Most Contagious 2008

most contagious / 2008 / p.02

/ MOST CONTAGIOUS / 2008
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INTRO
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CHAPTERS / ‘If 2006 was about user-generated content and 2007 about social ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
media, then 2008 is about the conversation.’ So predicted NOW £690 GBP
01 /
LANDMARKS
Contagious editor Paul Kemp-Robertson in The International Herald
Tribune back in January. ‘In other words, brands will have to steel
02 /
themselves to the idea that marketing is a two-way street, not just a
TECHNOLOGY
conduit for directing their messages toward pliant consumers.’
03 / Welcome to Most Contagious 2008. Lasting way longer than a
GAMING
Christmas card, this is our review of the most talked-about trends and
04 / technologies that have influenced the global marketing industry over
ENTERTAIN
the past 12 months. Contagious Magazine’s mission is to spread the
05 / gospel of non-traditional media and innovative thinking, so please feel
MUSIC
free to pass this on.
06 / 2008 highlights for Contagious included speeches and consultancy
DESIGN trips to Athens, Bangkok, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dubai, Helsinki,
07 / Hong Kong, Madrid, Meribel, Miami, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Paris,
SOCIAL MEDIA Parma, Prague, Seattle, Seoul, Stockholm, Toronto and, er,
08 / Dunstable. In June, the Debussy Theatre in Cannes was so packed
WEBSITES before the Leo Burnett/Contagious ‘Wildfire’ seminar, the people
09 / with the clipboards had to lock the doors and relay the footage onto
APPLICATIONS screens outside. And we loved the childlike reaction outside the
10 /
Gutter Bar each midnight when we plonked down four gigantic
INTEGRATED Contagious cushions for festival goers to chill out on until dawn.
www.directnewideas.com/index.php/2008/09/16/cushions?sw
11 /
VIRAL Elsewhere, we launched a new series of Special Reports to inject
expert insight into some of the ad industry’s hottest topics, like the
12 /
MOBILE metrics of Social Media and the ‘Goodvertising’ trend.
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OUTDOORS
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15 / fascinating climate that brands will have to survive in 2009 and
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16 / Contagious / London T: +44 20 7575 1886
GREEN


01 / MOST CONTAGIOUS /
LANDMARKS

CHAPTERS / Barack Obama / Presidential Campaign / / Branded utility / Obama's team launched an Result - a collective gasp from an adoring media,
The New York Times has only ever opted for the iPhone application one month before the election, around 7m views on YouTube, some utterly
01 /
LANDMARKS use of 96pt font four times in its illustrious history. boasting a 'call your friends' feature which deflated opponents and most importantly,
The moon landings. Nixon's resignation. 9/11. organised contacts by key swing states, allowing renewed hope for 'a more perfect union'.
02 /
TECHNOLOGY
These gargantuan headlines are reserved for you to hassle them individually. The app also / Celebrity tie-ins / Black-Eyed Pea Will.i.am
seismic shifts in the global landscape. All the more provided the location of your nearest polling took Obama's iconic 'yes we can' speech and set
03 /
fitting, then, that the fourth incidence of this rarity station, and last minute news from the campaign. it to music, hosting it online, enlisting some A-list
GAMING
was reserved for the election of Barack Obama, / Radical transparency / You follow Obama on chums and allowing for mobile downloads. 14m
04 / not only the first African-American to take up
ENTERTAIN
Twitter, he follows you. You ask your question views on YouTube and a whole new bunch of
residence in the White House, but a man doing so online, his team responds. More recently, the registered voters later…
05 / on the strength of a campaign predicated entirely
MUSIC
informal tone of the Obama campaign has been / Relentless consistency / Obama's warm
on the concept of epic change. taken to YouTube, where his fireside chats will be words for former opponent Hillary Clinton were
06 / As you can see from this Most Contagious PDF, broadcast, and http://change.gov, from where his
DESIGN dismissed by some pundits as pandering to the
the Contagious team divides this annual round-up presidential transition period can be followed. female demographic, and a democratic party still
07 / of blistering phenomena from the worlds of
SOCIAL MEDIA
/ Giving power to the people / Obama's dominated by Clintonian politics. He ignored them
technology, media, design, pop culture and brand
campaign was majority funded by small donations and made her Secretary of State.
08 / strategy into sections, in order to make it easier to
from enthused individuals, 65,000 of them And all this whilst shaking hands, holding
WEBSITES navigate. However, much like his political
newbies to political donation, giving what they babies, fighting off rabid opponents and at times
09 / philosophy, Barack Obama's campaign strategy
could afford to bring about the change he flagrant racism, and running the kind of traditional
APPLICATIONS refused to be divided. Let's tick them off, shall we?
promised. media campaign that would put an FMCG
10 /
INTEGRATED
/ A big idea / They don't come much bigger than / An eye for the experts / Obama's chief speech behemoth to shame.
'Yes We Can'. writer Jon Favreau was 26 years old for most of the For such a perfect understanding not only of the
11 /
/ Use of non-traditional media / From the campaign, yet proved himself more than capable public mood but of the ways in which the public is
VIRAL
moment the Obama team hired one of Facebook's with the crafting of lines such as: 'It was sung by now connected - Barack Obama, we salute you.
12 / immigrants as they struck out from distant shores
MOBILE
original founders to run my.barackobama.com, the
die was cast. Videos, messages and campaign and pioneers who pushed westward against an
13 / unforgiving wilderness. Yes we can.' *shiver*
OUTDOORS
information were posted online and Twittered to
more than 140,000 followers. His team blogged, / Some smart PR / Facing criticism for his
14 / Twittered and YouTube'd their way to the win. They friendship with divisive religious figure Jeremiah
PLACES
even placed Vote For Change ads in videogames Wright, Obama issued no panicked denials. He
15 / like Madden NFL ‘09. Less 2.0, more 2.0bama. simply waited for his next public appearance and
CONTENT
gave a speech addressing the reality of racism
16 / whilst acknowledging his own position within it.
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / landmarks (cont.) p.04

Apple / iPhone Apps Store / iPlayer / Links /
If the iPhone's sleek design and touchscreen interface The BBC's one-week catch up service was launched http://change.gov
weren't enough to convince the Apple cynics, the July later than rivals from ITV and Channel 4 - but with over 20 www.apple.com/iphone/appstore
2008 launch of the Apps store probably did the trick. As million streams a month of BBC programming across TV
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
soon as the iPhone's API was released to developers, and radio, the iPlayer is the first service of its kind to prove
CHAPTERS / www.hulu.com
the store was flooded with apps to tell you how to get a runaway success. Launched with a catchy, simple
01 / home. Which train to use. Who was winning at golf. tagline ('Making the unmissable, unmissable') and tie-
LANDMARKS Football. Baseball. Where to have dinner. Who to play ins with BBC stalwarts such as EastEnders and Top
02 / poker with. You could be Mario. Record your voice. Find Gear to illustrate exactly what you would be missing, the
TECHNOLOGY out what song you're listening to. Check Google Earth. iPlayer came into its own during sporting events like the
03 / GOOGLE EARTH, for God's sake, is now available in 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Wimbledon tennis
GAMING your pocket. Despite Apple being unhappy with the use tournament. Instead of two weeks spent grumbling about
04 / of the term 'smartphone' to describe its little miracle, it missing the action, the Contagious team simply plugged
ENTERTAIN now boasts a 17% share of that particular market, and in their headphones en masse. Thanks, Auntie Beeb.
05 /
as a result, Apple hit 100 million app downloads within
MUSIC three months of launch, and 300 million by December Hulu /
(the last 100 million was apparently achieved in a space Lacking the luxury of a licence fee but raking in the cash
06 /
DESIGN of six weeks). Even Microsoft took the plunge, adapting nonetheless is Hulu, which made $148m (€115m) in
its image software Seadragon for the handset. advertising revenues in its first full year of operations
07 /
SOCIAL MEDIA The iPhone Apps store is the steroid-pumped following its launch by NBC Universal and News Corp IPLAYER /
evolution of the long standing twin trends of in 2007. Content providers include Fox, Universal, Sony
08 /
WEBSITES
personalisation and convergence. Now - if only we Pictures Television, Warner Bros. Television, Comedy
could use the iPhone to cut and paste. Steve! Featured Central, Bravo, FX, Sci Fi and Sundance, which means
09 /
in Contagious 16. shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Daily Show,
APPLICATIONS
Saturday Night Live and The Office - ratings winners
10 / Online TV / every one. Suddenly, YouTube and all its camcorder
INTEGRATED
In recent years, several services have claimed to have capers looks a bit wobbly. Research company Screen
11 / cracked the thorny issue of online TV. All of them were Digest has predicted revenues of $180m for next year,
VIRAL
lying, scuppered by a lack of subscribers, a lack of and recent statistics indicate around 64 million streams
12 / content partners, or simply having no discernible per month.
MOBILE
business model (not that that ever stopped anyone.
Users can also watch Hulu content at many other
13 / Twitter, we're looking at you). Now, the combination of
OUTDOORS places across the web (eg AOL, Comcast, MSN,
the BBC's phenomenal iPlayer service and the work
MySpace, and Yahoo!), and viewers can share episodes
14 / done by Hulu in the States on cajoling content providers
PLACES
or clips via email, or embed them on other sites, blogs
is threatening a sea change. Even short-form video's
and social networks. The full service is currently only
15 / gone all grown up as Vimeo and now YouTube start
available in the USA. Come on Hulu! The good people of
CONTENT providing content in high definition and widescreen.
Europe and Asia deserve some free entertainment too.
16 / Ladies and gentleman, do not adjust your sets. The era
See Contagious 16. •
GREEN of online TV may finally be upon us. iPHONE APPS /


