Written by Nuri Djavit
We’re very happy to announce that we just won Best in class for Automotive and Lifestyle categories for the wonderful VespaUSA website. We should be getting sparkling new lucite awards through the mail soon.
View the awards online here.
Written by Nuri Djavit
Of course the Whopper Virgins campaign is a few days old now but it is gathering momentum quickly. Claims (by researchers such as BrandIndex) that the Burger King brand has taken a bit of a knock from the campaign are being bested by views, discussion and sharing of the documentary.
I honestly believe this a fantastically interesting piece and not necessarily because of the taste test or its results. It’s refreshing that there are still people out in the world who have never been exposed to global brand giants such as Burger King or McDonalds! But back to the point; I think it was a considerably brave move by BK and CPB alike and the results are worth the risk. The conversations that this will spark will resound for weeks to come - I personally am looking to bring it up tonight over a few pints and a tray of sliders.
Written by Paul Newnes
A subject close to my heart, blogged elegantly by Tom Evslin at Fractals of Change.
Essentially it looks as if the FCC will do the right thing by the ‘whitespace’ UHF spectrum freed up by the movement to digital TV. Tom explains the technologies and approaches the large US telcos are banking on, LTE (enhanced 3G) and WiMAX, may be superseded before they become widely available.
So what does that mean to the rest of us? That we will have ubiquitous wireless internet data (and hence voice) coverage at fixed line speeds that does not necessitate the astronomical capital investment that is required for cellular networks. Thus more and better competition for our hard earned dollars.
Written by Fred Brown
James Bond - 007 returns in Quantum of Solace
The latest Bond flick Quantam of Solace has just opened. I know this because I read a pamphlet about the development of the Ford Ka (a car so small Americans would be able to fit it in the trunk of their vehicles). The Ka is featured in the movie - in return for no small fee.
This got me thinking about products ‘placed’ in films and TV shows - no doubt a very good way to reach your audience. But how do we marketing folk know if a product has been selected because it is right for the character, or simply because of the fee received? I must confess to being rather more susceptible than the average bear to buying stuff I see on the screen, so now I am in something of a quandary. I love my BMW’s but even I winced when the Z3 served as Mr Bond’s wheels. Authenticity goes a long way and as I advance in years I find myself thinking rather fondly of the days when Aston Martin would lend the cars to the filmmakers. At least you knew where you were then.
The only car maker that is above the fray is that slice of British eccentric car making called Bristol. They won’t allow the press to drive their cars and if you’d like to own one you are interviewed first. James May, an equally eccentric host of Top Gear, a motoring show on the BBC, was recently turned down. How refreshing, if slightly quaint.
Written by Nuri Djavit
We’re very happy to announce the launch of the Vespa USA website. It’s been a thrilling ride to get to this point and we’ve worked with some amazing people at Piaggio Group USA. Our team has been exemplary throughout the process and the results reflect the skill and commitment from the Last Exit team. Congrats to all.
Be sure to check out the scooters as well as the Community Rides section.
A few of the first press articles:
Written by Nuri Djavit
I had the intense pleasure of visiting the beautiful Brooklyn Museum this past weekend and attending the Gilbert & George exhibition. If you don’t know who they are, or much about they’re work I strongly suggest you go along. This is their first international tour in more than 20 years and is as dramatic, emotional, subversive and as provocative as ever. The duo’s work is definitely unique and tackles (rather brutally at times) themes such as faith, religion, sexuality, superstition, race and identity, urban life, terrorism and AIDS related loss.
My personal reaction, whether I liked a particular piece or not, was profound. My particular interest is the approach they employ and the deeply ‘graphics’ style of their work and the high level of engagement with the visitor - something I feel is very difficult to achieve in a static, passive medium such as this. Perhaps some lessons to be learned here while applying to digital / interactive design, advertising and marketing campaigns and messaging?
Here’s a great review in the New York Times.
Written by Fred Brown
I am getting excited by the imminent arrival of an Apple Newton, and the year is 2008. This is not normal behaviour, I grant you, so let me explain.
A small museum is growing in the London office of Last Exit - mainly mobile phones, Apple Laptops and iPods - to which I dream of adding some of the earliest Macs - from the 128k through an SE to a Colour Classic. It was while researching these on eBay that I stumbled upon some Apple Newtons. For some reason they have never really been on my radar - but looking back I am not sure why? But they are on my radar now and beeping loudly.
Whatever you may dislike about the Internet I defy you to say that eBay and Wikipedia are not wonderful. eBay has an early Apple MessagePad 100 for sale, complete with box and all the toys, meanwhile Wikipedia tells me all about them. It didn’t surprise me to learn whilst reading the Wiki that the creators of this early Apple user interface went on to found Pixo, the firm that developed the iPod interface. What did surprise me was reading the results of a 2006 comparison test between a 1997 Newton and a 2006 Samsung’s Q1 PDA running Windows mobile. The Newton, by then nearly a decade old, won. That is impressive.
As for that Newton, it might just fill the size gap between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, and it will be just the job for note taking in meetings. In other words, it is not going into the museum when it arrives but back into service.
If you happen to be a client, looking for a new media agency (and we are experts in some modern things, too - like Papervision 3D) then please feel free to request a meeting and I’ll bring it along.
I think I need an ethernet card for it next… I’ll let you know how I get on.
