I recently got a new Ipod Nano with Fitness option. It has a build in pedometer which counts all the steps I take during the day. When I sync my Ipod with ITunes it automatically sends all this information to my Nike+ account which visuallizes the number of steps I have taken.So I tested it and started out with 1509 steps which was good for 34% of the skyscraper. I felt an urge to complete the skyscraper and a few days later I had not only tackled that skyscraper and the hotdog but I am well on my way to complete the donut as well.

I am hooked and if I would buy new sport shoes it might be Nike+ shoes so I can visualize my runs. Not that I'm running at the moment but they sure would get me motivated. And then I found out about the Nike+ gyms that keep track off all your gym activity. Unfortunately there are no Nike+ gyms in Europe yet. But I can't wait for them to arrive. And in the mean time I'll be walking and syncing my steps.

IMDB has published their best movies of the decade. Number 1 with an 8.8/10 ranking is the movie The Dark Knight.The Dark Knight is one of the class book examples in the early stage of viral marketing.1 Year before the new Batman movie got released marketeers created a complete Batman universe. In this universe several sites such as whysoserious.com, the hahahatimes.com and friendsofharveydent.org would lead users to information about the movie. Users however really had to put an effort into searching for this new information. This creative campaign generated an enormous buzz about the film.The death of Joker, Heath Ledger however might have also added to the buzz about the movie.

And then there was Avatar. The movie got released in 2009 and it's worldwide gross seems to be catching up on all time hit Titanic. Avatar however also invested in an enormous online campaign. There were several cooperations with big brands such as coca cola zero. This campaign that made the Avatar airships come to life on your computer through means of Augmented Reality. Another example is the Avatar yourself idea that was made in cooperation with Mc Donalds (see below).

Another movie that did quite well given their 24fth place is District 9. I already wrote about the online social media campaign of this movie beforeMost movies obviously deserve their spot in the best of the decade list because they simply are good. But I do believe that online creative campaigns can create a buzz about a movie, thus making more people curious to go see the film and pushing it up in rating lists.

Duval Guillaume Antwerp (DGA), a Belgium based advertising agency, has developed a viral campaign for Alfa Romeo in light of January’s European Motor Show in Brussels. Alfa Romeo’s tag line in this campaign is that they have the lowest price. To really demonstrate this point DGA claims to have put an Alfa Romeo billboard at the lowest point of the world, 11 kilometers below the ocean surface.

DGA says that they had to do a campaign like this because people don’t notice price led advertising. A point that is very much true in the specific small car segment Alfa Romeo is competing in. However I am doubtful whether a 6minute viral and a micro site (www.expedition147.be) are the way to go with price-led communication. In my opinion it is just trying to figure out a nice way to make a viral without wondering if a viral is indeed the most appropriate channel to reach your target group. Without a doubt DGA is a very creative advertising agency they might however want to rethink the effectiveness of this campaign. I think that there is a lot of follow-up needed to turn this viral into a good campaign.

By the way I hope they didn’t really go through the effort of lowering a billboard 11km beneath the sea level.   

It's almost Christmas and thus cards are being sent and received. Our first christmas card dates from our L'oréal brandstorm period. We made the card and send them to all our competing classmates. It was our way to challenge our class mates in a sportive joking kind of way. Some took it quite badly others luckly found it quite funny. Our professor back then wrote us : "The ladder on the card clearly indicates where you guys want to end up."

We haven't made a card ever since but this year we decided to create something. So we put some advertising and communication hights of 2009 in there. First up is Barack Obama. The way he used the internet to make his "Yes we can" campaign come true was never done before in politics. Next up is Susan Boyle, the Britain's got talent lady that was your Youtube number one viral for months. Strange how the from zero to hero story still attracts many others to live their dreams. And then Michael Jackson died. His video clips became youtubes most viewed for weeks. Agency de Mortierbridgade created a great tribute with their Eternal Moonwalk. .Another viral that got many views was the Evian Rollerbaby's reminding us to keep young by drinking their water. A great TV commercial in Belgium was the Belgacom commercial. And though loads of people used the famous quotes "who took my badjas " en "sebiet no koffiekoeken for you" I'm still not convinced that people remembered the brand behind the commercial. And then there was Kabouter Wesly, a bad mouthed dwarf who became famous through Humo and the TV show Man bijt hond. You'll have to google him as movies get uploaded, taken down and reuploaded all over the place. We also tried to give the card the feeling of a wall that has been spray painted since we also commemorated the fall of the  Berlin Wall. But anyways we wish you all happy holidays and may 2010 be an ever more interesting year for advertising and communication than last year

