This current campaign for Fage yogurt by Mullen is running with the line Plain Extraordinary. It’s high production values are nice and have clearly aimed to position it more in the guise of a natural beauty product rather than a yogurt which is certainly a cool category jamming idea, but then there’s a few bugs in the system!

The voice over script is so bad that it feels like the ad is a spoof on indulgence. Now that is fun, see the old Boddington’s ad from the UK which parodied the Calvin Klein and luxury sector to mock its superficiality and bring the tone of the brand to life.

So I was pretty much in hysterics thinking this was a really fun ad, especially when it cuts to the shot of the cow covered in yogurt. I was waiting for the clever twist which made the brand really cool, but it didn’t come.

Judging by some of the inspired viewers comments for the spot on YouTube it’s a hit with a some people who actually buy into the faux sincerity of the script, butI’ll leave it to you to decide. It feels like this really could have been something fun and smart which it has failed miserably to do, in favor of believing its own cliche.

It will be really interesting to see how Doritos latest crowd sourcing campaign to create their next ad plays out.

They’ve really gone to town creating a decent digital experience for their King of Ads introduction hosted by T4′s Miquita Oliver no less.

Promising a purse of £200k for the winning ad submission which will be judged by a celeb panel and aired on national telly.

Not only are they pushing the consumer entries, but they’ve also placed a DPS in Campaign Magazine to engage with the pros! Though it has to be said the Campaign ad falls well short of the rest of the campaign.

It is without doubt one of the better constructed crowd sourcing campaigns and provides an interesting question not only as to how effective sourcing your commercials is, but also how effective the engagement process of crowd sourcing can be. Ultimately it begs the question of when is it right to use brand communications spend to engage in this way. Would the money have been better spent with a creative shop in the first place.

Ultimately does asking your consumer to create your ad gain you the respect of your consumers, or look like a cheap stunt with lack of imagination?

I guess, only the end results will answer that one!

The folks at Nike and AKQA have been busy it would seem and just launched this slick new app for smart/ iPhones.

It uses the geo-tagged augmented reality technology mentioned in previous blog posts to create a virtual world accessed through your phone app to provide a Nike guide book to your City.

Expect this initiative to be big and likewise expect many brands to gain confidence from seeing Nike do it and follow suit in 2010!

Much of the work we do at MILK is based on understanding changing culture and trends.

The interesting thing is that generally the preoccupation with trends focuses around: What is the trend and where’s it going? This has been fueled by books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point, focusing in on why something small fads become popular trends and others fade away without establishing themselves.

For us, the more interesting point to focus on is: What is the trend derived from and why? What in culture is changing to make something of interest bubble to the surface in general societal attitudes and behaviours?

One indicator we use as a point of reference is shown in the diagram above.

Just about anyone who’s studied or worked in marketing has heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but surprisingly few have come across Shalom Schwartz.

Schwartz took Maslow’s thinking and pushed it further to determine a map that demonstrates values states, it also proposes that these values sit opposite one another in a wheel like configuration.

Taking this simple reference point and applying it against society you can start to build a real picture of what makes us tick and more importantly why!

Now if you start to measure society’s values (like the smart folks over at Cultural Dynamics do!) then you start to understand the motivations and pressures driving shifts in values.

Understand this and you understand how trends form. Start to project values shifts based on known values movement and you can start to see how and if trends will grow!

For people in the communications industry or government this is like alchemy for ideas, it’s powerful stuff.

Something funny cropped during a recent trip to a record label.

One of smart guys there (and I should probably point out, that everyone we’ve met at this record label seems exceptionally smart) said that music is often the last thing to be considered when the ad agency is producing a new TVC.

Now there are exceptions, when the creative team send a rough cut of the shoot to the label’s Sync team and they suggest tracks to put against the final production, but this is not the norm.

The only conclusion can be because ad agencies don’t think music first. Think about Art Directors are often film makers (visual medium) and copywriters are often screenwriters (words based). So who thinks music first?

The second thing to consider is how frequently a good ad can act to launch, revive or expand a musicians career e.g. Sony/ Jose Gonzalez, Levi’s/ Mr Oizo, Guinness/ Leftfield, Cadbury/ Phil Collins?!!!!

