Old or New Facebook, there are changes going on

There has been an ongoing debate among my geeky friends whether they hate or love the new Facebook. There is even a group petitioning for Facebook to go back to the old set up. I am one of those who are sitting in the neutral fence, not really caring, however I noticed an interesting additional feature in the ads application. Apparently if you click on the ads, you will be able to rate it whether you like or hate it, along with your feedback to the ads. As one of the advertising world denizen, I am quite intrigued by this functionality. After all, apart from occasional focus group, it is rather rare for us to get a feedback on our works, so you know, we can improve it ;-) Is this a wind of change for advertising world? Would this become the standard norm in the future?

Wakamaru is blogging for Uniqlo

Having a blog for your company is quite common these days, but to have a robot to blog for you, it is quite different. Wakamaru is a cute robot who is currently interning in Uniqlo NYC store. This cute yellow robot has been working as the staff in the SoHo branch for a few weeks now. Wakamaru's role in Uniqlo range from greeting the guests, making eye contacts, and completing menial tasks. Charming right! Although obviously Wakamaru has several weakness but he is doing wonderfully to engage with customers as one Uniqlo ambassador. Check out Wakamaru's blog and Facebook profile!

Political engagement

This blog is not about politic affairs, but with the world tuning into the American presidential election, I can’t help but follow the progress. After the not-so subtle jibe from Paris Hilton’s video, the latest development of the campaign turned to the announcement of the candidates’ VP nomination. What is so interesting? Well, instead of doing it in the conventional way, Mr. Barack Obama decided to inform his supporters via email and SMS. Ahead from the journalists and from the man himself!Barack Obama is no stranger when it comes to utilising the power of web 2.0. He managed to outdo Hillary Clinton’s gargantuan money machine by employing grass-root strategy through social network sites like Facebook. But this takes the political marketing strategy to a new level. Why? Two words: engagement and personalisation. Won’t you be awed to receive SMS/email from your presidential candidate? It will also definitely differentiate him from other candidate and just imagine the buzz surrounding this move. In addition to that, now he has a good database of his supporters that he can easily use to activate them. Is this manoeuvre going to be the new benchmark in political engagement? Lets wait and see.

Geschmackslabor

Hey Folks, I am back and kicking once again after such a long hiatus. After a couple months of tight workloads, today surprisingly I am in the downtime. I should really savour the time and use it for loads of other commitments that I have been postponing. First are this precious blog and then my self-enrichment film editing workshop. On the latter one, hopefully I can at least master the basic skills and use it soon ;-)
Anyway, I just want to share a good example of trysumer and customisation business combo. Geschmackslabor, Flavour Lab in German, is a new restaurant in Bremerhaven that offers a new experience for the diners by allowing them customise and experiment with their food. Dishes are served ready-to-eat, but guests can then add different seasonings to their orders with the available 20 different flavours infused olive oil (ranging from pepper, pineapple, Arabica coffee, to bergamot).

Fresh breads are also offered abundantly so guests can test the olive oil before making the final decision. The menu in Geschmackslabor offers suggestions for the seasoning combination, but in the end the guests are encouraged to mix and play so they can find their very own perfect combination. I don’t know about the yumminess rating itself but this innovative approach hits the bull’s eye when it comes to catering the modern customers’ constant craving of personalisation. And it looks fun!

Closer to home. Is it for Ajax or Adidas?

25 years and still trying

Hey, I am back for awhile, simply because I am so frustrated with the running projects that I need to do something different to cheer me up. So, here are executions in commemoration of Rubik's cube 25th birthday and ooo how I can relate to that.

HP new maestro touch screen

Watch and judge for yourself.

PS: Due to my projects, unfortunately I will not be able to update as often as I would like but promise that I will still share if I found something really good ;-)

Old-school game characters on real background part 1

I have been really busy today so I chose something light and entertaining: my favourite retro game characters installed into normal scenery photos.

Model tryvertising

Having fun while being green

With climate change in the fore mind, there have been many new ventures sprouting to help turning all aspects of our life greener. Ranging from eco-friendly products to guilt free holiday, companies are ready to go further than ever to prove their green creds and we as customers can definitely benefit from it. One of the latest offering that I love is the wind-powered mobile phone charger in Glastonbury Festival courtesy to Orange.

