lou-paris.com

Another "video experience", for women. We could start talking about the fact that if you are man the experience might bring some genre issues or that the model is probably not reflecting the size of real women but this could be another post all together. It's actually a shame that the experience end with a disappointing competition mechanic, they should have at least recorded a video segment to introduce it. It's also a shame that all the other sections are presented in a pop-up design when they could have used the video space to display high quality image of the collection. http://www.lou-paris.com/

absolut.com/iaawau/

Absolut is doing a Carlsberg with this campaign. Sadly it's not out there enough for people to join the fun and only 264 signatures have been registered so far. Better go back to the clever and smart campaign hey?http://www.absolut.com/iaawau/index.html

condenast.co.uk/partner/fordka/en-gb/

A mini site for Girl to promote Ford's Ka. Some cheap backstage footage, a poor "get the look" video, shit quizzes and a pop-up with registration. This is not a campaign but a bunch of content thrown together to get the most of Ford product placement money. http://www.condenast.co.uk/partner/fordka/en-gb/

seety.co.uk

Trying to beat Google and not get done for invasion of privacy, this is going to be hard. Good luck to them. http://www.seety.co.uk/

actionaid.org.uk/march/

A really sweet idea that doesn't required too much involvement from the users. You can even download your avatar but the creation tool isn't as good as some around. This is a campaign that actually needs a widget so people can display the March on their page and I would even consider a Facebook application to recruit people. http://www.actionaid.org.uk/march/

acdcrocks

Am not sure that "the First Video in Excel" is something worth bragging about and I did not see AC/DC fans as Excel geeks but hey; anything these days to try to be different. I would have been more impressed if they had the balls to do this for the full length of the official video more than just the gimmick that this is. Let's face it, this doesn't beat Radiohead. If you are into Ascii try the Matrix. http://www.acdcrocks.com/excel/

coldisthenewhot.com

Why people would like to visit this site is beyond me but someone got paid to do so and they actually done a descent job. Nice 3D animations (some sound would have been nice), basic content and a competition. Granted is simple but it's on brief, easy money... http://www.coldisthenewhot.com/

try.bigsnapsearch.co.uk

Microsoft is so trying to beat Google that it has to resolve to some vouchers promotion, how sad. http://try.bigsnapsearch.co.uk/

canadairman.com

Another funny concept from Axe, the video works on its own and the game wasn't necessary but it reinforce the campaign and is used as a "send to a friend". I would love to know if people actually used the widget because I understand if you want to blog the video but why the widget? A bit more info on the product would have been good and a coupon too. http://www.canadairman.com/

pilotrussia.ru/flash/

Forget the classy videos intro and you are left with a basic car site presented in an interesting way. The soundtrack has been worked on and the letters effects have that whoa! factor but really this is style before innovation. http://www.pilotrussia.ru/flash/

boostup.org

An aggregation of all the boosts found on social network sites are counted on the main site so you see where the boost came from. The simplicity of the campaign reside on the fact that you are following real people throughout the year and actually make you want to see how they are doing. It's great that they have included last year stories too so you can see how the site helped people in the past. The designed could have been polished especially the text sections but again praise should be made for a campaign that actually has more right to be on social networks than any shit products.http://boostup.org/

jordanscereals.co.uk

Beautiful redesigned site that bring "web 2.0" to the business without compromising the brand heritage. Great use of flash to bring life to the site, great use of Ajax for interaction and great use of Blogs for content creations and user feedbacks. Perfect and lovely designed. http://www.jordanscereals.co.uk

joost.com

Joost desktop application is no more. To be able to compete they now have launched as video community site; hopefully the content will make them stand out of the rest. I do miss their original interface to be honest as I used to found it intuitive and useful. Can they become the Last.fm of the video world? http://www.joost.com

eagleeyefreefall.com

If you live in the USA this is good...I don't 8(
http://eagleeyefreefall.com/

liveyourbeauty.com.cn

I haven't got a clue what's going on here but it's always good to see different designs, plus it's cute...http://www.liveyourbeauty.com.cn/

sexysciencebydita.com

I am one for recognising that using Flicrk or youTube for your campaign is a good thing but this is stupid as there is not high quality version of the film on the official site; therefore we are left with a low quality, badly scale version. With a bit more money they could have had full screen videos and full screen photos to be able to showcase the new range as surely this is want Wonderbra want? and please stop the pop-up and get an e-commerce solution working. http://www.sexysciencebydita.com/

malibu-rum.com

Something is missing here, there is something amateurish about it, the animations and the design are behind the standard that Absolut as set and it show; even the "drinks" section seems cheap. It would have been nice to have some easter eggs on the site or to be able to download the recipes. What's interesting it's their Yahoo channel initiative http://uk.video.yahoo.com/network/100662101; it's sadly just a collection of old virals...they could have done so much more with it, especially to illustrate the "Get your island on" campaign. http://malibu-rum.com/

