Favourite Picks from the 2010 Webby Awards Part 1

It is always a pleasure to go through the long list of Webby winners and nominees - such inspiring work can be found. I wanted to share some of my favourite campaigns and reflect a bit on what makes them so special. I'll start off with two of my favourites.

First pick is Adobe's Virtual Museum of Digital Media, developed by Goodby, Silverstein and Partners:



When I first saw the museum in action in 2010 it was truly astonishing. Adobe have created a marvel - an online experience like no other. From the idea that they had an architect develop the concept for the entire building and then actually place it virtually into different major cities, to the complete interactive experiences with the exhibits, the visitor guide and recorded curator. What I especially appreciate about this project is that it is not just a demonstration of digital capabilities but a long-term project to give creative digital artists a platform to showcase their work.

Second pick is Airwalk's Invisible Pop-up Stores, developed by Young & Rubicam. The case study of the project can be viewed here - no embedding options unfortunately: View Case Study

To summarize, the idea was to develop custom online stores for a limited edition relaunch of a popular Airwalk shoe from the past, that can be viewed on GPS-enabled smartphones. The campaign was specifically targeted at the brand's key target group - skateboarders. The aim was to reach this audience at the primary location where they spend their time - at skate parks and beaches. When the kids would hold up their phones in one of the areas and start the Airwalk app they would see an on-screen catalog of the shoes, be able to customize them and order their selection instantly. What impresses me with this project is the complex targeting and the smart integration of exclusivity - the shoes were only available in these special "invisible" stores. Along with the adidas Virtual Footwear wall, these projects are my favourite eCommerce ideas from the past year.

The Next Generation of Books

Came across something special on TED today - a presentation by Mike Matas - ex-software developer of the iPod and iPad interface. His current company Push Pop Press has developed an immersive digital book for the Apple devices that has interactive content, videos, documentary content and infographics built into the book and at your finger tips. Video below demonstrates the functionality - I personally would love to read through such a book. I am one to enjoy reading - sometimes going through hundreds of pages a day if I really enjoy the book. This project however, seems like a new experience altogether. It was interesting to hear that Mike's company are trying to develop a "toolkit" to allow other companies to easily create content as the pieces shown and I am very curious about the potential implications.

History of Social Media Blunders

Came across a wonderful SlideShare presentation by SMI on what has gone wrong for brands in social media over the last few years:

Social media Screw Ups - A History

View more presentations from Social Media Influence.

Social media might be the "coolest thing ever" according to some but it should definitely not be taken lightly by marketers and companies. With all the potential in the channel there are also great risks and no company, regardless of size or reputation is invulnerable to them. Maybe the most important insight for me from the presentation is to actively listen to and learn from your target group - that is the foundation of all successful marketing effort. Social media gives us great freedom to do exactly that - listen first-hand to the conversations of our audiences.

Audience Involvement via Digital

I've been looking into case studies of one of the world's leading digital agencies - AKQA and will be posting several campaigns of theirs from the past 2 years. Below is their unique campaign for the launch of the new Sherlock Holmes in 2009. They managed to create a truly captivating experience for their audience giving them a customized game that kept them busy for weeks with new content and improvements.



The campaign was a huge success generating coverage across different media and incredible numbers in social media mentions and views.

Digital Shift Among Some Big Brands

Below and article published on marketingmagazine.co.uk showing how major global brands are looking at digital:

Bacardi rethinks drinks brands' online strategy

Bacardi is set to scale back its brand websites and refocus its marketing efforts on social-media platforms that host its branded content.

The drinks company, which owns the Bacardi, Bombay Sapphire, Dewar's and Grey Goose brands, will pare back its sites because they are expensive to run and are experiencing a fall in visitors, according to sources.

Over the next one to two years, it is believed that Bacardi will shift up to "90%" of its digital spend to Facebook as it no longer deems dotcom sites relevant.

A source said: "With dotcoms you are not getting a great return on investment if you are not getting the hits."

The company will bolster its social-media presence, where it will be looking to place branded content that can be shared more easily with online communities. It is believed that the activity will be aimed at consumers in their 20s.

The Bacardi UK site cur-rently offers visitors a range of products and information, including branded apps, music downloads and cocktail tips.

Rival Diageo recently centred a campaign for Smirnoff on a branded Facebook page, using the site as a hub for its Nightlife Exchange Project.

The page is updated with realtime news and includes live streaming of global events. Diageo claimed the campaign has helped it recruit 312,000 Smirnoff "fans" in the UK and two million globally.

Diageo plans to build on its success by increasing its year-on-year digital spend for Smirnoff by 115%.

Heineken is also raising its investment in social media-related marketing, with the upcoming launch of a Facebook store that sells branded merchandise. This is part of a wider strategy by the brewer to use the web to develop its global presence.

Digital Metrics in Real Time :)

Video below shows how brand equity is measured nowadays. During the SuperBowl brands pay crazy money to appear for a few seconds on the screens of consumers. Mullens & Radian6 have developed real time social tracking app to score the biggest ad campaigns during the 2011 Super Bowl.Have a look at the video to understand.

Unique Store Window Installation

Saw this posted on the Digital Buzz Blog. Apparently it was developed by a group of students from Hyper Island. It's a digital installation that replaces a shop window and by employing motion sensors plays, rewinds or stops a preprogrammed video. Quite interesting in the implications it has for development of such campaigns. Great work!

Interactive Display Window Concept from Gustaf Engström on Vimeo.

Digital In-Store Experience

Digital is becoming a lot more integrated. Companies have started to unite in-store marketing with digital signage and motion sensory equipment. One of the best results to date is Adidas's new interactive inventory in several of their stores.

As the video shows the "wall" is a highly customized experience using facial recognition to assess the gender of approaching consumes. It then guides them through a specific or full range of Adidas shoes and gives them highly specific and detailed information on each model including product videos, visual explanation of the design of the shoe and immediate purchase options allowing for great speed and selection of the perfect model for each consumer.

Applied Digital to Practice

An interesting campaign developed by Gol Airlines to make navigating through their website more interactive and interesting for consumers. A mini-game integrated with a promotional campaign - watch the video to learn how it works.

Gol Airlines - Mobile Check in from AlmapBBDO Internet on Vimeo.