TECHNOLOGY /

CHAPTERS /
Google / Chrome / to be an important platform; that the browser wars of
01 / Forever innovative, the big giant of the valley declared 10 years ago were right. The browser matters.'
LANDMARKS rainbow-coloured war on rivals Microsoft earlier this
Despite the fluffy comic strip Google used to market
02 /
year with the official launch of Chrome, its first
Chrome prior to its launch (see right), there's an evil
TECHNOLOGY attempt at a web browser. Ostensibly sticking one in
undercurrent to all this. If Google controls people's
the eye to the cumbersome Internet Explorer and
03 / email and their browsers, not to mention a recent offer
GAMING
rattling the cage of an increasingly bloated Firefox,
to provide free national wi-fi, they would have
Chrome uses Google's own open source 'Gears' tool,
04 /
unprecedented and unfettered access to a huge
allowing desktop applications and online applications
ENTERTAIN portion of the western world's information. Minority
to talk to each other. Put simply, this means that the
Report was right. The future is chrome-coloured.
05 / browser could be the only operating system you'd
See Contagious 17.
MUSIC ever need. How many Windows would that smash, do
06 /
we think…?
DESIGN
Of course, it's not without its glitches. No version is
07 / currently available for Mac OSX or Linux users, thus
SOCIAL MEDIA depriving Google of the subset of creative and techie
08 /
visionaries/wannabes who would adopt it in their
WEBSITES droves. Further competition will come in the new year
with a new version of Firefox, whose popularity rests
09 /
APPLICATIONS
on the plethora of independently created plug-ins
available for the system. At time of writing, there are
10 / no plug-ins for Chrome but the architecture, along
INTEGRATED
with Mac and Linux versions, are promised for 2009.
11 /
VIRAL
So far adoption has been steady, but by no means
an overnight success. Web analytics GetClicky
12 / estimates that Chrome boasts a 1% share of the
MOBILE
market, with IE at 60% and Firefox at 30%. However,
13 / Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has explained Chrome's
OUTDOORS importance to the company in no uncertain terms. GOOGLE / CHROME COMIC /

14 /
'The thing that changed in the past couple of years ...
PLACES is that people started building powerful applications
on top of browsers and the browsers that were out GOOGLE / CHROME /
15 /
there, in particular in Explorer, were not up to the task
CONTENT
of running complex applications,' he told The
16 / Financial Times. 'We think that the browser continues
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / technology (cont.) p.06

Cloud Computing / adidas / Bonded by Thread /
Google's maneouvrings take us nicely onto another buzz Nanotechnology as marketing? Get outta here. Last
phrase of 2008 - cloud computing, or the use of a web year, WhybinTBWA launched their Bonded by
network to host information so it can be accessed from Blood campaign, in which the New Zealand All
CHAPTERS / anywhere around the world. Think GoogleDocs, or Blacks gave samples of their DNA to be woven into a
Gmail. You log in, you have access, thus finally slaying the promotional poster for sponsor adidas. This year, they
01 /
LANDMARKS irritation of that bastard file being on the desktop at home. used nanotechnology to etch fans' names and
The notion of the cloud lends itself neatly to Google's messages of support onto an 'Adithread' which was
02 /
TECHNOLOGY
vision of a browser-based future, and behemoths such as then woven into a rugby jersey worn by captain Richie
Amazon have allowed third party developers to McCaw. The campaign mantra? 'This is not a jersey.
03 / contribute to their own cloud in order to ensure a slicker This is a legacy'. Two thumbs up for bringing the fans
GAMING
service. and the players closer together.
04 / See Contagious 16.
ENTERTAIN Not to be outdone, rivals Microsoft have now entered
the fray with Azure. This service has been described as
05 / Guinness Rugby / RFID /
MUSIC 'Windows for the cloud', and will be offered alongside the
Over in Ireland, the Guinness team in conjunction with
next release of Windows, 7. In a huge shift of policy for a
06 / digital strategists Red Urban in London is doing
DESIGN company which has dominated the desktop since
some staggering things with RFID (Radio Frequency
forever, you'll be able to store your documents/
07 / Identification Technology). The brand's positioning -
SOCIAL MEDIA
photos/files/whatever on the cloud, which will be hosted
'It’s Alive Inside' - has been literally and beautifully
on countless giant data centres around the world.
08 / interpreted by the addition of RFID tags to rugby balls,
WEBSITES It's all a bit Terminator - if you remember, James and an intricate camera monitoring system capable of
09 / Cameron's notion of a centralised system through which measuring the speed, power and accuracy of passes ADIDAS / THIS IS NOT A JERSEY /
APPLICATIONS all beings were connected was called Skynet, and it led and player. Ultimately, this world first could give
10 /
to the near extinction of mankind. Plus, the amount of everyone from coaches to fans access to detailed
INTEGRATED money you need to host the information means that only metrics of gameplay, creating the kind of obsessives
big, slightly sinister players with track records in and media coverage currently dominating football and
11 /
VIRAL monopoly need apply. Despite the obvious and exciting baseball. In our humble opinion, this is pretty much the
potential of the cloud, one of the earliest laws of sport activation to end all sport activations, and
12 /
MOBILE computing states that data doesn't exist unless it's in at definitely one to watch for the year ahead.
least two places. Microsoft and Google will have
13 /
OUTDOORS
backups - but God forbid your log-in details should ever Plastic Logic /
fail. With media attention focused on the travails of a
14 /
wheezing music industry, the publishing industry has
PLACES Now might be the time for anyone with doubts as to the
been quietly facing its own digital revolution. After
15 /
future of society to start putting a down payment on that
Amazon's Kindle digital reader and the Sony
CONTENT shack in the woods. If anyone will give you a mortgage, GUINNESS / RFID /
eBook Reader, the new kid on the block is Plastic
that is.
16 / Logic. The size of an A4 piece of paper, no thicker
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most contagious / 2008 / technology (cont.) p.07

than a pad of it and weighing under 1lb, this flexible
digital parchment can display newspapers and books
as well as other documents from PDFs to Powerpoint
presentations. You'll also be able to connect to it
wirelessly. Is this the newspaper of the future?
CHAPTERS /
Featured in Contagious 17.
01 /
LANDMARKS
Radiohead / House of Cards /
02 / So beautiful we put it on the front cover of our
TECHNOLOGY
magazine. Complaint rock innovators Radiohead shot
03 / a video for House of Cards using 360º laser scanners
GAMING
instead of cameras and lights. They also premiered it
04 / on the Google code content platform. Shot by James
ENTERTAIN Frost of Zoo Films, the video plus widgets and a
05 / making-of film can be viewed here:
MUSIC http://code.google.com/creative/radiohead
06 / Featured in Contagious 16.
DESIGN

