LO/WE Interactive Community

Lowe Roche and Stella Artois

2008-12-09T14:54:50Z

GET TOGETHER WITH YOUR FRIENDS OVER A STELLA ARTOIS THIS CHRISTMAS!

Here's a worldwide campaign that Lowe London and Lowe Roche produced together with Psyop/Stink.

]]> Stella Artois was once known as a Christmas beer - sold only throughout the holidays. The tv spot is about the craftsmenship of the beer and continues the paper-cut themed creative from earlier this year. We developed a digital spcae within stellaartois.com where users could view the spot. Once on the site, visitors send their friends a 'star' invitation to meet over a chalice of Stella Artois. We also developed intricate prontable paper ornaments that users craft together to create their own festive decorations.

This project was developed in nine languages and orchestrated with varied production resources worldwide and locally (London and Toronto) to develop the content for the very first Christmas campaign for Stella Artois.

Link: stellaartois.com

Credits:

Project: Le Noël - stellaartois.com
Spot title: Dove
Client Company: InBev
Brand: Stella Artois
Creative Agency: Lowe Roche, Lowe Worldwide
Worldwide Creative Director: Matthew Bull
Creative Director: Christina Yu
Art Directors: Christina Yu, Patrick Shing
Copywriters: Rob Sturch, Joseph Bonnici
Producer: Dan Heighes
Digital Production Director: Trisha Quenneville
Flash Developer: Dan Purdy

Technical Developer: Adam Brandejs
Business Management: Anna Crabtree, Oliver Clark

Production Company: Stink/Psyop
Director: Psyop
Psyop Creative Directors: Eben Mears, Marco Spier
Executive Producers: Mungo Maclagan (Stink), Boo Wong (Psyop)
Producers: Mungo Maclagan (Stink), Carol Collins (Psyop)
Director of Photography: Darran Tiernan
Designer: Kimberly Delaney
Editors: Cass Vanini, Graham Brennan
Storyboard Artist: Ben Chan
Lead Technical Director: Tony Barbieri
Lead Compositor Molly Schwartz
3D Team: Gooshun Wang, Lee Wolland, Cody Chen, Jeff Lopez, Miguel A. Salek
3D Look and Development: Marco Iozzi
Composite: Cody Chen
Flame: Mark French
Asst Flame: Dan Boujolian
Lead: Roto J Bush
Tracking: Steven Hill

Music composer: Paul Leonard-Morgan
Sound engineer: Ben Gulvin
Sound House: 750mph, London

Top Guns for Lowe Brindfors

2008-12-05T14:02:13Z

Bjorn Larsson in the Hotseat

Our Swedish agency has been prized as the 7th most awarded interactive agency in the world in 2008, by the prestigious Gunn Report.

Lowe Go chats to the man behind this award winning agency, Chairman and CEO, Bjorn Larsson.

]]> Lowe Go: Brindfors has been in the top 10 of the Gunn Report for 2 consecutive years. What does this mean for the agency in concrete terms?

The goal we defined 3 years ago to digitally transform the whole agency and its 165 professionals is on its way. It has also lead to individual invitations to digital work and pitches around the world. Finally we are extremely proud to have some of the best creative in the world and to share the top 10 ranking both years with VOP which work in TVC and Print we really admire.

Lowe Go: How would you sum up Brindfors in 2008? Highlights? Lowlights? Cornerstones?

The highlight was to consolidate and win the Electrolux/AEG/Zanussi pitch and to share the win with our Lowe friends in Prague. The day we lost the Coop client after a 14 year relationship and magical work (given the fact that we managed to survive 9 CEOs and 11 CMPs) was not the day of my life. But, you have to move on. To hire Richard Villard as the ECD - a then 30 years old young creative with a digital heart, I am convinced will speed up the pace we digitalize the agency and is the most important move we did in 2008.

Lowe Go: What are your plans for the agency for 2009?

The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius. The only way to manage the financial tsunami is to ask yourself how to double the revenue; triple the work in one forth of the time!

Lowe Go: While Brindfors stand strong as an interactive agency, are there other categories - secret gems - that the agency has mastered.