First of its kind, the recharge pod is a self-sufficient unit that taps into a wind generator and solar panels to charge as many as 100 mobile phones per hour. Developed by the renewable energy specialists Gotwind, the recharge pod will serve as a trial for using renewable energy sources on a larger scale at future festivals. The recharge pod will be stationed within the Pennard Hill camping grounds at Glastonbury throughout the weekend of June 27–29, when the event takes place. What is better than a green Free Love?My second green love is the latest eco-nightclub in London. Following the green footsteps of San Fransisco's Temple Nightclub and Rotterdam's Watt, Club4Climate in Bar Surya is even installed with a piezoelectric dance floor that will generate electricity for the building! Organised by Club4Climate, the club also provides organic drinks and if you can prove you walked, biked or took public transportation to the club, you can get in for free :-)

Levi's viral strikes again

Is this one better than the flipping guy? Or the chill monkey?

Generate Your Name IKEA's Style

Blogadilla came up with this name generator that will transform your first name into one of IKEA's line. A perfect way to waste your Monday :-)

The World's First Internet Balloon Race

You may have noticed lately on your favourite website there is an orange-ish fuzzy animal balloon floating about. This fuzzy balloon is cute enough to induce an 'awww' from me and make me click them which throws me to Orange's internet balloon race (supposedly the first of its kind). The competition is part of Orange's Animals Pay As You Go campaign and the race starts on lunch time the 24th of June with a lovely Ibiza trip as its prize! All contestants begin from the Balloon Race homepage and then they will race their chosen balloons across a series of chosen sites, pumping their balloons along to make it travels faster. The buzzes so far had fired up many curiosities and the expectations are high, plus it starts on the lunch time so you can still join from your office ;-) Ready...Set...Go!

Dancing with the Star Wars Stars

A Friday tribute to my fellow geeks, please enjoy Dancing with the Stars, Star Wars version! Currently, it has been viewed for 326,278 times and advertisers are even more curious on how to make a successful viral video...

Never let their toys die...

And I thoroughly agree! I have survived the traumatising experience of 3 younger siblings and dozens of cousins. I am telling you, never let their toys die!

Nike Photo iD

To crank up their Nike iD concept, the footwear company is launching Nike PhotoiD. This new campaign is trying tap the market of digital and mobile generations along with their expectations to be able to customize everything that they own. Nike PhotoiD allows the customer to personalize their favourite sneakers with the real live colours that inspire them. They only have to take a photo with a mobile phone, text it to a special number and Nike will take the 2 dominant colours from the picture to customize a pair high-top sneakers. And voila, your street infused sneakers!
PS: Currently it is only available in several European select countries, so sneaker maniac just be patient and hope that it will come to your country ;-)

Too many ads executions and I really need to balance things out

Dear readers,

I just browsed through my posts for the last couple weeks and realized that I have been putting so many ads executions related posts. Promise that I will try to publish posts with another topics, this blog is still in an error and trials process. Please bear with me (^-^).

JulS

It is car again

This is just pure coincidence, but lately I have been finding a lot of cool car ads so forgive the bombardment. If it is good then share, that is my principle! Anyway, this one comes from Brazil.

Ode to the new Ford Focus

Last week, we had VW's mix tape which is sampled through the activities that took place around the car. Ford wants to share their musical sense too, but instead of urban genre, they chose the classical one. In the 2008 campaign, a Ford Focus car was dismantled and turned into music instruments which are excellently played by a group of musicians.

Anything and Whatever

Anything and Whatever is a concept soft drinks from Singapore. Just like its name, drinkers are left in the dark to what flavour they just bought. I will liken it to a bit of playing a roulette, you will never know what you get from the 12 available flavours. Buy Anything and you get: cola, cola with lemon, apple, fizz up, cloudy lemon or root beer. If you buy Whatever you might get: ice lemon tea, peach tea, jasmine green tea, white grape tea, apple tea or chrysanthemum tea. A surprise in every can. Cute concept right? So far they have been quite successful in Singapore and looking to expand further. They even have their vending machines designed to follow the Anything and Whatever idea!

Leica D-Lux 3

Leica demonstrated how bad an object can look if we don't use a high definition camera like Leica D-Lux 3 Meister ....

