Archive for the ‘Viral’ Category

Zapacats – the Fat Cats get their just desserts

Monday, December 12th, 2011

We have been busy here recently and just in time for Christmas (and three weeks ago we weren’t sure if we were biting off more than we could chew) a timely viral game has been launched for Pitney Bowes.

Pitney Bowes? Those people that make franking machines? Well that was their core business a long time ago but these days they’re a bit more sophisticated than that. They fully admit their image is decidedly seen as not particularly inspiring, and to show that they have a sense of fun asked us to collaborate on producing a viral game in time for Christmas.

In collaboration with our partners on this, Toroblu (ace marketing) and Little Greta (totally brilliant coding and build), we came up with a variation on the old ‘space invaders’ game. Rather than aliens from space we decided to go for the current hate figures – the Fat Cats and their even fatter Christmas bonuses! With a simple and easy to use interface, you can zap the baddies and catch the goodies – the nice cats that need looking after.

Anyway, why not try it out for yourself. I am a cat lover but some cats you just want to hear them squeal! See if you can get on the Leader Board too at www.zapacat.com - but be warned – it’s pretty addictive!

 

Danish bus company suggests going on the wagon

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

The Killing isn’t the only creative piece of work to come out of Denmark. I’ve just come across this neat website that uses layered video.

A Danish bus company called Byturen offers a late-night shuttle service and has put up a website that shows a man and woman throughout an evening on the town.

The video illustrates how they think they’re acting as they get progressively more pissed, but if you mouse over the video, you get a reality view of how they’re actually being seen.

You need to go to the website itself to view in all its hellish glory but the stills below will give you an idea of what goes on in the movie.

Designed by Bocca in Copenhagen. Thanks to Gilli Fellows and Adweek for pointing out the link.



April’s pick

Friday, April 1st, 2011

There seems to be a rash of April 1st ads, videos and spoofs out today. A sign of the times that people feel they can spend their budgets on something other than corporate stuff perhaps?

Amongst the clever and the sheer silly, the tongue in cheek Gmail one here brought a smile to this jaded face today. It treads the line very well between self parody and seriousness. Enjoy!

Christmas on the net

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

Shamelessly nicked from a friend who posted this (on Facebook, where else?) ExCentric’s take on the digital Christmas is a clever poke at all the things we now take for granted. Step forward Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia, Google Maps, GMail, Foursquare and Amazon among others. I particularly liked the “Avoiding Romans” route option and the ease of hiring a donkey online.

It seemed the right thing to leave on the site as a Happy Christmas post from Gravitas, so wishing you all a great holiday and a prosperous new year.

Thanks to Carol DA for the link!

And a very Pot Noeldle (sic) Christmas to you too

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Oh I love this! A great two fingers up to the shmaltzy Coca Cola Christmas (sorry, Holidays) adverts (though a glass of the finest fizzy stuff would go well with a big helping of Pot Noodles) and so much detail in it you have to watch it far more than once to get all the visual humour.

Pot Noodles is one of those products that is proud to be plain basic stomach filler, no more or less, and the ad is executed with a huge wink to the audience. The final frames had me shouting with delight – you need to pause the film to see all the jokes. But it’s done in such a funny way that it doesn’t really alienate anyone. I could even be tempted to buy one myself.

No that would be going a bit far.

I predict this will be one of the best viral ads going round this year. Beats the crap out of that dreadful T-Mobile Heathrow Terminal 5 stuff that was so desperately trying to appeal to ‘everyman’ a few weeks back.

Credits:
Agency: AKQA
Creative director: James Hilton
Production company: A Large Evil Corporation
Director: Seth Watkins
Lead animator: Eva Bennett
Lead modelmaker: Ahmed Hussein

Google + Arcade Fire = Gobsmacked

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
You need to download Google Chrome (if you haven’t already done so) and go to here, but once there you’ll find a fascinating showcase of web technology set to the tune of Arcade Fire’s “We used to wait.”

The blurb on the ‘How it was done’ part of the site goes on about:

Choreographed windows, interactive flocking, custom rendered maps, real-time compositing, procedural drawing, 3D canvas rendering… this Chrome Experiment has them all. “The Wilderness Downtown” is an interactive interpretation of Arcade Fire’s song “We Used To Wait” and was built entirely with the latest open web technologies, including HTML5 video, audio, and canvas.

There’s more there if you want to explore it, but first, enjoy it!

A hint of what to expect: You have to put in an address for where you grew up. Fascinating stuff.

AXA press ad comes to life

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Here’s a nice interactive press ad that ‘comes to life’ when you place your iPhone on the page. Well, you actually have to dial in a url it gives you there, but it’s quite innovative just the same.

So should you have a car accident in Belgium, and you have an iPhone, and you are insured with AXA, and you have downloaded the app beforehand, it might help you with your claim. Especially if your car has been stamped on by Godzilla.

Ooops – gave away what happens in the film but hey ho, it’s fun!

Official: Print is not dead (yet)

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Featured here is an uplifting little piece that fights the notion that print is on its last legs. This video was prepared by the UK branch of Dorling Kindersley Books and produced by Khaki Films. Originally meant solely for a DK sales conference, it struck such a chord that it has since hit YouTube and half a million odd views since then.

You need to watch this all the way through to get the complete message btw…

My thanks to JB for the link.

Best eBay ad eva

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

http://www.facebook.com/pages/best-e-bay-advert-eva/104022126297466?v=wall#!/pages/best-e-bay-advert-eva/104022126297466?v=infoThis made my morning. A spoof (or was it?) ad on eBay that in just a couple of days has spawned a Facebook tribute page. Unfortunately eBay pulled the ad a few minutes ago, but I did manage to get some screenshots of the ad before it went and have retained it for posterity in a pdf.

It makes for some funny reading, but also once again shows how quickly something original can spread. Shame that eBay didn’t see the funny side.

The pdf of the ad in full is here.

Updated: the full ad can be seen cloned onto this site.