A Dutch Treat—Some Crazy Tea Time

Check out the hallucinogenic hi-jinks brought to us courtesy of Dutch agency CCCP, located in Amsterdam, for Lipton Clear Green Tea.

 

Amsterdam? “Tea?” Hmmmmm…I have been to Amsterdam, and I have seen the coffee and tea shops there. Which is where, I have little doubt, the creative team spent a great deal of time working on this project.

 

I guess they are trying to say that Lipton Clear Green Tea makes life’s unpleasant situations much more bearable. Not exactly an original idea. But a very fresh-feeling execution. I would have preferred to see a little more interactivity, but it’s a certainly a pleasant few minutes spent. Much like the pleasant few minutes I spent in an Amsterdam Tea house back in 1999

 

 

 

Banner Ads with New Awareness Builders and Twice the Engagement Power!

 At Attention Shoppers!, we have a love hate relationship with banner advertising. We love the fact that CPG companies continue to shift more of their advertising dollars to the online space—and initially most of that money goes to banners. But we hate the fact that most banners are mere billboards or print ads online, and don’t use a fraction of the real power the online channel offers.

 

Occasionally, however, some banners manage to do a great job at building awareness and drawing consumers into a deeper, richer branded experience. Here is a great example that comes to us from Putomatic, a Spanish laundry detergent. This execution is part of a larger campaign, with a clever positioning based on the premise that men should shoulder a larger share of the domestic chores.  The ad challenges men to solve a fun interactive puzzle. With a surprising payoff.

 

If all banner advertising worked this well, money would be flowing our way even faster.

That’s One Crazy Clock!

 Every year, like clockwork, the Clio Awards take place. The Clios used to be the most famous ad awards in the United States, and then a crazy thing happened in the early 90s where the guy who ran the awards had a melt down and people ran up on stage and just grabbed awards willy nilly and it more or less represented the end of the awards show world as we know it and no one felt fine about it.

 

But the Clios came back, and now have regained their rightful place in the self-congratulatory ad world.

 

Anyway, there were not many packaged goods companies that walked away with prizes in the interactive category this year, so I will show you the Grand Clio winner, in case you have not seen it yet.

 

Created for clothing retailer, Uniqulo, the widget/clock/site experience is pretty difficult to describe. It combines, time, dance, music and other stuff in a nonstop celebration of Uniqulo’s clothing. Here is how Barbara Lippert from Adweek talked about it. In any case, it is fantastic. Enjoy.

Whither Widgets?

 

Last year, Newsweek declared that 2007 would be the Year of the Widget. I’m not sure that most consumers—or advertisers—agreed. Because even today both are trying to figure out exactly how to use these mini-applications (for those of you unfamiliar with widgets, they allow you to automatically deliver content to a person’s desktop or mobile phone—here’s a more detailed description).

 

And if advertisers overall are finding widgets tough to figure out, CPG companies are having an even more difficult time. We’ve often said that giving consumers something of value is key to effective online marketing. Creating successful widgets calls for offering even GREATER value to consumers. Because you are asking them to download an application and give it valuable desktop space.

 

Hard-core do-it-yourselfers could certainly see value in having the Home Depot’s weekly specials delivered to their desktops. But it’s a bit more difficult to find a widget with a strong value proposition that’s related to a toothpaste. Difficult, but certainly not impossible. Here are a few examples of CPG companies using widgets.

 

Not long ago Attention Shoppers! called your attention to a lovely web site created by St. Ives in support of their new Elements line of skincare products. As part of the site’s stated goal of helping you achieve a “Happy Face”, visitors to the site are invited to download a couple of widgets designed to add to their daily happiness. One of these (promoting an Element product that protects your skin) gives you a daily weather forecast (not unique, and available from numerous other widgets). Another, in support of the “Fresh Start” product, offers women help in setting and meeting goals. Nice.

 

Mike Davis, a Creative Director at Digitas, showed me this new widget from Aquafina. I like the way it leverages their funny TV ad featuring feisty Chicago Cubs manager Lou Pinnella. But will many people really want to download this to their desktop just to hear from Lou every day? Granted, the widget also includes RSS feeds for the latest baseball information, so maybe big fans will take the time to download the application and make it part of their desktop. Maybe.

 

If you have any other good examples of CPG companies using widgets, please let Attention Shoppers! know. We want to embrace the widget, but are having a little trouble getting our arms around them at this point.

 

Just What The Boys Need–Another Contest

 

We all know that marketing in the online world is all about offering value to people that you want to buy your product. The more good times they spend with your product online, the logic goes, the more likely they will be to reach for an old friend when they are in the supermarket aisle.

 

But what really is value? In many cases, probably in too many cases, value comes in the form of a contest or sweepstakes. Do these things really work? You’d have to think so, since they’ve been around long before the internet was even a gleam in Al Gore’s eye. And by some of the most successful marketers in the world.

 

Here is one that I saw today for Pepsi. It’s aimed at teen guys, I suspect, and features Gary, a typical British football fan. Curiously, the site comes to us via the efforts of Pepsi NORWAY. I tried to find the Norwegian version of the site, but I was unsuccessful. However, one of the things you can do on the site is order a real pizza. From a Norwegian pizza place. If you do order one, I would at least tip the delivery dude an extra buck.

Could Your Face Use a Little Extra Happiness?

I stumbled across this lovely website for St. Ives while stumbling around Yahoo’s new destination for women, Shine. Created in support of St. Ives new Elements line of skincare products, the site is simple, elegant and useful. There are many wonderful details in the animation, and each product description is accompanied by a little something to help make your face a little happier. I suggest that you click on the element HA. If that doesn’t make you smile, then you just may be incapable of having a happy face.