This slideshow presents a series of real life examples, mainly from the digital world, that you may or may not have heard of. These should help to: - Create stimuli for a conversation or debate - And provide inspiration for do’s and don’ts when it comes to creating your own genuinely playful projects - Some of these come across as apparently playful - traditional ads and marketing with a veneer of irony, piss take and other youthful traits and behaviours. - whereas others are well into the space of being genuinely playful - by engaging in truly playful behaviour with users and customers - and some will be somewhere in the middle Whilst looking at these, it’s worth asking ourselves: - What constitutes a really genuine playful project? - How can the success of real world events such as music festivals and life style sports events be transferred, retained and leveraged online? 

1. Stimuli

2. Piss Screen
http://www.piss-screen.de
Piss-Screen is an idea developed in Germany - it rethinks
what an ad can be, and pushes the limits on where these
ads can co and how customers interact.
It leverages youth’s gaming appreciation and utilizes it in
a fun way with a strong message - as well as promoting
a taxi company.

4. Boston Bruins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cr89xbl26g
http://bruins.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=659&id=46620
This advert is an unexpected execution for a sports club
- it really taps into youth values of dating and
competitiveness. Is this the kind of thing you’d expect to
see from Manchester United or Arsenal?
It’s a playful and unexpected execution to advertise the
club’s TV channel, part of a viral campaign with various
other similarly themed videos.

6. Sony Vaio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xri13KnD4Hs
http://www.stopwritingonmywall.com/
This is a viral by Sony that utilizes irony in mocking social
media - it plays on the idea that young people know that
social media is a bit silly, yet they can’t get enough of it.
It leverages the style of successful viral videos such as
Twitter Whore
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALbH63Ali9U)
and Twitter ruined my life
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlZcHwsa6CU )

8. Walkers Crisps
http://www.walkers.com/flavours
Walkers is the UK’s largest crisp brand. It is an
example of an already successful brand trying to
become more playful by tapping into the remix
culture - with its products.
They asked the public to come up with their own
flavours of crisps which were voted on - and the
winner won £50,000 and 1% of all sales of the
flavour.
Builder’s Breakfast was the final winner.

10. X-Box Marketplace
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/avatar/
catalog.aspx?d=24&g=-1&bt=1&br=-1&sb=1&p=1
Users of Microsoft’s X-Box Live service can now dress
their avatar up in branded clothing - this is an example of
contextual advertising which enhances realism; users
will make up their own story through the brands. It will
provide positive associations through the thrill of playing
and winning, and puts the brand where youth are playing
in a un-intrusive manner.
Similarly, EA have teamed up with H&M and Ikea to
create branded clothing and furniture in their bestselling
game The Sims 2.

12. Jones Soda
http://www.jonessoda.com
Jones Soda is a brand built by it’s consumers - through
word of mouth and consumer generated content.
Through self expression and personalisation,
consumers are given ownership of the brand and the
products they buy. They allow consumers to upload
their own imagery and text to customise the bottles
they order, and to enter competitions to get a
permanent flavour with their picture on. They also
partner up with various films, TV shows, sports clubs or
games to create limited addition ranges.
The nature of the consumer built brand of Jones Soda
is reflected in the website, and it’s apparent botched
nature.

14. “I can resist everything except temptation.”
“I don't suffer from insanity...I enjoy every minute of it!”
“Smile! You never know who is falling in love with it!”
“Nothing is impossible except skiing through a revolving
door.”
“When life gives you lemons drop your flute and run.”

15. Threadless
http://www.threadless.com
Threadless is another really great example of self
expression. The customers are the brand - by
creating their own designs for t-shirts and hoodies,
and provides customers with the chance to create
and own a product, and show it off to the world. The
social side allows interacting with other customers,
and for voting on products to gain popularity -
playing on the idea of ownership, sharing and
showing off.

17. Okanagon Spring
http://www.sponsorspring.ca/osb
Okanagon Spring is a small american beer company
that don’t have the budget of Carling, Tenants or
Tuborg who sponsor various large music events
around the world. So instead, they’re offering to
sponsor your party - all potential hosts have to do is
apply and other consumers vote who’s party should
be sponsored.
It advocates the consumers as celebrities and gives
the opportunity to show off to their mates. Whilst
providing a genuine brand association by playing on
their local and personal status.

19. Sonic, America’s Drive In
http://www.sonicdrivein.com
Sonic allows the user to upload their own pictures to
the company website, which in turn become the main
feature of the website, randomised every time you
visit.
It gives the consumer an opportunity to become part
of the brand, by giving them ownership of the site
and provides a social aspect to the brand.

