MAMMU is not just a fashion company; it is a movement. Its content is created by a collective of designers, marketing experts, business consultants, photographers, artists, resellers, social business designers and passionate people who want to change society for good.

The premise of MAMMU is cause driven rather than motivated by a profit. In essence, MAMMU helps to provide mothers with social benefits through producing creative and high-quality fashion products. In order to assist them, MAMMU provides flexible working hours.

MAMMU espouses 7 important principles of social business:

1. Business objective will be to overcome poverty, or one or more problems (such as education, health, technology access, and environment) which threaten people and society; not profit maximization


2. Financial and economic sustainability


3. Investors get back their investment amount only. No dividend is given beyond investment money


4. When investment amount is paid back, company profit stays with the company for expansion and improvement


5. Environmentally conscious


6. Workforce gets market wage with better working conditions


7. ...do it with joy

The MAMMMU collection was designed by Liva Kauke Saule. Each of the high quality linen scarfs is a unique piece of fashion. The second collection of scarfs was designed by the Latvian designer HAYDA. Her individualized handmade scarves join together youth, sports and the taste of history.

If you are passionate and creative and want to support the project with your talents please contact MAMMU or visit their website: http://www.mammu.lv/

When asked 'what would upset you more on Valentine's Day? from a list of choices ranging from receiving a gift you didn't like, receiving the same gift as last year, receiving a gift card, or receiving just a card, women were far more likely than men to say they would be upset if their spouse or romantic partner did not do anything to acknowledge the day. Women were almost twice as likely to dwell on this as 51% of female respondents said they would be dismayed compared to only 26% of male respondents.

Moreover, the Life Style Study® reveals that this gender difference in attitude also prevails regardless of marital or dating status. However, it appears that if you are married, acknowledging the day is not nearly as tantamount as it is if you are dating someone.

22% of married men vs. 32% of men living with someone in a relationship vs. 39% of men dating somebody but not living with them would be upset if their partner did not acknowledge the day at all.

47% of married women vs. 63% of women living with someone in a relationship vs. 66% of women dating somebody but not living with them would be upset if their partner did not acknowledge the day at all.

These statistics not only corroborate the finding that women place a greater emphasis on the significance of acknowledging Valentine's day than men, but also that both genders view acknowledging the day as an important barometer of how their romantic partner feels about them. Therefore, people in committed, long-term relationships view the holiday differently than those in newer, more casual relationships.

The Life Style Study® also confirms that a similar sentiment holds true even for women who are not currently dating someone. 51% of non-dating women vs. 28% of non-dating men still feel that they would be upset if their future spouse or romantic partner didn't do anything to acknowledge the day.

The national print campaign urges both men and women to 'Give in to Gü'. This is the very first time that a Gü campaign has directly targeted men, and it kicks this off with the launch of the limited edition product, 2 individual passion fruit soufflés in a special Valentine's Day pack.

Two press ads have been produced, one targeted at men and the other at women, playing on the gender differences that Valentine's Day conjure. The male targeted ad shows that buying the Gü Passion soufflé is an easy way to get brownie points, playing on that age old cliché of men picking up the cursory bunch of flowers for Valentine's Day with the line 'Think of them as edible roses'.

The female-focused ad toys with the idea that whilst buying the 2 soufflés as a gift for your loved one, it also guarantees a selfish treat for yourself at the same time. The cheeky headline says 'I saw these, and thought of me'. Both ads feature the trademark Gü black background and have 'hero shots' of the soufflés.

According to Ellie Fennell, Marketing Director at Gü: "The trend for couples dining in on Valentine's Day is increasing so we wanted a campaign that spoke to men and women about our new Passion Soufflé as an ideal dessert to celebrate the occasion. I think the DDB work got the message across in a very Gϋ way."

The Valentine's campaign comes hot on the heels of the Give in to Gü national TV campaign that aired in December when Gü saw a 40% increase in sales and reached 65% post-campaign brand awareness, which was an all-time high for Gü.

