In anticipation of Mickey’s (and Minnie’s) 90th Birthday in November of this year, Team Orchestra and Proximity have been working closely with Disney to develop an activation to get young adults across EMEA to celebrate and re-connect with these iconic characters. With everything kicking off this week from the 25th June and running for five months, the focus will be on Mickey Mouse as ‘The True Original’ and encourages the target audience to express their own originality through several creative challenges. At each stage the challenges will be encouraging the creation of User Generated Content, to then be shared using #Mickey90 to bring the whole campaign together.
The first phase has now launched using Facebook and Instagram tools encouraging audiences to showcase their creativity, uniqueness and love for Mickey and Minnie with lenses and stickers which can be overlaid on their photo creations.
With the Facebook Lens users can show their love for the characters by blowing kisses at the screen at which point Mickey and Minnie shaped balloons will flood the screen.
Try the lens for yourself by clicking here using a mobile device and the Facebook app.
Instagram GIFs – accessible through Instagram Stories under the GIF function, by typing Mickey90, there are a range of GIFs and Stickers of Mickey and Minnie to express different emotions using animation snippets from the famous heritage assets.
Across the next five months Disney will be working to collate the best of the generated content from each challenge to culminate in building together a bespoke video which celebrates everyone’s love for the characters on their big day!
In anticipation of Mickey’s (and Minnie’s) 90th Birthday in November of this year, Team Orchestra and Proximity have been working closely with Disney to develop an activation to get young adults across EMEA to celebrate and re-connect with these iconic characters. With everything kicking off this week from the 25th June and running for five months, the focus will be on Mickey Mouse as ‘The True Original’ and encourages the target audience to express their own originality through several creative challenges. At each stage the challenges will be encouraging the creation of User Generated Content, to then be shared using #Mickey90 to bring the whole campaign together.
The first phase has now launched using Facebook and Instagram tools encouraging audiences to showcase their creativity, uniqueness and love for Mickey and Minnie with lenses and stickers which can be overlaid on their photo creations.
With the Facebook Lens users can show their love for the characters by blowing kisses at the screen at which point Mickey and Minnie shaped balloons will flood the screen.
Try the lens for yourself by clicking here using a mobile device and the Facebook app.
Instagram GIFs – accessible through Instagram Stories under the GIF function, by typing Mickey90, there are a range of GIFs and Stickers of Mickey and Minnie to express different emotions using animation snippets from the famous heritage assets.
Across the next five months Disney will be working to collate the best of the generated content from each challenge to culminate in building together a bespoke video which celebrates everyone’s love for the characters on their big day!
Last year Bacardi’s vodka brand, Eristoff embarked on a two-year partnership deal with the world-renowned dance music event and streaming brand, Boiler Room. Reflecting Eristoff’s mysterious “From the Land of the Wolf’ brand, Boiler Room connects Eristoff with electric music communities by embedding the brand through new events and touchpoints.
Keen to develop Eristoff’s brand beyond Boiler Room spaces, Bacardi challenged OMD to unlock engagement with 18-24 year olds, through the target audience’s preferred media channel- mobile. In partnership with Mobile 5, Boris the Bot, was created to help users have an amazing night in or out. Available in Facebook Messenger and launching across EMEA, Boris includes; party games for the perfect night in, exclusive playlists fueled by Spotify, event and venue recommendations, personalised GIFs and drinks suggestions, Uber integration and a built-in chat function ensuring experience is truly relevant and engaging.
For Eristoff consumers, great nights are all about the ‘wolf pack’, the friendship group having and sharing new experiences together. The night out doesn’t start and end when entering a venue, it’s about planning the night and getting ready for recalling stories the next morning. Olya Dyachuk, Bacardi’s Global Digital Lead at OMD said of the activation, “We had to find a solution that attracts an audience that is hard to impress and works in legally restricted markets. It had to be a digital-first, authentic, easily shareable experience that delivers real value and more importantly, makes people want to come back. Dark social is a key place to plan the night with a ‘pack’ and we saw it as an exciting opportunity and a perfect fit,”
Ricc Webb, Creative Excellence Manager said, “If you’re not giving people something useful or making them laugh, then what’s the point? That’s why we built Boris. We want to encourage people to explore the night, try new things and have a little fun in the process.”
