I’ve spent last week in Cannes exposed to the instant stream of inspiration, creativity and interesting conversations…even though I’ve caught myself thinking a few times: ‘wait, I have heard this before!’ Content, story-telling, emotions and creativity was on everybody lips and most power point slides, confirming that “The way brands exist in our culture hasn't changed, the way they express themselves has changed" as Lee Clow said. Here are a few key take - outs I have taken home from last week. Authenticity was a reoccurring theme. Stay authentic as a brand and keep it real for people. Brands are expected to act like real people in real relationships, being flexible and adapt to a cultural or social context. In this sense authenticity informs creativity but is also a key ingredient of… Social purpose, a deeper meaning in marketing. This was truly interesting to see brands, agencies talking about how they aim at creating a greater good that will not only influence their P&L but impact humanity. Coke inspired everybody with their presentation accompanied with ovations and laughter from the audience; a few probably shed a tear. They showed us what social purpose means with 60 years of their advertising... Continue reading

We look at mobile phone 150 times per day! The most time goes to ordinary things like messaging, voice calls and clock! Here is more detailed break down: Messaging related 23 times per day Voice call related 22 times per day Clock 18 times per day Music Player 13 times per day Gaming 12 times per day Social Media 9 times per day Alarm 8 times per day Camera 8 times per day News and alerts 6 times per day Calendar 5 times per day Search 3 times per day Other random web browsing 3 times per day Charging phone 3 times per day Voice mail 1 times per day Other miscellaneous uses 10 times per day Source: The Annual Mobile Industry Numbers and Stats Blog by Tomi Ahonen Continue reading

Happy New Year is almost behind us. The celebration of the New Year seems like a profound hope that everything can be changed and done differently. 1/1 is like a the chance for the new begining, hence the New Year's resolutions, new plans, crowds in gyms.... The glimpse of hope for the brand new "me" & "life" and then we come back to where we were on 31/12 and if lucky and mostly determined and ready for a hard work, you will keep on evolving from there and making the change happen. So don't make promises you can't keep, start working. Continue reading

Creativity can't be taught. Creativity is the mix of hard work and good stimulants. Here is 36 min. of goodness from John Cleese on how to create the perfect conditions for creativity to appear. The key challenge is to create the time and space that allows for reflextion. Having the courage to move away from behind the computer screen and let the thoughts flow freely and do the unexpected connections. Continue reading

I have stumbled upon Psy and his Gangnam Style two month ago and I was very entertained by the good beat and kitschy video. But it seems like there is more to "Gangnam Style" than just being a South Korean summer hit. Psy has taken the world by storm, got a lot of attention from the international media, got an American record deal and taught Britney Spears the moves. Everybody loves a horse - riding dance, but there is more to Gangnam Style than just catchy tune and cheesy moves. "Gangnam Style" is a good example of how to create content that lives and breathes in digital, content that people wants to share and engage with. Psy has cracked the code of storytelling: the story is not what your tell but what others make out of it. His video not only generated over 300 mil. views but also a lot of parodies, remakes, mash-ups that bring even more attention and conversations. Psy has planned from the very beginning not only for the distribution of his video, by choosing to remove copyright from his video, he gave people the right to redistribute his work, encourage them to create their own versions... Continue reading

In a few days I am taking away on the vacation into the wild. I have been feeling kind of anxious the past few days and today I've just realized that it is simply because I will be visiting places where there is no mobile coverage. What scared me is not the fact that I will be disconnected, but the fact that I will not be able to Google things up when I need a help or guidance. It is rather scary how dependent I've become on the instant access to the information. I apparently suffer from nomophobia - the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Photo by Foomandoonian For nomophobics access is everything. There are many companies who utilize this and provides the solutions like: iPavement - the first intelligent pavement with its own operating system and suite of apps that embeds WiFi hotspots in the street, or a "soda" machine that dispenses internet access to mobile phone in the public space by Coca Cola - Coke Happiness Refill. The name says it all. Well, it all looks amazing but I guess it will be healthy for me to try to face my nomophobia and enjoy my... Continue reading

I love this picture by Scott Macklin showing young boys watching Super Bowl on TV 2012. Nothing to add. The Almighty Second Screen. There are no two worlds. Online and offline are merged. This is the real revolution - we have adopted the new behavior. Continue reading

The Havas Media Lab has conducted a research that shows most people wouldn't care if 70% of brands disappeared. Only 20% of global brands noticeably improve people’s quality of life. People don't care about brands, people care about their lives and social ties. It means we have to focus more on how to create a value for people, make their life easier, more meanigful. It means we need to shift away from just only focusing on what we should say as a brand. People don't care what we have to say. They just want their problems solved. Brands need to become meaningful and "enhance the well-being of individuals, communities and the environment, making people and society flourish." Simple. Requires less bullshit and more great shit. Continue reading

Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of “everything is a remix. “We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another. Admitting this to ourselves isn’t an embrace of mediocrity and derivativeness, it’s a liberation from our misconceptions.” Continue reading

There is the reason behind many failed campaigns... Continue reading

I love this idea of low-tech augmented reality from Philips that came up from a simple consumer insight: Over 73% of Taiwanese men think that grooming is just about cleanness, preferring a clean-shaven look over any type of beard and stubbles. How do you change the behavior than to create interest in grooming kits. No beard, no grooming. Philips take on this is awesome; they have created "Low-tech Augmented Reality Mugs" to show any possible look the young guys can have when grooming. Simple. It proves that the great communication is not about "digital at heart" but about awesome ideas that address people needs and help them to make decision or have great experiences....and sometimes it may be that digital is perfect for this task, sometimes a simple mug is enough. Continue reading

