Pepsi Preaches Dubs n' Decks

PEPSI continues to show its creative edge and as always has music as a central part of its strategy. Below are its latest online initiatives which includes a fun "Move the Crowd" component where Dusko pratices his skills preparing for the weekend.

Continuing its 2007 Choreography initiative, Pepsi-with Tribal DDB Worldwide again at the creative helm-is now tapping both car and club cultures with two microsites that'll likely rouse both pimped ride enthusiasts and bedroom DJs. With Street Motion, Pepsi teamed with DUB magazine to entice competitive auto-philes to design their own set of rims, from base and spoke to center cap and inlays. The artistes can indulge in a broad spectrum of colors, and a multitude of styles for each component, with the top dub winning its creator a real-life set of his or her design. But for those tuning out the bling-friendly fare, DJ Division gives vinyl-spinning neophytes the chance to stake their claim on the 1's and 2's with its "Superstar DJ" contest. Starting June 15th, the site will feature nine DJs each from twelve separate regions squaring off to land a spot in the finals (ending on September 7th) where users at home can then rank their performances, with the winning mixmaster joining Pepsi's elite DJ Division. All it takes is an uploaded MP3 of your best mix to enter, but for those with a bit of stage fright, the site also offers a "Move the Crowd" option where you can create your own beats and loops from the obscurity of your home computers.. Check out the US campaigns at Pepsi - 'DJ Division' and 'Street Motion'

MTV - The Opposite of Everything

The newest wave of MTV adverts are here. I'm not sure what this has to do with music (well, that fits MTV I guess), but it's both funny and creepy as hell:

Star Wars - the beginning of Viral

November 2002 marked the beginning of the viral video outbreak.

A fanatical Star Wars fan (like my son) videotaping himself fighting as a Jedi warrior with nothing but a golf ball retriever, was discovered in the archives of a high school camera room. As a practical joke, the video was uploaded to the net, and from there… a phenomenon.



From its first upload on Kazaa, the funny, quirky video spread like wildfire through file-sharing sites, youtube and eventually several TV shows like Arrested Development and The Colbert Report. The outbreak of the video continued to snowball as people began editing the video with their own special effects, sending it to friends, and making movie trailers from the footage.








The various pieces and versions of the boy's original video have now been viewed over 900 Million times!

And all of this was absolutely self-propelled. No agency or corporate promotion was needed to make it work.

So what made this video so viral? The possibilities for promoting artists/bands using viral footage are endless. What makes one more powerfuly viral than another? I wrote a post about the viral nature of video a few months ago... which has a recipe for "viral", but it's obviously not as simple as that because I see a TON of very un-funny video floating around everywhere nowadays.

Color Changing Card Trick!

Watch the video first.



It's amazing to see how the way we focus on something affects our whole perspective and attention level.
We are conditioning ourselves to the traditional card trick, we try to catch "that specific moment" where we will understand how the thing works. But as you see, all the environment is changing at that time. And once that someone shows it to us in an obvious way, we say "wow, I did not even realized it!"

well, it seems like this video is a good picture of the world we are living in.
we have got to catch the whole thing changing instead of wasting time, trying to understand the tricky point which is distracting and locking us...

why are sales declining, how has our customer changed?
it seems that not only the customer has changed color. "nothing is like it was a few years ago".

What if God had a MySpace?

Just a funny youtube discovery for the weekend - interesting to see how MySpace still inspires people to create crazy stuff...




Mathias

P!NK video contest galore!

To support the single "Dear Mr. President" (Top 10 charts already - 5th single out of this album!) we set up a huge online & tv promotion with www.myvideo.de (german youtube, 5th biggest internet page in Germany and the biggest national video portal). The promotion is also TV covered by TAFF (boulevard & entertainment program at big private tv station PRO7).

P!NK herself asks the fans to record their own video to "Dear Mr. President" to win a meet & greet with her this summer. The promotion includes all of her videos - only with the "Dear Mr. President" clip you can win the prize. TAFF does accompany everything - announcement, broadcast of fan clips on a regular base, will show P!NK picking the winner as well as the final meet & greet. Online banner are set up at the whole network of PRO7 media (www.pro7.de, www.kabel1.de, www.taff.de, www.myvideo.de and affiliate partners) together with buy recommendation/links.

Check out: http://www.myvideo.de/online/page.php?l=1&P=610#player

Alex & Nina!

Coke and iTunes link for promotion

Coke and iTunes link for promotion
15 May 2007 - 11:46:47

Coca-Cola is teaming up with iTunes on a music promotion that will span 17 European countries this summer.

