1000heads: 3CT #1

aka ‘Three Cool Things’

We’ve been running the above event at the ‘heads now for the best part of 18 months. If you follow @1000heads on Twitter, you may have even spotted us mentioning it in the past.

Up until this point however, unless you’ve been in or around our office at 5pm on a Friday, you wouldn’t ever know what actually we get up to.

It’s time for that to change.

#3CT, as it is known internally, is our way of shutting the laptops, sitting down together and sharing the three coolest things we’ve seen that week. From now on, every Monday* we’ll be sharing (where possible**) those things from the week before with you too – hopefully kick-starting your morning and your week with some awesome creativity.

Sometimes it’s our own work, sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes it’s new stuff, sometimes it’s old. Sometimes it has no relevance to word of mouth whatsoever but has simply sparked ideas in our ‘heads.

Welcome to #3CT.

First up, Hatim Zakout wanted to show us this awesome video from Cadbury, showing off their augmented reality partnership with Blippar.

Working in-line with their 2012 Olympics-based Spots v Stripes campaign, the AR in this video is cool for a whole ton of reasons. But why we like it is that it takes an everyday object that you wouldn’t normally look twice at (the chocolate bar) and turns it into a campaign-focused augmented reality game.

Very cool.

Second, Emma Parsons took the company through the great work currently being demonstrated by the Bulmers ‘Experimenters Wanted‘ campaign.

A cursory glance at the Bulmers homepage right now will show you an abundance of different executions all trying to encourage experimentation, with rewards available for the brave-hearted. All of this in the name of their new drink, ‘No.17’.

Why is this cool? Well (and there was some discussion around this), some ‘heads thought that it tried to do too much - however, others felt that doing all of these different ideas lived up to the exact principles that the campaign is trying to endorse; be different, try something new. Good work Bulmers, definitely cool.

Finally, for our third cool thing, Michael Quinn wanted to talk to us about KLM and their recent ‘Tile Yourself‘ campaign. We’ve talked about KLM before here at 1000heads, and their work is constantly referred to as some of the best in the business. ‘Tile Yourself’ is awesome also.

The above is merely the launch video. To watch the whole ‘this is what we did’, you have to head over to the Facebook application page which is still live. On Friday we talked about how while this is a huge idea, it is also uniquely KLM. The Delft blue portrait element just works for the brand, perfectly.

Also, picking up on the case study video, there is a danger in digital/social media marketing that when creating campaigns (especially on Facebook) of ‘the legacy problem’ – what to do with an app/page/group (delete where appropriate) when the work is done.

KLM have countered that by simply leaving the app URL active and have made it the only place where one can see the case study video of what they did.

A great lesson in social media marketing best practice.

That’s it for #3CT for this week, thanks for stopping by.

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*Yes, I know it’s Tuesday. But rules are there to be broken, right?
**Sometimes we’ll share new (top secret) facts and (NDA’d) figures, or the latest cut of a soon-to-be-released video/case study. Obviously we can’t share these but, when this happens, we’ll always try and find a replacement.

Six months of travel

Not me. A chap named Jonathan.

James, Jonathan and Ben

[that’s Jonathan, over my left shoulder – don’t ask about the hats]

I met Jonathan first in Russia on my first night in Moscow back in April. He was halfway through a six month trip and had big plans. We ran into each other again in Mongolia and (along with a few others in our group) we discovered we pretty much had the same schedule ahead of us for the seven days or so [taking in camping out in the desert, catching the train to China and then hanging out in Beijing].

Anyway, I got back from my trip in May, Jonathan got back yesterday.
This post, entitled ‘HOME’ (and reposted with his permission) is what he’s just published and I actually love it.

Enjoy.

“Just finished unpacking my backpack for the last f***ing time because I am finally home in good old London. If ever there was a moment for a cliché/gay/philosophical/Disney/boring (whichever) shout, surely now is the one time I can get away with one. So here goes (and then I promise I will shut up about all this and go back to drinking K and listening to s*** music).