Although we were early out digitally - in 1997, we had 40 people in our sector and a 50/50 agency in Calgary, Canada - we do have a very strong design/print heritage from the days of our founding fathers. Hans Brindfors was the designer of the Absolut (vodka) bottle - one of the most iconic shapes in marketing. Also, in the Brand Event space, we aim to mirror the IPG experiential agency Jack Morton that do projects like the Olympic opening ceremonies. We also have a talent in 3D work creating art that looks like it is coming from Pixlar Studios.

Lowe Go: Bjorn, what are your New Year resolutions?

Making sure I pass the summer vacation test eg. if you still recall the pass-code to the office after a holiday - go back and take a couple more weeks off. Usually it takes 8-9 weeks to get the code to go away from your brain!

Lowe New York Takes Credit!

2008-10-15T09:52:30Z

Lowe New York takes credit for new US Treasury website!

'Don't let your credit put you in a bad place!' This is the mantra for a new campaign developed by Lowe New York for the United States Department of Treasury and The Advertising Council.

]]> Intended to demonstrate to young adults about the importance of taking control of their credit and personal finances, Lowe asembled an integrated campaign featuring TV and radio spots, print, and online media. They all point towards ControlYourCredit.gov, a website unlike anyhing the client has published before.

Titled 'The Bad Credit Hotel', it's the result of collaboration between Lowe New York and Firstborn Multimedia. As the site loads, you take on the persona of a visitor to The Bad Credit Hotel, a place that mimics the dimly lit atmosphere of a mysterious noir film, complete with scratch effects. It's composed almost entirely of 3D and HD video.

The site's educational content is disguised as an adventure game of sorts. Users will need to explore and find clues in order to make their way out of the hotel. Each kernel of knowledge yields a token, and finding them is all a challenge. This makes learning as non-intrusive and engaging as possible.

Each area of the hotel covers one of the following subjects: Debt Management, Credit History and Credit Score. A ubiquitous character mysteriously resurfaces to guide them through these topics, offering wise advice throughout.

The ultimate goal of the game is to collect enough inventory to enter the fabulous Room 850, a place of perfect credit and the only area that's in colour. It's a clever way to emphasise the Treasury's underlying message that everyone should strive to reach that perfect credit score of 850 in real life as well.

ControlYourCredit.gov is accompanied by an HTML version that presents the information in a more traditional manner. The HTML site is in both English and Spanish.
Learn how to control your own credit as http://www.controlyourcredit.gov

For Lowe New York:
Chairman & Chief Creative Officer: Mark Wnek
Managing Director/Interactive: Matt Picheny
Creative Team: Simon Bowden, Chateau Bezarra, Bryan Johnson
VP Management Supervisor/Account Director: Jessica Thor
Production Manager: Jereny Gelade
Interactive Producer: Peter Tierney
HTML Site Design and Programming: Patrick Batey

Lowe Brindfors Activates the Turbo Gene for Saab

2008-10-08T13:51:07Z

'There's a Turbo gene inside every one of us', says Joakim Wållgren, planner at Lowe Brindfors in Stockholm. 'It influences every choice your make. ANd the choices you make define who you are.'

]]> On the new website, Lowe Brindfors had created for Saab, the viewer is encouraged to let her Turbo gene help her answer six questions. The questions range from the historical charater you identify with most and what kind of magazine you'd like to edit to which conditions you are most likely to be driving in. 'The questions are based on a scientific test.' says Joakim. 'Depending on the answers, the consumer is recommended the Saab that suits her needs best and encouraged to take a test drive.'

