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Canadian Tire Lights Up Toronto’s Union Station With Christmas Spirit Tree

December 13, 2011 by 8 Comments

Canadian Tire - Christmas Spirit TreeBefore the days of WalMart, Home Depot and other big box stores most of us watched our parents buy strands of Christmas lights from Canadian Tire to gracefully outline the silhouettes of our houses. Times have changed, but Canadian Tire is still there to supply us with illuminated Christmas spirit; and in 2011 the iconic Canadian brand is helping to light up the Grand Hall of Toronto’s Union Station thanks to the power of mobile and social media.

The Canadian Tire Christmas Spirit Tree is a state-of-the-art 30 foot tall installation consisting of 3000 LED lights powered by the positive messages of Christmas spirit being exchanged on Facebook, Twitter and posts to ChristmasSpiritTree.ca. The white lights represent social networks like Facebook and Twitter, red lights represent posts on blogs and forums, green lights represent news articles and blue lights represent the messages posted at the ChristmasTreeSpirit.ca website.

But apparently it’s even cooler than that. Our favorite (we use it at Delvinia) social media monitoring platform, Sysomos, is used to track a number of holiday keywords including “reindeer” and “elf”. The light bulbs then react to the data, shining brighter or dimmer according to the sentiment of the messages.

The Canadian Tire Christmas Spirit Tree is on display in-person at Toronto’s Union Station and on a live video stream at ChristmasTreeSpirit.ca from December 12-26 from 6am to midnight. There are floor mat ads and column advertising in the lower GO concourse directing commuters upstairs to the Grand Hall to view the tree in person.

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The Swedish Post Brings 1910 Christmas Cards to Life

December 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Swedish Post - Christmas on WheelsThe Swedish Post is celebrating the holidays by bringing Christmas Cards to life in a large barn outside the town of Kalmar. Visitors to the Christmas Cards on Wheels website can watch a live video feed from a camera that travels on a track through a series of set pieces designed to mimic the artwork of Swedish artist Jenny Nyström.

Nyström’s Christmas illustrations were featured on the very first Swedish Christmas card and showed piano playing pigs, elves decorating trees and dropping cards from a balloon.

As the camera travels through the barn visitors can capture still images that can then be used to create a real Christmas postcard that can be delivered to friends and family by… you guessed it, the Swedish Post. Visitors can also interact with the props by taking control of the camera for a lap, allowing them to open the top of piano, change the colour of the Christmas tree lights and control the fire in the elves hot air balloon.

However, with a popular site like this there’s bound to be glitches and the video feed can be choppy or unavailable at peak times. The live video feed is available between 9am and 9pm (local Swedish time).

The project was created by Akestam Holst. The Stockholm-based agency has done other work for the Swedish Post including ‘Sweden’s Safest Hands’. The campaign challenged users to safely deliver packages on their smartphones. The first user to arrive at the secret destination would win the content of the package.

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Swedish Health Board Unleashes ‘Sneeze Box’ to Promote Flu Vaccinnations

December 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Goteborg Sneeze BoxTo help spread the message (no pun intended) about the importance of flu vaccinations to the citizens of Göteborg; Primärvården, the West Sweden health board decided to sneeze on them. Thankfully not in person, but virtually.

The health board created a ‘sneeze booth’ and took in to major shopping malls where shoppers were invited behind the curtain to try their luck. Once behind the curtain people found themselves staring at a recording of a very ‘sick’ looking actor. The actor prompted the viewers to press the yellow button. Once the users pressed the button, an epic and very messy sneeze was unleashed onto the screen followed by the message, ‘Next Time it Could Be Real. Get Vaccinated for Influenza’. The reactions of visitors were captured on camera and could be uploaded to http://hurmarduidag.se.

Did it work? Traffic increased to the site by 2000% during the week that the Sneeze Box was in town. Over 2500 citizens vaccinated themselves, and over 600 people uploaded their “sneeze reaction” movies to the campaign site.

The campaign was created by Göteborg, Sweden agency SCP/Grey.

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Coca-Cola Portugal’s Lost Wallet Experiment Puts Honesty to the Test

December 4, 2011 by 2 Comments

Coca-Cola Portugal Lost WalletWhat if you found a wallet on the street? Would you return it?

