Happiness, an FCB Alliance, have teamed with the federation of Belgian cafes to help café and bar owners recover post-lockdown.

As bars and restaurants prepare to reopen next week following two and a half months of closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, Belgian beer lovers are being urged to join “Helpy Hour” and buy one drink for the price of two in support of their favourite locals.

Happiness, an FCB Alliance, have teamed with the federation of Belgian cafes to change Happy Hour into Helpy Hour in Belgium, a country whose beer culture is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage of humanity list.

Bars and restaurants in Belgium will be allowed to reopen starting Monday under strict conditions and Diane Delen, the federation’s president, said the draconian measures would reduce attendance in bars by at least two thirds.

She told The Associated Press on Thursday that the “helpy hour” initiative will help bar owners bearing the shock of the economic crisis triggered by the virus. “I don’t think the Belgians will be happy to see their beloved cafes disappear,” she said. “It’s a temporary measure that will help avoid an avalanche of bankruptcies. And once everything is back to normal, clients will be satisfied because happy hours will return.”

According to the federation, half of Belgium’s 12,000 cafes may not survive the coronavirus crisis. The Helpy Hour concept launched last week and has been picked up and discussed in publications worldwide.

Credits
Client: FedCaf
Campaign: Helpy Hour
Client Contact : Erik Beunckens, Diane Delen
Agency: Happiness Brussels
Executive creative management : Karen Corrigan
Chief Creative Officer : Geoffrey Hantson
Creative director: Katrien Bottez
Content creative director : Kenny Vermeulen
Creatives : Roxane Schneider, Pieter Claeys
Strategic planner : Wesley Roeland
Account: Arthur Dewachter
Digital PM: Julie Post
Editor : Simon Schuurman
Digital team: Bliss

A digital advertisement for the lens exemplifies how it works. The ad starts with some typography and eases into some live demonstrations. Basically, the Snapchat lens confronts ‘FaceTouchers’ every time they err. It displays quirky messages whenever the camera registers a face touch.

Overall, the campaign possesses a playful tone and effectively delivers its social message.

Credits
Advertising Agency: Happiness, Brussels, Belgium
Digital Production: Bliss Interactive

Tags:
IFRC FaceTouchers, Digital Campaign, We Are Social, Social distancing, Snapchat lens, COVID-19

Since the internet has become an integrated part of our daily lives, ‘connection speed’ has become the main battleground. It’s one of the main reasons to switch provider. VOO, one of the main telecom providers in Belgium, has invested in technology allowing to offer its customers a connection speed up to 4 times faster than its competitors.

VOO’s desired goal is now to gain market (and heart) share within the fast-growing video game community, and more specifically within the community of people who watch other people broadcast their games online, on platforms such as YouTube Live and Twitch. It’s a gigantic industry that attracts on average more viewers than sport on TV.

Obviously, for this community of die-hard video game streamers and viewers, it is crucial to have a fast connection.

That’s why Happiness has created ‘Raging Banners’, the world’s first real-time voice-activated banners, that only appear on viewers screens when a gamer starts raging about the slowness of their internet connection. Their rage is even written down in the animated banner.

How? First, we programmed an OBS plug-in, which is the most used software for online game streams. This plug-in connects to the microphone and uses Microsoft Cognitive Services to transcribe, in real-time, the keywords-based data, generated by the voice. Then, we programmed every possible keyword related to ‘slow internet’, and yes, that included some serious swearing. Once ‘Internet Rage’ was detected, an animated banner automatically appeared during the live stream. A technical achievement that worked on both YouTube Live and Twitch and is a world first!

We then collaborated with prominent gamers – about twenty players with an average of more than 100,000 subscribers each – who downloaded the plug-in. And we waited for their internet to drag… So they would rage a bit.

Because moments of internet rage due to a slow speed are probably the best occasions to remind people that it’s time to switch to VOO’s ultra-fast internet.

Credits
Client: VOO
Campaign:
Contacts: Christophe Segaert, Aline Hoffman, Delphine Lenel, Jacques Ohn
Agency: Happiness Brussels
Executive Creative Management: Karen Corrigan
Chief Creative Officer: Geoffrey Hantson
Creative Director: Philippe Fass
Strategic Director: Isabelle Koelman
Concept Providers: Mathias Lemielle, Jérémy Stoquart
Group Account Director: Pascal Kemajou
Account Director: Mattias Vermeire
Account Manager: Coline Hercot
Graphic Designer: Caroline Ray
Producer: Bart Vande Maele
Senior Digital Producer: Kris Van Wallendael
Head of Motion: Remke Faber
Motion Designer: Simon Schuurman
Managing Director BLISS Interactive: Frederiek Pascal
Head of Technology: Thomas Colliers
Head of Projects: Na Nguyen
Project Manager: VietDong Ngo
Sound: Bleu Nuit

Tags:
Happiness Brussels, VOO, Gamer Rage, Raging Banners, Voice-activated banners, Technology, Belgium, VOO Raging Banners, Latest Tech News, Best Innovative Campaigns, innovative technology ideas, best technology campaigns, Internet, Gamer

Data shows that over 50% of people experience ‘buffer rage’ every day. A state of uncontrollable anger induced by the interruption of online content or streaming video due to slow internet speed. 34% of respondents even suffer more from buffer rage than road rage.

Indeed, when it comes to the internet, our needs (and expectations) are growing exponentially, and nowadays we all consider that a fast internet connection is perfectly normal. Well, so does VOO telecom, for whom offering ultra-fast internet has always been a priority.

