Go Beyond the Cover

Where can I buy this concealer? Perfect demonstration of the product's benefits.

Facebook Cartoon Campaign

This week Facebook seems to have transformed into a social network for 80s and 90s cartoon characters. Apparently, I am now friends with The Powerpuff girls, Hey Arnold, Sonic, Penny Crayon and Yogi Bear.

According to many a 'copy & pasted' status update...

"Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is in support for stopping violence against children."



Many people believe the campaign was started by the NSPCC to support their fight against cruelty to children. However, the NSPCC denies any involvement with the Facebook group. Although, it welcomes the new focus on the work the charity performs.

The instigator of this phenomenon sweeping Facebook has not yet come forward and many people are beginning to wonder how changing your profile picture is really helping children. Although it certainly draws focus to children's charities, perhaps it would have been better to encourage a donation, before you changed your photo? With 90,000 followers in the largest Facebook group (and there are many more), donating a pound a photo could have raised a lot of funds so far...

This is not the first time a charity's cause has gone viral on Facebook. Most recently, Facebook users changed their statuses to suggestive slogans such as "I like it on the table" or "I like it on the floor" to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. These phrases predictably raised a few eyebrows on the site. But little did they know that women were actually referring to wear they keep their handbag.

My Favourite Virals

Hello,

This week I have gathered my top 10 viral ads for your viewing pleasure. In no particular order, let us begin:



This ad was revealed to be a viral for Microsoft after many people believed it was genuinely the biggest waterslide on earth.



The classic Old Spice, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" it also created some great spoofs by The Sun and Sesame Street



The LED Sheep, apparently an advert for Samsung



One of the best uses of Chatroulette that I've seen, plugging the film The Last Exorcism



A simple and creative AIDS awareness ad from the TBWA Paris



An award-winning seatbelt campaign from Sussex



A funny one from Durex



An oldie but a goodie. 'Will It Blend?' just gets better and better. I don't know why it is so satisfying watching someone blend an iPad, it just is.



The ad that can't go without a mention is this from Tip-Ex, great use of YouTube and clearly show the product truth



And the final classic, John West Salmon. Enjoy!

The Unbelievable Art of Li Wei

Li Wei is a Chinese artist who seems to defy gravity in his photography. Using only wires and optical illusion he creates amazing images that look professionally photoshopped rather than staged in reality. Wei uses a mixture of performance art and photography to capture these hair-raising images...



Wei has displayed his work all over the world where it has always gained astonishment.



He specialises in creating the illusion of a 'dangerous reality' and is often putting himself in real danger to get a great shot. It scares me just looking at these photos !
www.liweiart.com

Ikea Cats

Beautifully shot, lovely idea. Makes me want to buy cats, not Ikea furniture.

Whopper Freakout

Heineken Football Stunt

If you haven't seen this already, CHECK IT OUT.

Durex

AKQA have had this great idea for a Durex iPhone app that you can use to 'impregnate' someone's phone with! You have to look after a baby by rocking your phone and 'feeding' it and you can't get rid of it until you have bought a pack of Durex condoms and scanned the code on the box. Great idea, and definately something that would get passed around.

How to con friends and influence people

There was a really interesting article in the Sunday Times Mag on the 4th about new forms of marketing entitled, 'How to con friends and influence people'. It described how advertising agencies are hiring actors to talk about their products in public places. For example, two actors were hired to sit and read the same book on a tube train and then start loudly discussing how great the book was. This sort of stunt is called Stealth Marketing.

Some readers may know that a new film is about to premier called 'The Joneses'. Demi Moore and David Duchovny star in this dark comedy about a seemingly perfect family that turn out to be paid actors, subtly advertising and promoting products to their friends, co-workers and neighbours. I can definately see this sort of situation happening for real in the near future. Its not much a progression from paying people to talk about your product on a train...

Here is a great example from Work Club for the Nokia N-Gage...

n-gage girlfriend from Alasdair Monk on Vimeo.