Right Brain, Left Brain Blog

25 posts categorized "content"

26 October 2010

Ecomagination Photo Project

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This slick website is the activation of the next phase of GE's Ecomagination campaign. Here, conscientious photographers can upload photos of wind, water and light to Flickr and "Tag them Green", so they will then appear to float across the GE Ecomagination home screen.

For every photo uploaded GE will donate money to a charity corresponding to that image. A wind picture will yield money toPractical Action, water pics will earn a donations for Charity Waterand light pictures will go to help d.light Lighting Oecusse Project.

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14 September 2010

Keynote speakers announced for LatAm

Biz Stone, Co-Founder of social media phenomenon Twitter, and Vicente Fox , President of Mexico 2000 - 2006, are the first two keynote speakers confirmed for the inaugural Festival of Media LatAm, October 24-26th 2010 in Miami.

Stone runs the most talked about media company in the world and sits at the cutting edge of social media. Twitter has redefined how brands understand consumer perceptions of their products and services and the 'Twitterverse' is quickly becoming the most powerful marketing forum of the next decade.

Fox was elected President of Mexico in the 2000 presidential election, the first president elected from an opposition party since Francisco I. Madero in 1910 and the first one in 71 years to defeat, with 42 percent of the vote, the then-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party. As well as his political life giving him a unique perspective on Mexico and its role within the region, Fox also served as President of Coca Cola Latin America, helping Coca-Cola become Mexico's top-selling soft drink, and increasing sales by almost 50%.

Stone and Fox join other speakers at the Festival such as Ricardo Monteiro, head of media LatAm at Reckitt Benckiser; Elias Selman, director at America Economia; Alexandre Hohagen, regional managing director, Google; Enrique Tron, media director at Unilever Mexico and Miriane De Castro Schmidt, media director Brazil from AB InBev.

The Festival of Media LatAm takes place in Miami, 24-26 October.

01 September 2010

The next generation of branded content. And it dances

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 Dancing is the new cool. Ballroom dancing, street dance, tap, tango and ballet - doesn't matter what it is, but right now dancing is where it's at - you only have to look at the explosion of dance themed TV shows and movies that have surfaced in the last few years. So it was only a matter of time before brands popped on their dancing shoes and cut a few shapes on the dance floor.

The States have had the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (LXD) for a while - and I have to admit, when the press release arrived in my inbox I was a little sceptical. LXD was described to me as "Heroes" meets "Step Up" - and frankly after 12 years in PR and journalism, I was too cynical to give it the time of day.

However, sometimes I am proven wrong. At the end of the day I was the guy who said Facebook would never take off, so I decided to give LXD a shot and head along to the premier screening at BAFTA last night. 

I don't want to give too much away at this point, apart from to say the description of "Heroes meets Step Up" is about as accurate a description as anyone having seen LXD is ever likely to give. More importantly for Cream is what the LXD series represents in what is possible in the realms of branded content. 

In terms of production values, this is a significant step forward for the BC medium. Other brands have produced slick movie-style works before - remember that BMW movie with Madonna? Or (my personal favourite bit of BC ever) the Mercedes thriller with Dannii Minogue? More recently, Cream reported on a stunning piece of work from Ararat cognac, but these were all "adult brands" aimed at the higher end of the market. The production budget for LXD must have been huge, and every single penny has been put on screen. 

The series is soon to be launched in the UK and Europe acoss the Joost network by Adconion, so soon fans will be able to enjoy the series of 10-minute episodes and track the story of the dancers as they begin their quest. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous, and yesterday morning I would have agreed with you!

Of course it remains to be seen if an online video series (there are 10 episodes in the first series) can not only sustain interest for the complete individual episodes, but also if it can continue to keep it's audience interested over the duration of the series. Current completion stats from the US suggest that it stands a good chance. Paramount (who make the show) have finished the second series already, and a third is in the planning stages. 

Cream will be covering more of this exciting project, and the implications for the brands involved very soon. In the meantime, there's more interesting examples of online video (here) and branded content (here) on the Cream site.

29 July 2010

For the executive that has everything. Except a note pad.

More crazyness from Japan, although I doubt I find anything as peculiar or rewarding as the Japanese horse racing website. This is kind of cute though, and the perfect give for the media executive who has everything. The price tag is a bit steep (about $100), but at the end of the day you can't order these from any old office stationers. 

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I know you lot like a video to see things in action, and who am I to disappoint. . . 


21 July 2010

Bloody books

Books? What the hell is a book? I read stuff from a micro-chip embedded in my skull that projects the words directly onto my retina.

Until this happens, publishers are coming up with more and more extreme ways to add value to the physical book.

Luxury publisher Kraken Opus has mixed a pint of Sachin Tendulkar's blood with paper pulp to create a limited edition $75,000 book celebrating the batsman's career.

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All of the ten made have already sold out. Genius.

20 July 2010

Crowdsource. Internet. Dating.

Three words that should frankly, never appear in a sentence together. Still this is what poor "Brian" has been reduced to since the demise of his relationship. The poor single lad from Milwaukee is not living the Sex and the City dream and has turned to the internet to help. 

A shrewd move, he will no doubt meet a lot of people, many of whom will probably try to do unspeakable things to him. But perhaps that's the point. 

I'm not a prude, and there are some excellent internet dating sites out there (so I understand) but I'm a firm believer that some things just shouldn't be crowd sourced - fashion advice, life coaching and aeroplane manufacturing. All three of those would end up in disaster, as I suspect Brian's dating venture might do as well.


Still, at least he hasn't crowdsourced a band and released a pop song. 

07 June 2010

Ever lost a woman in your flat? Check under the bed.

Ever lost 10? Well the chap in the latest Axe advert rather carelessly has. This latest offering from Axe in France is a little more sophisticated than the usual "wear Lynx - get laid" message that we are treated to in the UK. Quite was this says about our different cultures is the subject of another, possibly quite incendiary, blog post. 

While it is without a doubt very clever, I personally found the whole idea of 10 women hiding in my flat a little creepy, but then maybe I'm just old fashioned. 


03 June 2010

Who knew you could have so much fun with balloons?

It's not 100% necessary for the advancement of Dyson's technology, but it looks ilke a lot of fun.

Take one warehouse, add in a bunch of magical Air Multiplier bladeless fans (a much more appropriate use of the word magical than when describing the iPad) and introduce a helium-filled balloon. The result? Balloon acrobatics.


 

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  • Right Brain, Left Brain sums up the dichotomy of a media business that’s constantly battling with the challenge of delivering a profit and discovering new ways to communicate to consumers. The Cream editorial team combined with a dream team of industry pioneers from around the world share their expert opinions.