Spinning Around

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... #ReverseRiots

Lead agency: Unity
Client: vInspired
Who came up with the idea?: Unity
Who signed it off client-side?: Jenni Young, vInspired
Who delivered it?: Unity

Unity and vInspired wanted to use the anniversary of the London riots to bust the myth that Britain’s youth are thugs that make no contribution to society.

To do this, they formulated #ReverseRiots, which used social media to encourage youngsters to upload photos of themselves holding a written message of positivity.

The team enlisted the involvement of celebrities, encouraging them to donate their Twitter profiles for the day. This allowed fans to replace the profile picture of their idol with their own.

In addition, the team covered The House of Reeves furniture store in Croydon (the burning emblem of the riots) with the thousands of images, turning it into a beacon of hope for young people.

The campaign generated 152 pieces of coverage including Daybreak, Grazia, NBC, BBC Radio 2, ITN, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent and more. 

#ReverseRiots trended and gained support from 23 celebrities including Paloma Faith, Delilah and Plan B resulting in 17 million celebrity tweet impressions.

Nick Clegg also referenced the campaign in his closing speech at his party conference as “an example of what makes Britain great”. 

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... Tower of London: the Oldest Timeline on Facebook

Brand: Historic Royal Palaces
Team: In House
Who came up with the idea?: John Shevlin, Digital Media Officer, Historic Royal Palaces
Who delivered it?
Tim Powell
John Shevlin
Honourable mentions
Yeoman Warder Jim Duncan
Sally Dixon-Smith
Bridget Clifford

Historic Royal Palaces wanted to raise awareness of, and engagement with, the Tower of London’s Facebook page. The aim was to allow audiences to interact with the site’s historic stories in the same way they engage with their friends and record their own lives.

The team put the 32 most infamous events in the Tower of London’s 1,000 year history onto its Facebook timeline, including Anne Boleyn’s execution, Guy Fawkes’ torture, the “murder” of the Princes in the Tower and the Great Fire of London.

Dubbed the “oldest timeline on Facebook”, the activity resulted in a 1,200% increase in both new likes and page views with a promoted post reaching 135,853 people.

The team also ran a parallel Twitter campaign. #OldestTimeline, tweeting 1,000 years of history in a day which resulted in a reach of approximately 2.4 million Twitter users.

Coverage spanned print, online and trade titles, including Metro, Daily Mail Online, Londonist, We Are Social People and Social Media Today. 

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... T-Mobile “Smoasting”

Lead agency: Fever
Client: T-Mobile
Who came up with the idea?: Bruce McLachlan and Melissa Robinson
Who signed it off client-side?
Sarah Jones, Senior PR Manger at T-Mobile
Mat Sears, Head of PR at T-Mobile
Who delivered it?
Ranj George
Melissa Robinson
Lisa Rebak
Blair Bishop

Fever was tasked with making T-Mobile’s new Broadband and Internet Travel Boosters – data roaming – interesting to tabloids and seen by the “Loose Women” TV audience demographic.

The team highlighted that Facebook is packed with people checking-in on holiday and sharing beach bragging pictures –but paying sky high mobile data prices for the privilege.

The term “Smoasting!” (or “social media boasting”) was coined to explain this phenomenon.

Survey data was used to prove British holiday-makers are a nation of “Smoasters”, and that the Travel Boosters were a response to this new social trend.

The campaign resulted in 28 pieces of coverage including The Mail on Sunday and Daily Star, in addition to slots on Loose Women and the Capital FM Breakfast Show.

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... Surf Summer D’Reem

Lead agency: GolinHarris
Client: Surf
Who came up with the idea?: Charlie Coney, GolinHarris
Who signed it off client-side?: Clare Logan
Who delivered it?
Charlie Coney
Jo Shepherd
Neil Watts
Tom Cherrill
Anna Pank
Rosie Wigfall
Eryl Baum

Golin Harris was asked to drive awareness and talkability around Surf as a provider of great fragrances that last and last, with the aim to get more consumers buying Surf. In addition, the creative idea had to relate to Surf’s sponsorship of the idents of “The Only Way is Essex”.

