The online clips of the Live Academy campaign by Schwarzkopf now have a new eye- and brain-catching feature: A new media format called the DSG Flash Dock. By request from the agency MEC Interaction, DSG developed not only a seeding strategy for the four humour-driven clips of the Live-Color-XXL-campaign, but also equipped them with the DSG-bred flash dock technology. This enables users to choose different goodies right in the movie clip area itself without the need to do extra seedings for further episodes of a clip, enhancing the psychological impact of the advertising.

Among the options the consumer can choose during or after the clip are: Additional content, the possibility to integrate the clip into a Blog, Desktop backgrounds for download to the computer or mobile phone... or emailing the whole "entertainment pack" to friends.
The Flash Dock itself takes the shape of a small strip underneath the video clip. By clicking on the appopriate button, a viewer can not only transport the clip into other media or Email as described above, but also interact with additional content that compliments the film, like desktop backgrounds, other clips or even information like pdfs or text documents.

Frank Algermissen, chief product developer of Dialog Solutions GmbH explains the added value from these features: "What users see as added comfort and at-your-fingertips-entertainment also equals better and more efficient online communication for companies. Just think about it: You are able to offer a plethora of content to your target group without having to ask them to click from website to website." Due to quickly accumulating customer requests, DSG is already adding Flash Dock technology to enhance the behavioral impact of more and more ad clips. In the coming four weeks, however, Schwarzkopf’s Live Academy campaign will be the place to go if you want to see multiple clips that are both ironic and iconic - with lots of interaction possibilities in one player.

As for the clips themselves: Say good bye to your viewing habits. The protagonists of the Live Academy campaign live and act in illustrated, animated worlds, while a charming voice over creates the perfect stereotype of soap advertising aesthetics. Overacted, sarcastic episodes parody cliches from the FBI film to the traditional ad clip – while subtly dispensing practical tips for women’s hair styling needs. How men react to the women’s new, expressive hair colors is, of course, a whole other matter...

The heart of the campaign is the virtual training center: The Live-Academy with appearance specialist Yvette can be found on www.live-academy.com. Here, the ideas from the video clip get taken one step farther: Funny items like the instantaneous hideout, the ice pants, the distance keeper or the gravitation boots are supposed to help the female users of Live Coloration to navigate their everyday life safely – despite the man-attracting effect of the Schwarzkopf product.

Hamburg, 28. September 2007

›› You can find the clip here.