The Green Room: 2011

The Honda Experiment

Here's a bit of fun. Honda have released a new online game, The Experiment, which challenges players to create a chain reaction by placing objects in the correct sequence. It's a new HTML5 browser-based game that gives you the objects in individual pop-up windows. It's up to you to move the windows into the right order and make the 'experiment' work. Definitely cool!

For the past 12 months, Wellingtonian band The Black Seeds have been working away on their fifth studio album – but close as they are to finishing, they can't complete it without your help. The Black Seeds are using social media to gather vocalists for one of their new songs, 'Pippy Pip'. Putting out the word on Facebook, Twitter and their website, the music group have asked their fans to record themselves singing and upload it to be used in the song. Anyone from anywhere with a web cam, headphones and an internet connection can collaborate with these multi platinum-selling musicians – why not give it a go yourself?

Let's 'face' it… there aren't many organisations or companies out there that don't have their own Facebook page. However, creating a Facebook page is just the first step in getting an extra connection with potential or existing fans – the page needs to be attractive, current, well-maintained and a joy to visit. All of which we love about the Heart Foundation's new Facebook page!

The Green Room Verdict: With frequent posts by the Heart Foundation, encouraged conversation with fans, a competition to win $500 in grocery vouchers and their great new 'Fulfil a Lifetime' look, it's no wonder they've gained almost double the 'likes' they started with. All this after just one week of their new Facebook strategy being implemented. Choice! You can have a gander at their page here.

Can you keep up with Ryan?

In light of the recent New York City Marathon, ASICS launched a pretty fun campaign to help get people in the running spirit. Found in New York's Columbus Circle subway station, 'Run With Ryan' challenged the public to run as fast as Ryan Hall, a champion marathon runner, who was depicted on a massive video wall. While the challenge was just a snippet of a marathon distance (the video wall spanned 60 feet), plenty of people had the opportunity to see how they fared in Hall's position – and appreciate the athleticism of the pro's!

If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you've automatically gained a virtual persona – a representation of yourself in the social networking world. But what does it look like? One user may strategically 'tweet' about their booming social life on a daily basis (while omitting the embarrassment of their financial situation), others may make sure only photos of their best angle are present on their Facebook account (while untagging any that aren't up to scratch). Whether it's an accurate representation of your life or a superfluous facade, Bell Mobility have got the answer as to what your Social Portrait looks like – and have prizes for the best one, too.

Need a little more rhythm in your step? adidas reckon you'll be sorted with their Original Mega shoe range, and have developed a fun website to really get your swagger going. "Part style. Part substance. All skill." Dubbed the 'Originals MEGA Shuffle', the website is ultimately a music mixer where visitors can create their own foot-tapping beats.

When raising money for a cause, even the smallest contribution can make a difference. But what effect could pixel-sized help have? If all goes to plan for Pixels For Christchurch, $100,000 could be raised for the city's rebuild. An art piece by artist Shane Hansen was split into 100,000 pixels made available for public purchase. As more kiwis buy a pixel, the art piece titled 'Arohanui Otautahi' will gradually be revealed.

It's not your usual Coca-Cola delivery vehicle. Rugby World Cup fans in Auckland were enticed to press a large, red button on the back of the Coca-Cola Happiness truck, and were treated to free gifts as their reward. A pretty simple and fun idea. But I'm not just talking about free soft drinks and beverages – I'm talking about free bikes, instruments and even an All Black legend!

The humble park bench. A place for stories, laughter and relaxation; a place for people to share. This cute little ambient idea, the 'Bench of Friendship', can't be sat on alone. At least two people are needed to be seated on this bench for it to remain upright. While it may seem a little abstract that this stunt was created by Fisherman's Friend (a variety of strong menthol lozenges), the idea definitely has it's merits for the brand.

Picture this: you take your partner out one evening to see a quiet movie, but the only 2 seats left in the cinema are amongst 148 tattooed bikers. Oh, and they aren't just tattooed – they've got brawn and grimaces to match. So would you stay or would you go? Several couples were subjected to this very scenario as part of the 'That Calls for a Carlsberg' campaign, and some of their reactions were pretty hilarious.

How dramatically would your life change if you won the 'Big Wednesday' jackpot? You may have seen this commercial gracing New Zealand television screens lately. Using a split screen, this ad for Big Wednesday illustrates a day in the life of an average Joe before and after winning big. This style of advertising has been a really effective strategy for NZ Lotteries (check out the Wilson ads if you haven't seen them already), and this is one of the biggest and best along that vein!

