So(ul) Amazin'

Coke, Justice, Happiness and Stress

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:09:18 +0100

Coca Cola has an initiative called “Club Coke.” For the 2009 edition of The Club Coke they have teamed up with Ed Banger’s So-Me and Justice, which also ‘marks the 5th anniversary of the Club Coke initiative.’

I usually think of Pedro W, So-Me, Justice and the rest of the Ed Banger crew as the kings of Collab’s. But I’m not really feeling this recent collaboration between Ed Banger and Coke.

The record label has a history of successful collaborations with establised brands. This is mainly due to the fact that the brands they team up with are in some way relevant to the daily life and culture of Ed Banger and their fans. This way they seem credible in the eyes of their followers, allthough it’s easy for street/underground labels/brands to lose credibility when partnering with corporate brands. Ed Banger has always managed to walk this thin line and stay authentic.

This Coke/Ed Banger collaboration relates to a question I think is really interesting, how can niche and sub-culture brands gain popular mainstream success without diserting its traditional core consumers and thereby lose authenticity?

I’m not trying to over-analyze this, but it’s hard to see the common values between this:

and this:

It's all about parties and festivals

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Another post on Adidas - sorry. This is the post I originally planned on writing but then I took a mental detour and got caught up writing - and thinking about - the previous post. Maybe also because they are closely related. In relations to the house party campaign Adidas also went ‘new media’, and created an application for Facebook. The ‘host with the most’ is a Facebook contest and application, which calls on consumers to recruite friends for a party through facebook with the chance of winning a party arranged by MTV and Adidas.

It’s one of the first times I’ve seen a brand-application that you actually feels like installing. And the design is really fly.

Another Adidas initiative, which I think i possibly better, is www.originalfestival.com and site on facebook. On this one they’ve teamed up with Vice, and created a game/contest where people ‘will be able to create their own virtual music fest, making posters, picking bands and promoting the hell out of it. The creator of the best virtual festival with the highest virtual attendance wins a trip to Australia, including hotel, festival tickets, and a bunch of adidas Originals clothes.’

Via both initiatives, I think that Adidas manages to make authentic and credible use of facebook as a new media channel. The nature of the communication is in both cases very relevant to facebook and other social media. In these cases there are real value to the consumers through the use of these specific channels. Furthermore, I think Adidas has teamed up and established partnerships with two of the most credible youth brands out there - Vice and MTV.

Celebrate Originality

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

At the end of last year, Adidas started celebrating their 60th Anniversary. And we all know that there’s no celebrating without a party, so that’s why Adidas have made a string of videos showcasing their phenomenal house party including all their friends.

I think this piece is a good example of an ad that manages to be both simple and complex. It has multiple layers. At first, the video has a nice excitement and feel good vibe attached to it. But at the same time there’s alot of bits and pieces for people to pick up - who are the celebrities? and what’s the name of the song? What’s she wearing? Just like one person notes ‘best commercial ever . it’s like christmas every time i watch it , cause there’s someone i didn’t noticed before.’

From a quick view through the (1,287) comments it’s easy to see how people are trying to put all these bits and pieces together with questions and answers.

“the guy on the skateboard is mark gonzales, a living skateboard legend, he’s on the adidas skateboard team.”

“Actually, this is Pilooski’s re-edit of Frankie Valli and The Four Season’s “Beggin’” (as noted in the video annotation at 37 secs). Madcon did a cover of the song but their version isn’t in this advert.”

“is the sneaker katy perry wearing called custom addidas star packs?
someone please tell me which version this is?”

“man that’s what i said, just went through all the comments to see if someone else thought that, i dont think it’s chad, looks more like jin”

All in all, I think is a great example of putting the thought of simple complexity into a single commercial.

Just clicked through the HP “Wake Up Your Feelings” site and it really looks and...

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Just clicked through the HP “Wake Up Your Feelings” site and it really looks and ‘feels’ good.

“Wake Up Your Feelings” is the new campaign for HP’s touchsmart PC’s, I really like the campaign, it has cool creative executions that in many ways relate to the product. It’s obvious that they literally reaches out to consumers’ feelings.

It reminds me alot of the last HP campaign, “the computer is personal again”, which great creative expression I also liked alot.

Only thing is that the reviews I’ve seen until now has concluded that the touchsmart isn’t as smooth to use (yet) as it seems, which of course knocks the campaign a couple of levels down on the authencity-meter.

Sjælland VS LBP

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:38:00 +0100

I went to the Soulland fashionshow - and subsequent party - at Carlsberg the other night. I’m pretty amazed ‘bout this/these guy(s). The clothes seem nice, but what really amazes me is their ability to get the most of their extremely tight marketing budget, and in essence, their creativity and understanding of what it takes to communicate with their audience.

For the new fashion collection they have collaborated with playstation and designed their own level in the PS3 user-generated content video game “Little Big Planet” - a game combining platform adventure with social community enabling consumers to play, create and share their gaming.

Through the level they introduce the concept of the new fashion collection.

Apart from the LBP level, soulland also puts out a movie produced for the web as well as a song.

In my eyes this is a great example of authentic communications - or branded content if you like. In a time where the media landscape is increasingly turned upside down and blablabla… I think this kind of communication is the way to go.

The way they’ve approached their marketing communications fits well to the concept of transmedia planning, which I’m a big fan of - unfolding different messages through different platforms all tied together by an overall idea.

My favorite...MUST SEE

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:13:00 +0100

Having just created this blog allows me to post some of my absolutly favorite ads.

This short movie from wind energy company Epuron and the german environmental ministry is mos def on a top place on my favorite list.

I’m amased by both the idea and execution. The very artistic and emotional film is beautifully linked and relevant to the core service of the firm. Unfortunately, I’ve no knowledge of Epuron beforehand and no knowledge of the german energy market, as it could be very interesting to see whether and how this ad stems from - or are linked to an overall IMC strategy or if it’s “only” a single tactical stroke of genius.

Starting this new blog on tumblr forced me to reflect on the...

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:38:00 +0100

Starting this new blog on tumblr forced me to reflect on the relationship between blogging and micro blogging.

The big increase in use of Twitter, Jaiku and to some extend facebook has ushered in the new phenomenon of micro blogging. The video outlines the concept of micro-blogging pretty well. It can in many ways be seen as blogging for lazy people.

I’ve decided to start a (micro) blog on tumblr because I see it as a good balanced mix between traditional ordinary blogs like blogger and wordpress on one end and twitter on the other end.

I’ve already tried ordinary blogging a couple of years ago but pretty quickly learned that I couldn’t master creating regular updates. So moving towards a micro blogging format hopefully allows me to post shorter reflecting posts on all that I come across and what interests me, while having a tight daily schedule.

With this tumblrblog I get the best of both worlds

About

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:16:00 +0100

My name is Jean Piqué Hansen. I’m born and raised in Copenhagen. I study a masters degree in Marketing Communications Management at Copenhagen Business School.

I work part time as an marketing assistant in the MarCom department at Sony.

I already have a deep engagement with marketing communications through my education, work and other involvements such as my participation in the Omnicom Summer School 07.

So(ul) Amazin is a “micro” blog and an experiment where I’ll gather all the things I find soulful or amazing - maybe both - or maybe just a little bit interesting.

The main focus of this blog is media, marketing and advertising as this is also the main focus of my everyday life.

I’m specifically enthusiastic and passionate about comms planning, digital marketing and new media.

In addition, this space might contain stuff on other interests like sneakers, music, PS3, city life…