Between the Briefs

The more I think about it, the more I realise I use words like “great” and “bleh” too easily to describe things I love and hate. But then when I think about it some more, I also realise that I wouldn’t have it any other way to describe what I’m about to describe.

What I’m talking about are two recent attempts (successful attempts) at viral marketing. Few “new media” campaigns have been able to create a stir the way the Whopper Sacrifice campaign did, until now.

The first one was for Ikea, created by Forsman & Bodenfors. I’ve somehow always liked the advertising for Ikea and now with their latest venture into social media, I think I like it still more. And here are my reasons for it. For starters, it makes me happy to think furniture can have life. Which is what Ikea’s advertising somehow always manages to do… like with the “Decorate for the Holidays” campaign. And with the new Facebook campaign, they’ve managed to get people to engage, without trying too hard. That’s the second reason to like it. With the no-reins feel that social media tends to bring along with it, it’s easy to get swept away. But Ikea’s attempt was simply… simple. Not too gimmicky, not overly “Ah, look… we’ve changed the world!” types. And most importantly, it had Ikea involved via their store manger. Which means this wasn’t just something left to the agency to take care of by themselves, but also had the brand’s presence created through their person. And I’ll admit that I am partial to this set of social media advertising only because it makes a lot more sense, even if it isn’t all glitzy and glamorous. So here goes:

The second one I’m talking is for Skype. This isn’t the first time Skype’s gone viral; its earlier “Laughter Chain” was also quite successful. But not Skype launched its first-ever, live streaming campaign where they put a guy in the middle of nowhere, next to a phone booth, gave out the number of the booth to people and got them to get in touch with him… via Skype of course. I can’t think of a better way to get people to try out a service and a better way to get the word going. And it’s exactly this that I love about advertising today… the way you can do absolutely anything and do it all the better than ever before.

Before I say anything about this, please watch the four TVCs I’ve added here.

Creative Agency: Tribal DDB

Creative Agency: Contract

Creative Agency: Rediffusion – Y&R

Now, I have three questions. One: Why do all these commercials come with a VO that speaks as if it’s the voice of the future? I mean, we’re talking about broadband connections and laptops here; with the tone these ads adopt, you’d think we were talking about some super cool phenomenon which deserves to be part of some sci-fi film of sorts. Two: Is it my imagination or are these ads beginning to look extremely “templatised” in thought and execution? And three: Which agency handles the Dell account?

Found this one on Creativebits. Still can’t stop laughing about it’s somewhere between “Arial and Wingdings”.