The website can be found in English at saab.com and local versions produced for Sweden, Switzerland, Holland and Finland with more countries to follow. The site is a mix of film, 3D and animation and has already been lauded on a number of international advertising blogs. On September 24th it was named FWA's Site of the Day and described as 'Slick. Smooth. Stylish.Saab.' Who are we to argue?

www.saab.com/turbogenetest

Client:Saab

Agency:Lowe Brindfors

Working Group: Magnus Wretblad cd, Tim Schiebel ad, Jakob Swedenborg ad, Joakim Norman designer, Henrik Häger copy, Joakim Wållgren planner, Patrick O'Neil project manger, Helen Wård production manager, Espen Bekkebråten agency producer, Daniel Isaksson developer, Tobias Löfgren developer

Produktionsbolag:Acne Digital flash development, Alphabetical Order/Acne Film film and direction, Daniel de Viciola och Marcus Linnér regissörer, Syndicate

Lowe New York's XM Wildride Microsite

2008-09-19T09:11:03Z

The Wildride microsite for XM Radio invites users to immerse themselves in the wonderful worlds of XM. Users drive through 4 distintive 'towns'; Rock town, Country town, Sports town and Urban town, each with their own sound tracks and visual identites.

]]> In this way users experience the benefits a XM satellite radio can give your 'driving experience'. Users can also play the Help the Hippo or Flip the Animal games or watch the 'Heaven' video in the drive-in area to enjoy a little bit of fun whilst immersed in the XM brand expeience.

The site was designed to engage users and generate awareness of the XM brand in order to raise front of mind awareness of XM at point of purchase for people looking to buy a new car. The new site builds on the momentum of the last year's site but is a much larger and more ambitious project.

The site uses a 3-d engine to give more reality to the driving experience and cars, buildings, animals were all modeled on 3-d before being built into the flash site. A focus was placed on ensuring that the four cities had their own identities to show the variety of music from an XM satellite radio. This was done through animations of each animal giving them a distinct character.

To give the site a test drive go to: http://www.xmradio.com/wildride

Chairman & Chief Creative Office: Mark Wnek

Managing Director/ Interactive: Matt Picheny

Creative Team: Eddie Van Bloem, John Szalay, Bryan Johnson, Chateau Bezerra

Senior Interactive Producer: Miranda Thomson

Project Manager: Keren Golan

Account Manager: Katie Gray

Digital or Interactive: what do we do with this information?

2008-07-31T10:00:42Z

It took me some time to start writing this article about what is going on in the Brazilian market when it comes to digital advertising. Everyday I have a new doubt about what's really happening. So, I decided to share my latest one: Is our market about digital or interactive advertising?

]]> My digital story started with the Internet. There were no titles for those who worked on digital; it was all about the Internet. No matter what you had to do, it was Internet.

Here in brazil, there was the time when the client used to ask agencies to build their companies/products' 'homepage'. And it really used to be only a homepage, because a website had only one page. There was this 'make-a-cute-thing-to-my brand-on-the-internet' kind of mindset, and whoever had Photoshop and html bare skills could handle the job. Our advertising skills were worthless.

Then corporative websites came, huge projects usually lead by the IT department. Software houses took over and the best CMS won the pitch. In parallel, all the microsite frenzy was going on, full of Flash but seen as something that even a handy client's nephew could do. Digital was not an advertising territory at all.

Today a clue of what could be an answer to my doubts start to spring to mind. Reflecting about the amount of technology available, the whole '2.0 concept' (even the 3.0) involving the web and the consumer, I start to feel that it is not taking bands to the digital sphere anymore, they have already been there since we made the first e-card. The most important thing is the relevance brands will take by being interactive.

Do brands need to be opened to listen to what consumers and community have to say, and react to it in some way? Or, 'Do brands need to promote interaction in order to sell more products?' Someone in advertising certainly answered these questions 'yes'. And then the responsability of brands being interactive came to us, and digital became one of our tools to be interactive.

At this point we could go crazy asking ourselves what is the definition of interactive in advertising, considering that interaction came before digital after all. But what I believe is interesting here is the feeling of being released of all the technological confusion that digital brings within it. And be free to focus on exploring new formats and speeches to communicate something, which is what we really enjoy doing.

Meanwhile in Brazil, I see brand agency losing hegemony and agencies that used to call themselves digital are moving to be recognized as interactive, and the digital knowledge is seen as an aggregate value. Although Brazilians are facing some issues to deliver proper interactive advertising, here the more interactive the agency, the more respected and profitable it gets.

And again a new doubt pops up: what are we supposed to do with this information?

Written by Bartira Pontes, Digital Manager

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Lowe New York Launches Life Changing Website.

