Interesting article in the latest issue of Fast Company about Ashton Kutcher and his production company, Katalyst. Not so long ago, Kutcher made the news as he faced off with CNN in a race to be the first with a million Twitter followers. As of tonight, he’s got well over four million.

The article looks behind the scenes to the strategy behind that race to a million, and to how Katalyst is helping brands with social media strategy, including a few you may have heard of, like Nestle, Kellogg, and Mountain Dew. It’s worth a read.

One of the more notable points is Kutcher’s take on the “free” aspect of social media services:

“When I have a conversation with someone and they say, ‘I’m not worried about monetization yet,’ that scares the shit out of me,” he says. He’s poking fun at social Web companies that run up their user base without regard for how they’re going to make money. “I’m part of an industry that is struggling daily. Daily. And I’m always worried about the numbers.” He jumps up, turns his Cubs cap around, and tucks his legs underneath him before plopping back down. “You cannibalize this business” — he waves at Hollywood — “a profit-positive business that trades at a decent multiple, and you’re just going to put people out of work. And these folks are counting on just figuring it out. And if they don’t, we’re fucked! That’s not okay.”

Kutcher is not very optimistic about the entertainment industry where he’s built most of his career, which helps to explain his pragmatic approach here. Where stars ten years ago were reluctant to even appear in television commercials, Kutcher has made no bones about using his fame to sell products.

All of this begs the question… is entertainment going to be replaced completely by advertising?

Another article on the Fast Company site looks at a new online campaign from Stella Artois – an imitation retro television show that calls to mind the corporate sponsored TV shows of the 1950s and 60s. Given the trend toward brand pouring more production dollars into online-targeted content, the author asks:

“…how long is it until some canny marketer commissions, say, the Gossip Girl team to create extended scenes, and then publishes them to the Web? And after that, when will TV producers begin pitching pilots directly to marketers?”

I have a feeling Ashton Kutcher might be first in line.

Apriamo oggi una rubrica dal titolo: “Gli Spot che mi han fatto innamorare”. All’interno di questa rubrica cercherò di postare tutti gli spot ed i commercial che mi hanno particolarmente colpito e mi hanno fatto interessare sempre più, nel corso della mia vita, al mondo della comunicazione e della pubblicità.

Se ho deciso di fare il comunicatore è tutta colpa loro.

Il primo “ospite” di questa rubrica è uno spot dei primi anni ‘90 per promuovere il marchio sportivo Nike in cui una selezioni di campioni dell’epoca (Campos, Brolin, Maldini, Rui Costa, Cantona, Figo, Ronaldo, Kluivert, Davids e Wright) si batte contro una squadra di diavoli.

Memorabile è la battuta finale di Eric Cantona a fine spot, pronunciata mentre si tira su il colletto della casacca, (“Au Revoir” = Arrivederci) tanto da diventare un vero e proprio tormentone; imitata da un’intera generazione di calciatori più o meno dilettanti e più o meno giovani.

La conseguneza più evidente è che, forse per scaramanzia, ma in molti spot Nike successivi compare il giocatore francese, anche dopo il suo ritiro dal calcio giocato.

Dedico questo post all’Hans Bricker Budget Hotel, ovvero..  L’hotel (o meglio, ostello) più ecologico del mondo.

Vedere per credere.. È davvero divertente, non perdetevelo!

Un’ottima mossa di comunicazione, direi. Eccetto le parti sulla eco birra e la eco cucina.. Agh! Per noi italiani, poi.. Ancora più difficile da “digerire”.

Buzz, Buzz, cand am vazut publicitatea cu muste facuta zambind de cei de la Jung von Matt am ramas Buzzaind. Pur si simplu nu mi-a venit sa cred.

Publicitate-Mobila cu tractiune Buzzaitoare …

Pe vremea mea (Doamne ce batran ma simt), adica acu’ vreo treizeci de ani, primavara duceam la scoala o mini escadrila de trei bondari legati cu ata. Si-i tot bazaiam si-i puneam sa se «dueleze» aerian intre ei pana cand ne plictiseam sau pana erau eliberati de vreo profesoara mai miloasa.

De aceea, cand am vazut filmuletul celor de la AdLand mi-am dat seama ca inspiratia si istoria se repeta fantastic. Sigur ca acum insectele sunt folosite ca instrumente de publicitate si nu doar pentru divertisment, in plus « operatorii » sunt niste specialisti adulti respectabili.

Ma gandesc ce impact ar avea pentru Romania o campanie electorala facuta cu Publicitate-Mobila cu Muste?
Si-asa zic romanii ca-n tara lor politica e de cacao ! La ce sa traga altfel mustele ?!

Dedico questo post ad un video che su YouTube sta registrando migliaia di visite: la parodia della celebre Intro della Pixar, dove una saltellante lampada da tavolo prende il posto della “i” (di Pixar, appunto). Esistevano già diversi filmati che rivedevano l’animazione in chiave ironica, ma questo li supera tutti.
Il video è fantastico! Consiglio di vedere prima l’originale e poi la parodia. Metto i due filmati in ordine qui di seguito.. Buona visione!

