NOW

The thing that I noticed the most about New York is its clean air. Most New Yorkers actually complain about the air quality. They have houses in Connecticut and upstate NY where they retreat to on the weekends to go snowboarding or mountain biking or fishing. Its an hour drive and you are one with nature. You can always bring your iPhone though so you are connected and this is the second thing I noticed in New York. IPhones everywhere. So much that it was sold out and I couldn't join the movement. I have to buy one on taobao.com I guess.

The two weeks were very impressive. The main reason to come to New York of course was the Oneshow judging, which consumed basically one entire week. The 25 other judges and myself all together went through 3125 entries to find the few Golds and several Silvers, Bronzes and Finalists. The voting process is secret and you dont know what the other judges are thinking about a particular project until it actually makes it to the final round. So it was fascinating to go through all the entries and then o the last two days see what made it and what hadn't.

The work I saw was of very high quality. Almost everything that made it to the second round was worth to be put into the book. A strong upper middle class I would say. Many pieces in there very inspiring and a privilege for me to see all the submissions with all the strategic background that went into those campaigns. Here are a few of the pieces that I really liked:

1) Music in a bottle
Many of the campaigns now actually require physical user participation. I think this is great, making use of your webcam or microphone can really engage with the brand. And if the product come into play as well, then you have a digital brand experience that goes beyond just clicking with your mouse. This campaign for Bitburger beer makes clever use of the webcam, however I think they could have thought for a better pay-off.
http://www.jvm.de/oneshow/interactive/music-in-a-bottle/

2) Blog runner
This one comes from Japan and what I like about digital campaigns from Japan is their constant push for innovation. They really figured out how to take available technology and make use of it in a totally fresh way. This campaign for example is build around the story of a runner. The story unfolds in video, and is spread across many participating blogs. Its a kind of widget, but its not really a widget either. Its just .... well, Japanese. Take a look
http://joga.nike.jp/boy1/

3) Arcade Fire
This one caused some discussion during the judging. While it is not necessarily commercial driven advertising, it really pushed the idea of having an emotional experience on the web. 95% of all digital experiences are still so rational, even if they are funny they tend to be quite cold and distant. Neon Bible from Arcade Fire managed to re-frame what emotional experience means online.
http://www.beonlineb.com/click_around.html

4) Water bead battle
I dont know why but I really like Japanese thinking. This one made me smile.
http://ibc-award.preview.i-studio.co.jp/2006/04/index.html

5) Brailleliga
This is an idea more apt for a titanium lion. Brilliant: How many times have you by accident dialed the first number of your mobile phone book? Now you can replace it with a different number, and all call's fees will proceed to a foundation supporting the blind!
http://www.ablindcall.be/

Of course there is a ton more of great work. Have a look through my bookmarks and let me know which one you like!