What Makes a Good Digital Campaign Idea

A "good campaign idea" in digital can be super subjective, and rightfully so, since there are so many variables for creatives and strategists to think about, such as who are we speaking to, where does it live, what's the user engagement, what's the key message we want users to takeaway, so on and so on. While concepting campaign ideas can be a complicated process, a "good campaign idea" shouldn't be. I continue to defend that the best campaign ideas are often the most straightforward, for example:

www.whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com or Pilot Handwriting or Chrome for a Cause

These digital ideas are old, meaning six months to over three years ago, but to this day, I bet you and I can agree these ideas are "good". However, to be clear, "good" is not equivalent to "successful" as success relies heavily on the activation of the campaign across all media channels. I'm not going to get into campaign activation or how the best ideas are tied to consumer insights--although this is very important--instead I have created a simple formula above for creating good digital ideas that people want to engage with and (that all-mighty buzzword we all love) "share". 

My chicken-scratch above is nothing groundbreaking but often times as creative strategists we need to ask ourselves these simple questions like "why should consumers spend time with this experience?" or "what makes this idea different from everything else?". And if you have a strong answer, then great! Novel interaction refers to new technology or new uses of old tech/interaction, interesting content refers to images, video, copy and whether it resonates with the audience and compelling incentive mainly refers to prizes and promotions because some brands need to beef this piece if their product is not that compelling.

Disagree with the criteria of a good digital idea above? I'd love to hear your thoughts, as my goal at the end of the day is for advertisers and agencies to stop creating shitty (excuse my language) digital campaigns.

Gucci is Putting An End to Luxury Brands Being Too Good For Social

By placing a "Pin it" button in their banner ad featured on the NY Mag homepage, Gucci made a statement to other high-end luxury brands that maybe social media is really important after-all and running only passive advertising isn't going to sell expensive handbags.

This is the first time I've seen a standard banner with a "Pin it" call-to-action, so I clicked on the button to see what would happen. A pop-up opened up with three items for me to pin--all of which the model is wearing in the banner. I find it so interesting that additional imagery was hidden behind this banner, when there was no mention of it through copy in the banner.

While I think the "Pin it" button does cheapen the aesthetics of the banner, it does what it needs to do--get people's attention. I don't think this was the best use of the new "Pin it" ad format, but I'll be interested to see how other brands use it and whether people are willing to pin from banners.

MTV Mobile & Nina Ricci "La Rue", Two Creative Launches Using GIFs

In the last few years, the animated image format GIF (Graphics Interchange Format in nerd terms) has found its way into mainstream publications like Buzzfeed, The Atlantic and V Magazine and more recently in launch campaigns for MTV Mobile and Nina Ricci's "La Rue" bag. These GIF campaigns raise the artistic potential of the basic animated image with more stylized photography and interactivity. There's no sign of the GIF trend slowing down, especially with mobile apps like Cinemagram--the instagram for GIFs--that makes it easy for anyone to snap a photo and turn it into a GIF to share on their social networks. 

MTV Mobile's "Gif Me More Party" Interactive Music Video 

To launch its mobile platform and app MTV Mobile, MTV created an interactive music video for Sacramento musical group Death Grip and their track "I've seen footage". Shot in the pixelated GIF style, the video has a choose-your-own-adventure aspect where you can relive an epic party through the perspective of each partygoer. The shaky video makes me a bit motion-sick, the navigation or switching of characters is a bit clunky and I'm not sure the GIF-theme is strong enough to warrant the name 'Gif Me More Party'; however, it's apparent the Paris creative agency Buzzman, which created the campaign, understood who their target audience was as the experience is fun, fresh and very "MTV". Experience the party here. 

Nina Ricci "La Rue" handbag launch with GIF Art Campaign by Jo Ratcliffe
My favorite campaigns are often the most simple, and designer Nina Ricci's GIF Art Campaign for her new handbag "La Rue" falls into this simply brilliant category. English artist Jo Ratcliffe created a set of animated GIFs showing off the chic "La Rue" purse in vibrant, whimsical GIFs that pumps youth into the Parisan brand but maintains high-fashion sophistication through styling. The best part about the website is you can retrieve the code to embed the GIFs or instantly share them on to your social networks. See all the GIFs here.