If beer commercials and popular movies are anything to go by, we know that most women love to shop and most men, well, don't. Ikea has come up with a fun (and cheeky) idea for female shoppers in the chain's Australian stores. It's a special in-store area called MÄNLAND – a daycare for blokes.

If you're skydiving towards your holiday destination and realise that you've forgotten to make a hotel reservation, fear not – Hotels.com has a smartphone application that will help you out. Extreme sportsman JT Holmes shows off the speed and ease of the new app as he freefalls towards his holiday destination. But does he manage to complete his booking before he lands outside his hotel at Lake Tahoe?

Check out these clever print ads for Schick. The campaign promotes 'the power of 4', portraying the close shave given by Schick's quadruple blade razors. These blades are shown as being so sharp, they'll even shave your tattoos!

Do you live in a high traffic area? Chances are that you share your home with these silent giants. Designed to catch a person's attention and create a memorable impression in an instant, a billboard executed well can be extremely valuable in getting a chosen message across. Due to the short timeframe in which these ads need to get through to their audience, billboards typically show large slogans, a distinctive or humorous image, and few words. These days billboards have been taken far beyond their seemingly small boundaries – literally.

HBO is going all out promoting the new season of it's 1920's-style show Boardwalk Empire. A prohibition-era subway train has been given a new lease of life, running across New York's 2/3 subway line over four weekends this month. The train was originally used for the IRT system and began service in 1917. Imagine seeing this beauty traveling on the tracks?

Hot chocolate, jam and tomato sauce – three culprits that can cause havoc when accidentally spilt on our favourite clothes. Not anymore. This advertising campaign for Ariel washing powder turned the tables on this notion, making these food items three weapons that could win you a new designer garment. Procter and Gamble teamed up with Saatchi and Saatchi to create this fun, online-meets-real-life game. Set up in the middle of Stockholm Central Station, participants were invited to squirt garments with a custom made 'stain gun'. Winners then got to keep the garment.

Originally posted in NZ Marketing September-October 2011.

For the past half-century or so, things have remained relatively the same in ad-world. The egos, the too-many-Chiefs-not-enough-Indians, the bloated expense accounts – there has always been a set way of doing things, boxes people fitted into, and a rigid process few dared to challenge.

Everyday objects can be given a new meaning thanks to modern technology and smartphones. 'blippar', a new app for iOS and Android, has the capability to create an augmented reality layer on, well, anything really. Brands all over the world are looking to cash in on the technology's potential in adding a new level of product involvement. Launching with Cadbury in the UK, blippar users can play games on their chocolate bars to win awesome prizes. And guess what – there's no need for a single package-cluttering QR code. Bonus.

Converse have taken their famous sneakers to a whole new level with their new art projects. By mounting 500 Chucks on a wall with the ability to swivel left and right, Converse have created an interactive 'screen' that can display patterns, images and words. It may sound weird, but we reckon you'll get a 'kick' out of this video of The Canvas Experiment... read on to have a look.

Stating that a vehicle has "0,38 fuel consumption" may not mean much to most people. Volkswagen were determined to show consumers just how little fuel their Golf BlueMotion consumed, and did so with their game of BlueMotion Roulette. They sent the vehicle on a journey up the Norwegian equivalent of Route 66 (called the E6) with a full tank of fuel, letting consumers bet online where the car would putt out. The person with the winning bet would win the vehicle!

Yes, it is possible – wardrobe storage can be fun. Well, at least this promotion for IKEA's storage solutions is anyway. This innovative ad is being enjoyed by people all over the world, but what makes it so much fun?

This advertisement for Newcastle Brown Ale may look like some abstract art installation by day, but by night the billboard's true personality emerges. Using shadow art, this beer advertisement represents the brand's tag line – "taste the lighter side of dark". It was even created using the product's packaging.

It's summer time in Canada… and while a beach party featuring DJs, hula hooping, limbo contests and giveaways sound like a recipe for fun, it's also the kind of event where you'd get very, very thirsty. McDonalds decided to join in the fun by promoting their Dollar Drink Days campaign. They placed a large ice sculpture embedded with dollar coins in the event area, where people could chip out treasure for a cool beverage.

What do you do when you're desperate to be the number 1 supermarket in South Korea, but your stores are outnumbered by your main competitor? Bring the stores to the people! Subways became virtual stores for the Tesco Homeplus brand – walls were fitted out with pictures of store content where commuters could use their smartphones to shop.

