At least for two nights.

Disclaimer: The author is a big fan

A few months back, I came across an article about Lea Salonga’s December show. But this time, it’s different because the organizers found a way for Lea’s fans to get involved with the show.

Your Songs, the show’s title, is simply that, songs to be sung were requested and sent through her website.

I did my fair share of contribution too. From Snow Patrol songs to that of Ingrid Michaelson and other more known hits to the local crowd like Lady Gaga hits.

Fast forward to the show.

Lea Salonga opened the show with Elton John’s Your Song with a first note enough to elate the audience and give her an immediate applause. The next song is to be a surprise because it is a Beyonce hit.

When Gerard Salonga’s Filharmonika strumms Halo’s intro, the crowd then again went wild because maybe we all knew it wasn’t something we’d always hear Lea sing. And oh boy, it was perfect!

True to what Lea said that requests came from all kinds of people, regardless of age, she started a medley of hits from the 70s and 80s including If You Leave Me Now, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All and the highlight (in my opinion) Open Arms.

Aside from sending in requests, some of the fans had the chance to audition to sing LIVE With Lea Salonga, oh yes! And a guy named Rocky Fajardo had this opportunity to share a duet with Lea in A Whole New World.

The next number is a show-stopper.

Lea called the Philippine All-Stars to sing and DANCE Rehab. If you thought I was kidding, I wasn’t.

And Lea pulled it off.

After a short wardrobe change, Lea came back on stage to sing He’s Got To Be Someone.

This year, after June 2009, a series of what could be a never ending tribute to Michael Jackson started. Lea sang Gone Too Soon (with a nice mix of She’s Out of My Life). I suddenly miss MJ and remembered the great loss we had when we lost a music genius.

Time for some Pinoy rock.

Lea started with Juan dela Cruz’s Ang Himig Natin which I had the privilege of hearing from the original members in a concert a year ago.

And of course, Huling El Bimbo from the Eraserheads. Probably the song that sealed the band’s place in OPM history even after they went their own separate ways.

And lo and behold, Jett Pangan came in to sing with Lea, Salamat by The Dawn. The crowd for the nth time, went wild!

Then came my request, Pokerface! Lea started the song with a slower arrangement, and eventually moved to its original one. Lady Gaga should have seen that performance.

Richard Poon came in to share with Lea some all-time OPM ballads like Sana Maulit Muli, Kahit Isang Saglit, Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal, Mahal Kita Walang Iba, I Don’t Love You Anymore and Sometime Somewhere.

Richard admired Lea for taking the road less-traveled, for not joining the ‘Birit’ gang and just continuing what she thinks she does best. You have got to give the same credit to Richard Poon, he may not be the typical rockstar and birit boy most of us admire, the big band crooner as Lea says, is more than just ok.

And I braced myself for a Broadway medley.

I believe a lot of people would agree if I say that Lea’s at her best when she sings musical theatre hits.

From Les Miserables, she sang I Dreamed A Dream and On My Own, Electricity from Billy Elliot, Memory from Cats and my personal favorite, Wicked’s For Good and Defying Gravity. I was expecting some Miss Saigon songs but ending with Defying Gravity made me forget that. (In an interview I had with Lea a year ago, Elphaba of Wicked is one of her dream roles).

Lea introduced the next number as a request that they just can’t refuse.

AiAi delas Alas came in as Annie, in a golden wig, red dress and an inflatable dog singing Tomorrow (where we first fell in love with Lea’s talent). That cracked the audience!

That short dress converted into a long gown afterwards.

AiAi was always addressing the people in the galleries and balconies and when asked why, she explains that they were her fans, because they can only afford the cheaper tickets. And we all responded in a roar of laughter.

Lea and AiAi shared what they call Jologs songs, in English and its translated Tagalog version. The highlight? It was Aegis’s Halik.

It was such a delight to see them both. And we asked for more AiAi action.

