Sumogram - a viral project by Attack!

So what does a marketing company do with the reigning six times world champion sumo wrestler, a video camera and the voice of their 10,000 Facebook fans? They give them the opportunity to say whatever they like in 25 words or less for Byambajav Ulambayar to announce to the world....wide WEB!

The competition begins on Friday at 12:00pm PST with limited spots, so get to the Facebook page, get wacky, get silly, get back at a friend!

Just keep it clean and short is all they ask! #sumogram

Interactive Instillation: Free Burma's Political Prisoners

Anyone out there who has tried to collect petition signatures knows how excruciatingly impossible it can be to garner even the slightest interest for a meaningful cause. Well aware of this fact, the creative minds at JWT New York thoughtfully played on audiences’ curiosities and empathy in order to gain petition signatures for their client’s worthy cause.

The Human Rights Watch “Behind Bars: Free Burma’s Political Prisoners” campaign ingeniously used experiential instillations to make it tough for passersby to look away from the initiative’s purpose. A large 7x18 foot instillation depicting 200 squalid miniature Burmese prison cells was erected in New York’s Grand Central Station with a sign inviting people to touch. Upon closer examination, audiences discovered 2,000 pens were used in lieu of cell bars so they could symbolically free prisoners shown in the instillation and then follow with literally helping the cause by signing a petition with the removed pens.

[Via Human Rights Watch]

Doggleganger: Viral Marketing for a Great Cause

Pedigree Purina's New Zealand division has come out with a brilliant way to increase dog adoption rates in the country’s shelters!

Mindful of the saying that dog owners eventually resemble their pets, and human nature’s inherent vanity, Pedigree launched a social media initiative aiming to get more people to adopt dogs in need. Doggleganger uses facial recognition software to match human and canine features to compel curious would-be shelter dog owners to actually commit to an adoption. It’s hard enough seeing any dog in a shelter, much less one that you can relate to.

Fingers crossed for an über-localized version of Doggleganger to hit the US soon!

[Via AdWeek]

New Balance's Urban Dash

New Balance has kicked-off an augmented reality game that thoughtfully brings the brand’s legacy in track and field to the streets of New York City. The brand’s “Urban Dash” iphone app has created a virtual race experience that meshes mobile technology with New Balance’s deep athletic heritage in order to create buzz around the launch of the brand’s first ever flagship store.

New Balance has challenged its iphone wielding fans to seek out virtual batons located throughout the city and reach the new store with one in possession to receive a free pair of kicks. The participant who has collected the most batons by the end of the program receives a life-size 14K gold baton that’s worth over $20k. To foster friendly competition among participants and keep things interesting, players have the option to steal batons if they’re within 100 ft. from each other!

[Via Event Marketer]