Creative Traction » Video & TV Ads

12-year-old to write latest TV spot for Spore Hero

Duane Brown — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:29:52 +0000

Blake Simons is one lucky kid. He re-scripted a TV ad for EA’s Nintendo Wii game Spore Hero. I was talking with a video game client last week that we need to get members of their community to become ambassadors for their brand. The community is going to do a lot better of a job selling the games and company to friends then they would with TV ads and magazine spreads. The hard part is finding those community members who are passionate it about the brand as they are. But once you find them…. it’s beautiful. You can check out Blake’s video here. Lets hope EA continues this trend of letting the community help shape some of their advertising.

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Connecting with your audience with video

Duane Brown — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:16:59 +0000

Wind Mobile just launched 3 new videos in anticipation with the launch of their network within the calendar year. What I like about the video below is that it connects with its core audience. Wind Mobile (and hopefully Public Mobile, & DAVE Wireless) knows that the Canadian consumer has been paying way more for a cell phone then most other countries around the world. It has been 20 plus years now and everyone in this country is sick of.

Wind Mobile taking that emotional rage and using that to help create some of their initial advertising is a great way to try and connect with their audience. It’s very early in the wireless game but with 3 new incumbents and Public Mobile launching an initial phone and plan at $40/month with unlimited talk & text. 2010 could be a really great year for the wireless industry in Canada. The 3 new incumbents will be battling it out with the 3 established wireless carries; TELUS, Rogers and Bell.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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I Appeared on The Engaging Brand Blog

Duane Brown — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:30:29 +0000

A few weeks ago I had opprtunity to appear on the The Engagning Brand Blog. A few of the topics we covered are the following:

Can marketing learn lessons from the video game market?
Is interactivity a key aspect for business to consider?
Are virtual worlds a merging of video games and real life?
Is mobile technology making video more important?
Should corporate sites be using video more?

I had a lot of fun appearing on the podcast and being my second one this year, I hope to get a few more in before the year is out. There are even a few comments on the post, which is great to see. Go check out the podcast. Don’t be afraid to tell me what you think in the comments.

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Tipster Thursdays: 5 Marketing Tactics For A (video) Podcast

Duane Brown — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:00:24 +0000

Tipster Thursdays is a monthly feature covering technology and how you can incorporate it as part of your marketing plan. We’re going to look at different pieces of technology like Twitter, Pingie, Wiki, SmugMug, Facebook and delicious and show you 5 different and unusual uses for the technology. This weeks column is going to look at podcasts.

A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet. Once the podcast is recorded and finalized, you can post it to iTunes, your own website or for playback on iPods, portable media players and PCs. Podcasts are an interesting medium, as they haven’t gone beyond the radio show style format for the most part. Insomniac Games’ podcast Full Moon is taking off and the gaming community is enjoying what they have to say. The podcast isn’t strictly about games they are working on, but about the gaming industry from a developer’s perspective. Here are 5 great ways you can use podcasting as a tactic in your marketing plan.

Podcasting a side story from your game would be a great way to show off the story telling ability of your team as well as their imagination.
Video podcast how to use your mod kit for your game. The more people who know how to use it, the more people who could potential make a cool mod for your game.
Launch a video podcast fan kit competition and have your community remix and reedit a song and video from your game.
Podcast part of your ARG for fans to find online or on an MP3 player.
Take the novel you already have and podcast it chapter-by-chapter and provide another way for your fans to connect with your product.

As I mentioned in my Gamasutra column last year, Online Public Relations: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Don’t go cheap and be as creative as possible. You have to be willing to invest both finances and time into your content. If you are not going to invest the same effort you put into prepping that advertising page for Game Informer magazine, then don’t even get started. Don’t simply do what your competition is doing. as people are drawn to creative and fun pieces of content. Participation tends to yield inspiration as well. When you get the community involved, they inspire and push your content to another level. Never underestimate the power and creativity of your community when you get them involved because podcasts are a great medium.

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Tipster Thursdays: 5 Marketing Tactics For Qik

Duane Brown — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:00:50 +0000

Tipster Thursdays is a monthly feature covering technology and how you can incorporate it as part of your marketing plan. We’re going to look at different pieces of technology like Twitter, Pingie, Wiki, SmugMug, Qik and delicious and show you 5 different and unusual uses for the technology. This weeks column is going to look at Qik

Qik enables you to share moments of your life with your friends, family and the world – directly from your cell phone! Keep your world in the know, share a laugh, tell engaging stories.

Qik is like YouTube for the live streaming generation. It’s still in alpha mode right now, but you can sign up for an account and start using the service. Provided you have one of the phones that the system supports. There’s a public FAQ, blog, over at the Qik site if you are looking for more info. Besides walking you dogs, there are some pretty interesting things you can do with Qik.

Stream a demo of your game at an event.
Incorporate Qik with Twitter for a community based interview.
Broadcast your location as part of an event at Penny Arcade Expo and give away (preview) copies of your game.
Setup a private Qik profile and use it to record feedback at events on your game as market research for your global marketing team.
Record walkthroughs of your game on the fly when the mainstream media gets it wrong.. a la EA vs Fox. Post those videos for the world to see.

