2009, was, by far not the best year that I have had.  Fluctuations of change were rampant and diffucult to grasp at times. It has been, nonetheless, a learning experience and what better way to deal with unplanned experiences, learn from them.

Now, still in the early weeks of 2010, I have been trying to keep up with my resolutions more than I ever had in my life… I don’t ever recall putting so much importance to the start of a new year.

I am still unsure of whether or not I have now set myself for personal and internal failure by my endless list of what to do in the next 12 months, but I am conviced its worth a try, and that is reason enough!

So, I am ready for 2010, ready with pen and paper, notebooks and notes, new and fresh ideas and making the year better then the last.

In Septmember 2008, the snack brand, Doritos, started their 626 campaign with a freaky advergame called Hotel 626. With the help of  a webcam, microphone and mobile phone, visitors of the Hotel were trapped in and the only way out was by passing the spooky challenges presented in the hotel rooms.

Now, a year later the campaign continues with Asylum 626 where you wake up in an insane asylum in the hands of a mad doctor. Players are presented with flashbacks this time until they can break free from the shackles holding them prisoner. To give the game a more personal feel, players can login incorporate Facebook and Twitter, so that real friends can be included in the game.

“The big idea this year was how do we make this scare a lot more personal and really bring people into this interactive experience in a more tangible way?” says Hindman; group creative director at Goodby. “We really blurred that line between the virtual experience and the real-world experience.”

And like its predecesor, both games are only viewable at night between the hours of 1800hrs and 0600hrs; ultimately giving a more spooky feel….  all in the name of Doritos!

The latest interactive advergame promotes the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie.

You start by signing in here and proceeding to a series of questions to figure out if you are more of a Watson or a Holmes, after which you select a friend from facebook to help you out with the investigation. I have already registered and it turns out I’m Watson, so I hired a friend to be Holmes… it should be fun!

“No Watson, this was not done by accident, but by design!” – Sherlock Holmes

Well Done Volvo! Twilight fans can’t forget the scene where  Edward speeds in to rescue Bella… in a Volvo!

“Volvo is central to Edward’s character in the Twilight saga,”

said Doug Speck, president and CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, in a statement.

The new website whatdrivesedward.com launched by the Swedish car makers gives fans a chance to enter to win tickets to the New Moon premiere and enter into a contest to win a Volvo XC60.

Although most of the fans are not even old enough to have a driving license

“….they are hoping that the message might be picked up by moms to use the Volvo to take their adolescent little vampires to soccer practice,”

said Lucian James of the brand strategy consultancy Agenda.

It will be interesting to see if this campaign reaches Malta and if there will be any increase in Twilight fans in Volvos!

article by: l.frangi

Last week, the second edition of the Digital Arts was definetely the place to be in Malta to find new inspiration and connections in graphic design, PR, marketing etc. Among all the very interesting things that happened at DA Expo, I would like to write a few words about my experience and the seminars I enjoyed the most.

I really liked to listen to the conferences of Simone Wolf, from Typevents.

The first one, “Design Works for Me” aimed to help creative people to think more business-like, giving some useful keys and schemes of analysis to succeed the launching of a company (Unique Selling Proposition, SWOT…). Actually,  it was a bit basic, because as Mrs Wolf said, her presentation is initially made to last 8 hours, so it was just an introduction to this complex and wide subject. One hour is obviously not enough to teach a creative and talented person the rules and secrets of marketing a brand. Nevertheless I think it was useful to entice people to learn more about the strategic approach that must come with any business project.

Another seminar given by Mrs Wolf was “A banana is not a telephone” which was about good and bad design. It was also a very brief and introductory for the same reasons, but very interesting, nonetheless. The first part dealt with the expectations and the behaviours of the consumer, showing the importance of design related to those topics. The second part was a presentation of examples, and notably of the organisation Design For All that campaigns for the inclusion of the needs of disabled persons in design thinking.

I also appreciated the enthusiasm of Alex Grech from StrategyWorks, who told the audience about social media and how it appears more and more relevant for companies to use it. There was no breaking news, at least for me (I have been studying it for 4 years now), but it is never a bad thing to be reminded of all the figures and data that we have nowadays to prove the importance of social media. What was really interesting for me was this perspective related to Malta, because obviously it is not the same thing as in a country like France. For example, in a small island like here one could think that people don’t need social media to stay tuned, because everybody knows everybody. However, I learnt that 100,000 persons in Malta have an account on Facebook, that is to say one quarter of the whole population.

The Digital Arts Expo was also the opportunity for me to meet bloggers : Karl Camenzuli, who writes the very interesting Malta Marketing blog, and Dragan Donkov representing Scuba Works Malta.

I think it is really a good thing that Malta organizes this event, and I hope that the future editions will improve every year to help the development of Malta as a business place and highly technological country. And who knows, maybe in a few years when I will work in a successful communication agency in France my boss will send me to the DA Expo to catch new trends and network !

article by: l.frangi

As a child, we were constantly warned not to write on walls and any writing instruments were give with excruciating caution… those days are gone and I almost want to paint a wall for no reason but ti be able to scribble all over it. The dry erase paint from IdeaPaint has a myriad of uses and you can turn any wall into a creative wall, for brainstorming, for children to have the freedom to scribble on or just to write your own little notes. A great Eco Friendly product as well, think of all the paper you could eliminate! Are you ready to paint your wall?

http://www.ideapaint.com

Could it possibly be true that no one at Microsoft considered that the hilarious vulgarity and offensiveness of ”Family Guy” creator Seth McFarlane was not the best way to promote Windows 7, let alone fit the Microsoft brand? Was this their way of reaching the potential buyers of the new Windows 7? Bad move and realised just in time.

AdAge quotes an Microsoft spokesperson who insists the brand plans to work with MacFarlane in the future:

“We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of ‘Family Guy,’ but after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand,” said a Microsoft spokeswoman.

Microsoft was also confronted by Apple’s legal department for their “Laptop Hunters” campaign which directly focused on teh price difference between Mac and PC… Microsoft’s response? “We’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them,” said COO Kevin Turner

In the end the commercial being aired is neither vulgar, nor offensive or pointing out price differences:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOq02DTTMU]

Does anyone remember the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, where you make the story? This is the same thing in a commercial for a chocolate brand called Lacta from Greece. A very attractive ad with a lot of ‘holding you to the tube power’, and even more so with very little to minimal product placement, that some would find almost sacrilege.