Hi everyone. These days there’s a lot of talking going on about what’s ”new”. Let’s open a history book and talk about what’s old instead.

Here is a graph showing the dominant forms of communication during the last 37000 years. As we can clearly see, Conversation has been the primary way to communicate for approximately 36900 years. In the 20th century, however, Mass Media dominated. The mass medial one-way message was an incredible device for manufacturing and spreading lies (see Propaganda in the very same history book). Under the second half of the 20th century, the Internet came along. And in the last 15 years, this new technical platform has proved itself a great tool for the old way of communicating; with the substantial difference that all information is accessible to 1,5 billion people and therefore spreads much, much faster than 37000 years ago.

If we replace the word Information with Power, we quickly discover that a shift in power has occurred, challenging all 20th century structures. The Record Company is a 20th century structure. The TV Channel is a 20th century structure. The Ad Agency is a 20th century structure. We are middlemen between makers and users. And if we wish to prolong our reason of being, we need to re-define our respective businesses and add more value than we withdraw.

In our specific trade, for example, we can stop believing that our job is to control branded one-way messages to passive potential consumers in the form of advertising campaigns and focus on giving people something useful to talk about instead.

It’s exciting. It’s fun. It’s relevant. But it’s not new. And it’s not revolutionizing. It’s a regression to the world before Joseph Goebbels.

/David

Brämhults is a small juice company with high standards. They are on a first name basis with many farmers around the world and try to transport most of their fruits by boat, since it has less impact on the environment. The fruit is pressed and bottled without additives, and the peels and pulp that are left become food for the milk cows next door.

There is ONE problem.

The famous Brämhults bottle is not a part of the Swedish refund system. Since the content is perishable and even small parts of it ferment after only 18 days, it would be a sanitary disaster in the current system. Instead, Brämhults only hope has been that their customers recycle the bottles in the closest container for rigid plastic.

Until now.

Together with Kalle Hagman and Petter Prinz, we have launched a completely new refund system: If customers upcycle the empty bottles into something useful instead of throwing them away, they receive a new bottle of juice for free.

In order to show the possibilities with the new refund system, Brämhults shows three suggestions of upcycling: a watering can, a balloon inflater and a juice extractor! The contributed films from the customers will be collected at the YouTube channel bramhultsrejuice.

Every morning, a small juice company outside of Borås receives tons of orders. Every day, fruits are squeezed and bottled. And every evening, the bottles are sent off to the shops. No juice is left in storage over night.

Brämhults’ freshly squeezed juices have the shortest shelf life on the market: thanks to a mild pasteurization (72 degrees Celsius for 20 seconds) they make it for at maximum 18 days without any additives (thereafter they start fermenting). Compare this with, for example, Tropicana, whose products often have a lifecycle of more than one year.

When we were asked to help Brämhults with their Internet platform, we wanted to do more than telling how fresh their juices are; we wanted to show it.

Instead of creating a corporate website that lasts forever, we remake the whole site every 18^th day. So now, the Brämhults website has as short shelf life as their products, communicating the business idea through action.

The concept allows new kinds of diversity; the more the web presence is changed, the stronger the communication becomes. Look and feel is dependent on the actual theme of the time period: It can be about product launches, ideas for product development, interactive ideas around the brand or something completely different. That way, we develop a platform offering the most enthusiastic customers an opportunity to contribute with their own ideas.

The technical structure is very simple and built on an Open-Source CMS solution. It is a cost-efficient, flexible platform that can continuously be built upon for a long time coming.

We do not expect the whole world to visit bramhults.se twice a month. But we will receive the means to entertain humorous, different ideas that can be distributed to those places on the Internet where people already are.

Viasat OnDemand takes online services such as SVT Play, TV3 Play and TV4 Play directly to the TV-screen. It is Viasat’s flagship product, proving the brand promise Entertainment At Your Command. In order to advertise the service, we decided to try and liberate Sweden from TV-guides for real. During the whole summer, we asked people to tear out TV-guides and send them to Viasat. In exchange, they could win a Viasat OnDemand package.

On Viasat’s webpage, visitors could follow the growing collection and the drawing of the winners in real-time. By august, we’ve managed to collect 5,47 tons of TV-guides. We transported them to Scandinavia’s largest rescue training ground, SRTC, on the outskirts of Skövde. The fire fighters there train both Swedish and foreign rescue and emergency services in various risk and safety areas. On august 12^th, we built the sentence GOODBYE TV-GUIDE out of paper, cargo pallets and wood wool. We pyrographed from 60 meter’s height and kerned the letters half a meter back and forth until everything looked right.

Then we set everything on fire.

So it happens that we do traditional advertising as well. For real.

Viasat asked if it was possible to improve their instruction manuals. We gave it a try and learnt a couple of things on the way.

1. Most instruction manuals are, contrary to their elementary function, often quite difficult to understand.

2. The design of instruction manuals is not a priority at most companies. As a result, they often look painfully boring.

3. Instruction manuals rarely communicate the nature of the product one is about to install. All energy invested in a company’s advertising is completely absent once one has bought the product.

