ml haynes design

Coca-Cola’s popular holiday mascots, the polar bears, will soon be selling soda to consumers around the world. For nearly a century, those big white salesbears have been charming us with six packs of celebration, and this year they’ve got a real treat for U.S. consumers. Wrapped up in a complex square of black-and-white code is a free iPad and trip for two to the Arctic. Oh, and a nice little donation to the World Wildlife Fund.

Incredibly, Coca-Cola is launching its first-ever QR code campaign this holiday season (and running through March 2012). Millions of coded cups, distributed by 7-Eleven exclusively, will enable users to download the iPhone and iPad app, Snowball Effect by Coca-Cola. This Facebook-connected game enables users to rack up points and win one of 80 iPads and the Arctic adventure. The app links users to Coca-Cola Arctic Home, a site that takes donations to WWF’s work in conserving the bears’ arctic habitat. The beverage behemoth has already donated $2 million and will match user donations up to $1 million.

Scanbuy, the producer of the code-enabled drinkware, ran a QR code program for Taco Bell in August 2011 — thought to be one of the first QR code campaigns in the fast food category. That particular program connected consumers to Taco Bell–sponsored MTV content. McDonald’s has also used QR codes in non-U.S. markets. Results of a comScore survey released this summer noted that 14 million people in the U.S. scanned QR codes in June alone. This could be great news for polar bears around the world.

Hard to believe that a year’s gone by, but we’re back looking and laughing at 2011′s worst ads as polled and posted by Consumerist.com. That’s right, the second annual Worst Ad in America Awards have been announced and there are some surprises in the pack of winners. The ads populating (some may say plaguing) the television screens of this country have been rated and it ain’t pretty.

“The first year, I researched and comment-called every involved agency I could find. None would provide an official quote, though I did get yelled at for 90 minutes by a publicist from a top 5 agency who accused me of unfairly targeting their clients,” says Chris Morran, Consumerist senior editor. No surprise. If you’d created any one of these spots, would you return the call?

What do you think? Would you stand up and claim these spots as yours? Would you return the call?

ABSOLUTE WORST AD IN AMERICA
Luvs — Poop There It Is

 
 
MOST GRATING PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN
AT&T — Flash Mob Dancer

 
 
GROUP THAT OUGHT TO GO ITS SEPARATE WAYS
Esurance — Esurance Staff

 
 
TREND THAT NEEDS TO STOP BEING A TREND
Klondike — Men Enduring Wives/Girlfriends

 
 
MOST IRRITATING ANIMATED ACTOR
CarFax — CarFox

 
 
CELEBRITY WHO COULD PROBABLY USE A NEW MANAGER
Rent-A-Center — Hulk Hogan & Troy Aikman

 
 
CREEPIEST COMMERCIAL
Rejoyn Medical Systems — The Pos-T-Vac Penis Vacuum

 
Final results can be found on The Consumerist website.

The Gap is rolling out their new marketing campaign just in time for back-to-school in a style that’s more back-to-the-future. The campaign is the first major marketing push by Gap Inc. since a management shake-up in February ended with a new brand president, chief marketing offer, and ad agency.

“1969: L.A. and Beyond” is composed of 30- to 90-second online documentary-style videos centered around the goings on at its denim design studio in Los Angeles. Print ads support the urban fashion mashup as well. Taking the show on the road, “Pico de Gap” vintage taco trucks with celebrity chefs will hit New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, tweeting locations for each.

While food trucks have become a coast-to-coast craze, boasting everything from sushi and dumplings to street sweets and schnitzel, Gap is sticking with the “original” food truck that started the now nationwide trend. “The idea of Pico de Gap — and the taco truck used in our fall campaign 1969: L.A. and Beyond — came about one night when I was having dinner with our 1969 design team in downtown L.A.,” said Seth Farbman, Gap’s Chief Marketing Officer. “It’s these types of everyday moments that shape who we are as people and inspire the product we design for our customers. We thought it would be an unexpected, engaging way to share a little more about ourselves and the experience we had that night.”

To create an authentic aesthetic, each Pico de Gap truck was hand-painted and includes a replica of a vintage Gap ad and neon sign from the ’70s. Customers can check out the latest 1969 fall denim styles on display while enjoying tacos for a $1.69. With proof of a same-day Gap denim purchase, the meal is free.

Gap’s campaign launches in a back-to-school season in which consumers are expected to cut back spending because of economic woes and rising prices. Not good odds for a brand struggling to regain position — and profits. The once-leading brand is up against a half-decade of shrinking sales and shrinking stature.

Seth Farbman, CMO since 1Q 2011, says the campaign is not a quick fix, but an effort to drive sales and revive Gap’s image, which he says has “lost a bit of relevance.” Farbman says the focus of the campaign — jeans — is appropriate because they have been one of Gap’s strengths, accounting for about a quarter of the Gap brands revenue.

“This is the start; one step. This campaign begins to put us on the right course,” Farbman said. “Longer term, it starts a conversation about the brand.”

