Many countries have a mandatory section on job applications where the applicant indicates whether they’ve had any criminal convictions. U.K. non-profit Business in the Community wants employers to “Ban the Box” as many employers simply skip over a resume where it is checked, and they illustrate this brilliantly using the ‘Skip Ad’ button.
Try the interactive video yourself at BitC.org.uk/banthebox.
Source: AdWeek.com
Failed experiments with interactive films back in the 80’s isn’t stopping Land Rover from trying out the practice for an ad campaign.
Land Rover has invited various customers to check out the 2014 Range Rover Sport in a new digital campaign called “Race the Sun.” In it, users will be able to take part in a fast race across various landscapes, controlling the action with their smartphone devices.
It interacts like a second-screen experience, letting viewers control on-screen action through their decisions and alter what happens next, either by tilting, swiping or tapping on their touch-screen.
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Developed by Y&R NYC and Wunderman NY, and directed by Dante Ariola, the project is just one part of Land Rover’s bigger “Driven To Another Level” campaign.Source: PSFK
Ubisoft may not be ready to show us all of Watch Dogs until November – but in order to hold us over, the game company is letting fans get a taste of some Watch Dogs-style hacking.
The French game publisher and developer has recently released an encryption app called H_ide as part of the promotion for the game promised to be chock full of stealthy hacking and information warfare. The free app, which is available for iOS and Android, lets users send anonymous voice messages, encrypt text messages and pictures, share encrypted information via social networks and use voice modulator filters. Only other app users can decode the encrypted messages. Basically it makes it just a little more difficult to chat with your friends, and just a little bit easier for you to be incognito and slightly creepy. Fun.
The app comes after a similar interactive platform back in July when Ubisoft launched “We Are Data,” a website that drew from public data in London, Paris and Berlin that let you explore a veritable gold mine of information via a Jason Bourne-esqu, futuristic, pseudo-official looking website.
All in all, the campaign is an interesting move considering recent revelations about the NSA and the internet-popular topic, PRISM. Although we’d be foolish to think a simple encryption offered by a gaming company could conceivably protect us from that. Fun thought though.
Check out the promo video for an idea of how H_ide works below.
Source: Creativity Online
Mentos and Bartle Bogle Hegarty London are capitalizing on the self-love that fuels social media by creating personalized news bits that make users’ Facebook activity look appetizing enough for broadcast television.
As part of the minty candy’s “Stay Fresh” campaign, BBH London has launched a worldwide digital platform that creates individual video reports using an app, on Facebook or standalone, called “Fresh News.”
“Mentos’ core audience are heavy Facebook users, and they are part of a generation that are very interested in using social media to project their sense of self,” explained creative director at BBH London Pablo Marques. “So Facebook is at the center of our strategies when it comes to digital.”
The video bulletins make up a 24-hour news channel that serve up a constant stream of humorous news reports making fun of the new wave of media consumption. The app pulls in material from users’ updates on Facebook as well as other connected social media accounts, including geolocation app Foursquare.
“For that we’ve crossed Foursquare check-ins, Spotify playlists and other APIs that enabled us to really try to be pinpoint sharp on our assumptions about people — it was a fun little exercise in artificial intelligence,” said Marques. “Once that list was ready it was only a matter of writing funny ways to deliver those insights.”
Three news anchors present a satirical show highlighting a user’s recent social escapades, and emphasizing how “fresh” the subject may or may not be, depending on what he or she has been posting lately. And even though the scenes are pre-filmed segments, Marques claims that they filmed enough footage so that “millions of different combinations” are possible.
“The real struggle was to make sure we had a balance of content, content that was focused enough so that it would feel very personal and magical (if your mum posted on your wall and you didn’t reply) but would only be applied to small number of people, and stuff that was generic enough so that even the people without a lot of Facebook activity would still get a full length video made about them,” said Marques.
So here’s your chance people of the interwebs, it’s time to become internet famous.
