It was clear that we couldn’t address the problem head on. So instead we focussed on the positive side of New Year’s as a night of celebration and good intentions. And then we made a game out of it. For 50 days people could sign up, make a wish for the coming year and try to get as much support as possible for them and their wish. The wish candidates with the most points at the end got their wishes fulfilled up to a value of 1000 euros.

The game setting was a kind of fairytale world and the players were helped by New Year‘s fairies. Contestants could get votes from other candidates but also by playing various mini games. For example they could try their luck with a lead melting game (based on a German New Year‘s tradition) or try to shoot the fairies with champagne corks. And there was a daily  cracker quiz with questions about fireworks safety. These could only be correctly answered if  the player read the firework handbook.

At the end of the 50 days we had over 24,000 website visits, over 650,000 page impressions, a thriving online community, and an army of unintended fireworks safety experts on the streets of Berlin come New Year’s.

www.silvesterwunsch.de

www.rauchmelder-lebensretter.de

An unusual new participant has joined the online community in Germany. Hans-Dieter Schnacks, a retired senior citizen with way too much time and energy on his hands, is posting his home-made videos on his own YouTube channel. He also twitters and writes actively on his BLOG. The comical video episodes typically show him presenting a new idea or invention to the world. The ensuing chaos is interrupted by a call from his daughter Hilke who verifies that things are not as bad as they seem since at least he has his medical alert system on (as wristband).

The viral and social media-powered Hans-Dieter project is part of a national public awareness campaign from the Initiative Hausnotruf (Initiative for Medical Alert Systems), developed and managed by eobiont. A major objective of the campaign is to change the image of medical alert systems in Germany, which are often associated with invalids or the homebound. Younger active senior citizens who still want to live alone and their concerned children are targeted. As self-spreading branded content, the videos are intended to transport their message through their intrinsic entertainment value. The product is integrated into the stories as repeating background element in each episode.

www.youtube.com/HansDieterSchnacks

hansdieterschnacks.blog.de

www.twitter.com/hans_dieter

www.ampelini.de

The year was 2000. The posters were still wet with ink as we launched the very first pilot project for what was to become the Smoke Detectors Save Lives national public awareness campaign to encourage fire safety awareness and the use of smoke detectors. Now, on the occasion of its ten year jubilee, the integrated campaign can take the opportunity to look back on all the years’ continuous activities that have underscored its tremendous success. These include a road show, a role in the film The Flying Classroom, testimonials from celebrities such as Marie-Luise Marjan (Lindenstraße) and Erol Sander, cooperation with thousands of local fire departments, a viral video and of course a mountain of media impressions, flyers, posters and promotional stuff.

The result: a sevenfold market growth in smoke detectors and new laws in 9 out of 16 German states. The Smoke Detectors Save Lives campaign put smoke detectors on the map in Germany and as one of the first projects of our newly-formed agency, put us on the map as well.

www.ampelini.de