Take a look at the Gü Facebook page for more details: facebook.com/GuUK.

Check out Gü's ranking in Campaign's Top 10 Valentine's Ads: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/News/1116931/

Never heard the Falklands?

Two of the Falklands' major resources are landmines and wool, the former due to a 150-year ownership conflict between Argentina and Britain and the latter due to a surfeit of sheep. The truth of the matter is that there's not much information about the Falkland Islands outside of those focusing on either the war or on the islands' diverse wildlife. That's why Jamie, and his co-producer Vern Cummins are attempting to intimately capture the experiences, hardships and unique qualities of the people that call the Falklands home.

Their project is called 51º South, named for the Longitudinal coordinate at which the islands are located. It's a 7,000 mile journey from Chicago that takes over two days to complete. Bringing them first through New York, then Santiago to Punta Arenas, Chile and onwards to RAF Base Mount Pleasant.

Jamie and his partner need a minimum of $10,000 to produce their series this spring, and launch in time for the 30th anniversary of the Conflict June 14th. So, what's the hip way to ask for a handout in the 21st century? Kickstarter, of course! On Kickstarter, they are already over half way to their goal with 75 backers pledging more than $6,000. With 17 days left to finance their exploration, you can help kick-start the pair's dream by pledging your donation here and visiting the film's official website here.

DDB UK has created a new campaign for the Star Alliance network with an innovative promotion that allows users to learn about the range of Gold Status benefits in a fun and entertaining way. The app-based competition called 'Picture Your Upgrade' allows business travelers to earn exclusive upgrades and prizes on their travels, simply by taking a photo of the airport journey.

'Picture Your Upgrade' encourages frequent flyers to get more out of their membership while they are traveling on business throughout the network. The app invites travelers to collect photos each week associated with a Star Alliance Gold Status benefit. This entitles them entry into the competition where they can win a relevant upgrade. For example, they can turn a photo of an ordinary airport lounge seat into designer furniture, or a snap of airport luggage trolleys into a luxury luggage set. Each picture will then be geo-targeted appearing on a map to help spread this example of Social Creativity and teach people about Star Alliance in the process.

The competition will run from February 8th until April 4th. In addition to the weekly prizes, users are entered into a Grand Prize draw to win Round the World Business Class tickets or an upgrade to Star Alliance Gold status.

Check out the appropriate download:

Iphone

Blackberry

Android

Or check out the Facebook page for more details:

https://www.facebook.com/staralliance?sk=app_209105292488070

AdAge culled its entries for the International Agency of the Year contest in which shops around the world submit an array of clever ideas that solved problems for clients.

Check out the four DDB and Tribal DDB campaigns that were profiled in AdAge as being exemplars of Agency of the Year caliber work:

What to do with instruction manuals too difficult to understand

Tok&Stok, an Ikea-like retailer in Brazil, used Twitter manuals to demonstrate how easy its furniture is to assemble by shortening instructions to a series of 140-character tweets. Customers who bought a piece of furniture just had to find the corresponding hashtag, displayed on stickers on the furniture and product boxes. Besides driving home the point that this furniture is easy to assemble, the Twitter manuals caught the attention of a younger audience buying their first items of furniture.

Tok&Stok and DDB Brasil also took the easy-to-assemble message to much odder media, like a Tok&Stock business card that turns into a little paper chair if you follow the instructions. And a puzzle, with the same number of pieces as the item purchased, that shows you how to "make" the furniture as you put together the puzzle.

To bring back a brand, involve former users in a stunt to draw younger customers.

Another DDB Brasil client, toy maker Estrela, wanted to relaunch its 1980s toy-train brand Ferrorama. To generate interest among a digitally oriented generation, the company's president challenged Ferrorama's biggest online fan group to prove its faith in the toy's return with a mini-journey along the famous pilgrim's route to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The catch: The little toy train had to travel the last 12 miles of the journey without stopping, even though the fan group had only 120 meters of old train tracks. The journey took five days, as the hardworking fans constantly picked up pieces of track and relaid them ahead of the train. People followed the feat in real time via video and tweets, and could interact with the team through the "Come back, Ferrorama" website.

