Full disclosure, this film was made by TBWA\CHIAT\DAY, Los Angeles.

Source: Rob Schwartz, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA CHIAT DAY, LA on forbes.com.

 Now brand activation agency TBWA\BEC and music company Universal Music have joined forces to celebrate this new economy. From sponsored festivals and concerts to online activations and even celebrity-endorsed in-car sound systems, Musicacitvation.com is a veritable showcase of cool collaborations.

It will grow into a collection of compelling case studies and, in the words of its founders, become “a digital bookmark for marketing and music professionals”, as well as inspiring musicians and marketers who’ve not yet joined forces. Music fans, too, will find plenty of evidence to convince them that teaming with a brand is a route to creativity.

TBWA\BEC’s Music Manager Luc van Stiphout says: “Being one of the most consumed passions globally, music offers brands unique ways to connect with their consumers…Musicactivation.com offers marketers an overview of some of the best work and music cases out there.”

Director Digital at Universal Music, Thierry van Engelen adds: “It’s vital that we are creative and open to new ways to promote music acts and new paths to create revenues other than record sales. Collaborations with brands offer these new opportunities to our artists.”

https://www.facebook.com/musicactivation

For this purpose, McCafé Germany has just started an activation on its facebook page, inviting its fans to create their own McCafé To-go cup with their own smart, funny and intriguing texts. Among all applied, the best ones will be put to the public vote on the 5th of July.

The one with the most votes will be produced as a part of the new edition of the McCafé to-go cups.

Go to the site here.

You may be surprised how creative you are. That’s the message that comes across from vodka brand Absolut’s new presence on Facebook, created for German-speaking consumers by TBWA\Berlin. Simply put, the Absolut Best of Me platform allows users to transform their existing Facebook content into a virtual gallery, showcasing their favourite posts, pictures and films.

Creative director Dirk Henkelmann says: “Very active Facebook users put a lot of information on the site, most of which is gradually forgotten. Absolut Best of Me enables them to resurrect it, curate it and display it as an exhibition. When you look back at all your posts and photographs, you’ll be amazed by your own creativity.”

The nascence of the site dates back to November, when TBWA and Absolut were discussing the brand’s potential on Facebook. Says Dirk: “We didn’t want to do just another fan page. When you have a brand like Absolut, whose brand behaviour is driven and inspired by creativity, you’re obliged to do something special. So we decided to give consumers a stage on which they could express themselves.”

Absolut’s consumers are often trend leaders who are likely to enjoy sharing their thoughts and inspiration in an unconventional way. Thanks to Absolut Best of Me they can transform their Facebook activity into an artistic journey that they can post to their wall and share with friends.

The platform is a flash microsite linked to Facebook via Facebook Connect. Once users have selected the material they want to use in their exhibition – and they can tweak and curate for as long as they wish – the selected posts and images are automatically transferred into the Absolut gallery landscape. The resulting animation resembles a virtual stroll through a gallery.

Account manager Alexis Mardon says: “It took us some time to develop the platform not only because of the technical aspects, but because we wanted to find a way of reassuring users that their ‘artworks’ would not be used in any other context outside the platform.”

Congratulations to Absolut for this example of brand behavior which is not a customer relations management campaign disrespecting the privacy of the participants: it’s a gift from Absolut to its fans, enabling them to show off their creativity. Well done.

How did the book come about?

To a certain extent it was provoked by nostalgia. Fifteen years ago, when we founded Fast Company, we organized a meeting based around the premise “How do you overthrow successful companies?” The participants weren’t young dotcoms, but companies that were already large and successful, and wanted to consider ways of engaging with the exciting new landscape that was emerging around them. It struck me that you could organize the same meeting today and ask exactly the same question. The book is an attempt to answer it.

What for you then is the key to success? Is it enough to be disruptive?

It’s no longer enough to be pretty good at a lot of things. You goal should be excellence in a chosen field. The most local, the most global, the most exclusive…the point is to stand for something. Too many leaders want to stay in the middle of the road, which is the road to nowhere.

Thanks to the digital revolution, we live in an age of transparency. Do you find that the most disruptive companies are also the most authentic?