Maybe next time, I should watch Aiai’s own concert.

Lea, a big American Idol fan rendered No Boundaries, a big big winner!

And the number one request, something that was brought by her performance at the funeral of President Aquino, is Bayan Ko. This part, trust me will make you feel proud as a Filipino.

And we just can’t help but give her a standing ovation.

That should be the last but of course, we won’t let her go and she gave three more songs one of which is Journey.

This is one of the highlights of my 2009. And this to me is a game-changer in the local music industry.

With Lea Salonga’s Your Songs, we saw our own requests brought to life in a full-blown concert. We experience what we thought was just a fantasy. She made possible the impossible.

And oh, there was a meet and greet after the show and I got this:

This week I just wanted to have some fun.  Near my apartment there is a billboard with an ad for a Barnum and Bailey’s circus event called Zing Zang Zoom.  This event has some of the regular circus staples but focuses mostly on a magic show.  This is the ad on the billboard near my apartment:

A pretty typical ad for a circus event.  But why are ads for a circus so typical?  Shouldn’t they have more fun?  Also, when you look at the ad, you don’t really understand that the show focuses on magic.  So this week I wanted to see if I could find a fun way to make an ad for Zing Zang Zoom
that is engaging and that makes it clear that the show is about magic.  I’ve always wanted to use an elevator in my ads, because it’s fun, and there is a captive audience to work with.  Below is my ad for this week.  Stickers would be placed on elevator doors so that when the doors
open it looks as though the woman in the magic box is being sawed in half.  Hope you like it, and please leave any comments you might have.

ELEVATOR WITH DOORS CLOSED

ELEVATOR WITH DOORS OPENING

To view my full portfolio of work please visit:  www.zachbonnan.com

Last week’s post focused on healthcare advertising, and why it is so bad.  After hearing from people in both the healthcare industry and the advertising industry, it turns out that the regulations for advertising such products is a large reason why it is difficult to make good healthcare ads.  That being said, I still believe it can be done if worked at properly.

In this week’s ad I wanted to take on a challenge that has nothing to do with regulations holding its’ advertising back.  The product is salt.  Throughout ad school we were always told that if we could do good work for a difficult product like salt, that we could do good work for anything.  The reason salt is so difficult to advertise for is because it is so common and very little differentiates one salt from another.

Morton Salt is well known for its tag line “when it rains it pours”, but it needs to remain in the public conscience as the brand to buy.  So this week’s ad would be a seasonal ad that Morton could run during wintertime .

The ad would also advertise a website in which people could send in videos of people slipping on ice.  The website could be called:
SlipsThatCouldHaveBeenPrevented.com.  These videos would be posted for people to see and laugh at.  The whole point of it being that falling on the ice could have been prevented by Morton Salt.

NOT A REAL VIDEO, JUST USED AS AN EXAMPLE

NOT A REAL VIDEO, JUST USED AS AN EXAMPLE

I hope you like this week’s ad, it was a bit of a challenge.  Let me know what you all think of the website idea.

View my full portfolio of work at:  www.zachbonnan.com

I was inspired to make this week’s ad because a while back I passed by a store in Chicago that I thought was very cool, and I thought that all it needed to to do was to simply gain people’s attention.

For me, when a product is interesting enough on its own, the core idea of it alone should sell itself.  So the challenge of the advertising is more in making people notice the product, rather than trying to convince them that it is worth buying.

The store I passed was a candy store called Suckers Candy Inc.  What makes them a unique candy store is that they specialize in selling nostalgic candy, candy that you don’t see on the shelves anymore.  Everybody loves seeing candies from their childhood, and I know it gave me a nice nostalgic feeling perusing the various candy that they have in stock.