Viral Galore

Enjoy

hlfragrance.com

Bang on target audience for this site and great marketing plan here as you can request a sample and have a bit of Gwen love through the post. The design of the site fit the products perfectly and the products are a stroke of genius as it target the kids, the teens and bring the Japanese manga spirit to the masses but still with a western execution. The karaoke section is nothing news but the visual comments encourage interaction, is extremely well executed and of course you are listening to Gwen's songs. a youTube channel would have finished this perfectly. http://www.hlfragrance.com

dragonhunters-thegame.com

It's beautiful, it's full screen, it's 360 what more can you want? Well plenty more really has the lush environment only deliver classic content. Where is the wallpaper generator? the monsters gallery (even if some of it are on dragonhunters.com it should be here too)? the gameplay footage? it's a kids game; surely there should be a viral web game in there á la Monster Lab? Beautiful but empty. http://www.dragonhunters-thegame.com/

rednoseday.com

Is it this time of the year yet? no but the site has been refreshed for the 2009 campaign. Done with Drupal, a system that is worth looking into if you haven't done so yet. Simple design and effective navigation, you can see that they are learning each years on how to make the site better and faster to be able to handle traffic. I would have expected to see Twitter or some mobile interaction this year but it looks like there is more to come, the "supporter club" might be the community base element that the site needs so register for the emails update. http://www.rednoseday.com

highdefinition.sony.eu

An interesting site, not because of it's design or navigation as both have been done before and better but for the fact that Sony links to external sites for its content. What is a shame is that the video presented are the indents for the F1 program on ITV, hardly exiting and last 15s and they only links to the same Flickr content. I would I liked to be blown away by the quality of the site, see the products in action and so on but no, it's only a big portal. http://www.highdefinition.sony.eu/

aliensvote.org

Fantastic idea, controversial and educative at the same time. The problem is that by using the net they have to use an off-line process to keep the accuracy of the results and therefore this is where the campaign fail as most people will not give their contacts details to the site as it has been designed by a digital agency. If this campaign was promoted by CNN for example than the take off would be much more, so sell it to them now.... http://www.aliensvote.org

pursuitof1745.com

An online site promoting an offline event. Using Flash for the sake of it really; of course it's good to use flash for your video player but there is no need for it if your design is actually so basic that CSS would do fine and please can we start using something else than the itune carousel? They could have started a Flickr group for the parties photos and sorted their events list details because showing photos for events that are not yet happen made you wonder if you are looking at last year ones. http://pursuitof1745.com

thecell.tv

Sponsored by Max Payne this take on Saw is interesting, especially as we see a growth in "program" made for the web. Nice use of Paper Vison and the game is worth trying as it might be a simple click and play adventure but the quality of the execution will keep you interested for a while. http://thecell.tv

palinaspresident.com

This is what the net is all about: freedom of speech. http://www.palinaspresident.com/

maxpaynethemovie.com

It's sadly a boring movie site with all the usual content but it's worth browsing if only for the transition effect and the graphic novel section that managed to mimic the one found in the game pretty well. http://www.maxpaynethemovie.com

sony.jp/playyou/

The idea of using the trend of Lip Dub to sell the new "walkman" phone from Sony is interesting as this craze has it's heritage based on the Ok Go phenomenon and early karaoke videos on Youtube. And as you know, it's good for schools and office spirit (well that's what your HR department is thinking) What is a shame is that sadly most uploaded Lip Dubs are just bad Karaoke version. http://www.sony.jp/playyou/

somebodyelsesphone.com

Have a look into 3 peoples phones because without their phones they are useless. The navigation is slick as it doesn't try to actually emulate the phone one. It looks like you will have to come back to the site to follow the story, why would you do this is another thing or why people are actually making friend with them on Facebook? I am obviously so not the target audience...probably because I worry about more important thing than trying to be cool. http://www.somebodyelsesphone.com

wakinguphannah.ca

Advertisings are realising that for less money than a TV commercial they can create interactive stories on the web. The issues with all the ones we are seeing at the moment is that really you don't care about doing it again. The digital coupons are always a good idea but I am sure girls prefer to discuss their life on Facebook that on the Dove forum. http://www.wakinguphannah.ca

mysackboy.littlebigplanet.com

I really hope the game lives up to his hype especially since the online mode will not be available at launch but everything has been done to make LBP the must have game this Christmas. In a move that mixes Wii / Xbox avatar systems and in the spirit of Spore (even if you won't be able to import your sackboy in your game and the choice is more limited) this is a sackboy generator and the problem with it is that you are now expecting the same level of functionalities as with the Spore generator but the widget created is nice at least. http://mysackboy.littlebigplanet.com/

pastahut.co.uk

Come on people; go and vote for the Pasta Hut name in the pool. Let's face it will all know they are only trying to create a PR campaign about their new healthy menu and will go back to Pizza Hut in another campaign telling us that people love the original name and that you know the history of the company and so on.... so vote for the Pasta Hut name on the site so they can spend millions in refit and you we can laugh at the stupid name for years to come. I do like their little animation on the site. http://www.pastahut.co.uk

thefind.urbandaddy.com

Brands are more and more trying to be useful and this application is nicely designed even if it would be good to let visitor propose locations too. The problem is of course that depending of what you select you might have not relevant results and therefore it undermine the website (see screenshot). I would also liked to have the possibility to send the recommendation to my phone or export the information in one way or another and a Google map integration would have been useful as founding that your selection is far from you home is never good. http://thefind.urbandaddy.com/

absolut.com/campaign/mango/br?lang=en

It's absolute so it's white, it's slick and take a bit of inspiration from the Wii with its mini games (I found them quite hard but I don't have the vibe). What's a shame is that after a bit of fun you are only left with a portal to cocktails available on absolutdrinks.com.