07 /
Google Streetview /
SOCIAL MEDIA Google's Streetview is an additional feature of
08 /
Google Maps and Google Earth that provides data
WEBSITES taken from street level. Forget top down or GPS PLASTIC LOGIC /
harassment. Go forth and stalk face to face. •
09 /
APPLICATIONS

10 /
INTEGRATED
RADIOHEAD / HOUSE OF CARDS /
11 / links /
VIRAL
www.google.com/chrome
12 / www.guinness.com/ie_en
MOBILE www.thisisnotajersey.com
13 / http://plasticlogic.com
OUTDOORS http://code.google.com/creative/radiohead
14 / http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview
PLACES

15 /
CONTENT GOOGLE / STREETVIEW /

16 /
GREEN


GAMING

CHAPTERS / 2008 spawned one of the biggest media launches of all advertising. Instead, revenue was created using more
time when Grand Theft Auto IV hit the shelves, followed progressive and inventive business models. For
01 /
LANDMARKS
by a second wave of virtual worlds and Sackboy, the example, thanks to a new technology called ZiT, players
cutest little critter from Sony…. can use the main character's mobile phone to dial a
02 /
number when they hear a track which they like on the car
TECHNOLOGY LittleBigPlanet / radio. Much like the real-world service Shazam, the title
03 / LittleBigPlanet launched on Sony's PlayStation 3 in and artist of the track then gets sent to them via SMS
GAMING November. Developed by small British company Media message. If the player has already pre-registered on the
04 / Molecule, the game puts players in control of plucky Rockstar Games Social Club website, they are able to
ENTERTAIN hero Sackboy. Facilitated by Sony's online gaming compile a playlist of all their favourite tracks from the
05 / service PlayStation Network, players are encouraged game and by visiting Amazon.com, purchase every one
MUSIC to explore each others' worlds and even collaborate in of these tracks for under $1 each.
06 /
the evolutionary process, making LittleBigPlanet as See Contagious 15.
DESIGN much a hybrid social network as an ultra-playable video
game. The beta trial alone - among 24,000 people - saw Spore /
07 /
SOCIAL MEDIA 5,000 levels of the game being created over just three The Sims designer Will Wright of Maxis Studio spent
days. Despite a sticky launch due to some soundtrack three years creating Spore. The game allows players to
08 / LITTLEBIGPLANET /
WEBSITES issues and heavy-handed moderation, the game has develop a character from a single-cell organism fighting
since received a 95% rating on Metacritic.com. against the fluid dynamics of a tidal pool, into a member
09 /
APPLICATIONS
Sackboy in spaceman mode also graced the cover of of an advanced civilisation and eventually a space-
Contagious 17 and page 40 of this report. conquering demigod.
10 /
INTEGRATED
Grand Theft Auto IV / Prior to the game's release in September, parent
11 / The only title to score higher than LittleBigPlanet on company Electronic Arts made a stripped-down
VIRAL
Metacritic.com is Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto version of Spore's creature creator available for free
12 / IV. GTA IV has done nothing but smash records all year: download. This lets users get to grips with the interface
MOBILE
in its first week, it shifted six million copies worldwide, and their character by playing with an infinite number of
13 / amounting to total sales figures of over $500m. This body parts, colours, textures and appendages.
OUTDOORS
eclipses the $300m taken by Halo 3 last year and even Furthermore, an awesome video showing comedian
14 / Hollywood's biggest grossing film Pirates of the and actor Robin Willams bungling his way through a
PLACES Caribbean: At World's End which took $460m in the six tutorial of the application was launched online. In San
15 / days following its release. Much to the frustration of Francisco, a micro billboard measuring 14quot; x 6quot; was
CONTENT prospective advertisers, Rockstar was vehemently placed on a roof top; a fixed telescope helped passers
16 / against the emerging trend of featuring in-game by to check it. SPORE /
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / gaming (cont.) p.09

The game has not gone without its fair share of controller setup, has also been going great guns
controversy however. Electronic Arts, which supported by its own celebrity collaborations. Guns
owns Maxis, recently lost a reported $25m N' Roses released the first single from their long-
through illegal downloads by consumers who felt awaited comeback album Chinese Democracy
CHAPTERS / that their ownership rights were being abused ‘ Shackler's Revenge’, via Rock Band. Also, exciting
01 /
when they found that the game could not be news for 2009 - creators Harmonix are set to release
LANDMARKS registered on multiple PCs… More power to the a special Beatles edition of the game featuring the
console, eh? See Contagious 17 entire back catalogue of the Fab Four's hits and fully
02 /
TECHNOLOGY endorsed by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko
Rock Band / Guitar Hero / Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. If this doesn't make
03 /
GAMING Apart from the emergence of collaborative, online your mum want to play video games, we don't know
initiatives such as LittleBigPlanet, the other video what will… Featured in Contagious 16.
04 /
ENTERTAIN game trend which characterised 2008 was
undoubtedly the rise and rise of casual gaming. Ones to watch /
05 /
Started by the industry-subverting Nintendo Wii Football Superstars /
MUSIC
console in 2006, the casual gaming market has been Created by Nottingham-based CyberSports,
06 / steadily growing as girlfriends, parents and Football Superstars combines the appeal of
DESIGN
grandparents discover the joy of the joystick. The one games like EA Sports' FIFA and Konami's Pro
07 / genre which has profited most from this trend is that Evolutionary Soccer with the virtual world platform
SOCIAL MEDIA
of music-simulation - most notably titles such as found in Second Life and the massively multiplayer
08 / Activision's Guitar Hero franchise and Rock Band online role-playing game (MMORPG) experience
WEBSITES
from Harmonix. offered by Vivendi's World of Warcraft. The game
09 / is free to download and once players have
APPLICATIONS Something of a cultural phenomenon, Guitar Hero
completed training, they can join a virtual team.
invites you to 'Unleash your inner rockstar' -
10 / However, as well as playing matches, users are
INTEGRATED
something which apparently over 23 million people
encouraged to interact off the pitch where they
worldwide have done, resulting in $1.6bn at retail.
11 / can indulge in a whole host of decadent extra-
Bands and advertisers have clearly recognised the
VIRAL sporting activities. So far, over 219,000 have
penetration of the franchise; most recently, The
12 / registered for Football Superstars and
Killers marked the release of their third album, Day &
MOBILE CyberSports have claimed that a further 3000 are
Age, with an appearance in Guitar Hero World Tour.
13 /
signing up every day.
Day & Age was released on 25 November and the
OUTDOORS
Las Vegas rock quartet is releasing two singles, CyberSports has signed up a number of brands
14 / Human and Losing Touch, as downloads into the for in-game placement including Puma. The
PLACES
game. 2004 smash hit Mr Brightside will also form revenue model also includes micro-payments,
15 / part of ‘The Killers Track Pack’. with CyberSports estimating that each player will
CONTENT
Rival series Rock Band, the first game of its type to spend around £3.50 ($5.4) a month on items
16 / such as clothes, locker space and refreshments.
GREEN
add drums and vocals to the traditional guitar-
See Contagious 17.

most contagious / 2008 / gaming (cont.) p.10

LEGO / Universe /
Set for a 2009 release, LEGO Universe is another new
MMOG. Developed by NetDevil to be a seamless
adaptation of the LEGO philosophy, the concept
behind the subscription-based LEGO Universe is
CHAPTERS /
simple – if you can imagine it, then you can build it. The
01 / traditional play experience will transfer online, requiring
LANDMARKS a creative and collaborative approach to accomplish in-
02 / game goals. Contagious 17 contains a case study on
TECHNOLOGY LEGO.
03 /
GAMING IFTF / Superstruct /
ARG-guru and gaming genius Jane McGonigal
04 /
ENTERTAIN
(formerly of 42 Entertainment) has headed up the
development of a new online project which could well
05 /
save the world. Superstruct, from the Institute for the
MUSIC LEGO / UNIVERSE /
Future (IFTT), is a future-facing affair which pits players
06 / against a host of daunting new-world threats such as
DESIGN
disease, global warming and hackers. Championing the
07 / power of gaming as a unifying force, McGonigal also
SOCIAL MEDIA
believes that companies could benefit from
08 / understanding the role that gaming could play as a
WEBSITES
business tool. For more details and an interview with
09 / McGonigal, check out the link below to an article in
APPLICATIONS BusinessWeek…
10 / http://tinyurl.com/64womr •
INTEGRATED

