« Mar-05 | This archive, pg:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  | May-05 »

Elvis Presley Graceland Campaign Launched

graceland_elvis_campaign.jpg

Last we heard, the Elvis estate needed a bunch of money to dig itself out of debt. Perhaps they've already done that or perhaps this new campaign urging people to visit Graceland is part of a revenue boosting strategy. Either way - and you have permission to shoot us for writing this, we never really listened to Elvis or watched his movies. We just couldn't grasp the appeal of the whole persona.

Anyway, there's other new campaigns that have launched recently which are featured in Ad Age's TV Spot of the Week including Unilever Sunlight Soap, a Cingular ad featuring Chewbacca, a strange caveman ad for British Columbia Dairy Foundation, a freak puts a fish bowl over his head for Lipton, raccoons stand in for deceased Dave and booted Mr. Wendy for Wendy's, a kooky Tony Sinclair promotes Tanqueray from the deck of a ship and Goodyear reminds us it was their tires that helped the moon rover do its thing back in 1971.

by Steve Hall    Apr-25-05    
Topic: Commercials



Best Buy's Geek Squad Promotion Tied to 'Star Wars'

geek_squad_logo.gif
According to Best Buy's Geek Squad, a computer customer support group, many people skipped work and school to watch the first two prequels of Star Wars. Whether that's true or not, as the May 19th release date approaches, the GeekSqaud is latching on to this last, great movie in the Star Wars franchise by providing a feature where students and employees can customize their own excuse notes to send to their teachers and bosses.
by Steve Hall    Apr-24-05    
Topic: Promotions



Roomate Sets Beer Booby Trap

hippo_beer.jpg
When someone really loves beer and there's only one left in the fridge, some will go to great lengths to make sure they get the beer instead of their roommate. Reminiscent of Honda Cog in a very simplistic sense, the losing roommate in this ad finds himself under a great deal of pressure after having triggered his roommate's booby (no, not that kind) trap.
by Steve Hall    Apr-24-05    
Topic: Commercials



San Francisco Giants Ads Stolen

kirshenbaum bond San Francisco launched new San Francisco Giants wallscapes and bus shelter advertising at the end of March. Since the launch, an estimated 15 bus shelter advertisements have been stolen by what is assumed to be Giants fans. The bus shelter advertisements include shots of Barry Bonds, Moises Alou, Jason Schmidt, and J.T. Snow photographed to appear as giant figures. Stolen bus shelter advertisements are being replaced, but, apparently, this thievery is indicative of San Francisco's insane love for their hometown baseball team.

by Steve Hall    Apr-24-05    
Topic: Outdoor



IKEA Keeps Children's Toys Dildo-Free

ikeadildo.jpg
There's many classically embarrassing moments in life but we're sure the one where your kid finds your dildo is right up there on the list. IKEA uses this little shocker to suggest their furniture and its storage features might help in keeping little Johnnie's toys separate from Mommy's vibrating toys. The ad is said to have run in movie theaters in France as well as in Germany. Leave it to those Europeans to, once again, point out America's uptight culture.
by Steve Hall    Apr-24-05    
Topic: Commercials



Survey: People Want More Clothed, Hetero People on TV

Good_Hetero_Indecency.jpg
At least they're not gay

Three quarters of people surveyed by the Pew Research Center said that they wanted to see tougher enforcement of curbs on indecency in the media, particularly broadcast TV when children might be present. 60 percent said they wanted to see broadcast decency standards ported over to cable, and more than two thirds wanted to goose fines up further. Just about a third of all respondents said that they were concerned about content that showed homosexuals or dealt with gay issues. That same third of respondents later indicated they meant that concern in a very manly, decisive manner, not in an empathetic, whiny way.

by     Apr-22-05    
Topic: Trends and Culture



BK One-Ups Wendy's with Severed Hand

Severed_Finger.jpg
Unfortunate timing

Burger King has had so much fortune with its various daring commercials and viral efforts over the past couple years, but its luck ran out when Crispin Porter & Bogusky's newest effort (via Adland) happened to involve a severed hand. Severed hand, you ask? What could possibly go awry with a campaign for a big fast food burger that involved a severed hand? Yeah, now you see it. Wendy's recent fracas involving a chili-dipped severed finger of unknown provenance is currently slamming its marketshare nationwide, and especially on the West Coast, where that's actually considered grody.

by     Apr-22-05    
Topic: Commercials



KFC Brings Back 'Fried,' Colonel Gets Facelift

Colonel_Sanders.jpg
Still hip, kinda

AdJab points to what seems like a test effort to bring back the old Kentucky Fried Chicken branding after years of hiding the "fried" in the moniker KFC. One could easily wonder whether worrying about the impact of health concerns on the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand should be a priority when the founder-cum-spokes cartoon is an old guy dressed up in a white suit going by the name of Colonel. In all fairness, the real "colonel" didn't get his rank fighting to maintain the institution of slavery, but rather was awarded the honorary by the finger licking governor of Kentucky in 1935. Still, that's a fairly esoteric explanation to get across to urban fast food customers for whom southern gentlemen get-ups remind them most of Boss Hogg, if not the men who worked carefully to undo the social policies of Reconstruction. KFC owner Yum! Brands has to date neutralized this seeming brand albatross by caricaturing the founder in cartoon and having him - I have difficulty bringing myself to type it - rap.

by     Apr-22-05    
Topic: Campaigns



JibJab Launches New Piece

JibJab_Matzah.jpg

Last night JibJab launched (via MarketingVOX) a new viral video celebrating the digestive intricacies of Matzah. Intel runs a short repurposed TV ad in the beginning of the spot.

by     Apr-22-05    
Topic: Viral



Welcome to the New Adrants

As you have, no doubt, noticed, Adrants looks different today. Different in a much better way. We owe, with gratitude, this difference to Komra Moriko of design-4-results. A few things to note about functionality:

  • Clicking the date at the bottom of the post takes you to a page with stories from that day.
  • Clicking the magnifying glass take you to the individual story page (Permanent Link).
  • Clicking the envelope also takes you to the individual story page where you can email the story to a friend.
  • Clicking the thought bubble allows you to comment on the story.
  • Clicking any story's headline takes you to that item's individual story page (Permanent Link).
We hope you like it and there's bound to be a few bugs so feel free to contact us with any questions, comments or suggestions.

by Steve Hall    Apr-21-05    
Topic: Announcements



« Mar-05 | This archive, pg:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  | May-05 »