HP:::Engine room

Worried it was losing touch with the next generation of computer users, and losing sales to rival brands like Apple and Sony that were seen as ‘cooler’ amongst its target demographic, HP partnered with MTV to create Engine Room. The remit: to engage with young people across the world, challenging them to demonstrate their own creative skills and the capabilities of the HP computer.

Research carried out by the computer manufacturer showed that HP’s target audience saw the brand as being less progressive than both Apple and Sony with only 36% agreeing HP was innovative vs. 68% for Apple and 52% for Sony. Since 2006, HP’s partnership with MTV has sought to rectify this trend.

Engine Room provided 16 talented digital artists, representing Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, the opportunity to compete on HP’s newest technology, battling it out for $400,000 USD, a load of HP gear and programming control of MTV’s screen in Times Square. The progress of the 16 was broadcast by MTV through a short-form series airing around the world on TV and online.

BRAND:HP

BRAND OWNER:Hewlett Packard

CATEGORY:Computers/Software

REGION:Global

DATE:Jun 2008 - Dec 2008

MEDIA OWNER:MTV

MEDIA CHANNEL

GAP:::in exchange

To celebrate its 40^th anniversary, clothing brand GAP wanted a way to mark the occasion with an event that would make a big impact and get people talking about the brand. It decided to team up with the New York Stock Exchange, getting all traders to wear jeans for the day.

GAP became renowned for its jeans-wear back in the sixties when icons such as James Dean made the clothing fashionable. Always associated with blue-collar professions because of their hard-wearing nature, the GAP event was the first time jeans have been allowed onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

On 21^st August, GAP outfitted 1200 traders in its new 1969 Premium Jeans collection – named after the year the company was founded. Media organisations

were invited onto the floor to photograph the traders at work and to mark the close of play at 4pm, GAP North American president, Mark Hansen, and founding family members, John and Bill Fisher, rang the Closing Bell remotely from GAP’s San Fransisco HQ.

The stunt gained major press coverage across the states and reinforced GAP’s credentials as a stalwart of the fashion industry, at the heart of American culture.

BRAND:GAP

BRAND OWNER:GAP

CATEGORY:Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear

REGION:USA

DATE:Aug 2009

AMEDIA CHANNEL

Doritos:::Ask and you shall receive

Doritos prides itself on being a brand that listens to its consumers. So, when the crisp manufacturer came across a group on Orkut – the most popular social networking site in Brazil – named ‘We want a 5kg bag of Doritos’, it decided to help realise the groups’ dream.

Doritos has always looked to engage with its young target audience in its advertising. Past campaigns have challenged consumers to create videos and participate in computer games. By reacting to the topic being discussed on Orkut, not only did Doritos involve its consumers in a two-way conversation, it also showed it is prepared to engage them on their level.

Doritos launched the campaign by showing off a giant 5kg packet of Doritos at Mercado Mundo Max, an event where new ideas and trends in art, fashion and music are put on display. 5 kg bags were then sent out to Doritos lovers and opinion setters across Brazil, including influential bloggers and advertising agencies. Finally, a live stream of a 5kg bag was put on Doritos website, as well as on You Tube and flickr, and consumers were invited to guess how many crisps were in the packet, with the bag being offered as a prize.

The campaign ran for a month. In that time, the Doritos site received 113,126 unique visitors and 41,135 bets, with users spending an average dwell-time of almost 3 minutes. It turned out to be the biggest social media campaign in Brazil in 2008, so successful that Doritos decided to release a limited edition run of 5kg bags for sale in selected Brazilian supermarkets.

BRAND:Doritos

BRAND OWNER:PepsiCo

CATEGORY:Confectionery/ Snacks

REGION:Brazil

DATE:Oct 2008 - Nov 2008

MEDIA AGENCY:Cubocc

MEDIA CHANNEL

CBS:::Interactive insert

TV companies are increasingly finding themselves in competition with a raft of digital and ‘on demand’ options.

To ensure its top programmes get the viewing figures it wants this Autumn, CBS is pulling out all the stops and putting a paper-thin interactive video player into the pages of Time Inc.’s popular magazine Entertainment Weekly.

