Tostitos Says No to Fun, Yes to Production Budget

Take a look at this latest effort from the junk food purveyors at Tostitos. Nolaf.org is the “official” site of an organization dedicated to stamping out fun in all its forms—with one of the main forms being the mirth that results from eating a handful of Tostitos.

 

The fake organization idea is not a new one. But give the people behind this work credit for doing it right. They created thirty different videos with high production values, all tied together in a smooth experience. The casting is good. There are even special effects. And a lot of the stuff is funny. I think the target, which I assume to be young males, will spend a lot of time with this. If you want more information on what went into the work, here is a press release from Mekanism, the San Fran-based digital production agency that helped created Nolaf.org.

 

What the clients at Tostitos clearly understand is that today, when it comes to creating sticky  experiences for the online space, you need to spend money. It seems simple, but many clients still believe that if the media is “free”, production should be no or low-cost as well. Or better yet, have consumers create your content. It simply can’t work that way on a consistent basis. Not if you want to use online space to really build your brand in a way $800,000 commercials never could.

Starbucks Wants to Go Home With You

No longer content to take your cash when you are trying to wake up for work, Starbucks now wants your grocery dollars as well. That’s right, your favorite cup of Joe is now making a big play in the CPG space.  Take a look at this brand new site. It uses a blackboard motif that will be familiar to Starbucks regulars and includes a nicely done quiz that will tell you exactly which sack of beans is best for you.  There’s also a section that displays chalkboard art from Starbuck’s baristas. But there is only one drawing. From a Canadian Starbucks. Surely they could have put up a few more at launch, but then I quibble, I suppose. Perhaps all the baristas are busy baristing.

Are Facebook Applications this Year’s Second Life?

 Last week at Ad Age’s Digital Conference, an audience poll reveled that attendees believed that Second Life was the most over-hyped digital trend of 2007. The combination of gobs of press, huge advertiser interest and tiny consumer reach and interaction was the winning trifecta for Second Life. One quarter into the 2008, I’m wondering if Facebook applications may not be headed for the same fate. Of course, Facebook itself does not share Second Life’s audience problem—there is a huge and growing number of people who spend tons of time on Facebook every day. The problem is reaching those folks in significant numbers. 

Advertising on profile pages is certainly one effective way to do it. At this point, Facebook Applications probably aren’t. Despite a few exceptions such as this, most companies are not generating much user interaction with their applications. In fact, according to one Facebook executive, 98% of the 20,000 plus current applications have fewer than 100 users. That’s not the type of scale that most CPG companies are looking for.

 

Red Bull Gives You Wings—But They’re Hard to Control

When a number of people send me a link to the same site, there’s a good chance that it’s pretty decent. Such is the case with this new site from the energetic crew at Red Bull.

You are probably familiar with their advertising slogan, “Red Bull Gives You Wings”, and their loopy animated ads that have clearly been translated from the original German. Well, now Red Bull really DOES give you wings, of the virtual model airplane type, in the “Red Bull Flugtag Flight Lab Online Game”. The well-designed site lets you make your own plane (you choose the materials, paint it and even upload a photo to decorate it with). Then you can fly it. Or, as was the case in my personal experience, crash it into the ocean after flapping wildly around a bit.  

Apparently more skilled fliers can pick up points and come back to play again and again. I am certainly not the target, but I can see how it could be addictive for some people. Probably the same kids who are addicted to the drink.

Did You Elf Yourself?

 

If you work in marketing, you undoubtedly have heard about the amazing success of Office Max’s Elf Yourself online viral campaign. In fact, even if you DON’T work in marketing, there’s a very good chance you know about this effort, which ran over the holidays. That’s because an astounding 110 million people experienced the elf effect themselves during the campaign’s run (If by some strange circumstance you have no idea what Elf Yourself is—you just came out of a two-month coma, or you spent the last six weeks in a Tibetan monastery, for example—it consisted of a site that allowed people to upload photos of themselves and loved ones and place the pictures on the bodies of dancing elves, then send a link to anyone who would find this interesting. The best way to describe the result is that it was very cute).

  

Elfers even set up their own Flickr page to proudly display their photos, and dozens of them uploaded their handiwork to YouTube. Tons more blogged about it and put their Elf selves on their blogs. Good Morning America even ran a story on it. All that makes Elf Yourself the most successful viral campaign in the history of the internet, by a long shot. At least if you measure success by pure numbers. And we are talking huge numbers here, with an ROI that must certainly be off the charts. Whether it has had any real impact on Office Max’s business in an entirely different matter, which we will address in the next post.  

  On a side note, if you google Elf Yourself, the paid search ad that appears on the results page is for Toy, the agency that created the campaign. That’s smart.   

But exactly what made Elf Yourself so popular, and so wildly viral? Here is a good article from AdWeek that includes a decent analysis. At Attention Shoppers! we also have a pretty good idea why people had an irresistible urge to turn themselves, their family members and even their pets into dancing elves:

 

1. It was quick and easy—the interface and photo upload user experience was very well done
2. The end result, for many people, was something they had never experienced before, and technically and creatively it was excellent—it made people smile
3. It was a very singular campaign—the folks at Toy and Office Max who were in charge of the project didn’t overcomplicate the experience
4. It was all about personalization. As we are quickly learning, personalization is one of the keys to viral and WOM success. People love making themselves the center of attention, and the internet makes that easier than ever
5. And, very importantly, Elf Yourself launched during the time of the year when people most want to share greetings with others.

  So keep all this in mind when your clients demand the nearly impossible and ask you to create something like Elf Yourself for them. Because they will.