Estonian Next Top Model

New Estonian Top Model has born. Last year he did the campaign for Statoil, promoting environmentally friendly carwash and now, all over Estonia, you can witness this amazingly well posed, at ease look he is promoting for this package recycling campaign.

I loved the Statoil ad, as the frog was earning a higher purpose and fitted perfectly into the context. But this package recycling campaign is not really my cup of tea. As from the funny faces in the packages I assume that this is directed to children and the message is clear and well directed, then why is the frog in the picture? This particular frog happens to be in the RED LIST in many countries, but not in Estonia. Estonian kids would have better related to some animal they have fallen in love already. Like this lovely animal, actually living in Estonia and who is in the dangered animals listing.

Perhaps this is a call to think globally, as the globe in his hand refers to. This should be injected to small children at the early age, I agree. But why this iStock frog. Why?

Ok, I’m just jealous, that my time as a supermodel has passed and frogs are taking over.

The art of good casting

Simple and over-used idea, but I simply just love the casting. Watch until the end.

Happy Father's Day

Crew Uniform Update

Estonian national airline, Estonian Air, has initiated an online voting for finding the best possible uniform for the flight crew. I like the idea, that Estonian Air is taking measures to become more close to the customers and shows that they care about what the client wants. They have already initiated a complimentary snack and beverage offering program for economy class flights and this Crew Uniform Update competition is only second in their list of ten of becoming more pleasant and comfortable flight operator. Impatiently waiting for the next steps.

Although Estonians are considered a little bit conservative, airline companies are in a desperate need for good reputation building/ maintenance and the weather in here is constantly bad, what’s up with those granny vs. Mary Poppins looks? As Ryan Air has proved numerous times that bad reputation is increasing their profit, then here are some good examples of making people click on your advertisement, in the longer run buy tickets to long distance flights or … loose all family reservations.

Please note that the votes people give, count only 33 %, so this is not a “choosing the best uniform” contest. This is “we pretend to care” image campaign. Good thought though, as the majority does not read fine print and press releases, so probably they will get their way with this one.

Slogans speak up

As regular recruitment ads are just boring for ad agencies nowadays, it is fun and inspiring to watch how one agency, speaking the language of slogans, makes a point. This recruitment video is made to hire a copywriter to Memac Ogilvy Dubai and actually makes sense. Luckily the idea shines further than the bad acting.

Tyrannybook

Amnesty International Portugal and Leo Burnett Iberia launched Tyrannybook, a social network that aims to generate a global consciousness about the world leaders who violate human rights the most.

The page itself is a Facebook look-a-like, made in co-operation with Facebook, only using an aggressive red to stress out the cause of this action.

Users can follow the leaders they are the most interested about and the users will be updated about the faults committed by those leaders against human rights. The updates to the tyrants’s profiles will be made by the Amnesty International and also by the users.

As the site acts like a limited version of the Facebook, there is possible to create groups, events, uploads videos, pictures etc.

Although all the information is available in the internet this is the way creating awareness among the Facebook generation, as now the information is wrapped up in the way that they have used to consume information and made easier to understand.

Now the only thing to do, is to wait, until the tyrants destroy the page, which would be the biggest dream of AI’s publicists.

Vacation pictures found a new home.

For those who love taking photos and always have trouble with sharing i.e. vacation pictures or any other (baby, weddings, birthday-party, nature etc), Trip Advisor launched a new photo-sharing platform called Trip Wow.

You can actually make a movie-like interactive slideshow, which looks good and you can stop it or zoom in any time you like. The coolest feature is the sharing option. You can embed it to your website, blog, send via email or share in Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc. Only thing missing in my opinion is the commenting feature.

Here is a nice slideshow from the Great Flood in Soomaa during this spring. Welcome to Estonia:

This travel slideshow of Aivar Ruukel’s trip to Parnu was created by TripAdvisor on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 12:50pm UTC.

Monton on the right track

Here’s a very good example how Estonian fashion brand Monton has captured the essence of the social media and realized that it is all about two-way communication.

My homebank's new imago

Hard times in banking, so during the renovating period a hairdressing saloon was opened in SEB branch located in a shopping mall. Wider the area of expertise, bigger the client coverage.

Ok, that’s not quite true. I love my homebank and was very surprised to see this SEB branch turned into a hair saloon last night. Unwillingly and caused by pure boredom I assume.

Here’s a little recommendation. While renovating, please use curtains or do it overnight. Otherwise all those fancy image campaigns do not pay off.