2008-07-18T14:43:07Z

The Life Changing Box is a website developed for Lowe NY's client, Sharp Corporation. The Life Changing Box site is part of an integrated campaign that includes TV commercials, print and online media. All media points back to lifechangingbox.com.

]]> The campaign focuses on four pillars:-

Sharp's AQUOS LCD TV is the official HDTV od Major League Baseball.
Sharp's long history of technical beakthroughs.
Sharp's leadership in LCD innovations.
Sharp's devotion to improving solar energy.

Each pillar gets its own section within the site. In the MLB section, visitors select objects to be hit by a batter in super slow motion. As the pieces fly, aspects of the AQUOS TVs are called out. These videos will also be made available on YouTube as part of our viral strategy. To educate visitors about Sharp's past, the History section features an interactive 3-D Japanese paper lantern displaying technological milestones on each of its panels.

Sharp's numerous innovations in LCD technology - and the mysterious technology itself - are explained in a lively, animated film within the LCD Innovation section. After the video, the visitors are introduced to the Takimi, nine masters of nine aspects of LCD manufacturing. The Solar section of the site takes the visitor to a green valley where they can learn about Sharp's dedication to solar energy development.

Preceding the site, Lowe New York created some buzz by lauching two Web features that didn't reveal Sharp as the sponsor. The first was an unbranded teaser site that challenged visitors to guesss what was in the Life Changing Box. Wrong answers upset the box, while correct answers launched the box into playful animations. This teaser site also directed visitors to the other feature, the Life Changing Box Facebook contest. You can read more about that at http://www.lo-we.com/2008/07/new-yorks-life-changing-box.php

Visit http://lifechangingbox.com and perhaps have your own life changed.

Lowe New York's Life Changing Box

2008-07-08T14:09:25Z

Lowe New York Launches First-of-its-Kind Facebook Application

Lowe New York has launched what is believed to be the first Facebook application to offer real prizes - the Life Changing Box. The application, is an interactive game giving users a chance to win real prizes, some of which are worth thousands of dollars. The game was developed as part of the teaser campaign for a new website being developed for our client, Sharp Electronics Corporation.

]]>
To date, prizes won have included Sharp AQUOS LCD TVs and Home Theater Systems. On July 4th two lucky winners received a prize package including a trip to New York City to attend a Major League Baseball® Game. TVs and baseball tickets were a safe bet for prizes given away by Sharp, the Official HDTV of Major League Baseball. The Grand Prize, however, may be a curve ball. Players are free to guess at LifeChangingBox.com where they may find clues by seeing what the box responds to.

Five more boxes have yet to open and reveal prizes. So login, sign-up, and invite your friends at http://apps.facebook.com/lifechangingbox

The Life Changing Box game will last through July 14, 2008, to coincide with the full launch of http://www.LifeChangingBox.com

LO/WE Grand/Prix

2008-07-04T15:02:29Z

LO/WE Grand/Prix

Lowe's ambition is to become the leading agency for creating interactive

High Value Ideas by immersing our agency community in the digital world.

So in the spirit of leading by brilliant example, LO/WE, Lowe's interactive community has initiated the LO/WE Grand/Prix.

]]> The LO/WE Grand/Prix is an award for the best interactive communication based on a High Value Idea within the Lowe network and it will be handed out once a year during CannesLions.

The entries were judged by a panel of digital specialists from within the network with Matthew Bull as Chairman. He gave the following statement:

"Firstly, it is so rewarding and refreshing to see how far we have come within Lowe when it comes to our digital work. A couple of years ago, both Måns and I agree, we would have got nowhere near the standard we have this year. Some truly exciting, fresh, meaningful work from a wide variety of agencies spread around the world. We have truly begun to embrace the digital era. I believe, in time, we have the ability to lead it as a network.

In the end, the judging came down to two pieces of work Electrocity & StellaArtois.com.

Electrocity is simply a breathtaking piece of thinking that has had phenomenal success in it's marketplace. It really is a ground-breaking piece of work.