You know something’s gone mainstream when USA Today runs a piece, and food trucks are no exception. Foodies have known this for a long time. You know something’s hot when there are apps on virtually every platform, and apps for locating food trucks are also no exception. Tech savvy foodies know this as well.

The most recent addition to the collection of food truck–locating apps was developed by The Barbarian Group for the Android OS. Gastrodamus, a free app for iPhone and Android, is also uniquely built to aggregate Twitter content. Unlike other apps that rely on self/consumer reporting or GPS, the digital agency’s creation lists trucks and locations based on Twitter mentions. No location, no listing.

Developed as a side-project-in-progress — and taking recommendations for more food trucks — there are some obvious hiccups. The “nearby” functionality is glitchy and some vendors don’t show up as expected. The fact that the app is tracking and collecting specific content may have something to contribute to the less-than-perfect user experience, but should this app’s popularity pick up we may see that vendors and fans alike optimize their tweets, ensuring inclusion in each day’s display of not-to-be-missed locales.

Here are some of the mobile apps built to connect the hungry with local food trucks. Take a look. Is your favorite on the short-list? Could your agency design and develop something better for you and your famished colleagues?

Food Truck Fiesta

Eat St.

Roaming Hunger

Road Stoves GPS

TruxMap Lite Food Truck Map

Rob Gatto, CEO of Pointroll (provider of digital marketing services for interactive advertising), recently posted an article on Ad Age’s Digital Next titled “It’s Not the Size, It’s How You Use It.” Provocative title? Yes, but perhaps not in the way that first comes to mind. If you’ve been tasked with creating effective online display ads you know that it’s not easy to break through the on-page chaos of content, advertising, lists of “relevant” links and enough visual noise to make even the most driven user to click off and away. How you use the space you’ve been “given” is the ultimate challenge.

Or is it?

Gatto goes on to support his title with this bold statement: “Putting the Creativity Back Into Online Display Advertising.” He asks us to consider that it’s not the size at all, but the stuff inside the IAB approved pixel width and height. Maybe you’ve been schooled to believe — and to create toward — the concept that online display and disruption don’t play well together. Studies have shown that synergy between on-page content and display ad content, and by that I’m referring to look-and-feel or “creative,” increases the click-through of these ads. So what are we to do when challenged with injecting our work with creativity? Well, the author’s got an answer for that too.

He suggests that new ad formats might be well and good in engaging users and improving the user experience but size is not the solution. He insists on “a resurgence of creative.” And in his insistence he indicates what that might look like, using four broad categories where creativity can, and must, have a place in redefining what is possible with online display advertising. See if you don’t agree.

Redefine Creative for Digital Advertising
As the digital landscape evolves from a small number of circumscribed touchpoints to a more fluid experience across devices, locations, and activities, campaigns must shift their focus from platforms and formats to people: finding the right audience wherever it may be, and delivering creative that audiences will respond to.

Engage Consumers with Dynamic, Interactive Creative
Invite consumers into an ongoing brand relationship that both fits their current context and experience, and actually adds value to one or both.

Measure, Optimize, Repeat
As campaigns span platforms, so must our approach to marrying creativity with analytics. Constant technological and creative innovation is key.

Make an Impression
With so many ways to understand and target audiences, so many ways to reach them, and so many ways to channel our creative energy from mobile and tablet to social to out-of-home, we have an unprecedented opportunity to put our creativity to use in service of the brands we represent.

If you haven’t heard about the stolen laptop and the deadbeat dude that boosted it, you’ve been asleep at the wheel, my friend. There’s a Tumblr page with blow-by-blow descriptions of the theft, the lack of help from the local cops and — wait for it — images of the thief taken with the on-board camera by an installed app built to identify just such an evil-doer.

Such Astroturf marketing is becoming more common at the same time it’s becoming less distinguishable. And to those in the biz who make it their work to blur those lines, we salute you. Who hasn’t had the client request for a “sure thing viral campaign”? Who hasn’t hoped that a bit of creative “magic” will take off and rack up hits in 6-digits and then some? To all of us, here are some stealthy contenders aggregated by Todd Wasserman and Mark Book. Can you tell which is which?

Evan Longoria’s Crazy Bare Hand Catch (Gillette)
 
 
How To Hack Video Screens On Times Square (Limitless)
 
 
Walk On Water (Hi-Tec)
 
 
Kevin Durant Is Moving In Right Now (Nike)
 
 
Bike Hero (Guitar Hero)
 
 
Are You My Man In The Jacket? (Witchery)
 
 
Rear View Girls (Levi’s)
 

Butterfly Attack (Qualcomm)
 
 
Danish One-Night Stand (VisitDenmark)

Bizo, a business-to-business ad targeting platform, recently released data that highlights who in the business world is most inclined to take action when presented with an online ad. With access to third-party certified demographic data on more than 85 million business professionals online, Bizo found that those working in the Legal, Retail, and Software industries were most likely to do what an online ad asks them to do, while people working in Operations, Legal, or Sales roles lead the pack from a job function perspective.