As I mention, Qik is still in alpha mode right now. But as it opens up more people are going to start using the service. Robert Scoble, NewTeeVee and TechCrunch have all reported on the service within the last month. Live streaming video is the future and I think this is one of the services to watch for.

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Tipster Thursdays: Creating Social Software with BricaBox

Duane Brown — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:55:35 +0000

Tipster Thursdays is a monthly feature covering technology and how you can incorporate it as part of your marketing plan. We’re going to look at different pieces of technology like Twitter, Pingie, Prologue, SmugMug, Qik and delicious and show you 5 different uses for the technology. This weeks column is going to look at BricaBox.

Take your audience and build your own social content website, inspired by UpComing.org, Zip411, Wikipedia, Yelp, or SmugMug. BricaBox is now offering users the ability to build their own platform. You can pick from a list of content templates (restaurant reviews, photos + maps, discussion board, video collection) or create your own from scratch. This is similar to what Ning allows people and organization to do for social networks.

Allow your community to create a YouTube style video collection using their best in game videos.
Combine Ning & BricaBox and launch your game’s first community portal. Users can upload video, photos, reviews, news and music.
Create a press directory for your internal PR team
Combine Ning & BricaBox to track and record what’s happening in your company’s next ARG.
Allow your community to create a Flickr/SmugMug style photo collection.

With the current success of Ning and other tools that empowered today’s people. BricaBox should gather a following of who wants to create something for their niche audience.

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Sony Opens Up PS3 and Talks In-Game Ads

Duane Brown — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:05:55 +0000

Last year I mentioned Sony’s in-game ad unit (here and here) and how this is an interesting move and competes with Microsofts’ Massive, Google’s AdScape.

Sony’s open platform is a clear departure from how things are done on Microsoft’s Xbox, whose exclusive model means all dynamic in-game ads must be brokered through Massive, a company the software giant acquired in May 2006. That acquisition essentially closed off the opportunity for other in-game ad brokers to sell inventory in games that run on its Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles — and it elevated the bet they are placing on Sony.

I can see how Sony’s plan could complicate things but at the same time I think it’ll all work itself out in the long run. I know if I want first party action I talk with Sony. Otherwise I talk with the publisher who may or may not tell me to talk with their in-game rep. One thing I could see happening is publishers got their own in-game ad team… especial if Sony’s system is going stay this open. You’ll always have to buy through Massive for Microsoft, but not with Sony. Sony also signed that deal last year with Nielsen to help measure in-game advertising as well as hiring Darlene Kindler, who was most recently was at AdScape, to head up their in-game ad team. Sony is making a gamble but I think it will edge out Microsoft in the end. Plus I always love cheering for the “underdog”.

[Via AdAge]

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EA gets inspired by eHarmony commercials

Duane Brown — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:00:25 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Electronic Arts has some fun spoofing the eHarmony.com campaign in a collection of new spots promoting its Burnout Paradise driving game. See a bunch of the ads here, in which couples laugh about how they found compatibility largely through “T-boning” and “rear ending” each other (in the game).

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Via AdFreak]

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Interactive Gaming: Wii-Like Game System Works With LCD TVs For Advertising

Duane Brown — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:00:16 +0000

Last week at Consumer Electronics Association (CES) Reactrix Systems launched a Wii like gaming system for interactive advertising. My first gut reaction after seeing the press release was that this would be great for advergames.

The Reactrix technology is called WaveScape, and it was demonstrated on Samsung’s large-format 570DX display at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. Above the display was a sensor that kept track of a person’s hand and body movements so they could interact with an on-screen game. The sensor can cover five meters.

This sounds an awful lot like the Wii. The only difference is that they are going after the corporate market, for now.

Despite the technology’s almost universal appeal, Reactrix has no plans to launch a version for consumers.

“We wish we did, because we want to get this to as many people as possible, but rest assured we will get there.

“Our first application is going to be advertising and interactive signage,” said Matt Bell, who is chief scientist at Reactrix and developed the system. “Our first roll-out of these displays will be in the second half of this year in 150 Hilton hotels. They’ll be a mixture of fun, interactive games and information about hotel services.”

I think the system is a great idea and pretty smart to go after the corporate market. The only problem is that they have keep the costs of the system down otherwise the corporate market will just go out and buy a Nintendo Wii. It has more brand appeal and everyone knows what a Nintendo Wii is after being the hottest sought after toy this holidays season for a second year in a row. Having worked with Coca-Cola, The Amazing Race and Hilton hotels, we should start seeing a lot of these around town.

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World of Warcraft Ad Goes Mainstream Part 2

Duane Brown — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 18:07:58 +0000

With the success of the World of Warcraft Ads for Mr. “I pitty a fool” T and William “I was once famous” Shatner. We can now see the evolution of those ads with the addition of Jean-Claude Van Damme & Willy Toledo from Spanish TV to indulge in our World of Warcraft passion.

[Via GameTrailers Jean-Claude Van Damme & Willy Toledo]

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