A bit different to my normal product marketing posts, I got an email from Nicola from AMV BBDO promoting this public service video that has been produced for Tower Hamlets.
In this case, I’ll just quote the mail direct.
Nearly everyone is aware of the increasing danger of knife crime across the country but Tower Hamlets Council wanted to speak especially to the youth of the borough to highlight the danger with an arresting new ad. By carrying a knife young people are actually putting themselves at risk, whether as part of gang culture or as self defence. Research has shown that knife carriers are more likely to be wounded by their own blades because the knife is likely to be turned on them. Tower Hamlets Council works closely with the police to take a tough line on knife crime. It is playing a key role in anti-knife activities, such as Operation Blunt, which are vital in helping to stop knife attacks before they happen.
The news yesterday showed that crime overall in the UK, is decreasing, in some areas it has increased, such as knife crime amongst teens. Using distributed content like this does not necessarily have the widest impact and can often be derided, but if it makes one person think twice about carrying a knife than that could change things for them.
I’m not sure what YouTube is doing with its weekly Most Viewed list, as I’ve always thought it was in order. But over the last few weeks, it looks like they are randomising the listing. How else do you explain the fact that this clip where Top Gear meets Doctor Who , with only 32k views is ‘higher’ in the list than this new one from BlendTec with 353k views. Both were added on the same day, so the views are over the same time. No matter, they’re both on the list. They also seem to have reduced the number of ’sex’ videos on the list. There’s still some there, but they are not overwhelming the others, so there’s some filtering at work here I guess.
The BlendTec on is the latest from the Blending machine company that throws all sorts of stuff into their mixers. This is one where they destroy one of the new 3G iPhones.
There’s lots of talk about the demise of TV which may or may not be correct depending on who you listen to. One clear trend however is the desire not to be just passive recipients of the programming, there’s a desire to interact with the content and with others who share the fandom.
Saving Grace, a TNT programme, starts its second season on Monday and it facilitating fan interaction with a new site called Embrace Your Grace, a site where some of the people behind the show, such as series creator Nancy Miller, will be contributing. As well as blog commentary, there’s also a thriving message board, which looks to be one of the busiest on the TNT boards, proving how interactive the viewers are. They’re also running competitions to win T-Shirts or a 911 Porsche
What do I think
Personally, I love the idea of supplementary content to go with a TV programme, both additional bits that are ‘in world’ or the stuff that talks about how the who is made. This looks like it could be a brilliant place for fans of the show, the truth being in the content that gets added over the next few months. The key to the success of this part is whether the writers really contribute to the debate and answer the questions asked, not just post blog posts as one-way press releases. The fans have the forum to talk within themselves, taking this to a new place needs to bring something new.
But at the moment, I’m finding it difficult to navigate, having to click around to see the blog posts as they don;t seem to be laid out on the front page with archives etc which is the expected behaviour of blogs. The message boards not being integrated into the site is also an annoying break as you get pushed away to the TNT site. It could be far more integrated and a bit more thought to getting around the site is needed.
The Pitch
This was from Attention, about whom I’ve talked about before. Nice, personal pitch, sending me stuff that I can easily write about.
Quality Standard Beef and Lamb have put together a Natural Born Grillers, plus a really good ‘course’ in how to run a great BBQ.
I like this, even if the lawyers and copywriters have been at the recipes, so every time lamb or beef is mentioned it has to be qualified with the ‘brand name’ Quality Standard! There’s a good contest to win a brand new BBQ - if you send it on to 4 people.
Screenshot from site
Despite creating a utility app, one that can add value to your Facebook experience, it does not seem to be getting a huge traction. I’ve no idea how they are seeding this, but it’s working slowly.
Have you played Guitar Hero or Rockband? If so, you’ll probably be a lot better at this game than me, Battle of the Bands from Sony and Currys. Just choose your level of difficulty and play the game using your keyboard.
