Breaking Bad easter egg

I was just reading about companies using easter eggs online. For instance, NBC got Tripadvisor.com to allow people to write reviews of Shrute Farms which is a reference to an Office episode a few seasons back (for those of you that live under a rock.) I also read that Kayak.com had an Oceanic Flight 815 listed from Sydney to L.A. at some point.

I just discovered another gem. Www.savewalterwhite.com offers a mock-up of the site that Walter Jr. made to raise money for his dad on Breaking Bad, the best show on television at the moment. Ok cool, somebody has too much time on their hands. However, when you click to donate you are directed to the National Cancer Coalition site. This was surprising and very clever. I'm not sure who is behind this but it's definitely a unique way of driving traffic to a good cause.

What are these ads really saying?

Let's just distill what companies are saying about themselves with their millions of dollars in paid media. If we just distilled these messages, what are brands really saying about themselves?

First up is insurance companies. They seems to have tons of loot to spend on advertising. I often wonder where they get all that money.

Traveler's Insurance
We get those crazy panic attacks too. Buy insurance from us and find something less important to freak out over.

Kaiser Permanente
Feel good about us because we believe in antioxidants and we want to see you grow old.

Geico
We make so much money that we can run ten different campaigns at once and not one them is even the slightest bit serious. You want cavemen? Check. Funny lizards? Check. That Rockwell song from 1983? We got that.

Progressive
Dude, we are easy to deal with and we are cheap. Have you heard of this thing called the internet? You can find us there.

Allstate
We are dead serious and we understand "small-town" values. Pardon us if we are kind of boring. We are an insurance company after all.

Pacific Life
Let's interrupt these boring advertising messages with a few awesome shots of whales doing their thing accompanied with some rock music. This is how you do it.

Aflac
Hey, check this out. We found the most annoying concept ever and we are going to annoy you all fall by playing these ads every Saturday all day long until you consider buying insurance from us.

Traveler's


Kaiser Permanente


Geico


Progressive


Allstate


Pacific Life


Aflac

Really good chocolate packaging

My sister recently bought me this bar of chocolate and wouldn't shut up about how much she loved the packaging. She was in the chocolate store and the store manager was ready to tell her all about how sustainable the product was and how the chocolate manufacturer really took care of the farmers. She didn't care though, she was just convinced that it was good by all the brown paper and the stamps. It wasn't a cheap bar of chocolate either.

It is cool packaging because it doest two things-

It makes you feel warm and fuzzy about the source of the product. It's got a photo of the head farmer and claims to be responsible in the treatment of the farmers themselves.

The combination of the brown paper and the type also make the chocolate appear to have been manufactured at the source. I'd rather eat chocolate made from a single cocoa source in West Africa than chocolate made from various cocoa sources and then shipped across the Atlantic to be manufactured.

This packaging gives me both those feelings and that is why is sells for $8 a bar.

I do think this brings up a good question. We, as progressive consumers in a wealthy society, have become aware of the huge income disparity between ourselves and the people that actually tend to the crops that produce the coffee and chocolate we enjoy. Labels like Fair Trade enhance our experience of eating the product and raise our willingness to pay. Why is it that we don't see similar packaging on other consumer goods such as apparel?

It's no secret that many consumers want to avoid buying clothing made in sweatshops. and many apparel companies have taken great strides to be more responsible in the regard. A few have even bought their own factories to ensure that working conditions are legit. Why doesn't the packaging of apparel reflect the steps that manufacturers have taken to ensure that no one was exploiting in the making of the product. I think there is a missed opportunity for companies that have taken the steps to treat the laborers in plants responsible to brag about it at the point of sale.

Consuming paper saves trees?

I recently saw this print ad at a bus stop in downtown D.C. The copy is very counterintuitive and kind of cryptic. I can't say that this ad is terribly informative. Is this a tongue-in-check message that we should just read periodicals on the internet to save trees? Is this an ad for the consumption of paper? The ad could be for just about anything and have some "green" argument. So what is the ad for??

As you may have guessed, it is not a sarcastic approach to decrease paper consumption. It is paid for by the Printing and Graphics Association of the Mid-Atlantic. The association's argument goes like this- if we stop consuming paper private landowners that would normally practice sustainable forestry will not replant trees after they are harvested. They will plant some other crop or graze animals instead. In order to maintain sustainable forestry as an industry, you have to make a market for paper by consuming it.

The most disturbing thing about this argument is that it is somewhat logical at first glance. If there is no market for paper made from trees, no one will plant trees that can be harvested later.

Ok, back to reality. The campaign's website claims that landowners are constantly faced with a choice of how to utilize their land and derive income from it. The message makes it sound like forests and soy beans have the same life cycle. The fact is that when a landowner replants trees the income from those trees isn't typically realized for another generation. These landowners are planting trees while thinking about their children. Besides, are landowners considering getting into some completely different industry that may or may not be suited to their land and climate overnight because I buy recycled paper? Please.

Just to be clear. I am all for sustainable forestry. It's a great alternative to logging old-growth and I do see the point. However, I think it's irresponsible to make the claim that going paperless in your office is environmentally irresponsible.

What this really highlights is how important it is to actually think things through before you commit to some paid media campaign that is tugging on your green heartstrings.

Online gaming company sends soccer fans on a virtual scavenger hunt

Your scenario- You are an online gambling website. You have your social media set all set and an official sponsorship with a little soccer team from Madrid. This team is called Real Madrid is playing its biggest rival, Barcelona, in 18 days.

Your challenge- Create an online marketing campaign that utilizes your online presence, sponsorship and actively elicits new customers.

Your solution- Create an online game in which users are challenged to locate 4 Real Madrid players that have gone missing in time for the big game. They are all located online somewhere. Players are given clues as to their whereabouts and must search through social media sites in order to uncover the solution. They must register in order to play, giving up valuable personal data. As a reward, layers receive 10 euros in credit at your sports book per player they locate.

Any questions???

www.savetherealgame.com
bwin

Nike World Cup kits for 2010

Nike has made a lot of recent noise about greening its business practices. It has been outspoken in standing up to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the climate change issue and went so far as to resign from the Chamber's board of directors last fall. It's easy to be cynical in regard to Nike's stance on regulations on U.S. manufacturers given that Nike doesn't manufacture anything in the U.S. That is why I'm happy to Nike taking other measures to demonstrate it's commitment to green practices.

Nike is sponsoring nine teams in this summer's FIFI World Cup and all of them will be wearing jersey's made from recycled plastic bottles. Nike claims the manufacturing process using recycled bottles consumes 30% less energy. The movement also added up, recycling over 13 million plastic bottles when all is said and done.

Recycled materials don't mean that the quality of the product drops off either. Nike Dri-Fit fabric is central to the jerseys which are lightweight and keep players dry. They are also a slimmer fit than previous jerseys with more stretch, which certainly appears to be the trend for World Cup 2010.

You can get a view of the kits here.

Pele Sport set to launch this summer

Please keep an eye out for Pele's new line of sportswear Pele Sport. The iconic Brazilian is launching the brand with a group of Swiss investors. They have planned a group of viral videos to advertise the product that will feature a South African teenager playing other teenagers and compiling a dream soccer team. I believe they are due out this summer for the World Cup. Can't wait to see what the gear looks like.