Now imagine if you found a wallet containing a ticket to that Sunday’s big football match, and the ticket belonged to a fan of the rival team. Would you still return it or would you leave your rival’s supporter out in the cold?

The lost wallet has been used many times in promotions simply because it works. We can all relate to the issue. I’ve lost my wallet (at least) three times and it’s been returned to me each time. I’ve also found a few wallets and turned them in where I found them.

Coca-Cola put the fans of Sport Lisboa e Benfica to that very test a few weeks ago. The upcoming weekend featured a game against their Lisbon rivals Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting Lisbon). Coca-Cola dropped a wallet inside the Benfica Megatore and ticket office. The wallet contained a ticket to that weekend’s big game as well as a prominent membership card of Sporting Clube de Portugal.

95% of the fans put to the test turned the wallet right away (kudos to them). Coca-Cola rewarded the honest fans with applause, handshakes and tickets to the big games.

As for the game itself, Benfica came out on top 1-0.

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Virtual Fireman Turn Up the Heart in Penningtons ‘Magic Mirror’

November 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Penningtons Magic MirrorShoppers at the Penningtons store at Heartland Centre in Mississauga were pleasantly surprised to find a little something extra waiting for them in the fitting room. As the women checked out the fit of their clothes two firemen slid down poles on either side of their reflection in the mirror.

The pair of virtual firemen flirted with the surprised women, offering a red rose and champagne before disappearing. The experience is part of Penningtons ‘Styled to Surprise’ campaign created by the creative folk at DDB Canada’s Toronto Office.

Canadians who register and share the video at StyledtoSurprise.com before December 5th are eligible to win a $1000 shopping spree Penningtons.

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Red Stripe Hires Designers to Create Incredible Sound Sculpture Using 5000 Beer Cans

November 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Red Stripe Sound SculptureRed Stripe Lager UK commissioned sound artist Yuri Suzuki and designer Mathew Kneebone to create a sound sculpture as the first project in the ‘Make Something From Nothing’ campaign. The 2.5 metre tall sound sculpture is constructed from thousands of Red Stripe cans that were partly collected at the Notting Hill Festival back in August. The video above shows the sound sculpture being demonstrated by DJ Al Fingers, singer/songwriter Gappy Ranks.

Yuri’s sound sculpture is inspired by the DIY spirit of the Jamaican DJs of Red Stripe’s homeland, who first created portable sound systems (a generator, turntables and massive speakers) in the late 1950s. They would load the systems onto trucks and drove to street parties. These DJs began playing American R&B records, but soon began producing their own recordings of local Jamaican music which eventually evolved into ska, reggae and dub, making them an essential part of music history.

The Red Stripe sound sculpture was unveiled at the ‘Make Something From Nothing’ launch event in London’s Village Underground on November 16.

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Reebok Promotes CrossFit With the World’s Largest Piece of 3D Street Art

November 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Reebok CrossFit 3D Street ArtThursday, November 17 was Guinness World Record day, and street artists 3D Joe and Max teamed up with Reebok CrossFit to create the largest and longest piece of 3D artwork in London’s West India Quay at Canary Wharf. The artwork features cliffs towering over a deep canyon and took nearly a week to produce and the artists and their crew used 100 paintbrushes, 20 rollers and 50 buckets of paint.

3D Joe and Max have traveled around the world creating breathtaking examples of 3D street art, check out their portfolio for several examples. In the end, the Reebok CrossFit artwork at Canary Wharf claimed two Guinness Records for both the largest (3807 square feet) and longest (350 feet) piece of 3D artwork.

The fact that it was produced for a Guinness World Record attempt is nearly irrelevant, the results are impressive and the scene at 1:01 with kids tossing balls back and forth across the canyon literally made my knees go weak.

via Great Ads

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Randy MathesonI am a Nova Scotia raised Creative Guy, currently Director of Emerging Media at Delvinia, a Digital Strategy & Customer Experience Design Firm in Toronto. I’m a huge fan of the creative use of digital technologies in social media, marketing, sports and entertainment. I use this blog to share the more interesting examples that I find. If you’re in need of a break, join me over at Madtini.com for a cocktail.

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Guided by Tweets; Citroën Launches 8-Hour Twitter Race Across the Netherlands

November 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Citroen Netherlands Twitter RaceOn November 17 at 9am, Dutch actress and presenter Froukje de Both will begin an 8-hour drive in a Citroën DS5, but she has no idea where she will be at the end of the day. Froukje and her co-driver will begin their day in the centrally located Dutch city of Amersfoort, but from that point on they will begin taking directions from their the Twitter followers of @CitroenNL. Let’s hope they don’t direct her into a nearby canal.

