Diesel turns 30!

With a trackrecord of creating a certain hype and attention around everything they do, a birthday giving the roman numbers XXX couldn’t pass by without a controversial campaign. 

This is dirty, fun and intriguing in an absurd way. So if anybody haven’t seen it yet, here is the viral campaign kickstarting the event follow by a huge facebook driven campaign inviting to the world’s biggest party.

This moment the facebook event has 6.440 confirmed guests, and the events will be broadcasted live on www.diesel.com

The appstore opens a whole new world for branding. Easy to use, easy accessible and highly relevant connections with the consumer. The apps create a space for engaging the consumers on their terms and a new race has opened. The race for developing the most inviting, intriguing, innovative and involving app. So I will kickstart the race here and ask everybody to send comments with branded apps they have seen or heard about. Also ideas for cool apps that could have had a perfect sponsor or sender on it. Please participate. This could be quite fun and interesting .

In my search for a challenge to the MDAS viral video I found this. The video is kind of slow, and the idea about making it in Second Life is fun, but gets pretty annoying after a while. Who want to watch bad graphics for more than 30 Sec? Seeing som of the Machinima made in WOW second life can’t follow that lead.

Anyway. About customer care: This is a fine act of balance though. To care about the consumers, but not to be obsessed with them. That can be scary too. With all the new technology possibilities we have to choose how to activate our knowledge. Google has been on the public agenda for a while concerning issues on collecting data. Joost is heading for the same trouble.

But as I’m concerned it depends on how you chose to use the data. If Google can use my info to customize the ads on my GMail, so I wont get diaper-commercials (not planning to get any kids right now) or holiday-offers (when I’m not going on holiday before the end of august) I will embrace data-gathering.

If it means I can get customized, relevant ads and therefore no annoying, disruptive ads with NO relevans at all. If joost can get my data so the value of each commercial will be multiplied I’ll (or hope I will) receive 1 minute of TV-C’s compared to the 7 minutes often aired today. And that minute will be relevant – Please collect my data! But use it well!

We all know how hard it is to get peoples attention today. One of the world most difficult tasks is to get attention on very boring, un-sexy subjects such as public signage. We know people do not pay as much as a small moment of attention to anything that falls in the category of  “this is something you already know, but you ignore it, so we try to tell you once more” like the safety messages on airplanes, alcohol/smoking campaigns and alike.

We often see how some of these categories continuesly cross borders, to renew the possibility to get attention – and some just seems to lost faith in attention (like the flight safety messages – though we here see small glims of hope: Like the flight attendant described in the Heaths brothers Made To Stick where the messages was spiked up  with  some humour for example about the disco-lights that led to the exit signs).

Humour can be a good lead into attention. Eventhough it is an informative message it can be told in a different way.

This is a brilliant example from Larsbjørnsgade in Copenhagen. Found the pictures on a Swedish guys blog. Translated it says:

1: Bicycles will be removed in co-operation with Polish Bicycle Import.

2: Bicycles parked here get its tyre pierced for free.

3: What’s wrong with the public parking around the corner?

On the beach of Barcelona I just found this in Attention by Ken Sacharian, which gives another funny comment on the validity of media planning based on efficiency based on simple CPM-values. Just for the record – I don’t believe a second in planning this way. I believe in interaction and engagement.  But everybody say they do – and still I see flowcharts packed with these numbers. I think they are okay at optimising the plan after making the stategy based on insights – but not as a tool of strategy. This quote kind of makes the point in a funny way.

Efficiency is not strategy
If other fields worked that way – imagine an architect who has been awarded  a skyscraper design project. If she operated as our fictional brand marketeer does then she would start by examining the efficiency of building materials: Brick is less expensive than steel, but wood is less expensive than brick, and plastic and vinyl is less expensive than wood – we’ll build an scyscraper in plastic ad vinyl.  Attention – Ken Sacharian

outdoorJust found this video on The Hive and think it’s quite funny and challenges out business alway creative view on Outdoor media – Is it urban spam or are people entertained on their walk through life?

After Henrik Dahls very positive talk Anker Brink Lund from CBS talked about the opposite trend being consumers paying less attention to TV commercials. He raised up an inattention index being the medium crossed with the level of other activities normally carried out during mediatime. TV and Phones were often dual-media-use. ABL did a good job in shaking up the discussion and taking the Hymn of TV on the ground of reality. A well used friday morning….