So, in order to bring all Belgians up to speed when it comes to their ever-increasing use of digital devices, VOO has launched an ambitious project named ‘La Vitesse Pour Tous’ (‘Fast Internet for All’.)

The kick-off of the project is a world’s first. In collaboration with a selection of media, VOO hijacked the most frustrating symbol of the slow internet connection: the infamous buffering wheel that appears when a video takes time to load.

Indeed, by adopting the code behind the loading screens of news sites and streaming services, VOO added to them a new message: ‘Load up to 2 times faster with VOO.’

So, by transforming a frustration into a solution, VOO turns the actual buffering wheel into a new advertising medium.

And what about VOO clients?

Well, with an internet speed that is up to twice faster, the chance of them seeing this advertising message is virtually reduced to zero. It’s only when you’re confronted with the problem that we’ll confront you with the solution!

By doing this, VOO wants to encourage people to question their current speed. And that’s why the platform LaVitessePourTous.be was set up. A website where all Belgian households can find out what their specific internet needs are and verify if their internet connection answers these needs. If it doesn’t, they know who they can turn to.

Further supported by a multimedia campaign in TV, radio and outdoor, VOO’s claim of the Fast Internet for All is going full speed ahead.

Credits:
Agency: Happiness Brussels
Client: VOO
Christophe Segaert (Vice President Consumer Market (B2C))
Aline Hoffmann (Brand & Marketing Communication Director)
Delphine Lenel (Head of Advertising)
Jessica Demeer (Chef de Projet Advertising)
Jacques Ohn (Media & Budget Manager)
Sophie Neirynck (Head of Online Communication)
CEO: Karen Corrigan
Chief Creative Officer: Geoffrey Hantson
Creative Director: Philippe Fass
Creatives: Toon Vanpoucke, Morgane Choppinet
Strategic Director: Isabelle Koelman
Group Account Director: Pascal Kemajou
Account Manager: Sophie Glotz
Media Agency: Vizeum (Laurent Lejeune, Sabrina Van Cutsem, Laurie Habousha)
Coding: Digiteka

This article is about:
FCB Worldwide, Happiness Brussels, VOO, VOO Buffering Wheel, Technology

The results are eye-opening: One character at 90km/h makes you miss 19,75 meters. That makes 26,33 meters at 120km/h. Needless to say, your text messages are longer than you think: ‘Almost Home’ is 10 characters, but 289 meters as well. ‘On my way’, 7 characters, but 236 meters. And these are just the shorter kind of messages people keep texting behind the wheel. Longer messages are quickly reaching 1 kilometer. Stunning, keeping in mind that 1 fraction of a second of inattentiveness can have serious consequences.

A new take on road safety campaign: Driving blind. – Blindmeters

Texting and driving are dangerous. We’ve all heard it before in numerous road safety PSA campaigns. We still do it, though. Because ‘it’s just a quick text message’, just a ‘little post on Facebook or Snapchat, or Whats app, or whatever… ‘. But, honestly, does it even exist, ‘a quick text message?’ Because when you send text messages behind the wheel, you are driving blind.

Geoffrey Hantson, CCO of Happiness Brussels, an FCB Alliance, said: “In order to change that behavior we wanted to literally let people experience how many meters they are actually driving blind. Because even though most people know, nobody really realizes how many meters they are really missing.”

Data, data, data
This campaign connects different databases, layered on one website. Thomas Coliers, head of technology added: “The website combines data from different map sources which allows us to render text along roads on top of satellite imagery. One source is used as the primary visual layer for the map, another source allows us to use the geometry data of the roads, together with speed limits and other important data to be able to “write” on these roads. The font on the website is custom-made for the purpose of being able to dynamically stretch.”

Covered in the whole of Europe

The campaign was created by the duo of Happiness Brussels and OVK/PEVR (Parents of Road Victims), who took home Bronze at this summer’s Cannes Lions for their “Behind the Numbers” radio spot. The platform is supported by a fully integrated media campaign, with a television and cinema commercial, and social films of people walking the distance of their last text message. The campaign initiated in Belgium and will spread amongst different European countries.

Credit list:
Campaign: Blindmeters
Client: OVK – Ouders van Verongelukte Kinderen
Contacts: Koen van Wonterghem, Ellen Ruys
Agency: Happiness Brussels
Executive Creative Management: Karen Corrigan CD: Geoffrey Hantson
Creative Coach: Katrien Bottez
Creation: Roxane Schneider, Pieter Claeys
Group Account Director: Hans Smets
Account manager: Tine Van Hasselt
Design: Dries Lauwers
Typographer: Edouard Schneider – Edsnor
Agency Producer: Bart Vande Maele, Sophie Gunsbourg Digital Production : Bliss Entertainment
Digital Producer: Kris Van Wallendael
Head of Technology: Thomas Colliers
Sound Production Company : Raygun
Composer: Peter Baert
Film Production : Latcho Drom
Producers: Jeroen Berx, Efrosini Spanoudis
Director: Christopher Ross-Kellam
DOP: Edgar Dubrovskiy
Grading: Moxy
Head of motion : Remke Faber
Editor Social film: Simon Schuurman, Matthias Vandenbosch

This Campaign is about:
Google maps, Technology, Tech, Innovative campaigns, Brand Innovations, Blindmeters, Happiness Brussels, Digital innovations, Road safety campaign, Driving, Facebook, Snapchat, Media campaign, Radio Campaign