Blue Skies Blog

Patrick Collister of The Joined Up Company shows his six of the best ads for the past three years. www.joinedupcompany.com

HBO BBDO New York
(USA): 1:47
This campaign has been winning awards for Best Use of Outdoor as well as Best Integrated idea. To support their positioning as the best TV channel for entertainment, HBO screened a 5-minute film on the side of a building in New York, revealing the stories that might be unfolding on the other side of the wall. Viewers were sent to a website where they could follow each of the stories in more detail. It took the act of watching to new levels.

Speight’s Beer Saatchi & Saatchi
(NZ): 3:04
Responding to the letter from a Kiwi in London saying he missed Speight’s beer, the brewery built a fully-working pub, loaded it on board a ship and sailed it across to London so he, and other expats in the UK, could get a pint of their favourite brew. A blog attracted many thousands of visitors as the boat sailed from Dunedin to London, and PR at both ends helped Speights recapture its place as NZ’s No.1 beer.

Halo 3 Mccann Erickson
(USA): 2:27
To launch the new wargame, Mccann Erickson’s creative idea was to imagine survivors of a war in the future looking back on the struggle. In the Museum of Humanity, old soldiers meet to talk about their experiences. TV commercials were supported by an online documentary about the making of a diorama. The buzz crated helped Halo 3 become the most successful entertainment brand launch ever.

Nelka JWT San Juan
(Puerto Rico): 3:21
Nelka is a rent-a-car brand, dwarfed in Puerto Rico by the international giants, Hertz and Budget etc. Instead of competing for tourists from abroad they concentrated on people travelling at home. The message was: our roads are awful, so don’t use your own cars on them. Use ours.

AMF Pension Sweden
This won a Grand Prix for Media at Cannes. In both online and mobile apps., consumers were invited to upload a photo of themselves. And then see how they would look when they were 70. The idea was taken offline with lenticular posters of a face which appears to age as you pass by, a way of reminding people that it’s never too early to start investing in a pension. 

 

McDonalds Leo Burnett Chicago
To promote the freshness of McDonald’s salads in the USA, the agency enlisted the help of a top US horticulturalist to grow thousands of lettuces on a specially prepared billboard. The campaign attracted much interest and additional PR and sales increased by 30%.