Screenshot from site
I’t actually sure why they are running this, which has to indicate a fail. I think it’s just music appliances in general available from the store, but I’m not 100% sure. Whatever, it’s fun
I have to admit I find the razor market, especially the ‘female’ razor market particularly silly. To me, a razor is a razor and I’ve never found that the special pink ones with all the smooth curves give a better performance. But I’m obviously not a key target, as the market is huge.
Gillette are promoting their Venus Razor to teen girls and so have had this Beach Volley Ball game made. It’s a fun little timewaster, just keep hitting the ball.
Screenshot from site
You can find out all about the brand, plus lots of other P&G brands targeted at teen girls, at the Being Girl Site. It seems to be a really good resource of information for those teen years, always with a veneer of marketing but still pretty good.
My favourite whale is back. Mr Splashy Pants from Greenpeace is back with a maze game, but with a serious edge. Two Japanese activists have been arrested following an exposure of a whale meat scandal and they are still being held without charge (under the Japanese 23 days rule).
To publicise this, Mr Splashy Pants is back in a maze game, challenging you to find your way to the keys to release the activists whilst keeping up the level of water in your pants. It’s a fun game with a serious edge - calling on you to sign the petition to get them released.
Here’s a complement and contrast to the Girl video. Dove continue to run their Self-Esteem Fund as part of their Campaign for Real Beauty, “an agent of change to inspire and educate girls and young women about a wider definition of beauty.” Moving beyond just talking about it in their marketing, they provide action, running workshops with local organisations, such as Me! in the US and Body Talk in the UK. They’ve run around 2,700 workshops, with 2 million girls reached, in the last 2 years looking raising self-confidence and self-esteen, with a target of reaching 5 million girls by 2010. They’re planning on releasing a report about National Self-esteem later in the year.
The latest instalment in the campaign, Under Pressure, takes a starting point of Onslaught and then looks at the workshops and the impact of them. It looks directly at the action the brand is taking over and above the product.
Under Pressure
Onslaught
What I think
Overall, I love the Self-Esteem Fund; they are doing a great job in getting a real message out there,, in making a change. Not too fond of the latest video though, being a little too cutesey for my personal taste; I’m guessing it’s a US cut and one targeted at a UK market would have a slightly more gritty take. A longer video gives a better insight into what the workshops do.
The Pitch
Great pitch, thanking me for my previous contributions and then massaging my ego a little:
As a key partner in our efforts to widen society’s stereotypical view of beauty, we wanted you to be the first to learn of the new self-esteem building programming we plan to roll out later this year.
It’s still a form letter, but one that’s well written, doesn’t patronise and offers me lots of stuff with a link to a page full of assets, pictures, videos and logos. Dove and their agency (in this case Rocket XL) have really worked at doing this right, giving all the stuff you need to write a post. They treat bloggers as professionals, an attitude that can be lacking on some PR agencies.
Punk Planning’s Charles showed this video from The Girl Effect. There’s a marketing side to this, as Charles brings out. The idea encapsulated in the video is told simply and hits all the right spots.
I also happen to think that pitches should be done like this. Charts, strategies, quantitative data and qualitative dimensions mean nothing unless an agency can articulate how it’s going to speak on behalf of their clients. The video above is exactly how we should be doing it in my opinion.
But the fact that this really works was brought home by the NYT with an article about Beatrice Biira, a girl whose family got bought a goat via Heifer International and then made enough profit to send her to school. She won a scholarship to a US school and has now earned a degree.
Some of the stuff that gets produced for the California Milk Processing Board is pretty good, such as this Got Milk game I wrote about last month. This ad, for the Hispanic market is pretty good as well.
I’m making the assumption that this is the video that Grupo Gallegos, (named Advertising Age’s Multi-Cultural Agency of the Year in 2007, or so I’m told) produced. Their PR agency, Middleberg Communications, decided not to send me a link, stating:
Please contact me for the link to Elfo (I don’t want to clog your inbox) or for more information and/or interviews with any (or all) of the below.
Instead, they clog up my inbox with a bios of the CEO and a couple of the CDs. Why not just send me the links and the information? Why the desire for me to contact them to chase things up? It’s simple, if you want me to write something, send me something related to products and all the assets I need. If I like it - or hate it - I’ll write something
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