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There’s quite a clever technique used in this ad that aims to raise awareness and drive sign ups around the issue of torture for Amnesty International by TBWA/Berlin.

We’re all very used to seeing iPad app demonstrations and this is a nice distortion of it.

Not the most arresting video in the world, but it puts the amount of money and attention we lavish on gizmos and gadegets into sharp relief.

The Law Society has today launched the UK’s first ever ‘voicemail protest’ for Sound Off For Justice (a campaign against the proposed government cuts to legal aid).

Members of the public are encouraged to voice their discontent with the government’s proposed cuts by leaving a rant on Ken Clarke’s voicemail.

This is how it works:

1. Go to the Sound Off for Justice website and fill in your mobile number.

2.  ‘Ken Clarke’s’ (voiced by Alistair McGowan) voicemail calls your mobile.

3.  You wait for the bleep and then leave your irrate message.

It’s a nice, modern take on the usual ‘fill in this leaflet and post it to your MP’.  And, the fact that the web/mobile technology does most of the leg work for would-be advocates is smart  i.e. no need to dig out the old microphone / webcam.

The issue with such campaigns, as anyone who’s ever worked in an MP’s office will tell you, is that MPs read (or in this case listen to) the first couple and then ignore the rest.

The ‘audio’ nature of the campaign means that it is unlikely to go viral, as listening to lots of people mouthing off just isn’t that exciting or stimulating.

Nevertheless, for what it is, it’s very nicely put together.

This is a poster by the Yes2AV campaign group who are lobbying for a form proportional representation to be used in UK elections.

The film poster-style advert portrays supporters of the current first-past-the-post system as political dinosaurs.

It’s inclusion of Nick Griffin – leader of the far right BNP – has caused widespread controversy.  The NotoAV camp claim that including Griffin both gives him political legitimacy and is a slur on the names of other mainstream politicians included in the poster.

Apart from anything else, the political-poster-that-looks-like-a-movie-poster was used to death in 2001 by The Labour Party and should never again see the light of day (see below):

This is the video for anti-cuts anthem “Liar Liar” by Captain Ska.  Captain Ska join the throng of musicians trying to replicate last year’s campaign to prevent Simon Cowell’s X-Factor winner getting the Christmas #1 hit record.

The track captures the mood of the anti-cuts movement perfectly and it’s easy to understand why the video is getting a good amount of traction online.

A very well put together video that – whilst the vast majority are complaining about the extremity of the cuts – urges the government to go further.

Wave after wave of well-spoken-intelligent-looking-men explain to you the simple steps needed to get Britain back on the front foot – cut, cut, cut.  Every time you even think about saying “hang on a minute, what about…” another deeply serious spectacled professor is thrust to the fore and makes you feel like a total cretin.

The video uses the oldest of all advertising tricks: ruthless reductionism.  If you’re trying to sell a pack of crisps you could talk about the flavour, the crunch, the freshness, the size of the bag, the cheap price, the high quality, the names of famous people who eat them or the negative aspects of other crisp manufacturers.  But you don’t.  Because if you throw someone 5 balls they won’t catch any.

So this video, rightly, doesnt even try and deal with the myriad of factors that impact on the economy.  It has a single agenda which it seeks to promote above all others – tax reduction.

The Tobin Tax has had something of a re-brand.  And a very successful one too.  The Facebook page has nearly 70, 000 fans and the promotional video has had nearly 100, 000 views.

For those unfamiliar with the Tobin / Robin Hood Tax it is a proposal for a tax of 0.05% on international bankers’ transactions.  Supporters claim it could generate hundreds of billions of pounds every year which could be ploughed into international development and public services.

The above film goes on slightly too long but is gently amusing and quietly powerful.  The key to increasing momentum will be to regularly release ever more entertaining and convincing content. 

Putting together a good first video and getting launch publicity is relatively easy, but to turn warm public interest into genuine mass support, that will make politicians take notice, is incredibly hard.

‘Open Up’ is a new campaign that’s demanding that open primaries take place in every constituency in the country in advance of the next general election – fairly ambitious stuff given that it’s demanding a bunch of turkies vote for their own deselection. 

The website is slick and the integration of social media channels is seamless, but the video content isn’t quite of the quality that will help make the campaign viral.  The above clip ‘Are you a duck?’ tries to a poke some fun at and stir up some irritation about MP’s expenses in order to drive engagment and interest in the campaign.  The concept of ‘tales from the duck house’ is amusing but dubbing a voice over a duck isn’t of the hilarity that justifies the 1 minute and 40 second length and follow-up episode.

The campaign seems to be building momentum but doesn’t yet seem to have ‘tipped’.  However, everything seems to be in place to capitalise from either a new bout of Westminster scandals and / or the production of a genuninely interesting, viral piece of content.

Another awesome execution in Tappening’s campaign against bottle water that I wrote about a few weeks ago.