Holidays

I am taking a well deserve break from the digital life, so no update for 2 weeks, stay tune as we will be well into December on my return and should see some interesting Christmas campaigns by then.

quebuenoesteneramigos.com

Apparently it's pretty funny if you can understand the spoof. A classic user generate mechanic around lads friendship. http://www.quebuenoesteneramigos.com/

wiimusic.com

It's one of the big release for Nintendo this Christmas and sadly we only get the usual videos from Nintendo. I know that their marketing is all about not offending anyone and pushing offline try out (as they did with the Wii fit) but I wanted more, so much more especially when you have someone like Cee-lo or Rev Run at your disposal. They could have made a site full of sound experiences or a game where you battle against any of them but no; it's all bland as usual. At least you won't need to read the manual when you are done with this site. http://www.wiimusic.com

metro.co.uk/kisses

It's more of an online campaign but it works because they not faking it. Of course it's only a mini-site, of course it's basic and there is nothing new about the competition mechanic or the sent to a friend but it's perfect for office worker and the general public and it's a good mix with the Metro audience. Is this enough for you to go and start buying Galaxy? I don't think, a downloadable voucher would have helped. http://metro.co.uk/kisses

fastnasaldelivery

Saw a full add page on the paper for this, as the design of this site evolved from the usual scam you get in your email? Sadly not and the animation on how the product work is a classic. It would be a challenge to take on a product like this and create a digital strategy for it, any taker? Surely a bit of Papervison would make this so much more existinghttp://www.fastnasaldelivery.com

micheledauria.com

As we know the latest trend for big brand is to produce content, let's face it the traditional advertising model doesn't work anymore. This is not the place to start discussing the pros and cons of corporate sponsorship but it means that more creative work are being done and that's a good thing for the industry. So take what you need out of it...http://www.micheledauria.com/

uniqlo

I am going to stop posting about Uniqlo soon as all their campaigns are so stylised it puts most of what's on the web to shame. What this site lack of technical genius from their previous work make up in content and presentation, yes it's only a big portal for links to online store but I defy you not wanting to look at all the videos, and therefore the products. http://www.uniqlo.com/meets/

microsoft.co.uk/defyallchallenges/

Silverlight is back in a big way, scary I know, but it's time to stop laughing and actually look at it as some serious tech are in the making, even if this site is made in Flash! Using the Machinina format is a way of getting to the geek community. What's missing in the Machinina maker, is preview of VO and SFX and videos before you drag them on the stage and the ability to upload your own VO. The site is sleek and fast but the design could have been improve as I still don't know why there is a map icon as I can not actually walk around, it's one think to simulate and interface, it's another to play with user expectation. http://www.microsoft.co.uk/defyallchallenges/.

liveguy

The concept of finding someone to get a prize is so old it hurts but Vodafone is actually using the web to bring life to it, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Picasa are all part of the campaign...They are missing Google Map, Last.FM, eBay and a desktop widget to make it even more interesting. The writing is pretty good so get ready to track him down dead or alive. http://liveguy.vodafone.co.uk/

aee.gouv.qc.ca

It's well executed, it's less then 5 minutes, it won't change the world but it's fun. Would I like to see a woman and kid version. http://www.aee.gouv.qc.ca/en/energuy/game/

theplaceswelive

A beautiful site that let the image speak for themselves but not the people as it seems that they have been replaced by actors. I believe having the right soundtrack with subtitles would have been more powerful; nevertheless this should make you humble in this credit crunch time. http://www.theplaceswelive.com/

experience.eagleeyemovie.com

I always wanted to see an online high quality version of the 'create your own adventure' books and this experience is borrowing from them but because of the subject matter, follow the instruction or loose, your choices are actually restricted as you only option is to do what you have been told and this make the all thing boring (and why do I pick up objects when I am not using them?). It's a shame because the site is slick, polished and drags you in the movie plot, it drags you in so much that you already know a 1/4 of the film by the time you finished. http://experience.eagleeyemovie.com/

