10.07.2008 by Zoltan

Batman heats up on 10.07.08

The Dark Knight is almost upon us, and it seems the marketing campaign to end all marketing campaigns is only getting warmed up. 10 PM today seems to be a big event, as seen by the countdown at whysoserious.com - one of the plethora of links within the ARG.

For example, there’s a new group called the C.F.B (Citizens For Batman), with their own recruitment video leaked on youtube. They even put the Bat signal on buildings in both Chicago and NYC.

But if you really want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes, then head on over to the wiki, where you’ll find things like email accounts from the Gotham Police as well as the Gotham Bank, fortune teller tickets edited by the joker which are codes to a map of the city (see the images below), text messages sent by human resources people and only god himself knows what else.

Honestly my head physically hurts considering the breadth and depth of this campaign. I would love to meet the team behind this. I can only suspect its actually The Architect from the Matrix. No one else could possibly keep on top of all of this…

18.01.2008 by Zoltan

Finger fracture

Check out this new game by Vans, called “Finger Fracture” being developed specifically - SPECIFICALLY - for the iPhone. The screenshots look pretty cool, but its the fact that we used to make little skateboards out of wood/perspex back in high school and ‘ride’ them around the stair railings that makes this so appealing to the very people that are now owning iPhones.

It seems a pretty big gamble to put so much resource into such a tiny platform, but I’m certain its going to pay off ten times over in brand equity for Vans. We all need more clients like this - money where their mouth is - taking risks the size of their own (substantial) cojones!

via trend watch

17.12.2007 by Zoltan

1% of Christmas

99% of the time, Christmas cards are shit. So shit in fact that just the thought of them makes me cringe. Thankfully here’s two brilliant examples of that 1% of the time we all look forward to…

The first is a game by Framestore CFC and its as addictive as it is simple, and as is it well executed. I’m not a massive gamer, but this isn’t really a concept I’ve come across before, and just the fact that its a polar bear flying through the air makes the whole thing perfectly surreal.

The second example comes courtesy of AKQA and their little webcam-ified furry friends Cheese and Biscuits. Their (in)decision to run on the wheel controls the electricity supply to a lovely (and possibly very tiny) neon light message. Oh and they only work M-F, 9:30 - 5:30. Whoever said that AKQA worked everyone into the ground?!?!? ;-p

via Big Joel

24.10.2006 by Zoltan

SL Reebok coup

Following on from Adidas being the first sports brand in Second Life, Reebok have beaten Nike to the punch by allowing users to buy white Reebok kicks and then customise them in-game…

06.10.2006 by Zoltan

Ben Sherman does Xbox 360

We all know that in-game advertising is going to be the next big thing, but perhaps not to the extent that Ben Sherman’s new press release is hoping “(to) Create The Ultimate Lifestyle Gaming Experience”… Well, it remains to be seen. Basically there’s a new game, Test Drive Unlimited (suitably Flash-y site with cringe worthy muzak), and apart from driving stupidly fast around Hawaii you can also kit yourself out in Ben’s gear. Whether or not this leads to sales remains to be seen, but branding is a fine art and this certainly can’t hurt brand recall…