These are the Easter eggs that were hidden by Holland’s biggest supermarket chain, Albert Heijn (AH), in the latest version (1.5) of its iPhone App. The App, called Appie – a good choice of name, since many Dutch use it as the grocer’s nick-name – helps its customers to make a grocery list, search for recipes and of course find the latest ‘Bonus’ offers. Though probably only a tiny part of AH’s customer base will frequently use the App, it shows that AH wants to create added value for its customers in an innovative way. And that, we believe, makes the grocer very likeable. And since we’re only at the beginning of the App revolution, you can expect many more services on the App(ie) in the future. Anyway, to show that AH has a sense of humour, some Easter eggs were hidden in the App this Easter. On Twitter (#Appie) hints were given about where one could find the eggs. AH also hid a IRL Easter Egg in one of its stores. The person that found it, won an iPad (not on sale yet in the Netherlands). The Apps were built by digital agency Muse. If the 1.0 version of the App won’t win an award (for digital advertising) at the SpinAwards tomorrow, the 1.5 version definitely should next year.

Muse created an ad, or rather a contest, using the app ‘Draw Something’. The one who will make the best drawing of My Little Pony – or whatever the game asks you to draw – gets to do a creative internship at Muse. The copy is a bit clunky (“In advertising a message should be as clear as possible. We’re looking for interns who own this skill”?), so maybe they should have searched for an intern with writing skills, but we like the animation and using an existing social game app to recruit an intern is quite a smart idea.

Yet another cool online activational piece of advertising by KLM, created by Ice Mobile; the KLM Passport app, an app that turns traveller’s journeys into movies. This film, developed by Muse, shows more or less how it works: you choose a theme (adventure, around the world, island hopping, in the snow, etc.), select the best pictures and videos on your iPhone taken during your trip, and the app creates a need little movie. It all looks very smooth. The only downside of the concept is that most people still use a camera instead of their phone to collect travel memories, so the question is how many people will actually use it seriously. Nevertheless it shows once again that KLM understands that travelling is more than just buying a plane ticket.

Not so long ago you at least needed talent to become famous. Even if you looked as unattractive as Paul Pott or Susan Boyle, your voice had to get people’s attention. Today you don’t even need the voice anymore. In fact, even if you can’t playback properly, you’ll get your 15 minutes of fame. Take Keenan Cahill. He has become world famous by playbacking 50 Cent, Katy Perry and David Guetta. And now Samsung – or more correctly agency Muse – hires him to sell the new Smart TV. Since this new TV gives access to the internet, we understand that Samsung wanted to use a YouTube celeb – though we would have tried to find something more attractive. The idea is to have consumers participate in a ‘stare battle’ with Cahill – through your webcam – on a special YouTube channel, during which he distractingly explains the special Smart TV features. For the occasion he also recorded a video in which he ‘sings’ De La Soul’s “Me Myself and I” without blinking once. That is, he blinks at 0:13, but, as said, it doesn’t require much skill to become famous nowadays.

Yesterday was a good day. Not just because it was our first day in Cannes and we enjoyed soaking up all its extremes – Le Palais, the sun, the beach, ‘le canard au miel’, and lots of drinks – check out our photo’s here. It was also a good day for Amsterdam, because it won 5 Lions! Two silver lions went to outdoor; Interbest ‘mail stripper’ and the Go Fast water-bike, both to Y&R Not Just Film. At the time, we weren’t too positive about the unattractive stripper, because we doubted its effectiveness. You could say the silver lion has proved us wrong. Two bronze lions went to the radio commercial ‘sexual harassment’ (Publicis) and an Allsecur outdoor ad (Ogilvy). In Media Muse and Starcom won Silver for their 3D Samsung projection. Earlier, on Monday Amsterdam won two meager bronze lions; the Dutch dress for Bavaria in promo – which definitely deserves more in our opinion – and bronze for Boondoggle’s KLM Suprise in PR – in Holland this won a golden Spin (read: cyber) award. Hopefully we’ll be able to celebrate some gold later this week.

Four Amsterdam agencies scored a Webby award this year. The most serious one went to Boondoggle with Take Mokum (Online Campaigns) for Nike+. Boondoggle has a running gag going that mentions penguins in every interview; hence the 5-word acceptance speech by CD Gaston Serpenti – please note that this is Belgium humour. The others went to Streetview Sudan (Rich Media/Non profit), by Kong; Samsung 3D (Integrated Media Plan), by Muse and Starcom; and LBi Lostboys, with a website around the Anne Frankhuis (Cultural Institutions).