Estrela relaunched the Ferrorama train set, and the product sold out in a month.

To reach young people, link music and fashion.

The iTunes-like StarHub Music Store in Singapore combined music and fashion -- two ways young people often express themselves -- by attaching radio-frequency identification chips to clothing in stores. When a piece of clothing was taken into a fitting room, it triggered an RFID speaker to play a music track in the dressing room matching the garment's style. Then a text was sent to the shopper's phone, offering a free download of the song he or she was listening to. The music and corresponding clothing were divided into 16 genres, including hip-hop, punk, rock pop, folk, ballads and reggae, totaling more than 10,000 songs. The RFID chips were used in eight fashion brands in 42 stores. The effort by StarHub and DDB Singapore had an average click-through of 84% and boosted paid music downloads by 21%.

Make the medium the message to demonstrate a key product feature.

Swedish winters require a rugged car. Volkswagen made a "winter-adjusted offer for a winter-adjusted car" to stir interest in its 4Motion four-wheel-drive feature. DDB Sweden put the car on a billboard plunked in the middle of a frozen Swedish lake. Once the ice melted and the billboard sank, the deal was over.

TV, print, in-store and banner ads all highlighted the billboard, which was streamed live so people could follow its Titanic-like destiny. A contest to guess when it would sink was a natural fit for social media. The billboard submerged April 14, after two months of live entertainment. Sales rose 38% in the first quarter of 2011 from the year-earlier period.

For years, the USA Today list has been the "official" list of the best Super Bowl spots. Most of us on the panel have at one time another received a brief in which making the top 10 was the explicit objective. And even with dozens of other lists, metrics, and various ways to rate and rank Super Bowl spots, the USA Today list is still the most viewed. So who determines this most important list? According to the USA Today website, "286 adult volunteers in Phoenix and McLean, Virginia." Go figure.

No offense to the folks in Phoenix or McLean, but the panel didn't much care for their rankings. It's important to note that we all recognize the incredible amount of work that goes into making a Super Bowl commercial--from selling it through layers within an agency, through the layers at the client, securing a top-notch director, etc. all under the utmost scrutiny and pressure from inside and outside. So kudos to everyone who managed to get a spot onto the big stage this year--a great accomplishment in itself.

But we were asked to be critics (as is every viewer in America on game day).

When I got into advertising, my mother told me, "Just put a dog or a baby in everything." Apparently, I should have listened. It's no secret that the well-worn formula to the Super Bowl spot is to use at least one of these: dog (chimpanzee or other animal also okay), baby, sex, someone getting hit in the head/crotch, celebrity. Reading down the top 10 list, you have: Dog-Dog-Dog-Baby-Sexy candy-Dog-Cheetah-Ferris Bueller-chimp-sex.

So the safe play is to follow the formula. Which is what most advertisers did this year. And if the goal was to make USA Today's top 10, then they succeeded. But if the goal is to stand out or be memorable beyond Monday, the panel thought they were less successful.

The unanimous favorite of the formula ads was VW's "The Dog Strikes Back." It didn't live up to the Little Vader spot from last year, but it was a well-produced, well-shot piece of visual storytelling. The success of the commercial's button, which was set in the Star Wars cantina and linked this year's spot to last year's, was more debatable.

The panel also unanimously liked the Fiat spot, "Seduction." Compared to GoDaddy's annual hackfest, this spot is well shot, ties nicely to the product, and shows that a spot can be sexy without being sexist and tasteless.

Universally panned by the panel were the Doritos spots, which stuck to the Super Bowl schtick. They're consumer-generated spots, but the novelty of that has worn off. And the production value of them has gotten slick enough that they've lost any charm that a home-made shot-on-a-dime-with-dad's-camera spot might have. Which leaves them in a weird middle ground--slapstick jokes with little craft.

