‘People have to feel they are included in a campaign if they are to share it’

This is a frame from the new, totally brilliant and utterly viral Stella Artois ad for Christmas. It uses flash, and it only works on Facebook, but that apart it is truly the most amazing thing. You have to type in your address for it to work, but I won’t say more as it’ll wreck the surprise. Go here and do it now!

But this is an equally brilliant and equally viral piece of work from Sweden, encouraging people of all things, to renew their TV licence. It’s from a couple of years ago, but I have no doubt that the makers of the Stella ad must have been inspired by it. It relies on users uploading a picture, but after that it just goes mental! This link shows how it was done, this link tells of the incredible impact it had.

Many thanks to my friend Mike Pretious, of Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University for sharing the story.

Update: My colleague Steve Rogers has pointed out that this is not the first time that Google street view has been used in this way. Here is British Airways Taxi, coming past your front door!