny fake signs that have been placed on the London Underground over the years.

You can see many more by clicking here.

Packaging that lights up when you pick it up

This great packaging design by Webb deVlam illuminates when you pick it up.

It features an illustration by Yehrin Tong  in electroluminescent ink which lights up when a hidden switch is activated on the bottom of the pack when lifted from the shelf.

A high impact way of engaging customers at point of sale.

Surprising ad for Samsung

This is a rather surprising ad for Samsung. Not one for those scared of spiders.

Enjoy!

World Building 2012 award announced

The World Architecture Festival has announced the winner of its World Building of 2012.

The festival was held at the winning building at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which is a key project in delivering the Singapore Government’s vision of transforming Singapore into a ‘City in a Garden’.

At a total of 101 hectares, the Cooled Conservatories at the Gardens by the Bay project comprise three distinct waterfront gardens – Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central.

The project was awarded the prize from over 500 entries and was designed by Wilkinson Eyre, Grant Associates, Atelier One and Atelier TenSitting.

It's quite an impressive structure and more can be seen here on Arch Daily.

The changing nature of news

There was a great article in the FT’s Inside Business section by the paper’s media editor, Andrew Edgcliffe-Johnson.  Describing how newsrooms have shrunk, he looks at how services such as PR Newswire (owned by UBM plc) are responding and how it sees its future being driven by digital syndication, social media and search engine optimisation.   

As we have commented before in our blog, a rethink has started for press releases as multimedia content to help feed the growing number and variety of news outlets online.  Edgcliffe-Johnson argues that “search and social media trends suggest corporate content will only grow”.   

So not only do we now need to be aware that the majority of news is ‘broken’ online, but that how we package up that news into deeper content will increasingly make a difference. This will have an impact not only in how this might be facilitated both client and agency side, but also that the content must be credible and ‘watchable’.   

There will be a need  closer integration of advertising, digital marketing, PR and investor relations concludes Edgcliffe-Johnson.  

See the article in the FT here. (registration required)

The impact on brand of social media mistakes

The Think Tank has recently been taking part in a series of seminars, talking about issues surrounding the use of social media in the workplace and the impact that it can have upon brand and reputation.

These have been very well attended and judging by two recent Twitter abuses in the United States it is becoming a very important factor for businesses, both internally and externally.

Last week a disgruntled employee at a company called Stub Hub sent out a tweet riddled with profanity, which the company subsequently had to apologise for and issue a withdrawal. We have added an image of this below but it does use quite strong language - you are warned!

Another business, Kitchen Aid, mistakenly retweeted an offensive joke about President Obama's grandmother - possibly as a result of social media automation. Again, this is below but the content may be deemed as offensive.

These types of social media interaction may be mistakes or they may be on purpose but the problem is the same; Social Media poses new challenges to business as to how they and their employees interact online and the increasing possibility of damage to brand and reputation.

If you would like to discuss any of these topics and how they could impact upon your business then please get in touch.