Jun 22 2012

Emakina’s Bavaria Babes smartphone app lets football fans become “international players” by collecting pictures of themselves with attractive women. Football never looked prettier.

Emakina created a new Bavaria app that encourages football fans to collect images of themselves posing next to scantily clad women, through a new free smartphone app on Android and Apple iOS. The Bavaria Babes App, a promotion for the European 2012 Football Championship, offers admirers of the beautiful game a contemporary version of collecting football cards – the chance to mock up pictures with a team of 11 beautiful women

The Dutch beer company’s promotion uses the latest technology and social media networks, and was created by European digital agency Emakina. People download a special app for their smartphones and are then challenged to “unlock the team of European Bavaria babes and take pictures with them to prove your international player status.

One woman – Laurine, who represents Spain, where they “eat, sleep and drink football” – is included with the download. There are three images of her which can be moved from left to right, enlarged or reduced, and combined with a picture which is then taken on the smartphone. This image is automatically stored on the “player’s” phone, and can be uploaded to social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

The other 10 women represent most of the nations playing in Euro 2012 and can be “unlocked” by scanning QR codes hidden on Bavaria beer and the Bavaria social media pages. There is an element of football devilry, since tackling one woman might require others to be “scored” first, like a row of defenders.

Tim Wolfs, Head of Interactive at Emakina, says : “Bavaria was looking for a way to get visibility in a fun way during the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine 2012. “As soccer fans, we were inspired by the stunt with the Bavaria babes during the World Championship in South Africa.

Secondly, we wanted to make use of technology that allows you to make funny pictures with Bavaria elements integrated. Last but not least, as little boys, we had a lot of fun by collecting the Panini stickers of the soccer players. Combining the babes with new technology, the little boy fun of collecting, and the beer brand Bavaria, we’ve scored a winner with the Bavaria Babes App: the gadget for the EC 2012. We have already had a lot of fun making this app, and we are looking forward to the reaction of the soccer fans.”

Daniel Janus, Global Internet Manager at Bavaria who came up with the initial idea of the app, says the lighthearted app is being launched in the Balkan countries, the UK and Australia: “We wanted to try new techniques to see if we could adapt them for a bigger event. This is a fun app – there’s no need to buy products. It is just to engage customers with Bavaria.

“We are known for our ‘babes’, but always in a way that isn’t offensive towards others. It’s a thin line, but we try not to cross it by being vulgar. We use Bavaria babes to promote parties in the Balkans, and they are friendly, well-spoken and classy.”

Laurine Meyers, 25, a full time model from Antwerp, and a Holland supporter, said that the experience of being “unlocked” by hundreds of Bavaria drinkers, could certainly add some spice to her internet profile if the pictures are posted. “I’m not sure what my father would think of the variety of young gentlemen I appear to be photographed with, but it’s a lot of fun and in the spirit of friendly football.”

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May 10 2012

En cette fin de campagne électorale, je voudrais tout d’abord remercier Nicolas Sarkozy et son équipe de campagne pour avoir fait confiance à Emakina. Durant plus de trois mois, les équipes d’Emakina ont été intensément sollicitées. Elles ont répondu présent, avec talent, imagination, rigueur, comme nous le faisons pour tous nos autres clients.

Pour cette campagne la plus numérique de l’histoire politique de notre pays, Emakina a imaginé des formats et des outils innovants, sur le site internet de la France forte mais également sur les réseaux sociaux, au plus près des nouvelles habitudes des Français. Grâce à ce qu’Internet a de meilleur, nous avons pu apporter notre pierre au débat démocratique. Utilisation de l’opendata, innovations d’interfaces interactives, mobilisation en ligne, e-CRM, segmentation des messages par profils d’internautes etc..  Cette campagne a été pour nous tous un moment incroyable d’innovation.

Sur une note plus personnelle, je dois dire que cette campagne a été un grand moment de ma vie professionnelle. Je tiens à remercier toute la cellule internet du QG, et plus particulièrement Nicolas Princen. Ce fut un plaisir et un honneur de travailler avec eux durant toutes ces semaines.

Se mettre au service d’un client, dans un environnement compétitif, c’est la base de notre métier. Mais le faire dans ce contexte, ou chaque minute est d’une rare intensité, ou les confrontations sont parfois violentes, sous les yeux de millions d’internautes, c’était nouveau pour nous tous et donc une expérience inoubliable.

J’ai parlé de ce qu’internet a de meilleur, j’ai aussi vu ce qu’il avait de pire…des lieux de débats transformés en terrains d’invective, la compétition transformée en guerre, sur twitter notamment… Il faudra donc aussi tirer tous les enseignements de cette première véritable campagne présidentielle en ligne. Pour que la liberté créative d’internet ne se retourne pas contre la démocratie.

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Feb 27 2012

Inside Digital Media’s new annual digital communication ranking, made with Feweb, once again places Emakina in the number one position in the Belgian agency list. Investments in marketing in 2011 were influenced by the financial crisis, shortages in human resources and reluctance of advertisers. Inside indicates in its February special issue that not all interactive agencies have reacted as successfully to this second crash test in a decade in the market.

For Emakina, the trend clearly had a positive effect. The 375 staff members generated new growth with well over 20 %. The market confirmed that digital marketing has become an unavoidable necessity, and the digital native agency benefits from this conclusion.

Brice Le Blévennec, CVO of Emakina, further states in Inside Digital Media that companies are entering an era of mature online marketing and promotions. Digital budgets went up, replacing spending in traditional advertising, with a swing towards social and mobile projects.

Large companies are rationalizing their approach. A series of large accounts have decided in 2011 to reduce the number of authorized agencies that can work for them, often on a European scale. Others have opted to work with partners who could offer a portfolio of services, improving the coordination of service providers.

Brice Le Blévennec concludes: “Emakina now harvests the fruit of its investments in strategy, creative, social and mobile competences. As a real digital native agency, we are well equipped, staffed and organized to handle the new market demands. We understand the pressures and challenges our clients face and we can help them to respond with smart, efficient communication solutions”.

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Jan 13 2012

Belgian marketing is clearly going digital, a new study by Emakina’s agency in Ghent, The Reference, indicates. 150 decision makers of digital marketing initiatives in Belgian companies participated in the survey.

In 2012, Belgian marketers will focus on social media marketing, mobile sites and monitoring performance.

Their main challenges will be to turn data into actionable insights and creating sufficient return on investment. Companies that claim to be leading in terms of digital marketing are planning to invest significantly more in social media monitoring and social/ mobile advertising.

This study indicates that the future of marketing is digital, with 20 % of marketing budgets already allocated to this domain and further growth ahead despite the crisis.The social media hype and the rise of mobile internet are still going strong and will continue. It also shows that a main challenge ahead will be to find the right expertise to get the job done.

The slideshare presentation gives a detailed overview of the trend in websites, traffic, social and mobile.

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