Commentary

What Do YOU Like?

Creative uses of ad media are not as easy as it seems. Sometimes less is more and simplicity trumps over-thinking. There are countless agencies that "get it," although not all uniquely executed campaigns are showered with accolades. Which makes me wonder: what recent campaigns get agency folks excited? Better still, what campaigns not created in-house motivate and get your motor running? I extended my feelers and started asking agencies this question. I'd like to run comments once a month in this space. Anyone interested can email me.

This week, Michael Nicholas, senior vice president, director of communication design at Carat, tackles this question.

"A lot of my favorite examples of media creativity in the past year have come out of Europe... which I guess isn't surprising if you're someone who believes Europe, with their longer tradition of unbundled media culture, is a bit more 'Media Creativity enabled.'

I really like the campaign in France for eBay 'c'est vous' ('eBay: it's you!'). A lot of agency folks are down on TV when it comes to Media Creativity (because of its perceived inflexibility around format) but I think this campaign proves there's a lot of life in it if you can stop thinking about it in traditional ways. In this campaign, created by agency BETC EuroRSCG, French eBay sellers can bid on eBay TV space (through an eBay auction, of course) to advertise the products they are selling on the auction platform. Ebay enables the winners to get the most value out of their auction items by enabling them to advertise their auctions through a high-reach medium. This is a great example of using Media Creativity to actually deliver a brand's promise: using TV to both 'say' and 'do.' The idea is brilliant in its simplicity and brand consistency... and begs the question, why aren't the U.S. eBay campaigns based on this Media Creativity-powered construct?

I also really enjoyed the hostage situation turned social mash-up that was Diesel Heidis. It only lasted a week but it was clearly designed to activate the Diesel brand to sell underwear in a way only Diesel could. (This campaign was created by FarFar in Sweden, part of the Isobar network of agencies, which, like Carat, fall under the Aegis family tree.)

'The Simpson's Movie' launch by 20th Century Fox was a great example of Media Creativity featuring multiple ideas being generated off multiple media platforms. They leveraged event marketing and P.R. in the Springfield, Vt; premiere, viral online with the Simpsonizer and deep experiential cross-marketing with partners like 7-11 and Burger King that hopefully woke everyone up to idea of impactful movie launches. (Created by various agencies, including FreshWorks, Tracy Locke and Crispin Porter + Bogusky)."

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