I decided a while back that I'll use my blog to write down more thinking than just random stuff that I've come across. But I still wanted to share with you this unrelated stuff that I liked. SO if you're not too scared of keeping an eye on some web-content curated by myself, just click the following link: http://quentinmahe.tumblr.com/
That being said, you could also enjoy following me on Twitter. I guess it's more "work" related but hopefully even more interesting. @qmahe
Cannes Lions have just awarded with 2 Grand Prix, Promo/Activation and PR, one of my favourite piece of advertising of the past year - Gatorade Replay. The concept of Replay is to give athletes the chance to replay the games that ended with no clear winner, or with a questionable call.
It started as a one-off campaign with the Replay of an American football game. But after the success of this first event they created a season 2 with ice-hockey teams this time. Reuniting former teammates after many years, get them back in shape with the help of the Gatorade professional trainers, and finally replaying that game in front of thousands of people, is a wonderful content creation, truly entertaining and emotionally involving. Such qn entertaining content that the 5-episodes documentary dragged from it has been aired on Fox News Net. What's also really brilliant is the ongoing online platform that has gotten people involved in replaying their own rivalries. The platform allow them to nominate their team to get the chance to be in in the next season, locate their teammates and get them back together through a genius use of Facebook.
Here comes a video about G Replay series season 2.
To me this piece of advertising is the typical example of what we should work for - enabling people to do (more/unexpected/unusual/good) stuff.
And this made me think about another recent campaign that drew my attention recently, Puma Hardchorus. It all started for Valentine's day this year with this:
Which was not only a brilliant tactical and opportunistic move, but also worked very well on the emotional level. Yes haha! I admit that I had shivers the first time I watched it...didn't you? Just because we usually don't realize all the passion supporters put in their songs, and that singing is also entirely part of the culture of each and every supporter all around the world.
Droga5 and Puma decided to extend this hook with the Hardchorus song contest, aiming at becoming the biggest song competition in Europe instead of the stupid "Eurovision song contest". So this time they filmed group of supporters from France, Germany, Italy and England, each one of them singing a song in their own language, and then invite the public to vote for their favourite one. And guess what? The French won...yes, yes I assure you it happened!
I think it's once again tactically well played, but I hope they'll take this to the next level. If I were them I would create a platform where all the supporters clubs all around the world can submit their own hardchorus song, and let the public decide who are the best supporters when it comes to singing! We could imagine using the same competition we have for the pros. You would have the different national championships, then the champion's league, the UEFA, then the Euro and of course the World cup! Wouldn't it be amazing?? I'm sure that such a competition would spread like fire, knowing how keen supporters are to show off that they are the best ever! But it could also create opportunities to peacefully gather some rival clubs of supporters around a common passion, and try to forget hooligans for a while.
What do you guys think? Would you take it to the next level? What would you do?
Back again after struggling to overcome my blogger's block! The worst thing is that I have quite a few ideas of blog posts on a list which widens every day, but the more there are the less I take the time to properly write one.
Anyway. I want to share with you a stunning presentation on brand utility. It's by far the best presentation I've came across on the subject. Very clear and simple, interesting examples... Creds and congrats to Ingmar De Lange from Mountview.
The web is becoming more social everyday before our very eyes. Over the past few years, you can't have missed the growing number of possibilities for sharing the content you've came across on the web. Any piece of content you find can be shared via different social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, social bookmarking platforms such as Digg, Delicious or Stumble Upon, etc. I'm sure you can picture it perfectly. Since almost two weeks now you've certainly seen a new crop of social plugins growing on the web pages. I mean especially Facebook's "Like" button which are flooding our favourite websites and blogs. So why does Facebook add another button, when you can already "share" the piece of content you've found? The answer in a few words - "We are building a web where the default is social" Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook aims at becoming the centre of the social web, which is definitely the web's future. Can Facebook replace Google at some point? Nobody knows and the battle is going to be really exciting in the upcoming months, at least as much as the changes on the way we enjoy the web could dramatically change.
I've been given the chance to briefly introduce my fellow "Sainters" to this new version of Facebook's platform last Monday, and you'll find below this presentation. I've tried to keep it short and simple, so I hope it will make sense to you. Any feedback is of course very welcome!
I've been quite absent since I arrived in London about a month ago. My bad... But it's a good thing because it means that I've been pretty busy at work as much as at socializing outside. I still enjoy London so much and I even have had the chance to enjoy the first couple of really sunny days recently, and the BBQs coming with it. London has so much to offer for creative types, in terms of exhibitions, music venues, etc. My overall feeling is that it's definitely the place to be to improve my planning skills, and hopefully earn my stripes.
Since I haven't been able to update my blog a lot, I opted for a Tumblr account (here), that will allow you to see some of the interesting, funny or totally random things I came across in a raw form.
It sounds (even to myself) a bit too fashionable to say that, but I'll try to commit myself to become a doer as much as a thinker. This will start by adding improved video editing aptitude to my skills set, and a bit of programming certainly as well. It seems to me like a natural evolution since working in a digitally-skewed creative agency, made me realized the importance of an ongoing prototyping commitment. Doing more allows you to quickly notice the hurdles to overpass in order to succeed, and to come up with the best solution for your client.
What other skills do you guys think young planners should acquire?
I just finished Bogusky and Winsor's book, Baked in, and wanted to share with you an extract of their last chapter "The way forward". It's a nice recap about how i feel brands should work in the future, as systems!
"Maybe brand was the best most companies could hope for, but with advances in technology, the best companies and products are creating systems that answer entire aspects of our lives. Systems don't ask you to know their story because you are already a part of their story. Systems don't ask to be a part of your identity because they are already a part of how you live your life. And systems don't hope for brand loyalty because they shape themselves to how you use them. You aren't loyal to a brand. You're loyal to what you've created. This is the power of systems. And although many of the best examples seem to be coming out of the digital space, the reality is that they are less about where and more about everywhere. A great system can be accessed wherever and whenever the customer needs it." AMEN.
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