You’d expect brands that choose both football and rugby World Cups as events to promote themselves will deliver pretty inventive media campaigns.

With FIFA this year and the Rugby World Cup next year, here’s two brands getting into the hype by building engagement with their audiences on YouTube, in two diverse ways.

Powerade

As a major sponsor of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, we’re not overly excited by Powerade’s campaign, but the concept is pretty smart. Highlighting the excitement of 20 international teams uniting on the pitch, its campaign incorporates 16 short films that join together seamlessly to create one long ad.

Allowing viewers to dip in and out, the multi dimensional layers increase the level of audience intrigue, not to mention time spent with the brand.

Taking you inside the players’ inner thoughts, the content is fast-moving and builds on the adrenalin and excitement. Just as you don’t want to finish the game, whether you’re a player or spectator, Powerade claims to keep you going for longer, so its use of YouTube means it can be played day and night.

This content has also allowed Powerade to extend its activity from the 30-second ad you get as part of the sponsorship deal.

But considering the clever nature of the idea and its role as official sponsor, personally I think the product placement is too obvious – lots of product placement and then content to suggest why Powerade is so great. Let’s hope its viral use provides word of mouth to increase its audience participation.

Carlsberg

Although of Danish heritage and present in 150 countries, Carlsberg has attached itself to the England team. Either the company sells most of its beer here or it’s forever hopeful for the England team this year!

Like Powerade, Carlsberg has used YouTube as its media channel, but the real difference here is the personality Carlsberg has injected into the brand. Its content brings the personality alive.

It’s also extremely motivational for its audience and living up to its slogan of ‘Probably the Best …’, as the 90 second ad features some of England’s most well-known faces including Clive Woodward, Steve Redgrave, Kelly Holmes and Ranulph Fiennes joining the hype and adding to the camaraderie.

In terms of interactivity, it invites viewers to join the brand with its behind-the-scenes clip, comedy clips and other Carlsberg favourites, including a competition to submit the best team talk in the world.

The use of YouTube as a specific media channel is the perfect platform for additional content. It encourages people to stay there for longer, extending the life of your campaign and allowing brands’ ideas to take on a life of their own.

As the frenzy for both World Cups heightens, we’ll see more of these type of campaigns. Most will be viral and the majority not official sponsors, just brands leveraging from the hype.

Thanks to: Powerade, Carlsberg
Posted by: Carmen Campbell

Now you don’t need to track down a clairvoyant, thanks to Vodafone’s Madame TreSesti! She’ll give you a social reading based on all the information collected from your social networking identities, such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr etc.

To promote its new 360 internet service in the Netherlands, Vodafone has embraced lifestreaming, aggregating information found within your social networks to provide you with an analysis of your work life balance, love life and overall social health.

The idea was launched as a television commercial, inviting people to get their fortune told by Madame TreSesti, which sends intrigued consumers to a designated interactive site.

Like all telecommunications brands, the onus is on Vodafone to demonstrate how new technologies can be used by everyday people. Now that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are mainstream Vodafone is doing just this by educating and inspiring people to take the next step.

Feeling game anyone?

www.madametresesti.com

Thanks to: Adverblog, Vodafone
Posted by: Carmen Campbell

An oldie but a goodie – this is no new campaign but we didn’t want to miss the chance to highlight Volkswagen’s (VW) ‘the fun theory’ campaign as it’s a great example of how a brand’s ingenious use of creativity can help instigate positive consumer behaviour and build a strong following.

VW’s campaign was created in a series of phases:

Phase 1: lead by example - VW demonstrated how making things fun can positively change behaviour with its own three experiments:

1. The Piano stairs:

This resulted in an increase of 66% more people taking the stairs. With the additional online component, the video had over a million views on YouTube.

2. The world’s deepest bin:

Another idea aimed to get more people throwing their rubbish in the bin by making it resemble the sound of a 50ft-deep well. The bin collected 72kg of rubbish in one day, 41kg more than a regular nearby bin.

3. Bottle bank arcade:

Would more people recycle glass by making it fun to do? Designed like an arcade game with music and lights, this bin was used by nearly one hundred people in one evening, compared to the nearby one, which was used twice.

Phase 2: embrace consumer ideas – by holding an online competition, VW invited others to contribute their ideas, encouraging entrants to be strategic in how they could prompt behavioural change through fun ideas.

Whether their ideas aim to help other people or the environment, most of the experiments aim to effect a positive cultural change, such as safer driving, recycling and personal hygiene.

Phase 3: choose a winner – judged by a panel of experts known for either their entertainment or philanthropical values, or both. Click here to see the winner.

