Caspar01

Is this the best bit of digital storytelling of 2014? I've not seen much better. Honda UK have created 'The Other Side',  an amazing 'double-sided' film - think two distinct stories with the same protagonist, matched shot-for-shot - to demonstrate the two sides of the Type R ('suburban family runabout' and 'sinister crime machine', in case you were wondering).

It's powerful, witty and brilliant. And because you have to play a part (Press 'R' at any point), it becomes much more than just a bit of content to watch: you become an active participant and creator of your own, personal experience.

Ladies and gentlemen, a new battleground in the supermarket wars has emerged: brand experience.  The 2008 crash has had a long-tail effect on British shoppers. Discount chains, such as Germany's Lidl, have seen their fortunes rise dramatically. Just a few years ago, shopping there was an embarrassing secret. Now it's a badge of honour for frugal consumers. And the dominant supermarket chains are worried. So Morrisons, the 4th biggest chain in the UK, tried to play them at their own game by announcing they'd price match Lidl. And Lidl have responded…in a very interesting way. Rather than slashing prices further, they've taken out full page press ads, detailing a point-by-point takedown of the crappy user experience sitting beneath Morrisons' offer.

Prankvertising: it's basically Candid Camera with a packshot at the end, isn't it? But - done right - it's endlessly entertaining. And it's not (just) schadenfreude. It's because we never get tired of seeing genuine reactions and emotions. Real people, in real places, experiencing real things.

The right message, to the right person, at the right time: it's the ultimate goal of marketing and comms. And Cancerfonden (the Swedish Cancer Society) have hit the nail firmly on the head with this clever activation.  Melanoma cases have doubled since 2000, which they think is due to Swedes remembering to cover up on holiday but forgetting to do so at home. So they created a shaded area for people.

I’m all for innovation in marketing, but IKEA might be taking it a bit far: they seem to be running the world’s first customer disloyalty campaign. They’ve threatened legal action against their most active brand fans and customer champions, in the form of IKEAHackers.net and IKEAFANS.com, in large part for using the IKEA name and marque (in the course of celebrating and praising the brand).

It’s not like those sites have only just come to light. In fact, IKEA and IKEAFANS have been working together since 2007. In return for advance product info and exclusive access/interviews, IKEAFANS provided customer feedback and data. Oh, and created and managed a massive community of IKEA fans out of sheer passion and enthusiasm. IKEAHackers, in case you don’t know, is a wonderful, crowd-sourced compendium of ingenious hacks for IKEA furniture, giving entirely new uses and personality to the BILLYs, EXPEDITs and RIBBAs of this world.

What do you get when you strap a GoPro to a DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter and fly it into a fireworks display? Something pretty amazing, that's what. There's tech for tech's sake...and then there's combining it with a little bit of ingenuity to make something truly special*.