11 /
VIRAL
links / GTA IV /
www.littlebigplanet.com
12 /
www.rockstargames.com
MOBILE
www.spore.com
13 / www.guitarhero.com ROCK BAND /
OUTDOORS
www.rockband.com
14 / www.footballsuperstars.com
PLACES
http://universe.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx
15 / www.superstructgame.org/Home1
CONTENT

16 /
GREEN

SUPERSTRUCT /


ENTERTAINMENT

CHAPTERS / Quantum of Solace /
Despite the long-cultivated suspicion that the Bond franchise might
01 /
LANDMARKS
be metamorphosing into little more than a series of beautiful, big
budget commercials, the latest effort, Quantum of Solace,
02 /
eschewed heavy placements in favour of some impressive tie-ins and
TECHNOLOGY
product integration around the action. Smirnoff Black, Bond's
03 / original tipple, underlined its placement in the film with an appealing
GAMING
integrated campaign based around a limited edition bottle of the spirit
04 / with a cocktail shaker, through Edinburgh-based Three Brand
ENTERTAIN
Design. Coca-Cola also introduced special edition bottles of Coke
05 / Zero, renaming the fizz Zero Zero 7. A global TV campaign through
MUSIC
Wieden + Kennedy featured music from Jack White, who penned
06 / Another Way To Die, the film's disappointing theme tune.
DESIGN
Sony's electronic offerings featured prominently. Digital agency
07 /
SOCIAL MEDIA
Dare London launched Bond in HD - an immersive microsite to
showcase High Definition products which saw users set challenges
08 /
based around various HD products. Players were required to
WEBSITES
manipulate content, analyse narrative and test awareness and
09 / memory to succeed, honing their spy skills along the way.
APPLICATIONS
To celebrate Sony Ericsson's Cyber Shot as Bond's mobile of
10 /
INTEGRATED choice iris Digital, London, launched Directive C902 - an integrated
campaign based around a rich content microsite hosting an
11 /
VIRAL interactive movie, complete with missions integrated into the plot.
Each mission completed delivered a code that unlocked an exclusive
12 /
MOBILE
mobile phone app and granted access to the next level of the game.

13 / Microsoft’s Surface technology also found a home in the hi-tech
OUTDOORS offices of MI6, and just to mess with the system, Ford's dominant
14 / sponsorship of the film saw not Bond, but Bond girl Camille (Olga
PLACES Kurylenko) behind the wheel of its key placement, the new Ford Ka.
15 /
CONTENT

16 /
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / entertainment (cont.) p.12

The Dark Knight / online. The characters were given MySpace pages and
We were delirious with excitement back in 2007 with anticipation reached fever pitch when fans excitedly
anticipation of the release of The Dark Knight. (Just see logged on to http://lillyandjason.com only to discover a
Most Contagious 2007 for proof.) This was thanks in no couple's wedding invitation site, seemingly unconnected
small part to 42 Entertainment's epic alternate reality to the film. Finally, in November, Paramount released the
CHAPTERS /
game building up over the 18 months prior to the film's official trailer and the film's name was made public, but
01 / release. One particularly great stage in the hints surrounding the monster still remained minimal.
LANDMARKS comprehensive ARG was Operation Slipknot, a game Cloverfield's US opening was the biggest ever for January
02 / focusing on corruption in Gotham City Police Dept and so the slow burn word of mouth effect came good. Oh, and
TECHNOLOGY the apprehension of 30 fugitives. Commissioner Jim it helped that the film itself was pretty decent.
03 / Gordon sent out an email with the assignment and all Featured in Contagious 14. •
GAMING slots in the game were reportedly taken within 45
04 / minutes. The ARG is too monstrous to document in its
links /
ENTERTAIN entirety except with the help of obsessive players / wiki
www.sony.co.uk/article/high-definition-hd
05 /
contributors. If you fancy a flutter, the smart money’s on
www.sonyericsson.com/bond
MUSIC a Cannes Lion or two for the creators in 2009.
http://batman.wikibruce.com/Home
http://batman.wikibruce.com/Home
06 / www.cloverfieldmovie.com
DESIGN
The film's box office takings are edging towards the
07 / golden billion dollar mark, where it would join the
SOCIAL MEDIA esteemed releases of Titanic, Lord of the Rings: Return
08 / of the King and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's
WEBSITES Chest, the only three movies to date to have achieved THE DARK KNIGHT /
09 / such a feat. The Dark Knight will be re-released in the
APPLICATIONS US on 23 January, the day after Oscar nominations are
10 / announced. Featured in Contagious 14, 15.
INTEGRATED

11 /
Cloverfield /
VIRAL Cloverfield opened the year's box office excitement in
January after a six-month viral campaign building up to the
12 /
MOBILE opening night. The monster flick follows five young friends
in New York through their own video footage of the night a
13 /
OUTDOORS monster hits the city. The fun began in July 2007 with an
unbranded trailer at the end of Transformers, the last frame
14 /
PLACES
of which stated 01-18-08. The first step encouraged
people to search online where they found a website with
15 /
nothing but two dazed faces. The next few months saw
CONTENT
spoof videos and rumours as fans tried desperately to THE DARK KNIGHT / CLOVERFIELD /
16 / unlock clues to the film which were sporadically released
GREEN


MUSIC /

CHAPTERS / In a year when the global music trade body IFPI released figures
showing that digital music sales now account for 15% of all sales -
01 /
LANDMARKS
30% in the US - brands became more aware of opportunities that
could link them to artists. Meanwhile, the ratio of unlicensed tracks to
02 /
legal tracks sold is about 20:1, so live music and merchandise are
TECHNOLOGY
becoming areas of focus for the music industry and artists. The UK
03 / festival industry alone was worth about £900m in 2008 - around 700
GAMING
festivals. Can this be sustained throughout an unpredictable 2009?
04 /
ENTERTAIN

05 /
MUSIC
O2 / Live Nation /
At the heart of the thirst for live music was O2, which linked up with
06 /
Live Nation, replacing Carling as the brand behind Brixton and 10
DESIGN
other Academy Music Group venues from 1 January 2009. O2
07 / reckons the partnership will reach more than 3.5 million music fans,
SOCIAL MEDIA
extending across the UK the same priority ticketing benefits that O2
08 / customers currently enjoy with the London-based O2 venue: the
WEBSITES
chance to buy tickets 48 hours before they officially go on sale. And
09 / despite some ugly rumours to the contrary, the O2 Wireless Festival
APPLICATIONS
will take place in Hyde Park in 2009. Bring back Daft Punk!
10 /
INTEGRATED
Nokia / Comes With Music /
11 /
VIRAL Nokia launched Comes With Music (CWM), a download service
bundled in with a Nokia phone package, most notably the 5310. Any
12 /
MOBILE music fans happy to shell out €199 for a CWM-enabled handset
could then enjoy unlimited tracks from a catalogue bulging with two
13 /
OUTDOORS
million tracks. Users must buy another CWM-enabled handset after
the year has elapsed. Warner Music, SonyBMG and Universal are
14 /
partnering Nokia, which will extend the service throughout Europe
PLACES
and Asia in 2009. On the back of Apple’s December announcement
15 / that it will be dropping DRM from the content of three major labels sold
CONTENT
through iTunes, will this caveat-loaded approach be enough to
16 / compete in the download wars? See Contagious 17.
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / music (cont.) p.14