We also had a lively discussion of Chrysler's "Halftime in America" spot. We all admired the craft, though disagreed on whether or not Clint Eastwood was a good pick for spokesperson. This spot wasn't included in the USA Today poll because it ran at halftime, but we all agreed that it was the most breakthrough, and anyone who watched the game at a party commented on how the room went silent when the 2-minute pep talk to America came on the tube.

Audi's "Vampire Party" was also commended for its high production value, music, and the fact that it didn't telegraph humor from the opening shot.

My personal favorite Super Bowl spot was the little-seen Will Ferrell spot for Old Milwaukee. In a way, it was the anti-Super Bowl spot, running only in North Platte, Nebraska. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tejGMPAShdY

Jerry Gibbons concluded the panel by reminding everyone that the best in our business are craftspeople. A great concept, well-executed will always be admired, even if it isn't rewarded by the fine folks in Phoenix and McLean. And he implored us to approach everything we do and everything we create as if 111 million people were going to see it on the biggest stage in the world.

I'm back from the sixth annual Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games in Madrid, and the trip was amazing. The conference was packed with so many great presenters, and I left feeling delightfully bewildered and intellectually stimulated. The three days of presentations found us in an old slaughterhouse that has since been turned into the beautiful home of INTERMEDIÆ, and at the Medialab-Prado.

This year's meeting of the conference focused on what it means to be a videogame player, and there was no shortage of great ideas. The members of the conference were incredibly kind and receptive to my argument, so my paper, entitled "Believe and Be Live: Entangled Experience in Halo," which focuses on the cultural implications of the digital revolution, will only need marginal revisions.

You can read my full paper here

Besides the exceptionally helpful feedback I received on my own work, the greatest takeaway was a keynote delivered by Dr. Gordon Calleja, an Associate Professor at IT University of Copenhagen. In his presentation, Gordon detailed the backbone of his new book In-Game: From Immersion to Incorporation, in which he develops a theory of why games grab hold of us in such an interactive and all encompassing way. Gordon's work is very approachable, and has a lot to offer any advertiser involved in developing interactive content. I'd recommend that anyone interested pick up a copy of his book ASAP. Mine is already in the mail!

DDB Worldwide CCO, Amir Kassaei, was featured in Campaign this week after his appearance at DDB Dubai where he conceptualized his new creative vision for the DDB Network. Bringing a new creative edge is particularly crucial as DDB Dubai is in the process of adjusting to and redefining itself through a recent merger.

Amir has spent the past year in his new post as CCO traveling around to every DDB office to share his plan in an effort to provide a unified creative vision to the whole company, while each office continues to cater itself regionally. Amir's vision called "Lemon 2020" is a referent to DDB's founder, Bill Bernbach's, ingenious "Lemon" ad for VW and is a modern reinterpretation of Bernbach's focus on the core essence of DDB.

Amir's creative plan is based off of the axiom put forth by Bernbach that stated, "If you want to be successful as a brand, you have to find or create a relevant truth and deliver it, or communicate it in a fresh way so people start to share and care about it." Amir hopes in sharing his inspiring plan across the network, he will provide a cohesive definition and standard of creativity as well as support each office with consistent tools and infrastructure going forward into 2012 and well beyond into 2020.

The "Go Green 2012" is a digital interactive platform that was disseminated to all of our friends and clients inviting them to participate in making our planet greener. With every email greeting, the recipient was invited to plant a virtual tree on a specially created website. For each tree planted, DDB pledged to donate a dollar to the Saudi Environmental Society, SENS.

What a fresh and optimistic way to start 2012.

Being GREEN or environmentally friendly is one of the big new trends being followed by many companies in KSA. In the last three years, there have been a lot of initiatives taken by the government from city cleaning activities, environmental awareness programs, and establishing SENS. Similarly, private sector organizations have conceived of some unprecedented international environmental protection initiatives.

