In San Francisco, Yahoo has placed video games in 20 bus shelters downtown. People waiting for their bus are able to tap the screen, pick one of four games, and challenge a person from another bus shelter. At the end of this 2 month placement, the neighborhood with the highest score will win a block party with band OK GO (so jealous - I love them).
I'm finished school in 8 days, who wants to go to SF with me?
I just wanted to thank my readers for sticking with me through my recent lack of posting. I'm in my last semester of school right now - and have my final exam on the 21st - too weird! I thought that only taking 3 courses this semester would leave me with a lot more time for posting. Unfortunately, that wasn't true. I'll be trying to post as much as possible for the rest of this month (it's exam period - I'll be needing a few study breaks!), but once January rolls around, I will be back to blogging full force.
Thanks again for all your sweet emails - hope you've all got your holiday shopping done!
So I have mixed feelings on this Cascade Beer ad by Droga5 (in Sydney).
This 90 second spot shows an Australian brewer riding his bike to deliver some beer. Sure, there’s some pretty rad bike riding (tight rope riding at one point), it’s cool that he knows everything that’s coming even though he’s looking back at the camera, and there’s even a comedic point after he states that “Brewers never miss a thing. Ever,” and yeah – the point comes across… they brew it by feel. But it still feels like it’s missing something, and dare I say it – I got a little bored.
I've never been one to hide the fact that I love typography (I mean, who would hide that anyway?), and so naturally I love Huggies new print ads done by JWT/RMG Connect in Milan. Not only are they bright and colorful, but they're also pretty witty... in a family-safe kind of way. Below are a few of my favorites:
"You called her Elisa, but perhaps Katrina would have been better."
"A spoonful for Mum. A spoonful for Dad. A spoonful for Grandma. And one for your new dress."
"There comes a time when you feel you can't cope anymore, and for a few hours you'd leave him with anybody. Even your mother-in-law/"
I actually kind of adore Oglivy's newest commercial for Lemon & Paeroa (a soft drink in New Zealand).
This ad features a bunch of men calling each other asking if they want to do "nothing much," and that's just what they do... nothing much. Why? Because "there's nothing much like L&P when you're doing nothing much."
So I've decide to post an entry on a Starbucks ad while sitting at Starbucks sipping on a Nonfat Chai Tea Latte.
This ad by Wexley School for Girls (actually an ad agency, not a school) is promoting the return of the infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte. The spot features a young girl by the Starbucks sugar table who is bombarded with dialogue by a seriously creepy barista named Charles. There's a little twist though... turns out Charles isn't actually employed by Starbucks.. he's just a big fan.
So the commercial is a little funny, but will it actually make people want a Pumpkin Spice Latte? Not sure. I think I'll stick with my Chai Tea Latte.
An ad for Tipp-Ex seemed to have made quite a splash recently. A video was uploaded to YouTube entitled "NSFW. A hunter shoots a bear!" This video shows a guy brushing his teeth in the woods when a bear approaches form behind. He and his friend both freak out and he grabs his gun and points it at the bear. But then the unexpected happens --- this becomes an interactive video. The user gets to pick "Shoot the bear" or "Don't shoot the bear" and they're lead to a new video, where the hunter uses Tipp-Ex white out to white out the "shoots a" in the video title, allowing the user to then type in what they'd like to see him do with the bear.
Some of them are pretty funny. I personally like "A hunter dances with a bear"
Before I say (type?) anything else, let me start off with: This ad is kind of brilliant.
The Virginity Hit is a pretty low budget movie, with no really "known" actors, yet thanks to this ad, its IMDB profile is up 992% this week, and reportedly politicians in Louisiana, Miami, San Diego, and Arizona are ticked.
Sony Pictures has put billboards up across the USA stating "Still a virgin? For help call 888-743-4335 toll free." And yes, it's a working number ("Press 1 if you're a virgin, press 2 if you're friends with a virgin and want to help, press 3 if you don't know if you're a virgin or not..." and it goes on).
Sometimes I look at an ad and all I can see is clutter... a large colorful image with too much text that just makes you want to look away.
Well these ads by Nikotin for Anaesthesia Lingerie [sic] are the exact opposite of that.
At first glance, the ads started off strongly for me. The gorgeous simplicity of a simple black image in between quotation marks on a white background definitely caught my attention. But they quickly lose their appeal. The only other thing on these ads is the company's logo. Well what are they supposed to mean? What on earth do a lightning bolt, water drops, and exclamation marks have to do with wearing pretty undies? This campaign is a perfect example of when more is better. Perhaps a simple paragraph of body copy could have helped Anaesthesia make their point.
I'm starting this off by saying this: I love this campaign.
Marcel (of Paris) created these 6 print ads for Fiat informing consumers that updated GPS maps are available on their website.
Rather than doing a cliche picture of a map as one might expect, these ads show funky colors and patterns. Seems a little unrelated right? Wrong. When you look at the bottom right corner of the ad, you notice a GPS system showing countries' flags. Turns out these patterns are super zoomed in images of the flags. "Find your way everywhere in the world" the ad says.
Really cool idea and they did a great job rendering it. Two thumbs up.
I can definitely say that this print campaign put a little smile on my face.
Publicis Singapore put together these 3 ads for the Yashida Ice Sculpture Exhibition back in December. It reminds me of that famous scene in Dumb and Dumber where Harry licks the ski post (here).
As all of us have hopefully heard: texting while driving is the cause of many car accidents.
Well this new campaign by Leo Burnett Brazil is for a product that stops texting while driving: the new Fiat Linea with SMS voice reader. This print campaign (comprised of 4 ads) shows text messages imprinted on a truck, a tree, a pillar, and a cow: all things that those who text while they drive may end up crashing into.
Imagine how much fun receiving sexts from that special someone would be over this device.
I'm not even sure if my opinion of this one is fair, since I'm a total suck for typography, but I'm going to go for it anyway:
I love this ad.
Hunt Adkins (a full service Minneapolis agency) created this spot for Nurture by Steelcase (a healthcare furniture company), which shows a bunch of questions that form a rectangle. As more and more questions are added, the rectangle is built upon until it finally creates a piece of furniture. "Great things happen when you question everything" is the headline, and the screen then switches to a picture of the actual furniture that the typography built.
BBH London came out with a new ad for Mentos that I wasn't so sure of at first... but now I find it's growing on me.
A couple is sitting on a couch when the girl has a sudden freakout. The guy sees there's a spider on the carpet, rolls his eyes, and goes to deal with it. Then the unexpected happens. (I'm going to leave it at that for you to see.)
At the end, Rainbow Mentos are shown with the headline "It's better to know what's coming next," because in new Rainbow Mentos, the colors stick together so there are no surprises.
Every time these commercials come on air, I jump to change the channel. Or if the remote isn't near me, I simply develop a temporary eye twitch.
I won't say much more about them other than:
1. It angers me how stupid Steak 'n Shake seems to think people are.
2. Are they trying to be like the Arby's glove? (Which was a stupid campaign in itself)
OMO laundry detergent (a Brazilian brand) in collaboration with Bullet has launched a new marketing campaign where they've placed GPS devices in 50 of their detergent boxes. Those lucky enough to purchase a GPS-clad box will have gifts delivered right to their home within hours.
Being a total Coke addict (Coca Cola... geeze), this ad on the New York subway system broke my heart a little.
The New York City Health Department doesn't name specific brands, but warns its passers-by that when you drink a bottle of cola, you're actually consuming 16 packs of sugar... or when your kid has a large soda at a fast food place, that's 26 packs of sugar.
New Yorkers' consumption of sugary beverages declined 12% from 2007 to 2009, a Health Department press release points out. "The decline is a sign of progress in New York City’s prolonged battle against obesity," it says, "but the battle is far from over. Sugared beverages still add millions of empty calories to New Yorkers’ diets each year, and roughly 3 out of 5 New Yorkers are overweight or obese."
The body copy? "All these extra calories can bring on obesity, diabetes and heart disease."
I bet Coke and Pepsi, to name just a couple, aren't too happy about this campaign.
(Also, is it just me, or is the bottle a little phallic?)
Arçelik's new campaign by Young and Rubicam Reklamevi is very creative... considering they're advertising a fridge.
Two print ads show one fruit or vegetable composed of a bunch of another type of fruit or vegetable (a raspberry made of tomatoes and a grape bunch made of watermelons). What's the point? That fridge is damn wide. 84 centimetres in fact.
Office Depot's new ad features Susan Schulson, the owner of Schulson and Sons Movers. Unfortunately for Susan, her sons are going off to university and she'll no longer have the muscle power needed to carry all that heavy furniture. However, after saving tons of money on school supplies by shopping at Office Depot, Susan is able to correct this situation.
I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that the pause after the line "new sons" that then leads to the next line is brilliant.
The great thing about Leo Burnett Brazil's latest print campaign for Dreft Laundry Detergent, is that it's so true.
These new ads show an old personal picture (circa 1970) on the left side, and a new fashion-magazine type picture on the right side. A piece of clothing is common between the two, and the headline reads "Fashion always returns. Take care of your clothes."
Coming from a fashionable mother, it resonates. (Hi mom, I know you're reading this.)
Elaine's Bagels (which through a quick Google search appears to be located in Michigan) has a new print campaign done by agency Squid Inc.
Three different ads feature a bagel in the center of a solid background. The bagels are not regular bagels, however, but instead they resemble their flavors (the onion flavored looks like an onion, the cheese flavored looks like cheese, and the blueberry flavored looks like a blueberry). The line below says "(insert flavor here). One of many flavourful bagels."
Sometimes simplicity works. And I really think it did in this case.
Usually when an ad for a tech-store like Futureshop or Best Buy comes on, my brain turns off. They're boring, annoying, over-exaggerated, and often a combination of all three. This ad for Best Buy, however, came on yesterday while my dad, boyfriend, and I were eating breakfast, and all three of us actually laughed out loud.
This spot features a soon-to-be university student laptop shopping with his mother. When they pick one, the Best Buy salesman explains that with the purchase of a laptop at Best Buy, you get a geek (of their infamous "Geek Squad" - the group of people that helps you install, repair, or learn about your technology). They walk down a wall of boxed geeks (one who looks just like Ellie's husband Devon in Chuck) to pick the one that will best help the student. The mother picks a male geek who can help "video chat with mom," but the boy has a different idea....
It's not too often that I do hit on the ugly of advertising, but after seeing this commercial, I just had to.
JWT Toronto created this spot for Smarties, which starts out with a teenage boy sitting on a couch. We hear a throat being cleared and he turns to look at an ugly blue cat... who then talks... in a very creepy accent. "Blue is back," the cat says, and magically the remote control in the boy's hand turns into a box of Smarties.
I once stated to a friend that many ad campaigns to come will be great, but none will ever get a place in my heart like “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. I mean, the guy can speak French... in Russian, his clothes don’t have the courage to wrinkle, and his charm is so contagious, vaccines have been created for it.
Well - I was wrong, and will one day apologize to that friend for lying to him.
Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” has found a spot of equal, maybe even greater, size in my heart. (Previous ads blogged about here and here)
Yesterday (July 13th), Wieden and Kennedy took social media advertising to a whole new level. They got gorgeous Isaiah Mustafa (THE man your man could smell like) to create personalized video responses to people who Tweet, post YouTube comments, or Facebook about Old Spice.
…They even added in a couple completely random Yahoo Answers responses.
The result? People were in a frenzy trying to come up with questions for Old Spice to answer. One guy even got Isaiah to propose to his girlfriend for him.
Wieden and Kennedy – you’re brilliant.
Check out one of the responses… and the full channel below.
If you like cute stuff or Finding Nemo, you'll love BBDO's latest installment of AT&T's "Rethink Possible" campaign.
This spot (which actually seems like it could be a Pixar movie trailer) features a little fish who discovers some sort of fancy glowing fruit. Unfortunately our little hero is just that - little... and the fruit is thrown, dragged, snatched, and yanked by bigger and scarier sea creatures who each want it for themselves. Suddenly it lands right in our little main character's arms (or fins if you will) and when you finally think he's won it for good - you're wrong. A fish 10 times his size appears and shoots him up through the water to the surface. It's here, however, that our little guy discovers trees just full of those weird little fruits.
The characters, art direction, and soundtrack of this commercial are great, but I fear the message may get a little lost in the overall concept. "Expand your world," the ad says. Will it sell AT&T a bunch of contracts? Probably not.. but it's a pretty little piece of art.
Unless you live under a rock in a cave on some remote island, you have probably seen Wieden and Kennedy’s hilarious Old Spice commercial starring the gorgeous deep-voiced Isaiah Mustafa (blogged about here if you actuallyare that person under a rock in a cave on a remote island… or you just want to see it again).
Well, they’ve done it again. In one fluid shot, Isaiah stands on a beach, log rolls, bakes a cake that says “You’re beautiful,” builds a dream kitchen with his own hands, swan dives into a Jacuzzi, and ends up on a motorcycle - all the while talking to us ladies. He does not, however, end the commercial with, “I’m on a motorcycle.”
So I found some advertising of the future and couldn't help but post about it of course.
While flipping through LCBO's Food and Wine magazine, I happened across this ad for Vextini:
The headline: "Mix less. Miss less." The 2d barcode explanation: "Visit vextini.ca/WhatHappened and hold this up to your webcam to experience what you'd be missing."
Naturally I just had to try it out. So I visited vextini.ca/WhatHappened and (after proving that I'm legal drinking age of course), came across this screen:
I connected my camera, held up my magazine, and voila! A video started, explaining that "missing" context in the bizarre print ad. There are actually 3 scenarios, so you have the option of searching for all 3 ads OR downloading and printing the codes from the site OR for those of you without a camera, who are just lazy (like me), or who wish to save paper, going ahead and just watching the videos.
The videos themselves could use a little work, but the interactive component sure makes this an interesting campaign. It's worth checking out the site for sure.
(PS My video had a hot guy busting through a wall. Oh yeah.)
Edit: Just heard from Vextini, and they used Bos Advertising Agency and Lollipop Productions for this campaign. Thanks Vextini!
So I'm kind of in love with this ad - despite how squeamish I am.
This spot by Bigsmack in Philadelphia came on before Get Him to the Greek last night and it definitely caught me off guard. I really can't say too much, but let's just say it's for a new A&E police drama called "The Glades" and it shows the main character (homicide detective, Jim Longworth) talking directly to the camera about his "pretty sweet deal".
Usually when we see celebrity endorsements, they come in the form of some famous athlete sucking back a sports drink, a slutty popstar shaking her "thang" for Coke (or Pepsi), a B lister talking about an exercise machine, etc. But celebrity endorsements come in all shapes and sizes. And Castle Lite Beer has decided to use 80s has-beens to promote their brand in these commercials by Ogilvy Capetown.
The first spot features the classiest of the classy - yes that's right.. Vanilla Ice. As a few men at a party receive their Castle Lites, they go in for a first sip and suddenly some diegetic music pipes in. Vanilla Ice begins rapping to "Ice Ice Baby" and everyone at the party becomes a backup dancer. When the men stop swigging, the music stops too. Oh but don't worry, when they go in for the next sip, Vanilla Ice returns.
The second spot stars one of the same guys from the first one. He walks up to the bar in another swanky environment and orders a Castle Lite. The bartender pulls the beer out of the fridge, but oh no! The bottle is much too cold. MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" begins playing as the bartender throws around the bottle, finally throwing it up high in the air only to land in the hands of MC Hammer himself.
So I know I've been sarcastic.. but it's all in good fun. I like these ads - they made me smile.
Rethink is a Canadian agency (Vancouver based) that has done some really cool work. These billboards for Science World are 2 examples of said coolness.
The first is about diamonds. Almost the entire billboard is covered by 9,000 fake diamonds, with the blank space creating the words “Diamonds aren’t all that rare.” The second is about gold. The whole billboard is gold, with part of it raised spelling out “2oz. of gold can cover a billboard.” In the corner of both billboards is a little circle stating, “Science World. We can explain.”
What can they explain? Diamonds really aren’t rare compared to many other gems. And gold can be hammered so thin that 2 ounces is enough to cover a whole billboard. And I’m sure a lot more.
I love the originality of this campaign. Go Rethink, go.
So I'm a big fan of Crispin Porter + Bogusky's work, but their latest campaign for Kraft Dinner bugs me.
Is it just me or does the slogan "You know you love it" sound a little like Cheez Whiz's "You know you want it"? And while I realize that Cheez Whiz is also a Kraft product, I guess I was still hoping for a little more originality.
Despite my annoyance with the slogan, the ads are alright. Below is one of their tv spots featuring a kid who got a timeout for a "minor dinner table infraction." He explains this to the camera as his dad eats KD right off the little boy's plate. The spot ends with the kid asking his dad "Have you had enough?" The plot is merely alright, but the casting is great. That kid is more sarcastic than House.
They took the famous cantina scene from the even more famous Star Wars for their new Fifa ad. They didn’t remake it or parody it, but actually added to it with some recognizable popular figures of today.
That’s right. The cantina is the place to be when it comes to watching the Fifa games. David Beckham, Snoop Dogg, Canadian Jay Baruchel, Ciara, Franz Beckenbauer, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, and DJ Neil Armstrong (I’m sure I must be missing someone) all hang out there, along with the original Star Wars characters (yes, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and C-3PO are all present).
And at the end of this 2 minute spot? “Celebrate originality.” You can't deny it - watching Snoop Dogg use a light saber is pretty damn original.
Think back to when you were growing up. Remember that kid who never followed the rules? A little bit of class clown mixed with a whole lot of troublemaker?
Well that girl stars in this ad for Hovis (created by MCBD), and you see her load a washing machine with much too much soap, race grocery carts, turn an innocent ballet class into a big wrestling match, beat the boys at soccer, and much more along to some very catchy music (“Ça Plane Pour Moi” by Plastic Bertrand).
“There comes a time when it’s good to be good” says the voiceover 40 years later as our main character’s toast pops out of the toaster. Hovis is made with 50% oats.
Sexy music and women with windblown hair are present in this ad accompanying a total babe… literally.
This JWT New York ad for Huggies (limited edition) denim patterned diapers is pretty hilarious. An adorable baby boy strolls down the street to a song composed particularly for this ad (or so I’m assuming, considering the lyrics include phrases like “My diaper is full… full of chic” and “When it’s a number 2, I look like number 1”). He shocks people with his great style, checks himself out in the mirror, and eventually climbs into his sweet ride.
So I was just playing around on my computer with the TV on for background noise when the voice of one commercial caught my attention. I rewound my TiVo and saw it was an ad put out by Pedigree asking us to adopt a sheltered dog. With all of the euthanasia that's going on at the ASPCA in Newmarket, this ad hit my soft spot (background article here, and update article here).
The commercial, by TBWA\Chiat\Day, shows several wise dignified dogs sitting in their cages at the shelter while the voice states, "Shelter dogs aren't broken. They've simply experienced more life. If they were human we would call them wise. They would be the ones with tales to tell and stories to write - the ones dealt a bad hand who responded with courage. Do not pity a sheltered dog, adopt one."
I can't have a dog at my place, but now I wish I could. This is a gorgeous commercial.
In my second semester of 3rd year (I just finished 4th) I took a course called Advertising and Sales Promotion Management. Our professor (who was great by the way) asked us to save any bizarre or controversial ads that we found for the last day of class when we would share them all with each other.
Well I was just cleaning out my Photobucket account and came across these big box ads for Quiznos that I shared that day (March 2009). I'm not sure who created these ads, but I believe it may have been Nitro as AdFreak posted that Nitro created that controversial TV spot with "Scott" (here), but if anyone knows the truth, please be sure to let me know! Anyway, I came across them on Vice Magazine's website, which is known to have some seriously controversial stuff (and my god, it's great).
These ads, seen below, compare Quizno's footlong subs to, how should I say this - a man's junk. They're most definitely hilarious... but I'm not quite sure they make me crave a sub! Then again, I'm not the target audience... obviously.
So I saw this ad outside of the movie theatre on my way to see Kick-Ass and immediately asked my boyfriend to snap a shot with his iPhone ( I actually forgot mine, very unlike me). So what drew my attention to this bus stop poster?
It's different.
"All you need is cheese" is a campaign for the Dairy Farmers of Canada developed by Taxi Montreal. In this poster you see a little muscle man made of cheese lifting a cracker at least 10 times his size.
On it's own, this ad appears to be telling us that eating cheese makes you stronger, but if you compare it to the television commercials they've created, they seem to be saying that cheese makes food more interesting.
So these ads are a little old (about September I believe?), but they're absolutely adorable and I was thinking about them tonight. Windows 7 uses a sweet little girl, Kylie, to sell their product.
In the first ad with Kylie, she emailed some pictures, saying that she was only 4 - that's just how easy it is to use. The second one is my favorite, however. Kylie, despite her young age is able to make slideshows. Kylie copied and pasted the words that make her dad so happy (Windows 7 features copied from Gizmodo reviews), and put them into a slideshow with pictures of kittens and unicorns, things that make her happy.
Ladies - you know when you're watching TV and a commercial comes on for tampons and the women are in cute little dresses spinning in circles, dancing, or wearing all white... or that slogan "Have a Happy Period" is stated... and all the while you're thinking, "Yeah right." How about the blue liquid - what's that about?
Well this ad by JWT is a reality check. A woman (sarcastically) talks about her period and how she just loves to do all of those ridiculous things while having it. This ad is very funny, and I'd like to give a special little shout out to my dad, who saw it last night on TV, rewound our TiVo, and made me watch it.
And gentlemen - don't worry, you'll find it funny too. As one user wrote on Youtube, "I'm a guy, and I totally approve these commercials" (he also had 41 thumbs up).
The UK's RKCR/Y&R (try saying that 10 times fast) came out with this new ad for Warburton's bread that is absolutely adorable, albeit a liiittle over dramatic. The ad features the employees of Warburton's as they mourn a burnt loaf of bread. The slow motion over-the-top acting, death-scene-of-a-movie-type music, and tragic hug are what really make this ad so great. Check it out:
When I first saw this, I thought it was a trailer for a movie - that's how good the quality of JWT New York's latest Stride gum commercial is. This ad doesn't go along with Stride's usual "Spit out your Stride gum or we'll find you" line, but it does still focus on how long the gum lasts.
In this spot, a father is sitting on his daughter's bed asking her what is wrong. "Monster," she says, "He's going to eat me." The father, however, reassures his daughter that she won't be eaten, and asks "Want me to show you again?" He then goes to open the closet to an extremely creepy monster chewing on Stride gum. The monster certainly won't eat the little girl... he'll be chewing on that gum for a long time.
I tend to always blog about videos, let's get a few print ads into the mix.
Ritual Magazine is "the first Italian magazine of dark, gothic, electro, industrial music and culture." And, boy, their ads sure fit the description. These four prints by Ogilvy Italy feature "dark kids," and they're creepy in a Tim Burton kind of way (as in still lovable). I'm absolutely crazy about them.
One features a little boy (a mini Dracula) who "waketh up at midnight" (this one is by far my favorite, the kid is PERFECT for it). The second is the adorable Morgana who "had no friends" so she plays with rats. Finally the third (and perhaps the creepiest) is Melissa holding hands with ghost Mircalla as the two "never had the chance of being sisters."
This online ad was created for novelty item website, Vat19.com. In a parody rap video, somewhat reminiscent of The Lonely Island's I'm on a Boat, two guys sit around trying to figure out how to get girls despite the fact that they drink "nasty" alcohol. But behold - guy-on-the-right has a brilliant idea - girls would drink their crappy stuff if it tasted like gummy bears. All of a sudden they're rapping in a room made of gummy bears. The lyrics start out: Girl it starts real fresh
And takes you on a journey
These shots so ill
You'll be leavin' on a gurney
So bottoms up
Momma didn't raise a dummy
Me and Jeff gettin' crunk
Doin' shots of gummy
And it goes on, but you get the point. It's very funny. And Vat19 actually sells gummy shot glasses (I may want them).
Also, stick around till the end of the video, as there's an explanation of the making of it. It only took 900 lbs (!) of gummy bears, and the world's largest gummy bear (beheaded for the belt buckle). Worth a watch:
Tierney of Philadelphia came up with this campaign for PECO, an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, in case you'd never heard of them (I know I hadn't). There are four spots featuring "energy guzzling" household items and appliances - a faulty window, an old fridge, a dishwasher, and a lightbulb. Each of these 30 second spots have people in their houses trying to do something (fix a bike, read, enjoy their morning coffee, pick out something from the closet, you know - regular stuff), but each person finds some sort of distraction. Each appliance in these ads has been personified to look like some sort of monster... an adorable monster, but a monster no less. These noisy, energy sucking items are their owner's distractions, and can each be replaced (or removed in the fridge situation) Peco suggests. Really cute spots, however, I could never get rid of that dishwasher - he's much too cute.
Unless you're Giselle Bündchen, you've probably dealt with body issues. That's exactly what this ad by AUGE is about. It starts with some freaky music ("If I were man and you were dog, I'd throw a stick for you"?) and an attractive couple enters the room. They're all over each other as they clear space on the dresser, unzip each others' clothes... I think you get it - they're about to get it on.
The woman covers her new lover's eyes with his tie and throws him onto the bed. She then turns around and the mood switches. She starts removing the many things she's stuffed in her bra - tissues, a bunny, you name it. By the time she finishes, he's snoring.
The point? Don't stuff your bra.. buy the Power Lift and "Magnify without lying."
When I was about 7, I went on a trip to Disneyland with my parents. When meeting Mickey Mouse (which was very exciting to me back then), another family went to take their picture with him. Mickey assumed I was part of this family and pulled me into the photo. I've always wondered if they still look back and that picture and wonder who that random little girl is.
Well, meet Luke. The third installment of Taxi's new Yellow Pages ads. He's my soulmate. Luke prides himself in his ability to be that random guy in pictures. No matter where he is (tourist attractions, retirement parties, banquet hall parties, hospitals, you name it), he will creep your picture. Hilarious.
So as I mentioned earlier, Taxi came out with 2 more spots for Yellow Pages (to go along with the previously posted oiled up muscleman Randy). Here's another - Margo.
Are you a man? Woman? Just trying to enjoy your soup? Or perhaps just clearing a table? Doesn't matter to Margo.. she falls in love much too quickly. Thank god she's got Yellow Pages on her phone too, since she's then able to search for a cosmetics counter, salon, or wedding planner. Very cute. And I love the scene of the guy running off, the spoon falling into the bowl is very cartoonesque.
This ad is so bizarre that it's brilliant. Yeah, it's one of those ones. Taxi 2 came out with this 30 second spot for Yellow Pages Canada last week and it showed during the How I Met Your Mother rerun last night. The reaction in my living room? A couple confused exchanges, ultimately ending in laughter.
This spot features Randy, who's "99% muscle, 1% tiny swimsuit." So what's Randy's deal? He loves to be oiled up... all the time... to the extent that he uses Yellow Pages on his iPhone to find local gourmet food stores (where he uses some gourmet olive oil), gas stations (for "Tram" oil), and salad bars (for salad dressing, and apparently to get stared at by a blonde ignoring her husband. His reaction? A peck-flex).
Randy is an odd duck.
(Edit note: I previously stated that this was Cossette's work, but it is in fact Taxi 2's. Sorry for the mix up! The executive creative director, Lance Martin, informed me that there are 2 more coming - so keep your eyes peeled!)
Alright, so this post is going to be a little different as it's not on a specific ad, but rather a campaign. My friend Eric recently asked what my opinion on Bell's campaign is seeing as he's not a huge fan (particularly, I believe he said, of the little plot lines within each ad). Now I don't enjoy the plot lines either (like the couple trekking through the "forest" who suddenly realize they're going to miss Glee or something along those lines, or the guy who's so excited he brings cheerleaders to his friend's place, video below), but I do have to say I was much more than relieved when Bell axed the annoying beavers (no offense to Cossette, who I love as an agency overall).
I was interning at Cundari in the summer of 2008 when Bell surprisingly announced they were dropping Cossette's irritating yet oh so famous beavers Frank and Gordon like hot potatoes, and moving on to an idea conceived by Zulu Alpha Kilo, founded by Zak Mroueh (former Top Creative Director of Taxi Canada). Holy run on sentence eh?
Anyway, I used to take the subway to and from Cundari everyday and I remember Bell's teaser ads. Of course at the time I didn't know they were Bell - that's how good these teasers were. At first the TTC posters were simply white with a line of blue, or a corner of blue, or mostly blue - they all differed. As the days went on, they would slowly change, each day revealing a little more. I, however, couldn't wait and took part in the daily office chat of "what the hell are those weird TTC ads?" And within just a couple days of the campaign starting, we had all the research we needed to figure out what was going on. Oh well, still a really cool teaser campaign.
So how is the campaign now, a whole 2 years later? It's alright... I guess. I don't change the channels when the ads come on or anything, but like Eric said - the plots are annoying... very annoying. To counter this however, the commercials are quite visually appealing. The use of the giant blue Bell logo on a crisp white background is great for their branding. Maybe if they were to get stories that weren't quite as irksome, they could make some pretty cool ads.
TBWA\Brussels came up with this new spot, released this month, for AARDGAS Company's Natural Gas. It's seriously super cool. In this ad a house is shown in the morning. As the heat kicks in, the house is slowly covered in wool. Each item up to the pipes, walls, and even the water becomes wool. The point? Natural gas is the softest of heats.
So how was it done? Stop motion was used and each item was covered and then uncovered with this wool. This is definitely a must see.
So I'm not quite sure what the deal is with these ads. Every source I've found simply says "by Andrej Krahne" without mention of an agency. With a little further research I discovered that Krahne is a German illustrator and designer, so are these simply Krahne playing around or are they really for Durex? Either way, I can't particularly say that I like them. This campaign consists of 3 print ads made entirely of typefaces. All 3 feature a man and a woman in different sexual positions created out of words, with the Durex logo where the man's junk is.
In the first, the woman is seated on a table (created out of the word "wood") and the man is standing. He is created mostly out of "overload" while she is created out of words like "heaven," "peace," and "paradise."
In the second, the man is in the crabwalk position with the woman on top. He's mostly "muscle tension" while she is "quaking," "horny," "orgasm wave," "vibrations," and for some reason "confused."
In the final one, the woman is giving the man oral pleasure. While he's mostly "Fatal error," she's "tasty," "contented," "fruits," "satisfied," "happy," etc.
I'm sorry, but I'm confused. I thought men enjoyed sex as well? Durex may have the whole controversial-we're-gonna-get-talked-about thing going on if these ads are real, but I still don't like the campaign.
This ad by agency Juniper Park South Africa for Frito-Lay's SunChips is really cool. The spot features different people walking around with large pictures. When they see a piece of trash, they place the picture in front of it, and it turns out the picture actually fits into the scenery. Okay, so it's hard to explain, but if you don't get it, you will in a minute. The narrator is a little girl (adorable right? - reminds me of Cundari's '09 Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure spot that I was lucky enough to be on the account team for). The little girl states, "If we all made a change, it could lead to some pretty amazing things and keep this world beautiful so I can someday pass it on to my children." The point? SunChips has made a change - their bags are now made of plants so they're compostable. Saving the world one chip bag at a time. "For a brighter tomorrow."
Back on January 21st I posted about Ally Bank's "Even kids know..." ads, and about how much I love them (here). Well thanks to AdFreak I just found out about two more of them. Still hilarious. Enjoy!
Agency The Cousins of Geneva, Switzerland made this ad for McDonald's that first aired in Switzerland in January. It's different than North American McDonald's ads for sure.
This spot features little cartoon characters with the typically annoying cartoon sound effects. A little boy walks over to what can be assumed is his father (the walking sound is the worst. It may have made me cringe a little). They smile at each other, blink a couple times, and the father hands the son a 20 dollar bill. The boy looks at it, waves his hand no, and walks back off (again with a cringe). There's a close up of the father who gets a bit of an eye twitch, which is actually kind of cute, and the line "Our prices make you more independent" bounces onto the screen.
Cute. But come on, even if a kid could afford a cheeseburger on his own, is he really going to turn down $20? I think not.
I have to throw out a thank you to my friend Eric for bringing this commercial to my attention, because now I just can't get enough of it. This Old Spice spot by... get this... Wieden + Kennedy Portland (again! Shocker. They're everywhere), and featuring gorgeous actor Isaiah Mustafa first aired on Youtube on February 4. In this spot, the "man your man could smell like" (who may be giving the Most Interesting Man in the World a run for his money) tells you to look at your man, then back to him, back to your man, and back to him again. He tells you to look away while the scene changes to the beach, and suddenly he has tickets to "that thing you love" and then those tickets turn into diamonds. Oh but that's not all.... he's on a horse. What's so great about this commercial? It's different.... Really different. What else is great about it? It was done in one shot - sure, it took 3 days, and the final version didn't come out until the 57th take of the third day, but it was worth it.
By the way - if you have 20 extra minutes, the making of video with creatives Craig Allen and Eric Kallman is seriously interesting.
This ad is nothing less than adorable. BBDO Toronto made this spot for Tropicana, featuring the Canadian Arctic on its 31st straight day of darkness. As people go about their business, missing the sunlight, Tropicana pitches up a fake sun. Kids in classrooms perk up to look out the window, and the town gathers around this artificial sun. Smiles are seen, children are dancing, and an awesome song is playing ("The Great Escape" by Patrick Watson) as this town's day is brightened. It's definitely a must-see.
So just now I had my tv on as background noise while I was typing out some notes, and I can honestly say that I had been paying no attention to what was on. Randomly however, a commercial came on that caught my attention. Thank god for PVR, because I was able to rewind and see what it was that turned my head.
It was the Dodge Charger Super Bowl ad that I somehow missed a few weeks ago. This spot, by Wieden & Kennedy Portland (Is it just me or does it seem that a lot of talked-about ads are coming out of this agency?) is a string of "sacrifices" men have to make. It shows a series of 4 different men staring blankly into the camera as the voice of Michael C. Hall of Dexter names off these so called sacrifices, such as "I will get up and walk the dog at 6:30am. I will eat some fruit as part of my breakfast. I will shave. I will clean the sink after I shave. I will be at work by 8am. I will sit through 2 hour meetings. I will say yes when you want me to say yes." ...blahblahblah - woe is me, ending with, "And because I do this, I will drive the car I want to drive." Cue macho shots of car speeding down the highway. "Charger. Man's last stand."
Sure this ad really did catch my attention while a series of others didn't, but I can certainly say that it is not my favorite ad of 2010 and it really doesn't make me want a Charger. Sorry Wieden & Kennedy. I do love a lot of your stuff though.
So when I first saw this spot (by Wieden + Kennedy Portland), I was wondering what the hell it was about. This minute long ad features children throughout different events in the Olympics - press conferences, signing autographs, the athlete march, shaving their faces, getting bandaged up, skiing, figure skating, playing hockey, luging, the list goes on, but by now I think by now you get the point. At first it made me think of that annoying Wonderbread commercial. You know the one - where a bunch of sets of twins dressed up like Olympic athletes taste supposedly healthier bread and say they taste no difference. But this ad isn't annoying... not a bit.
It then ends with "To their moms, they'll always be kids."
My mom decided to switch to Tide. Good job Procter & Gamble, good job.
