It happens when nobody’s watching. Amnesty declares that this is the first poster that responds to people looking at it. 

Camera’s eye recognition software changes the image when looked at.

Thanks Ossi

The general level this year in Cannes has been moderate, to lack a better word. Hopefully Titanium and Film categories will still bring us a few jewels. Nonetheless, I wanted to post few favorites from the winners. In addition to the obvious big winners The best job in the world and Batman The Dark Knight campaigns, here are my favorites so far:

Store+, Red Cross, Leo Burnett Lisboa (Promo Gold)

 

A store that sells nothing but Hope. Red Cross created a store in a mall during Chrismas shopping season for collecting donations, a store where customers left with empty bags and full hearts.

Banner Concerts, Axion, Boondoggle (Media Gold)

 

No explanation needed – great use of media!

 

Trillion Dollar Billboard, The Zimbabwean, TWBA South-Africa (Outdoor Grand Prix)

 

If you use trillion dollars of real money instead of paper in your ad, how bad can it be? The Zimbabwean has been banned from their country for criticizing Mugabe for the current state of Zimbabwe. What a better way to make a point in the neighboring countries on the issue than using the real money, which is by the way cheaper than paper, to publish your message on.

 

James Ready, James Ready Beer, Leo Burnett Toronto (Outdoor Gold)

Again, the ad tells all that is relevant. Share the billboard costs to keep the beer cheap – and people did.

Nice guerilla stunt from Red Bull. Twenty second pit stop might not be the fastest, but if you do it on Time Square it will earn you 160 000 views in a few days. 

via Marketing Alternatif

The Danish newspaper B.T. had enough with the ad blocking software users and refused to give their content to the people who used for example AdBlocker, and instead showed the above message. The message states:

We can see, that your computer has installed an ad blocker, which doesn’t allow us to show you our ads on the website.

We can only give you free journalistic quality content if we have ads on our sites, because they pay very much of the costs associated with running a website. If the ads will be removed, and our income lost, then we will not be able to continue to offer you free news on www.bt.dk

Have questions or comments please feel free to contact us at btwebmaster 

Best Regards

B.T.

Like fighting windmills, the AdBlock users’ already found a way to go around and hi-jack the banner places, which were then again released by B.T. Now, we’re waiting for the next move from the hackers. Adland has the full story. 

 

What would our transport be like in 2088, about eighty years from now? 

Somebody might think of flying cars, teleportations, or magnetic levitations. But, if look back at the evolution of transportation, we have actually been quite unimaginative in the past. Have a look at the carriages below, one is from 2009 and the other a few years older. They’re still basically very similar: personal transportation units, with a driver, room for 3-4 passengers, and they roll on four wheels etc. They even look the same.

Honda has started to think what car’s would look like in 2088, and made an inspiring video out of the thinking process. The good thing is that they’re not just thinking of how to continue this personal-four-wheeled-vehicle trend but how to revolutionize it.

They’re talking about leapfrogging, doing the same for auto’s what cell phones did to land lines, and creating a Facebook on wheels. Honda is dreaming of 2088.

(video via Faris)

Carrot mobbing has been a growing phenomena in California as well as Finland.  Carrot mobs are groups of people who reward businesses by choosing their products in return for the companies sustainable actions. By basically supporting the good guys, instead of boycotting the bad, carrot mobs take a positive perspective in creating a more sustainable world.

We’ve been organizing a carrot mob who would switch their electricity producer to a more greener wind powered producer. Goal is to get thousands of people (willing to change their electricity company or at least willing to receive an offer from the winning producer) signed up and the use this mass as a leverage to pull off a great wind electricity contract from a single most sustainable and affordable producer. 

So far, almost 500 people have signed up to receive the winning offer and consider acting accordingly. For all of you living in Finland come and join us, and put the word forward – enough with the talking, it’s time to act! For all the rest of you, stay tuned, this could really be a case to follow. 

Organisations involved Ilmastotalkoot, Porkkanamafia, N2 Laundry,

Carlsberg is launching an interesting map based Where’s the Party application for the web and mobile in Sweden. The service states that it let’s you locate the best local events and keeps track of where your friends are located. Sounds good and all, but I’m still wondering about several things; Why is it in English for the Swedish market? Why do you need an invitation code? Is it going to be really valuable or just advertising camouflaged as a service?

 

I’ve been testing the new Nokia N97, I must say it feels good and looks good. Some might even call it Nokia’s comeback. Oh, wait, Nokia calls it Nokia’s comeback. 

 

(via @Jussipekka)

We ran a full page job ad in the biggest newspaper in Scandinavia, Helsingin Sanomat, yesterday. A day after the ad, it’s safe to say, it was quite a controversial piece, and successful as well, since what we really wanted to create was awareness and conversation. So far, three main business and marketing medias in Finland have written a piece on it.

Free translation of the ad title: “the most certain way to secure a job in the advertising industry is to get pregnant.” and below title was a pretty descriptive instructions on how to. The small print states that “the second option to secure a job in the industry is to work for a company where the downturn has affected business positively.”  

Full size picture. 

Check out our job openings at the N2 job site. We’re hiring a copy, AD, Executive Producer, Strategist, Programmer, Flash designer etc.

Here’s the initial response a day later.

Medias (in Finnish only):

• Markkinointi & Mainonta
• Kauppalehti
• Keskisuomalainen
• Iltalehti
• Taloussanomat

Blogs (in Finnish only):

• Päiväkävelyllä
• Zeeland

Twitter conversation.

The old-school Finnish name “Ukko” (could be translated as “an Old Man”) of the MEP candidate has been the all over the web and streets of cities. Despite the long career in politics and EU-positions, Ukko wasn’t a known character in Finnish politics two months ago. Now, after an intensive marketing campaign Ukko is the fourth or fifth most popular Coalition Party member in the latest polls, and possibly a new MEP on Sunday.

Three campaign success factors: 1) Biggest support team in Finland, consisting of young and enthusiastic people, 2) Active utilization of a social media ecosystem: website, blog, videoblog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, geolocation map etc. 3) High quality advertising in city centers.

Disclaimer: I’ve been involved in the marketing planning and I’m voting for Ukko.