Over the years at OMD EMEA, we have seen technology evolve drastically. Working with some of the largest brands in the world we have been fortunate to be at the forefront of technology, driving our clients through the ever-changing landscape. From the first ever out-of-home programmatic execution in Europe with Google’s real-time digital community noticeboard, to more recently the world’s first programmatically powered cinema. In the below post we take a look at our latest award-winning campaigns with technology and innovation at the heart.
Google showcase their community spirit with the first ever OOH programmatic campaign in Europe
For Google to launch their first OOH programmatic campaign, location was crucial. They selected Old Street, a world-leading technology hub, where they could easily influence their young progressive core audience. The roundabout was taken over by a large digital billboard, displaying real-time data feeds, with content for the local community to interact with via the Google app. Within six months of being live, four out of five people spontaneously recalled the activity, which led to an amazing 93% of people agreeing that they felt positively towards the Google brand!
OMD has also worked with the world’s leading technology giant to recently launch Android Pay’s first ever large-scale brand campaign, in a bid to drive Christmas sales. Working closely with the TFL network for ‘Taps’ and countless payments, they are using clever geo-targeting, audience behavioural data and capturing every moment to deliver the most relevant creative purchase.
Gaming has really taken off in the last few years as virtual reality has quite literally become more of a reality. When HTC first launched their VIVE VR system, the product was too pricey and therefore didn’t appeal to their targeted millennial audience. OMD’s specialist service unit Fuse, experts in partnerships and experiences, collaborated with Noma Labs and HTC to make the product more accessible by creating a fully immersive theatre production, ‘Virtually Dead’. The event was a massive success, selling out in both London and Paris within two weeks, the event exceeded trial KPIs by 91%.
Smurfs capture the hearts of their new digital followers
Having worked creatively with HTC’s technology to launch their product to the masses, we are now working with partners to create technology that is only just scratching the surface!
For the release of Sony Pictures’ Smurfs film, OMD partnered with Oath (AOL) and Unit9 to build an AR experience of the HoloLens, to excite their core target audience, previously only attracting adult fans of the franchise.
The experience itself was a gamified version of the movie in which users, led by Papa Smurf were encouraged to explore the world and unlock hidden content. It was tested countless times to ensure it ‘delighted’ children, exciting them with something they’d never experienced before and allowing them to immerse themselves in one of their favourite films.
Smurfs, “The Lost Village” was one of the biggest releases for Sony Pictures this year. We had incredible PR pick-up generating over 40m media impressions and behind the scenes content resulting in 20.8m impressions and 15.9 million video views.
Intel show off their creativity with a performance of a lifetime
Also within the world of entertainment, we worked with Intel, collaborating with Lady Gaga at the Grammys to produce an unforgettable, tech inspired experience dedicated to music legend David Bowie. This showcased Intel’s innovative technology through artist performance and fan experience. The end product surfaced as a visually stimulating performance by Gaga who controlled the stage effects in real time, thanks to Intel-powered facial scanning and video projecting technology.
Intel also managed to pull off a spectacular performance during the Super Bowl LI halftime show, where again, Lady Gaga was performing. They released a swarm of 300 Shooting Stars to form an American flag in the sky. Watch the behind the scenes video here!
Chatbots promote futuristic TV Series
One of the most significant technologies to recently surface and become more of a reality is Artificial Intelligence. As we now have the data and technology in place, there is a huge opportunity for brands to be innovative over the next few years. OMD was recently recognised for the second year in succession at the Cannes Lions festival, for their work with Channel 4. To launch the second series of Humans last year they created a Facebook Messenger chatbot to answer viewers’ questions, built on the computer conversation service PullString. The series is all about synthetic humans, so the technology was very fitting. Series 2 went on to become Channel 4’s best returning original drama for five years- check out full details of the campaign here.
With a significant leap in technology over the last few years, we are at a time where innovation can accelerate rapidly for most brands. At OMD, we are always striving to take our clients into unknown territory to push the boundaries of what’s possible. As some technologies are only just surfacing, it’s a great time for brands to capitalise and really make an impact!
With programmatic, emerging tech and artificial intelligence increasingly prominent in brand marketing strategies, we look forward to working with our clients to uncover the next big thing in 2018.
For more information about OMD or any of the campaigns mentioned, please contact us at [email protected]
OMD’s strong global performance last year is reflected in the Gunn Report for media 2016, with OMD being named the most-awarded agency network for the 11th year in a row by the Gunn Report for Media.
