Contagious: The World in Words

The story of a man and his pregnant wife, rushing through the streets of NYC in time to get to the hospital and deliver the baby, with all visual elements represented by words (watch and see for yourself).

"A world made only with typographics"



Made by DJ Alex Gopher.

What is "sorry" enough?

Mattel hit a rough patch. Its toys are being pulled from shelves left and right, and, maybe worse yet, for a variety of problems, from choking hazards to lead paint.

The tide started with a recall two weeks ago, and, as AdAge points out, Mattel decided to rely on the news media to deploy its heartfelt apologies. Then, more recalls and full page ads in the WSJ, NYT, and USA Today. Mattel is sorry and now it’s paying to tell you so. And if you happen to be on the website, the company put together a video address from Chairman-CEO Bob Eckert.

I have been thinking about managing disaster more than usual lately with the local response to our city’s bridge collapse. I walked around in the on a neighboring bridge the day 35W fell and was surrounded by thousands of other people who just couldn’t stay in their living rooms any longer, who needed to get out and feel like there were still other people out there. After disaster, people want to gather and feel comforted by community.

Later that night, police shut the walking bridge. It stayed closed for a week. The bridge that connects the city, where tourists take photos of our skyline and new theater, a bridge on countless runners’ and bikers’ daily routes. The city didn’t realize that, when it shut down the bridge, it did more than further complicate transportation. It closed a gathering place for healing. Where people could have left flowers or flags or notes or just paused for a minute to reflect on the intensity of what happened. There was no place for us to socialize what happened, to make sense of it and figure it into our reality.

Is Mattel’s reaction to endangering millions of people’s kids was not only recycled straight from the handbook of “how to save face when you've f-ed up,” but it’s one-way in a time when we are communal. Mattel needs its bridge, and if it does things right, it can own “recuperation.” Set up a smartly-played online community, start a news feed updating the percentage of tainted product that are reeled in, solicit input from moms and dads of places they’ve seen the recalled products. Give people a chance to feel like they can DO something.

User-Created: Zooppa

Recent results announcements from Frito-Lay declares that Dorito's "Crash the Superbowl" user-generated commercial campaign drove over 600 million views. 600 million views (the Superbowl boasts of 93 million views). Expect many to reduce the clues to tapping this opportunity as "let's hold ourselves a You-Create-It Ad Contest"!

That essentially is the potion that Zoopa offers us treasure-seeking marketers.

The checkered flag is waved and I picture advertisers like the zany comedians of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World in the madcap race to get that easy "user generated pot o' gold".
Zooppa stands to gain from the holy grail of engagement - harnessing the awesome power of user co-creation...but their solution of plug-and-play contests to solicit work from brand superfans for any and all clients seems ham-fisted and too literal. User-co-creation is first and foremost about sincere consumer passion for a brand. And the base reality of consumer-made engagement is that IT AIN'T FOR EVERYBODY NOR EVERY BRAND! But we'll see how these guys fare.

I quote highlights of their schema below:

"Zooppa.com partners with international companies to sponsor their brands through Zooppa's video competitions. Based on the briefs companies provide, users are invited to create their own commercials for that brand. This can mean designing an animated sequence, writing a script or concept for a potential ad, or actually shooting their own video."

"For each company that Zooppa partners with, a new contest is launched for users to compete in."

"Once users have uploaded their commercials, it is up to them to decide the winners. Users rate the videos and it is based on these ratings that Zooppa awards the cash prizes. Each Zoop$ that users earn are equivalent to real US dollars. Once users have accumulated a minimum of 1000 Zoop$, they can convert their Zoop$ into a real cash pay out."

Hey brands! Here is a free treasure map clue to consider: if our brands behave in unique and engaging ways, consumers will co-create with us. Save the money on the contests and prizes and think of really great experiences for your customers to have with your brand.