Happy Holiday Videos 2013

Welcome back! Hope everyone had a great holiday season. Now for a great start to 2014! 🙂

Taking off from my last post, here are a series of holiday action videos created by agencies around the world in their lead up to Christmas 2013…

Christmas Chocolate Coin Factory by W+K London

Wieden+Kennedy London turned their Hanbury Street office window into a Christmas installation. Passers-by who inserted a 1 pound coin into Dan & Dave’s Chocolate Coin Factory activated the machine on display which then dispensed a special gold Belgian chocolate coin at the other end. All the money collected from this coin factory was donated towards building a new playground for Millfields Community School in Hackney, East London.

Disrupted Christmas by Holler

Holler an agency from Sydney created a live interactive installation that gave the general public a chance to disrupt the agency as it worked throughout the day. Electric Muscle Stimulation (EMS) units were hacked and hooked up to the Internet via IP cameras. Then key members of the agency were connected to the EMS units, and the Internet via a live stream. The public could then watch the agency staff online and instantaneously zapp them at will with the click of a button.

For each disruption the agency donated $1 to The Factory, a local community centre with a long history of supporting socially and economically disadvantaged local residents.

Happy Holidays by Victor & Spoils

Crowdsourcing agency Victor & Spoils for its holiday card transformed the Dove Body Evolution model into Santa Claus.

The More the Merrier by Publicis Groupe

The Publicis Groupe was back again with another Maurice LĂ©vy YouTube video. This time however they worked with DigitasLBi to create a video that used the viewers webcam and facial recognition to count how many people were actually watching the video together. Then based on the number of viewers the video changed…

The Epic Christmas Split by Delov Digital

Delov Digital from Hungry used Chuck Norris to top Jean-Claude Van Damme’s epic Volvo split with the help of some serious digital enhancement.

Happy Holiday Videos 2012

Welcome back! Hope everyone had a great holiday season. Now for a great start to 2013! 🙂

Taking off from my last post, here are a series of holiday action videos created by ad agencies around the world in their lead up to Christmas 2012…

Reindeer Races by VML Australia

A reindeer race where VML pited friends against friends, reindeer against reindeer, in a special Christmas showdown…

Maurice Lévy’s Digital Wishes by Publicis Groupe

Maurice Lévy, the chairman and chief executive of Publicis Groupe traditionally records a holiday greeting-card video. This year through a special deal with YouTube, Publicis modified the function buttons of the video player, and embed tricks into what seemed like another long boring address by an ad industry veteran…

Carol of the Bells by AKQA

To celebrate the holidays, AKQA teamed up with Adelphoi Music to create a synchronized microwave orchestra…

TwinterWonderland by 360i

To celebrate the arrival of the holiday season and provide assistance to those affected by Hurricane Sandy, 360i wanted to do something big. So for every #TwinterWonderland tweet they received, 360i donated $5 to an aid organization helping with the post-Sandy cleanup effort…

25th Anniversary Holiday CompuCard by TBWA\TORONTO

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, TBWA\TORONTO brought in their digital expert from 1988 who then through an e-card tried to capture the spirit of their past along with their digital future…

Buzzed Buzzer by Havas Worldwide Chicago

The first New Years Eve noise maker that only works when you’re drunk…

Christmas carol played on food by FullSIX Spain

To wish happy new year to customers and friends, FullSIX transformed typical Spanish christmas food into a carol playing piano…

Click here to watch video on the AdsSpot website.

The Snow Machine by Weapon7

Passers-by were invited to Tweet #snow to @thesnowmachine Twitter account. For every tweet received the machine gave ten seconds of snow flurry. The event ran all day, was seen by thousands of people and generated over one thousand tweets…

Sprint: Unlimited Love Billboard in Times Square

You are in Times Square and a billboard asks a simple question. What do you love. You tweet your answer with #EVOLOVE to @sprint, and the screen answers back with places in New York City where you can find it.

Sprint in the USA created an integrated advertising campaign for the launch of the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone on their network. To launch EVO in New York City they set up an interactive billboard in Times Square that encouraged visitors to tweet things they love with #EVOLOVE to @sprint. Then, with the help of local experts, the billboard re-tweeted locations of where these things of love could be discovered in New York City.

In consumer technology launches and telco marketing, social-to-DOOH loops turn a landmark screen into a real-time recommendation engine that people can influence from their own phones.

Why the mechanic works

The mechanism is a clean exchange. You give the brand a public signal. A tweet about something you love. The brand gives you an immediate, useful response. A location you can act on right now. That “reply with value” is what turns a hashtag prompt into participation.

It also creates a visible social proof layer. The billboard is not only showing Sprint’s message. It is showing other people’s messages, which makes the campaign feel alive and current while you are standing there.

What Sprint is really buying

This is a launch tactic that behaves like service. It positions the EVO as a device you use to discover the city, not just a phone with specs. At the same time, it lets Sprint demonstrate “unlimited” as a lived experience. Always on, always connected, always responding in real time.

What to steal for your next interactive OOH idea

  • Make the input obvious. One hashtag. One handle. One sentence prompt.
  • Return something concrete. Maps, directions, a nearby place, a clear next action.
  • Curate the response layer. “Local expert” guidance beats generic automation for relevance and trust.
  • Design for the crowd and the clip. The street moment should be fun to watch. The video should still work without being there.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Sprint #EVOLOVE Times Square billboard?

A digital billboard that invites people to tweet what they love with #EVOLOVE to @sprint, then responds by showing where in New York City they can find that thing.

Why connect Twitter to a billboard instead of running a normal DOOH spot?

Because participation becomes the content. The screen stays fresh, people feel seen, and the interaction creates a public spectacle that attracts more participants.

What is the “value exchange” in this campaign?

The user provides a public message and attention. The brand provides a timely, useful recommendation and makes the user visible on a high-profile screen.

What makes this different from simply displaying tweets on a screen?

The reply layer. The billboard does not only mirror tweets. It answers them with specific places and directions, which turns social chatter into utility.

What is the biggest execution risk?

If the responses feel slow, generic, or off-topic, people stop playing. The campaign only works when the replies feel genuinely relevant in the moment.