First published in 2004, The Gunn Report for Media is the global report on media creativity, innovation and effectiveness that identifies the most awarded media work in the world and its creators. It combines the winners’ lists from the world’s most important global, regional and national media awards in 40 markets, to establish the annual worldwide league tables and analysis for the global media industry. OMD once again topped the rankings among agency networks in 2016, having achieved accolades including the most medaled media agency at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and Agency Network of the Year at the Festival of Media Global for the second consecutive year.
Commenting on the findings, Isabelle Musnik, editor of the Gunn Report for Media, said: “Media agencies have become their clients’ key strategic partner. They are “creative orchestra conductors” at the intersection of technology and traditional media. The Gunn Report for Media shows that, while technology and data are fundamental to achieving results, insight, strategy and innovative ideas are essential to delivering them.”
2016 marked the year of data, mobile-only, apps, programmatic advertising and vertical video, to name a few. OMD is therefore proud to have continued to produce the most creative, innovative and effective work in the world for our clients, not only pushing the boundaries of innovation but delivering strong business results for our clients.
Please find some examples of our award-winning work below:
Developing a dedicated app for family business delivering 79k app downloads, over 11k new sales leaders and making Renault Italia the number one importer of commercial vehicles in 2015.
Forging a meaningful partnership at Christmas resulting in 38m online views, 835,000 hours of engagement, 15,000 volunteer phone calls and £951m in sales, a 7% YOY increase.
Have a question or want to know more about OMD? Send us an email at [email protected]
OMD’s strong global performance last year is reflected in the Gunn Report for media 2016, with OMD being named the most-awarded agency network for the 11th year in a row by the Gunn Report for Media.
First published in 2004, The Gunn Report for Media is the global report on media creativity, innovation and effectiveness that identifies the most awarded media work in the world and its creators. It combines the winners’ lists from the world’s most important global, regional and national media awards in 40 markets, to establish the annual worldwide league tables and analysis for the global media industry. OMD once again topped the rankings among agency networks in 2016, having achieved accolades including the most medaled media agency at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and Agency Network of the Year at the Festival of Media Global for the second consecutive year.
Commenting on the findings, Isabelle Musnik, editor of the Gunn Report for Media, said: “Media agencies have become their clients’ key strategic partner. They are “creative orchestra conductors” at the intersection of technology and traditional media. The Gunn Report for Media shows that, while technology and data are fundamental to achieving results, insight, strategy and innovative ideas are essential to delivering them.”
2016 marked the year of data, mobile-only, apps, programmatic advertising and vertical video, to name a few. OMD is therefore proud to have continued to produce the most creative, innovative and effective work in the world for our clients, not only pushing the boundaries of innovation but delivering strong business results for our clients.
Please find some examples of our award-winning work below:
Developing a dedicated app for family business delivering 79k app downloads, over 11k new sales leaders and making Renault Italia the number one importer of commercial vehicles in 2015.
Forging a meaningful partnership at Christmas resulting in 38m online views, 835,000 hours of engagement, 15,000 volunteer phone calls and £951m in sales, a 7% YOY increase.
Have a question or want to know more about OMD? Send us an email at [email protected]
Authenticity was key in the launch of Destination Canada’s latest suite of rich content. The ‘Explore Canada’ campaign is focused on bringing to life the amazing sights, wonders and experiences that Canada has to offer.
There are over 6 million European travellers considering Canada as a future holiday destination. Despite being on people’s travel list, there was no urgency to book Canada as their next holiday destination. Our goal was to change Canada from a ‘might visit at some point’ destination to a ‘must see’ and next on the list.
Destination Canada is Canada’s national tourism marketing organisation. They promote Canada’s extraordinary experiences in 11 countries around the world. Their key markets include Germany, UK, Australia and France.
Research shows that consumers are increasingly moving away from traditional media. Instead, they are turning towards more personalised and trusted sources – such as friends, family and key influencers – to research and plan their travels.
Traditional marketing campaigns with sponsored banners or branded social posts are no longer enough to convince consumers to buy a big-ticket item like an international holiday. Our content marketing approach needed to reach and entice consumers at key points along their decision-making journey. We wanted to use more novel, innovative marketing ideas to engage these travellers emotionally.
Based on this, our focus is content like videos, photos and articles. Rather than a traditional branded campaign, the idea was to have viewers come into contact with the content naturally in relevant environments they typically visit for travel planning and purchase.
Over 500 pieces of high-quality content were developed across passion points and locations in Canada. Because authenticity is integral to this strategy, we didn’t include any branding on this content.
