A Real Mystery -- F.E.A.R. 2 Silver Case Advertising

F.E.A.R 2, a soon-to-be-released first shooter video game has launched, what in my eyes, is probably one of the best use of online communities to create the most original and engaging online ad campaign.

SxePhil, a Youtube blogger, and video game player, that I follow on a regular basis posted the following video

Furthermore, Mike Fahey, a prominent gaming blogger received the same letter and had to pick up the same mysterious case from a nearby storage facility. He wrote about his 'mission' in this post which got tremendous attention from his community.

Here is why I like this campaign:

• It is an effective way to reach out to trendsetters in a genuinly exciting way
  
• It engages the followers, online communities and friends
  
• The proper use of suspense is a great tool to stimulate the target market's memory buds
  

Anyone realize how I got a little excited about this one. Let's find out what will be in the case on December 5th!

[edit made dec. 8th: to find out what was in the case click here]

Award Winning Guerrilla Marketing -- Toilet Plungers as Ad Medium

Toilet Plungers?
At the Marketing Magazine 2008 Innovation Awards, Colour Creative Persuasion Inc. received the gold prize in the "targeted marketing: young adults" category for the work they did for student-geared Landlord Lou.

The Campaign
It consisted of placing 3,000 toilet plungers around Halifax, Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John in New Brunswick which all had the website's URL. To leverage the effectiveness and buzz of the campaign, Colour Creative put up posters and took up a few ads in urban weeklies encouraging students to find the plungers -- treasure hunt style. The clear purpose of the campaign was to draw students to their website which had a link to their extensive number of apartment listings as well as some viral videos to help brand themselves as the best landlord in town.

Posters


Microwave


Sex Feens

My Thoughts
The campaign got some buzz on Facebook, Kijiji as well as 7000 hits on their website. So clearly, their objective was attained and their brand image very likely increased as well. Moreover, I admire campaigns targeting students that make smart uses of various media to increase the overall efficacy of it.

But seriously, was it worth putting that much effort into it?

Creative Advertising at its Best -- How to Better Engage Students.

Creativity can be the wrong avenue in mass media because "everyone" won't get it.

On the other hand, here is why it should be better exploited on university campuses:

1. Campuses are communities where word of mouth can spread the quickest. Therefore, it does not matter if everyone understands it because the few that do get it will spread the word fast. This tactic reinforces the message being communicated.
2. What gets students thinking, gets students talking.
   

Here is a great example straight from South Africa for Russian Bear vodka:








Thanks to Zed and his blog for pointing out this incredible ad.

Rethinking Word-of-Mouth Marketing - Intro

This is the first in a series of posts exploring the use of love in marketing.

As a prelude, here are two award winning videos on the topic that were brought to my attention by Patrick Byers. Those were, daringly, made by Microsoft's marketing manager Geert Desager... for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions!

The Break Up

Inspiration, anyone?

How about engaging students with Web 2.0? Making better use of pull marketing? After all, Gen Y are web savvy and would love to get in on the conversation about topics they love.