When I think of my favorite Asian digital campaign from the recent past it gets a little more difficult. Sure, there are plenty of industry events, creative award shows, marketing seminars and digital summits where I am exposed to a wealth of campaigns and case studies. But when prompted to pick my favorite I have a hard time. I think about successful campaigns I remember, campaigns that involve great banner advertising. Campaigns that stretch beyond the web into mobile or digital outdoor or campaigns that engage through games and online story telling. Many campaigns come to mind, though not one stands out as much as the TV spot from India. We can definitely improve a little when it comes to creating memorable digital campaigns, so it seems.

To the credit of our profession though, digital campaigns are not as easily stored and told as quickly as a 60 second TV commercial. They tend to be built around complex strategies that involve multiple channels, have built-in mechanics that facilitate a brand-consumer-dialogue and try to stretch digital innovation to deliver a fresh and surprising approach. But here is something they could learn from this TV commercial: don’t take yourself so seriously, be simple and have a little fun.

There are four simple and easy steps that can be taken to make sure a digital campaign gets as much recall value as a good TV spot.

First of all it’s about human insights: a universal truth should be underlying the idea. Too many times digital campaigns are built around pure demographic data rather than real insights into the specific target audience. What drives them, what motivates them, what are the daily issues they are facing? Only an idea that is built on a consumer insight can really cut through the clutter and deliver a memorable message. One of the examples that come to mind is the campaign for the Philips Bodygroom. Created over two years ago by Tribal DDB this campaign is still remembered amongst many male and hairy friends.

Then, of course you say, a strong idea is the basis for a successful online campaign. And this is true: without an idea the campaign will not make it past any brand recall study. If you look around though, how many truly big ideas come to mind when thinking of a digital campaign in Asia? Many times we get lost in the execution; focusing on getting the mechanics right, adding complex backend technology and putting mechanics in place to measure the campaign’s success from every angle. The real issue at hand is to create a compelling and memorable idea that lives beyond the next click. Something that gets passed on and talked about, not just in an online forum or on MSN, but at the water cooler, in the real world. Viral spots I believe were conceived to do just that: to provide a branded story that is compelling enough to forward or have a chat about. But it shouldn’t stop here; an idea should be bigger than a spot on YouTube. When looking in my memory’s archives for a great digital idea then Subservient Chicken springs to mind, still. An idea that combined a brand story with cutting edge technology, an idea so strong that it was and still is talked about way beyond digital media.

The third ingredient that makes for a memorable campaign is good storytelling. While copywriters and art directors in traditional agencies are trained to do exactly that, most digital agencies are not equipped to tell a compelling brand story, be it on- or offline. The fact is that digital savvy talent comes from a more rational approach to building a brand: delivering a customer or user experience across multiple digital channels, from websites to mobile phones to in-store installations. Digital creatives are mostly visual designers, technology engineers and experience architects. They sometimes could do with a magic spark, a creative leap that leads to a story that can be experienced and re-told many times over again. Great story telling online however is different from what it is on TV. The user is part of it and the story cannot happen without him/her. A great example of this is lonelygirl15, a story that has been running for nearly 2 years and which involves an audience of over 70 million in its ever evolving story play.

Lastly there is simplicity. Especially in digital marketing it is so easy to get lost in complexity. New technologies emerging daily, more and more fragmented channels for the consumer to hang out in, social networks and web 2.0 are all factors to consider for a campaign, but are they necessary? If so, which ones? It is the nature of technology to be complex, but it is our task to make the complex simple. It is great to experiment, to drive the acceptance of new communication models. It is imperative though to do so without loosing the potential impact of the campaign.

In the end the most memorable campaign will win. It will win over the hearts of the consumers more so than their minds. A digital campaign that makes me laugh out loud, makes me think or question my behavior, one that touches me on an emotional level, I will talk about and remember the next time I am prompted for my favorite digital campaign from Asia.

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!

One fact in particular kept coming up over and over again, in media abroad, in comments made by friends and also by really getting the firsthand feel of it: the Great Firewall of China. While it has always been quite tiresome to live without access to blogs hosted on blogspot, pictures on Flickr, Google at occasions and never Wikipedia, this time the censors went as far as a total access restriction to Youtube.