Still, if they finish renovating, i’m hoping for free head massages while waiting for my number. That would be something to remember and buzz about !

Pixels are taking over

I love the idea and production.

So sweet.

This ad invites you to personalize your own M&M candies and do it online.

How to start a movement.

As said in this presentation: If you really care about starting a movement, have the courage to follow and show others how to follow.

Spring sales are here!

Spring sales are here. Everybody is screaming louder than the others. As my everyday path to the office goes through the main shopping centers in Tallinn, Viru keskus and Kaubamaja, then I had the pleasure to witness the madness this morning myself. Usually I rush through it, but today this beautiful girl caught my eyes. She was telling me where to travel in the serene and relaxing tone. Inside the shopping madness and people with determined eyesight rushing toward the cashiers, she was just glowing. Actually, she was a moving picture and projected to the plexiglas figure, voice coming from speakers. But look at the good signs. She never gets tired, never needs to use the toilet and is always glowing. More - the pictures in her hand are moving to illustrate her words. Just a ray of sunshine inside this gray and rainy day.

Insights from Password 2010 vol.2

Today I’m talking about Johan Ronnenstam’s speech in Password 2010. First of all: he was outstanding on the stage. Now to the less important matters.

He had a very liberated way of thinking. Should send him to brainwash large monster companies to let go from stamp-thinking what to do and what not to do.

For ages there has been belief that all the traffic related to your company should be inside your own web frames. So you could control it. Better write a blog in your company platform, share news, manage comments and post videos. But today you have to be where your fans are. And if fans are not coming to you, you can go to them. Anyway, why to pay for a web platform if it’s been already invented and working.

You can build your brand in different channels like YouTube, Facebook, Flicker, Wordpress, Wikipedia etc. and manage all the channels not killing your brand but expanding it. As these are the places where the eyes of your fans are. Still you need to provide value to get traffic and conversation, as the media only is not buying peoples eyes.

Another brilliant thought was about compromising/interesting information. If you happen to possess something valuable and you think others could find it interesting as well, do not run with it to the newspaper and get paid peanuts. Invest. Share it to all your friends via social media, you get more responds and in the longer run you DO get your money.

He was fascinated by this guy, Gary Vaynerchuk, doing Wine Library TV in his basement 5 days a week. Let’s face it. He is quite a handful to watch. Wine has really got into him and the charisma really shines through the screen. Check him out. The whole concept is actually so outstanding, that he deserves his own blog post someday.

I’m still waiting for the Best Marketing to publish the answers to the questions asked during the conference from the speakers and were not answered on the stage. If somebody sees them answered, let me know.

Insights from Password 2010 vol.1

Last week I attended Password 2010 marketing conference that is the biggest and the most important marketing event in Estonia triumphing with the annual advertising awards ceremony Golden Egg. Firstly I’m going to talk about Andy Milligan’s speech about how to build strong brands.

His main message was that a brand has to be simple and memorable to succeed. In order to understand the brand essence it has to be clear even to those who are not bright or determined enough to read the brand diagrams in the main office. As the brand diagrams are complicated to fulfil and usually only those who created it fully understand it. Others simply just do not get it. The brand has to be delivered so everybody can understand it. Ok, that I could have read from the book and probably have already.

When talking about memorability he talked about the Ryan Air who according to research has the worst customer service ever, smallest seat space etc. But the sales are up. Is it because their flights are cheap, their baggage lost rate is significantly lower than in British Airways or is it just the fact that Ryan Air just gets you safely and memorably to the destination. The worst customer service pegged with low prices has given Ryan Air the face that’s hard to forget and that’s what is needed to make a strong brand. Good point.

The most fascinating thing I discovered from his speech was a site called daytum.com. This is a site where you can collect, categorize and communicate your everyday data. Everyday data basically means how much you sleep, eat, drink etc. It lets you track almost everything you do. The clean-cut and simple design makes it easy and pleasant to consume. My need for control is not on that level yet that I would sign up, put see what you can do with it, if you decide to sign up. For free.

For example you can track down how much did you really work today:

How many hours you spent on meetings:

When did you have your last drink:

What have you eaten?

Good things come to those who wait.

Last night Taevas Ogilvy won the title “Agency of the Year”.

The giant teeth of Kliinik 32 I talked about a while ago got the prizes they deserved among 15 other prizes. The results of "Kuldmuna" advertising awards are posted here. I'm so happy, excited and still smiling that the people I love so much, got what they deserve and now it's official that we... have to work harder than ever to keep up the reputation. If I have recovered from the after-party and back on the ground with my two feet (long way to go), I’ll post some insights from the Password 2010 conference.