For the video content, we are leveraging a high-profile YouTuber from each of our key markets. Each influencer uses their typical filming style to highlight Canada as the perfect vacation setting. Influencers share and promote the content directly with their YouTube followers, allowing the material to seed organically. Many also promote their Canada videos on their Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram accounts.
You can currently view the latest influencer content tailored for the UK and Germany, with France and Australia content coming soon.
We then use data to align consumers with unbranded content that caters to their individual interests, passions and travel purchase behaviours. Once viewers engage with multiple pieces of unbranded content, we then serve them a personalised message from a local tourism partner who can offer them a great deal for the location or experience they’d viewed.
We are in the second exciting year of this campaign. The tremendous success of last year’s efforts included over 50 million content views and over 190K content viewers booked a holiday to Canada, with over $231 in additional tourism revenue generated for a 67:1 ROI.
Want to keep exploring? Visit Destination Canada’s key market websites – UK, France, Germany and Australia.
OMD and Destination Canada were recently awarded two M&M Global Awards for Smart Use of Data and International Growth Strategy. Our work has also been featured on the Think with Google blog.
OMD has completed a hugely successful launch for HTC Vive, the first complete virtual reality system. Engineered by OMD’s specialist service unit Fuse Sport + Entertainment, a collaboration between Noma Labs and HTC which, alongside production partner Bearded Kitten, resulted in the fully immersive theatre production, “Virtually Dead”. Live in London and Paris, both events were completely sold out, as enthusiasts flocked to see the very latest in VR technology and experience immersive theatre at its finest.
Combining previously unseen VR technology with interactive performance, “Virtually Dead” blurred the lines between what’s real and what’s not, giving the audience a completely new, thrilling and scary interactive experience. During the hour-long activity, ticketholders were guided by actors into designated VR areas containing 13 minutes of playable VR content. Instead of a static experience, Vive’s much anticipated “360° room-scale” technology allowed guests to move around and explore their new virtual world.
Following a sinister virus outbreak, which has wiped out millions of people in Arizona, ticketholders were invited to join the fight against the plague of Zombies that has taken over. The US Military swing into action and the entire state is quarantined. A special army is trained to deal with the potential overseas spread of the virus and recruits are put through their paces to be able to tackle the virus on the front line.
Olivia Rose, Account Director at Fuse said, “It was a thrill to be involved in creating something which is literally breaking new ground in terms of audience experience and engagement. Many entertainment events become fairly standard in terms of format and delivery, but this was something very original and special. Merging immersive theatre with virtual reality presented incredible opportunities and we were absolutely delighted with the success of the events in both London and Paris.”
Jon Goddard, Head of VR Marketing, EMEA at HTC commented, “Introducing our revolutionary 360° room–scale VR technology into an immersive theatre environment is an entirely new venture, and one we couldn’t wait for people to experience. We’re incredibly excited to have worked with Fuse and subsequently the creative teams at Noma Labs and believe Vive, the first complete virtual reality system, is the perfect VR partnership to deliver a truly spectacular production.”
The Results
Tickets sound out in two weeks!
45+ press features
Conversations around Virtually Dead reached 100+ million people worldwide
15m+ Virtually Dead video views
20 million data points used to target millennials in London and Paris
In 2015 John Lewis and Age UK tackled the subject no one wanted to talk about, especially at Christmas – loneliness. In a ground-breaking partnership, Manning Gottlieb OMD activated the nation and inspired people to do good, helping the millions of older people who can go a month without talking to anyone, to have a Christmas they deserve.
“Did you see the John Lewis Christmas advert?”
John Lewis is an institution that over 150 years, has become one of the UK’s most loved and trusted retailer brands. A large part of this is down to the emotionally driven Christmas advertising. Their campaigns have had such an impact that the media have coined their ad launch, “The Start of Christmas”. The pressure’s on to raise the bar every year and make each John Lewis campaign more famous than the last.
The campaigns embody the spirit of Christmas, making people feel the warmth of family and the endearing spirit of thoughtful gifting. Unfortunately this isn’t the case for everyone, as 500,000 older people will spend Christmas day alone, a challenge Age UK know all too well. This year Manning Gottlieb wanted to use the emotional power of advertising, not just to make people feel good, but to also do good, whilst growing commercial success.
The Brand Idea
The idea was simple; to create not one, but two interlinked Christmas ads, each showing polar opposite views of the Christmas experience.