For those who would like to know more about these environmental initiatives in Saudi Arabia, here are a few useful links.

• Saudi Gulf Environmental Protection Company (SEPCO)
• Eco Boy Book Series by Lana Sultan
• Arab environmental solutions and sustainability
• Saudi Green Building Council
• Naqa's Environmental Enterprise
• GREENation

These are all positive signs for a country with an obsessive consumption culture, high disposable income and a thriving young population, in addition to being the largest producer of oil in the world. However, being a "Green" Company in Saudi Arabia is a bigger achievement than you may think. It is a matter of survival. Literally.

According to the Ministry of Labor in KSA, every business organization is required to employ a certain percentage of Saudi nationals as part of its total workforce. Only when the required number of Saudi nationals are employed, will the company be given a "Green" status. In case of non-compliance, the company can face heavy financial fines, hiring restrictions and even disqualifications. A company may not be completely "Green" today but based on how far they are from the required target, a company may receive an Orange or a Red rating code.

Now this seems like a brilliant initiative to create employment for a society with 60% local population under the age of 24 years and unemployment rate at a staggering 15%, but here is the reality check. Where do you suddenly find competent, qualified and willing Saudi workers who now have to replace up to 60% of your existing team? Here lies the real problem. Limited talent. Unlimited Demand.

Hiring, training and most importantly retaining staff especially in service sector businesses becomes such a critical criteria, that it may even challenge the feasibility of your business. To be a Green Company in these difficult times is quite an achievement. It shows impeccable resource planning, operational excellence and, most importantly, a great culture that is able to attract and retain local talent.

However the question remains unanswered. How do you find the right replacement talent? How about if every leading player in their respective industry takes their CSR budget and invests this money in developing local talent?

Instead of complaining let us start creating. Imagine if one of the travel industry giants takes the initiative to train young Saudis with basic skills and technical courses related to their industry. Within a few months, we can have a skilled supply of workers, trained to work in the travel industry all across the country.

There are some local industry patrons who have directed their CSR efforts towards skill development; Goody Kitchen is a great example of empowering women through training and skill development in the culinary field. Initiatives like these not only create new opportunities for young Saudis, but can also act as a social catalyst towards developing a progressive self-reliant community. Furthermore, it provides a great platform for organizations to demonstrate their commitment to the society by becoming visionary mentors to the local youth.

What about our industry? How about a College of Creativity! Any takers?

DDB had strong showing across all categories and geographies. Some highlights include:

• Our Stockholm, Brasil, Paris and New Zealand offices were all recognized as "The Most Awarded Advertising Agencies in the World"
• Stockholm and Paris were also among the "The Most Awarded Digital Agencies in the World"
• Campaigns that were most awarded include: VW Responsible Driving (DDB Argentina), VW Speed Camera Lottery (DDB Stockholm), FedEx's Neighbors (DDB Brasil), and INPES Tobacco Awareness (DDB Paris)
• Our clients VW, FedEx, IKEA and McDonalds were among the "The Most Awarded Advertisers in the World".

A big congratulations to the DDB Network!

DDB UK CEO, Stephen Woodford, made a guest appearance on SKY News yesterday to discuss the importance of Facebook as a platform for advertisers in light of its imminent public offering. In the past couple of days, online as well as offline conversations have been dominated by buzz and speculation about the valuation of this hegemonic social network which boasts as many as 800 million users, 30 million of which are from the UK.

DDB's Woodford affirmed Facebook as an effective way for advertisers to proliferate messages to a captive audience, particularly as the platform itself continues to proliferate at an unprecedented rate. He cited Facebook's added value that differentiates it from traditional mediums, and even other internet advertising platforms, as its ability to engage with people on such a deep level. As many as 50% of Facebook users log on to the site every single day to update their status, go on their friends' profiles, peruse their newsfeeds, or "like" a brand or product. Therefore, the opportunity for advertisers lies in leveraging personalized, highly targeted messages that aim to contribute qualitatively to the overall user experience.