A lot of people have asked me recently what I’ve learnt or found in the last 6 months living like a gypsy ‘on the road’. Well, I haven’t discovered the meaning of life, I haven’t realised that the world is a beautiful place, I still don’t understand religion and I still don’t get the appeal of a tan. What I have found is a restored faith in the human race, pieced together by every individual that has gone out of their way to help me get so far. The couch-surfers around the world who put me up for a night or few, the drivers who gave me a ride when I was stood with my thumb up on the side of the road in the rain, the families that invited me to live with them and those that fed me despite being too poor to get a solid roof above their heads. The people that turned my map the right way round, the people who patiently tried to teach me a part of their language and culture, those that put up with my constant complaining everywhere I went, and everyone else who smiled at the pasty tourist far too far from home. Sure, there are a lot of dickheads in the world, but they are greatly outnumbered by amazing people.

The Cambodians have a saying ‘when glass floats’ which means when evil prevails over good. Glass will never float. That’s what I’ve learnt.

PEACE OUT YO.”

 

Peace out yo, have a great Monday.

1000heads: It’s a sign!

Or Our Top Five List of Awesome ‘Retail’ Posters’

Distrupt! Be out of the ordinary! Be human! Surprise! Delight! Think about the offline!

Or Our Top Five List of Awesome ‘Retail’ Posters

Disrupt! Be out of the ordinary! Be human! Surprise! Delight! Think about the offline!

^ Welcome to 1000heads.com. We preach about all of the above and much, much more. When it comes to adopting a human tone of voice, we yell our thoughts and beliefs from the rooftops.

Often we find the best examples of this away from our computers and out on the streets around us. Today, we’d like to show off five awesome examples of randomness that we’ve spotted and/or come up with that have made us smile, sparked a conversation and ultimately, enticed us in-store to make a purchase.

First up, as it’s a Monday, we’ll start with something cute. This sign should read: ‘Kitten for sale’, but it doesn’t, it says this –

Just spotted this on the way home - LOVE IT

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that I spotted this one only last night on my way home from work. Inspiration (and humour) is everywhere, you just have to look up.

Next, your bar is closed. First of all, why? Second, how do you communicate it?
B@1 has the answer –

Love this

These guys are up front about the lack of cocktails on this particular evening and, as fellow hard-working human beings, we totally understand the difficulties giving all of the staff a night off and this communicates it brilliantly. Fair play.

Returning to that journey to and from work, it’s not often you spot furniture just left around in the street. What’s even more infrequent is spotting this kind of note attached:

Love this

“I need a new home! I’m a super sofa bed.”

Of this, I am a fan. According to my neighbours this sofa was snapped up within hours of it being left out like this and, even though dumping furniture like this is probably illegal, putting a human face on it all suddenly changes your perspective.

This next one we spotted on Twitter this morning, c/o ‘Professor Snape‘. We don’t know what store this was snapped in but, as creative ideas around empty shelving areas go, this one is definitely one of our favourites.

Bonus points for the Harry Potter reference

Finally, this time last year (during our tenth birthday celebrations) we spotted this Find Us/Follow Us sign in a local book store.

It’s good, but it’s one that we thought was good but could work much harder.

How? Take a look for yourself.

Once you’ve done that, why not let us know what awesome signs you’ve seen out and about on your travels?

 

 

Toga! Toga! Toga!

Moleskine Entry: April 17th, 2011

Today is Sunday. Last night we threw a fancy dress part and everyone got involved (well, everyone we knew anyway).

— Indian Ben | Toga James —

This was, as you can imagine, quite amusing for the Mongolian smugglers traders on board.

Around midnight Moscow time [4am Mongolian time] we were joined by a couple who had tickets stay in in the Tsar’s Retreat. That’s right, I now no longer have my room to myself. Boo.

The good news is, the couple seem quite cool. One Brit and his American wife. One night of sharing the cabin left ahead and then we reach Mongolia. Well, that’s not strictly true.

We’ll be arriving at Ulanbataar at some point tomorrow. We actually cross the border into Mongolia in a couple of hours. [Hilarious] Russian ticket inspectors are aboard now: two women, late 40s, wearing knee high leather boots, full make-up, bright pink liptstick and a light blue, figure-hugging uniform reminiscent of the flight attendants from the 70s. Possibly the best thing I’ve seen on the whole trip to date.

