Words About Things

The chances are you saw one of the videos created in support of Volkswagen’s The Fun Theory campaign posted online last year. Between them the videos, which were created by DDB Stockholm, notched up over 20 million Youtube views, going properly viral unlike most ‘viral’ videos. The most popular video asked the question can we make more people take the stairs by making it fun to do so? The answer seems to be yes, if you turn the stairs into a giant piano!

The Fun Theory was all about generating interest in Volkswagen’s Blue Motion technologies that deliver the same great car performance with reduced environmental impact, and to do this, they found an insight around how “fun” could change human behavior for the better, and this formed The Fun Theory, a campaign that spawned over 700 user generated Fun Theory initiatives. – Digital Buzz Blog

The campaign was created to draw attention to Volkswagen’s Bluemotion energy saving technology, hence the eco friendly theme. Bluemotion is about saving energy through innovation, for example the recuperation of energy normally lost when braking and efficient start – stop technology. VW are developing these techniques in order to include them in upcoming models including their range of vans.

As mentioned above the campaign inspired over 700 user submitted Fun Theory ideas. The best idea was judged to be ‘The Speed Camera Lottery‘ by Kevin Richardson who won €2500. Kevin wasn’t the only winner, DDB Stockholm won the Cyber Grand Prix award for the best digitally led integrated campaign at The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

The new Nestle intant coffee advert is a true triumph of marketing. It attempts to convince the viewer that their freeze dried soluble coffee substitute is ‘fresh’ and ‘bright’ and ‘Coffee’. The advert features a man trekking through the jungle catching glowing coffee beans in a jar with a sense of wonder. The tag line is ‘Nescafe – Coffee at its brightest’.

Anybody who has even consumed a cup of instant coffee knows it is anything but bright. It has a bland one-dimensional flavour with no depth. The taste is in no way comparable to  real, great Coffee. I understand that there is a place for instant coffee, I even keep some in the house for emergencies/ unwanted guests, but there is no way is can possibly be considered fresh. Most instant Coffee is made from 100% Coffee beans with nothing added but the process is far from natural. Freeze drying involves:

Agglomerated wet coffee granules are rapidly frozen (slow freezing leads to large ice crystals and a porous product and can also affect the colour of the coffee granules).

Frozen coffee is placed in the drying chamber, often on metal trays.

A vacuum is created within the chamber. The strength of the vacuum is critical in the speed of the drying and therefore the quality of the product. Care must be taken to produce a vacuum of suitable strength.

The drying chamber is warmed, most commonly by radiation but conduction is used in some plants and convection has been proposed in some small pilot plants. A possible problem with convection is uneven drying rates within the chamber, which would give an inferior product.

Condensation – the previously frozen water in the coffee granules expands to ten times its previous volume. The removal of this water vapour from the chamber is vitally important, making the condenser the most critical and expensive component in a freeze drying plant.

The freeze-dried granules are removed from the chamber and packaged.

None of this really matters of course, if people want to drink instant Coffee it’s their loss but it’s no big deal. Nestles human rights record is however a big deal. Nestle recently began buying milk from a farm owned by Robert Mugabe’s Wife Grace. The farm was seized from its original (white) owners in order to be given to landless black Zimbabweans along with many other farms in Zimbabwe, this never happened however and now Nestle are directly paying the Mugabes.

Nestle has previously caused controversy by marketing Intant Milk to mothers in developing countries. They allegedly encouraged mothers to use formula rather than breast milk despite the possible risks from mixing milk powder with unclean water. There is nothing ‘bright’ about that.

In a shocking display of dishonesty Oxford Airport has been rebranded as London Oxford Airport. The airport caters mostly to business customers and the owners hope that change in name will lead to an increase in use from those looking to travel to London. Those using the airport may be surprised to find themselves almost 60 miles from the capital.

Ros Weatherall of the Oxford Civic Society is unimpressed by the rebranding:

“Good grief. Oxford is a great place in its own right and I find it insulting it is being considered just another offshoot of London. Trying to make Oxford seem like a suburb of London is very misleading. This is an insult to the major historical and cultural impact Oxford has had on the country.”

London Oxford Airport’s Marketing Manager James Dillon Godfray says that the new name was created to try and emphasize the proximity of Oxford to London rather than to trick customers. As the Telegraph points out London Oxford is not the only airport outside of the capital to use the name London in its name.

“London Stansted Airport, in Essex, is just over 40 miles from the capital, while London Luton Airport, in Bedfordshire, is 35 miles away.”