England 2018 extends social media campaign for World Cup bid

England 2018 is pushing ahead with a social media campaign encouraging football fans across the world to back England's bid to host the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

England 2018 launched the second phase of its digital campaign, created by Engine's Jam, this week.

Football fans on Facebook are being targeting through a peer-to-peer recruitment drive that has attracted more than 300,000 fans from 170 countries since launching in May.

Christian Lindman, Jam's social media planner, said the importance of attracting more fans was to make commercial sponsors feel that the bid's social media sites were valuable places for them to communicate their involvement direct to fans.

Jo Vertigan, England 2018 head of digital, said: "Social media has been a key element of the England 2018 digital strategy, ensuring fans from over 175 countries can find out about the bid, get involved and show their support."

England 2018 will discover if they have won the bid in Zurich on 2 December.

I thought this was a good article because it shows the power of the new-ish marketing channel, social media.

Skoda, Made of Meaner Stuff

click on the link to see the video advertisement.  http://gu.com/p/2kmcd    

Fallon's Chris Bovill & John Allison were the creative minds behind Skoda's latest spot, Mean Green Made of Meaner Stuff, directed by Nick Gordon. A petrolheads fantasy featuring the construction of the twin charged petrol engine with a supercharger and turbo Fabia vRS. Starting with a nod to its predecessor "Cake", it suddenly transforms into a metal rendition of "My Favourite Things". This car is built from altogether meaner stuff. The spot was produced by Angus Smith at Fallon and Sally Campbell at SomeSuch & Co. MPC provided the post, creating the CG snake engine, robot arm, bone chassis and extensive compositing. MPC's team led by Rob Walker worked closely with the Director to ensure all the necessary elements were captured in the live-action shoot. While the shoot was taking place in Prague, MPC's Concept artists were exploring different treatments for the CG elements. The snake engine needed to look like an engine yet be able to come alive as convincing snakes.  The final design used a mix of realistic snake textures combined with metallic/engine textures to create this illusion. The Robot Arm was required to unfold and extend up to 60 feet to allow the car to be painted in a very precise and dynamic way. The bone chassis was created using digital matte painting, sticking very closely to the design of the actual chassis yet introducing elements of skulls and bone imperfections for the scavenging vultures. Once the concept was signed off the 3D team was responsible for modeling, texturing and animating the snake engine and robot arm using Maya and Mental Ray.  MPC's 2D team worked on Flame and Nuke to integrate these elements into the live action plates.  The footage was enhanced in post to help the technicians make the various components that form the final car. Smoke, sparks, heat haze and the laser eye beam was also added in post. Jean Clement Soret did the grading for the commercial.  Working with Alexa's footage, Jean Clement used Baselight HD to achieve a clean and sharp look. The spot will be on air in the UK on 1st November 2010.

I really liked the old skoda advert, the one were they make a car out of sweets and cakes, this new one is a step in the same direction, just a little bit more 'meaner'.

Darth Vader stars in ad for Japanese phone brand

TOKYO - Lucas Film has licensed the use of Darth Vader to appear as a silent stalker in an ad for Japanese phone brand NTT Docomo.

Docomo: Japanese ad stars Darth Vader

In NTT's ad for its cellular brand Docomo, Vader appears following and alongside a series of young Japanese people as they variously use their phones and relax.

Darth Vader is the latest 'Star Wars' character to appear in an ad campaign. Last month Lucas licensed the rights to use the droids R2-D2 and C3PO in a Currys and PC World TV ad.

Adidas has also capitalised on the film's popularity. Earlier this year the sportswear company recreated one of the most famous 'Star Wars' scenes in the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine for an ad starring David Beckham, Snoop Dogg and Noel Gallagher

Sony : VAT back – A Christmas Carol

I really love this new advert from sony, it just takes me back to when i was a child, drinking a massive mug of hot chocolate around christmas time, with family telling stories, eating and having a good time.
Derek Jacobi stars as Ebenezer Scrooge in this Sony advert offering VAT back.

Sony's VAT-back offer kickstarts Christmas price war

Sony has started a Christmas price war by offering customers VAT back on this year’s gifts.

Sony's Christmas advert campaign stars Sir Derek Jacobi as a modern-day Scrooge

The electronics company is the first of the big manufacturers to begin battling for custom after new
figures today show shoppers plan to buy less during the festive season compared with a year ago.

With job losses potentially running into the millions and a VAT rise to 20 per cent in the new year, Sony is offering the cashback incentive on products bought before Christmas Eve.

‘The peak weeks of Christmas trading are critical for UK retailers, as many will earn up to 60 per cent of their profits during this period,’ said Richard Stables, chief executive of price comparison website Kelkoo.

‘The retail industry is seen by economists as a leading indicator of economic trends, and results this Christmas will prove vital in stimulating retail growth and aiding the UK’s economic recovery.’

Growth in Christmas retail sales is expected to slow, with British sales predicted to rise by just 1.3 per cent – or £862million – this year, compared with a rise of 1.9 per cent (£1.3billion) in 2009 on the previous year.