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Great piece of marketing as a service or rather marketing as it should be.

Global warming it is hot topic these days. And though I could certainly see some advantages in things getting warmer on planet earth there is a downside too. Remarkable campaign is the Greenpeace campaign reminding world leaders to really act during the Climate Convention in Copenhagen. The ads do this by showing aged world leaders in 2020 apologizing for not acting when they could have.I am curious how all this is going to evolve and what Obama will look like in 2020.

All you need is soap, a towel and a public place where you can find water. Now you are ready for some serious guerrilla showering.Who knows it might just be the next big thing during the summer. Two guys in Ghent already gave a good example.

Guerrilla Bathrooming from Bart Dewandeleer on Vimeo.

In the picture bellow you see a church in Brussels called “OL Vrouwekerk van Goede Bijstand”.  Besides a wandering tourist now and then nothing special you would think. Even when you enter there is nothing striking. But there might be a small triptych drawing your attention. It is not at all big and is hanging one of the pillars just inside the church. The funny thing is that inside the triptych there is a video screen. This screen shows water and a Jerusalem-like background. If you approach the screen and get really close a man carrying a child suddenly appear walking through the image. My best guess is this man would be Mozes (as far as my biblical knowledge is correct). The man and the child keep looking at you as long as you keep standing in front of the screen. Once you back away they walk out of the image.

I thought this was great. I spend at least 10 minutes moving up and down towards the screen to see the man and the child appear. One thing is for sure I’ll remember this event and the church for a long time. What strikes me though is the fact that a small church in the center of a town has the creativity to use interactive narrowcasting (or at least a biblical form of it). Why don’t I see shops using this in their shop window and in store as well. It can’t be because it is too expensive if even the church can effort it?

With the fallback of television ads we seem to rely more and more on online media and especially social media to close the gap. But let’s not forget the social media myth. You have to breach through a giant amount of clutter online competing with 5000 other messages daily (because that is the amount of messages assumed people are faced with on a daily basis). On the other hand with a carefully placed screen and a sensor this church was able to make a real impact. Online media are not the holy grail. Most searches people perform online that really lead to an outcome are most often triggered in the real world.  

So applause for the “OL vrouwekerk van Goede Bijstand” in Brussels!!

Check out the triptych for yourself below.

Jesus is narrowcasting from Bart Dewandeleer on Vimeo.

If you are in Berlin the 9^th of November don’t hesitate to participate in a historical flash mob. 33.000 people will rebuild the Berlin wall using their body. The basic concept is that a human chain will be put on the path of the wall for 15 minutes. The cool thing is that anyone can join. The people who are organizing are still looking for some human brick to put in their wall. Currently 6.092 people have registered to participate. So there is still a long way to go if they want to reach their target of 33.000 people by Monday.

For once it is not a commercial flash mob. The initiative is taken by an artist called Martin Butler and the committee that is in charge of the 20^th anniversary of the falling of the wall.

The marketing and advertising business took quit a few punches over the last year. Economic crisis, more people getting fired than hired, you probably heard about it. Yet 2 young creatives are desperate for finding an intership at Duval Guillaume. And untill they are getting in they are staying outside. Guillaume heard about it and send them a message.

Makes me smile that people find creative ways to get the job they really want. Makes me smile even more that they used the internet to do so.: sending out an invitation that links to their website, getting buzz on Twitter. I would say job well done.

Curious tough if they'll hold up for another 3 weeks or if Guillaume will let them in earlier ....