Woodford cautioned marketers, encouraging them to carefully cater the way they try to interact with consumers and respect their privacy. He maintained that, given how exposed younger people are when they disclose their personal information, advertisers should make their appeals with the utmost sensitivity.

Lastly, when asked what he thinks the valuation of Facebook will be, Woodford relayed a response that Facebook's valuation should be approximately $100 per life. This exhibits just how quintessential the the social platform has become for communication for businesses and individuals alike. Although the valuation is just a monetary amount, it will be a clear indication of the Facebook's preeminence in both our public and private lives.

Social media is undeniably a hot topic in marketing. Yet, with all of the interest and activity, there are amazingly few standout examples to draw on and learn from. This is because social media gets tangled up in the technology when its essence is in human behavior. It has so quickly become a part of our society because it has recognized the fact that people love to share.

Through the centuries, anywhere people gathered, they shared ideas, opinions, and beliefs. Now the Internet and social media allow us to share more, more often, to more people, and at faster speeds than ever before.

All of this and more are explored in a new DDB Yellow Paper called We Love to Share: Social Media Means Business. It covers how social media mirrors (mostly) normal human behavior and how trust and influence are both primal and primary factors in social media marketing success. The paper features five interesting cases that demonstrate the theory through practical application. And it provides a framework on how to implement social media marketing efforts.

To be sure, these efforts require creativity and innovation. And this means experimentation. We hope that this paper will provide tangible guidance but at the end of the day, social media marketing demands that you be bold and take some chances.

To celebrate the creativity and diversity of DDB New York, we kicked off a special month-long exhibition mounted throughout the New York office. The works represent submissions of DDB'ers who have generously shared art that they have created and, in some cases, the art of those related to them. For many DDB'ers, this was their first exhibition of their work. In total, the work that has been curated for the exhibition is as impressive as it is broad in creative scope.

This is a follow-up event to the Taste of DDB 1.0, which took place last year and celebrated ethnic cuisines from different countries of origin of many DDB New York employees. Similar to the art showcase, last year's event sought to exhibit our cultural diversity in an interactive setting and encourage office-wide engagement with foods from all around the world. After the event, DDB created a cookbook encompassing all of the delicious recipes. Following the month-long exhibit of the artwork, the exhibit will be commemorated in Taste of DDB Annual, which will take the form of an artist catalogue rather than a cookbook.

The event yesterday spanned three floors of the agency and had various special attractions on each floor, including a dialogue with Tattfoo Tan about his practice of collapsing the boundaries between art and advertising, a room full of Twig terrariums that exemplified how miniature magical worlds are created, and a paint workshop which allowed DDB'ers to apply their creativity in an attempt to recreate famous masterpieces, to name a few.

Below, DDB Remedy copywriter, Arlene Ellis, stands with her illustration. She explains that many of her pieces are influenced by organic patterns due to her background in neuroscience. The piece displayed at Taste of DDB 2.0 uses her favorite patterns and colors as she chronicles her love of fashion design, the awe-inspiring colors and patterns found in nature, and an appreciation of decorative arts.

Below, Creative Department Coordinator, Nina Horowitz, stands beside her photographs. Nina has a longtime passion for photography. She received her Bachelors of Art in photography from Lafayette College and specializes in portraiture, with a special proclivity for photographing strangers. The artwork displayed here is from a photography thesis entitled, "This is She; Portraits of Women from the Lehigh Valley," which serves as a visual introduction into the diverse community of women who live and work near Lafayette College. The woman are photographed in their homes to portray a sense of comfort, price, and intimacy.

A special thank you to the efforts of Karina Argudo, Minerva Garcia, Karin Christina Ospina Tideman, Monica Hudson, Dominick Santiago, the Office Services Team, Ralph Navarro, Peggy Squazzo, Menno Kluin, Jane Piampiano and Marlon Crosbie for making this event possible.