The art of storytelling is and has always been the foundation of engaging and effective communication - independent of the way (media). You know,  a great story (idea) always “sells”. Now, in the post “push advertising ” world, technology has changed the landscape and this art is even more critical. Today, connection (emotional, engaging, relevant) is the key for brand evolution. Your consumer has all the information, there is only one way to win them over…
Some interesting stats on this Consumers Itching to Talk to Brands (summary by FutureLab)  - Findings: Why Companies Should Talk to Customers (summary by Jeremiah Owyang) and org. form ExpoTV.

“Narrative is the experience. As the Web becomes the preferred destination for brand exploration, digital experiences must become richer, deeper, and more able to tell compelling stories. If your brand experience depends entirely on pages and clicks, it’s time to wonder, ‘What is my story?“- from Avenue A Razorfish’s Digital Outlook Report.

Seth Godin touches on the subject with this great post (Five easy pieces) - a must read and thing - and AdWeek ((Author)ity: The Importance of Storytelling) elaborates on the importance.

If you got all the pieces - what is your story?

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To summarize another year of great communication… here are some favorites of mine form the 08 Cannes Lion show.

…and the award goes to - the winners (complete list)

TITANIUM LION
Title: MILLION
Advertiser/Client: NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Product/Service: EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
Entrant Company, City: DROGA5, New York
Country: USA

“Re-brand scholastic achievement for New York City’s 1.1 million public school students by re-enforcing the connection between academic performance and future success. Instead of crafting a traditional advertising campaign, we chose to recognize and reward students’ personal achievements with something they actually wanted. By partnering with Verizon and Samsung, we developed the world’s first communication device fueled by academic performance. The Million is a free cell phone with free talk time and text messaging rewards for excellent attendance, behavior, classroom participation, homework and grades. The more students excel in school, the more they get out of their phone. Learning is earning.”

The power of understanding your audience, pushing the envelope and being present where the audience are with the right set of tools. Impressive and revolutionary with a greatly important cause - education.

INTEGRATED GRAND PRIX
Title: BELIEVE
Advertiser/Client: MICROSOFT
Product/Service: HALO 3 GAME
Entrant Company, City: McCANN WORLDGROUP, San Francisco
Country: USA

“The marketing idea needed to be big enough to matter to our broadest group; but feel genuine and authentic to our core. At the center of the Halo universe is a simple story focused on a hero, Master Chief. As his story unfolds through the trilogy, it is full of tales of bravery, duty, sacrifice, friendship, and selflessness. These themes are consistent with the qualities of real heroes and classic storytelling throughout history, they are universal and timeless - they speak to all of us.”

Grand! Even for a non gamers like myself this launch has really got me interested (which was its intent)… Great execution, strategy - the human side, and media mix… now, anyone that want to play - I am game (as long as you have an XBOX and the game;).

INTEGRATED LION
Title: WHOPPER FREAKOUT
Advertiser/Client: BURGER KING
Product/Service: BURGER KING
Entrant Company, City: CRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY, Miami
Country: USA“To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the WHOPPER®, BURGER KING® created an innovative media campaign in which America’s favorite burger, the WHOPPER®, was removed from the menu for a day and hidden cameras captured customers candid reactions. The first component of the campaign explored deprivation to see what would happen if America’s most beloved burger was removed from the menu without any announcement. The social experiment was taken to another level when in lieu of the WHOPPER® customers were given competitors’ burgers. When the customer returned to the counter to discuss the problem with the manager, the King presented the customer with a Whopper and revealed the hidden cameras.”