The reason is Tibet and the way the government is controlling the public’s access to 3rd party information. BBC, CNN, news.google.com – sometimes they work, sometimes not. There must have been some serious movies on youtube, I might have to catch up on that while I am my New Yorker Hotel room.

The real annoyance though was me judging the Oneshow Interactive. This is the second time I have the honor to do so, and it is a heavy task indeed. Both, in responsibility, as it is arguably one of the two most serious and prestigious award show for the digital creative industry, and also by the sheer amount of work you have to consume, watch, read and understand in order to make your informed judgment. This year the organizers gave the judges 9 days to complete the first round. I just finished it, 503 entries in over two dozen categories. I counted every one of them from my ADSL connection behind the Great Firewall, I counted them and the hours that it took me to go through all of them: 52.

The judging is always the biggest eye opener of the year, it is the moment when you see your own work rubbing shoulders with the campaigns of some of the smartest brains in the industry. I get a constant rush of inspiration from dozens of amazing ideas that I can simply click through. But I also feel ashamed and stupid that some of the ideas I might have thought of before but never put them into reality. Out of laziness, probably, and if indeed I would have executed them, would they have been as brilliant as the ones before me?

Here are a few initial learnings after my first glance through the 503 campaigns

1. Video. Basically all major brand websites make heavy use of video. Hereby it is not just enough to use video, but to actually do so professionally. Actors, directors, producers, script writers. The internet turns into one big soap opera. Some of it done brilliantly, as smart as some of the best TV spots. Others not as good, amateurish, a bit foolish. The trick is, no matter the execution, still the idea shines through. Just now the ideas have to be executed brilliantly. Take a look at the Axe site "let the game continue".

2. Brands do use facebook. At least according to the submissions at the Oneshow. There must have been almost a dozen or so facebook applications to judge. Some of them as part of a bigger campaign, some of them as stand alone. None of them was particularly impressive though I thought and I doubt that the fact of simply creating a facebook app will win you an award. We shall see.

3. Web 2.0 is at another level. There have been a few sites that really impressed me with their smart use of web 2.0 features. Tagging, commenting, community, blogging etc all at a new level. The good ones really master to make the complex simple. They act as a tool, as a very smart, likable and powerful facilitator of communication and interaction between brand and consumer. Check out the Scientific American. Some of those sites were even done in flash.

4. Entertainment and branded content are huge. The branded content category was one of the largest in fact and it looks like the lines of media, content and advertising are really beginning to blur here. That is probably where we have to start the discussion whether or not the big advertising idea is still relevant in the online world. Ideas here are not as simple as in a banner or on a brand site. They come in the shape of entertainment, video, games, sequels, quests and competitions that span multiple channels and platforms. Check this out
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Here is an article from Asian Wall Street Journal about the Tuzki campaign.

But even more remarkable was the Horst Schlaemmer campaign in Germany, where Tribal signed Hape Kerkeling, one of Germany's most famous comedians, to play Horst Schlaemmer, a small town journalist on his quest to get a driving license. Basically the whole nation logged on to his blog (now hosted on MSN's comedy channel) and fevered with him to pass his test. Once he got his license, Volkswagen made him an official present with a brand new VW Golf and it turned out the the brand was all along behind the campaign.

It might be a bit too German for any non German to get this, but if you want then check his youtube hits here, some of them have well over a million views.

It was great to see so many people turn up to an event like this. About two years ago it would not even been half the people present at the Get It Louder, which shows that visual design culture came a long way since. The best part though was that it was almost a hundred percent un-pretentious, something very Beijing!

I wanted to have my own QR code on my name cards linked to Wikipedia. However I am not listed in Wikipedia and I checked, its not possible to list myself. So what to do? I looked on and found that Semacodes are really easy to create yourself with any work or link you fancy. You can create your tag here and download the acclaimed leader in QR software to your phone here.

