TED: Ads Worth Spreading.

TED recently announced the winners of the Ads Worth Spreading competition. Ted, for those not in the know, is a non-profit organisation that is all about promoting and encouraging ideas that look to change the world in a better way. From the fields of technology, design and entertainment TED "believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world". It's an incredible organisation and something you need to pay attention to.

Back to the ads, this competition really makes sense to me. I undertook my dissertation on virals and investigated if there was a trend or some sort of formula that leads to creating a successful viral. My own research proved that it's almost impossible to come up with some sort of formula, adverts that in theory should be wildy successful can flop and those that just seem to make no sense set the internet alive. However one trend that came from my dissertation, and is in fact my attitude anyways, was that successful adverts are ones that are made for consumers not just towards consumers. It sounds obvious but if an advert is genuinely found entertaining, interesting or useful you really are half way there.

Or as TED put it:

Here are the 10 winners of our first Ads Worth Spreading competition. With this competition, we're seeking to reverse the trend of online ads being aggressively forced on users. We want to nurture ads so good you choose to watch. On TED.com, ads run after our talks, not before. This means they can run longer than the TV-standard 30 seconds. And that's the key! In 2-3 minutes, there's enough time to really tell a story, share an idea, make an authentic human connection, become unforgettable. Instead of ambush, they offer pleasurable, intelligent engagement.

Here are the ads, some I agree with, some I don't, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts:

Chrysler



Topsy Foundation



Savory Institute



Nike Foundation



Nokia



Intel



Batelco



Dulux



Target



Hornbach

OK Go: Again

There will always be a place on my blog for a new OK Go video:




Where the fuck did they come up with that? And then how did they actually pull it off?

Who Really Won The World Cup?

According to their latest viral, it was Adidas:



The strapline "The Lightest. The Fastest. The Deadliest" appears, before the text "2010 Fifa World Cup Top Scoring Boot", as Adidas claim their F50 won the World Cup. These are the goal stats, according to Adidas: Adidas 63, Nike 62, Puma 9, Other 11 (145 goals). However it looks like these figures may have been tampered. The Adidas goals actually include 2 own goals, and I'm guessing this is not a great selling point for you football boots.

I'm hoping for a Nike comeback viral.

3D TV in your living room. And your face.

We all know that last year was huge for 3D films. Despite my first 3D film being The Final (thank fuck) Destination, I did go on to see Avatar and Up and was suitably impressed. Whereas The Final Destination simply used gimicks that you would expect in Disneyland, Avatar and Up used 3D intelligently. It gave the films real depth and a sense of perspective allowing an audience to become much more involved in a film, and I really enjoyed this.

3D is now being thrust right into our faces in our very own living room. Samsung, amoungst others, are determined to make 3D TVs affordable and commonplace in every lounge. This seems unlikely with sets costing upwards of £1,800, however in a years time this may be more of the case. Samsung are leading the charge in getting consumers ready for the 3D experience with a couple of really nice adverts as part of a £8m campaign produced by CHI.

The first advert appears to be the focus of the campaign. In the advert transforms a city with 3D TVs as the barriers of reality and TV are blurred. Without the blur, of course. The advert really involves the viewer, better than any advert I've seen in a while, I want to be there experiencing this blurred world.



The second advert appears to more of a viral, where classic masterpieces of art are given the 3D treatment to show what is really going on. Not only is a funny advert with mass appeal, it cleverly conveys how much more 3D TV can give an audience.