iWunder | Wunderman New York Blog

I ♥ Ovi

Hello! You may – or may not be aware, we’ve been working long and hard on the worldwide launch of Ovi, Nokia’s app store. (Ovi means “door” in Finnish which makes perfect sense as Nokia’s HQ is Helsinki.) Ovi allows Nokia customers to instantly upgrade their phone IQ to Mensa status. Ovi + Nokia = Smart phone.

Creating a story for your hometown is one challenge, it is an entirely different proposition when it comes to creating something global, for different countries with different languages. The goal of marketing the store on a translatable platform was quite interesting. One has to resist cultural references and linguistic style, the double entendre and witty turn of phrase, all the while making sure that someone in Chicago will understand it as clearly as someone in Bangkok. Love is universal.

While the road was long and passport required, we’re really quite excited to have it out in the world. J’adore Ovi! 

Show Your Nokia Phone Some ♥

New York Wins! NYC Wins!

No - I don't mean the Yankees. (but keeping my fingers crossed!) I mean this years Wunderman Extreme Pumpkin Makeover.

The entry Dusk: Hear, Speak, See No Pumpkin created by Jason Cohen, an Art Director @ Wunderman New York office has taken the top prize with 5047 votes. 

Jason’s entry has secured the global bragging rights of world champion for the NYC Office.

It was a fierce competition this year! The runners up in this years challenge were:

• Wunderman Melbourne - Halloween Down Under! – 2098 Votes
• Wunderman Finland / Jaakko Soudunsaari's – Tweet, Tweet! – 1731Votes
• Wunderman Seattle - Team Donaldson – 937 Votes

Enjoy this slide show which features all of this years entries.

Participants from across the world used Social Media (Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace) to promote their entries and connect our network of mad carving experts in this global competition.

Special thanks to all who participated, helped to organize and promoted the Extreme Pumpkin Makeover Challenge.  Looking forward to next years entries!

The Extreme Pumpkin Makeover Challenge

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with Tom Gibby, @gradplanner, in our Wunderman UK office when he double dog dared me to put together a global pumpkin carving challenge.  Those of you that have worked with me know that I don't take a creative challenge lightly.

Enter the worldwide premier of the Wunderman Extreme Pumpkin Makeover Challenge.

Using HTML, PHP and Flickr's Photo Pool API the NYC office has stitched together a wunder-destination that will allow us to run this competition across the globe.  In order to do this across the world we created http://www.extremepumpkinmakeover.com as the place where people could submit and vote on the most creative pumpkins!

GAME ON NYC!!!! I need you to break out your mad carving skills to show the wunder-network who's boss.   When you enter your best jack-o-lantern creation, you could win a new Wunderman purple iPod Nano and the global bragging rights of world champion.

Here is how to get in the game.

1. Upload a photo or video of your creation to your Flickr account. (You need to have a Flickr account to post a photo, but not to worry, it is FREE and easy to set up.)
2. Make sure you tag your photo with your name and office location (i.e. John Doe, New York City, USA).
3. Then join the Wunderman Extreme Pumpkin Makeover Challenge Flickr photo pool group.
4. Then click "Add photos or video" When you do, you can select your pumpkin photo or video from your photo stream to add to the group pool. When you add it to the pool, your photo magically appears at www.extremepumpkinmakeover.com as an entry so that people can vote for you.

Only Wunderman Network Employees can enter a pumpkin. (You can enter as many as you can carve.) Anyone in the world can vote! Since this is a straight up popularity contest, make sure to tweet, text, ping or IM your friends and encourage them to vote for your entry at http://www.extremepumpkinmakeover.com

You can submit photos or videos to the Wunderman Extreme Pumpkin Makeover Challenge Flickr photo pool group from October 1 through October 28 2009.  

The entrant with the most votes on Oct 28th at 11:59 EST will win.

Game On NYC - Lets Win!

Wunderman New York Captures A Telly

It's nice to be loved.  This week our Wunderman NYC Creative team won a Telly for it's work with Nationwide Insurance.

The Telly Awards was founded in 1978 to honor excellence in local, regional and cable TV commercials. Silver is the highest honor and we won it! 

Congrats to my team mates!

Nationwide Insurance Game Show Team
Nick Moore, EVP, Cheif Creative Officer
Joanna Peña-Bickley, SVP, Exec. Creative Director
Kris Slocum, Planner
Jennifer Leuzzi, Sr. Writer
David Cole, Sr. Art Director
Chris Loccisano, Sr. Art Director - Digital Experience
Susan Leki Lekanides, Producer
Rebecca Donohue, VP, Account Director
Marc Rappin, SVP, Client Service Director

Director: Lil X
Editor: John Maloney, Red Car NYC
Music: Michael Maxwell, Pink Noise

Click here to view a full case study for Game Show campaign.

Happy 89th Birthday Lester Wunderman!

One of my favorite parts of working at Wunderman in NY is running into Lester Wunderman in the elevator.  His humble demeanor and ability to strike up a conversation with anyone who asks him a question has kept the last year incredibly exciting. 

Today is Lester's 89th B-Day. Happy Birthday Lester!  89 years ago, Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States. You could buy a Ford for $290! Switzerland had joined the League Of Nations. Pancho Villa surrendered to the Mexican government. The Summer Olympics are held in Antwerp, Belgium.  Agatha Christie published The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introducing Hercule Poirot.  And… Lester Wunderman, the father of our industry, and the beloved founder of our agency was born!

In observance of Lester's B-day you can follow some of his best gems on twitter at twitter.com/wunderman or by searching the #WMAN hashtag.  Here are a few of my favorites!

• Consumer's Communication Bill of Rights, excerpt from Lester's book Being Direct http://bit.ly/9V9Zw
• The consumer is offered more and more self-service -- a euphemism for no service at all.
• Nov. 29, 1967, Lester spoke at MIT. His topic was "Direct Marketing: The New Revolution in Selling" http://bit.ly/4oapWS
• Accountable Creativity - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRG0Wmhrfsk

I recently had the chance to ask a few questions in a NY creative forum.  Here is Lester unplugged.

Feel free to wish Lester Wunderman a Happy Birthday on twitter today by using the #WMAN hashtag!