Because of the problems stated above, many customers ignore to follow instructions completely. This results in a double waste of resources: on one hand, the paper with the instructions is thrown away, on the other hand it creates a telephone queue to technical support, which then doesn’t have the time to help customers with more severe technical problems.

In the case of Viasat OnDemand, we didn’t enclose four instruction manuals in four languages with the wireless router. Instead, we printed the instructions directly on the packaging and saved a great deal of paper. As they happened to be placed on the outside, we had to make them look nice; that way, we added value to the packaging. And because Viasat sells entertainment (not dull plastic boxes), we made entertainment a part of the installation:

By regarding an apparently dull part of Viasat’s business as something important and communicating, we made the instruction manuals a prolonged brand promise and created a competitive advantage at the point of sale. Also, we had fun.

On the 30^th September 2010, the 50-öre-coin ceases to be a official medium for payment. Until that day, the Red Cross aims to collect the 342 million coins currently in circulation to those in need. Thanks to a revolutionary logistical cooperation with ICA and SEB, thousands of collection points have been created throughout the country.

The collection lasts for a total duration of 18 months and represents a collective effort: all of Sweden’s purses and pockets have to be searched in order to collect the potential 172 million SEK. The weight of the copper itself is estimated to 1 265 tons!

The donations are earmarked for the Red Cross’ aid in Sweden; this includes visits of lonely citizens, help with homework and the center for tortured refugees. The number of 50-öre-coins collected and their path to those in need will be accounted for on the Red Cross’ website.

Volontaire’s methodology is built on the belief that companies and organizations have lost control of their brands and should cooperate with their customers instead of disturbing them with one-way-messages. In order to prove that point, we needed a guinea-pig: one of the world’s largest and most successful brands.

In March of 2009, the following news was spread through the world:

“Volontaire is a small agency with big ambitions in Stockholm, Sweden.

Recently, they gave three interns a mission.

1. Pitch on Adidas worldwide.

2. Win the account.

3. Within three weeks.

Why? Because according to Adidas, Impossible is Nothing.”

In order to show how Volontaire works, the interns Malin Berg, Henrik Bohman and Elisabeth Fischer got three weeks to win one of the world’s largest advertising accounts, Adidas, with their own brand promise as hostage.

Armed only with a blog, a Twitter account and an open invitation to visitors to contribute to the process, they created a platform for collective creativity and transparency in everything from product development to advertising concepts.

Three weeks passed quickly and were filled with research, store checks, interviews with legendary Swedish ad people like Bo Rönnberg and Björn Rietz, hundreds of published advertising ideas with direct feedback from the visitors and lastly, an integrated, global concept with the own channel, adidas.tv, at the center.

The thought behind the concept is simple and also stems from Volontaire’s methodology: by re-allocating economic resources from bought media space to the development of strong ideas that distribute themselves, funds are released to implement various large scale activities simultaneously in different parts of the world.

In less than three weeks, the blog attracted more than 12 000 unique visitors from 86 countries, who, on average, spent 3:16 minutes on the site. Articles in Campaign and Brand Republic named it the world’s first ”Twitch” (Twitter Pitch) and judged it to potentially change the way agencies compete for accounts. More than 100 blogs from all over the world mentioned the project as unique and innovative and about 1 000 tweets helped to spread the word. This proves the economic and relevant effect of storytelling online.

Moreover, our conviction became very apparent: that companies have completely lost control over their brands.

AUDIOVISUAL SUMMARY:

When we we’re asked to advertise a book, we ignored it. Since we read more than ever (but not necessarily hardcovers), we advertised the story instead.

Three months before Emma Ångströms debut novel Och allt är förvridet hit the bookshelves, we invented the micro edition.

Och allt är förvridet is a psychological suspense novel about the jealousy and power play that characterizes a destructive relationship. In the micro edition of the story, the relationship between the main characters Mina and Erik deepens as they publish their experiences in more than 1 500 Twitter posts during the course of one whole year, parallel with the events in the book. You can read the micro novel on your mobile phone, your computer, together with the hardcover or separately. Our ambition is to explore new platforms for storytelling and, with the help of those, reach new readers. The fact that people are talking about it and the daily SvD writes essays on the subject show we are on the right track so far.

Since the micro novel gives the book an added value, it is more a gift than it is advertising.

Giftertising?

An EPSI (Extended Performance Satisfaction Index) rating study “Digital-TV in Sweden” (Stockholm 16/12 2008) concludes what many already feel: all companies fail to get high marks. Every third customer is dissatisfied, a number beyond comparison with most other industries.

Most suppliers close their eyes for the criticism and continue with advertising screaming out sales messages. Nobody dares to meet their existing customers and to make improvements in taking care of them.

Viasat will become the first supplier of digital-TV who acknowledges the problems in the industry and dares to apply self-criticism to improve its business. In return, this will create credibility, improve profitability with existing customers and more cost efficient acquisition of new customers through recommendations. In order to achieve this, however, high demands on honesty are raised.