The song of the century

Here is a really deep and mind-blowing musical piece of art.

Listen the masterpiece HERE. And all sing along:

Make The Logo Bigger (Lyrics)

Make the logo big.
Make the logo bigger.
Make the logo big.
Make the logo bigger.

Chorus
Make the logo as big as you can.
And make the logo bigger.

That logo isn't big enough.
So, make the logo bigger.
Bigger, bigger, make it big.
Make the logo bigger.

Chorus
Make the logo as big as you can.
And make the logo bigger.

Yelling
Don't try to be the brave guy!
We don't have a job for you!
You know what you've got to do!
You gotta stick to the process!
Make the damn logo as big as you can!

Chorus
Make the logo as big as you can.
And make the logo bigger.

I don't want to tell you how to do your job.
But, could you make the logo bigger?
Bigger, bigger, make it big.
Make the logo bigger.

Chorus
Make the logo as big as you can.
And make the logo bigger.

What it takes to be a good designer?

To understand better how people work, it is recommended to use Myers-Briggs Indicator.

Jung Myers-Briggs Type Indicator documents 16 personality types based on four categories: Extroversion vs. Introversion, Intuiting vs. Sensing, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving. ISFJ is said to be the perfect personality if you wish to be a designer.

According to Myers-Briggs Indicator designers are believed to be:

• Introverted – likes to work alone, seeks to understand the world, prefers depth over breadth
• Sensing – trusts facts and data, accepts the world as it is, prefers practicality
• Feeling – seeks harmony, considers the feelings of others
• Judging – gains control through planning, focuses on results

Michal Roller was curious if it’s really so and carried out the test among 64 designers, to prove it is not true and designers may have other personality traits and still be creative. The results were following (click on it to see bigger):

Results showed a strong level of Intuition and Judging among the group. And there was no strong personality trait that was the most popular. If you wish to know more about yourself please take the test HERE.

Vimeo takeover

Vimeo is known as a high-quality competitor to YouTube. Here are same good examples how to take over Vimeo. For full experience please see the Honda video here and my personal favorite Frito Lay Dips video here.

Honda Insight - Let It Shine from Honda on Vimeo.

“And Then There Was Salsa” from Frito Lay Dips on Vimeo.

Pepsi Max's TVC

Asteroid is coming. Show some love. Now.

Battery test

I know what happens to kids when they are bored. Some versions are presented here:

The brief given to agency was to increase sales of Energizer Lithium Batteries over the Christmas period. Target audience being parents, due to the amount of batteries being purchased over the Christmas period, namely for toys.

The slogan is: The world’s longest lasting battery.

But here is a very nice time-lapse video test showing which battery actually dies first. So do not let their toys dye, but to not buy Energizer. As these ads do not give a competitive advantage to the Energizer battery and as they are not the market leader then these ads are just nice battery ads, but to not directly increase Energizer sales. This doesn't count that they are saying to be the longest lasting batteries. As they are not telling the truth, obviously, and customers are not simple-minded.

McDonalds in the Vancouver 2010 mode...

Simple Viral

Now that Vancouver will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, these are some questions people from all over the world are asking. Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an International Tourism Website. Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked!

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow?(England )

A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? ( USA )

A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad tracks? (Sweden )

A: Sure, it's only four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada ? ( Sweden )

A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada ? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto , Vancouver , Edmonton and Halifax ? ( England )

A: No, but you'd better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes.

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada ? ( USA)

A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Ca-na-da is that big country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Canada ? ( USA )

A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada ?( England )

A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? ( USA )

A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada ? ( Germany )

A: No, WE don't stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in Canada ?( USA )

A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller than the male population? ( Italy )

A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada ? ( USA )

A: Only at Thanksgiving.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round?(Germany )

A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. ( USA )

A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )

A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.

The golden rule of Facebook marketing.

As a keen Facebook user, I think I’m going to explode if another Facebook fan page I belong to, declares sth. like “some more effort and we have e.g. 300, 1000 or 10 000 fans. Go tell everybody... and we will maybe give you a free ticket to the cinema/spa/ or wherever”. I do not want to feel their effort and I do not want to feel that I, as their fan, have become a marketing tool for them. I want to see interesting/useful content and warm-hearted/smart people behind it. Why they have to beg people to become their fans? Earn the trust, do not beg for it.