Sticking it to disposable chopsticks

Last year in China, 57 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks were used and thrown away – and 3.8 million trees were cut down in order to produce them. Greenpeace wanted to bring awareness to this subject, encouraging people to pledge in no longer using wooden chopsticks. So they created a 'Disposable Forest' in a bustling Beijing shopping area.

On a similar vein to the Donate a Plate campaign, this art installation brought the cruel effects of a natural disaster to the front of viewers minds, encouraging them to help the situation. This recreation of the 2006 Sidoarjo mud flow was constructed directly in front of the Indonesian Presidential Palace, where buildings, houses and public facilities appeared to be submerged in the ground.

A major disaster strikes. The donation pools open and many people are eager to help. But over time, the constant calls for donations can fade into the background, and some people may stop hearing them altogether. Australian agency JWT Sydney wanted to find a fresh and innovative way of raising funds for the Red Cross Japan Appeal, and they found it in this Donate a Plate campaign using Japanese sushi train restaurants as their channel.

It may sounds like a riddle, but the lengths that two people in panda costumes can go when teamed with one printed flyer has proven to be quite amazing. To encourage Hungarians in donating 1% of their tax to WWF, this campaign reinforced WWF's core values while at the same time getting their message out there. How? By using an escalator – one panda positioned at the top and one panda at the bottom, cycling one leaflet to people going up and down in a popular shopping centre. A cute idea, but how effective is it really?

Gone to any awesome events lately? And, more importantly, have you had the chance to brag about it yet? Here's a cool idea by one of the most popular bands today, Kings of Leon, as they give their fans a chance to prove their concert attendance. They've launched a web application that allow people to find themselves in super hi-resolution photos from their Hyde Park gigs. The photos are so detailed that you can zoom to see who's taking a call right at the back of the crowd.

View the glass as half full… of Coke

Despite the worries of the world, it's nice to have a good dose of positivity every now and then – and this time it's Coca Cola delivering on the warm fuzzies. Pulling facts from an actual study, Coke shows us the happy side of the world by softening the blow on some negative notions.

Some television commercials are so quirky, you can't help but love them. Here's an interesting one by Pepsico 'H2Oh!' (a brand of flavoured water popular in South America). The aim of the TVC was to promote the beverage as one the whole family will love – much like the boyfriend in the ad's story, who is being introduced to his girlfriend's family.

The police are pleased with the new graffiti appearing on some New Zealand city streets. In a bid to attract young people to a career with the force, street art completed by Otis Frizzell has been customized to resemble members of the police and their roles.

We've mentioned the nature of today's advertising-saturated world before, and touched on the extraordinary lengths some go in getting their message noticed. While print is seen as quite a humble advertising medium compared to others these days, Peugeot went to the extreme with this magazine ad – complete with airbag.

There are many great films out there that started out as books, but how often do we finish reviewing these movies with the words "the book was better"? This campaign by DRAFTFCB for Whitcoulls is based on this notion, reminding us all to read more movies. Posters of iconic movie images were recreated using the book the film was based on. That's right – every single word from the text contributes to the image. Very cool.

Putting the twinkle into home building

Building your own home can be as exciting as it is daunting, but nothing is more satisfying than living somewhere made to suit you. Why is it, then, that many home building companies focus on their own brand in advertising? We developed a commercial for Jennian Homes that lets viewers know that it's not about them, it's about you – they just provide the expertise to make it happen.

Meet Melvin – a magical mixed media machine

You've heard of Rube Goldberg machines before. You know, the ones that start with a domino falling onto a button, which creates a flame that burns a string, which releases jam on to a piece of toast – that kind of thing. Well, Melvin is just that, but with a twist. Melvin promotes his own identity as he works by taking pictures and videos of his audience (which he uploads to his blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts). Created by studio HEYHEYHEY in the Netherlands, Melvin is too cool not to watch - he even creates his own merchandise.

The Green Room Verdict: No verdict this time, it's too awesome for words.

Urinal stickers take aim at Auckland drink-drivers

Though it doesn't come as a surprise that drink driving related offenses increase after weekend sports games, this method of creating awareness might. In a pre-Rugby World Cup blitz, heat-sensitive urinal stickers have been dotted around more than 100 sports clubs in Auckland, encouraging males to "make it a good one, make it home".

How many times have you been disappointed in the performance of product, despite all the promises the packaging made? Well, this neat idea ensures the buyer that their product does what it says it will. Custom made vending machines containing Corelle chip-resistant dinnerware show purchasers that when they say their product will never chip, they really mean it.

