Ambient Media - Getting it right!

I have this thing for Ambient Media. Have done several posts in the past , over at my older blog.

Had recently seen something very interesting done by the Delhi office of Euro RSCG India, which had taken my fancy and the reticent blogger in me had forgotten all about it, till I was going through my older posts and found something similar. It's not an inspiration story at all. Both the ideas are really strong and while the other idea is for an iconic brand like Ikea, this one is for a small consulting firm - the only thing common are outsides of buildings. However, fantastic usage of the medium, which is always the hallmark of a good ambient idea.

Here they are, Judge for yourself.

 

(The Ikea storage idea on balconies)

(The Euro RSCG idea - the clients in that building, you could get jobs with them) :-)

what else but ZooZoos

No. This is not the post I was wanting to write for a long time. (That was about effectiveness of the communication- about how even if the communication is superhit, the product might not move; Airtel VAS ads versus the Vodafone Ads).

The ZooZoos have pervaded everything. Fantastic 360 effort, must say! The ET/TOI masthead captures, the being in the IPL crowd thingy, the Brand Equity story about them and the no-relation-yet-there kinda presence. The umpteen ads on TV, a pre-launch on facebook everyday, et al. They are all over. In fact, somebody who works for hanung toys, called me to ask if I could get them a 'soft toy' deal done. Are you listening guys?

Everybody and their Uncle and their nephews (2.65lac of them only on facebook) have now been discussing zoozoos; it's funny when a communication/ad piece suddenly gets mainstream attention, when people send pics of their making over the mail, when mature individuals take what kind of zoozoo you are kinda quizzes on facebook, you know they are onto something.

When that happens, I think, suddenly, the responsibility of the creators go up. They ought to, IMHO, start feeding the social media public more and more about the creation, the stories, the origins, the inspirations, the barriers they overcame. Remember the yin-yang theory in terms of branding. Today's customer is more evolved, enough to know that nobody is perfect, including brands. They would love a brand more if they came out in the open and said 'we are trying something, we might have some short comings, give us an opportunity, sample us'. Gmail has been in beta for about 5 years now!

In the context of this, I came across today, something via twitter and promptly took a stance on the same. I realised later, with help from my friend @manuscrypts that it wasn't practically all that important. It wasn't. But, you know what, when one is seeking information, due to your superlative efforts, you should feed them the info.


Like a prof. had once said in PR class, back in the Univ : "your brand would form an image anyway, it helps if you've shaped it right"








(for more on the post I am mentioning- go here :
ZooZoos - Inspiration or Imitation?

Yet, nothing succeeds like success right? The zoozoos have gone on to bag the Ad Age's best viral campaign of the week. Go get 'em guys!

Adopt a pup!

Just doing my bit. Write in at the email in the poster. Give a pup your love.

 

Loved the poster enough to promote; love the pups as well, but can't adopt myself.

The theory of Evolution retold

Now I know; All guys take heart. AA be damned ;-)
Source: here (via email from Abbas)

Ambient Media - The street is your billboard!

The streets have always been a favourite Advertising medium, what with all the Billboards shouting for commuter attention, then came the lamps, the mid-street kiosks, the bus/tram shelters, the sandwich men, the street art, the street side installations, et al.

If done well, (read: giving credence to the intelligence of the commuter), it is definitely seen and remembered, like this one done by Calcium Sandoz or this one done by Onida washing machines.

Found a bunch of zebra crossings used as Ad medium on this posterous link, some seen earlier, some new, some not so hot, but loved the collection on the whole. Take a look.

 

 

Glenfiddich - The Art in the Barrel

London based design agency Johnson Banks has been doing some wonderful work for Glenfiddich.

They have made the barrels that hold the Glenfiddich scotch into an integral part of their communication.
The brief, as posted on their blog, was to show the vast lengths of time it takes to produce a bottle of the product. The tag line for Glenfiddich incidentally is that 'every year counts'. They have used parts of the barrels itself - the charred staves, the metal hoops, etc. Read more here

Some of the work reproduced from their site here.

 

Their blog also lists some of their early ideas and the brief, which is rather nice.

Anyone else wants to give it a shot?