Honest to Blog? Best and Worst of 2007

Tune in to iMediaConnection and find out which online marketing campaigns the experts are touting as cutting-edge for 2007. Widgets, UGC, touch points, mobile, video, clickthrough, viral, rollout, social media, BT, analytics… all the trendy marketing buzzwords and phrases are tossed around freely and without restraint here.

The article is chock-full of interesting opinion and fanciful forecasts for 2008, and will have you making conjectures and coming up with ideas of your very own.

So check it out to see which campaigns have been labeled phenomenal flops and which are considered the best and the brightest of 2007 (high-five for automotive and film!); also, find out what’s in store for next year and what's shaping up to be the next big marketing platform. Will it be mobile? Facebook’s Beacon? What do you think will be the biggest online marketing trend of 2008? And which up-and-coming marketing blogs deserve our praise?

Interactive Motion Logic: Groovy Lines for Groovy Minds

Yugop.com is a site unlike any you've ever made your way to before. This experimental online art house, brought to you by avante garde Japanese digital artist and branding expert Yugo Nakamuro, is making pixelated waves online — both literally and figuratively — thanks to its synchronized, mouse-sensitive motion animation experiences.

This Mr. Roboto-infused digital destination includes an RSS feed ready to stuff your reader with tons of eye-catching, precision-crafted digital goodies, as well as a comprehensive archive of interactive artworks created for edgy, high-profile clients like UNIQLO and XBOX 360; it also boasts fluid and futuristic functionality that serves up a myriad of techno-inspired surprises, all with a distinct and modern Japanese edge. Check it out. Domo arigato!

Guerilla Marketing Thru Instant Messaging

You’ve just come up with a standout sitelet-based marketing campaign. The creative is sparkling and spot-on, the messaging is laser-focused, and the troops are ready for deployment. There’s just one problem: There’s zero budget for an effective e-mail blast or OLA campaign to reel in some targeted traffic. So what to do?

There’s one alternative that might do the trick: Instant Messaging! That’s right. I’ve found that you can jump-start a promising campaign thru some of the chat channels most commonly used on the Web: MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, or any other app you use to quick-relay digital dialogue.

And I’m not talking about IM spam either. Dialog windows that pop open with unwarranted commercial messages and interrupt you while at work will do your guerrilla campaign in. However, a simple URL in your IM status might be enough to pique your contacts’ curiosity.

This, in turn, can spark an engaging conversation, which can snowball into something unexpected. And if you have enough people doing this on your end, your brand can gain some edgy, underground awareness from a few much-coveted influencers and trendsetters, eventually pushing your campaign over the tipping point with some welcome viral force.

After all, it’s no secret that today, a well-intentioned e-mail campaign can disintegrate into garbage and unwanted spam in your recipients’ inbox if not executed with delicate precision and technological know-how. And no serious company wants that—even a start-up in desperate need of getting noticed.

So take a stab at a well-crafted guerilla strategy that leverages your IM contact lists. Can it yield the results you’re after?

Quirky Online Games for the Plucky Office Procrastinator

I have to admit I’m a sucker for branded online games. I love the old-school feel that comes from playing them, the throwback to the Atari and original Nintendo-style graphics, the simplicity of the keyboard controls, and the thrill and gratification that comes from beating a game of low-to-medium difficulty. I’m hooked. And many users throughout the Internets are, too.

And more to the point: As viral marketing campaigns, online games almost always hit a bull’s eye. The reasons are obvious: They grab user attention for long periods of time, serve as free advertising, provide a distinct interactive brand experience, and help players self-identify with a specific corporate messaging.

Of course, any sort of online gaming experience—especially that of a nostalgic nature—will inevitably cut into the productivity of anyone’s day. It’s hard to hype up a time-consuming hobby frequently frowned upon at the office by administrative types. I’ve found, however, that dabbling in a little online fun can do just the trick to mushroom that imaginative spark and transform it into spot-on creative execution.

If, for example, you have a slam-dunk idea but still need to hash out the details, a dash of online gaming can help you carve out the finishing touches. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and check out some of the following branded games. If they don’t help you come up with some quirky and totally awesome digital marketing ideas of your very own, I invite you to go off on me on this very post with an irate comment or two. So here goes:

Headcase, from Wrigley’s Candystand: Use your mighty brainpower and oversized head to collect green diamonds and bounce your way out of chewy situations in this land of bubblegum wonders.

