Gap is thus celebrating its 40 years birthday with an exclusive internet campaign, encouraging consumers to share and promote the brand!

Ivy Ross, Gap’s executive VP of marketing, said, “Our Born to Fit digital campaign enables customers to get as close as possible to the jeans without actually touching or feeling them. Then, once they’ve had a chance to try the jeans on in-store, we encourage them to come back to our Born to Fit community to share their opinions, style tips or even create their own ‘Born to’ expression.

Idea bounty (IB) is not really precise about how large is the community but to make it growing fast, IB spreads some talent and offers to pay 10% of the “Bounty” if one of your friend invited on the platform, has a winning Idea! Other sign of distinction, IB community seems mainly constituted by African up and coming agencies like Urbian who won BMW contest. Like another evidence, the platform is also linked to Muti “a Social bookmarkting site dedicated to content of interest to Africans or those interested in Africa”

So, what are the advantages for the client? As the website answers, “If you truly wanted to inject the new energy and diverse thinking (Ideas) of hundreds of hungry experts, the costs would grow exponentially with Idea Bounty you have access to all the Ideas you could possibly imagine but you only have to pay for what you like – or only one!, we should better say-. Looks like Idea Bounty bet on “low cost R&D” arguing.

Key point is how ideas can be protected? As Copyright law states, ideas themselves are not capable of protection and in this case we can’t see what could really prevent brands to take advantages of ALL ideas they have received all their year long campaign.

Not really fair you think? In FAQ, IB kindly prevents you “If you believe your Idea is worth $10,000 and the Bounty is $1,000, then you should not submit your idea”… but risk of desertion seems to be limited: like Gary Willmott, enthusiastic BMW contest Winner, says “It’s not often you win 3k in Dollars! Which is pretty neat with South Africa’s exchange rate.”

Do WWF think about these considerations?  Time to invent user generated advertising fair trade huh?

Morgan Stanley’s European media analysts asked Matthew Robson, an intern from a London school, to describe his friends’ media habits.

His report, that dismissed traditional web advertising and described Twitter as pointless, proved to be “one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen – so we published it”, said Edward Hill-Wood, executive director of Morgan Stanley’s European media team.

“Most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing, as often it creates humorous and interesting content. Teenagers see adverts on websites (pop ups, banner ads) as extremely annoying and pointless, as they have never paid any attention to them and they are portrayed in such a negative light that no one follows them” said Matthew Robson.

The response to this report was enormous. “We’ve had dozens and dozens of fund managers, and several CEOs, e-mailing and calling all day,” said E. Hill Wood.

This report underlines something that we know well at Eyeka; traditional advertising reaches less and less people on the internet. Instead, viral content and participative marketing is step by step replacing common advertising channels by engaging consumers. Thank you Matthew for your report!

Sources:
- the FT’s front page story
- the full copy of the research note written by Matthew Robson

The eYeka’s authors have therefore rack their brain to stage a single product. For the original alarm clock, they have also shown a surprising impulse of creativity. Whether unusual, funny, crazy, dreamlike, the videos are of a quality once again amazing! And yet they had only from 14 to 31 May to submit their creations. With such a short time, the number of videos might be unimportant.  (See contest) Well no! 72 videos have perfectly fitted to the original brief imposed by the brand. A great success for a call for entries so quick  and focused on a single product. But luck has nothing to do in there. The eYeka community was perfectly stimulated and framed to respond in time with high quality content.

I let you judge for yourself with this small selection of clips totally different yet equally relevant.

There is only one huge problem for Philips … it will be hard to choose the winner!

Authenticity, warmth, closeness, originality, quality of service and hospitality … You might think that I speak about Eyeka but it is also true for the hotel chain Best Western. And there are all the assets that consumers should illustrate for this call for entries, online from May 20 to July 5. For this operation there will be several winners who will then be aired on the web but also in the hotels of the chain with an endowment combination of 9000 euros

- 1st video Prize : 5000 Euros
- 2nd video prize: 2000 Euros
- 3rd prize video: 500 Euros
- 1st prize photo: 1000 Euros
- 2nd prize photo: 500 Euros
As Eyeka creatives are often photographers and videographers, they can accumulate their participation in photo and video. First  interest for the brand is a video with a great viral potential obviously to bear the symbols of the brand and to show all of its assets.