Outdoor executions

Hi! I am back after the one day hiatus due to my (horrid) trip to the dentist. Anyway I am dedicating this post to all crazy outdoors executions that will simply catch attentions. The first is IKEA who is dropping pop-out apartments at various location in NYC prior to the launch of their new store in Brooklyn area. Previously, we have people playing football vertically for Adidas, but now we have a vertical sleeping ad! ANA Crowne Plaza hotel hung a bed suspended on the side of a tall building in the Ginza district of Tokyo as a part of ANA Crowne Plaza hotel’s “Good Night Sleep” campaign.The next one is the installation of a plane wreck in Brazil in a bid to promote season 3 Lost. And the last one is the award winning McDonald salad billboard.

Ariel Stain Pen Book

I have been looking for Ariel Stain Pen around in the Dutch supermarket, unfortunately they do not sell it here. I hope we will have it soon, because it is just so convenient! I am quite accident prone, so it will be so great if I can simply whip out the pen and clean my shirt. I can imagine how much I will need it if I morosely spilled something when I am with my date or in my way to a job interview. Apart from that, Ariel is creating a good deal of buzz as part of their campaign to introduce the stain remover pen to the public. They placed the pen inside a self-help book 'How to Help Get Rid of Stains on the Go' which is left around cafes and bookshops. When found, readers are encouraged to take it and leave it anywhere, then register as well as review the book in www.bookcrossing.com. However, I wonder how do they refill the pen if they don't know its whereabout?

We Have Been Having It

I have been trying be more extend my ads radar to a bigger international scoop but unfortunately I haven't come across any executions that I love. However when I see a series of ads from Vodacom in South Africa, I can't help but want to share. For me, the dictator guy just hits the right note for me to giggle ;-)

Hot showers and clean undies in a music festival

Diesel Jeans has been busy lately promoting their brands along with the summer music festival. After the limited edition mud-resistant jeans that they designed for Roskilde Festival in Denmark, I have just been informed that Diesel has offered a free hot showers and clean undies for the festival goers in the Dutch overnight PinkPop Festival. The One Hour Happy Shower were available between 11 am and the noon (including fresh towels and shower gels), Diesel also provided free underwear. Obviously people flocked in and it created a good buzz for the brand.

Green is the new black

Responding towards customer's rising consciousness of being environmentally friendly, more and more companies are changing their ways to be greener. For example today, Sainsbury announced that they are changing their milk packaging from the un-green plastic bottles to a recyclable plastic pouch. If the customers are willing to change to the new packaging in waste reducing effort then what next? How about the carbon footsteps? Which is better? Weekly shopping with car or daily shopping on foot? Personally I can't be bother to do all of the difficult calculations (FYI: I recycle, use green energy, and travel with public transportation so don't stone me), therefore whenever I spotted any great green business ideas, I will definitely share! This is one good example: Bikecaffe (UK) and Ole Skram (Denmark) are offering you fresh coffee with zero guilty conscience. First of all, they are using fair trade coffee and they are selling their trades on tricycle which means lesser carbon emission. Is this emerging trend will someday change our coffee drinking habit? I am not sure that we are ready to move from our Starbucks coffee culture yet, but who knows.

Polaroid fans: Start the revolution!

When the sad news that Polaroid is stopping their production of instant photography, there were any outrages from their die-hard fans. After all, analog polaroid is an art itself and it has started cultural changes. If you are one of the big fans, now you can channel your devotion and love of Polaroid to Polanoid.net. Founded by the members of lomographic, the websites aims to explore the creativity of using a polaroid camera. So far Polanoid has grown into a thriving community of polaroid lovers and for them it is all about bringing back the instant fun!
On the side note, Polaroid has just released Pogo (an instant mobile printer) on 7th of June 2008. Check out their revolution ads: Free Your Photos!

Enjoy the Everyday

We will start our beautiful sunny day with VW's latest commercial. Composed and produced by Paul Hartnoll of Orbital, the track is sampled in and around the Golf. The end result is rather catchy, I supposed that you can make music out from everything. Something extraordinary from everyday life.

Tiji TV as imaginative as children

I found the ads executions (Tiji TV) a few weeks ago and I quite fancy it. Apart from the beautiful artwork, I like the text about children's imaginations that run wild and not limited by certain dogma. This is the value that I try to retain with myself, although sometimes I find it difficult because when we reach certain age, we are shaped by certain invisible rules and thinkings. "Ok, we are doing this because it is not just possible because of bla bla bla" This is the sort of habit that we need to break. Think outside the box, right?