Our Logbook

Yesterday we were asked to submit to an industry event what we thought were the best, most viral online ads of the decade. We did this list as an Albion group effort.

Teddy remarked that its all very recent which either means we all have very short memories or the work is getting better.

I think its the latter.  So here you go.

1. Subservient Chicken: coz it was very funny http://www.bk.com/en/us/campaigns/subservient-chicken.html
2. Lynx ‘Tickle’: boys like to tickle a girl with a feather and watch her giggle. http://www.axefeather.com/#
3. Nike Photo ID by AKQA http://awards.akqa.com/Awards2008/iab/Nike_Photo_iD/default.html Amazing integration of complex image processing technology with a mobile device.
4. Orange – Worlds first internet balloon race http://www.playballoonacy.com/ Just a really innovative online advertising campaign that took ‘being viral’ to another level.
5. Skype Nomad: www.skypenomad.com – Did we really get her to do that?
6. Carousel for Phillips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3D4CqHbJM –  Because it was beautiful and amazing and online.
7. Why So Serious (for The Dark Knight) for Warner Bros ….the promotion was so good it was better than the film (no good link, not a genuine anyway)
8. Uniqlock for Uniqlo http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C1CED11F8DD7D820&search_query=Uniqlock+for+Uniqlo+Advert made us think the brand was uberchic not cheap
9. The Great Schlep for the Jewish Council for Education and Research –  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCqofKxjDZY Funny, Funny and got people to vote
10. Whopper Sacrifice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI4uzOAtPiE Delete ten friends and get a free whopper. Genius because it tapped into an existing truth- you have friends on facebook you care so little about, you’d swap them for a whopper.

All thoughts welcomed and god bless all those people out there that made them happen.

After watching the build up to Question Time on TV, we wanted to see how people felt about Nick Griffin so we put up an application called Slap Nick Griffin. The experiment has attracted 20 million slaps which we think is enough so the game has now been taken down.

We’ve been burning lots of the midnight oil to get here, but last Saturday saw the start of the teaser phase of our new integrated campaign for Betfair: The Front Room. You may well have seen a series of oddly intriguing 10sec TV spots in and around the weekend’s Premiership matches on Sky Sports…

The Front Room is a living, breathing microcosm of the Betfair betting exchange – a platform that allows people to bet against each other rather than against a bookmaker (as they do with the likes of William Hill or Ladbrokes).

To bring this to life, we’ve cast 5 passionate football fans who we’re going to film bantering, arguing and debating with each other about the week’s football events and issues, and ultimately agreeing to disagree by shaking on a bet. It’s all totally unscripted and we’ll be producing new content every week throughout the football season – more than 20 TV ads in total and a mountain of online content which will all be housed online at www.betfairfootball.com. To dial up the engagement online, the fans will also be tweeting, blogging and updating on all the major social networking platforms. And you’ll even be able to bet against them and their predictions for the upcoming games.

We’ve built the set down at Betfair’s offices in Hammersmith, where we’ll be shooting almost every week, editing the very next day and getting the ads on air by that weekend, in time for that big games. Everyone involved has approached this whole concept with real journalistic intent (check us out…!) to ensure the content is as topical, relevant and entertaining as possible – a week can be a lifetime in football!

It’s a massive undertaking and is only going to get busier through the season as the campaign takes off both on and offline, so a huge pat on the back goes to the team here at Albion and our very supportive client team at Betfair, and long may it continue.

The campaign proper launches just prior to the Manchester United vs. Liverpool game this Sunday 25th October. But in the meantime, you can access all the teasers on the Betfair YouTube channel.

You’ll notice that the 5th fan is still to be confirmed (hence the blacked out face with the big white question mark on the website!). One of our chosen fans dropped out at 5.30pm last Friday afternoon, prompting a last-minute scrabble to get his TV ads pulled and all his online content removed – just one of the things we’re all having to adjust to quickly given the live nature of this project. And no, it’s not Tim Lovejoy, David Baddiel or Frank Skinner… answers on a postcard.

A year ago we launched our first campaign for Air New Zealand.

This week our follow up work breaks under the banner “Personality Allowed”. Air New Zealand don’t have onerous rules that result in cookie-cutter crew, but trust them as individuals to uphold the brand and service values of the airline. For Air New Zealand, personality is allowed. This is what drives the great experience you receive as a passenger, and it’s the foundation for the new brand campaign this year. In fact the words were inspired by this tweet we saw from a passenger when we were in creative development:

We’re kicking off Personality Allowed in digital outdoor and online. You will see a selection of real Air New Zealand crew doing their thing on digital outdoor around the London underground. We worked with a commercials director Patrik Bergh, who’s great at working with ‘non-actors’, to get the best out of the crew. The shoot day was a long haul (sorry couldn’t resist) 12 hour session where they tried everything from kick boxing to Mick Jagger impressions in front of the camera. And true to form the crew remained up beat throughout.

The online executions in rich video and standard formats, showcase their personal opinions of the onboard product (such as food, wine and entertainment), and their recommendations for LA and New Zealand. Given they travel so much, the crew are micro-experts on these destinations and so we use video of them alongside Google Maps to showcase their recommendations. Sweet as. You can view a selection of the online work here.

We’ll be rolling out the campaign across consumer, trade and business audiences this year including some very Kiwi can-do executions. Watch this space.

The FT’s recent analysis of the impact of recession on the pace of change in media and advertising was as you’d expect ‘on the money’. They recognise that not unlike the music industry the impact of the internet is having a seismic impact on how media owners and agencies do business. It was also a seminal moment for us as they picked Albion as the reference point for the future model agency which is navigating all this disruption and  seeking out new approaches to marketing our Client’s businesses.  Have a read of the article here and let us know your thoughts.