In response, the team created a limited edition Surf variant called Surf Summer D’reem, created in part by Joey Essex.

Activity included leaked paparazzi shots of Joey in the labs, a summer themed launch event, a Facebook making-of / behind-the-scenes, Joey tweeting to congratulate fellow scientists at CERN, and in-store retail partnership activity.

The activity generated £1.2 million Gross Sales Value and 212 pieces of coverage (including Joey appearing on Daybreak) resulting in a 90% target audience hit. And over 600 people signed up to the waiting list to try the product.

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... The Secret Policeman’s Ball: World’s Shortest Gig

Lead agency: Mother
Client: Amnesty International
Other agencies: Mother
Who came up with the idea?: Splendid Communications
Who signed it off client-side?: Andy Hackman
Who delivered it?
Matthew Fletcher-Jones
Claire Hewitt
Letitia Thomas
Olivia Gibson

For the first time ever the famous Secret Policeman’s Ball was being hosted in New York, rather than the UK.  Splendid Communication’s role was to introduce a new UK audience to the cause – free speech – and build an authentic engagement between Amnesty and the British Comedy community.

With the majority of performers at the ball being American the team needed to drive interest and relevance amongst UK media. 

To do this, Splendid created the “World’s Shortest Gig” competition which gave up-and-coming British comedians the chance to win a 15 second slot on stage at the ball.

The competition secured 30 pieces of coverage including The Sun, Metro, The Independent and blanket coverage across comedy press and blogs. 

In addition to this, promotion of the airing of the ball on Channel Four delivered 247 pieces of coverage of which 69% included a free speech message.

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator

Lead agency: 3 Monkeys Communications
Client: Microsoft/Internet Explorer
Other agencies: LBi, Jam and UM
Who came up with the idea?: 3 Monkeys Communications and writer/director Edgar Wright
Who signed it off client-side?: Gabby Hegerty, UK Internet Explorer Lead, Microsoft
Who delivered it?
Gabby Hegerty
James Tutt
Toral Karia (Microsoft)
Stuart Yeardsley
Katie Boulton
Andrew Burton
Tanya Harding
Honourable mentions
Edgar Wright
Tommy Lee Edwards
David Holmes
Julian Barratt

Success in the browser market is determined by showing relevance to the needs of modern web users. The brief for 3 Monkeys was to come up with an integrated campaign to shift perceptions, create engagement and position Internet Explorer as the “must have” browser showing the beautiful, rich experiences Internet Explorer 9 offers thanks to HTML5.

The plan was to work with award-winning director Edgar Wright and illustrator Tommy Lee Edwards to create a unique animated web series, enhanced with Internet Explorer 9.  Narrated by The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt, the world’s first animated web experience was created, putting the audience at the centre of the production.

“The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator” was born.

In response, there were 202 pieces of positively branded print, broadcast and online coverage including BBC Radio 2, Daily Telegraph, Wired and Shortlist. There were over 600,000 unique visitors to the site, more than 2,000 new likes on Internet Explorer 9’s Facebook page – and an overall reach of 62.3 million on Twitter.

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... Ribena Plus Play Report: the Ribena “Plus Play Box”

Lead agency: Unity
Client: Ribena
Who came up with the idea?: Unity
Who signed it off client-side?: Caroline Fredj
Who delivered it?: Unity

Christmas is so commercial nowadays, with one-in-ten parents spending over £500 per child. 

Unity wanted to show that Ribena Plus understands the pressures parents are under at this time of year, whilst simultaneously providing a solution to their problems.

To do this, the team took on the toy industry to prove what all parents know – that the humble cardboard box is actually the ultimate Christmas toy. 

Cardboard boxes with templates for cars, boats, and much more, were created and taken to parent’s guerrilla style via removals company, Pickfords.

Launching two days before the Toy Retailers Association’s annual “Dream Toys” list, the timing was perfect, securing 269 pieces of coverage, including 10 nationals and 226 regional pieces.

The team also hijacked the TRA event, turning up outside and giving away Play Boxes to media, securing four extra national hits.