The goal I had was simple enough, let people in Chicago know that this store exists.  So I wanted to make something that people walking around Chicago could not miss.  Whenever I’m walking around downtown, it feels like I’m constantly crossing bridges.  Most of the bridges you cross in Chicago are of the stark brown sort with the brown rivets that seem to catch people’s attention.  Pedestrians on a bridge are a captive audience as well, so I thought changing one of the bridges in Chicago from a drab brown to incredibly colorful display would surely gain attention and get people talking.  I wanted to give people that nostalgic feeling as well, so below is how I would try to put all of these ideas together.

Let me know what you all think, and thanks for checking out the site each week.

A normal bridge in Chicago

A branded bridge in Chicago

To view my full portfolio of work please visit:  www.zachbonnan.com

When it comes to non-traditional or Ambient Media, the benefit to brand campaigns is that Ambient Media is generally much more targeted, resulting in strong engagement with the consumer and your target audience. We love new technology, and are always striving to find new, innovative and exciting ways of communicating your message to consumers.

At EventLab, we advocate that Ambient Media, or New Media as we like to call it, can bring any brand to life.

With over eight years experience working with big promoters and agents in Europe, UK and Ireland producing one-off events and music festivals such as DEAF|Dublin Electronic Arts Festival, Oxegen, Electric Picnic, Body&Soul and Festival of World Cultures to production for Guinness 250 Arthur’s Day celebrations in 28 venues across the city and the Jameson Irish International Film Festival.

EventLab are event specialists and can offer a total event management package from artist booking & management to venue selection, bespoke promotion solutions, stage production and visuals.

DEAF| Installations at Filmbase

DEAF listed #5 in the Top 10 October festivals in the world http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1089

Subliminal marketing in the old sense was inserting a single frame of a product (a stunningly art-directed shot of an icy cold glass of Coke for instance) into a movie. The theory was that nobody knew they’d seen the frame, but they had – it was just too fast for them to register having seen it – then they all suddenly felt thirsty and raced to the snack shop for a Coke!

Subliminal advertising in that sense has been illegal in most countries for decades, but subliminal/incidental advertising in other forms is thriving.Why? Because it works. And it works at a sensory (touch, smell, taste, sight) level.

Why does it work? Simply, because the subconscious mind is mightier than the conscious mind when it comes to recognising and retaining sensory information. The same old basic theory applies but it’s not as sinister as single frame cuts: these days it’s everything from seeing products placed in movies and TV shows, to the smell of freshly-baking bread rolls at Subway, to the musical sound of the ice-cream van coming down the street on weekends.

First impressions: make it a good one!

My view has always been that your business card is no less important than your Receptionist at the office. In fact, thinking about it again … it’s actually MORE important!

I’ll explain: in 90% of cases, your business card is the first impression a client will get of you and your company. The first company ‘person’ they meet directly after meeting you.

It’s exactly the same as if they were walking into your reception area and meeting your Receptionist for the first time. If your Receptionist looks angry, quiet, meek, too trashy or just plain ugly and boring, like it or not that’s the brand image they immediately have of your company.

And if your business card looks angry, quiet, meek, trashy or just plain ugly and boring, guess what … that’s the brand image they immediately have of your company too.

And guess what? First impressions are the hardest impressions to change.

So is your cardboard Receptionist a mongrel or megastar? If upon handing your business card to someone you don’t get an immediate positive reaction or comment, chances are it’s a mongrel, so here are some of the big do’s and don’ts to unleash the megastar:

• Don’t cut corners with your business card any more than you would your Receptionist. Make it solid – no whimpy paper stock, make it solid card.
• Don’t be so ridiculously vain as to put a photo of yourself on it – do you really think you’d make a great/good-looking receptionist?!
• Use colour sparingly and well – 4 colour cards often look cheaper and more ‘cut price’ than brilliantly designed one and two colour cards. Every business I own/have owned has NEVER used any more than three colours. Adding matt & gloss varnishes, emboss or vercotype is far better than adding even more colour.
• Less is more – don’t cram you card with so much information that it looks like a brochure for Pygmies. LESS IS MORE! The less you say the less you leave open to interpretation.