And then there’s the role of the music video or film soundtrack. Music is the thing

to release the emotional potential of a scene, to enhance the drama, or elevate our empathy.

The really interesting thing, is the sheer number of lifestyle brands itching to get into music as a cultural equity, but then ironically not utilizing our emotional connection with the music.

How would the emotional impact of the Bravia Bouncing Balls ad have been compromised if a voice over cut in announcing just how good the clarity of the HD screen  delivers colour like no other. It would have killed it, it’s emotionally implied, so it connects on a deeper level unconsciously and fuses the association between the AV and the producer.

So the message is this…

When you watch MTV you notice there’s a thing in the corner of the screen, it says MTV. And by the power of association (Music’s biggest fan) they are considered credible and cool to represent artistic content.

So as we’ve seen steps by some great brands like Red Bull to set up their own record labels, maybe the next step is to create brand produced music videos for TV instead of ads.

And finally, the interesting thing. Only now are brands catching on to the fact that the tracks they pay to use in their commercial subsequently result in records sales. So in turn the record companies have started opening up models for revenue share schemes. Obvious? Cool! We think so.

Watch this space  - the music comes first.

Sekai camera

Call it what you wish, post digital, mobile apps, convergence media…

To us the principle interest is integration into our daily lives. We’ve seen some really interesting applications of branded ideas using integrated technologies such as the Livestrong Chalkbot, We are Scarf, Baker Tweetand the epic Foursquare. But equally the topic gets dulled down by the dump of bad executions too.

Some good guys in the industry have been moving the commentary along, the likes of Faris Yakob and  Helge Tenno and if you’re so inclined take a peek at Mashable, or Ismashphone.

We’re expecting big things next year around this area, as things like Foursquare started to build in numbers in the UK and more stores and bars get involved.

It still feels that the scope for brands using this kind of innovation has hardly scratched the surface, but it seems the hottest place to spend your budget if you want genuine social engagement, creativity and real/digital integration.

TAT is a Swedish software company and they are hot on new mobile applications, especially in augmented reality.

Check out their Augmented ID on this You Tube link.

Basically it use facial recognition software and links in all your social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, Linked in etc to your face!

Then you choose which profiles you want to be public at anytime so that when someone points their iPhone at you it brings up all your profile details that you have public.

Awesome for networking, dating, retail loyalty in-store, you name it.

Gonna be big… soon.

They have shops in Clerkenwell Road, Covent Garden, Manchester and online.

More info on Magma here.

We’ve been looking at where the deep pocketed will safely expend their wealth in times where spending flashy cash isn’t cool and petrol thirsty motors don’t really fit with the recent Copenhagen’s agenda and here it is, the Aston Cygnet!

Now Aston Martin is without doubt still wound licking at the sales fall off in the last year, but kudos for the innovation here.

If things appear in market as planned for early 2011, for £20k you can get behind the wheel of the Cygnet. Now this is some £10k more than the Toyota IQ, the car the Cygnet is built upon, but there’s an interesting catch…

To buy one, you must already own an Aston Martin. They state that many of their customers already own a small car like an IQ, so this is Aston’s way of servicing their needs and taking steps to lower the companies emissions CO2. This is interesting because they’ve found a way of creating an accessory for a real Aston, which in this guise shouldn’t damage the core brand’s image.

We believe this sort of innovation trend around ‘Micro Luxury’ is just emerging, but something we’ve been tracking before the economy dropped.

In actual fact, other than Mini and more recently Fiat 500 and this year’s Audi A1, the choices for interesting design led small cars have been extremely limited.

Prius undoubtably carried the torch for perceived eco-motoring, but there has always been a gap for luxury drivers looking for a compact, urban, eco car, but with high quality design and styling specification.

What will be interesting is to see how and to who the Aston is marketed (if at all) and whether a decision is taken to push the rollout beyond Aston owners if the launch is met positively with purchasing demand.

We’ll be tracking micro luxury closely into 2010, incorporating ethics, styling, and rationalised over indulgence.

The other thing worth a mention is the concept of ‘restricted purchase’. We’ve seen this trend driving exclusivity in products with high loyalty cues like designer toy sales and rare books/ records, but moving out to a premium price point via a luxury brand feels pretty innovative. Again another area we’ll be reporting on as luxury brands begin to seek new ways to reinforce the exclusivity of their sales propositions.