hotel626.com

Just change your clock to make sure you get in before 18:00. Could not wait to get in this site but I have to admit the "Doritos present" just annoyed me, I know brand needs to get their message across but this spoiled the mood a bit. Doritos understand that people do want to get to the end of the experience and I actually approved of the possibility for people to skip the mini games to stop been frustrated or embarrassed to sing a lullaby at work for example. The experience reminds me of some Fatal Frame sequences and the experience is engaging with a good use of the microphone and a nice way to integrate your webcam and I appreciated the effort of the team, to design a great end credit sequence. What does it mean for the brand is another discussion but if marketing is moving slowly towards entertainment than we should see some interesting campaign emerging. http://www.hotel626.com

savemiguel.com

A mini site for big campaign, sadly it's seems the site design in its simplicity is reducing the campaign impact. The tree map should have been extended and with the help of Google could have become a bigger part of the viral effect. The Facebook group should be managed better and the Flickr group should have been integrated with the site to push for interaction. No previous button on "the facts" page and the way the page load should be sorted too. http://www.savemiguel.com

mythumbismycock.com

This was a "send to a friend" a while back, what still amaze me is that some people found this funny and though something could be made out of it...you will be the judge but great URL. http://mythumbismycock.com/

uk.ask.com

I really feel sorry for ask.com and the fact that probably no one is using them, changing their front page á la Google won't make a difference and removing all the easter eggs about Jeeves doesn't help ever. http://uk.ask.com/

adidas.com/campaigns/originalsproductdisplay/content/Phase2Q4/

I was waiting for so much more for this campaign, for a start there is only 4 clips to play with and most of them are cliché, Diesel does this sort of thing so much better. The image you get is a bit hit and miss and it doesn't matter really as I don't see why anyone would like to use them as wallpaper or do the experience again. They have tried to make the interface interesting but using a digital camera language but they haven't pushed it enough and therefore you might be a bit lost as how and why to use the save function as the button to save is still present when viewing the saved photos. http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/originalsproductdisplay/content/Phase2Q4/

beefeatergin.com

It's seems to be a trend that brands are using their product to help you navigate a country, a county or even a town. Showcasing the place and events related to their products, Eurostart did it, Hilton was playing with it and now Beefeater is at it. The map interface is terrible and only redirect you to Google Maps, surely it would have been better to integrated straight away with Google Maps so user could save the Beefeater's locations for future reference and therefore keeping the brand presence a little bit longer. The rest is made up of info about the product and the presentation disapoint in these areas too. http://www.beefeatergin.com/

radioheadremix.com/

Second round for this remix application, not only Radiohead is still making money by letting people purchase the samples on itune but the competition and the widget make the Radiohead music spread across the web. Another bold exercise in marketing from this band. The site in itself takes its inspiration from Muxtape and serve the campaign brilliantly. Granted this is probably preaching to their own choir but Radiohead can afford it. http://radioheadremix.com/

5 friends

The register to vote campaign viral from Google, good viral and great use of the application, simple message and easy to use. Well done.
http://maps.google.com/vote

unbuttonyourbeast.com

Clearly the Unbutton campaign with the celebrities was not enough and therefore Levis had to try to be a bit more creative to appeal to net audience. So their latest offering is a classic take on "send to a friend" with a bit of Diesel spirit thrown in. I don't think it's enough but at least they are trying. http://unbuttonyourbeast.com/

volvocars.com/intl/campaigns/Misc/VolvoOceanRace/Pages/Rush.aspx

Really interesting 24h style interactive story, you will never loose so why would you want to do it again is my problem. The quality is high and the story engaging but they really also should push the proper Volvo Ocean Race as to be honest it's the most impressive aspect of what Volvo is sponsoring and the race game is actually far more interesting even if more targeted. This is not about try to make your buy a car but more a brand awareness exercise to try to shift the old school image of Volvo.

Diesel Viral

thegreatschlep.com

Comedy, politic, religion and web mixed in this small campaign. Of course this lead to jewsvote.org. But it's funny enough to get passed around and talked about, something the web is perfect for. Facebook and T-shirt available. http://www.thegreatschlep.com

declareyourself.com

How to push young people to vote? Put a lot of B celebrities together and hopefully they will follow. The site can be seen as heavy in content from the various partners that support the campaign but in reality it's just a nice interface to the official registration process. The "register your school" section is a nice idea but there isn't enough incentive or support to push people do it, a visit from the B celebrities might have done it as a the moment no one uploaded any photos on the Flickr group. http://www.declareyourself.com

sf.mcdonalds.co.jp/

I haven't got a clue what's going there but it looks likes it's a take on 'Elf yourself' for Mac Donald's kids range, try it as it's scarily compelling. http://sf.mcdonalds.co.jp/