At the Laureus Charity Night in Zurich last weekend digital signage was a built-in part of the show. Some 25 displays around the location were used to support the fund raising event with background information about hte Laureus projects as well as ambient. Only the life concert of Ronan Keating and the shine of prominence such as Boris Becker, Robby Naish and Rainer Maria Salzgeber successfully competed with the presence of the displays.
This once again underlines our claim that digital signage is not all about advertising (DOOH), but there is a huge market out there in the corporate, institutional and entertainment environments.

Even nicer and more important: the charity evening collected 230′000 CHF for its projects.

En el Museo Patio Herreriano de Valladolid. Jornadas TypeOn
Para estudiantes de diseño, escultura e ilustración, fotógrafos, paisajistas, diseñadores y grupos creativos de estudios de diseño y comunicación.

Haben die Leute in der Agentur keine Lust mehr, das Blog zu schreiben? Gibt es nicht genug Themen? Ist die Agentur pleite?

Nein, Nein, Nein!!!

Es geht doch schon lange weiter mit Ambient Media, Guerilla Marketing und Promotion Kampagnen aus aller Welt.

Und auf der Website der Promotion Agentur gibt es auch tolle Infos.

Hier lang geht es für die Leute, die sich für Suchmaschinenoptimierung, Webdesign oder TYPO3 interessieren.

We love this great idea for Coca Cola, so simple but how effective. Look at their reactions on this video:

Se siete amanti dell’arte e volete un’idea per l’estate, beh allora potete fare un salto al Museu Efémero di Lisbona. Come suggerisce il suo stesso nome, si tratta di un’esposizione effimera, in cui “le opere vivono soltanto il tempo necessario”. Le forme espressive sono varie e lo stesso dicasi per età e nazionalità degli espositori. La sede è rappresentata dalle stradine del Bairro Alto, il quartiere della capitale portoghese dalla vocazione bohémien.
Non a caso l’iniziativa è promossa, oltre che dall’Associazione Movimiento Acorda Lisboa (Movimento Svegliati Lisbona), dalla Fondazione Pampero, che consiglia di visitare il Museo al tramonto, accompagnati da un bicchiere di Dirty Pampero ghiacciato. Questo il manifesto del Museo Efémero: “Per diventare un vero artista ci vogliono anni di duro lavoro, studio e devozione. Non importa qual è la scuola, sia essa l’università o la strada“.
Originali anche le modalità di visita del museo: dal sito http://museuefemero.blogspot.com si può scaricare una mappa realizzata in collaborazione Flickr e una audio guida mp3 per iPod.

La campagna, promossa da Leo Burnett Publicidade è stata premiata con la medaglia d’Oro nella categoria Ambient Media agli ADC*E Awards.

The Apprentice

Śledząc poczynania firm na rynku polskim jak i zagranicznym dochodzę do ciekawych wniosków odnośnie funkcjonowania działów marketingu oraz przeznaczania budżetu na jego działalność. Te same zależności po części zauważam w swojej firmie i właściwie nie dziwie się, bo każdy chce jakoś przeczekać ten cięższy moment by potem już tylko rosnąć w siłę.

Marketing często jest traktowany przez firmy jako ten, który nie zarabia, nie przynosi korzyści w postaci gotówki, często również nie działa na tyle efektywnie by powiedzieć “mimo ze nie zarabiają – są nam potrzebni”. Bywa że traktowany jest również jedynie jako wsparcie działu handlowego, który (w przypadku sukcesu) spija całą śmietankę. Rzadko kiedy sprzedaż produktów i usług jest nazywana sumą np. dobrych działań marketingowych/pr-owych w połączeniu z ciężką pracą, jaką wykonują handlowcy. Najczęściej sukces i chwała przypadają tym ostatnim, ponieważ to oni są najbliżej klienta i to oni generują żywy dochód. W wyniku takiej sytuacji marketingowcy często bywają określani jako nieefektywni, mało twórczy, narażający firmę na stały koszt.