The campaign will see the drinks company give away songs from the iTunes store in 2bn promotional packs of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero before the end of August.

The on-pack promotion will also offer customers the chance to win iPods and attend Coke and iTunes-sponsored concerts across Europe.

The Coke and iTunes summer concerts will see headline acts playing with newer acts from Coca-Cola's grassroots programme that allows undiscovered artists to upload their music on Coke's website( www.coke.com/music ).

All of the concerts will be recorded and made available as downloads and podcasts exclusively on iTunes.

What's The Big Idea?

Last week I attended a conference in the UK called Media 360 which gathered together some of the biggest and brightest marketers, advertising and digital agencies, media buyers and media owners ranging from companies such as Unilever, P & G, Barclays, Channel 4 through to Olgivy, Clearchannel, Microsoft, Yahoo and Vodafone.

A key point of discussion and debate was about marketing in today's world. One of the key themes that came up a number of times was the essential aspect of creating a Big Idea or Big Ideal to base your campaign around. Alan Rutherford, VP of Global Media for Unilever, summed it up well by outlining a four stage process...

1. Put the consumer first - understand the psychology and sociology of your audience.
2. Engage with key cultural trends.
3. Create talkability.
4. Do the numbers last.

As an example see the video below for an amazing campaign that was put together for Lynx in Australia and New Zealand.

The insight behind the campaign was that Unilever discovered and tapped into the fact that Lynx's target audience in Oz and Nz (18-21 year old guys) started to think that air travel and the planning of their first overseas trip on their own was a very aspirational goal.

The insight resulted in a Big Idea which was driven through 32 different channels in an example of true 360 degree integration...see the video below. The sales impact off the back of the campaign was unprecedented.

Obviously our artists aren't brands like Lynx, but to what extent do we need to start thinking in this way?

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Advertising vs. the Consumer

A video by Microsoft digital advertising solutions...

Sometimes (unfortunately more times than some), aren't we this guy? Still turning the same old tricks the same old way to a consumer that has dramatically CHANGED. Are we thinking enough about the CONSUMER as we market our music? The guy listening on the other end? Or the girl singing her lungs out along to the radio in her car? Who is SHE? And not just what is she listening to but where is she going and how is this music connecting to HER? I need to think about that more. Sometimes I get too caught up in the big picture. A launch event. A meet & greet. TV advertising or a radio show. And I lose touch with her.

The Break Up
Uploaded by geertdesager

Relax, Take It Easy

Sometimes music seems to be written for tv commercials like Mika´s new single "Relax, Take It Easy" for German Telco Alice advertising their new combined DSL + landline + mobile rate:

Alice TV Spot

Fergie's solo tour is going wireless.

An interesting headline from the Billboard Bulletin last week. It will be interesting to see the fans reaction and whether the tour suffers due to this deal being exclusive to one carrier - Verizon.
"Fergie's solo tour is going wireless. No paper tickets will be sold for the 20-city tour, sponsored by Verizon Wireless. Instead, fans can download a mobile ticket to their mobile phones which they can present at the door for entry. Verizon Wireless subscribers can get a ticket via any of the following mobile tie-ins: by downloading any of Fergie's songs from the VCast Music full-song download service; attending one of several planned Verizon Wireless i-store events; downloading the new Fergie TV channel on VCast; buying select Motorola phones; participating in various "Try 2 Win" fitting events at Kohl's department stores; or through radio promotions. The mobile ticketing initiative is backed up by a number of other mobile-related activities Fergie is offering fans. She created a custom "Fergie TV" channel that fans can download from the VCast mobile video service, available May 21. Content includes clips based around fashion, style, relationships and music. The artist also plans to take questions from fans via text messaging, which she will then answer in the Fergie TV updates. The tour will also feature "green screens" similar to those used in motion picture special effects, allowing fans to dance to Fergie songs and have their image inserted into the show footage. The resulting video will be sent to fans' mobile phones, and fans creating the best videos will have the chance to join Fergie on stage during the finale of each stop. Verizon additionally created as special Fergie Mobile Fashion Meter contest. Fans will be invited to visit certain Verizon Wireless stores to have their pictures taken with mobile phones. The most stylish fans will have the chance to model on stage at a fashion show by the Candie's fashion line." More details click here BEP.com.

Ray-ban Viral

This viral for Ray-Ban was posted to youtube just yesterday, and it’s already nearing 7k views. It was created by Cutwater (Omnicom's newest agency).

