Advertisers are asking for intelligent advertising. Web users want to be seduced and informed. Those working in traditional advertising are resistant. They still refuse to jump in the game.



Why?

Here are our Top 10 excuses/reasons to explain the big resistance to the digital world.

We are once again a proud sponsor and producer of print and online materials for the 8th edition of the Elektra digital arts festival. This year, you will 'suffer' again as you watch the ambiant minimalist video we produced, which can be seen on the site and projected onto screens at the upcoming fest

You can also check out last year's microsite which we can now happily refer to as multiple award-winning.



For info on this year's Elektra festival: elektramontreal.ca

Our advertising peers continue to like what we do. The folks at the Webby Awards gave a us a nod for our Elektra7 microsite [Official Honoree in the event category] and the gang at the Summit Creative Awards just sent news that we won Gold in the Viral category for evalu8me and Silver in the web category for Elektra7.



Congratulations to our gang for all their hard work.

On one end of the spectrum, Google buys the largest network of ad space in the world. On the other end, the discomfort towards online advertising continues to grow. In this context, we need to better explain the practice of viral. We must all understand it better to use it better.

Viral advertising is essentially a process in which a consumer diffuses a message for an advertiser. The idea of not having to pay for the media is making more than a few people foam at the mouth. Others say that it is so unpredictable that it’s best not to count on it [the opinion of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, it would seem].



Today, we will attempt to answer one crucial viral advertising question: why would a consumer go out of his way to promote an advertiser’s message?

Typically, a media placement on a web site sells for about $30 per thousand impressions [30 CPM].

That’s expensive.



Let’s say that your ‘goal’ is achieved once consumers arrive on your site, no matter what they do. Let’s also say that your banner is ultra-effective and it presents a return that is 3 times greater than the national average [these days, this hovers around 0.25%], which means each visit costs you 4 dollars.

If you were selling a car, this price could be amortized. This also applies to selling a credit card. If you are simply selling a brand image, it’s for you to decide. But, at this price, we have the right to seek out alternatives.

Online ad brokers [those who own a nice chunk of web sites] offer alternatives, namely, ROS, ROC and RON.

Web trends are spilling over into the trad ad world.

Personalization is already big on the web. See your name, face, etc. in lights. Advertisers are on a first name basis with consumers.

Mini has taken this phenomenon and brought it to highway billboards. A microchip sends a signal to the billboard which personalizes the message as the Mini driver cruises by. Cool. Maybe people will stop speeding as a result.



Read more about it on ask a copywriter.

Hey that's cool.

People are using flckr to share their evalu8me results.

evalu8me is something we created for our client, Monster.



There's no better viral buzz than users promoting the application themselves. And with a image/blog post like this, you can get a sneak peek at the result before jumping in yourself.

We are happy to announce the launch of the website we created for Klonfilms.



It’s the company owned by our friend [and collaborator] Gunnar Hansen, a visual effects designer for over twenty years.

Kudos to Marilyse Dionne, Marie-Claude Leblanc, Chantale Grenon and Éric Clément.

Our client, Monster.ca, sponsors the TV show « La job » on SRC. To our great pleasure, we got to invent Sudoku-à-deux [loosely translated, Sudoku-for-two]. Yes, we did say “invented”.



Sudoku you’ve heard of. (If not, it’s all explained in the game.] Now you can play against the boss [le patron], the assistant [l’adjoint], the sales guy [le vendeur] or the receptionist [la réceptionniste]. At Provokat, we’ve been able to beat them all, can you? The challenge is on.

Kudos to Marilyse Dionne, Sylvain Ferland, Charlie Dawes, François Morin, Éric Clément and Marie-Eve Boucher.

Surely you will agree that this ad is charming.

It was shown on TV, but you’ll be watching it online.

We have a sweet spot for the work Wieden + Kennedy does for Honda. We've already talked about them here.

Now it seems a new gem is on the verge of coming out with Asimo, according to AdFreak



Pre-ads travel on-line.

And every day this week there will be a new segment here.

But, according to Honda’s Power of dreams, the Asimo ad was launched last year. And the one about the Honda jet a few months ago.

We don’t follow, and we’re seduced.

By W+K and the power of dreams.

Thursday was a big day for our team: we won three big prizes at the Boomerang gala.

Grand prize for and event related site for elektra.

Grand prize. B2B site, for this blog. It makes us happy, for sure. And motivates us to keep on blogging.

Grand prize, online campaign for evalu8me.ca. This prize is very special to us.

First, it’s our third year winning this prize. And, for us, it is one of the most prestigious.

Second, it was won ex-aequo with Fjord. This gave our creative director a chance to share the stage with their Art Director. Since they are a couple in ‘real life’, it was very touching.



After the ceremony, the two agencies and friends gathered together to celebrate at our Party 2.0. Maybe we'll post be pictures…

It is often said that in web advertising we attract more than cry out.

Here are two attractive banners for Sky, produced by Glue: they subtly offer rather than impose.



Banners found on Bannerblog through the ad feed that now has an 'Online Creative' section.

A product: the Samsung k5 [an MP3 player that lets you exchange files and doing so, share music].

A site: mpfreedom.com

On the aforementioned site, you can see videos.

Running in parallel, a viral ad, spread virally by the site/agency Kontraband.



Complementarity makes more sense than simple integration bordering on copy/paste.

The key to convergence is the site’s address. The rest is only toppings.

The brand is linked to the product, and to this address.

Forsman & Bodenfors, the Swedish agency, just launched a superb application. It helps parents decide whether they should go to the doctor when their kid has a cold.

The questionnaire is very well done. Even the loader is top notch. This micro-site was produced for Apotek, a drugstore chain.



The advertising helps the consumer. It's more a branding exercise than a sales pitch. It’s practical and concrete. And it’s well-executed.

An ad helping consumers is a charming idea. We'd like to invite our friends in traditional advertising to consider this as food for thought.

Link found on Adverblog.