TAG / TAG Records / Miller Genuine Draft / The Mill /
TAG, a male body spray owned by P&G that chases the Miller Genuine Draft diverted its entire marketing
same young demographic as Unilever's Lynx/Axe, budget into creating a platform for unsigned bands in an
hooked up with Def Jam Music on TAG Records. Q, a attempt to reflect the brand's 'genuinely different'
CHAPTERS / rapper from Brooklyn, was the first artist to be signed to positioning throughout Scotland. Via Leo Burnett
the hip hop label. For more on brands such as TAG, London, the platform gave unsigned acts maximum
01 /
LANDMARKS
Vodafone and Bacardi identifying fresh points of entry coverage and consumers free content. Venues in
into the music industry, read this article from Edinburgh and Glasgow staged live performances from
02 /
TECHNOLOGY
Contagious 16 by Jack Horner, co-founder and creative a selection of 108 bands. Each act had a unique poster,
director of music marketing agency Frukt, London. imagery from which is used on packaging. Gig-goers
03 / www.contagiousmagazine.com/resources/music.pdf download free tickets to their mobiles via the website
GAMING
where 540 tracks have been recorded and distributed.
04 / Umphrey's McGee / Further mobile content is available via dedicated
ENTERTAIN
Prog rock fans will be counting the days until 19 January bluetooth units in the venues. Media partnerships
05 / struck with The Skinny magazine and Xfm Scotland, as
2009 when Mantis, the new album from Chicago outfit
MUSIC
Umphrey's McGee is released. But how rich an well as with e-newsletters and social networking sites,
06 / experience the album is relies entirely on how involved built on the buzz . See Contagious 17. •
DESIGN
fans have been in the lead-up to its release. In a smart
07 / initiative by Connecticut-based design and branding
SOCIAL MEDIA links /
agency Plaid, if fans visit a special website and pre- www.o2.co.uk
08 / order the CD, they help unlock a treasure chest of free MILLER GENUINE DRAFT / THE MILL /
WEBSITES
www.nokia.com/comeswithmusic
content which includes alternative studio recordings www.umphreys.com/mantis
09 / and remixes. What's more, fans who pre-order Mantis www.gunsroses.com
APPLICATIONS will be drip-fed even more content over 2009 every time www.themill-live.com
10 / they play the CD on their PC.
INTEGRATED

11 / Dr. Pepper / Chinese Democracy /
VIRAL
Dr. Pepper promised a can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in
12 / the US if the long-anticipated Guns N' Roses album,
MOBILE
Chinese Democracy, was completed in 2008. Yet the
13 / execution of this marketing masterstroke was shabby:
OUTDOORS
servers crashed on the brand's website, meaning users
14 / were unable to log on and download their voucher for
PLACES
the free drink. Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose then
15 / issued legal proceedings against Dr. Pepper, accusing
CONTENT it of tainting Guns N' Roses by association… still, we
16 / raise a can of, and to, Dr. Pepper for its audacity.
GREEN


DESIGN / PRODUCTS

CHAPTERS / Speedo / LZR /
2008’s most impactful piece of product design is arguably the now
01 /
LANDMARKS
infamous Speedo LZR swimsuit, most famously worn by record-
breaking Olympic Gold Medallist and general human fish Michael
02 /
Phelps. Developed by biomechanical engineers in one of NASA's
TECHNOLOGY
wind tunnels, the suit has had such a profound effect on the sport that
03 / Alberto Castagnetti, coach of the Italian national team, referred to it
GAMING
as 'technological doping'. How profound, you ask? Since its launch in
04 / March, no fewer than 74 world records have been broken by swimmers
ENTERTAIN
wearing the LZR. It also caused chaos in the run-up to the Olympics
05 / as several swimmers not sponsored by Speedo attempted to wriggle
MUSIC
out of their own deals in order to hitch a ride on the bandwagon to
06 / medal glory. It's just like Contagious has always said - nail those
DESIGN oxygenating hydrodynamics and the rest will fall into place…
07 / See Contagious 16.
SOCIAL MEDIA

08 /
WEBSITES Nike / Zoom Victory /
Almost as big news as Speedo's LZR has been Nike's Zoom Victory
09 /
APPLICATIONS
running shoe. By dispensing with the elements previously needed to
hold a sneaker together (stitching, material) in favour of a suspension
10 /
bridge design with merely a coating of fabric, the shoes weigh in at
INTEGRATED
less than a chocolate bar. What's more, because the design is so
11 / pared down, the Nike team can use rapid prototyping - computer
VIRAL
aided design - to manufacture unique versions in a fraction of the time
12 / it would take to knock up a regular sneaker. The cheap production
MOBILE
process could enable Nike to shift some of its manufacturing out of
13 / China and back to its home in the United States, thus creating jobs in
OUTDOORS
an otherwise exhausted marketplace. This unexpected side effect is
14 / fascinating: a product design innovation, led by technology, with
PLACES immediate, first hand repercussions for a country's economy. Top
15 / marks to the Nike Tech Lab.
CONTENT See Contagious 16.
16 /
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / design (cont.) p.16

Electric Cars / vision involves drivers plugging in their vehicles whilst at
2008 has undoubtedly been the year in which home or work, with longer journeys catered for by a stint
alternative fuelling and the use of sustainable at one of 150 larger charging stations dotted around the
materials in the automotive industry has turned from country.
CHAPTERS /
mere novelty into a necessity. With the global
Financial backing has come from Morgan Stanley
economy furiously struggling to keep its head above
01 /
(yes, really) and, rather ironically, the owner of Israel's
water, and car manufacturers seeking more hand-outs
LANDMARKS largest oil refinery, Idan Ofur. Clearly these investors
than Oliver Twist, motorists the world over are looking NIKE / ZOOM VICTORY /
share Agassi's optimism for a global roll-out, should
02 / for ways to justify and afford their daily drive.
TECHNOLOGY Israel prove a successful training ground. This is
Obviously, US companies producing traditional gas-
supported by the recent news that interest in the 'Better
03 / guzzling beasties have been worst hit, but even the
GAMING Place' initiative has already spread to the US, where the
smallest are now seeking to change. Step forward
mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland,
04 / parent company BMW and the MINI E.
ENTERTAIN
California have all approved a test period for the
The German car manufacturer has launched an network of electric cars. See Contagious 17.
05 /
MUSIC
electric version of its iconic small British car, but limited
production to just 500 vehicles. Furthermore, these will Netbooks / ASUS Eee PC /
06 / only be available for lease to drivers in Los Angeles and There’s an odd rule of technology which states that the
DESIGN
New York who have a lockable garage where the car the price of a gadget is inversely proportional to its
07 / can be re-charged from a wall-mounted unit. All the cars physical size. Therefore it is with open arms (and open
SOCIAL MEDIA
are silvery grey and come with the distinctive yellow plug wallets) that the PC-buying public has welcomed the
08 / insignia announcing their electric credentials. BMW is new trend for affordable versions of the mini laptops
WEBSITES
aiming to mass-produce an electric car by 2010. known as netbooks. Statistics published by
09 / techEBlog.com show that sales of netbooks are BMW / MINI E /
APPLICATIONS We like this softly, softly approach from MINI. Not only
expected to rise from one million units sold in 2007 to a
are they subtly vetting the initial 500 customers -
10 / projected total of 14 million for 2008. Leading the
INTEGRATED
reinforcing the feeling of joining a select club - but also
charge was Taiwan-based ASUS with its range of oh-
securing at least a year of free advertising from these
11 / so-cute Eee PC laptops. Available with a screen size as
lucky few as they scoot about in their distinctive silver
VIRAL small as 7quot;, these start at under €231, with an almost
and yellow cars. By the time the brand does scale up its
12 / infinite range of tech-specs to suit every user.
production on the electric MINI, the buzz around the
MOBILE
vehicle will be at a peak and demand will be high… If this wasn't enough to confirm the product as the PC of
13 / the people, ASUS has recently teamed up with the Intel
OUTDOORS In other news, entrepreneur Shay Agassi has been
Corporation to launch wePC (see page 19), a website
backed by the Israeli government to start
14 / tapping into the crowdsourcing trend to influence the
PLACES implementing a network of electric cars, apparently
design of the world's first community-designed laptop.
resulting in 'sustainable transportation, global energy
15 / See Contagious 15 and 17.
CONTENT independence and freedom from oil'. Using a concept
developed with French manufacturer Renault, Agassi's
16 /
GREEN ASUS / Eee PC /

most contagious / 2008 / design (cont.) p.17

Red /
If you haven't heard anything about Red yet, be aware
that its amazing hi-tech cameras are shaking up the
entire movie industry whilst costing around one third of
the price of equivalent big brand offerings. Scheduled
CHAPTERS /
additions to the range - the sub $3000 Scarlet video
01 / camera and the high end Epic model - have been
LANDMARKS delayed, with CEO (and Oakley eyewear founder) Jim
02 / Jannard posting enigmatically on the company's forum
TECHNOLOGY that 'we have changed everything about Scarlet
03 / because the market has changed and we have
GAMING discovered a lot of things in the process. We have a new
04 / vision'.
ENTERTAIN The forum is buzzing and speculation is ripe; definitely
05 /
a brand to keep an eye on as belts are tightened
MUSIC worldwide. Director Steven Soderbergh's two recent
films Guerrilla and The Argentine were shot entirely
06 /
DESIGN using Red cameras, as was Peter Jackson's Crossing
the Line. All our lunch money is going in the Contagious
07 /
SOCIAL MEDIA piggy bank for one of these (and a communal Speedo
LZR to share…ewww).
08 /
WEBSITES
See Contagious 17. •