But ultimately, we believe that Stella Artois represents the pinnacle of the creative work we have produced over the past year, so we have awarded it the LO/WE Grand Prix, with Electrocity being awarded the Runner/Up. We were originally only going to give out one award, but it just felt wrong not to recognise both pieces. Congratulations to all involved. Inspirational work to say the very least." - Matthew Bull

LO/WE GRAND/PRIX 2008

Jury statement

LO/WE is proud to award the inaugural LO/WE Grand/Prix to Lowe Brindfors for the magnificent and groundbreaking StellaArtois.com. By creating an immensely rich and engaging interactive universe around the brand, Lowe Brindfors has managed to show us the future of advertising as well as the future of Lowe. StellaArtois.com has truly earned its place at the pinnacle together with Lowe's greatest creative work of all time.

Agency: Lowe Brindfors - Sweden

Client: InBev/Stella Artois - Belgium

Project: StellaArtois.com

LO/WE GRAND/PRIX 2008 - Runner/Up

Jury statement

LO/WE is proud to award the inaugural LO/WE Grand/Prix - Runner/Up to Lowe Sydney for the breathtaking Electrocity.co.nz. Because of the excellent strategic thinking behind the work as well as the magnificent execution of this complex subject, Lowe Sydney has taken online communication effectiveness to a new level by making the campaign close to compulsory in New Zealand schools.

Agency: Lowe Sydney - Australia

Client: Genesis Energy - New Zealand

Project: Electrocity.co.nz

Print Sucks!

2008-07-04T13:34:53Z

Check out some of Lowe Roche's latest work....

]]> To highlight Lowe Roche's Interactive capabilities, this ad was run in Strategy Magazine, a major industry publication in Canada. Since a print ad isn't exactly the most interactive medium available, we decided to make this the central idea of the ad. The ad then led people to our printsucks.ca website where they could experience our work in its true interactive form.

http://printsucks.ca

LO/WE Digital Conference, Juan-les-Pins, France

2008-07-02T11:17:24Z

The second gathering of the LO/WE digital community took place last month in the South of France, find out more about what took place....

]]> Lowe Portal - LO/WE Digital Conference, Juan-les-Pins, France

LO/WE, Lowe's interactive community held it's second gathering this June in Juan-les-Pins, France. The objective of LO/WE, as well as the conference, is to combine our interactive skills and experiences in order to take full advantage of the ever increasing client opportunities within the digital universe.

18 of Lowe's interactive specialists from 11 Lowe offices around the world participated in the conference with Lowe's CEO Steve Gatfield joining in for the final session.

Headed up by Måns Tesch & Oscar Erlandsson, the conference began with an update about LO/WE and its background, vision and organisation as well as the interactive development of the participating agencies. In addition some participants hosted discussions on relevant interactive topics including social media, interactive creativity and digital effectiveness.

The second day involved the participants working together to solve interactive client briefs in order to put further emphasis on the importance of cross-border cooperation within the LO/WE community. Each group presented their initial ideas and thoughts to finish off the conference.

The LO/WE team will continue pushing for more digital cooperation and communication across the borders of agencies, cultures and countries. Don't hesitate to get in touch with Rebecca Reid from LO/WE in London if you want to participate in the community.

Rebecca Reid

rebecca.reid@loweworldwide.com

+447717 361030

Join the Treepeople community

2008-06-13T00:06:38Z

Tree People is a new website for Genesis Energy created by Lowe and Rivet in Sydney. It's an online community, specifically for children, to help visualise and reward efforts against climate change.

Tree People is the result of intensive strategy and research that looked at why most carbon footprint websites of this type fail.

]]>
Tree People does not preach or chastise, and it's not a carbon calculator that reveals how bad you are. (In the context of everyday life, carbon footprints are an abstract concept that people only fleetingly relate to.) Tree People recognises that most people, including older children, are aware of climate change, and how to save energy and act responsibly in the environmental sense. It simply gives people the chance to make a difference by making pledges to reduce their impact on the environment.