Here’s what Chuck McBride, ecd of Cutwater had to say:

“It can’t be a fashion brand, but it is fashionable, so what is it? People like them at the comfort level. They’re what they wear when they are most themselves. That’s how we came up with “Never Hide.” These glasses don’t mask who you are, they’re a window to who you are. For the short while, ”Never Hide” is one of the best branding ideas I’ve had. Everyone gets the double entendre; it’s just right strategically for the audience and the client, and it is evoking a truth. And it’s a big idea that a lot of cool executions can live under. We went out to find the biggest truth out in a marketplace that is going label-driven and fashion. It is a nice, disruptive thought.”

Have You Been Drinking?

I fell on that nice and creative guerilla campaign from Portugal.
The gerilla team of the Portuguese Taxi Association put yellow "taxi prisms" on all the cars in front of big clubs and bars, writing "If you've been drinking, don't risk it. Call 707 308 294."
Received calls between midnight and 4am have increased by 50%.

Would a similar idea work, by reaching interested audience at the end of concerts? "If you like it, you may want to buy it"
??

Paying Artists For Free Music

"The Pirate Bay has started a unique collaboration with the members of the Swedish rock band Lamont and their manager Kristopher S. Wilbur. After lengthy discussions about the future of the record industry and its implications for the many talented artists and songwriters around the world, we discovered that we held the same vision. The shared insight that the record industry—with its current business model—is outdated inspired the birth of Playble.com.

This innovative music site will allow users to download music by artists for free and still support them financially. Playble.com will give companies with strong brands the opportunity to support music and artists directly. Welcome to Playble.com."

www.playable.com

Great Online Advertising

watch this:
http://www.club-internet.fr/le-duel/

Keep Your Hands Off My Meat

Meat maker inks music download deal.

What's the only thing better than ground meat encased in synthetic intestines? That same meat accompanied by downloadable music, of course.

Looking to tap into the popularity of digital music, meat maker Carl Buddig & Co. and its subsidiary Old Wisconsin sausages have inked a deal to offer a free download in its packaged deli meats and specialty sausages.

The firm has hooked up with digital music provider Puretracks, which is layering a free download into about 15 million Buddig and Old Wisconsin packages. Puretracks has a catalog of 2 million songs and connected with the meat maker through Promotional Currency, a Dallas-based marketing strategies firm that specializes in digital entertainment promotions. Each specially marked Buddig or Old Wisconsin package will include a unique package code, along with a pointer to the firm's Web site to retrieve the download.

5 Visions

What happens when you give 5 video directors one script, each commissioned to shoot a film the way they interpret it? How different would each film be?

This is a competition that Clarins ran promoting a film festival in Argentina called Project 155. If you have seven minutes to watch the whole thing tell me which one you liked the most. Just a tip- you may want to skip the first short film because I think it is the worst, but hey, that’s just my opinion.

I like this idea. I think music video directors, for example, are under-recognized. What if we work together with MTV to create 5 different short music videos for one song, leading up to the EMAs? The idea being to celebrate the "directors" rather than just the artist. Using our artist and music as the drawing board.

NIN viral campaign catch-up

Lots of people have asked me about the NIN campaign which has attracted a lot of noise around the release of their new album Year Zero. Matthias Lumm (Malum) posted about it last month and John Fleckenstein commented on it this morning.

Here's a brief catch-up on the details:

The campaign began when fans found that a new Nine Inch Nails tour T-shirt contained highlighted letters that spell out the words "I am trying to believe." It was then discovered that iamtryingtobelieve.com was a website that spoke of a vision of a dystopian future - also other websites found in the same IP range were also portraying a similar theme.

Soon after a USB key containing an mp3 of a new song from the album was found in the bathroom at a NIN concert in Lisbon, followed by others at other concerts - these quickly found their way around the net.

Other files included an mp3 of static noise that when ran through a spectrograph produced an image of 'the presence' which would go on to become the album cover.

The entire concept is about harnessing the power of fans. Marketing never gives the consumers enough credit (in my humble opinion).

Comprehensive Data Guide to the Digital Marketing World

NEW YORK - The world of digital marketing is evolving so rapidly in so many directions that simply keeping up with developments is a major challenge for most of us. Attached is a Digital Fact Pack, a 52-page data guide to the digital media and marketing landscape. Some great facts and figures across all categories. Long but worth flicking through!

Click the atached to download the guide: the Digital Marketing landscape.

Nine Inch Nails Releases Tracks on The Pirate Bay

One of the most notorious BitTorrent sites, a haven for pirates and copyright content, The Pirate Bay has been embraced by Trent Razor and the Nine Inch Nails, who have chosen to make their tracks, "Capital G", "My Violent Heart", and "Me, I'm Not." available for download via torrents indexed on the site.

http://www.slyck.com/story1461.html