SNS Bank is the first big dutch bank to start offering their customers interest on their normal bank accounts. To promote this new offering, ad agency Bone from The Netherlands created an unique protest.
Everybody could sign up for the protest via their Facebook or Twitter accounts. After which their profile pictures were connected to various live rich media banners that were being run on sites like msn.nl and telegraaf.nl.
Boondoggle Amsterdam came up with a campaign for Nike that made running less serious. They distracted youngsters from their boring running schedules and challenged them to release their creativity on Amsterdam by using their feet as paint instead.
A Facebook app called “Take Mokum” (Amsterdam’s local nickname) was developed that allowed runners to make digital graffiti on the map of Amsterdam. All they had to do was actually run the route and upload their KMs with Nike+. The app would then paint the graffiti for them. These graffiti pieces could then be shared, and liked fanatically.
The mechanism is beautifully simple: convert effort into expression. The runner designs a “tag” by choosing a route. The city becomes the canvas. Nike+ becomes the proof that the route was actually run. Then the app visualises the path as graffiti, so the output feels like art rather than exercise data.
That flips the motivation model. You are not running to hit a number. You are running to create something worth showing.
This campaign taps into identity and visibility. Graffiti culture is about leaving a mark. Take Mokum lets people do that in a digital layer without vandalising anything. The “like” loop adds social reward. The route becomes content, not just a workout.
It also removes the seriousness that can make running feel like punishment. The challenge is playful. The accomplishment is shareable.
The business intent is aligned with Nike’s broader mission to change running. Instead of telling young people that running is cool, the campaign makes running a means to do something else: create, compete for attention, and express style. The product story is embedded in the behaviour.
The result: young Amsterdam started running, and Nike’s mission to change running was actually experienced by youngsters.
It is a Facebook app that lets runners create digital graffiti on an Amsterdam map by running a route and uploading the kilometres through Nike+.
The runner’s route becomes the “drawing”. After the Nike+ upload, the app visualises the path as a graffiti-like mark on the city map.
Because the reward is creative and social. You produce something you can share and get reactions to, not just a time and distance record.
To get young people running by making the activity feel playful, expressive, and socially visible, rather than structured and serious.
Motivation improves when you convert effort into identity. Give people a way to express themselves, then let the community reinforce it.
Fresh Green Ads is a green media agency from Amsterdam that developed a Rain Campaign for Sea Life Scheveningen.
Every time it rains the octopus of Sea Life Scheveningen appears on the streets with its tentacles holding the text: “Sea Life laat je niet meer los” (Sea Life never lets you go). When the streets dry up the Rain Campaign disappears. The striking and environmentally friendly message remains visible for up to eight weeks.
The campaign is not just placed outdoors. It is activated by the outdoors. Rain becomes the on-switch, which makes the appearance feel like a small surprise rather than an imposed ad.
In outdoor and ambient media, context-triggered visibility works best when the environment itself becomes the activation switch.
Water is not a backdrop here. It is the medium. The octopus “arrives” with rain and disappears when the street dries. That behavior mirrors the theme and makes the line “never lets you go” feel playful instead of pushy.
Create repeated moments of attention without constant visual clutter. You get spikes of visibility exactly when conditions are right, and then the street returns to normal.
A street-message activation that appears when it rains, showing a Sea Life octopus and the line “Sea Life laat je niet meer los” (Sea Life never lets you go).
The post credits Fresh Green Ads, a green media agency from Amsterdam.
The rain-activated message disappears as the street dries.
The post says the environmentally friendly message can remain visible for up to eight weeks.