You wouldn’t believe it. I’d snap a photo if I could but I daren’t. I fear I would be taken outside and shot or worse, taken back and used as a Russian sex slave forced to do their every deed at the crack of a singular, jet-black whip.

I’m clearly still quite drunk.

And still, we’re on a train.

Introdiction

I spotted this just over a week ago and have had it open in my browser since with the full intention of blogging it when I got the chance. That’ll be today then.

This is the new (and fairly sweary – you have been warned) single from Scroobius Pip, Introdiction.
I love Pip’s work, have done for ages – and this is a great, great track.

Oh yeah, and the price of the video production? £100.

Enjoy.

1000heads: A quiet time

As a global word of mouth creative agency we have offices all over the world, aiding and assisting clients everywhere. Our roots, believe it or not, are in rural Oxford but for the past two years, our global headquarters (and natural home) has been right here in London.

We work here, we live here, we play here.

Tonight we’re closing the office at (an unheard of) 5:30pm to send our teams home to their respective homes to be safe. Some will be joining the clear up efforts; spear-headed by the spontaneous camaraderie forming around the #riotcleanup hashtag (and website), others will be headed out of town to join loved-ones in safer areas away from the potential flashpoints.

Word of mouth is our thing and, over the past 72hrs, we’ve seen what an amazing platform that can be. Both negatively and positively.

We’re not going to pour data through meaningless charts, nor extol the virtues of product ‘a’ or campaign ‘b’, we’re just going to crack on with our work, both within the office and without.

Be careful out there, friends. London – and the rest of the UK – will pull through this.

IAB: Rules Rules Rules

This post first appeared on the blog of the IAB on August 8th, 2011 —

18th January 2011. That was the date of the this year’s first meeting of the IAB Social Media Council (SMC). Back then all the talk was about the impending ASA remit extension that would very very soon cover not only companies’ marketing claims on their own websites, but also in other non-paid for space they control – aka, ‘earned media’.

As an industry trade body the SMC assembled and collectively pondered on what would be considered best practice for adhering to these standards. I don’t think it was at that meeting that any kind of course of action was agreed, however, I do believe a large amount of the assembled members agreed that, like our US counterparts, ‘#ad‘ would probably work best.

Fast forward six months and with the remit fully in place, has anything changed? Not really. Has there been a seismic shift in the behaviour of online advertisers? Probably not.

Admittedly we haven’t seen any major cases reported to the ASA quite yet, but isn’t that thanks to a certain level of understanding and intelligence of your average internet user? If we move away from the online world for a second and instead think about the combined worlds of brand, celebrity and sport personality – how do these kind of standards play out there? Case in point: Tiger Woods and Nike.

When we see Mr Woods teeing up at the PGA Tour do we question that the Nike cap he chooses to wear is there for any other reason than advertising? No. Of course not. It’s an expectation. Something that we, as the viewing public, have grown to accept within this particular industry. It’s a given that this happens. However, it’s also assumed that – given his high profile nature – that this sponsorship must have happened. Why else would he be wearing the logo? And of course, there is no doubt that Nike put out a press release when this sponsorship was made – but how long ago was that? Shouldn’t he be adding the the word ‘ad’ onto that hat? No, of course not. That’d be silly.

But if he tweets something about Nike, will be have to append it with ‘ad’ ?

It doesn’t make sense.

Yes of course I agree that we should ultimately make it explicit that a piece of content created in the name of advertising is in fact an ad, but why not have something on our website/homepage/bio that states this is the case? Better yet, exactly how are paid endorsements going to be handled moving forward? Social media are fundamentally different, but a sponsorship deal is a sponsorship deal. Be it product placement in movies (and games), Nike on Tiger Woods…. or bloggers being sponsored by a brand  to write about products, it’s the same rules – right?

So HOW can we expect to retrofit one solution across them all? We can’t.

Everything that’s been written about social media has defined how different they are from the rest of the media types that have come before it. Here we are at the turn of a new decade (yes we are) and now suddenly the ‘free world’ of the internet is being regulated like it’s a piece of out of home.

New rules are required. Ones that are built on customer smarts, not crafted out of the remnants of out of date thinking.

So now what?