Co innego, gdy produktowi firmy lub samej marce brakuje szumu, dobrej reklamy i dobrej opinii wśród klientów. Jest to moment, w którym oczy firmy kierowane są właśnie na dział marketingu. Stawiane są (przez top management np.) górnolotne cele, których wykonanie może przynieść działowi chwałę i… podwyżki w przypadku nadzwyczajnych efektów. Określane są ramy czasowe, media plan oraz… budżet. No właśnie budżet to słowo o którym (w odniesieniu do działu MR) managerowie najwyższych szczebli nie chcieliby chyba słyszeć. Kryzys wywołał u najwyższych dziwne zachowania. Z jednej strony w przypadku słabej rozpoznawalności produktu, trzeba się reklamować i promować go, z drugiej – każda złotówka na ten cel przeznaczona najlepiej, zeby była obejrzana dokładnie z każdej strony. To jest właśnie paradoks, który dziwi mnie najbardziej w ostatnich miesiącach. Najlepszym modelem dla firm byłby chyba : reklamujemy się ale nie dajemy żadnego budżetu na ten cel bo… nie mamy (czytaj: chowamy na zapas, ale liczymy ze dacie rady).

W okresie ‘przedkryzysowym’ sytuacja wyglądała zgoła odmiennie- było zapotrzebowanie na konkretny sposób promocji, ustalało się budżet (niemały) i resztę pozostawiało się do zrobienia marketerom. Analiza rynku i zachowań klientów pozwalała na odpowiedni dobór kanałów dotarcia, natomiast dobra kreacja pozwalała na realizacje założeń kampanii. Owszem, zdarzały się gorsze i lepsze dni w trakcie jej trwania, jednak ostateczny sukces powodował, że wszyscy zapominali o trudniejszych momentach (w myśl zasady – zwycięzców się nie ocenia). Produkt zdobywał rozgłos, umiejscawiał się w świadomości potencjalnych klientów, marka kreowała wizerunek a firma koniec końców zwiększała sprzedaż (jest to oczywiście modelowo przeprowadzona kampania wraz z odpowiednią jej analizą i wyciągnięciem wniosków).

Dziś, nawet po udanej kampanii każdy chwilowy nawet, gorszy okres rozpatrywany jest w kategoriach porażki i źle wydanych pieniędzy. Zaciskanie pasa rozumiem, jednak nie można skutecznie sprzedawać nie tworząc wokół firmy i jej asortymentu pozytywnego wizerunku, czyli czegoś, czego nie idzie kupić za xxx tysięcy i oczekiwać że yyy osób (nowych, unikalnych klientów) w jednej chwili ją pokocha i zostanie lojalnymi na zawsze. Markę i jej dobre imię buduje się latami, nieraz poświęcając na ten cel grube miliony. Oczywiście można w czasie kryzysu promować się wykorzystując tańsze (i w wielu przypadkach skuteczniejsze) środki dotarcia do konsumentów, jak np. ambient, marketing w mediach społecznościowych, rozszerzenie działań pr-owych w mediach takich jak Internet lub radia niszowe (tak ! one mają naprawdę wielu słuchaczy, a jeśli wybierają coś niesztampowego to znak, że potrafią docenić inność). Tu jednak pojawia się kolejna przeszkoda, rodząca się w głowach głównodowodzących. Strach i obawa. Nawet idealnie zaplanowana kampania niestandardowa, mająca być przeprowadzona w miejscu, gdzie zauważy ją wiele osób (może stać się również kampanią dla szerszego spectrum dzięki crossmedialności – wystarczy nakręcić wydarzenie i umieścić na portalach typu youtube bądź flaker) bywa negatwynie odbierana przez górę. Głównymi powodami przeważnie są brak spójności z charakterem działania firmy a co ważniejsze- możliwość zyskania niepożądanej opinii firmy eksperymentującej. I tak koło się zatacza. Marketing się stara, a jego pomysły na tanią i efektywną promocję firmy są odsyłane do znacznych poprawek lub całkowicie tłamszone.

