Grown Up Thinking

The Mr Youth Creative team was in good company Friday night. As guests at the One Show Interactive Awards at New York’s Terminal 5, we were both surrounded and inspired by an eclectic and talented crew of colleagues. Each year, the One Club recognizes the agency teams behind the most innovative and buzz-worthy advertising of the last 12 months.

Here’s our personal compilation of the “wow”-worthy winners that made us applaud hardest:
 
Kindling a community of composers…

“Sounds of Hamburg” | Client: Philharmoniker Hamburg
Agency: Jung von Matt, Hamburg
Award: Gold Pencil, Websites and Microsites: Services

Because at the end of the day “it’s just advertising”…

“Pink Ponies” | Client: john st.
Agency: john st. advertising, Toronto
Award: Gold Pencil, Online Films and Video: Self-Promotion – Single

An awareness-builder of a different kind…

“The Girl Store” | Client: Nanhi Kali (K.C. Mahindra Education Trust)
Agency: StrawberryFrog, New York
Award: Bronze Pencil, Websites and Microsites: E-Commerce

Comedic gold for the cause…

“Devin & Glenn” | Client: Overturn Prop 8
Agency: Furlined, Santa Monica
Award: Silver Pencil, Online Films and Video: Public Service/Non-Profit – Single

Crowdsourcing creativity to honor the Man in Black…

“The Johnny Cash Project” | Client: American Recordings/Lost Highway
Agency: @radical.media, New York
Award: Gold Pencil, Websites and Microsites: Social Networks/Community

Some other favorites:

“Fastball” | Client: Google | Agency: BBH, New York

“UNIQLO Lucky Counter” | Client: UNIQLO | Agency: Dentsu, Tokyo

“Pay With A Tweet” | Client: Innovative Thunder | Agency: R/GA, New York

“I Am Not An Artist” | Client: Elisava | Agency: Soon in Tokyo

“Nike+ GPS” | Client: Nike | Agency: R/GA, New York

“The Fun Theory Winner – The Speed Camera Lottery” | Client: VW Sweden | Agency: DDB, Stockholm
 
A hearty high-five to all of this year’s winners. Keep our seats warm.

Looks like the premiere of the new MTV show, ‘Skins’, is stirring up a lot of controversy, both from the Parents Television Council and advertisers alike. With allegations sparking that the show is breaking child porn statutes, brands like Taco Bell state the commercial time is not “fit for their brand”. Now other advertisers are following suit, with brands like Schick, Subway, General Motors, H&R Block, and Wrigley no longer purchasing ads during ‘Skins’ programming. The Parents Television Council is trying, and effectively so, to get other brands to opt out of that commercial time, as well.

It’s apparent that although corporate brands will not want to be associated with the show, the bulk of the series’ commercials will come primarily from movie studios and TV networks. The irony lies in the success of the show in the U.K., where it originates. Some of the U.K.’s largest brands still air their commercials during ‘Skins’, and it is a very successful show overall. Abroad, the show initially stirred up some controversy, but has just confirmed its 6th season. In the U.S., everyone is talking about it, everyone knows about it, but brands don’t want to be involved. Even with millions of viewers watching the show and talking about it both online and offline, it’s still a dangerous investment for a corporate brand to make when teen sex, underage drinking and drug use are the rampant themes of the series.

Is buying a car what’s going to come to mind when watching a show about teenage drinking and drugs? Not so much. I can understand why companies like GM or H&R block would not want to affiliate their brands through a graphic show such as ‘Skins’, it clearly doesn’t talk to the brands message and doesn’t make sense. At the same time, the target audience of Taco Bell and Subway, for example, are watching and they are passing up the opportunity to talk to that consumer. Is it worth abandoning that air time?

MTV is clearly pushing the envelope here, but people are watching; about 3.3 million viewers watched the premiere this week, and 1.2 million were underage, according to Nielsen stats, even though the program is rated for those 17 and older.

As a self proclaimed caffeine addict with an unreasonable loyalty to Dunkin’ Donuts’ hazelnut blend, I couldn’t help but be lured by their latest social media campaign aimed at finding the chain’s number one fan.

Named The Ultimate Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Fan Contest, the contest requires consumers to submit a 60 second or less video to the Dunkin’ Donut’s Facebook page for the chance to win the ultimate Dunkin’-lovers prize – 60 months of free coffee and a trip for two to Costa Rica to tour the Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Lab (a dream come true for a recent college graduate, like myself, who spends a whopping $2.05 on her morning joe).

Contestants can submit their videos through October 20^th. Public voting starts October 21^st; however, 75% of the video’s overall score will come from Dunkin’ judges. In addition to the grand prize, ten Facebook fans will earn 12 months of free coffee.

While Dunkin’ Donuts is no stranger to social media campaigns, this is their first Facebook-only campaign – a very smart strategic move for a company touting over two million Facebook fans.