First time in first class
First ste of the operation is the site PitchTV.  Internet users are asked to post avideo explaining their concept. Once a month, a selection of the best videos will be done and submitted to the votes of the public. Afterward the five winning videos will be broadcasted monthly in first class, to entrepreneurs, which, if interested, will be able to contact the young creative.

However, the site set warnings, you really must want to present your idea and take the necessary precautions to prevent theft.

The idea seems to make his way since, in line since early 2009, it has already attracted users and the 2nd batch of winning videos has been communicated. Here are a few:

With a second look, a question arises : are videos all posted or does Sir Richard Branson keep some up his sleeve? Indeed, he’s got a right of first sight  on posted contents and therefore, an exclusivity on  novelty. Soon the first success story participatory, why not?

We also can recognize that it reserve a strong place to its  subscribers, since it encourages people to respond in the magazine when they are in disagreement with certain choices, serious or not.

So, as I said, this time it’s a little online game that is launched. The purpose, in an picture, 50 films are presented.  There is nothing to win it’s just for glory and it is not as simple as it looks …

We found the 50 references, but could you?…

Yes, you have well understood, the fall of this video is not at all what you could imagine. Because Clara Morgane said: No! And when it’s no … it’s No! A video to promoting the actions of CFCV, the Feminist Collective against Rape.

Here is the full video:

A call for entries creation to increase young people awareness on rape

This video is actually a message of awareness  on women consideration and desire, and a relay to the site of CFCV.
This campaign needed a well known person for 15-25 years, able to talk about a sensitive issue while using an unusual form of dialogue. The artist Clara Morgane has accepted to participate voluntarily in this operation,as all the partners of the operation: MTV, Eyeka, Hill & Knowlton and Y & R.

Internet users will also be able to say “no”!
PPartner in this campaign, Eyeka launch today a call for creation on “the desire is not contagious” and “kan c non, c non!”.  For this video contest , internet users, artists, amateurs and creative people  will participate in this campaign and give their views on this sensitive issue to initiate the debate. For 8 weeks, participants will submit their videos until the election of the winner July 25.

For once, The participants do it for free with the sole objective to provide high visibility to the fight against the tragedy of rape.
Until end of July, the operation will be relayed on MTV with many  TV airs to announce the merger, the competition on Eyeka and of course the winner.

Zoom on the CFCV
The Feminist Collective Against Rape was formed in 1985 in Paris to act against rapes committed in public places in front of witnesses. On 8 March 1986, with financial support from the Ministry of Women’s Rights, the CFCV opened a hotline “-WOMEN-RAPE INFORMATION” toll free in France, French overseas departments and territories, with landline 0 800 05 95 95 , Monday to Friday from 10 am to 19 pm (Paris).

You’ve watched the beginning? Guess what’s going to happen?

The site intend Internet to make users  stars, via a video clip, a press review and a fan site .

Please love me
The website, onmadore.com, offers an interface really flashy. The spirit is pretty well respected and immersion rather good. You’re asked to send a photo and you’re transformed into a  star of a video clip (chanting your name). All elements are present, the MSN avatar, the press release, the fans, the possibility of brodcasting of video on social networks, download your song as a ringtone , and even the banner ads for the Internet.

The approach
We won’t be more Catholic than the pope, the campaign is rather successful. The process goes far enough and whether the communication is sufficient, success should be fairly simple. However it is, as always, possible to improve things.

First, if the site onmadore.com has a link leading to pagesjaunes.fr, there is no reciprocal. The brand discretly wanting to associate its  image to the site events, the question of attribution arises.

Moreover, the approach of the campaign remains in the wake of the site, one  should have been pushing the process to the extreme.  Why, for instance,instead of  offering rewards assigned by lot, not having asked the Internet users, once success story started to go more in depth, aiming to produce a maximum of fans. It would have been possible to ask “stars” to create a fan page on social networks, fake interviews, fake paparazzi’s shots …

In any case the approach is quite satisfactory and to give you an idea of the record, here is the video which is going to permit me to reach the highest steps of  glory ….