kirill.uk.msn.com

Microsoft does content just for the sake, of it...mixing 'Lost', with 'I legend', with 'The Thing', with '12 monkeys'. Good blogs writing to support the story...to be honest it's actually the talent of David Schofield that makes this worth watching. A good thing for video production companies as we carrying on seeing the rise of bespoke content for the web. The Silverlight integration in the sections is sadly not as impressive as it should be. http://kirill.uk.msn.com

thephotographicadventuresofnickturpin.com

A great idea but badly executed. The all point of the campaign is to be able to select a part of the image, it would have been nice be able to actually be able to have a large version of the photograph and a large version of the results. It's is really a shame that they are not offering a full blog (Twitter doesn't cut it) of Nick's journey or let us see other photo taken during the trip. As for the presentation of the phone; using videos hosted on Yourtube might had your marketing guy exited thinking it will go viral, well it didn't and it look cheap. http://www.thephotographicadventuresofnickturpin.com

fortheloveofwispa.com

Online call to arms, advertised off line to make a TV commercial. Interesting concept, can't believe that they haven't got any banners or confetti yet when they already have 2 helicopters and 3 aeroplanes or are these already been planned by the marketing agency? The site isn't exiting enough for you to care as you are not sure of the reward ("may be" isn't enough) and with think like "children in needs" people have other stuff to do. http://www.fortheloveofwispa.com/

now.sprint.com/widget/

This certainly makes the point clear on what can you do with the wireless device, granted it's only a aggregation of stats but the presentation is slick and with a mix of interesting and silly choices of facts. http://now.sprint.com/widget/

toshiba.eu/whatnext/

It's cute, it's lovely, it's well coded, it takes inspiration from "Lost Wind" and "Okami" but it's only a portal and you will never go back to it, give it to me as a screensaver, as a wallpaper, as a Google Skin as a Blog Skin and I would have accepted the Toshiba logo without even thinking about it. http://www.toshiba.eu/whatnext/

dothetest

Still using the same concept as their first advert and improving it as the gimmick is now becoming associated with the campaign. It's only a viral but I like it. http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

anorangeamerica.com

Fantastic integration of Twitter feeds and great insight of what people are doing and thinking...has it grab twitter feeds some adds have appeared (election on the Figaro.fr) but what's more interesting is that it's sponsored by Tropicana. At least it's not sponsored by Bodyform but as much as I like the application I would have preferred if it was born out from a group of developer in their spare time... http://www.anorangeamerica.com

twittervotereport.com/

Beautiful integration and great service, god know what will we be doing in 4 years. http://twittervotereport.com/

uniqlo

Having fun with a brand you love is what keep the consumer coming back and being proud of being associated with it. Uniqlo understand this and come up, again, with a great campaign that translate well in banners and widgets. I started thinking it would have been better to give the user the full range of sounds but in fact the constrain of having only random sounds make for more creative output. http://www.uniqlo.com/utloop/

iftheworldcouldvote.com

Today more than ever... Simple, making a point, PR friendly and demonstrating that we should not take our freedom of speech and technology life for granted as when I visited the site Guinea had 3 votes registered and Tonga 1, so http://laptop.org/. I would have asked the community to translate the site as this would have helped the site popularity.http://iftheworldcouldvote.com

thecigaretteisdead

Guerilla marketing for a good cause, hard to knock down and some really interesting outdoor activities. The fact that you can enter your own story will help others and make you feel better. I would I like to see a better way of searching through the stories (by genre, by photos or by videos for example). http://www.thecigaretteisdead.com/

farcry.uk.ubi.com/experience/

The all point of this experience is to demonstrate in-game footages for Far Cry 2 and the site does a good job of demonstrating the physics and action you will encounter when playing the game. What it doesn't do is giving you control as you are only selecting multiple choice. I wanted to be able to try my hand at the sniper rifle but instead I had to watch a pre-rendered sequence and this sucks as unless you are a hard core gamer you might have switch off by now. http://farcry.uk.ubi.com/experience/