This has been reflected in the membership figures: in just the first 3 weeks since launch, 6,000 trees have been adopted and over 25,000 pledges made.

http://www.treepeople.co.nz

Lowe Strateus' recent work

2008-06-10T00:28:43Z

Interested to know what some of Lowe's digital teams have been working on?
Take a look at some recent work from Lowe Stratéus. Discover how they helped their client "Vrai" to launch its first public campaign on television and the internet, the French government to communicate on TMS, and Keolis to reach the general public for the first time...

]]>

"Vrai" (= true, in French), the market leader for ultra fresh organic dairy products, launches its first public campaign on television and on the Internet (May 2008).

Since the 15th of May, 4 TVCs compose an "advertising series" bucolic and ironic, revealing the making of the elaboration of a campaign on a farm.
Two brand films, of 20 seconds each, establish the setting and install the whole idea of the campaign, whereas two other product films of 10 seconds each were made to surprise the consumer.
The campaign has been launched during an event revealing the entire campaign to nearly a hundred bloggers.
A safe space has also been opened for buyers of the commercial network "Vrai", who have been able to discover before everyone else the films and future website.

http://www.lebonheurestdanslevrai.com/ (TRUE is happiness)

Lowe Stratéus creates the Official Musculoskeletal Campaign (April 2008)

Musculoskeletal disorders ("TMS") are pains that arise in your articulations and that can soon become unbearable and invalidating. These pains are contracted by doing the same movement over and over or by adopting a bad working posture.
This ongoing pain is demonstrated by a scream of which the source is only perceived at the very last moment: mouths stuck to the painful articulations screaming because of their suffering.
But life goes on, this pain does not exist for others, the TVC film has for ambition to raise attention about musculoskeletal disorders, first cause of sick leave in France.
A website including a 3D model was specifically developed and mediatised through rich-media banners:

www.info-tms.fr

"Sun Green Power" product launch for Unilever (March / April 2008)

To go with the European commercial launching of a new multifunction washing tablet that rejects fewer phosphates than they did before, Lowe Stratéus has created a TVC in addition to a website which are both coherent to the brand High Value Idea ("Dishwashing is our life") and relevant on a very popular topic (sustainable development) which is used by many other brands.

The website's objective is to explain the main improvements that have been added to the product, from its conception to its consumer use, through all stages such as transport for example, and presents daily actions and attitudes to adopt which will benefit to the environment every day.

The project has been launched in various other European countries to go with the product launch: the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Finland... The agency has translated and adapted local versions according to the needs of each country. An online media campaign has also been deployed in these various countries in order to generate more traffic on the website.

www.sungreenpower.com

KEOLIS (March 2008)

Number one private operator of public transport in France, Keolis wants to reach the general public for the first time.

Being one of the SNCF's branches (French Public Train company), Keolis handles with its 24 000 drivers the transport for millions of French passengers. For its first public advertising message, the company wishes to promote general transport and to communicate all of its humanity.
Lowe Stratéus's strategy has been to show in a 53 second film the contrast between a transportation mode which is sometimes perceived as impersonal and cold, and the multitude of links that can arise between passengers in reality.
The agency has wanted to show public transport in a different light, as a living place, a place for exchange and coexistence: shared looks, genuine conversations, helping others, reel links that are created and are represented as woollen threads of different colours which intertwine as more meetings occur and go along. The chosen signature particularly throws light on this contrast by evoking "non-virtual networks", as an ironic reference to virtual networks created for example through Facebook.

This film has been aired as a buzz on the teasing website: K3654s.com: 300 bloggers were invited to see a film with no signature after they had received a package containing this coded website link drawn on with woollen threads.

After the 3564th visit on the website, the film's creator was revealed (if you type in KEOLIS on your mobile phone, you will understand with the website's URL was k3654s.com).
The agency has also developed a specific application on Facebook, using the principle of visual connexion by a woollen thread to materialise links between friends.

Overall result of this alternative strategy: over 60 000 people have seen the film and 15 000 pages seen on blogs.

www.k3654s.com

Electrocity, finalist at the Webby Awards

2008-06-09T07:18:27Z

This is MASSIVE!! These awards are the "Oscars of the Internet".

The Webby Awards is the Internet's most respected symbol of success. The 12th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 USA states and over 60 countries worldwide.

]]> www.electrocity.co.nz