Recepty na taki stan rzeczy ciężko szukać, dlatego pozostawiam ten wpis bez wyciągania mniej lub bardziej ciekawych wniosków. Oby kryzys pozwolił firmom i ich działom marketingu na jak najlepsze lokowanie budżetów promocyjnych, a w konsekwencji – wyjścia z kryzysu silniejszymi od konkurencji z branży. Mam nadzieje, że to właśnie Internet i jego wszechstronność da dobrze zarządzanym firmom szanse aby (jak mówią flash’e promujące .. EUROGĄBKI z Naszej – klasy) kryzysowi się nie kłaniać. Ani teraz, ani w przyszłości.

]]> http://accademiaduepuntozero.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/smashing-voices/ Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:53:50 +0000 Accademia di Comunicazione http://accademiaduepuntozero.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/smashing-voices/

Dai lavori di Accademia al D&AD 2008, per il Royal Opera House, una comunicazione che trasla creativamente la spettacolarità dell’opera su un target meno di nicchia.

A empresa de mídia exterior CBS Outdoor em parceria com a agência britânica de marketing interativo Clusta, apresentou um projeto cross-media para Nike que integra mobile e mobiliário urbano, conectando um usuário de iPhone com a exibição projetada em um mobiliário urbano, via WiFi ou 3G.

As pessoas podiam fazer um tênis da Nike girar de um lado para o outro, aumentar ou diminuir de tamanho e ainda mudar de cor, tudo pelo seu iPhone pessoal. A solução em si não é exatamente genial mas sinaliza o que teremos de possibilidades por aí. via ADivertido.

Red street media stands out in Sydney, Australia

Red is one of the three primary colours. It also happens to be the colour that generates the greatest response in people worldwide. Red is known to set our emotions running wild – from passion to poison.

Research studies have proved that offices with a strong red theme results in employees working faster. But of course, faster work results in errors of judgement and mistakes, so before you go ordering 50 gallon drums of red paint, remember, slow and steady wins the race – red sports cars always end up wrapped around power poles. Yet red walls have also been shown to increase in appetite (ever wondered why just when you think you’re full in a Chinese restaurant, you order yet another dish?).

Red is often used as the primary colour for warning signs. Why? Because red stands out against white, grey and black backgrounds. Traffic signs use red because it’s the most visible color in daylight.

Red – and a multitude of shades of red – are also used as the symbol of love. Red is often used to draw attention and make items appear stronger, brighter and heavier. Red has been found to have such an impact on our emotions that it can cause the heart to beat faster. In fact, one study proved that when two sports teams are equally matched, the team dressed in red is more likely to win! But as red also seems to incite confrontation, perhaps it’s best not to wear red driving a red convertible through the back blocks of Redfern.

On a webpage it’s best to use red as an accent color to call attention to certain links or words on the page. If you want to use red as a background colour, a deeper, darker red works best. Bright red is too bright and hard on the eyes, making it difficult to read contrasting words. Red will stand out making visitors take notice of key words. For those who like red, a good choice is a monocromatic color scheme – using several shades of red with a contrasting color for links or main words can create a powerful webpage.

Want more?

• Color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent
• Color improves readership as much as 40 percent
• Color accelerates learning from 55 to 78 percent
• Color increases comprehension by 73 percent
• Color ads are read up to 42 percent more than similar ads in black and white
• Color can be up to 85 percent of the reason people decide to buy

And what vehicle colour guarantees the highest noticeability, recognition and retention? That’s right - red!

NEWS JUST IN … a new 2009 research study of 600 people conducted by British Columbia University has proved that a red computer screen background increases accuracy, and that red aids recall and detail!