Tag Archives: buzzworthy wednesday

Buzzworthy Wednesday: Space Chimp

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Buzzworthy Wednesday’s have been resurrected! In an effort to keep them simple and easier for me to stay up to date with a weekly post I will be keeping my comments and background on whatever the Buzzworthy Wednesday content is quick and to the point.

This week’s Buzzworthy Wednesday is “Space Chimp” with a sad but poignant environmental message. The video was a collaboration between the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF…not the wrestling organization), ad agency Leo Burnett which has one of my favorite interactive websites ever designed and singer / songwriter Ben Lee for his track, “Song for the Divine Mother of the Universe”.

Space Chimp from Sydney on Vimeo.

Buzzworthy Wednesday: Liberty Mutual "Good Vibrations"

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Liberty Mutual has been using the “good karma” branding message for a number of years now. This week’s Buzzworthy Wednesday is a recently created animated addition to their Responsibility Project. It’s not often that you see a company take the marketing strategy to create change and to be authentic about it. I think this message was successful in grabbing the viewer to show the impact a simple action can have in the lives of others but comes across seeming disingenuous in others.

The animation is very well done and their pay it forward puts an emotional touch on their brand to communicate meaningfully with consumers.

Where I think it fails in some ways is in the use of the office building…let’s be honest most large office buildings are occupied by large corporations, financial and insurance companies and Liberty Mutual is no exception. Is this a reach? A sort of pessimism on my viewing part? I don’t know. It may be I’m seeing some symbolism that Liberty Mutual hadn’t considered when working on the project. It’s also a little long at a little over 4 minutes so part of the reason it may have gotten so few views is the fact that many online viewers have a shorter attention span than this video requires to unfold.

Either way, it’s definitely very well crafted by French animator Jérémy Clapin, the director of Skhizein. Clapin’s visual voice is incredibly strong and make this brilliant piece a pleasure to watch regardless of whether or not I am reading into the crowd in the office building symbolism too much. I guess if you remove Liberty Mutual and its marketing message from the equation I find it much more enjoyable and captivating short to watch. What about you? Am I crazy here?

Buzzworthy Wednesday: The Battle for Milkquarious

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The Battle for Milkquarious, is a 20-minute online rock opera about a rock icon named White Gold fighting for justice and his girl on the faraway planet of Milkquarious…that description alone is worthy of Buzzworthy Wednesday. This destination website with movie was launched in mid-October by the California Milk Processor Board and agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (the creators of “Got Milk”).

This short film has sort of a Zoolander-ish feel which carefully walks the line between cool and corny. The result is a hilarious piece with frequent and humorous one liner references to milk like “You guys want to sip on my one gallon axe?”.

They’ve also created the “Milkdonkulous Give-a-way” which is a contest to high schools across California to create their own interpretations of scenes from the movie and win $50,000 for your school’s art, music, and drama programs.

The contest is kind of cool, but where they fall short is having the high school kids interpret scenes. Why stop there? Why not have them write new scenes? The winner could have their script used in the further adventures of White Gold. I think expanding upon the intellectual property of Milkquarious rather than just rehashing the material would make far more sense and really let the creativity of these high school students run wild. Then these kids could share their videos on YouTube and Facebook and create a social buzz around Milkquarious. That’s where the payback would be from a marketing perspective.

All in all it’s a pretty funny and great marketing effort, but is this the future of online video advertising? Will more and more online marketing videos be moving to this type of immersive experience? What do you think?

Milkquarious

Buzzworthy Wednesday: Martin Williams "Fire the Flu"

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This was a really campy fun little video put together by the Martin Williams Ad Agency as a “non-billable, politically acceptable video for the work place”. That’s why it’s the Buzzworthy Wednesday video for this week. It’s basically a tutorial video about the H1N1 and seasonal flu but it’s done in a retro “public service announcement” kind of way.