It’s certainly true that you can’t behave one way in the marketplace and another way internally. Your brand must be a reflection of your culture. In that context, your hiring policy and the way you treat your employees becomes vitally important. I’d even say that the “power couple” in this new environment are the marketers and human resources department, because your talent strategy and your brand strategy must be in synch.

Can you give a concrete example of this?

One of my favourite brands in the US is Zappos.com. In just ten years it has become an iconic brand, by doing something is banal as selling shoes on line. The way it uses customer service, performance and theatricality to make technology more human is outstanding. A lot of this is based on its hiring strategy. When you join the company, you embark on a five week training period. Then they offer you 5000 dollars to quit. It’s a way of acknowledging that the company isn’t for everyone, while ensuring that only those who are truly committed to the brand stay on. That’s just one of the reasons why it’s become a passion brand of the highest order. The staff believes in it as well as the customers.

Is being “practically radical” – or “disruptive” as TBWA would call it – essentially about taking risks?

During my research, I unearthed an academic study that identified two different forms of risk-taking. The first might be termed “sinking the boat”: taking a risk that didn’t work. But the second is “missing the boat”: failing to take a risk that might have worked. Too many leaders fail to innovate because they’re afraid of sinking the boat.

In advertising, there’s sometimes a feeling that originality requires big budgets. How do you feel about that?

If you look at any truly creative organization, it’s not about how deep their pockets are, but how original their ideas are. Once again, that stems from their people. And by the way, these people don’t have to work FOR you. It’s enough that they work WITH you. You need to find people who excel in their field and get them involved. It’s the team that counts – I’m a firm believer that you’re never as smart alone as you are together.

Having said that, there is an element of self-help to your book. Can individuals apply your ideas to themselves?

Absolutely. In the last third of the book I talk about how to become a high-impact individual in your field. Just like brands, we should all consider what we stand for and what legacy we want to leave.

TBWA is famous for its work with brands such as Apple and Pedigree. How do they fit in with the theme of your book?

For me, the key to Apple is that it decided that it was not going to be a company that introduced new electronic devices, but one that reshaped what was possible. It doesn’t allow what is currently known about technology to limit its imagination. Instead, it imagines the impossible and then endeavours to make it happen. It’s the ultimate example of starting with a blank sheet of paper.

Pedigree is a completely different example in that it’s a company with a long history. The temptation in this case is to disavow your past in order to carve out a new future. Instead, Pedigree rediscovered and reinterpreted its heritage. The company was started by people who genuinely loved dogs, but somehow over the years that message had gotten watered down.  All large but somewhat stodgy companies were based on an original innovative idea. Sometimes you need to go back to that idea in order to reinvigorate your business. Never be afraid to seek inspiration in your past.

Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry and Challenge Yourself, is published by William Morrow & Company.

For any comments or suggestions, send an email to Ulrich Proeschel.

I was in London the other day, and I discovered the “Eastern Egg” operation.  The idea is simple: buy a beautiful painted wooden egg (done by one of fourteen designers) for £10 and the money goes directly to the Red Cross in Japan.  The eggs are painted by an awesome “egg bot” (see below video).  To place your order, just go to www.eastern-eggs.com. What’s more thanks to PayPal you don’t have to be in the UK to participate!

Eastern Eggs from TBWA\London on Vimeo.

Everything was swell, until the truck driver responsible for the deliciously cherry-cola flavoured Skittles sweets abruptly decided he didn’t want to drive anymore. Skittles received a notification of the Trucker driver of the main shipment, he wasn’t moving – he was blue….nobody liked him…so then we asked the Skittles fans to step in.

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Last week, Skittles Facebook fans were solely responsible for cheering up the Blue Trucker. His journey, and whether he arrived at his final destination depended entirely on the support of the Skittles fans. If they wanted their precious blue Skittles to arrive in the UK, they had to continue showing the Blue Trucker some serious TLC, offering words of encouragement and ‘liking’ him. The trucker posted videos on the Skittles wall every day, with his latest musings. The fans could also interact with him and send him messages via the app wall. The fans had to continue liking him to ensure the delivery of Skittles! And in the end, the fans corralled and loved the trucker enough to get their delivery.

For any comments or suggestions, send an email to Tom Wong.