BOO! Live From Hotel 626, Doritos Says Happy Halloween

 All of us at Attention Shoppers! are getting ready for trick or treating, and we are truly in the Halloween spirit. Speaking of spirits, check out this effort from the online savvy folks at Frito-Lay and Goodby Silverstein.

Hotel 626 is a very scary place, and you’ll have to invest a bit of time in it to figure it all out, but one assumes that the Doritos-munching teenagers in the target have the time to invest. We, however, did not get past challenge number three. At that point, there is no Doritos mention at all, and perhaps there never is.

In any case, as we have come to expect fro the people involved it is very well done from a story and execution perspective. Expect to see this scaring up something at Cannes next summer.

PS: Late breaking news: a bit after I visited the site I received an email from Doritos which let me know that, for a limited time, Doritos Taco and Four Cheese Tortilla chips are back from the dead. 

Kodak Says It Can Make Me Super. Do You Give an Elf?

 

Poster of Attention Shoppers! staffer being Super

 

The fine folks at interactive shop EVB, famous for the Elf Yourself campaign, are trying to catch lightening in a bottle once more, this time for former film-giant, now digital camera and photo-sharing giant, Kodak.

 The premise of the Make Me Super site is simple and similar to Elf Yourself. You visit the site, upload a photo enter your name (if they have it) and then you can watch a video of you as a super hero doing mundane tasks as a soundtrack sings your praises.

 There is also the possibility of downloading a poster of yourself as a super hero (but not the video, which is too bad). You can also buy lots of nifty Kodak merchandise—a nice coffee mug of you as a super hero for the office, perhaps—and upload your video to the site, but only if you register with Kodak’s photo-sharing site.

 That is one reason why we feel this probably won’t be nearly as popular as Elf Yourself. It’s a bit more complicated—simple rules with viral—and, frankly, it feels a bit done.

A French Mime, French Wine and Lots of Blind Dates (More Blind Dates?)

 

 When it comes to French wine, Attention Shoppers! enjoys a glass every now and then (or every day and then some, as the case may be). And when it comes to French mimes, we have an interest bordering on obsession which dates back to a fatal day during our junior year in college which combined a French foreign exchange student, a Halloween party and a game of truth or dare.

 So you can imagine our delight when we came across this site, which combines French mime and French wine. Only this mime TALKS! A la Marcel Marceau in “Silent Movie” for all of you Mel Brooks fans out there. The mime is going on blind dates, much like Hannah in our last post (a trend perhaps?).

 In any case, we believe the premise of the site is intriguing, but the ultimate execution leaves a bit to be desired from a performance perspective. You be the judge, but I’m not sure that it leaves me with an impression that French wines are the most sophisticated and nuanced in the world (which, bien sur, they are).

The Economy Stinks, So Hannah Gets Drunk and Has a Blind Date

 

The crack research department at Attention Shoppers! has been spending the last two weeks analyzing what’s going on with the economy and how it might affect marketing spending in the online space.  The early returns are not encouraging.

 

First of all, one would think that these tough times would see a flight to the most efficient, most measurable marketing possible (and it is quite easy to make a very strong case for the online channel).  However, it is our feeling that in scary times, clients tend to scurry for the comfort of the familiar. And as we have noted many times in this blog, the online space is still way too UNFAMILIAR to many clients.

 

According to this article, online spending will be looking at lean times, at least in the short term.

 

It’s enough to drive an online marketer to drink. Which is precisely what Dove does in this new execution brought to you by Ogilvy Toronto and the Barbarian Group from Boston. Dove continues to push the envelope in the space, and this latest execution is no exception, with drunkenness and breast-feeding and blind dates and lots of video. All in all, it is very well-produced, as we have come to expect from Dove and Ogilvy. They spent big money on this. Don’t they know we’re in a recession?

General Mills Gets It Together Pink

Attention Shoppers! has discussed cause related marketing several times in the past. That’s because the increase in cause-related campaigns owes much to the internet. And CPG companies are among the most active in the area.

 

We recently came across another great example of how the internet multiplies the power of what brands can do to help a cause. Together Pink comes to us via a group of General Mills brands: Yoplait, Cheerios, Progresso Soups and Nature Valley. However, the branding is very subtle. In fact, if you’re not looking for it—and few consumers will be—you might miss it.

 

The individual brand sites, however, also have sections promoting the effort. The experience is hosted on My Space, and it is a celebration, of hope and of fighting and surviving. Women are invited to share their stories of struggle and triumph, and other women are encouraged to offer them flowers of support. There is a lot of content, including blogs and video, and General Mills is driving to the experience with online advertising and on-pack communication.