Arby's - Slow Advertising

Arby's (which is a fast food chain in the US) recently launched their new Smokehouse Brisket sandwich.  The process of making the brisket includes smoking it for 13 hours, but some consumers questioned whether it was actually smoked for that long or was just a marketing ploy.  Arby's (and their agency, Fallon) decided to answer their critics and also tap into the slow TV movement by running a 13 hour TV commercial (though it only ran in one market... Duluth, Minnesota).  They also live streamed the commercial online (is it really livestreaming if you're playing something which isn't actually live?) which garnered a larger audience than you'd expect (15,000+ people).

Perhaps you think this is just a stunt and perhaps you're correct, but equally Arby's could be tapping into a movement that's been bubbling below the surface for sometime.  That movement is called Slow TV.  In Norway for instance, several of the highest rated shows in recent years include a 10-hour show following a train journey from Oslo to Bergen, an 18-hour broadcast of salmon spawning and a five-day broadcast of a cruise ship travelling through the Norwegian Fjords.  There's clearly an audience for slow TV and perhaps it's something advertisers should be tapping into more.  Kia's 5 hour long super slo-mo Superbowl Ad of Adriana Lima waving a flag had more than 2 million views before they took the video down.  A quick search of YouTube yields dozens of log fire videos several hours in length each with a significant number of views.  If you do find yourself with 13 spare hours and would like to see the process of a brisket being smoked, then check out the video below

Melbourne Remote Control Tourist

Have you ever wanted to really see a city before you visited?  That's the main idea behind the wonderful new Melbourne Remote Control Tourist campaign from Tourism Victoria.  As you may remember, a few months back I highlighted the San Pellegrino remote control robot that allowed internet users to control a robot in a small italian square for a few minutes at a time.  Now Tourism Victoria has taken the idea the the nth degree by enlisting a combination of technology and remote control tourists.  The campaign allowed internet users to control one of four people roaming around the city of Melbourne from October 9th to the 13th.  Outfitted with a combination of livestreaming cameras, GPS backpacks and handheld computers the tourists can be controlled by users on remotecontroltourist.com via Twitter & Facebook.  The remote control tourists can be told where to go, what to taste and what to experience.  It's a brilliant idea in allowing potential visitors to truly see and experience the city of Melbourne before they go.  In the first two days this modern evolution of the classic subservient chicken saw the remote-control tourists drink 21 cups of coffee, 71 high-fives, handshakes and hugs, 28 selfies, 2 karata lessons, one busking session while traveling a combined 50 kilometers.

The tourists were available throughout the day, with highlights from each day turned around in hours and uploaded to the website and YouTube.  Check out the intro video below as well as the Friday highlights.  I absolutely love the idea and while technically challenging, you can imagine the wide future and application this will have across the travel industry, particularly as wearable technology such as Google Glass becomes more pervasive.  The project was created by Clemenger BBDO, Exit Films & Jason Zada (the guy behind the Cannes winning 'Take This Lollipop.')




Posted by: Reuben Halper

Happy Egg Company - Chick Cam

Since Easter just passed, I thought it'd be worth highlighting something a bit different this Easter.  In the run up to Easter, the Happy Egg Company (and their agency, Hypernaked) developed this lovely Chickcam campaign, showing again that you don't need a big budget to have success in the digital space.  The Happy Egg Chickcam used a Google+ Hangout On Air & YouTube livestreaming over the course of four days to show the hatching of 17 eggs into cute, fluffy chicks. A livestream of eggs waiting to hatch would've been as excited as watching grass grow, so they also included a slate of activities throughout the four days to keep viewers watching.

As the good folks over at the Inspiration Room describe: 'On Monday the Chickcam campaign provided an opportunity for live Q&A on hatching chicks with Madeline from the Happy Chick Company, using Facebook, Twitter or Google+ event posts. On Tuesday viewers were given a chance to send in suggestions for the 17 Chick Cam eggs. On Wednesday questions and answers focused on egg farms with Happy Egg farmer JP. On Thursday, the final day of Chick Cam, a golden egg was sneaked into one of the camera views. The first five people to email the competition received a bundle of Happy Eggs goodies.'  Check out the highlight video below.
It's interesting to see more and more brands and content creators use Google+ Hangouts On Air to create either a) an always on, long duration livestream, or b) use Hangouts on Air akin to episodic programming.  In both cases, it gives users a reason to return back to the livestream(s) on multiple occasions.  For example, the Pet Collective YouTube channel runs multiple, always on Hangouts On Air of various animals including a Kitten cam, a Puppy cam a Golden Eagle cam, a Husky cam and many more.  One of my colleagues (who shall remain nameless) has actually bookmarked the kitten cam and fires it up whenever she's having a bad day.

hat tip: Inspiration Room



Posted by: Reuben Halper

HP - Photo Ball

Blow up beach balls bouncing around the crowd are an inevitable part of any music festival.  In a brilliantly simple idea, HP and their agency, AlmapBBDO, created a massive blow up beach ball that includes an HD camera & wi-fi hub in the ball itself.  The photo ball demonstrates HP's new positioning, 'Making Memories Last,' and was used during the Planet Terra music festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Throughout the festival the ball filmed and took photos of festival goers as it bounced around the crowd.  The video was streamed live both to the stage and online.  At the same time, still photos were uploaded to Facebook where people could find and tag themselves.  What's incredible is that the live stream from the photo ball reached over three million people as well as the people who tagged and shared those photos on Facebook.  Additionally, festival goers could have prints made at the HP festival booth throughout the festival. It's a great example of taking an existing behaviour and amplifying it with technology in a way that enhances the experience for both festival-goers and the online viewing audience.  I'm sure we'll be seeing photo balls make more appearances as the summer festival season gets into full swing.



Posted by: Reuben Halper

Topshop/Google+ - The Future Of The Fashion Show

Lately there's been a trend in terms of fashions shows bringing the audience closer to both the catwalk and behind the scenes of the show (see the recent interactive Adidas Fashion Show).  Now Topshop has teamed up with Google+ to launch what it's calling 'The Future Of The Fashion Show.'  The show itself takes place at the Tate Modern, but a host of tech will make the experience incredibly rich for the audience online.  The desire is to give viewers the ability to see the show from every point of view including the makeup artist the audience in the front row and even a first person view from the models as they walk down the runway (using micro HD cameras).  As the Telegraph writes:

Google+ will offer its users exclusive digital diaries by four of Topshop's famous model faces - Cara Delevingne, Jourdan Dunn, Rosie Tapner and Ashleigh Good - in their 'Road to the runway' series which will track each of the models from their first fittings for the show to the moment they hit the catwalk.

Via YouTube, Topshop will broadcast not only the live show but a 'red carpet hangout', allowing viewers to join in the hustle and bustle of the celebrity arrivals at the show, and using Google's 3D streetmap technology you'll be able to explore the show's exciting venue, The Tanks at Tate Modern.

Other aspects include a 'Be The Buyer' app which will allow fans to create their own mood boards from the pieces on the runway, as well as video advice from International buyers and Topshop's in-house team offering tips to aspiring young buyers or fashion enthusiasts. An animated Google+ photo booth has also been installed in the brand's flagship Oxford Street store allowing fans to upload their looks to an interactive digital window immediately.

Check out the video below that demonstrates how it all comes together & tune in on Sunday, February 17th at 3PM (GMT).