Source: DigidayÂ
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Hyundai apparently knows the current marketing power of a good snarling, decomposing and gore-encrusted walker. The car company teamed with The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman to create a zombie-proof car in honor of the 100th issue of the Image comic book.
The campaign follows last year’s “Hyundai Undead” marketing initiatives for the 2013 Elantra Coupe. The new effort introduces “The Walking Dead Chop Shop,” an iOS and soon-to-be Android app that lets fans design their own survival machines.
“I don’t know a lot about cars, but I do know a lot about zombie apocalypse and what I would like to have to survive,” Kirkman says in a promotional video for the app. “And so I think I’ll be able to come up with something that looks cool but may not be very practical or effective because I’m not good with physics and stuff like that. But it seemed like a fun challenge.”
The first collaboration was for a specially designed “zombie survival” version of the car that comes with its own manual, currently priced between $275 and $3999 on eBay. This time, fans can get a little more personal by picking out a Hyundai Elantra, Veloster Turbo or Santa Fe and then pimping it out with whatever might increase their life survival rate during a zombie apocalypse.
The chop shop app, which comes just in time for The Walking Dead comic book series, has custom-designed add-ons including razor wire, flamethrowers and about three hundred more authentic elements of The Walking Dead universe. Fans can then see if their designs would make the cut by submitting them to be judged by Kirkman himself.
The sweepstakes ends July 31 and the grand prize winner gets a 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT. Take a look at what else Kirkman had to say about it:
The car maker also hosted The Walking Dead 10th Anniversary party Friday night at San Diego Comic Con, celebrating a decade since the first issue of Kirkman’s comic opus hit retail shelves.
Source: The Walking Dead Chop Shop
This is part one of a two-part article (read part two here) taking a closer look at themes that emerged from the convergence of various digital, social and integrated consumer engagements core to the campaign for the launch of the Man of Steel. Jump to part two here.
In July 2013, Warner Brothers celebrated the 75th anniversary of the return of an iconic hero to the big screen. The studio managed to forge a distinct bond with a massive core audience of fans eager to see the man in the red cape fly again.
An alien from the planet Krypton and in 2013 a stranger in a stranger land, Man of Steel’s Superman is a personal story of what it means to be the one chosen to protect Earth and the hard choices that must be made. With over 100 global promotional partners and $160 million in collective promotional support, the Man of Steel campaign virtually touched all walks of life with tie-ins from everything from eyewear and cell phones to the National Guard and Carl’s Jr. Super Bacon Cheeseburger.
In each execution, Warner Brothers utilized best-in-class viral, influencer and direct marketing tactics to empower fans to celebrate a new telling of the familiar tale and how this Kryptonian keeps us feeling grounded here on Planet Earth.
To create a sense of otherworldly suspense, the Man of Steel campaign began with a teaser trailer featuring the voice of Michael Shannon as General Zod informing the people of Earth about his hunt for Kal-El, a lost son of Krypton. The words “You Are Not Alone” flashed in different languages during the trailer and helped to established a global tone for this creepy video.
On a companion site called the DSRW Project (Deep Space Radio Wave Project), fans were given the tools to decipher intercepted Kryptonian audio transmissions and share with their friends.
As each new cipher was released, fans could analyze the signal of incoming audio by selecting boxes in a row that corresponded to the waveform audio as it was played. Each match would reveal an ‘on’ frequency state on a grid and reveal part of the glyph.
Both individual and community progress was tracked as fans worked to break the code. Users could sync to community progress to get up to speed quickly and try and decode the transmissions.
Residents of Los Angeles started posting pictures to social networks featuring a billboard with a distorted image of the Superman emblem and a series of Kryptonian symbols.
Once decoded, the symbols revealed an IP address of “168.161.242.137” which led to a destination URL at IWillFindHim.com. On the site, a Kryptonian countdown clock counted down to the release of the next trailer.