Rewind to 2002, BMW Films. One of the most innovative, most talked about and most viral branding campaigns ever run. When the creators, Fallon USA, were briefed to develop a groundbreaking new advertising campaign, the client and the agency were brave enough to think big. We all know BMW films. Today, more than 30 million people have viewed the short movies online. But in fact, that didn't stop there. When I walk into my Beijing neighborhood DVD store (of course all titles here are counterfeit), then still on the best-seller rack the BMW films DVD find a buyer for 10 Yuan. An example of how a very early digital campaign, executed in a big style, had an immense reach, far beyond the original US target market.

The ubiquitous availability of digital media, and content, has brought tremendous opportunities to marketers. What cost a fortune only 4 years ago, is now almost for free. With the right strategy, making use of web 2.0 applications like blogs, picture- and video sharing sites, and taking into account the big consumer trends like co-creation and community, a campaign can take off by its own, without much media spend and without the need for expensive content production. A brilliant example, the recent Smirnoff Tea music video from BBH, which was posted exclusively on YouTube and within a month already reached an audience of more than a million.

Digital media, and especially the internet, by default offer access to a global audience. For the better or the worse. Starting a global discussion about a brand or a product can equally lead to great benefits as well as to dramatic disasters. Both have plenty of examples.

The real trick today is to make smart use of a global digital platform and extend the campaign down to a locally relevant message, in order to trigger interaction and get measurable results. When Dove launched the "campaign for real beauty", such an approach paid well off. While the print, TV and outdoor campaign used locally relevant messages and visuals to start a discussion about the definition of beauty, the website offered a global platform for women of all countries, nationalities and races to express and share their views. Today more than 1 million targeted consumers cast their votes, posted notes on bulletin boards, and became brand ambassadors by regarding Dove as the trusted sponsor of this real debate.

Digital channels and content is a great opportunity for global branding. Going forward however it is important to understand that while technology enables consumers globally to join the discussion, the relevance of the message increases by narrowing down the reach to geographically relevant areas. While conceptually everything will be available for everyone, digital realistically is regional, national or even local. Reading my favorite newspaper online, getting local news via email, the weather report on my PDA, and the right location based promotion message on my mobile phone will make a lot of sense in the future. With Google and other search applications adding their "local" tab to the search bar, it is obvious that the biggest power of digital is not necessarily the macro effect a global campaign can have, but the narrow casting and its relevance to the consumer.

After the first round voting by all judges, 160 finalists were invited to participate in the Beijing workshop. The workshop meant to get up at 7 on a Saturday and Sunday and drive out to Tsinghua University to hold the lessons. I was the lucky only interactive guy amongst all judges and teachers, so i got to hold my own workshop with around 20 young students from all around the country. The two days were extreme fun. We discussed, analyzed, critizised and reworked the submissions and evaluated each other's books and favorite works. The key issue we found is that Chinese designers are very self-focused and do what ever they think might be right. No frame of reference, no original thought process, in most of the cases. Naturally I spend quite some time talking about things like message, benefit, idea and research. All those lead to good ideas and good creative work.

On Sunday evening then, the big award ceremony was held in a Beijing club. Wang Lei, my favorite Chinese experimental electronic musician performed, and (some of) the students had the happiest day in their life!

Oneclub press release

In what is my first project with the Japan team, I had the chance to get Beckham act the way I wanted. We had 90 minutes of his time. 30 for a cool viral TV script, 30 for a lame Japan launch TV script, and 30 for a wicked website idea, where you'd actually be able to communicate with a video-Beckham by sending him SMS to his mobile phone. Unfortunately the Japan team shooting the launch TVC overan their time which left us with 10 minutes of Beckham in front of a greenscreen. The boys at North Kingdom though did magic and produced an awesome website, unfortunately without SMS to Beckham. Check it.

Here is a lovely banner they created.

And here is the whole speech as a video for download

And conveniently they also uploaded a small part to youtube.

The phone is Cisco's only "real life" product, as opposed to all the servers, routers, hubs and switches. We decided to build one with a 50" LCD screen that runs an interactive infomercial. People seem to like it, when I walked by a few people stood there and watched the movie. The client also loves it, of course. It his product, just bigger.