09 /
APPLICATIONS

10 /
INTEGRATED

11 /
VIRAL
links /
12 /
MOBILE
www.speedo80.com/lzr-racer/
www.nike.com/nikelab/site.html?en_US#/product/
13 /
aerofly/detail
OUTDOORS
www.minispace.com/en_us/projects/electric-mini-e
14 / www.betterplace.com
PLACES
www.wepc.com
15 / www.red.com
CONTENT

16 /
GREEN


SOCIAL MEDIA /
Facebook (again) /
CHAPTERS / It will come as no surprise that comScore declared Facebook the
01 / biggest and fastest-growing social network: over 132 million people
LANDMARKS visit the site every month, a year-on-year increase of 153%. Smart
02 /
investment in translation tools saw the site take off in Latin America,
TECHNOLOGY Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and advertisers were quick to
03 /
develop apps and widgets. Pizza Hut even developed an app
GAMING enabling users to order a pizza without leaving the site (although we're
lukewarm on the facility that tells Facebook friends that you ordered a
04 /
ENTERTAIN stuffed crust Hawaiian). And best of all, GetThemIn allowed
Facebook users to buy drinks via the social network which could be
05 /
MUSIC cashed in for real booze at over 1,500 off licences in the UK.

06 / Bebo /
DESIGN
Teen-friendly social networking site Bebo saw 32% growth in 2008,
07 / from 18m to 24m total unique visitors, and was snapped up in March
SOCIAL MEDIA
by AOL for the princely sum of $850m. One of the site's stickiest
08 / features proved to be original drama, with Bebo repositioning itself as
WEBSITES
a media platform and offering a combination of entertainment and
09 / social media, providing brands with opportunities to integrate
APPLICATIONS naturally into the plot. Audience approval of placement and the fact
10 / that the Open Media platform allows users direct access to
INTEGRATED thousands of hours of premium content has proved a leading strategy
11 / so far. KateModern - which attracted advertisers including Toyota
VIRAL and Cadbury - set the ball rolling in 2007, but this year, Sofia's Diary
12 / captivated Beboers and advertisers including Unilever's Sure Girl
MOBILE and Pearl Drops. The show, in five-minute daily segments, was also
13 /
syndicated to the Channel 5-owned digital channel, Fiver. Bebo
OUTDOORS followed up with The Secret World of Sam King, a joint venture with
Universal Records, which followed the adventures of the
14 /
PLACES eponymous hero working at the record label and averaged 600,000
views a week. Finally, comedy series Chelsey OMG!, the story of a
15 /
CONTENT young American in London, launched in October, backed by the likes
of fashion website Glam.com and haircare brand Paul Mitchell.
16 /
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / social media (cont.) p.19

Crowdsourcing / BA / Metrotwin /
Crowdsourcing has become a welcome trend among British Airways launched Metrotwin, a social media
PC brands, with Asus and Intel joining forces on platform to link Londoners and New Yorkers. The online
wePC.com - 'a place where users like you come community provides expert suggestions on the best
CHAPTERS /
together to share ideas, images and inspiration about places to visit, shop eat and drink in both cities, and
your ideal PC'. The best ideas will shape the design of makes recommendations based on user behaviour à la
01 / what wePC.com is touting as the world's first Amazon. BBH worked with the London-based
LANDMARKS
community-designed laptop. wePC.com came hot on agencies Made By Many on the design, Headshift and
02 / the heels of consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Agency.com on development and delivery.
TECHNOLOGY
working with Toshiba and HP on a similar project which See Contagious 17.
03 / invited consumers to contribute ideas for its Blue Label
GAMING
laptop range. Yet both were influenced by Dell which Penguin / BEBO / UNIVERSAL MUSIC / SAM KING /
04 / launched its crowdsourcing concept Idea Storm in
ENTERTAIN
We Tell Stories from UK book publisher Penguin
2007. Today, Idea Storm has over 9,000 contributors
enlisted six authors including Toby Litt and Nicci
05 / who have suggested 10,779 ideas.
French to use a classic Penguin book as inspiration for
MUSIC
Crowdsourcing wasn't limited to IT brands. a new work. Created with help from ARG specialist Six
06 / Mystarbucksidea.com saw the coffee chain inviting To Start, the initiative was part social networking, part
DESIGN
suggestions for improvement from its customers. One ARG, encouraging book lovers to enhance their
07 / of the most high profile ideas to be implemented was a experience online with greater connectivity and
SOCIAL MEDIA
free coffee for everyone on US election day. And interactivity. Users could contribute to the texts,
08 / Splitwheel launched as an online project to design evolving their own story, and also follow clues to unlock
WEBSITES
and build a new performance car based on collective more content. See Contagious 15.
09 / decision-making. The car is being built by Britain's BA / METROTWIN /
APPLICATIONS
Caterham Cars; a full, dedicated website launches in Over at penguindating.co.uk, a partnership between
January. See Contagious 17. Penguin Books and dating site match.com enabled
10 /
INTEGRATED users to start romantic flirtations based on a shared love
Twitter / of literature. And then buy each other a drink on
11 /
VIRAL Facebook, presumably... •
Twitter's growth was well-documented - up 422% in 12
12 / months, to quote Nielsen Online figures. Brands started
MOBILE links /
to jump on the bandwagon, with one of the most
www.ning.com
13 / memorable campaigns for the Sci Fi Channel's Eureka
OUTDOORS www.facebook.com
show which saw S.A.R.A.H., the talking smart house
www.getthemin.com
14 / from the show, have its own Twitter account in a bid to
PLACES www.penguindating.co.uk
build buzz. More than 1,300 Eureka fans followed
www.bebo.com
15 / _S_A_R_A_H_'s Tweets. Contagious naturally is now
CONTENT on Twitter too - www.twitter.com/contagiousmag.
16 / PENGUIN / WE TELL STORIES /
GREEN


