The World Cup is going on and the world is watching. Beyond the extraordinary level of competition in each match, what the world is also seeing is an extremely well executed campaign from adidas. They have a two-part ad campaign where two teenage boys pick teams full of World Cup stars and play a school-yard style pick-up game. The campaign is called "Jose +10," (Jose, the featured boy, plus 10 superstars on his team). And the ad ends with a link to their conceptual microsite .

What stands out to me about the ads are this:

Great concept.
What kid doesn't dream of playing (insert your favorite sport) with your favorite players?

The ads are entirely in Spanish
Notable for several reasons.
-It stands out from any other ad because of its language.
-You don't need to know Spanish to know what the kids are saying. Futbol is universal and so is the school-yard pick 'em.

The microsite is loaded.
It has:
-Both ads available to watch.
-An area where you can get updates on your mobile phone about the cup (and promotions from adidas, no doubt)
-Links to their MySpace account which has more than 37,000 friends (at the time of writing this)
-Downloadable screensavers/desktop icons of your favorite players (featured in the ad of course)
-An excel spreadsheet full of formulas and macros so you can keep track of all World Cup games on your desktop (notable because I love spreadsheets loaded with formulas)
-Video previews of the World Cup
-Contests
-So much more interactive pieces that I can't list them all.
Oh...and links to buy all kinds of great adidas gear, naturally.

Unfortunately, it's built as one big flash movie so I can't give you links to each of these items.

Great, Ted. So, what's the point?
A friend of mine, who has been watching all of the games and also appreciates good advertising and marketing, told me about this. Now I'm telling you. You'll see it and tell someone else. It is viral marketing at its best. Not only that, but it's also creative concept that's followed through in multiple channels. adidas is using a global event to get in front of their target audience and driving people to their website, hoping that they will make and favorable brand impression that will, ultimately, lead to the purchase of some gear.

Well, it worked on me.

Here's the ad on youtube, if you can't find it on the microsite.

Posted by Ted Swain at 06:15 PM
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As I finish preparing, er I mean rehearsing, for my speaking engagement/panel discussion tomorrow on The Impact of Creativity on Social and Political Policy, I can't help but be reminded of how far political campaigns have come online...and how far they still need to go.

I've been fortunate to have been involved with helping a number of high-profile, regional candidates in leveraging the Internet for not only strategic advantage, but to better connect with their constituents. Even in "earlier" elections, like the 2003 Mayor's race in Philadelphia - emerging technologies, communications lifecycles, permission-based communications and online surveys were utilized to foster communications, mobilize volunteers and boost campaign contributions. Today, the grab-bag of Internet solutions being leveraged by political candidates is staggering. One problem though. They're really dropping the ball on the execution of those solutions.

At tomorrow's presentation, I'm going to share a host of examples of candidate sites that "get it" with regard to utilizing new technologies such as Podcasts, RSS, Online Chats, and MeetUp. Ironically, these same candidates are really blowing it when it comes to the execution of these same technologies. I'm given the impression that they're doing these things in an effort to be "up-to-date" or "hip" and don't understand the power of the mediums that they're dabbling with.

Once candidates and their staff realize what a powerful strategic advantage emerging technologies can be to a campaign, I'm confident that things will change. In the next 18 months I see improvement in the "typical", such as Websites, SEO, SEM, Podcasts and Email Communications. In the next 18 months I see rapid progression in Value-based MashUps, Interactive Polls, Issues-based Microsites, Online PR, Reactive SEM, Multimedia Grassroots Marketing, MeetUp/MySpace Communities, Online Chat/Click to Talk.

To win, political campaigns need to market just as successfully as any other organization. That means engaging conceptual advertising, integrated marketing communications, value-based communications lifecycles, and online marketing mastery. When it comes down to it, they're selling a product just like the rest of us.

Posted by Anthony Campisi at 07:15 PM
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Please note...this entry is a few months late.

After years of getting buried on the advertising front, Visa has refreshed their advertising from "It's Everywhere you Want to Be" to a much more creative concept. From the first time that I saw it during the Winter Olympics (I said this was late), I've loved the new campaign - "Life takes Visa." After its premiere, the ads have been everywhere. In a very good way. They are powerful, creative, conceptual, smart, and best of all, they carry it throughout all of their marketing. They use great photography and strong copy to emotionally engage the viewer/reader and also make the connection back to the card through (not so) subtle wordplay.

You can see all of their print, tv, online ads and billboards here including their original 60-second spot that aired during the Olympics. They have also created a viral microsite that has some very amusing digital shorts, and is the perfect awareness tool to complete the circle of the campaign.

The beauty of this campaign is its versatility. Put a few creative people together in a room for a few hours and you'll come up with hundreds of ideas to use for years to come. That's the great thing of their prime competitor's campaign - (although I'd argue getting 10 years out of one concept truly is priceless). It's hard to believe how far removed their brand had become, but it just goes to show you what can happen when you invest in your brand.

