My List of Notable Digital of the Decade

+Ok, so there's the One Club's list of the best 10 digital ads/experiences that "defined an era". I disagree with some of them. So, here is my list, in no particular order, of campaigns that I think should have been included and a reason why.

Balloonacy for Orange:

Why? This 2008 campaign did something no other campaign had done to date. It used new technology, it got consumers and anyone with a web page involved as publishers/"media". It was social, competitive, shareable, engaging, and fun. Read about the first inception of the campaign here on Iain Tait's blog. You can also read more about the campaign and how it came together in this interview with Mr. Tait.

Old Spice Twitter Videos:

Why? The already successful campaign of 2010 took it to the next level in a super social way, responding to tweets via nearly real-time video responses. It was engaging, personalized, and made use of the tools out there to create something that took what is often just used as a tactic to bring the Old Spice Guy in to the desks and laps of consumers. Read about how it worked here.

Audi "Art of the Heist" Campaign:

Why? This 2005 campaign was one of the first to really delve as deep into a wide variety of media, and turned the advertising into a large scale game and integrated campaign. According to a case study, more than 200,000 people became involved with the search for the stolen A3 in a single day. Read more about it here and here.


Office Max:

Why? Launched in 2006 as a plethora of sites, this campaign continues to come back every year, with the most popular Elf Yourself.  After six weeks of being live, the traffic on the holiday site in 2007 more than quadrupled versus the five weeks the site was up in 2006. In the six weeks from Nov. 20, 2007 to Jan. 2, 2008, the site had over 193 million visits and over 123 million elves were created--which is 60 elves per second. Users spent a combined average of 2,600 years on the site. In the five weeks from Dec. 1, 2006 to Jan. 7, 2007, the site had over 36 million site visits and over 11 million elves were created (41,00 per hour at its peak.) Users spent a combined equivalent of 600 years on the site.Read more about it here and here.

The Simpsons Movie - Simpsonize Yourself

Why? Do you know anyone who hasn't had their profile picture somewhere that wasn't Simpsonized? I know people that are still using it as a profile image. Hoards of people all over gravitated to this when it launched in 2007 and used it, and shared it...in the end 45 million people did it. Of course it helps to have such a recognizable brand like The Simpsons. But, the idea hit on something that resonated with a huge audience because it was personal, customizable, and fun. Read more about it here.

Axe Chocoman Hunter:

Why? This 2008 campaign was one of the first to embrace QR codes and had an inherent sharable component through mobile. As a contest, the winner received 1% of AXE total sales (talk about incentive to purchase and share/WOM). Friends could easily "bump" their phones and share their Chocoman, for more points. Read more about it here.