In May, we announced Keds had extended its deal with Mischa Barton and would be launching a campaign featuring The O.C. actress Mischa Barton. Recently, the shoe company launched a website, Mischa Barton Fall '05, created by Toth and mediumbold, featuring Mischa and her involvement in the creation of the campaign, her take on the definition of cool, behind the scenes commentary on the photo shoots for the campaign, Mischa's answers to fan mail, her take on Hollywood hot spots, her favorites songs and, of course, the shoes.
The campaign's tagline is "Be Cool" and the word cool must be uttered by Mischa at least one hundred times throughout her appearances in the site's mini-videos. Not a bad choice for a tagline considering how many times people say "cool" in every day conversation. It's akin to Verizon's "Can you hear me now?" tag which, as anyone who owns a cell phone knows, is said more than a few times every day.
OK, OK, OK. We'll write about this. You've twisted our arm long enough. While we thought we were done with this, having written about it back in March 2005, the Dove fat girls are, again, all the rage. Having popped up on billboards all over the country, the public has voiced its opinion on the campaign by writing on the ads comments such as "I hate my agent," "Fat girls can be corporate schills too" and "I only suck form balls." We're not quite sure what the last comment has to do with the campaign but we're sure the author had something in mind.
Sharpie pen commentary aside, the campaign does make one wonder if we really want to see "real" women in their underwear or stay with the anorexic, cleavage-enhanced, Photoshopped, untouchable, pore-less, fantasy hotties that adorn most current advertising.
Vancouver agency smashLAB has out their creative juices, somewhat literally, to use in a new self-promotional campaign. The print campaign, with the tagline, "Our Creative Comes From Within," features images of colorful body fluids from puke to snot to well, view the campaign to see the other two. We're not quite sure what kind of clients a campaign like this will attract but, hey, more power to smashLAB for trying.
In an ironic twist, the industry that is currently attempting to regain cred among, well, everyone, the advertising industry recently launched an ad campaign to promote Advertising Week using the oldest trick in the book: sex. Created by DDB Worldwide, the ad, which promotes the industry's upcoming Advertising Week in September pictures a faceless woman with in a red bra and black top with her breasts bulging outward and the copy, "Advertising. We All Do It," positioned directly beneath the woman's cleavage.
Predictably, many are up in arms over the ad citing it as sexist, moronic and tired. All true but, then again, when has sex ever been in danger of not selling something. Whether it's to titalate guys or to piss of women, sex-laced campaigns featuring scantily clad women whose breasts are spilling forth, uncontrollably, from of their tops unquestionably draw attention and get the media to write about it, thereby, accomplishing a campaigns primary goal of awareness despite negative reaction.
Indicative of the spineless nature of industry, neither the client nor the agency are stepping up to the plate in reaction to this ad with both sides referring inquiries to the other as if the ad were a pair of skid-marked underwear.
Bring sanity back to the saga, Bartle Bogle Hegarty Global Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Advertising Week Cindy Gallop told Ad Age, "I see the campaign as funny and entertaining. Advertising is something we all do without thinking. The fact is a woman opening an extra button on her blouse for a date is a very regular occurrence." You go, Cindy!
Intended to look like a bunch of fellow employees helping a 31 year old, un-married co-worker find a date by placing a billboard and creating an accompanying website, the effort, created by Lindon, Utah-based logo design company LogoWorks turns out, apparently, to be a LogoWorks recruitment campaign as indicated by the DateLance website copy which reads, "You don't have to DateLance to meet Lance. You can work with him," followed by, surprise, a link to the recruitment section of LogoWorks. Also indicative this is marketing ploy is the DateLance.com disclaimer mice type which reads, in part, "You may not use DateLance.com if you 1) do not have a sense of humor 2) fear rejection."
Humorously and the the unmitigated glee of LogoWorks, hundreds of news organizations took the bait and reported the story straight singing the campaign-induced "guy needs date, friends help with kooky campaign" tune. Even the Washington Post ran the story, headlined, "Friends Mount Billboard for Bachelor."
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