"Slide to unlock"

Simple and clever campaign, aimed at recruiting activists, from Amnesty International Sweden. Swedish agency Garberg created wallpapers for iPhones and iPads showing incarcerated prisoners.

Making the best of the "slide to unlock" function; when unlocking the device, the user also unlocks the cell or chain holding the prisoner captive and reveals a call to action to join Amnesty International as an activist.


See the cool vid.

1000 TIMES THANK YOU!

1004 to be precise :)

A new fashion blog in Muscat

A new Omani blog entered the blogosphere, Counter Culture. Written by TOTEM, the unisex clothing boutique in Shatti, the blog seems to cover the latest fashion and trends, giving tips on what to wear, and inputs from local fashionistas and international designers. Probably more for the ladies although there’s also posts on men’s t-shirts and some tunes, and it’s written from the point of view of a fashion retailer rather than most of the outfit-based blogs.

Direct Marketing, PR, Advertising and more...

A light post, good to start/end the week with.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: “I am very rich. Marry me!”

That's Direct Marketing

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: “He's very rich. Marry him.”

That's Advertising

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day, you call and say: “Hi, I'm very rich. Marry me!”

That's Telemarketing

You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink, you open the door (of the car) for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride and then say: “By the way, I'm rich. Will you Marry Me?”

That's Public Relations

You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says: “You are very rich! Can you marry me?”

That's Brand Recognition

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: “I am very rich. Marry me!” She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.

That's Customer Feedback

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: “I am very rich. Marry me!" And she introduces you to her husband.

That's demand and supply gap

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say anything, another person come and tell her: “I'm rich. Will you marry me?”...and she goes with him.

That's competition eating into your market share

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say: “I'm rich. Marry me!”...your wife arrives.

That's restriction for entering new markets

Benetton's controversial campaign

Benetton is famous for its campaigns; this time it is inviting the leaders and citizens of the world to combat the 'culture of hatred' through the UNHATE campaign.

A series of posters features world leaders with lips locked to launch the UNHATE project...

Hu Jintao, president of China and Barack Obama

The Pope and Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, Imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo

US President Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy

According to Benetton "these are symbolic images of reconciliation, with a touch of ironic hope and constructive provocation, to stimulate reflection on how politics, faith and ideas, even when they are divergent and mutually opposed, must still lead to dialogue and mediation."

It received all sort of feedback, some people called it a nasty campaign, others said awesome, disturbing, gay, genius, funny, horrid, etc.. Love it or hate it, Benetton has made a splash, again.

And you too can upload your kiss and write an ‘unhate’ message, just click here.

80 inhabitants, 10,000 Facebook fans

“Obermutten is developing a personal relationship with its guests”, that’s what Martin Wyss, President of a tiny village called Obermutten in Graubuenden, said.

Obermutten is a mountain village in Switzerland with eighty residents and nearly 10,000 Facebook fans, how did that happen?

The President promised anyone who "likes" the town on Facebook that they will put his/her photo onto the Commune's official notice board. By doing this, they say, anybody anywhere in the world can "become Swiss". After only three days, the village already has fifteen times more fans than residents, and this number is growing by the day.

As you see from the photos it went a little out of hands, with the notice board being full and new pictures being placed on storage walls, but the eighty inhabitants, many still without an internet connection, all seem very excited about getting to know their fans this way.

Thanks to this campaign media reports about the village have appeared in over twenty countries and now some sixty million people around the world have either read about or heard of Obermutten.

One of the best Facebook campaigns I’ve ever seen; simple, very cost effective and with high level of engagement. Check out the video.

P.S. The mayor of Obermutten has announced to move the whole picture board to protect it from the weather, so all pictures will be kept safe and dry!

Ikea gets personal on YouTube

An example of how originality and lots of $$$$$$$ can help creating something really good. This personalised 3D showroom is part of a wider bedrooms campaign by IKEA and follows a wide study carried out in the UK where people were asked how their ideal bedroom would be in terms of supporting TV/internet, incorporating workspace, storage solutions and much more.

The "Happy To Bed" IKEA online shopping experience is absolutely fascinating and great to interact with it. You can recreate the bedroom of your dream by choosing furniture, its colours, décor and much more. Of course you should then buy it.

Google+ for brands and companies launched

If you’ve been waiting to use Google+ for your business then the wait is over. Google+ has finally launched the feature which allows brands and businesses to have a presence on this social network.

If you’re already using G+ on a personal level you will notice that the new G+ brand Pages look similar to G+ Profiles. The set up and page customisation, for the moment, is very straight forward and quick, if you want to give it a try just click here.

G+ is nowhere close to Facebook in terms of users, I’ve read G+ has somewhere close to 45 millions, but your brand could be doing well on G+ if aimed at men since about 75% of its users are males.

To help people 'googling' companies transform their queries into meaningful connections another service has also just been launched; Google+ Direct Connect, which lets you quickly navigate to a G+ Page (and even add that page to your circles) when using Google Search. 

This video below explains it all.

Of course I had to set up a page for Oman Collective Intelligence, and this will be my first post on it. Will you set up yours?

Advertising? No, having fun.

Take the physical world, combine it with the digital world and a whole new dimension of reality is what you get. It is called augmented reality or AR.

Lynx (known as Axe in the U.S.) in London

More and more companies are starting to use it as it gives both users and brands the ability to connect even further with a product before, during and after making a purchase. It is really cool and can be lots of fun.

The following video is from F&N Big Fun Fest in Malaysia’s Largest Dance Mob.

Love this stuff!