At Digital Day 2013, Marketing and the Canadian Marketing Association challenged three of Canada’s digital leaders – Andrew Simon of Cundari, Jam3’s Adrian Belina and JWT’s Brent Choi – to present one piece of market-leading digital creative. The only rule was that it couldn’t be their own work.
Here are the three initiatives they chose and explanation from each about why the creative works in the digital environment.
“MagicVision” augmented reality app
Client: Band-Aid
Agency: JWT New York
Chosen by: Andrew Simon, chief creative officer at Cundari
Before creating this app, Band-Aid looked at one of its customers’ most common experiences: consoling a child who been hurt. The brand and its agency designed the app around that moment, creating an augmented reality in which children could point a mobile device at the bandage they put on and see the one of the Muppets appear to sing, distracting them from the pain.
The reason the app worked so well, Simon said, is because it was directed at children—not parents—who are the ones that actually use Band-Aid’s product. “Ultimately the audience is kids,” Simon said. “And [Band-Aid] did something kids can relate to and play with.”
“Surrender Your Say” Twitter campaign
Client: Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Canada
Chosen by: Brent Choi, chief creative & integration officer at JWT
For this Canadian campaign, the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada asked consumers to hand over control of their Twitter feeds. For 24 hours, random unexplained tweets were sent by users to mimic the tics people with tourettes experience.
Choi said the campaign was effective because it gave consumers an idea of what it’s like to live with tourettes, fulfilling the foundation’s goal of generating awareness. Further, it achieved the ultimate goal of marketers on social media: breaking through the clutter. Because the tweets were so unexpected, Choi said they caught consumers’ attention and drew them in to click and learn more, leading to more education about the disease.
“Secret Place” online game
Client: Perrier
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Paris
Chosen by: Adrian Belina, partner and creative director at Jam3
Perrier and Ogilvy spent 18 months creating an interactive video game that allowed consumers to view a sexy, wild and most important “secret” party from the perspectives of 60 different guests. In total, consumers spent more than 100,000 hours playing the game and six videos cut from the game’s excess of footage were viewed more than 100,000 times each on YouTube.
The reason the Secret Place game was successful, Belina said, is that it was incredibly challenging. Admitting he had lost hours to the game himself, Belina praised Perrier for creating two minute intervals for the game that were difficult to succeed at, prompting many to try again, including a few who ultimately won trips to big parties around the world like Carnival in Brazil. By focusing on the party concept, he said it also allowed Perrier to achieve its campaign goal of associating the brand with socializing and the party space.
Check out a video case study for the Secret Party here.