On 25^th may 2009, Viasats customers received an unexpected sms. It was written by Hans Skarplöth, CEO at Viasat, and asked them what they regarded to be worst with Viasat. The customers were asked to visit the Viasat website and vote for areas in need of improvement.

Over the course of three weeks, the Viasat website became an election, where visitors could vote and see the stats in real-time. When voting, they were given the opportunity to contribute own proposals for improvements based on their own experiences as customers. And, if they felt for it, leave name and contact information.

Simultaneously with the voting, customers were visited in their real homes and given the opportunity to explain, without censorship, what they regarded as good and bad with Viasat. Both the home visits and the voting were turned into a 3-minutes-long video, which was broadcasted on TV3 on the 12^th of June at 19:57.

In the video, CEO Hans Skarplöth also presented an action plan based on the 14 485 votes: improved customer service, a station dedicated to ice hockey and updated software to the digital boxes were some of the immediate actions.
The visitors to the website gave 5 603 suggestions for improvements; a lot more than we could come up with during a whole year. And all we did was ask a simple question.

A U D I O V I S U A L S U M M A R Y :

We believe that people with different knowledge and experiences can make great things together.

In order to prove that point, we hosted a free summer course in June of 2009. 100 students attended from Berghs School of Communications, Stockholm School of Economics, Forsberg’s Design School, KTH, Hyper Island, Konstfack and Stockholm’s University. They were divided into interdisciplinary teams with five different problems for society and ten days to solve them.

The thought was to channel creative resources to create usefulness instead of advertising and to show what possibilities emerge through the cross-fertilization of different disciplines and professions.

TASK 1

It is said that a society can be judged best by the way it handles its youngest and oldest inhabitants. In regards to the latter, Swedish Senior Services have lately received a lot of criticism. One of the repeating opinions is that the elderly are treated as bodies without integrity, without souls and without interests. Many even claim that eldercare is organized based on prejudices and wrong ideas in regards of the nature of ageing and old age. The flaws become most apparent in the daily service, mainly the food. The municipalities’ procurements are similar to each other, but the quality of the commercial food-suppliers varies significantly: unfortunately is most often quite low.

Your task is to improve the quality of food in the eldercare.

Do not forget that Swedish municipalities are not made of money. Public procurement is complicated, but there is certainly room for improvement. The solution is most likely to be found in the cooperation between public and commercial players.

TASK 2

Stockholm offers its citizens possibilities that large parts of Sweden lack. Because of this, the city attracts lots of different people. This immigration has, together with a wide housing shortage, resulted in a price explosion for apartments and a gentrification of complete neighborhoods. Stockholm is risking becoming a homogenous place, where only the wealthier can afford to live, a catastrophic development for urban dynamics. Up to the year 2030, the city’s population is expected to grow by almost 1 million people. The planned new housing projects will not be sufficient.

Your task is to renew and show distinct alternatives to the tenant-owned property system.

Do not break the law. All other rules should be questioned thoroughly and broken when needed.

TASK 3

The World consists of 6 783 421 727 people, who speak 6 912 different languages. Whether we worship different Gods or none at all, we are all driven by the same dreams. We suffer and appreciate the same things; we have similar interests and learn more about each other than ever before. We travel, talk and do business with each other is a way that has not been seen before in the history of mankind. This diversity is experience by many as scary and threatening. Instead, they demand more distinct frontiers between nations, cultures and people. They are represented in all countries and levels of society. They are advocates of fear and intolerance. And their political parties are winning seats in the European parliaments and governments.

Your task is to limit the possibilities for parties like Sverigedemokraterna to be elected to the parliament.

Remember that democracy and the freedom of speech cannot be violated. Everyone has the right to his or her own opinion. Respect that and ideally do not break the law.

TASK 4

Egg donations became legal in Sweden on January 1^st, 2003. Since then, University hospitals administer the treatment for women up to the age of 40, who for whatever reason do not have functioning eggs. Many fertility clinics are in desperate need of egg donations. At Huddinge hospital alone, there are 300 childless couples queuing for treatment; because of the shortage in eggs, the waiting time is up to three years. The reason for the shortage in donations lies in part in the time consuming process and in the fact that it requires a massive hormonal treatment. On top of this, the awareness of both the egg donations and the shortage of the same are very low in Sweden.

Your task is to increase egg donations to fertility clinics.

(Don’t nag, don’t beg, and don’t scare.)

TASK 5

You see us every day. Garbage men. Bus drivers. Nurses. Security guards. Cleaners. Cashiers. Mailmen. Construction workers. Maybe you have been one of us, the invisibles who make society work? We have the lowest wages for work you try to avoid. Nobody is talking with or about us, apart from election times. There is honor is to fulfill a task after a given framework. Despite of that, we are still living in a world where an individual is still judged in proportion to the status of their work.

Your task is to increase the status of low-status-professions by giving them a stronger recognition compared to what they receive today.

Do not kick upwards or downwards.