Intro Pixar originale

Intro Pixar parodia

CONTENIDO. El advertainment es una corriente de pensamiento publicitario, según la cual las marcas también pueden ser fabricantes de contenidos. Esto, en principio, ya se les suponía, diréis (si no fabrican contenidos, ¿qué hacen?), pero el contenido era otra cosa. Era mediático y no físico, porque hoy en día las cosas se valoran al kilo de GRP. En un contexto de audiencias erráticas y fragmentadas, las marcas se estrujan la sesera para llegar a sus consumidores. Los caminos del Sr. (Fabricante) son inescrutables.

CONTINENTE. Así, por ejemplo, los paquetes de Fedex en “Náufrago” juegan con nuestras vulnerables emociones. Y lo rompedor es que Fedex no pagó por ello a ninguna productora, ya que su aportación consistió en generar la idea, el contenido. ¿Hay algo reprobable en esto? Teniendo en cuenta que el product placement es más viejo que todos nosotros, parece que no. De hecho, Popeye nació de la mano de una empresa distribuidora de espinacas y Mafalda de una casa de electrodomésticos. Sin embargo, lo que me gusta es esta ambición renovada de las marcas, por hacerse dueñas de nuestro ocio audiovisual.

MORAL. Y es que la ambición empresarial hace tiempo que atravesó los límites de los balances contables. La responsabilidad social corporativa ha dado pie a unas siglas que hacen salivar a los responsables de comunicación de las multinacionales. He tenido arduos debates sobre este tema y si bien es justo que las grandes empresas dediquen parte de sus beneficios a los desfavorecidos (ese magma difuso), me genera cierto repelús que las cuestiones de la solidaridad se desplacen de lo público a lo privado y se impongan incluso a veces, con paternalismo, a empleados desorientados.

MORALINA. Si las empresas se hacen dueñas de nuestra conciencia a través del RSC y con el advertainment lideran nuestra imaginación, ¿qué nos queda? Sé que hablo en tono apocalíptico y que el advenimiento de la era del marketing no debe asustarme porque en el fondo ya ha ocurrido, pero me inquieta que el inconsciente colectivo se convierta en el target de alguna agencia publicitaria.

MORALEJA. Y mientras las multinacionales gobiernan el mundo, los gobiernos levantan las calles y parece que ven la vida pasar. ¿Acaso no sienten celos de estas empresas ecológicas, solidarias, recreativas, que rondan nuestros bolsillos y nuestro corazón? El día menos pensado, nombran a un CEO del mundo y en la ONU se quedan tan panchos.

La pubblicità è sempre un’intrusa. Interrompe quello che stiamo leggendo, quello che stiamo guardando, che solitamente sono cose che amiamo. Pensate al vostro film preferito, che si interrompe proprio nel momento più bello per fare una marchetta a coloro che pagano. Fastidioso vero? Ogni volta che la pubblicità si intromette nelle nostre letture o nelle nostre visioni cinematografiche o televisive, noi stizziti voltiamo subito pagina, cambiamo canale, mangiamo nervosi i popcorn o qualsiasi altra cosa che ci impedisca di assistere alla proiezione di colei che ha interrotto il nostro Intrattenimento. Esiste però una pubblicità che ancora non annoia. Essa continua ad essere un interruzione o un prolungamento dell’attesa ma non risulta fastidiosa. Il meccanismo è quello classico: si infiltra nell’intrattenimento ma non per disturbare, bensì per continuare ad intrattenere. La pubblicità si è fatta furba. Sfrutta l’ambiente in cui si infiltra e quasi anticipa le moderne tecniche del Guerriglia Marketing. Il video allegato a questo articolo è uno screencast della home page del sito Ign.com (portale dedicato ai videogames). Ad una prima occhiata sembra una pagina web come tutte le altre e come tutte le pagine web ha un grosso banner pubblicitario che ingombra la scena e che divide i contenuti del sito dalla barra di navigazione. Niente di più fastidioso. ma dopo alcuni secondi ci si rende conto che non si tratta di un semplice banner. La pubblicità è quella del nuovo iPod touch di Apple, che in materia di pubblicità la sa lunga. Lo spot invade letteralmente la pagina web e la sconvolge usando gli stessi elementi della pagina web per catalizzare l’attenzione sulle caratteristiche principali del prodotto. Si chiama Advertainment e non interrompe più lo show per trasmettere un messaggio, il più delle volte banale ma lo conduce.

Spectacular on the pop-culture-reference-o-meter. I want to create this, please. Too late? Oh ok. This film makes me want to bring the Dude back into my life. That alone should be worth letting VW jig it up for free it to the makers of The Big Lebowski. I guess the VW aspect didn’t talk to me as much as the Big Lebowski part. Advertainment success? It gave me warm fuzzies so I say yes.

Actual Mockup Of Mariah Carey insert. Except the $$'s. Those, are my own lazy addition.

