Uwe Gutschow

Great Banner!

These words don't often come out of my mouth, because I hate advertising.

But this really is a clever banner:

It's for VW and ties in with their branding efforts and what they are doing on Facebook.

You enter your Twitter handle and they'll analyze your tweets to recommend a vehicle that would fit your lifestyle. Personally I could care less for my result, the GTi (because it's horribly wrong), but it's a great way to get you to interact.

Although I think they should've added some kind of social tagging at the end, it's a great idea.

check it out here: http://caseyshultz.com/vw-ad.php

I keep asking myself more and more... do we really need another website?

The web is littered with them. Shiny, bright web sites with bells and whistles - banners and other useless advertising that drive people to them.

We've always said... no need to create another community or social network around your branding efforts. If it's worth talking about people have already created it. Just join in on the conversation and give them something useful and valuable.

Shouldn't the same go for websites or as the industry loves to call them... microsites?

When I hear that word I cringe and get flashbacks from 5 years ago. It's so 2004!

Instead of trying to get people to flock to your creation why not be a valuable addition to the space they are already in... facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube, etc.

Agencies struggle with this 'cos surprise, surprise, creatives like to create something. They want to shoot, produce stand back and go, fuck that looks good and I made it.

But then again I also blame award shows (judged by the same people I might add) as they still award single websites/banners. Cannes does have a much coveted Titanium and Integrated award which in my book is where creativity really shines --- #integration, #connectivity, #innovativethinking

McDonald's Piccadilly Circus

Thanks to Jay Tannenbaum for letting me know about this one. At face value this looks like a great idea to make outdoor advertising a little bit more interactive. 

Must be honest when I heard this was interactive and I saw the video I kept looking to see how people were affecting what was appearing on the sign, but it turns out it's just really people taking a picture in front of it (unless I'm missing something).

It looks like they are trying to start some kind of viral activity of people doing this. Great idea in principle, but it'll be difficult for them to get any momentum going without some media exposure, and here's why:

1. An extremely over crowded space of electronic signage screaming for attention 

2. You need to have seen the video or really have heard about people doing this to know what to do

3. The video has been up for a month, which I presume was staged and seeded to get things going, but yet on Facebook they only have 67 fans and there doesn't seem to have been a lot of user uploaded photos on Facebook or Flickr

4. It's just not that funny or interesting (it's too expected)

Now of course interaction is just one measure of success. Ultimately this is creating content that will get eyeballs and on Youtube they have attracted a modest 50,000 views.

It does appear as there is a very competent moderation team behind this effort, contributing and conversing on YouTube and Flickr, which is great to see.

Check out the video: