Volvo and Levi's are just some of the brands doing direct response campaigns on Twitter

Life's for sharing. Just look at T-Mobile. Who'd have thought that hoards of people dancing to Lulu and singing along with Pink would create so much buzz? Many scoff at the utter pointlessness of all this sharing, but campaigns that draw on our new-found desire to share anything and everything with complete strangers is the new manna from heaven:

First up, Volvo's new pumped-up banner ad for the XC60. Expanding to reveal the most useful bits of a website, brochure requests, configurators etc, the real innovation here is the delivery of regular tweets about the new model.  However, after the tenth flattering comment about the XC60 you start to get a whiff of rat. Are these tweets for real or from Volvo's ad agency?

Volvo: are those tweets for real?

One Twitter-inspired campaign with a more welcome smell is a joint venture from digital agency, Poke, and its local bakery, The Albion. Charmingly called BakerTweet, some clever kit is hooked up to the bakery's ovens. Whenever a fresh batch is ready, tweets are sent out to opted-in muffin fans. It's simple, it's cute. And if the bakery is just around the corner, a very tempting call to action.

Over-sharing from advertising hacks, over-sharing from a baker's oven. But ‘what about real people?', I hear you tweet. Get ready for Twistori, inspired by the super-addictive ‘We Feel Fine' widget that pulls in words and pictures from blogs and chat rooms from all over the web, based on specific words chosen by you.  Similarly, on Twistori choose a word like Hate, Love, Wish, from the rather more limited selection, and you can voyeuristically read any tweet including that word. Sounds daft, but I challenge you not to get hooked.

Twistori is not yet being used for marketing purposes, but the principle of using snippets of real people's lives to create engagement is something that Levi's have used in their latest campaign, Moon Bathe. Reflecting TV spots featuring the obligatory skinny hunk scaling the tower block he lives in to catch some moon rays on the roof, we're encouraged to share what crazy things we've got up to the night before - in the hope of winning a ‘money can't buy' nighttime event in one of five European cities. These tweet-like shared experiences then appear live in the banner campaign for all to see.

Whether it's Dave who spent the evening reading horror stories in the bath, or fancy pants who met a blind date on the Eiffel Tower, the random 15 seconds of fame make for compelling reading, and give a bit of a fillip to an otherwise humdrum prize draw campaign.

Love it or hate it, in this celebrity-obsessed culture, consumers are not just happy to share, they actively seek opportunities to do so. So let's give it to ‘em.

Critique credits

1. Bakertweet
Agency Poke London
Creative director Nik Roope
Site developer Mattias Gunneras
Identity designer Nicky Gibson
Arduino developer/designer Andrew Zolty

2. Twistori
Agency Slash7
Creatives Amy Hoy and Thomas Fuchs

3. Volvo
Agency EHS Brann Cirencester
Art director Tim Waltho
Copywriter Jimmy Thompson
Creative director Frazer Howard.

4. Levi's
Agency BBH
Creative directors Marc Shillum / Caroline Pay
Producer Amy Sugdon
Director Anthony Atanasio

About Daren Kay
Kay has over 100 national and international awards to his name, including Cannes Lion, D&AD, DMA, Campaign Big Award and PMRA, where campaigns for Guinness, Smirnoff and RAF have consistently impressed judges. A key member of the DMA's Creative Forum for 10 years, and editor of ‘26 Compelling Letters', Daren is a regular on the conference circuit - and an awards judging panelist. This year, for the first time, Daren is one of the UK's two judges invited to Cannes.