WEBSITES /

CHAPTERS /
UNIQLO / Since the UNIQLOCK, Projector has continued to
Contagious doesn't write case studies on any old brand study the behavioural patterns of internet users -
01 /
LANDMARKS you know, and our issue 16 was no exception. Whether concentrating on that initial moment of uptake and how
it's clearing up at Cannes, or finding ways to blend CRM content is absorbed. As a result, UNIQLO DRY IN
02 /
with progressive data visualisation, there are few MOTION focused on the way in which neurons fire in
TECHNOLOGY
brands that have matched the Japanese retailer the human brain when we observe the actions of
03 / another human on screen. More recently, Projector
UNIQLO in 2008. To start, there was the UNIQLOCK,
GAMING
created by Projector, Tokyo. This year it has scooped developed UNIQLO MEETS CORTEO - a campaign WORLD.UNIQLOCK /
04 / the Innova Lotus Gold Award at ADFEST, two Gold featuring cast members of the Cirque du Soleil
ENTERTAIN
Awards and the Grand Prix at the One Show Interactive, rehearsing whilst wearing the clothing. Each new
05 / a Grand Clio for Interactive, a D&AD Black Pencil for sequence counts down to a live action event called 'The
MUSIC
Online Advertising as well as a Cyber Lions Grand Prix Colour Show'.
06 / and the prestigious Contagious-sponsored Titanium
DESIGN The last UNIQLO digital campaign which merits an
Lion award at Cannes 2008.
honourable mention is UNIQLO TRY. All the brand's
07 /
SOCIAL MEDIA
Designed to build a global community around the digital trademarks are present (quirky interfaces, frantic
brand, the UNIQLOCK can best be described as multiplicity) but rather than displaying any product line,
08 /
somewhere between branded entertainment and utility. they aggregate customer feedback. For each product,
WEBSITES
The delightfully distracting microsite features a clock hundreds of small testimonial video clips are arranged
09 / which marks passing moments with five-second clips of in an assortment of shifting shapes - from spirals, to 3D UNIQLOCK /
APPLICATIONS
female dancers performing micro-routines clad in spheres and even gigantic words. Users can click and
10 / UNIQLO clothing. It operates 24/7 for 365 days a year view any individual video, or wait for the sequence to
INTEGRATED
and will also go to sleep at night, with sequences on the finish. At this stage, the advocates are sorted according
11 / hour and an alarm clock function in case you keep your to their opinion of the product and displayed as
VIRAL
laptop next to your bed. And a downloadable version is percentages. There is even a search option which
12 / available as a widget. By viewing WORLD.UNIQLOCK, allows you to narrow down your research via product,
MOBILE customer age and body type - so the results of each
users can link to all the embedded sites via a global map
13 / which lets you see at any given time exactly how many sequence are tailored to your interests. Not only is this a
OUTDOORS people are watching the UNIQLOCK and in what mind-boggling data visualisation and metrics tool, but it
14 / countries. This is perhaps the most literal realisation of displays an extraordinary level of transparency. By
PLACES the UNIQLO global community to date - proven by the providing users with an engaging way to hear real
15 / fact that so far the site has been viewed 200 million opinions from real people, this application places equal UNIQLO / TRY /
CONTENT times in 214 countries. emphasis on the individual and the global community as
16 /
a whole. See Contagious 16,17.
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / websites (cont.) p.21

Doritos / Hotel 626 / Orange / Balloonacy /
Goodby, Silverstein and Partners in San Francisco Orange's digital balloon race saw competitors assign
created a wonderfully spooky interactive experience their names to one of thousands of balloons racing
just in time for Halloween, to celebrate the resurrection around the internet this summer, building awareness of
of retired Doritos flavours Four Cheese and Taco. As Orange's animal-represented tariffs. The game had its
CHAPTERS /
part of Snack Strong Productions, the brand's digital own distribution mechanic: one internet mile was
01 / platform, the ghostly online Hotel 626 was only open gained every time websites which had signed up to the
LANDMARKS from 6pm to 6am and engaged consumers in a series of initiative were visited. Bloggers and website owners
02 / eerie puzzles. Users navigated their way through the could add their page to the race track via a snippet of
TECHNOLOGY hotel's 13 rooms unlocking plotlines and completing a code. Via Poke, London.
03 / series of interactive challenges with a camera, headset Featured in Contagious 16.
GAMING and microphone. Brrrrrr. Online content produced by
B-Reel, New York. Becks / Music Mixer / DORITOS / HOTEL 626 /
04 /
ENTERTAIN See Contagious 17. As part of the 'Becks Fusion' ongoing art and music
05 /
initiative, the Music Mixer website was preloaded with
MUSIC Absolut / Machines / six dance tracks including efforts from Moby, Dystopia
Absolut Machines combines interactive music making and We Are Rockstars. Each song is broken down into
06 /
DESIGN with a selection of weird and wonderful online rhythm, bass, hooks and atmosphere, and an addictive
contraptions. Building on Absolut's strong tradition of mixing desk is presented to users, with the timing taken
07 /
SOCIAL MEDIA collaborating with artists, the inventions showcased at care of. Highly addictive stuff via Dare, London.
absolutmachines.com were developed by M.I.T.
08 /
WEBSITES
graduates Dan Paluska and Jeff Lieberman over six Brand Tags /
months, including one which shoots rubber balls at the Noah Brier's side project Brand Tags is one for every
09 /
keys of a marimba and another which uses robotic planner to keep an eye on. The site asks users for their
APPLICATIONS
fingers to 'play' a set of wine glasses. A separate impressions of brands using free association. • ABSOLUT / MACHINES /
10 / machine was developed by a Swedish company,
INTEGRATED
Teenage Engineering, and uses a chorus of ten
11 / singing robots, aptly named the Absolut Choir. Visitors links /
VIRAL www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock
to the sites could control and compose their own
12 / mechanical musicals, and the end results (both audio www.uniqlo.com/meets
MOBILE www.uniqlo.com/try/uniqlotry.swf
and visual) can be downloaded, streamed and shared,
13 / with the devices themselves touring different cities www.hotel626.com
OUTDOORS around the world. The campaign was masterminded by www.absolutmachines.com
14 / Great Works, Stockholm. TBWAChiatDay, New www.playballoonacy.com
PLACES York, was responsible for a series of print ads. www.becks.co.uk/mixer.aspx
See Contagious 14. www.brandtags.net
15 /
CONTENT

16 /
GREEN
ORANGE / BALLOONACY /


APPLICATIONS /

CHAPTERS / Sprint / Now Widget /

01 /
Part of a wave of 'just because-branding' triggered by the
LANDMARKS UNIQLOCK, the Sprint Widget by Goodby Silverstein was
designed to reinforce its positioning for the telco brand's Now
02 /
TECHNOLOGY Network: the notion that customers can get to whatever they want,
whenever they want it on a high-speed mobile broadband service.
03 /
GAMING The widget itself is a planner's wet dream, offering a mini snapshot of
what's going on in the world right now; from eggs being produced by
04 /
ENTERTAIN
the ton, units of energy being used, babies being born, forests being
cut down, people stuck in elevators and shopping days ‘til Christmas.
05 /
An 'internet buzz-o-meter' provides at-a-glance comparisons
MUSIC
between, say, hip hop and rock'n'roll, or hockey and baseball. With a
06 / webcam, you can add yourself to the impressive data-dense
DESIGN
dashboard, which also offers live news feeds, facts and stats that
07 / change in real time, and like any self-respecting widget, can be
SOCIAL MEDIA
embedded and shared in any number of places. See Contagious 17.
08 /
WEBSITES FIAT / eco:Drive /
09 / As the automotive industry splutters to the end of its annus horribilis,
APPLICATIONS innovation has never been more important. With this in mind, AKQA
10 /
London took the Microsoft-produced Blue&Me in-car telemetry
INTEGRATED technology that comes in the fabulously relaunched FIAT 500 and
11 /
Grande Punto and used it to launch 'eco:Drive'. This app links cars to
VIRAL PCs and evaluates driving performance with a view to reducing carbon
emissions by up to 15%. eco:Drive uses a USB stick that can be
12 /
MOBILE plugged into Blue&Me and then transferred to a PC. The user-friendly
app then analyses acceleration, deceleration, gear changes and
13 /
OUTDOORS speed to score a journey out of 100 for fuel efficiency. Next, it offers
advice on how to improve - possibly more constructive than other drivers
14 /
PLACES
(often in the backseat) yelling 'slow down' or 'speed it up, grandpa'.
Targeting consumers on green issues in terms of self-improvement
15 /
as opposed to finger-wagging is a no brainer. Without any media
CONTENT
spend, some 6,000 unique visitors log onto the eco:Drive website
16 / every day, and 30% of them download the application.
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / applications (cont.) p.23

Check out Contagious' forthcoming issue 18 for
CHAPTERS /
more on the new 'Chip on Wheels'.