In addition to the wide number of consumers it garners, ‘the fun theory’ also demonstrates the longevity these kinds of ideas can leverage. It proves that, not only are everyday people willing to invest their time in good ideas (and in doing so sit side by side a brand), it reminds us how dynamic the relationship can be.

Sure, there is still relevancy in doing the tried and tested when it comes to advertising, but this example demonstrates we can afford to think a little bigger when searching for engagement. How refreshing.

Thanks to: Volkswagen
Posted by: Carmen Campbell

If there’s one trend you need to watch in the communications landscape in 2010, location based media is it. Why? Because this is the one shift that will fundamentally change how people relate to your brand. It also gives brands no other choice than to reassess how they can connect with their audiences.

Today let’s start with the basics…

Location based media is when information, entertainment and multimedia content is delivered to your mobile phone based on your location at that moment in time.

It first started appearing on the radar in 2004, but it’s only now that we have the technology to experience it (iPhones, smartphones).

With penetration of smartphones predicted to be at 448 million by 2011, this isn’t something that won’t happen. Currently in Australia smartphone penetration is at 30% and growing at a healthy rate.

The way developers and brands are delivering the experience to consumers is also becoming more sophisticated. It’s not all about being sent coupons for $1 Big Macs every time you walk past a McDonalds.

Take Foursquare, an example from the US that is rumoured to replace Twitter.

Foursquare is downloaded onto your smartphone and instantly gives you and your friends (who you can also choose to sign in to let you know of their whereabouts) a new way of experiencing old environments. As you are signed in and go about your day – visit a café, go to a theme park etc – you can earn points, receive promotional offers and so on.

You are also given information about new places in the area you might not have tried. Information like peer reviews on restaurants, discount vouchers and more. The more you interact, the more points you earn, the more brands can allow you to experience.

Foursquare is just one application. More will follow as developers refine their understanding of what people are looking for in their experience and we’ll be back with more reviews on such applications in the months to come.

Posted by: Carmen Campbell
Thanks to: RBC Capital Markets, “Sizing the Global Smartphone Market”, 2009 & AIMIA figures 2009

We know consumers associate themselves with brands they have an affinity with, or aspire to be like. In recognition of this, it seems Pepsi has made a bold move to realign its values and give consumers a new reason to associate with the brand, while at the same time removing its advertising spend from the infamous Super Bowl.

Its latest Refresh Project campaign is an investment of US$20 million to create a tangible way of demonstrating the company’s more philanthropic ethos. The idea itself - creating a site that entertains a maximum of 1000 ideas from the public on how it might improve the local community, in a highly interactive way – plays a key role in the shift Pepsi wants to make.

Even though the advertising at the Super Bowl enabled the brand to reach outrageous audience numbers, it arguably lacked that tangible ‘feel good’ factor. The refresh project may not instantly reach massive audience figures, but the level of involvement and engagement with the community will be deeper, and no doubt have more longevity.

Plus, the media Pepsi uses to deliver the campaign embraces the role consumers now want, and need, to play. The brand has entered the new communication landscape where it’s the consumers who have a voice; setting the agenda and then leading the direction they want to go in. Like many other brands choosing this path, Pepsi is currently the facilitator, letting the consumer take the driving seat.

Good on Pepsi. The campaign effuses creativity and emotion, and let’s not underestimate the publicity Pepsi is getting from this move.

Thanks to: Pepsi
Posted by: Daniel Saltalamacchia, University of Notre Dame Australia & trend watcher to WYWW for the month of Feb, 2010

In last month’s interview with Lachlan Brahe on social media, we learnt about the importance of learning by listening. This month, we show you how Dell computers is doing just this – but it didn’t start out that way.

Back in 2005, influential blogger Jeff Jarvis took issue with Dell’s customer support service and penned his frustrations via his blog BuzzMachine. Almost instantly, his frustrations made their way into mainstream media.

What did Dell do? It confronted the negative sentiment head on.

Today, Dell has a social media team with 40 full-time employees dedicated to transforming customers into advocates and advocates into evangelists.

This cultural change sees a number of web led offerings that embrace the people’s voice. Here are just a few:

Ideastorm – extensive site for customers to share suggestions, feedback and participate on a number of new product ideas.

ReGeneration – environmentally themed blog focusing on sustainability and based heavily on community interaction.

Twitter – 34 accounts which are segmented, localised and cover off everything from CSR to Retail. Dell proved that Twitter can be a legitimate revenue stream by taking in US$1 million in sales during the holiday season.

In my view, Dell is a great example of a company that has fully embraced the spirit of social media by first listening and then involving the customer.

Thanks to: Dell, Nick Bryant-Smith, Paolo Modolo, Twitter