My favorite:


What's yours? Leave a comment and let me know.

Posted by Ted Swain at 04:51 PM
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Today is 6.6.06. If you haven’t heard that at least six hundred and sixty six times today then I don’t know where you’ve been. Well anyway, if you were to talk with my hair stylist (yes, I have a hair stylist and not a barber) you would know that the world is going to end. Not today, but according to her friend who is “really religious and stuff” that the world might end possibly in seven years once the antichrist is old enough to unleash his wrath on the world. Where has this information come from you might ask? I’ll tell you where, from a genius ad campaign that has believers and nonbelievers questioning their faith.

The ad campaign was started about a month ago with simple billboard and poster teasers that have an ominous black background and announce "You Have Been Warned" and "The Signs Are All Around You." Each is followed with the date "6/6/06.” These campaigns have been greatly successful in creating an extreme amount of buzz surrounding the launch of the movie, but have fallen short with having a lackluster representation on the web. Maybe it’s because they wanted everyone to think that Lucifer is “old school” and strictly sticks to traditional advertising and marketing media. Or, maybe they thought it was more haunting to keep the world out of the loop on who was behind the ads until the time was right. Well, they did begin running tv spots about two weeks ago to fulfill on the teaser, but where is the cool Microsite or the viral component to stretch this even further. I could see an extension of the billboard campaign that didn’t give away the mysteriousness of the film. Like maybe youhavebeenwarned.com. I could see it now, the 6 6 06 and some ramblings about the antichrist. They could have made it appear like some fanatical lunatic designed the site and was giving us all fair warning. It would have also been great if they created some viral videos to be spread on youtube.com. For example, pulling a page out of Blair Witch.

If you go out to heedtheomen.com (the only web representation that I could find) you will see immediately that it’s for the movie. I like the feeling of not knowing for sure. I’m sure my hair stylist and her friend were enjoying the fact that this was possibly real. Just like the how everyone felt when they walked out of the Blair Witch years ago. They did tie in a myspace page and some mobile elements which helped, but failed on the extending the concept further.

Bottom line - the traditional execution was great, but it definitely needed an online campaign to supplement the offline. I just hope when the release the picture again on 06/06/3006, the ad agency will get it right. That's if human kind still exists of course.

Posted by Nick Bartolomeo at 10:50 AM
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Okay. I get it. Content is everywhere. And if it's not, companies are going to make sure that it is. I read last weekend in the New York Times that the former head of Electronic Arts (probably most known for the EA Sports line of games for Playstation, etc.) is heading up a company to develop more sophisticated games for your cell phone.

The key point behind this article is not that someone brilliant has launched a new tech firm. The key point here is that someone from an established organization is making the shift to a new medium because of the opportunity and market that exists. It's a risk in the same way that any new business venture is, however it's very calculated. With information behemoths like ESPN creating dedicated cell phones for their exclusive content, the market has demonstrated its willingness to use the phone for much more than calls and texts.

What to watch for: It will be interesting to see how the battle between the all-in-one phone and the all-in-one home entertainment system plays out over the next few years...

Posted by Ted Swain at 01:13 PM
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It's time. Finally. Time for new thinking. Time for new energy. Time for new opportunity.

The marketing and technology worlds stagnated for a few years after the bubble burst, but they're back. Did marketing happen during that period? Sure it did. But for most, it was a regression back to the safe and familiar. Billboards, print ads, direct mail campaigns. Sure the web was still in the fold, but it was quickly pushed to the back of the heap. And rightly so. During the boom, the web demanded lots of attention and dollars, but failed to deliver on its promises. Well, the web is back. And it's making up for lost time.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the web's different now. It's matured. It's not about static information, its about interactivity, understanding and for some, community. Marketers controlled the first round on the web. Today, it's the consumer that's in control. This has many marketers scrambling to figure out how to remain relevant, and how to regain control. TIVO, Digital Video Recorders (DVR) and Video On Demand (VOD) have changed the way we watch TV, and how advertisers can reach us. The savviest marketers see this as an opportunity. A new way to begin a dialogue with consumers. A way to leapfrog the competition before they realize that their world has even changed.

The New Marketing Economy™ is a platform for these changes, and opportunities. Here, we will discuss changes in the industry, share opinions, and hopefully learn to understand your thoughts on the topics as well. Most importanly, we will discuss the impact on the business of marketing and how these changes bring tangible opportunity back to the organizations that market. There are plenty of blogs that simply identify trends and new technologies. The New Marketing Economy is focused on business objectives - and how to achieve them through the strategic use of marketing and technology.

We look forward to beginning a dialogue...

Posted by Anthony Campisi at 11:43 AM
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