By featuring the voice of the primary villain in the trailer, Man of Steel created an aura of otherworldly exclusivity that drove fans to feel a sense of urgency around the campaign. Utilizing a tone familiar to sci-fi audiences that know we are not alone in the universe, core fans were thrilled to know that the film would depict more of Superman’s alien origins as they got reacquainted with Zod. This set the tempo in the drive toward launch as new footage became available with each new exclusive partnership and trailer release.
No other hero can spark a debate about the superiority of their strength and power quicker than Superman. To get fans excited and give them a taste of his power, the campaign put some of the raw power of Krypton in the hands of consumers and gave them a chance to fly around Metropolis and see what kind of punch the son of Jor-El would be packing in Man of Steel.
The browser based game Hero’s Flight, launched in a partnership with Norton, let players control Superman and choose whether to save or destroy Metropolis.
In this simple flying game, players can use Superman to blast through buildings and rocks, discover power-ups and use his x-ray or heat vision to try and survive. By logging into Facebook, players can challenge their friends to see who can complete each level the fastest.
A different browser game, Metropolis Mayhem let players dive into some 2-D side scrolling action and try and tear up the skies above Metropolis. Using their keyboard to maneuver the Man of Steel around obstacles and destroy objects with heat-vision, players must collect Superman logos to increase their score while dodging floating laser beams, plasma weapons from dropships and guided rockets shot from helicopters.
On the official Norton Facebook page, a dedicated app asked fans to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win $10,000 or movie tickets, and check out exclusive clips from Man of Steel.
A series of exclusive featurettes from the film (Strength, Flight and Speed) were embedded from the official Norton YouTube channel and unlocked within the app.
Earlier this summer, WB Games had released the hit console game Injustice: Gods Among Us for consoles. The game featured DC Comics superheroes including Superman, but wasn’t connected to Man of Steel so as part of the final DLC pack, a connection was made for fans. General Zod became an official playable DLC character.
Zod’s in-game powers were similar to Superman’s, but additionally he wielded an energy blaster that could hit enemies from a distance. He could also summon a minion to chomp on his opponent.
Additionally, the official suit from Man of Steel was included as featured DLC content in Injustice: Gods: Among Us.
On iOS and Android, the official Man of Steel app let players replay events from the film and try and stop General Zod’s invasion of Earth. By attacking, dodging, blocking and utilizing various superpowers including flight, super speed, and heat vision, players could use gesture based combat and try to defeat Zod.
Microtransactions allowed fans to unlock and purchase up to six different suits from the film to become a truly unstoppable force. Customizable abilities let players embrace the true strength of Superman with bone-crunching combos, all with the swipe of a finger.
Lastly, proving that anything can be recreated in Minecraft, in a partnership with Machinima, the “Ideal of Hope” trailer was brought to life.
Some men want to watch the world burn, others want to use their heat vision and blast and soar high above the streets of Metropolis. Nothing can satisfy an audience more completely than putting them in the shoes of a hero and letting them throw a punch. Man of Steel created multiple games across multiple platforms that let fans choose when and where they wanted to be Superman. Fans that wanted to know how hard hitting this new Superman would be got a chance to find out and learn more about the story in the process. On desktop, mobile and tablet fans got to be Superman just by clicking or installing an app knowing they would be rewarded with exclusive content or high cash prizes. Man of Steel also embraced the most populous video game platform today and partnered with the right influencers to bring Superman to completely uncharted land: Minecraft.
Note: Campaign results and performance are not included as they have not been made publicly available. Each tactic highlighted in this series of articles is chosen for being strategically innovative in creating value through social and earned media.
About the Author
Steven J. Knezevich is a Senior Digital Strategist at the Ayzenberg Group working with the creative, social and digital departments to drive innovation in user engagement and new media storytelling across connected campaigns. He is a brand strategist with 12+ years of experience in the video game and entertainment sector driving business growth, launching brands and products and maximizing accountability through creative, technology-forward marketing.
