McDonald’s Makes Japanese Kids Happy—Happy Meals, That Is.

We are not sure if the cliché, “You are what you eat” translates easily into Japanese. However, we are sure that the saying cannot be brought to life with any more fun and whimsy than this online campaign for McDonald’s in Japan. Whether it would work in other countries is a whole ‘nother story.

Parents are invited to upload smiling photos of their offspring, which are then turned into walking animated avatars with Mickey D’s finest epicurean offerings as the tykes’ bodies. Your kid could be a walking, smiling cheeseburger, for example.  Or a creamy shake. Here’s some more info on the effort.

 

Of course, with the obesity issues we have in the US, McDonald’s will probably not recreate the campaign here any time soon. If they ever do, they should probably avoid the “Supersize My Kid” option.

Twix Has Axe Envy and Helps You Get the Girl

I imagine that most people enjoy a Twix now and then. And, judging by this elaborate online campaign from the aforementioned candy-hawker, most Twix customers enjoy getting the girl now and then. That is the premise of this site, which walks on ground already covered by several brands, most notably Axe.

 

The premise of the video-based experience is simple: you follow a guy as he attempts to entice a comely lass to accompany him to his apartment. Along the way, the video stops in a situation where you are asked to chose between two alternatives (all the while, our protagonist is chewing on a Twix).

 

Overall, it’s not poorly done—they certainly spent money on casting and shooting—but it does feel a bit done. Worst of all, I tired the thing three times and it locked up before I could see what happened when the dude got the girl to his apartment.

Revels Asks Consumers to Evict a Flavor

UK sweet Revels is taking a page from the M&M’s playbook (not surprising since both are Mars companies) and inviting consumers to help determine the destiny of their favorite candy. In this case, however, Revels is asking people to pick which of the six flavors (there are only six Revels to a pack, all different flavors, including chocolate, raisin, orange, caramel, coffee and malted milk) should be evicted from the pack to make room for a new mystery flavor..

 

Called Revels Eviction, the site is a fun experience, with high production values, including a helicopter shot of breathtakingly beautiful, rugged cliffs. The idea is simple: you choose the manner in which your least favorite flavor should be evicted. I hate coffee (as do 41% of the other voters, making coffee the runaway winner, or loser as the case may be) so I chose to have it shot out of a cannon.

 

You can also join the Revels fan page on Facebook. One minor complaint: if they were going to go to all the trouble of a video shoot on location the least they could have done was shoot a number of different beginnings and endings.

 

Facebook’s New Ads and Betty Crocker

The kids are headed back to school and Attention Shoppers! is headed back to the blog. While the entire staff was busy sunning ourselves on the semi-clad French Riviera, the good folks at Facebook were hard at work trying to figure out how to monetize one of the most popular websites in the world.

 

Their latest big idea is a new format for advertising aimed at “engagement”. There are three beta testing advertisers, including CPG stalwart Betty Crocker. As I understand it (and you can read about it in AdAge and see if your understanding is any better) the ads are served up to a specific audience and you can interact with the rich-media executions without leaving the banner. One of the stated goals of the ads is to get  more people to join the fan pages which already exist on Facebook.

 

I could not find the ad, but I did check out the Betty Crocker fan page, and with less than 3,000 fans, it seems like there is work to do in any case.

 

All this Facebook activity made me want to check out which CPG companies were most popular from a fan perspective. For some reason, nearly all of them are food-based products, including Nutella (a favorite in the Attention Shoppers! household) which holds the number four position with around 380,000 fans. In fact, all of the most popular brand fan sites in the CPG world involve food (including Pringles, Hersey, Oreos, Red Bull and M&Ms). The first non-food CPG product on the list is MAC cosmetics, with a relatively anemic 61,00 fans.

 

This year, advertisers will continue to try to make sense (and dollars) out of social networking sites.

 

 

Eos Makes Shaving Sexy

 Most women consider shaving their legs to be a chore—something they need to do, certainly not something they want to do. Eos, a shave gel that up to now has escaped the attention of the crack reporting team at Attention Shoppers!, aims to change all of that with this online experience that makes the act of shaving a very sexy act indeed. In fact, one might think that men will find this site every bit as appealing as women.

 

That said, there isn’t much interactivity on the site. Just a sensual, haunting soundtrack and a black and white video of awomen enjoying herself in an Eos moment. The framing of the video is one of the things that makes the site interesting. Go to the site and you will see what we mean.

 

The highly regarded arbiter of what is cool and good, The Favorite Website Awards (FWA), named Eos its site of the day today.

 

Slim Jim Spices Things Up

I have a long-standing, highly emotional relationship with Slim Jim, those pepperoni inspired and chemically enhanced single-serve sausages wrapped in plastic and loaded with extra fat. When I was growing up in rural Minnesota, Slim Jim (and Jim’s first cousin, Beef Jerky) were staples at the local bowling alley. A low-cost treat that would tide you over until breakfast. Or maybe even be breakfast.

 

Back in the day, Slim Jim’s advertising was not nearly as spicy as the porkish product. In fact, I can’t remember a single ad. These days, things are quite different. In the last few years, Slim Jim has been spending heavily on TV. But since their major target is young men, they are also, quite logically, focusing on the Internet.

 

Their most recent effort is quite ambitious. The campaign is entitled “Spicy Side” and invites dudes (and dudettes, one assumes) to explore their spicy side in a virtual world a la second life. You create your own avatar—based on the funky animation style the brand has created and your uploaded photo—and then explore Spicy Town, where you can chat with other avatars and try to earn enough points to hit the leader board.

 

I am a bit suspicious about the other avatars actually being real folks as opposed to unreal animations, but I have not spent enough time in Spicy Town to make a definitive judgement. I do like how my avatar turned out, however, and the fact that when I return to the site my avatar is there on the opening page without having to log in.

 

While I will be curious to see how many folks join in the Spicy fun, Slim Jim gets high marks for an interesting, fun experience. And here are a few banner games that you can play to get you in the mood for Spicy Town: Game 1, Game 2, Game 3.

 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some bowling to do.

This Deodorant Ad is Attractive and Repelling

Every now and then Attention Shoppers! comes across a banner ad that is so simple, compelling and fun that we feel it is our moral duty to bring in to your attention. That’s because it reminds us how effective banners can be. Here is such an ad, for Lab Series Deodorant, which was produced in Singapore. Look at the ad, move your mouse and then click and hold.

 

We discovered this ad via an interesting site, Ads of the World, which allows you to search for ads by country, industry, channel, agency, etc. It is both useful and inspirational. Special thanks to our colleague from Leo Burnett, Italy, Gaia Gilardini, for pointing out this site.

Cannes 08 Part Deux

 

Every year Cannes recognizes some of the biggest, game-changing advertising ideas in the world. Alongside those huge ideas are smaller ones that still haul home hardware. Here are a couple of those.

 

This idea, for a men’s deodorant from Rexona, is simple and well-produced, but doesn’t involve a lot of interactivity and would probably not incite guys to visit it more than once. It is a one-hit wonder. The premise is simple: a Spanish guy named Fermin is in Pamploma, which is famous for the running of the bulls. He is running from things, too, and obviously needs a very strong deodorant.

 

Then there is this banner for the Brazilian furniture polish, Poliflor. It feels like it should be a 15-second TV spot. But it’s a strong, funny idea.

 

These ideas for CPG companies are not necessarily moving the industry forward, but they moved the judges at Cannes, and there’s a good chance they’ll move consumers, too.

 

 

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.