To promote the 2006 CLIO Awards, an elaborate website, which looks like some sort of under-the-radar, clandestine, government operation, called Creative Liberation Intelligence Organization has been created. The site is full of goodies such as what appear to be actual prank calls by a guy named David Brock to agencies humorously asking for creative execs to review his book. Brock butchers names and even asks for the retired Hal Riney to review his work.
There's tons of other great stuff like an Idea Tracker which is a sort of global idea detection map, a cryptograph that lets you email messages, the ComposiTron 3,000 which lets you create your favorite creative persona, a Microfiche library that contains info on the judges, a Dossier section which has, we're sure, cool stuff but didn't have time to dig in and little stickies peppered around the site promoting the May 14-17 2006 dates for the show. Good stuff.
It seems our story about the house that explodes with an audio-visual Holiday spectacular which we thought had nothing to do with advertising actually, as pointed out by Charley Brough, does. The house, which is decked out with 25,000 lights and computer-programmed to synchronize with Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Wizards in Winter", had a visit from a Miller Brewing film crew which spent seven hours last Thursday filming this year's version of the spectacular to be included in an upcoming commercial.
The house, located in Deerfield Township, Ohio, is owned by the Williams family. Carson Williams, an electrical engineer for Cincinnati Bell Technology, spent three hours on each minute of music programming the lights to move in sync with "Wizards of Winter" and broadcasts the music with low power FM transmitter so that passersby can listen on their car radios while they watch the lights. In addition to the video of last year's spectacular in the original story, you can view the slightly bigger video here.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, some gawkers got in a car accident and, as promised, Williams has shut down his light show indefinitely.
A recent study by the Syndicated Network Television Association claims 80 percent of DVR viewers view syndicated programming live versus 48 percent for network prime time. During the day, 73 percent of DVR users view syndicated talk shows live versus 46 percent of DVR users viewing soaps.
Boston-based buzz marketing firm BzzAgent has strengthened its stance on transparency. While the agency has always asked its bzzagents to disclose their involvement with BzzAgent, the agency now requires all new BzzAgent community registrants to verify that they have read and accepted the company's Code of Conduct which requires campaign participants to make certain others are aware they have volunteered to be involved in a word-of-mouth campaign.
So that existing bzzagents are also adhering to full disclosure, BzzAgent has added a check box to its reporting template, a section where members describe their interactions as they buzz products, which must be checked off to participate as a member of BzzAgent. BzzAgent is also saying it will require members who do not properly disclose their BzzAgent status to those they interact with to complete an online training course before participating in the company's future campaigns.
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Doing some nice work for Honda UK, Wieden + Kennedy has created The Power of Dreams, a mini-movie set to the tune of "Dream the Impossible Dream," that takes the viewer through the history of Honda from its launch of the Super Cub motorbike in 1958 to its invention of the ATV in 1970 to a motorcycle with an airbag to roadsters, speedboats and the cars of today. The movie leads to The Power of Dreams site on which the history of Honda is detailed with each product receiving highlight through multiple microsites. There's also a an enter-to-win contest for a balloon ride over New Zealand. The site puts a nice wrapper on the package that is Honda.