The way that it works is that when the car approaches an intersection, they will choose the direction that has been tweeted the most. The goal for players is to get the car as close as possible to their location. At 5pm (local time) exactly the car will stop somewhere in the Netherlands. The first person who can find the Citroën DS5 and tweet the secret code found inside gets to drive the car for the next year.

The whole event can be followed live throughout the day on the Citroën Netherlands Facebook page. Visitors can watch Froukje and her co-driver via a live cam inside the car and on see their location updated on Google Maps.

The Citroën DS5 Twitter Race was created by Euro RSCG Amsterdam and creative studio Perfect Fools.

UPDATE: Nov 17 – The Twitter race ended at 5pm in the town of Soest, which is actually only 10 km from where it began this morning in Amersfoort. After hundreds of tweets (weirdly, none from the eventual winner) and hundreds of miles the car was claimed by Bart van Dishoeck (@DJBart1).

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Randy MathesonI am a Nova Scotia raised Creative Guy, currently Director of Emerging Media at Delvinia, a Digital Strategy & Customer Experience Design Firm in Toronto. I’m a huge fan of the creative use of digital technologies in social media, marketing, sports and entertainment. I use this blog to share the more interesting examples that I find. If you’re in need of a break, join me over at Madtini.com for a cocktail.

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Swedish Electronics Store Promo Invites Would-Be Thieves To Perform Complex Heist

November 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Pause - HeistOn Thursday, November 10th Swedish electronics retailer Pause at Norrlandgaten 14 in Stockholm was robbed, but as you can see in the trailer above that the whole thing was a clever inside job.

Disgruntled ex-employee Peter Erickson hi-jacked the Pause website on Thursday night and leaked the floor plans, walkthrough and surveillance system information. Everything that you need to know to break into the store and steal an LED TV worth $5700.

Your first step was to use the website to break through a puzzle of firewalls to crack the security code. Once you had the security code, you had to so to the store after closing on November 10 and enter the numbers to unlock the door’s security system. Next you received a response code that your partner needed to unlock information on the website (yes, you needed a partner in crime) and deactivate the motion detectors. After you reached the showroom, your partner would send you the shutdown code that disables the whole system allowing you to getaway with the TV.

For would-be thieves who don’t make it all the way to the big prize, there are other rewards including 10% off Pause products for cracking the entrance code, 20% off for getting past the motion detector and 30% for making it as far as the showroom.

It all sounds pretty crazy, but you can bet that the events that evening were tightly controlled. A message on the Pause Heist website promises that they will post the ‘surveillance’ videos soon. I can’t wait to see them.

via PSFK

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Starbucks’ New Mobile App Will Bring Your Coffee Cup to Life

November 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Starbucks Cup Magic - Augmented RealityIt’s still only early November and while Christmas is still over 6 weeks away you can walk into any store and find the sights (and maybe sounds) of the holiday season all around you. I’m not sure of the exact day it started, but the Starbucks in our building has had their red Christmas cups out for a few weeks, along with the usual window decorations, and of course the Christmas coffee blend.

Starting November 15, you’ll be able to bring those red cups (and apparently 47 other Starbucks products) to life using the Starbucks Magic Cup app. Use your camera phone to focus the app on the cup and you’ll see short animated clips appear on your screen. If you’ve been in a Starbucks recently you’ll recognize the characters (an ice skater, a boy and dog sledding, a fox and my favorite a squirrel) from the door clings, cups and packaging. Tap on the screen and you can interact with the characters. Collect all five characters and you qualify for a prize. The app also features holiday ecards and special offers from Starbucks.

The Starbucks Cup Magic app was created by Blast Radius and will be available for iPhone and Android on November 15.

Via Agency Spy

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Randy MathesonI am a Nova Scotia raised Creative Guy, currently Director of Emerging Media at Delvinia, a Digital Strategy & Customer Experience Design Firm in Toronto. I’m a huge fan of the creative use of digital technologies in social media, marketing, sports and entertainment. I use this blog to share the more interesting examples that I find. If you’re in need of a break, join me over at Madtini.com for a cocktail.

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