I had started a post last night about day one of All Points West, but record label Island Def Jam and that silly whore, and I use that word for reasons that will become clear in this post, Mariah Carey had to make news: the liner notes for the upcoming record Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel will feature the launch of the next step in advertainment: placement of brands, and ads for brands, that fit into the garish brand that is Mariah Carey. Tear-away-parachute-pants for when you go on TRL and give that outside-the-highschool-pervert Carson Daly a quarter-assed striptease? Pills for when you go into rehab the next day? The contact info of the genius screenwriters of Glitter? There couldn’t be a more empty vessel that’s still slightly marketable like Mariah Carey is right now.

Lord knows that CD inserts havn’t been clean in years. Even the holiest of holy in hip hop, OutKast, had kennel ads inserted in their albums. This, though, is the full fledged on-the-street, Bristol-Palin-At-The-Convention, absolute whoring of the liner notes, or the libretto, if you’re my dad teaching me a term I’m not sure about anymore. I still buy CD’s and I probably would support artists whose labels weren’t forcing this cockamamie nonsense on them, but I have to say, if an artist who puts a lot of effort, be it masturbatory or not, into their liner notes, like Carey’s record label mate Kanye West does, I’d be saddened. Check this quote:

Carey was “very open” to the concept when Reid showed her a mock-up of the booklet in a magazine format that included brand imagery synonymous with her lifestyle. “I wouldn’t want to do Mariah Carey and Comet abrasive cleaner,” Reid said, laughing. “I wanted things that really reflected her taste.”

If you think of Carey like I do, that jar of Comet makes sense, for when you’re scrubbing your junk trying to avoid getting whatever Eminem must have given her. I get the fact that this is a dying industry, and that we’re all capitalists and dirty commies need to be put down, but if you really want to save the CD, here’s a simple three propositions:

1. Put out great music that lets the Artist speak for themselves.

2. Make the record look like a piece of art. From what I’ve learned in the book industry, a lot of what sells now is what’s packaged to look collectable. And a Mariah Carey cover’d Mini-Elle magazine isn’t collectable, it’s probably something at the bottom of the magazine stack that’s been growing since the nineties.

and, most importantly of all,

3. Respect the audience, and by respect the audience, I mean: do not sell them on crap they don’t need because it’s similar to the genre, by some stretch of the capitalist imagination that used to be the responsibility of MTV back when they showed music in their shows. I remember TRL to be a product pimp as much as 30 Rock jokes to be today.

If this takes over, I’m really going to have strong odds on taking to whatever Jobs has been working on with the record labels, unless those are just as bad with product placement, which, since they’re digital, and that means hyperlinking and popups are completely possible, I wouldn’t put past anybody.

What I’m getting to here is that I think one of two things will happen: 1. I will only acquire music by means that a competant RIAA would scare me from doing, or 2. I’m finally taking the plunge on vinyl.

Thoughts?

Nowa viralowa kampania Evian  “rollerbabies”

Czego by o nim nie powiedzieć – był wielkim artystą – i to jest niepodważalne.

Bardzo ciekawy projekt społeczny – ludzie naśladujący jego “moonwalk”

http://www.eternalmoonwalk.com/

Don’t forget to remember!

I simply started to love Comex .

Brilliant idea. Cool execution.

The smurf is already on my dsktp. :0)

With the increasing popularity of emerging media and technology advancement, companies are turning to short films as an advertising vehicle that can draw visitors to corporate Web sites to keep their brands in front of consumers.

You know you’re watching a short film advertisement if it seems more like a movie than an advertisement – meaning the advertising is very subtle – and it has these six elements: a hero, who wants something, takes action, encounters conflict, climax and resolution. (West Virginia University, 2009)

The example I like is KitKat – The Ultimate Break, a three-minute short about the Kit Kat candy bar.

From a marketing standpoint, the film is effective because it drives home a single, memorable message that people easily relate to – after all, who doesn’t need a break from time to time – and directs viewers to a Web site to continue the interaction. Did you notice how subtly the Kit Kat bar was woven into the plot and how it advanced the story line?

Another example is The Call Pirelli by the tire maker. This is one a bit longer at around 8 minutes, and features Naomi Campbell and John Malkovich. There are a lot of screeching tires and tire close-ups, but the tires are still a background element in this short film.

The KitKat short is my favorite, but a close runner-up is Philips Carousel, a short film made by Philips to promote its eagerly anticipated Cinema 21:9 LCD TV that gave viewers the opportunity for the first time to enjoy the immersive experience they get when watching movies at the cinema in the comfort of their own home.

This form of branded entertainment is expensive, though – so much so that one of the pioneers in short films as advertisement, BMW, discontinued its involvement in this genre. A case study by Ameritest that compared the effectiveness of two short films says that these branded short films are a risky investment with the odds of success no better than 50/50. The conclusion is:

“If advertisers are going to be successful in making good branded entertainment … they can’t start in a better place than employing the rigours of research to understand exactly how viewers watch film and process brand stories.”

Reference

Assignment 5: Evolution of emerging media II: podcasts, videos, streaming, mobile technology, online gaming. (2009) West Virginia University. Retrieved May 18, 2009, from https://ecampus.wvu.edu.

We all remember when the Heineken- ’serving the planet’  tv ad was released. Now let us see the result :

PS Really special night. I will post that and not fall asleep before pressing the ‘publish’ button as I did for the last 5-6 days.