01 /
LANDMARKS
Carling / iPint /
A cautionary tale - if you see something that looks
02 /
TECHNOLOGY fun and want to make your own version, make sure
you get the creator's permission first. Carling's
03 /
GAMING now infamous iPint was forwarded to friends
36,000 times in a week, and swiftly became the
04 /
ENTERTAIN
number one free game on the apps store.
However, Molson Coors Brewing and creative
05 /
agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay, London,
MUSIC
now face a $12.5m (£7.1m) lawsuit for allegedly
06 / pinching the idea from a remarkably similar paid-
DESIGN
for app entitled iBeer created by indie developer
07 / Hottrix. What's more, BMB had allegedly been in
SOCIAL MEDIA
contact with the makers of the iBeer, and then
08 / opted to make their own free rival version…Ouch.
WEBSITES

09 / Trend to Track / Superconnected Products /
APPLICATIONS CARLING / IPINT /
Connected products are tangible items that are
10 / given a more profound existence through
INTEGRATED
technology - the seamless link between shelf and addresses belong to farmers, growers, pickers, drivers
11 / web. Think Nike+. It's not just a shoe, or a website. - real people who own the responsibility for their goods.
VIRAL
It's the way they interact that makes it what it is. The rest of the world would probably stop here, but in
12 / Contagious columnist Martin Lindstrom recently Japan, the products also carried one of those new
MOBILE noticed this trend taken to the next level in a generation barcodes. All you need to do is photograph
13 / Japanese supermarket. Writing in Contagious 17, it with your mobile phone to be taken to a website where
OUTDOORS he said: ‘The majority of products' packages bore the person I'd seen as a cartoon appeared on camera as
14 / a cartoon figure. Next to the head of the cartoon a real person. In the video, the guy explained how he
PLACES figure was the name of a person, his title, age and handpicked the particular product I was observing. The
15 / even the address of where he lived. This video went on to show me the production line that
CONTENT
FIAT / ECO:DRIVE /
information fell under a title which stated: quot;I'm manufactured the item, and to reveal the transportation
16 /
responsible for this product.quot; The names and that brought the product from factory to store. The video
GREEN

most contagious / 2008 / applications (cont.) p.24

even included a hot link which, when clicked, took links /
me to more information about the manufacturer http://now.sprint.com/widget
and his family.' www.fiat.com/ecoDrive
www.carling.com/ipint_details.html
That's some seriously radical transparency.
CHAPTERS / www.bugaboodaytrips.com
Chinese milk contaminated with melamine,
http://tikitag.com
01 / contaminated Irish pork and poisoned Nigerian
http://umbrellatoday.com
LANDMARKS teething syrup dominated the headlines towards
02 / the end of 2008. Could this kind of personal
TECHNOLOGY responsibility help prevent future scandals?
03 / See Lindstrom's full article here:
GAMING BUGABOO / CITY MAPS /
www.contagiousmagazine.com/resources/
04 / lindstrom.pdf
ENTERTAIN

05 / Best of the Rest /
MUSIC
Hi-tech stroller company Bugaboo launched an
06 / online resource showing the best walks around
DESIGN
various cities for you and your buggy-bound baby.
07 / Each map boasts a bespoke design aesthetic to
SOCIAL MEDIA
suit the city. We like Toronto’s urban lollipop.
08 / See Bugaboo: Birth of a Brand in Contagious 17.
WEBSITES
Tikitags are smart stickers that make your
09 /
APPLICATIONS computer perform an action when viewed by a
scanner. Imagine invisibly tagging your child's
10 /
INTEGRATED favourite teddy, so it opens the CBeebies
homepage or Cartoon Network on your PC,
11 /
VIRAL
making it easier for them to access the internet or
applications. Business cards could also be
12 /
tagged, enabling a quick touch on the scanner to
MOBILE
transfer information to a database.
13 /
OUTDOORS So useful we don’t know why it’s taken so long,
14 / Umbrella Today is an app which tells you whether
PLACES youneed to take your umbrella to work. Tap in your
15 /
zip code for 'like totally the simplest weather report
CONTENT ever, Julie'. SMS alerts will save you should the
tempest take out your interweb. •
16 /
GREEN


INTEGRATED /

CHAPTERS / Converse / 100th Anniversary /

01 /
Converse marked 2008 as its centennial year with a big rock star-
LANDMARKS endorsed bang, and its first ever global campaign overtly positioning
the brand as a catalyst for creativity. Famous musicians, athletes,
02 /
TECHNOLOGY designers and artists were joined together by their Chucks in a bold,
black and white design that appeared across print, outdoor, in-store
03 /
GAMING and digital platforms. A musical collaboration, My Drive Thru,
between singer Santogold, producer Pharrell Williams and Strokes
04 /
ENTERTAIN
frontman Julian Casablancas, formed an impressive piece of free
branded content, backed by a beautiful music video. The brief to
05 /
Pharrell, who was producing and leading the project, was to 'make
MUSIC
some music and have some fun'. Nearly 100,000 people downloaded
06 / the track for free from converse.com and My Drive Thru attracted
DESIGN CONVERSE /
750,000 streams on leading internet portals in just four days. At last
07 / count over two million people had viewed the video on YouTube, and
SOCIAL MEDIA
The Times’ music critic described it as ‘a three-headed
08 / Frankenstein’s monster of coolness’.
WEBSITES
Contagious 17 contains a case study on Converse.
09 /
APPLICATIONS
HBO / Voyeur /
10 /
INTEGRATED
A big winner at this year's Cannes festival scooping Grand Prix in
Promo and Outdoor, not to mention a handful of golds, silvers and
11 / bronzes across other categories (including Cyber, Media and Film),
VIRAL
was HBO's impressively integrated campaign for Voyeur, through
12 / BBDO, New York. Content surrounding a series of linked stories that
MOBILE
took place in eight apartments in the same building included
13 / projections onto a building in New York, media hosted on fictional web
OUTDOORS
pages, including Flickr and YouTube, mobile content and footage shot
14 / by RSA including 'The Watcher' directed by Jake Scott and
PLACES
interactive stories directed by Chris Nelson. Big Spaceship worked
15 / on the online elements of the campaign, which allowed users to delve
CONTENT in to different rooms in the building, accompanied by specially
16 / composed music. Featured in Contagious 12.
GREEN HBO / VOYEUR /

most contagious / 2008 / integrated (cont.) p.26

Nokia / Somebody Else's Phone /
The cyber-voyeurism theme continued with Nokia's global campaign
to promote the 7610 Supernova, questioning if somebody else's
phone ended up in your possession, could you resist the temptation
CHAPTERS / to find out all about them? A TV ad flagging up the highly personal
relationship we have with our phones introduced Jade, Lucas and
01 /
LANDMARKS Anna, the fictional stars of this campaign. Online, followers could
trawl through their texts and comb through their contacts as 4,000
02 /
TECHNOLOGY pieces of content were unveiled through social networking sites such
as Facebook and Twitter, and as texts, images and movies at
03 /
GAMING
www.somebodyelsesphone.com. Fans were encouraged to
communicate with the three characters. Via Wieden + Kennedy
04 /
London, production through Academy and digital production
ENTERTAIN
through B-Reel.
05 / Featured in Contagious 17.
MUSIC

06 /
Shreddies / Diamond Shreddies /
DESIGN
At the grand old age of 67, the iconic but bog standard wheaty lattice
07 / that is a Shreddie had seen little marketing support in recent years.
SOCIAL MEDIA
However, thanks to a unique product innovation from Ogilvy in
08 / Toronto, the brand enjoyed an 18% rise in sales, a heightened public
WEBSITES
profile and a slew of user-generated content. The product
09 / innovation? They simply turned the square at a 45 degree angle, and
APPLICATIONS
rebranded it as Diamond Shreddies. No kidding.
10 /
INTEGRATED Following a soft launch, the campaign was followed by a
competition allowing 10 customers to win a diamond using unique
11 /
VIRAL
codes found on the side of the packet. TV, print, and poster ads
supported an online campaign at www.diamondshreddies.com,
12 /
where it is claimed that Diamond Shreddies are more flavourful and
MOBILE
crunchier. When a customer complained that he'd bought a packet of
13 / Diamond Shreddies and was disappointed to find that only half the
OUTDOORS
packet contained diamonds and the rest were merely squares, Ogilvy
14 / introduced the 'combo pack' to Canadian shelves (66% diamonds,
PLACES
33% squares). Proof that epic silliness as a marketing tool will never
15 / go out of fashion, the Diamond Shreddies campaign has kept us
CONTENT
amused throughout 2008 whilst invigorating a stagnant brand.
16 /
GREEN

Most Contagious 2008

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