This is a PLAY project that we’re bursting to talk about… probably because it’s something that will be happening for a very short time—and at a very secret location! Our client, Tourism Victoria, has given us the juicy job of bringing the King Valley wine region to Sydney. To carry that out, we’ve created King’s Vault—a unique, inviting, and fleeting King Valley wine bar that will literally ‘pop up’ in Sydney overnight.

(And you’re invited.)

First though, let us tell you a little more about it. King’s Vault has been designed to re-create the intimate experience of King Valley’s cellar doors, while spotlighting a cross section of locally grown Prosecco, Sangiovese, Arneis, Nebbiolo, Pinot Grigio and other distinctive Italian styles. What makes it so different is that it is a temporary wine bar that only serves new world Italian varietals, and gourmet delights of the King Valley wine region.

The experience itself is all about mystery and discovery. Guests are kept in suspense regarding the bar’s whereabouts until closer to the launch. If you’d like to put yourself on the guest list, all you need to do is register at www.whereiskingsvault.com When the time is right, you’ll be notified of the King’s Vault whereabouts by SMS. The bar will be open from Wednesday evening, November 18—for a very limited time.

If you’re interested, you can also check out the King’s Vault presence on Facebook and Twitter (@kingsvault), as well as the King’s Vault website. You can even win a trip to the King Valley by visiting www.whereiskingsvault.com.au/competition/

Don’t wait too long to get your name on that list! Looking forward to seeing you there…

One of the recent PLAY campaigns is the Pop-Up Choir for iiNet’s BoB. iiNet set us the challenge of creating an ambient component to sit alongside the BoB above-the-line campaign that was launching simultaneously across the country. In line with the ATL activity, we thought we’d make our ambient approach “something special”. We recruited groups of promotional staff/budding singers and dressed them in bright orange choir gowns (taken from the TVC), then unleashed them on Sydney, Perth and Brisbane in targeted transport, office and shopping hubs. As they joyfully sung “Hallelujah!”, they distributed flyers with information about the new iiNet BoB product.

The Pop-Up Choir proved to be a huge success. There were: 14,000 leaflets distributed; 80,000 total impressions and 25,000 total engagements. We were able to execute a fun and effective campaign within tight creative boundaries, and coordinated the event in three major cities… and we had a great time doing it!

Here at PLAY, we like to know what people are doing. Not in a stalkery kind of way (that would be weird), but in a “what amazing and new creative ideas are happening RIGHT NOW?” kind of way. Not only do we think it’s important to keep up with everything that’s going on in the world—we love it. And that brings us to Twitter. As they say on their website: “The result of using Twitter … is that you have a sense of what folks are up to…” Funny enough, the brand that is all about keeping up with people is now something to “keep up with” in itself. Twitter is being used to power some incredible virtual art projects, taking people’s tweets and interpreting them in all sorts of ways. Portwiture is one of them—the site takes your most used Twitter keywords and matches them to interesting photography from Flickr, creating a “serendipitous visual representation of your Twitter profile.” Does it have a use? Not really. Does that matter? Doesn’t seem to. What it does do is connect.

The boom in social media shows that people want to connect with each other more than ever, now your tweets can be randomly connected with ‘relevant’ images from complete strangers! The curiosity factor is super-high, and—more to the point—Portwiture facilitates the creation of inspiring art, as opposed to being just a quirky way to display data.

There are more fascinating Twitter-powered art projects out there, too. For a good review of six of the best, check out Mashable: http://mashable.com/2009/09/26/twitter-art/ Or to take a look at your Twitter status in photos, go straight to http://portwiture.com/

After taking both the B&T and AdNews Experiential Agency of the Year in 2008, we are pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted for the 2009 B&T Awards! We will find out if we managed to hold the cup on the 4th December 2009… Watch this space!

One of PLAY’s most recent projects was the launch of ACON’s new “Slip It On” campaign. ACON is Australia’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) health and HIV/AIDS organization, and the the campaign is aimed at encouraging safe sex practices amongst the gay community through the use of condoms.

The official launch of the “Slip It On” campaign was at the annual Sleazeball party at the Ivy on 3 October. Our challenge was to engage the partygoers at Sleazeball 2009 (no easy task, with plenty of other distractions), raise awareness of the campaign, position condoms as fashionable and heighten the already-electric party atmosphere all with limited resources. (Phew.) How did we do it? We set up a “Slip It On” photo booth at The Ivy. As eager groups arrived at the party, they passed through the photo booth and were encouraged to show off their costumes while creatively posing with campaign-branded bananas (within a few gentle guidelines). Photos were then uploaded, and a winner chosen. Our aim was to tap into the mindset of the partygoers, who were there to express themselves. By providing them with a new avenue of expression as they entered the party, we helped them connect the campaign with party and therefore their lifestyle.

It was definitely a fun project and all for a good cause! www.acon.org.au/about-acon/Newsroom/Media-Releases/2009/44

Tree houses have always been cool, but when created sustainably by the world’s most inventive architects, designers and artists… the to-die-for factor increases exponentially! After all, it’s pretty hard to beat the tranquillity and sheer bliss of being up in a tree house, surrounded by nature. No amount of sustainability literature can motivate and empower people the way a real, designer tree house experience can… That’s the premise behind TreeLife, an eco exhibition presented by The Cool Hunter (online resource for all things cool).

TreeLife is an interactive exhibition of modern eco tree houses designed by the world’s top architects, designers and artists—and it’s coming sometime in 2010. It’s the world’s first major public exhibition of ‘green design’ tree houses and looks set to make all the boring old ‘sustainability’ messages look positively prehistoric.

We like it because if TreeLife lives up to its billing, it could open up the floodgates for a whole new wave of bright, fresh ideas about architecture, art, design, sustainability and just how we could create this world to be. This is the bit we like the most the promise of an experience that inspires new ideas and positive change! thecoolhunter.com.au/treelife

Online reviewing of brands, products, services and experiences has taken off in such a big way that trendwatching.com has named ‘Transparency Triumph’ the global trend for September 2009. For anyone not quite at home with that naked truth, it’s definitely time to change. Brands must be prepared to be sized up, talked about and scrutinised. The opportunity for anyone in the business of building brands (like us) is understanding how consumers are being influenced, how they’re making decisions—and how a brand can engage in this dialogue without it feeling forced.

A Nielson Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 online consumers from over 50 countries has revealed “recommendations by personal acquaintances and opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally. The Nielsen survey shows that 90% of online consumers worldwide trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trust consumer opinions posted online.” Exciting stuff. Reviewing, it seems, is the new advertising. This shows a definite shift in consumer purchasing trends. The old ways of advertising are certainly over.

As people rely more and more on the word-of-mouth provided by ‘peers’ they’ve never met, the credibility and authenticity of a brand becomes increasingly important. With an empowered consumer audience that talks to each other at lightning speed, brands need to make sure they are listening to the conversation at the very least… and if they decide to join in, they should be prepared to be honest and authentic. Just the way we like it!

To read the article in full click here

This evening PLAY’s own Johannes Wessienbaeck will present his thoughts on integrated brand communications at an AFA talk in Sydney. To bring his thoughts to life, he’ll be sharing insights into the making of MINI Strike, one of a handful of projects that PLAY has created for MINI. If you’re reading this and you’ve just seen Johannes’ talk, let us know your thoughts by commenting below!