Bizo gathers and organizes vast amounts of non-personally identifiable business demographic information (e.g., industry, job function, company size, seniority). The company tracks conversion objectives or “actions” (e.g., white paper downloads, free trial sign-ups, online purchases) across the hundreds of targeted display campaigns it supports so it is able to get a rich, aggregate view of the demographic profile of business professionals that are most inclined to take action against an ad.

Ready for Action: Top 10 Industries and Job Functions

Based on campaigns run over a 12-month period across the 85 million business professionals currently in the Bizo network, the data showed the business audiences most likely to take action against a display ad as well as their Action Rate Index (ARI) ranking.

Top 10 industry segments included:

1. Legal (ARI: 223 percent)
2. Retail (ARI: 192 percent)
3. Software (ARI: 185 percent)
4. Media Publishing(ARI: 184 percent)
5. Wholesalers(ARI: 157 percent)
6. Telecommunications (ARI: 121 percent)
7. Hospitality/Hotels (ARI: 116 percent)
8. Real Estate(ARI: 108 percent)
9. Business Services (ARI: 108 percent)
10. Consumer Services (ARI: 107 percent)

Top 10 job functions included:

1. Legal (ARI: 257 percent)
2. Operations (ARI: 218 percent)
3. Consultants (ARI: 157 percent)
4. Sales (ARI: 156 percent)
5. Marketing (ARI: 147 percent)
6. Finance (ARI: 146 percent)
7. Government (ARI: 102 percent)
8. Education (ARI: 102 percent)
9. Scientists (ARI: 100 percent)
10. Engineering/Technical (ARI: 97 percent)

The ARI is determined by the rate at which users performed a desired action after receiving a display ad impression. The percentage is calculated by comparing the number of online ads shown to a segment of business professionals to the number of times that same set of business professionals took an action against online ads. An index was then created, normalizing the data.

“The typical business sales process is long, complex, and involves multiple decision makers, requiring sellers to build trusting relationships with their buyers. This means companies that market to business professionals need to reach, educate and motivate the right audiences to close the sale,” said Chris Mann, director of product management of Bizo. “The data released today highlights the power of data-driven online advertising, giving marketers insight into who is taking action in response to an ad, and enabling them to precisely target decision makers with ads that will impact the purchasing decision.”

Well, it’s not that simple, really. Orange, California-based Adzookie would like to paint your house in a bright color palette, their logo, and the usual SoMe marks. You agree to have your house painted like a clown car (for at least three months, possibly up to a year) and the advertising firm will pay your nut, just as long as the abode remains its new vibrant hue.

Launched last week, Adzookie CEO, Romeo Mendoza, claims the company has already received more than 1,000 applications from people willing to have their houses turned into billboards. “It really blew my mind,” he told CNN. “I knew the economy was tough, but it’s sad to see how many homeowners are really struggling.”

This is not the first guerrilla advertising stunt blurring the line between public and private. Last month, Ecko began offering lifetime 20% discounts to people willing to get the company’s logo tattooed on their skin, calling it “Branded For Life.” Hey, these guys will repaint your place due to cancellation — bet that tattoo offer doesn’t come with a free-laser-removal clause. What’s next? How far will consumers go in search of the ultimate freebie?

And how far will businesses and brands go to show up in unexpected — and unavoidable — spaces? Will the far-out and funky be effective? Will this over-sized billboard promotion push this agency out of self-funding subsistence into fully funded bliss, acquisition, or beyond? Or will it be a few weeks of press, a spike in website traffic, a couple of wacky single-family dwellings and ticked off neighbors, then back to business as usual?

Inspired by recent best-of, top-ten, and year-wrap-up articles and blog posts, I wanted to share a sampling of international brands telling some great stories. These are, by no means, the beginning and end of great work (you won’t see the Old Spice or Most Interesting Man In The World here) but there is a wonderful way of telling a story that makes these ads—and the brands they are speaking for—quite memorable.

I’ve found myself gravitating toward the work of UK agencies of late—they’re doing great work in both pixels and print—and perhaps missed something in the work done by other firms in other locales. Regardless, I now have a deeper roster of go-to reels for a much-needed break, a laugh or thought-provoking pause, and maybe most important, inspirational storytelling.

Enjoy. Then share what’s inspired you in the last year, last week, or just this morning. Sharing stories is universal. And brands need us to tell their stories now more than ever.

Swimming Pool | Frolic Dog Biscuits | CLM BBDO, France

Miss Penny | ING Direct | Euro RSCG, Brussels

International Shipping | Federal Express | DDB, Brazil

Planemob | Germanwings | Lukas Lindemann Rosinski, Germany

The World’s Biggest Signpost | Nokia | Farfar, Sweden

Middle England | Dixons Group | M&C Saatchi, London

Greedy Grandma | Spies Travel Agency | Robert/Boisen & Like-Minded, Denmark