Sales in the high street are set to fall by 2.9 per cent to £57.2billion, says Kelkoo, so other retailers will follow Sony with headline-grabbing deals.

The electronics giant will kick-start its ad campaign – featuring Sir Derek Jacobi as Scrooge in a modern-day Christmas Carol – during Saturday’s X Factor.

‘Next year is likely to be a tough time for everyone,’ said Andy Benson at Sony UK.

‘And with Christmas around the corner, getting the VAT back will hopefully make the difference for anyone in two minds about whether to make that extra special purchase.’ Buyers have until January 31 to claim the VAT cash back from Sony.

Sony Launches £14m Advert Campaign to Counteract Kinect Effect

£14m would buy you a lot of this kind of publicity

Will have sold 500,000 Moves in UK by Christmas

With six days before Kinect for Xbox 360 lands in the UK, Sony has kicked off a high-profile advertising campaign for its own motion controller across the country.

Sony's spending £14m to reach three major audiences: families, social players and core gamers. It's formed partnerships with Channel 4, Disney, Nickelodeon and more, and will sponsor Cineworld and Odeon kids clubs. Whilst it doesn't quite match the $500m spent marketing Kinect in the States, it should go a long way to keeping PlayStation Move in everyone's minds at Christmas.

Sony also claims 250,000 Move controllers have been sold across the UK, and expects that number to double before Christmas arrives. SCE UK's marketing director Alan Duncan said:

It is all about getting the device in people’s hands and we still need to keep doing that. It has been a real success for us, we’re pretty much through quarter of a million units and we expect to sell half a million before Christmas. And when you have half a million advocates showing it to their friends and family, you will soon learn if you have a success or not.

Stephen Fry recruited to sell Hondas to Aussies

Draftfcb Melbourne has recruited TV personality Stephen Fry to provide the voiceover in a brand-led campaign for Honda.

The agency has put Honda's brand positioning at the heart of the campaign, which features three of its new models, Euro, Civic and Hatch, together for the first time.
Continuing with the brand’s long held international strapline, "The power of dreams" the ad features Fry asking "what if?" and "what's next?" and explaining Honda's thoughts behind the new cars' features.
The ad, created by Draftfcb Melbourne, is the first for new creative director Mat Garbutt. He said: "Too much advertising today seems to be afraid to say something. Honda has so many wonderful stories to tell, and we wanted to tell them in a clever, joyful way that reflects the truth of Honda."

Kevin Lillie, Honda Australia's general marketing manager, explained. "We have changed from Honda's traditional approach of positioning each vehicle separately, to one where the core brand truth is central, and each vehicle is allowed to shine as a demonstration of that truth."

"Honda is a brand known for its technical precision and innovation, but the creative spirit that drives the brand is often hidden. We wanted to bring that joy and humanity of Honda to the surface. This campaign is a wonderful realization of our dream."

Tesco in price dispute with Hovis

Tesco has dropped 12 Hovis lines after a spat with the brand’s owner, Premier Foods, over pricing.

Premier asked Tesco to increase the price of Hovis because of the increase in wheat prices, the Daily Telegraph reported. Tesco rejected the request and has delisted 12 out of 19 Hovis lines.
Neither company was prepared to comment directly on the dispute, but a Premier Foods spokesman said: “The record rise in the price of wheat earlier this year was widely reported. The scale of this rise made it necessary for price increases to be passed on to retailers. While we don’t comment on our agreements with individual retailers, we can say that we continue to supply Hovis to Tesco and they remain one of our most important customers.”
According to British Retail Consortium figures, food inflation hit a 15-month high in September, with prices rising by 4%.

M&C Saatchi scoops two golds at Big Awards

M&C Saatchi's "The last place you want to go" campaign for Dixons.co.uk emerged as the most awarded campaign at Wednesday night's Campaign Big Awards after collecting two gold awards.

The Dixons work landed gold for the agency in the Individual Press and Outdoor, sponsored by Clear Channel, Campaign categories.
Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam won Gold in the Individual TV and Cinema category, sponsored by Yellow Boat Music, for its Nike's "Write the future" ad, which formed part of Nike’s activity around the World Cup.
A gold award for Digital Campaign, sponsored by Cogs Agency, went to Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO for its "Choose a different ending" campaign to raise awareness of the risks of knife crime for The Metropolitan Police.

DDB UK won gold in Individual Digital for its "Parallel lines" activity for Philips while Leo Burnett won gold in Integrated Campaign for the "House of cards" campaign for homeless charity Shelter.

Publicis London won gold in Direct Campaign, sponsored by Royal Mail, for the British Army recruitment ad "Start thinking soldier" for the British Army while the special Arden Award went to Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R for its Camden Town Unlimited work.
The awards were made in front of an audience of more than 700 at London's Grosvenor House. Damon Collins, the chairman of the Big Awards jury and executive creative director at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe, said the judges looked for the "biggest and freshest ideas".