But best of all was the reaction from the kids and their parents. Photos were posted on Twitter of children playing with the boxes, accompanied by thanks from mums everywhere.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... R UV Ugly?

 

Lead agency: Unity
Client: Cancer Research UK
Who came up with the idea?: Unity
Who signed it off client-side?: Abigail Brown, Cancer Research UK
Who delivered it?: Unity 

Cancer Research UK tasked Unity with the challenge of discouraging youngsters from using sun beds.

Unity came up with the insight that the very insecurity that causes sun bed use – appearance – could be used to discourage usage and that skin scanners could be used to reveal the cosmetic damage that already lay beneath their young skin.

“R UV UGLY?” played into youth obsession with beauty and featured a photo booth that travelled the country dispensing passport pictures with a difference – they took UV images revealing the cosmetic damage beneath the skin / invisible to the naked eye.

A supporting media story saw the team persuade the UKs leading model agencies to agree to a zero sunbed tolerance policy.

The campaign saw 1,648 skin scans conducted and delivered 27 pieces of coverage, including a double-page spread in The Sun and a Metro front page, and 75 pieces of broadcast coverage, including ITV Daybreak, Sky News, Radio 1 and BBC Breakfast.

Following the completion of a pre- and post-campaign questionnaire, it was deemed that the R UV UGLY? campaign had provoked a marked change in reported attitudes to sunbed use. The majority of participants said that after engaging with the campaign, they would think twice before using a sunbed again.

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... The Meadowhall Student Lock In

Lead agency: MK Ltd
Client: Meadowhall Shopping Centre
Who came up with the idea?: MK PR agency
Who signed it off client-side?: Richard Pinfold, Marketing Director
Who delivered it?: MK PR agency
Honourable mentions
Hazel Moss and Alice Roughton

MK was tasked with a three-way brief: to assert and establish Sheffield’s Meadowhall Centre’s reputation as the best retail destination in the region for students, to drive footfall and showcase the wide range of new and existing retailers and, finally, to promote the Centre’s social media channels.

Their idea was a high-impact social media campaign to promote awareness of a Student Lock In – in which thousands of students were allowed exclusive access to the centre for a shopping party that promised not only a great night out, but also bags of great offers

In excess of 18,000 students attracted to the Centre from across the region; some travelling from as far as Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle. There was 20% uplift in footfall on the previous year’s Student Lock In numbers – and over £600,000 in incremental sales. Finally, Facebook fans of the Centre increased by over 300% during the week of the Student Lock In compared to the previous year’s event.

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.

Photo credit: Ant Oxley

Ideas of the Year Showcase ... Toshiba sponsors The Dark Knight Rises

Lead agency: Things With Wings
Client: TOSHIBA UK
Who came up with the idea?: Hugo Sieiro, Dan Warren and Dan Neale
Who signed it off client-side?: Sarah Dickinson, Toshiba
Who delivered it?: Things With Wings

Things With Wings needed to develop a digital campaign which generated positive brand association and buzz for Toshiba UK by harnessing the sponsorship of the Dark Knight Rises.

The aim was to attract new fans to the Toshiba UK social platforms whilst also engaging the existing community. The activity had to build engagement, not simply attract entries.

The team created “The Missing Links,” a complex online treasure hunt for five pairs of tickets to see the film before release.

Challenges included deciphering Morse and binary code, solving pictogram riddles and decrypting messages hidden within Spotify and other partner sites, which helped cross-promote the campaign.

The complexity of challenges encouraged players to use Toshiba’s UK Facebook page as a hub for discussion, increasing engagement with the brand.

The Facebook page gained 13,000 fans in less than two weeks, whilst the competition reached an audience of over 17 million.

Coverage appeared on blogs such as Den of Geek, Hey U Guys and Average Joes Blog, helping to build credibility for Toshiba UK around entertainment.

If you would like to get work in to IotY2012, you'll simply need to download this form, fill it in and spin it back to me with an image (or more than one if you fancy). The deadline was 8 February 2013, but there's still a bit of time if you want to get something in pronto.