Absolut Disco, from Absolut Vodka: Not so much a game as a groovy online experience, this Studio54-inspired disco affair lets you boogie down to a myriad of keyboard-controlled late 70s psychedelia while using your webcam. Far out!

Zuma, by Yahoo! Games: From the makers of Bejeweled and Bookworm, this PC-only game is guaranteed to swallow up tons of your time. Swivel your stone frog and chuck your colored balls in the right direction before the hungry Aztec idol gobbles up the entire string of balls with a single swooping gulp.

Now that you know where to go, go ahead and kill some of that valuable office time. Let me know if these games get your creative juices flowing. Happy gaming!

Creative Spotlight: Orangina Amps it Up with Lusty Busty Wilderness

Here’s one for the books: Orangina just came out with a smutty ad campaign of sexed-up human-animal weirdness that’s so silly and off-kilter it hits the creative nail right on the marketing head. It’s the kind of proposition that’s so sexually over-the-top and cartoonish, it’s at once prudishly offensive and completely inoffensive. Which is why it's such a fun ad campaign to showcase—after all, the TV spot features a Flashdance reference!

No doubt, this “Naturally Juicy” campaign does a hell of a job of getting the Orangina brand name noticed and out there, even if at first it garners wide-eyed incredulity; watching the television ad is sort of like darting into a kaleidoscope-colored sex shop for the first time out of curiosity—you can’t help but feel a little bit dirty, even though you’re only looking. The entire campaign is so incredibly odd, so unapologetically in-your-face in a “sex sells” kinda way, and so fruity and explosive, you simply can’t look away.

Todd Mueller of Psyop, who worked with French-based FLL PARIS to produce this wacky marketing campaign, proudly defends it by pointing out that “it goes without saying that when you get the opportunity to spray Orangina all over the chest of a sexy bunny girl, you go for it." Wha...? Whatevz, it works (smirk).

Sure, it’s eons beyond anything this maker of fizzy-pulpy orange drinks has crafted before to market its stuff in Europe, but this titillating take on the otherwise lackluster refreshments is already making waves, leaving it’s fair share of WTF-blog entries and noisy ad campaign analyzes throughout parts of online.

Take note: After watching this television spot, you won’t be able to buy an Orangina during your next visit to the zoo. Actually, scratch that. I’m sure you won’t be able to NOT buy an Orangina next time you go to the zoo. It’s too much fun not too. Right?

Creative Spotlight: Oregon Trail Reloaded

Here’s an online experience I’m elated to endorse: Check out Thule Road Trip! If you ever played Oregon Trail on Apple II--and I’m sure at least a handful of you did--you’ll be overflowing with excitement at the thought of an all-new Web-based game, brought to you by Thule Sweden, that plays just like the original. As a digital marketing campaign aiming for higher consumer awareness, this game is right on the money.

Thule Road Trip, accessible on the Thule homepage, recaptures the spirit of Oregon Trail and the American Western Expansion with 4-bit programming, clunky graphics and choice-led gaming, and then infuses the pioneering experience with some modern-day Manifest Destiny.

What was once a desperate plight to stay alive before reaching the promised lands of Oregon is now a postmodern party-on-wheels experience that threatens to end too quickly if you can’t keep your passengers entertained or your car tuned and on the go. It's standout creative and impressive execution rolled into a can't-miss experience for retro gamers and cool hunters alike.

Remember the embattled oxen, the cholera-prone companions, and the ease with which a broken hand or leg could bring about sudden death on the Oregon Trail? Now, you can run out of fresh CDs to play, blow a tire or two, read through all your magazines too quickly, or even have your passengers freak out and give each other purple nurples. And don’t burn all your money! If you get pulled over for speeding and can’t cough up enough dough for the ticket, it’s game over, roadie.

As a manufacturer of car rack systems, RV accessories, and vehicle spare parts, Thule has really hit the nail on the marketing head with Thule Road Trip. Not only does the branded game offer a solid dose of digital nostalgia, it also celebrates the great outdoors and the thrill of automotive. It’s creative concepting at its best, no doubt. Play the game, have some online fun, and let me know if you make it all the way to Santa Barbara!