21. Twigital
http://www.twigital.co.uk
Twigital is a website for London Digital Week that
leverages the Twitter API in a playful manner. It
allows the user to go up to and “talk” to other
characters, which essentially display the latest
tweets that include the #ldw hash tag. The
explorative nature provides a genuine method for
discovering new experiences and opinions as all
content is 100% authentic from Twitter users.

23. Cold War Kids
http://www.mtvmusic.com/artist/coldwarkids.jhtml
Rock band Cold War Kids have launched this
interactive music video for ‘I’ve seen enough’. It
leverages the remix culture, by providing user’s
with the opportunity to create their own ‘take’ on
the music and video. Users can change the
approach of all 4 band members simultaneously, or
simply turn them on or off, to create their own
version of the video.

25. Yearbook yourself + Friends Reunited?
http://www.yearbookyourself.com
http://www.friendsreunited.com
The majority of the previous examples are how
brands partner up with their consumers. A lot of
brands, however, create partnerships between
current website or online stars whose popularity has
come through word of mouth on the web. The next
few slides look at potential new partnerships.
Thanks to social media platforms, namely Facebook,
Yearbook Yourself has become hugely popular which
allows the user to create a retro picture of
themselves, offering participation, creativity and
ownership - it’s also pretty funny. Perhaps they
should team up with struggling friends reunited?

26. +

27. Self Control freak + ?
http://www.selfcontrolfreak.com
Self Control Freak is a hugely playful website
created as part of social media art project. The
interactive videos, that feature our hero, interact
with the user’s mouse cursor. What brand do you
think would work well partnering up with Self
Control Freak?

28. +
?

30. A few more examples...
Nokia n-gage: getoutandplay - embodies the playful strengths of the product range.
plays on the gaming theme through nostalgia.
http://www.get-out-and-play.com/index.php
Nokia: Game Over Boredom - Nokia dog plays with the concept of what a product
navigation can be, simply replacing the phone with something more engaging/
interesting.
http://www.nokiagameoverboredom.com/
Champion - Champion Hoodie embracing remix culture... giving customers ownership
http://www.hoodieremix.com/
Incredibox & Bacardi Beatology – more remix culture
http://www.incredibox.fr/
http://www.blivebeatology.de/ (also a good partnership between bacardi + beardyman)
Axe Wake-up Call (Service) – provide a useful service to your audience. Remember,
even useful relationships need to be entertaining to survive in this market. This example
breaks in to your audiences' daily routine.
http://202.218.121.130/2008/axewakeupservice/en/
Arcade Fire - like Cold War Kids mentioned previously
http://www.beonlineb.com/

31. A few more examples...
Let your customers write your content - this spreads the conversation (to the right
people). And it gives the customer a feeling of ownership in the brand.
http://www.statravelbuzz.co.uk/blogroll/
http://spinearth.tv/
Red Bull - New site, lots of rich content. Could they make this more social?
http://www.redbull.com
Skittles - The brand site lives in social media.
http://www.skittles.com/
Best Job in the World - Tourism Queensland used Social media to provide content and
apply for the contest. Traditional media (press ads and PR) was used to create initial
buzz.
Social media maintained the conversation through several touchpoints - twitter,
facebook, youtube, flickr. participation created the content.
http://www.islandreefjob.com/
Anicipation thru' preloaders: Pretty Loaded – anticipation can be created with
something as simple as a clever preloader. This also allows the final site user
experience to be richer.
http://www.prettyloaded.com/

32. A few more examples...
Burger King Whopper Sacrifice - play with the idea of social currency... shows a real
understanding of people's behaviour and relationships in that environment... taps in to
the 'show off' nature within social media
http://www.whoppersacrifice.com/
http://betyourfollowers.com/
Weezer - uses existing content that they know is already in the youth sphere and
repurposing it in an entertaining way for their own ends (of association
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI
Play potential in more boring media
Sixt ASCII ads - playfulness can be as simple as subverting the usual format of
something...
http://www.bannerblog.com.au/2007/12/sixt_ascii_text_ads.php
Zippo (Mobile) - Virtual Zippo - Simple branded iPhone app. 3 million downloads since
its introduction last September. The Virtual Zippo Lighter became the most popular
branded iPhone app. Zippo. People have started using them at gigs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH8QxlkfcOw
Converse: This is the index page.com – speaking user’s language. Partnering/playing
with a wide range of content makers. Creating a place to go back to.
http://www.thisistheindexpage.com/