The new Carlsberg TV ad,’Crate Escape’, is a humorous take on the film ‘The Great Escape’. It is an entertaining story of a trip to spa...Well, as you can imagine this is not the man's thing and he is not exactly enjoying the experience. So he creates the master plan of the crate escape with other guys to get to well deserved Carlsberg. Enjoy The Crate Escape! Agency: Fold7 Continue reading

The second screen experience is increasingly taking over the living rooms with more and more people expanding their passive TV viewing patters with tablets or phones. Microsoft is trying to fill the gap with Xbox SmarGlass. The whole idea is about enhancing the viewing experience, make it more interactive and interesting. Multiscreen experience represents a great opportunity for advertisers and it's going to be exciting to see how brands embrace this new behavior and deliver on it. Continue reading

What would happen if Twitter increased the number of allowed characters from 140 to 200? And other interesting made-up stats and statements. via www.youtube.com Continue reading

via www.deloittedigital.co.uk Continue reading

via www.deloittedigital.co.uk Continue reading

A chocolate bar. An artist. Someone puts 27 pairs of underwear on. A culture. A commercial. A new trend is born. Lovely idea from Droga5. Culture eats strategy for breafast, lunch and dinner. Enjoy Boosted inspirations by Cadbury. http://bit.ly/KuqWkY Continue reading

"Businesses operate in a world where so much is possible. The successful ones are those which identify what is necessary." John Dodds Continue reading

What does it mean to be different today? Differentiation used to be about standing out, about creating a product that is significantly different and there are no other products like it. Just to be noticed and valued. But is seems like today, there is more focus on illusory differentiation driven by more choices, brand extensions, improved ingredients, more washing power, higher performance....you name it...supermarkets shelves groan under those "different products" that are all the same and use the same tactics to attract users. “Today we have more of everything. More brands. More products. More choices. But it all just feels like more of the same. A great big blur of similarity. And most companies are stuck on a competitive treadmill, competing like crazy trying to keep up with each other. But this only makes them just like everyone else.” (Youngme Moon) What is the solution? Maybe look at the differentiation from different perspective. Start with quitting adjectives. Seeing "differentiation as deviance, permutation, commitment to unprecedented and letting go." It's getting back to basics, putting the right meaning into the word different and creating great products, no one else does and connecting consumers in the meaningful way instead of creating more... Continue reading

QR codes are the new IT thing to have. Wherever you look there are posters, products, ads with QR code on. Looks nice and so tempting. You wonder what hides behind, you scan....and there is the disappointmend. Because what you discover are bad mobile sites, where apprently on one bother to think about what experience to offer once you bothered to scan. QR codes are cheap way to pretend the business is going digital, mobile, whatever. But there are more and more exciting campaigns seeing the light showing how the simple technolgy can extend brand experience, enhance the campaign and make people have fun. There are particularly two I like a lot: Guiness and their QR cup. QR cup gets visible and readable only when filled with the right beer - Guiness. Once you scan, you can tweet, you get coupons and special promotions and Guiness content. Sounds like fun. After a few hours in the pub, any kind of enterteinment is needed ;) This QR code campaign comes from South Korea and it is genius. QR codes get activiated by sun, from 12 to 1 p.m. and its goal is to drive sales in a E-mart store while there... Continue reading

We are going digital. Indeed, digital is a place where many want to go these days. The destination is set but the ways of getting there aren't always clear. Forgetting what's it is all about, we chase the new shiny technologies and miss on connecting with people. "Sometimes marketers forget that media platforms are enablers to big ideas. They aren’t the big ideas themselves." via tomfishburne.com Continue reading

It is not long ago I said goodbye to working at media agency after almost 13 years of service. Now I am getting used to being on the other side of table and it is an awesome journey. I still though miss the media agency spirit, discussions with clients and the thrills of pitches. And today I stumbled upoon this Tumble: What Happen in Media Planning - a take on everyday situations at media agency. Hilarous. This one is my favorite: When money gets reallocated from my digital budget and is given to TV instead Continue reading

Customer experience online is very important. There is no doubt about it. However, it doesn't always work in ways that make people purchase journey easy and quick. Here is the hilarious story of online user experience replayed in the real life. Enjoy and learn. Continue reading

People are no longer engaging with content on just a single screen. Interactivity plays larger role in the communication than ever. We live in a highly digitalized world, but it doesn't make TV dead. TV is still an important communication channel but only if we see it as the part of the whole communication experience brands create. TV is the springboard for the greater and deeper experience. TV lets people know your brand is available by providing reach. It conveys stories and is a great conversations starter...if fed with the relevant content people can relate to. TV is where people's relationship with your brand can begin. We live in a complex ecosystem of screens. We tend to favor one type of screens over the others, depreciting the value of TV as the one way communication channel and prizing digital. But the truth is that if the content sucks, digital is not a magic wand that will turn it into gold. The key challenge is to create while worthy pieces of content that work across various screens and connect them into an experience that is worth spending time on. The holy grain of media is integration of channels and experiences into... Continue reading

Future isn't easy to predict. Probably because we use what's known to create the future. Results can be somewhat entertaining. 1920s, 1930s 1950s 1985 1993 2008 Enjoy! hattip Continue reading