So the folks from Contagious and Leo Burnett had a session today on "wildfire stories" - the art of creating immersive narratives with a "pass on" factor. Who knew it was as simple as just choosing from seven basic plots which are common themes in literature?! That the advertising world is as simple as seven basic ad formats?! Somehow, I don't see PR in such simplicity, thankfully. And here they are folks:
1. Comedy – case study: comparethemarket.com in the UK supported by rich Russian meerkat Aleksander Orlov. Cute critter campaign with Orlov stacking up over 4,000 friends on Facebook and another 16,000 on Twitter.
2. Tragedy – case study: promote the Dark Knight from Bat Man, an alternate reality game that created a 360-degree experience in the US via street marketing, digital, stunts, live events & more. The campaign engaged more than 10 million participants.
3. Overcoming the Monster – case study: help Doritos conquer the relatively new Argentine market by resurrecting the slow dance, helping Argentinean youths to get closer to the object of their desire. This campaign created the largest flash mob in LatAm.
4. Voyage & Return – case study: Sagami Condoms 0.02mm in Japan where condom advertising is outlawed. A real couple in a long-distance relationship was recruited to demonstrate "Love Long Distance" by participating in a 1 billion-metre marathon to meet each other, supported by blogs, SMS, video chats, live streaming, etc., and resulted in a 125% increase in sales versus the previous year.
5. Quest – case study: adidas South Africa 2010 integrated campaign leveraging ”Every Team Needs” as its guiding principle
6. Rags to Riches – case study: James Ready Beer in Canada engaged consumers in an ongoing cause to keep the price of their beer to a buck by offering to share 100 billboards with JR’s loyal fans - a great example taking user-generated content to a new level.
7. Rebirth – case study: reinvigorate Yellow by creating reappraisal. This New Zealand campaign centred around building a real restaurant 10 metres high in a tree with all suppliers found in Yellow. Job done with a 10% leap in unprompted recall of Yellow, supported by a ripple effect through PR. And the restaurant was fully-booked with 2,000 people alone in the first month.
Great stories; great cases. I just don't think it's all that simple!