Gone are the days when TV companies could place print ads in TV Guides and expect an audience to drop everything and tune in - viewers are increasingly in control of when and where they watch their favourite programmes. In recent years, CBS has resorted to increasingly bizarre methods of generating publicity for the launch of its new shows, including advertising on the shells of supermarket eggs.

Its latest idea is certainly more hi-tech. The interactive video-player insert, designed by Americhip, triggers automatically when readers turn to the ad page. The player is rechargeable by USB, and extra footage can also be downloaded in this way too. Likely to cost CBS millions of dollars, it will come loaded with a montage of clips from shows promoting the TV programmer’s ‘Monday to the Max’, which features season debuts of ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘Two and a Half Men’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and its new series ‘Accidentally on Purpose’.
To go alongside the insert, CBS will also screen the pilot of ‘Accidentally on Purpose’ at college campuses. An online microsite will be launched featuring teasers for the show and red-carpet interviews from a Los Angeles premiere party.

BRAND:CBS

BRAND OWNER:CBS Corporation

CATEGORY:Entertainment

REGION:USA

DATE:Sep 2009

AGENCY:OMD

MEDIA OWNER:Time Inc

MEDIA CHANNEL

Carrefour new wordmark and icon:::“Positive is Back”

With more than 15,000 stores in 35 countries generating more than 100 billion Euros in sales, the French supermarket chain Carrefour is undeniably one of the world’s most prominent retailers and purveyors of, to put it simply, good stuff at decent prices.

Its identity design, the icon and typography have remained consistent since 1966 — only nine years after Carrefour’s launch — when the C-in-a-diamond icon made its appearance next to a typewriter-style wordmark. This September 4th, along with a new campaign titled “Positive is Back,” Carrefour has introduced a new wordmark and a slightly modified icon.

Old (yellow) and new (blue) icon comparison overlay, 3 second interval.

Old (above) and new typography.

The resulting shapes from the C eating away at the diamond is instantly recognizable so with such a high-stake operation around the world it makes no sense to introduce something revolutionary.

The new wordmark is friendlier and quirkier, and has a nice flair to it that most serif typefaces lack, so it feels like a good birdge between the blocky slab serif of old and some corporate serif. .

Sample applications.

Gradient combinations, more at Carrefour’s Facebook page.

The biggest change, more than the icon or the typography, is the introduction of a range of gradients for the icon. In application — which, unfortunately, we only have one small image — the concept seems like it could work and gives Carrefour a slightly trendy and upbeat look.

New TV ads for “Positive is Back” campaign.

Molson Dry beer: Social reality gaming

Association of party pros (APP)

The challenge Molson Dry wanted to position itself as the ultimate party beer. We had to connect drinkers with the brand as well as with one another. We developed a unique concept: A social reality game.

The solution We created a new sport related to a social activity: the party. Players are members of the Association of Party Pros (APP), which is supported by a distinct advertising campaign and a Web platform. The game is played in all the natural habitats of “party animals:” bars, parties, concerts, Facebook, nightlife webzines and at www.produparty.com . The players who accumulate the most points through their performances during parties are crowned with the title Party Legend. They are featured on the APP website and Facebook, get exclusive party gear at the Molson boutique, APP privileges, and ultimately represent Quebec at the Tenerife Carnival, in the Canary Islands.

The results The campaign, launched in 200_, became more than contagious, it went viral: thousands of players, no less than 25 parties, each bringing together over 3,000 party pros, almost 10,000 fans on Facebook, closely followed by 6 nightlife webzines and 20 winners. Uniqueness The relationship between the field and the social networks in the APP campaign clearly demonstrates that the Web can work effectively with other marketing platforms to create a global experience in multiple locations, with many players. Molson Dry became a hub for social interaction between party pros all over Quebec.

Credits:

Advertising Agency: Le Monde de Cossette, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Creative Director: Jonathan Rouxel

Art Director: Kevin Lo

Copywriter: Marilou Aubin

Illustrator: David Arcouette

Other additional credits:

Production : Sandie Rotge

Released: May 2009