With many other brands also administering number one fan contests to engage consumers, I believe Dunkin’ will come out on top. Knowing the nature of brand loyalty I can safely assume anyone even half the Dunkin’ devotee I am will be just as eager to jump on this prize.

We all knew it was coming – the day when “Go Green” would blow up to a precarious balance between conscientious and meaningless.

On Tuesday I attended the “Marketing Green without Greenwashing” panel for Advertising Week, and came away with some interesting, if disheartening, facts about the spectrum of green.

Whether deliberate or not, companies in every industry are making false claims and committing the Sins of Greenwashing.  This 2009 study showed that 98% of “green” products committed at least one of these sins (they analyzed 2,219):

1. Fibbing

2. No proof

3. Irrelevance

4. Hidden trade-off

5. Vagueness

6. Lesser of two evils

7. Worshiping false labels

So what do we look for?  As we wait for better standards and the new FTC Green Guide, we need to educate ourselves.  Here are some starters:

- Read the fine print on packages with eco labels and certifications
- Beware of claims insinuating a general or vague environmental benefit
- Look for specific facts about what makes the product a greener option
- Words like “natural” and “biodegradable” can be meaningless due to chemical processing and controlled testing, respectively

My mom used to tell me all the time, “Every dollar is a vote.”  This power to determine what is most important and relevant in environmentally-friendly products will shape future policy.  If false labels and misleading claims reduce the efficacy of consumers – companies making valiant efforts and presenting authentic, transparent information will suffer under the bulk of fallacies.

So no matter what hue of green you’re going for, be smart and deliberate in your pursuit.

What do you think about the current state of Greenwashing?

I came across a box of Barnum’s Animal Crackers the other week at a train station in Delaware and immediately noticed the packaging overhaul. To celebrate the Year of the Tiger, Lilly Pulitzer has teamed up with Nabisco Barnum’s Animal Crackers, to create special packaging to support the WWF with a goal to raise $100K to save the Sumatra Tigers.

Why is this interesting? For one, its an older brand that is getting a fashionable face lift. Through partnering with a modern, nationally known fashion brand they are definitely appealing to moms, but also making a cause connection between their animal crackers and real world animals, which can be a great education element for young kids. In short, the product has a real educational effect on young children and can teach them about endangered species causes. Furthermore, they are issuing one million of these limited edition boxes, so the campaign has some decent scale to it.

On top of all that, it’s an unexpected collaboration, which is what makes it great. I love seeing brands like this partner up for the purpose of a common cause. Overall it feels genuine. Lilly Pulitzer is issuing animal prints as part of their line this season to support Wildlife, so the elements all tie in well without feeling forced or like a sell out.

We need to encourage more mass-brands to step out of their comfort zones and predictable patterns. They should be entering new spaces, initiating unlikely collaborations and using their reach for the greater good. I’d love to see these boxes make their way down the runway of Fashion Week. Who knows? They may even make good upcylced purses for cell phones and essentials.

So what unexpected brand collaborations have caught your eye these days? Leave a comment and let us know.

Few things in the 2.0 era have received so much buzz so quickly as Skittle’s recent social media effort. I logged on to Twitter yesterday to a literal hashstorm of all things Skittles. I realize people get excited about candy, but this was ridiculous. What was going on? Obviously I did what any responsible digital marketing  professional would do–I went to Skittles.com.

Something wasn’t right–why did Skittles.com take me to Twitter’s search page with a little branded overlay on the top left?  Where’s the flashed out, high res animated page loader? Where’s the ambiguously organized homepage with different content engagement opportunities?  All I could see were different users’ tweets about Skittles. I clicked around the overlay, and was taken to….Facebook? This was something entirely new.

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HBO’s new hit show True Blood, a show about vampires, just got renewed for a second season. The show was no doubt spurred by an innovative marketing campaign that took a lot of chances and is now reaping the rewards. Rather than a traditional approach of plastering showtimes and trailers in attempt to broadly reach as many potential viewers as possible, True Blood chose to focus on creating deeper engagements built around intrigue and buzz.

And what better subject to create an illusion of mystery around but vampires? HBO created a fake blood based beverage, vampire dating site and vampire blog all of which have a surreal feel causing the viewer to at least pause and think and most likely discuss with friends. Just as Vampires infiltrate and integrate with human lives, True Blood infiltrated the crowded consumer consciousness and is now likely integrated in many viewers’ lives.

It’s no surprise that the online and offline worlds keeps merging into each more and more as technology enables us to keep connected at all times (especially here in the Mr. Youth office as admitted brand-lovers and tech geeks who gleefully exchange iPhone apps).

While the economy plummets and looming tension builds to keep everyone in the meatspace all a-twitch, the offline universe is evolving and adapting to reflect a space that is still thriving and positively teeming with great ideas: the online world. This month’s TrendWatching report focuses on the online/offline cross pollination that seeds offline content with a digital approach.

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