JKR

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Paddy Power is using Blippar AR technology to bring the Queen on a tenner to life. She will be offering her pundit views and tips throughout Euro 2012.

I think it’s interesting for two reasons. The first, for me, is that this is the first time I have seen Blippar used in a creative and amusing way, rather than to have logos floating around or such other rather dull stuff. If the scripts are funny it might actually get used and I believe the strategy is to keep it live and topical, like the Old Spice campaign last year.

The second reason is that this campaign acts as the exception to a general rule: the broad theory is that brands should focus on what makes them distinctive and special, not on what they share generically with their competition. For example, when many lagers talk about how refreshing they are, or the quality of their hops, they all tend to blend together in the consumers mind. Money is to betting what hops are to beer. But this campaign takes that generic and does something that feels ‘very Paddy Power’ – it’s cheeky, irreverent and all about the fun of the game. It therefore serves as a good example of a brand taking a category generic and bending it to its will. I guess the very best brands do this – they ‘own’ (rather than share) the fundamental building blocks of their category, and so define it in their own light.

Hope that’s not too pseudo intellectual a read for what’s basically a fun and silly campaign stunt.