Written by andy_dale
The country boys commute
Here I am among the steel and concrete mountains rising way up to the heavens and closing in on me all around, the sound of thousands of feet scratching, scampering and scrabbling is prominent as the rat race gains momentum… not like a babbling brook but a cataclysmic flood of souls relentlessly rushing through the tight winding streets of the city… As I become wiry of fighting against the tide it becomes apparent to me that I am part of this periodic, humdrum, tiresome migration.
Written by Nuri Djavit
According to latest reports from Cisco, video currently generates more traffic in the US than was transmitted across the entire Internet backbone in 2000. Even though video online collapsed for a short while after the internet bubble burst, the technology, bandwidth and desire to watch video online has bounced right back and this time, it’s no bubble.
Additional research is showing that people, and in particular, young men, are moving their entertainment centers to their computers and watching content online: what they want, when they want it. Along with the heightened experience, data shows that users/viewers are watching longer segments than before, further enforcing the idea that the computer is fast becoming a viable and desirable entertainment device. Interestingly, these migrants from TV to internet are much more accepting of inline ads (pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll).
Content developers and other people involved i the traditional TV industry still argue against the ‘a la carte model’ and online remains to poor cousin. Despite of lower quality compression for online, people are voting with their feet and marching straight to their computers to watch only the (quality) shows they want to watch at time that suit them.
In my opinion, the advertising opportunities are far great here as we can truly create a targeted ad model against a medium that affords us 100% accountability. What’s not to love, eh?
Rather than preaching about why computers, internet and pay per view / a la carte are the future, I want to redirect my observations and questions to the delivery mechanisms themselves and the skill behind programming. For me, there are two things that must carry over from TV to our smaller screens:
1. Programming: I truly believe that web 2.0 has forgotten an important part of passive viewing, listening. We watch TV and used to listen to radio because we trusted the presenters, programmers, DJs to introduce us to something we might not have found by ourselves or via our peer groups. We need to re-introduce an element of programming and taste along with the content we create. Portals such as YouTube are good at what they do, but a vast majority of users only ever view content that is sent to them by the (much smaller) group of people who create or crawl. So much of YouTube’s audience is highly ephemeral and the related videos stream manages to capture the casual user for, perhaps, one more viewing.
My assertion here is that we need to find a new device for keeping people at the new sites/entertainment portals we create and the first part of this is a new approach to programming, perhaps though targeted content based on user profiles/behaviour. Pretty similar to how traditional programming is currently done on TV.
2. Interface Design: in response to this new targeted content, advertising and programming model we need to develop new GUIs for watching video that allow people to interact with the device in a simplified, more linear fashion. We still need to offer tools for customization, search, sharing etc. for the smaller percentage of more active people, but we must identify the elements that will keep people viewing longer and enjoy the experience more.
Apple does their part with the constant development of video codecs and even adobe with their Flash video platform is coming on leaps and bounds in terms of higher quality whilst maintaining, seemingly unfeasible, small file sizes. HD content is cropping up more and more to make our high pixel density screens sing and 5.1 surround sound is a reality. So, for 2009 I think we need to see video line take a different path to the less effective web 2.0 approaches we’ve seen so far.
Written by Nuri Djavit
The headline article in today’s AdAge looks at how car dealerships are utilizing video. It focuses on one particular dealership who has created a nice little (viral) video espousing the concept of transparency and honesty. Hold on, a car dealership saying it’s honest? It might take more than a highly staged video to convince us of that, but nevertheless the event is interesting to me on a number of levels:
1. The accessibility of video: largely thanks to Apple, video creation tools (both hardware and software) professional video creation can meet almost any budget. Of course this depends on your expectation and demands for quality. Distribution tools such as YouTube also offer access to a broad audience, if the content is good enough. Imagine spending $50k on a video and reaching a million people without any additional media spend. Amazing (potentially). Added to this, the fact that the spend is easily measured and analyzed.
2. Increasing the effectiveness of your website: according to Larry Pryg , national marketing and ad manager for General Motors Corps, certified-used-auto business, websites with video are twice as likely to general calls or emails from shoppers to dealers.
Of course, this video has to be engaging and entertaining and, most importantly in my opinion, demonstrate utility; it’s got to be informative, useful and empower the viewer to make intelligent qualified decisions - hopefully quick ones that result in check writing etc. Many dealers still just re-purpose TV commercials, which is OK, as many car ads are stil among the best (most entertaining and well produced) but, of course, there’s an opportunity with the online space and a great expectation of users to offer more interaction and information.
3. Transparency: the main ad this article references from the Clay Corp in Norwood, Mass, attempts to offer transparency and honestly by explaining the typical ways (other) car dealers try to screw you over. Ever since Naomi Klein wrote ‘No Logo’ in 2000 I’ve been convinced by the idea of discussion between a brand and it’s audience/customers, rather than the old industrialist approach of preaching brand values from a well staged, er stage. This video doesn’t really embody that notion completely but we feel that it’s vital to empower our clients with the knowledge to make the right decisions regarding digital agencies. So in that vein, we’ve created short documents explaining how to look for and how to buy digital services such as SEO - a practice that is still largely shrouded in smoke and mirrors.
The comparison I’m making here is a potential one: that many agencies, especially digital agencies are already building reputations as charlatans and spinning a web of confusing processes, technologies and TLAs (three letter acronyms). Time to get undresses, and bare all I reckon.
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