The first would launch our ‘feel-good’ story: a little girl looking through her telescope spies on an old man, living on his own on the moon. Her thoughtful Christmas gift is a telescope, sent by balloon, so he can see he’s not really alone. The tagline “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas” paved the way for a national charity partner: Age UK.
For Age UK, John Lewis made a second TV ad, showing the old man on the ‘Man On The Moon’ film set. As filming wraps up, he’s left alone and forgotten, to remind us of the problem of loneliness amongst the aged. This would become Manning Gottlieb’s call-to-action to activate the nation in support of older people at Christmas.
The Partnership Strategy
The desire was not simply to brand John Lewis’ campaign with a charity logo but to create a deeper, more emotionally resonant partnership. This idea required a true partnership strategy: integrating the creative, media and two brands into one cohesive campaign. This meant John Lewis could extend their traditional ‘feeling good at Christmas’ campaign into a true ‘doing good at Christmas’ campaign.
In return, Age UK would get the support and validation of one of the UK’s most loved brands, giving the public a new lens to see the importance of the work they do.
The John Lewis Christmas advert would be a catalyst for a wider campaign aimed at directing sentiment and action towards Age UK and ensuring that their message stayed centre stage. The second advert was designed to get people aware of and talking about the issue.
Making it happen
To ensure anticipation of the first ad, Manning Gottlieb created unbranded “#OnTheMoon” social accounts delivering a 10” teaser which started trending on Twitter before launch and trended no. 1 on Twitter, globally, only 40 minutes after launch. A joint-PR effort promoted the partnership, raising awareness of loneliness. The second ad was launched online across social and video channels to coincide with the second burst of activity.
In the week leading up to Christmas, the Age UK spot was broadcasted on TV, culminating in the marquee spot in the finale of Downton Abbey on ITV – the most-watched programme on Christmas Day. An impactful out-of-home campaign highlighted the scale of the issue and how people could help. Last but not least, John Lewis promoted the partnership across their social channels and in-store – every store ran a comprehensive fund-raising programme and Man On The Moon merchandise was sold with all profits going to Age UK.
Amazing results
The campaign delivered a huge 38m online views for both ads, with the main ad topping the Google chart for most viewed ad on YouTube UK of 2015. This equates to over 835k hours of brand engagement!
Manning Gottlieb helped drive 688k shares and 1,400 press articles, the most ever for a John Lewis campaign.
People started to engage with Age UK too. On launch day, they received a donation every minute. They received an overwhelming 15,000 volunteer phone calls, 6x the number they get in a whole year.
The impact has been so great that the UK Prime Minister’s office at Downing Street called to congratulate Age UK on the campaign and hosted a tea party for older people at Number 10!
Finally, the campaign delivered £951m in sales, a 7% YoY increase, helping John Lewis have their biggest ever Christmas.
85% of Italian businesses are family-run; however, families working and living in close proximity can cause disagreements and ultimately put the business at risk. Thanks to their range of commercial vehicles, Renault has a wealth of experience with family enterprises and wanted to come to the rescue with an innovative solution that would help improve internal management. In partnership with Google For Work, Renault developed a dedicated app allowing fathers and sons to work together at a distance. The app provides a set of digital tools, such as folders, memo documents, delivery schedules, etc., to help them share their work, without sharing a physical workspace. The Renault Business Booster allows dads and their sons to have space from each other during the working day and to come back together in their spare time, saving their businesses and relationships.
To demonstrate the power of the Renault Business Booster in real-life situations and stay true to the client’s positioning of ‘success boosters’, OMD targeted craftsmen, small entrepreneurs and the owners of family enterprises. We selected channels and content with high affinity to this group, adopting a seamless approach where media channels and content merged. A direct affiliation campaign drove app downloads, while a partnership with Mediamond allowed us to produce a TV show to bring real family business stories to life. ‘SOS Family Business’, a four-part series, aired on Mediaset channels in prime time and was supported by online video on popular sport websites, stories about fathers and sons in a major local magazine and content on Renault and Mediamond’s social channels.
The final chapter of this fully integrated story was the launch of a roadshow which took Renault’s new range of commercial vehicles to 100 Italian cities. Consumers were given the chance to participate in events, interact with the app and sit behind the wheel of one of the new vehicles with exclusive test drives.
Results
79,000 app downloads
Over 29,000 digital media impressions (+45% impression delivery)
5m interactive video views
2m TV reach
41%+ of Twitter followers
11,391 new sales leads
40%+ commercial vehicles sold vs. 2014
1 importer of commercial vehicles in Italy in 2015
