Shell Oil takes a good swing

I got a copy of the long (9 minutes) version of Shell's Eureka in my Wired mag. I watched it, so what? Also, there were 2 print ads to go with it throughout the mag. Also, the video is easily found online and TV. So good job Shell. Although, they didn't buy the search, so I ended up with sleeping bags at first. ANYWAY, it's a good effort. The movie was a bit obvious and chocked full o public relations. But, entertaining and free. I'll dub this compelling content because they covered their bases by making sure messages matched across media, and because they did a movie, however short, with high production value and effort.

Reviving the Phone

So I saw an ad for the MTV Movie Awards on the side of a phone booth. It read, for a good time call 1-877-SARAH-07. With Sarah Silverman in the picture. Brilliant.
How many times do we advertisers ask people to txt "bllsht" to 4553? Or to check out this website.com, next time your at a computer, ok?
No, this ad reminds us that phones are in all our pockets, and that a phone number is still useful. Oh, and it was entertaining. Sarah Silverman is so freaking funny. I called 6 times to hear all the different messages. Anyway, its compelling content because I got to be entertained walking down the street for a free call, and I got a message to watch the MTV movie awards, which I might do because, again, Sarah is so freaking funny.
My complaint: Why couldn't I find an image of the poster online? That's called impressions people, and the more you make available said impressions for distribution the more you get. Is it that hard?

Award Shows are relevant, dammit! Volume Three

So I went to the one show last night. And I was getting really mad, because on top of the 30 or 40 pencils TBWA\Chiat\Day NY took home, I thought they were going to give best in show to the same set of ads.
But alas, One Show, you've shown me that you can honor good advertising. Skittles and Combos are great, I mean great commercials. But the Best of Show award went to
"Tate Tracks" for the Tate Modern Museum, by Fallon London. Phew, that was close. I'm so glad it won. They asked musicians to come to the museum, pick a piece and write a song about it. In order to hear the music, you had to go to the museum and stand in front of the piece. The important thing is that people who came were truly interested, truly compelled, and exactly the target. No sweepstakes, no tv commercials, just Compelling Content at its best.
FYI: Volume 1, Volume 2

Via BeyondMadisonAvenue, I was exploring this viral campaign. The creators claim its part of the "Never Hide" big idea for RayBan. But I ask you, where is the website url, or even a logo? As for the action, where is the hiding (or the actively not hiding)? It's cool, don't get me wrong, but it is in no way compelling content. I think people will like it, and buzz will ensue, so that's a plus. And as a lifestyle piece, I think they're right on the target. But what does this video tell me about shades, or more specifically, RayBans and me together?

ThoughtEquity will help us be better

I'm interested in this business model. Stock video will be quite helpful to creative presentations at ad agencies. And as we work out the kinks of trying to put :30 spots on the internet, and work towards more useful time parameters (:10 spots, or 2 min content heavy messages, perhaps?), having a wealth of videos clip together will move us forward as advertisers. This itself is not compelling conent, but it is a means to which we can create compelling content.
I met some of the crew from TE last night, I asked them if they fund shoots, and they said that's next. Right now they're trying to gain stock and sell the idea. Also, I think its cool that they have National Geographic, HBO and the NCAA on their roster. This is a possible stream for organizing and distributing the millions and millions of hours of useful footage out there.

Because sponsorship works sometimes

Just stumbled upon QDNow, it's a site that hosts 5 different quick and dirty (currently audio) podcasts. The most famous of which is Grammar Girl. The CONTENT part is that this is very useful, very digestable podcasts about interesting things, e.g. Money, Law, Manners and Second Life (I know, it's different). The COMPELLING part is that I am totally (surprisingly) willing to listen to a :30 endorsement of the sponsor at the beginning of the podcast. If this were a preroll ad on a youtube video, or a movie trailer I'd kindly tell the sponsor to suck it, and not watch the video, not enough interest to suffer for it. But with Grammar Girl and Law Lad, the content is so useful and diverse, I am more than glad to hear an ad message. And thats how it should be, people. Give us useful, free, interesting stuff, and we'll hear your pitch. Easy.