It isn't every day that companies try to promote their product as completely and utterly horrid. However, that's exactly the route EA Games went down for their videogame "Dead Space 2". Over 200 American mothers were filmed reviewing the game's most violent and crude scenes, their passionate opinions making up the game's final advertisement. Why? Because "a mum's disapproval has always been an accurate barometer of what's cool".

When it rains, it pours (and sells you stuff)

It's raining, it's pouring, most ads are mighty boring. In a world where we are exposed to hundreds of messages each day, advertisers have been scrambling to find new ways of getting through to their desensitized audiences. Once upon a time in the golden age of American television, an ad on one of the three major networks could captivate 70 percent of its watchers. But in a new media landscape where consumers are more in control of their media consumption than ever before, it's little ads like this one for the Sea Life Aquarium in Scheveningen, Holland that can break out and connect with people once again.

It's important to be aware of your heart health... though this is a concern that many 20–35 year olds think they can, well, be concerned about later. Yayasan Jantung Indonesia (the Indonesian Heart Foundation) found a way to communicate with this active age, putting their message into the songs of popular musicians and adding a personal twist. Free concerts and CDs, anyone?

Santa Monica beach in Los Angeles is a popular destination for all kinds of tourists… from shoppers, to surfers, to giant apes. Yep, you heard right, even King Kong has had a stroll along this famous shore. But he wasn't there to stay – he was just making his way to his new home at Universal Studios Hollywood.

When Danone wanted to remind mothers across Brazil that their Actimel product was a healthy choice for children everyday, they made sure that a prompt to consume the product was present at breakfast time… by turning bread into toasted branding.

There's a perfect dog for everyone. Well, that's what Pedigree think, and to help you find your perfect doggy match they've launched the new 'Doggleganger' website. While the notion of dogs looking like their owners is a topic that's often talked or joked about, the idea behind Doggleganger is that you can find a dog that already looks like you – and better yet, they are dogs from shelters that are needing a new home.

There are some video games that have that little extra something. It's the something that whispers in your ear to play for 'just another 5 minutes', causes you to put off cleaning the car until you 'beat the boss', and makes you itchy when you haven't played in a while. When T-Mobile decided to make a real-life version of the exceedingly popular Angry Birds game, they cashed in on that little extra something for an outdoor stunt that truly hit it off.

Rather than putting up with passive exposure, McDonalds decided to get Sweden interacting with their digital billboard – all in the name of fun and free food. Pick a prize, play the game for more than 30 seconds and you win your nominated item instantly. Don't have a smartphone? Sorry, you need one of these to play.

Since we're good samaritans (and occasionally need to clear the accumulated spare change from our wallets), donating money to a worthy cause is something we all do at one point or another. But have you ever wondered exactly where the money you donate goes? Check out this interactive campaign from WWF Brazil that helped to ease the fears of cautious donors.

Thank goodness for spell check – a handy little application that most of us use on a day-to-day basis. Now, thanks to a great idea by students at the Miami Ad School, UNICEF's "Donate A Word" campaign means that even more people will be thanking spell check for its service.

Welcome to the museum of you. For some it's an emotional ride, for others it's a creepy wake-up call. No matter how you perceive it, Intel's 'Museum of Me' application is making waves in the virtual world.

When Supor wanted to build awareness of their non-stick pan range in Shanghai, they realized the need to stand out (or in this case, fly out) amongst an already crowded marketplace. Well, Supor stood out alright. A giant wok was constructed outside shopping malls, complete with a ramp that in-line skaters dressed as food flew up and down on… much to the delight of onlookers.

The orange powered billboard that takes the pip

It's a simple proposition – Tropicana oranges are a natural source of energy for your body. DDB Paris took this proposition to a whole new level with their billboard powered entirely by oranges, igniting the words "Energie Naturelle" (Natural Energy) in neon lights. Now that's a fresh idea.

We can see right through one of Samsung's latest innovations – and we like the view

Samsung has recently announced the mass production of their slick transparent LCD display (22-inch, available in black, white and colour). The transparent display, which allows you to see through it like glass, is the first to attain such a high level of transparency using an LCD screen.

Remember those art toys made from metal pins that could hold the impression of your hand or face? Designer Lulu Guinness took this idea and made it massive (2 metres, tall to be precise) for her Be a Pin Up competition in May. Passer-bys could get in the draw to win one of Guiness' clutches by uploading their pin portrait to the Lulu Guiness facebook page – such a fun way of engaging with the public and increasing popularity.

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