MORE THAN ADVERTISING

Innovate or Die – was the provocative title of Specialized open source campaign. The challenge was to invent a machine that transform pedaling energy into a new and useful purpose and inspire environmental change.

102 new pedal-powered machines entered the contest. The inventions were judged on creativity, design and the environmental impact.

Grand Prize Winner is the “Aqueduct” a pedal-powered vehicle that transports, filters and stores water for the developing world.

This contest was a great way for the brand to demonstrate the benefits of cycling, generate ideas for new projects and to get a lot of buzz and attention. Let´s see if they also produce and distribute these “Aqueduct” – bikes and help to bring this great idea to life.

Together with Evergreen, a national not-for-profit organization that makes cities more livable, Hellmann’s is launching a Real Food Movement.
They install urban community gardens so that people have the opportunity to grow and harvest their own vegetables in plots close to home.

“Hellmann’s wants to inspire Canadians to ‘eat for real’ by providing them with the space to grow their own fresh produce,” said Sharon MacLeod, the brand-building director at Hellmann’s Unilever Canada Inc.

On their website you can create your own planting guide, get tips and tricks from experts and find all the necessary information needed to plant your own urban garden. In the forum users can exchange ideas, ask questions and discuss about gardening and fresh food.

This project reinforces Hellmann’s commitment to using real ingredients in their products and shows Canadians that shortening the distance from field to table isn’t as hard as it seems.

But most important is, that this project is relevant to the people. They offer usefully information and help a growing community of urban gardeners to get some attention for what they´re doing. And let´s see, perhaps this campaign could reach the tipping point and become a Real Food Movement. A movement sponsored by a brand.

It´s called Augmented Reality and it is basically the combination of real-world and computer-generated data. This technology will change the way we interact with information completely.
I visited Y-Dreams, a very innovative company in Lisbon last year. They already have some really interesting Augmented Reality products for advertising in their portfolio . It was fascinating to see all this new possibilities when I walked around in their show room.

This is one of their projects they did during the world cup 2006:

It´s amazing to see how much fun people can have while they interacting with a piece of advertising. This technology can transform your ad from being disruptive to be an exciting and engaging experience.

That was actually the inspiration for the mini clubman “the other test-drive” project, we did in German cinemas.

Just found this George Carlin video on Faris Blog. At first I smiled, but than it really made me think. Because this is the way our ads talk to people every day!

“I think we should consider the extreme views of advertising contained in the words of Hicks and Carlin, the critique of intent and tonality, and allow them to drive us to make it better.” Faris Yakob

I have nothing to add to this quote. Let´s try to make it better!

This is the perfect game for the end of a hard work day! Just use your arsenal of new marketing tactics to knock the Old Ones out!
(I wished it would be that easy in real life )

“make the kindest cut of all” – that´s the slogan for Pantene Beautiful Lengths charity project. Pantene’s campaign is the first to encourage women and men to grow, cut and donate their healthy hair to make wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment.

Woman across the country join the movement and cut their hair for this project. Even the award-winning actress Diane Lane announced that she will cut off her hair and donate it to support the charitable campaign. (which is pretty good PR content)

On the Beautiful Lengths website you can download a guide that shows, how you can donate your hair. But there also a lot of Social Web features. For example, you can join the Beautiful Lengths community, see other woman that have already cut their hair via flickr photostream or read about news and the progress in the blog. In addition Pantene is hosting several public cutting events, like this one in Toronto:

A great way for the brand to proof that they care about beautiful hair. This campaign reaches and involves, even touches the people instead of disturbing them. So don´t waste all your media budget on airing senseless TV-ads showing beautiful models waving their shiny hair. Use it to create something that is relevant to the people, something they want to be part of and want to talk about with their friends.
That´s the way you build up strong relationships with your brand and turn customers into evangelists.

Action speak louder than words. So why do we try to solve problems only by talking about them? Sure a great ad can get attention and reach many people who might even donate, but does that really solve anything? Can´t we do more than a great headline, a spot or an online banner?

Yes we can!

Instead of an ad campaign, the Toronto-based advertising agency TAXI created something special. 15 Below, a jacket that really helps homeless people to survive cold winters.

The fabric is waterproof, windproof, as well as breathable. It is designed to keep the homeless warm and dry. By simple filling up the pockets with newspaper it converts from a lightweight raincoat into a super-warm jacket that was tested to be effective up to -29° celsius. You can even fold it into a backpack or use it as a pillow.

“Our approach to solving problems – of any sort – has always been to question convention. This won’t eliminate homelessness, but it can make a lot of people more comfortable.”
said Paul Lavoie, co-founder, chairman, and chief creative officer of TAXI.

Leo Burnett Canada´s CEO David Moore describes this new breed of ideas as “a movement beyond advertising to human acts” . Or his even more precisely definition: “From ads to acts”.

A great project that illustrates what´s possible and that hopefully lead the way to more ideas like that.

Just found in my comments. The Humanitarian Lion Team have finished their website. So please sign up and send this link to colleagues and friends to support this idea. http://www.humanitarianlion.com/