It only has a few thousand views which I find surprising because it’s so cleverly done with a timely subject matter and so lightly branded at the end that I figured it would have had many more views than it does. Maybe not everyone “gets” the subtle humor in it, judging from the comments I’d say that could be the case. Enjoy and have fun, if you’re not careful you may learn something before it’s done.

(anyone catch the “Fat Albert” with Bill Cosby reference there?)

Buzzworthy Wednesday: Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks" Video

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This is an amazing video created by architectural visual artist Gabe Askew, a fan of the band Grizzly Bear for the band’s track “Two Weeks”. This fantasy filled animation is truly breath-taking which is why it’s my choice for this week’s Buzzworthy Wednesday. While not a traditional marketing piece (the artist was not paid to do this) of creativity which is normally what I profile on Buzzworthy Wednesday’s, this is a great piece both for Grizzly Bear and also an outstanding sample of Gabe’s skills as a visual artist. Sometimes this is where the most creative efforts develop from. It’s received over 300,000 views spread across various video sharing sites.

When asked in his interview at VRay what motivated him to create this video, Askew stated that he “I chose the song ‘Two Weeks’ by my favorite band Grizzly Bear because it inspired me. Even though the video is about two men, I connected the lyrics to my own relationship with my wife. The lyrics, to me, told the story of a relationship where one person is uncertain of the others loyalty. You get sucked up into the daily grind and forget to tell the one you love how you feel. They get insecure and worry that you aren’t committed. And the line ‘I told you I would stay’ is like a battle cry for fighting to keep your relationship together when it seems to be on the brink. ” The interview also has some great storyboard and animatic samples from the project.

You don’t get yourself noticed by following the herd and this video got the artist recognized in a big way, (even being twittered about by the lead singer of Grizzly Bear and being picked up on the Creativity Top 5), by working on a project he was passionate about.

Follow your passions and enjoy.



Buzzworthy Wednesday: Inspired Bicycles – Danny MacAskill

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This is a pretty amazing video featuring daredevil Danny MacAskill jumping fences and off of roofs…on a bicycle. It’s a pretty awe inspiring video to watch just to marvel at his sheer skills which is why I chose it as the Buzzworthy Wednesday for this week. The video was originally published in April and has steadily chugged along since then to almost 10 million views.  It’s lightly branded by Inspired Bicycles which is what makes it so effective.

Danny MacAskill reminds me of Hans “No Way” Rey who pioneered the sport of Mountain bike trialing in the 80’s when I was growing up. I would try to “emulate” Hans while going over “jumps” on my Schwinn Varsity 10 speed in my neighborhood. Bikes are one of the first methods of transportation a kid gets to their own freedom. You can go places on a bike you couldn’t by foot and jump over things just to test yourself. I remember lusting after certain brands of bikes because that was what Hans Rey or Greg Lemond were riding on.

If this was just a video about the bike brand with their message slapped all over it no one would watch it, but to watch a master of trialing perform while set to the perfect soundtrack of “The Funeral” by Band of Horses makes you watch with your jaw dropped open at what this guy can do on a bike. If I were into trialing or if I were a kid today after watching this video…this is the bike I’d want because every kid on a bike dreams of doing the stuff Danny does in this video.

Buzzworthy Wednesday: PSA Texting while Driving, Gwent, UK

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This was a tough week because there were a ton of contenders for Buzzworthy Wednesday, but I made my choice by what hit me the hardest. One of my pet peeves is people who text and generally cause a nuisance on the road trying to use their phones while they are driving. It’s no better than drunk driving and people need to figure this out. This was a PSA put together by the Gwent Police Department in the UK to show the dangers of texting while driving.

It’s been viewed over 5 million times since it’s upload at the end of June with the views split between about 20 duplicate videos.

Chief Inspector John Pavett from Gwent Police Roads Policing Unit hopes the serious message in this film will hit home to viewers: “I hope that after watching this film motorists will think twice before picking up their mobile phone when behind the wheel and realize that a quick reply to a text message or answering a phone call is never worth putting theirs and other people’s lives at risk.”

Warning: it is graphic but with good reason. Seriously…no phone call or text is that important.