Supply Chain Interactive [Color Sensitive] Billboard

Color Sensitive Interactive Billboard from milton correa on Vimeo.

Project Fast

They’re at it again. After taking over the VW account, the first commercials from CP+B have surfaced, along with the site Project Fast. Aimed at young males, the GTI campaign speaks to your inner ‘fast’, building upon ‘drivers wanted’ but putting the need for speed and agility at the forefront of the driving experience. Let me just mention that the companion site is how it should be done – one of the best car sites I have ever seen. Hats off to the interactive team, including Jeff Benjamin.

Uncommon Sense

It seems that ever since CP+B resigned MINI for the much larger Volkswagon Assignment, they have never been the same. Working with the Miami-based agency has created a stir within the company, and changed the way they run their agency selection process altogether. Normally, companies use a selection firm to manage the RFP process and then a select number of agencies are invited to pitch. After, the company selects their agency.

Run by Jim McDowell, MINI CEO, they began the selection process in the normal way, but once they had their short list they held an immersion boot-camp in which all the agencies had to perform in front of each other, including: a scavenger hunt, improv, and info sharing. By the end, one agency dropped due to ‘chemistry differences’, and this uncommon practice led to Butler Shine as their new agency.

McDowell put these agencies through this uncommon pitch process “… to get closer to how each agency thought, behaved, and went about their business when unexpected situations were thrown at them.”

Online Advertising Predictions For 2006

24/7 Media has posted their Online Advertising Predictions For 2006 in a recent press release.

1. Consumer-generated media will become increasingly attractive to advertisers

2. Advertisers will continue shifting traditional ad spending to the Web due to increased Internet consumption and better targeting/reporting capabilities

3. Advertisers, cable providers and interactive marketing experts will collaborate to address “The TiVo Effect”

4. Brand advertisers will drive the next wave of growth for the paid search market

5. Best practices in localized mobile marketing will be perfected overseas in 2006

6. Online advertisers will employ holistic targeting methods to deliver better results and reduce reliance on high-profile, high-CPM ad buys

7. Technology and better data access will transform online advertising success to a formulaic equation

8. Japan will be the next frontier for paid search and interactive marketing

9. Mobile carriers will adopt new ad models to boost revenue beyond usage

10. Performance-based pricing models will demonstrate the true value of search engine marketing (SEM) as a lead generation channel

Plate Shifting

Should have posted this two weeks ago, but nonetheless newsworthy.

Tuesday they land the $400 million VW America account, with no review. Immediately drop Mini (conflict). Then, Coke moves their $45 million Sprite account to them. All in the same week. Congrats CP+B. Your hard work is paying off.

I can’t say that I am suprised at Arnold losing the account, though – as I am praying that the ‘Force of Good’ commercial with the bug vs. alarm clock will be put to sleep. Since this was just the beginning of the new campaign rollout for the 2006 model, complete with mini-site I am interested to see if CP+B will drop it or try to realign the direction and move forward.

Nike Springs Back

These visually-driven ads from DDB Paris are so crisp, I just had to share.

Sticky Billboard

Funny and memorable. But does it truly sell this brand of muffin? Do they even stock them in the gas station at the next exit (just in case you get a craving)?

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Measurable engagement

Isn’t it about time? e-Marketing has been held accountable for quite some time, having commoditized media measurement in an effort to direct the dollars to measure what is working. It’s nice to see that the Advertising industry is shifting.

A joint-task force composed of members of the Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Advertising Research Foundation yesterday unveiled an initiative that would shake up the classic equation of advertising math that determines consumer exposure to an ad. It would replace the concept of frequency — the number of exposures to an ad — with “engagement,” a metric that could better reflect the growing number of media choices facing consumers, from cell phones and the Internet to video games and podcasts. [AdAge]

When communicators discover the need to measure the degree to which customers are participating in their communities and brands, this will become vital. The best campaigns will measure what changed: did we move markets, change minds and increase sales? It will no longer be just about driving communications accountability, now it will also be about driving marketing accountability, too. And this is a nice change. The transparency that this will create will one one side illuminate the marketing coasters, and on the other, help strategically pinpoint where to go next.

Don’t be jealous

Recent iPod ads in Japan.