Another great show form the boy’s from Miami and BK. Love the concept, and the reactions. Hey, it would piss me of as well. But dude, where are the links to BK on the campaign site, just talk no linking…

CYBER LION GRAND PRIX
Title: YEAR ZERO
Advertiser/Client: TRENT REZNOR/NIN
Product/Service: ALTERNATE REALITY GAME
Entrant Company, City: 42 ENTERTAINMENT, Pasadena
Country: USA
Advertising/Web Design Agency, City:  42 ENTERTAINMENT, Pasadena
Country: USA

“The ambitious Year Zero alternate reality game (ARG), a work of cross-media art involving websites, emails, phone calls, album packaging, tour t-shirts, thumb drives, music videos, murals, interactive games and live concert events with the new music of Nine Inch Nails at its core. Playing out over 10 weeks, the Year Zero ARG engaged over 2.5M participants. It started with a message hidden in the back of a concert t-shirt that lead to online websites, ultimately over 29 websites discovered over several months, 7.5M page views, 7M forum postings, 2M phone calls and thousands of original art submissions.”

Viral cross-media art/music the way it should be played.  Kudos to NIN for driving these kind of ideas.

CYBER LION GOLD
Title: MINIMALISM
Advertiser/Client: MINI CANADA
Product/Service: BMW MINI
Entrant Company, City: TAXI 2, Toronto
Country: CANADA
Advertising/Web Design Agency, City: TAXI 2, Toronto
Country: CANADA

“MINI has made several advancements to reduce environmental impact and increase efficiency. On a global scale, MINI wanted us to highlight these technologies in a simple, innovative, and efficient way. Hence, MINIMALISM: A microsite that provides users with a waste-free way to learn about the MINI in the amount of time they have available, down to the second. After selecting a feature, users are treated to a series of vignettes - ranging from 60 seconds down to one - that explain these complex technologies using minimal animations. That way we don’t waste anything, including people’s time.”

Simple and ingenious.

CYBER LION GOLD
Title: ABSOLUT MACHINES
Advertiser/Client: V&S ABSOLUT SPIRITS
Product/Service: ABSOLUT VODKA
Entrant Company, City: GREAT WORKS, Stockholm
Country: SWEDEN
Advertising/Web Design Agency, City: GREAT WORKS, Stockholm
Country: SWEDEN

“Following the work ABSOLUT’s been doing within the spheres of art, fashion and music, the brand this time decided to explore the intersection between art and cutting edge technology. To explore what it would be like if machines were creative just like us, ABSOLUT invited Dan Paluska and Jeff Lieberman, from the prestigious science and technology institute MIT, and the Swedish team, ‘Teenage Engineering’, to create one creative machine each. For the first time ever, website visitors are invited to interact with the machines, which are situated in gallery spaces in Stockholm and New York, right from their web browsers. Judges: Please Watch it in Firefox”

Great use of technology, interactivity and art.

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Are we getting closer to an mobile internet that actually works and can be used to its full potential?If Google get’s it way we might just… Enter left Open Source and free Android OS. Just finished reading this great article form Wired - “Google’s Open Source Android OS Will Free the Wireless Web“ - on the subject. Let’s hope that manufacturer, network providers and software people see the potential and work this out among them self. Sooner (lets hope) or later they will have to, the power has shifted and will not go back… On that not we have Nokia who is jumping on the train as well. Nokia announced that they will acquires the rest of Symbian’s stock and enter right Open Source Symbian Mobile Platform. That’s via the Symbian Foundation.Yes, now we have a few big players Android, Apple iPhone, Microsoft Windows Mobile and Symbian. Some more open that other…

I am eager and ready to reap the benefits out of a more open and faster moving mobile world…

Some related articles: Symbian, iPhone & the New Mobile Reality - Moving to the Mobile Web

“We must focus on mobile people, not mobile devices. In other words, we are not merely shrinking in size a Web experience, but creating an entirely new platform for communication and interaction.”Nadav Savio and Jared Braiterman.

(thanks FutureLab for the links).

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Here we go again… Apple is not healthy for tech addicted people like me… introducing the iPhone 3G… Follow the unfolding at Apple Worldwide Developer Conference 2008 Keynote Live Coverage over at Macrumourslive. or all this in 60 sec

I am getting mine upgraded will you?

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