« Dec-07 | This archive, pg:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  |  23  |  24  |  25  |  26  | Feb-08 »

To Up Bread Sales, Grain Foods Aims for Carnal Appetites

mullen%20bread.png

We like this cute take on a sinister fairytale. Instead of Hansel & Gretel, think gorgeous girl with good shoes. And instead of breadcrumbs in a forest, think breadslices in a well-furnished house.

And instead of running home to a mean woodcutter and bitchy step-mom, think yummy guy, in bed, with sandwich.

The moral of the spot? White bread's rich in folic acid. Folic acid helps make healthy babies. Enjoy.

This is probably the sexiest way of promoting bread -- without offending the everyday mom's senses -- we've ever seen. It comes courtesy of Mullen, on behalf of Grain Foods Foundation.

Realistically, we'd probably be pissed-off and slightly disturbed if our mate tried seducing us with a trail of breadslices. But hey, Grain Foods, you can sell us bread anytime.

by Angela Natividad    Jan-17-08    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good



Earnest Firm Goes Sherpa: 'We Are So Not an Agency'

labov_beyond.jpg

LaBov & Beyond is this delicious mesh of old-fogeyness and "I swear I'm cool, I swear!"-ness.

When we last covered them, they were trying to generate creativity with a whiteboard website. This time around, they're spreading word that LaBov & Beyond isn't an agency at all. Latest positioning statement: "LaBov, the Un-Agency Agency."

Wondering what LaBov & Beyond is? We're not sure, but we bet it involves a lot of super-expressive words that don't actually say anything. See PDF.

But hey, we're into their earnestness. LaBov vibes like a dependable bunch, even if not flawlessly hip.

by Angela Natividad    Jan-17-08    
Topic: Agencies



Cloverfield Sets Potential Audience Members on Apocalyptic Scavenger Hunt

cloverfield.png

Movie Marketing Madness wrote a really detailed column about the guerrilla campaign for Cloverfield, the New York apocalypse horror film that was seeding images of a headless Statue of Liberty long before it had a name to call its own. (Is that a metaphor for our lives?)

From what we can tell it involves a camera, a party and the end of the world. Naturally, hijinks ensue.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jan-17-08    
Topic: Guerilla, Promotions



Anti-Advertising Efforts Backfire, Cause More Advertising Overload

graffiti_problem.jpg

The human brain is an amazing thing. It does so many complex things with complete ease. Luckily, one of the things it does is filter out, according to some, is the up to 5,000 advertising messages a city dweller sees each day. This is a very good thing. Because if the brain weren't able to filter out the incessant onslaught of advertising and consciously processed each of those 5,000 daily messages, it would explode quickly sending the owner of that brain to the nearest mental institution.

In some respects, advertising is a never ending cycle of idiocy. People ignore ads so marketers just create more. People block ads so marketers just come up with more methods to circumvent that blockage (just wait until you see the DVR-proof side and bottom bar ads the nets will soon implement).

more »

by Steve Hall    Jan-17-08    
Topic: Cause, Opinion, Trends and Culture



Guinness Beer Made From Dots...Really

guiness_dot.jpg

Created by IIBBDO Dublin, this new Guinness Dot commercial explore the life of a dot and how it realizes it's many opportunities as it grows, meets other dots, explores and...becomes a glass of Guinness beer. Huh? A bit of a stretch but as one person pointed out, if you can be anything, be the best. The best being Guinness, of course. Right. Still a bit of a stretch. Wonderfully creative though and always great to hear Donald Sutherland's voice - even if it makes us think we're watching a Volvo commercial.

by Steve Hall    Jan-17-08    
Topic: Commercials, Creative Commentary, Strange



Five, FIAT Seize Relaxed UK Ad Regulations to Promote FIAT 500

Fiat%2016.300dpi.jpg

UK-based Five.tv and FIAT Automobiles have joined forces to promote the FIAT 500 online and outdoors. This may not be a huge deal Stateside, but it's a big deal in the UK, where OFCOM recently relaxed regulations for terrestrial channel sponsorship.

Fiat seized the moment and blew a wad for a whole evening on Five. Its FIAT 500 will also be unveiled at the British Airways London Eye on January 21st at 8pm.

The launch was timed to occur exactly 500 hours into 2008, which will be docked on a countdown clock on Five.tv via 10" and 20" commercials.

by Angela Natividad    Jan-17-08    
Topic: Online, Outdoor, Promotions



Manhattan Unveils Pay-Per-Potty, Execs Are Stoked

apt%20nyc.png

Last week New York City unveiled its first automatic pay toilet. For $0.25 and at a limit of 15 minutes per use, you could hit a streetside loo that automatically self-cleans.

The effort to promote the APTs (as they're so trendily called) was called First Flush. The automatic public toilets were unveiled last Thursday.

"City big-wigs," as WCBS TV calls 'em, say this is "a truly historic occasion."

Bravo for progress, especially when it's in the ass-wiping arena.

by Angela Natividad    Jan-17-08    
Topic: Outdoor, Packaging



BFD Takes on New Meaning With Domino's Pizza Builder

bfd_dominos.jpg

Now please. Are we really supposed to believe the only phrase the oh-so-witty copywriter had in mind when developing the BFD acronym for this Domino's Pizza website was Big Fantastic Deal? Oh to have been a fly on the wall in that concepting session. We can almost hear the high school boy humor through the conference room door as the dudes at Crispin Porter + Bogusky crafted this beauty.

Aside from all that, this pizza builder site is pretty cool. It's simple to use. It gives a great visual representation of the pizza you are creating. And, after you've finished playing around, you can get the thing delivered to your door. Not that that's anything new or anything but it's a whole lot more fun than just selecting from a printed menu.

by Steve Hall    Jan-16-08    
Topic: Good, Online



Apple: The Only Company Capable of Designing Products Properly, Thinketh Steve Jobs

jobs%20macbook%20air.jpg

You gotta love a CEO that falls in love with his own product to the exclusion of all else. In a NYT interview Steve Jobs calls the Macbook Air the most elegant of Apple's computer designs, lavishing affection even on its four adorable footpads.

"Some of the competitors' machines are so flimsy," he reportedly gushed, "they require a fifth or even sixth pad to keep from sagging."

Keep the image of those sagging competitor footpads in mind when you've absorbed his take on the Amazon Kindle and Google Android.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jan-16-08    
Topic: Brands, Opinion



Current, T-Mobile Pair Up to Lavish Dollars on Would-Be Advertisers

current%20t-mobile.png

If you've ever fantasized about a trip to Scotland, now may be the time to enter what may be the mother of all UGC contests: the Current and T-Mobile VCAM ("viewer-created ad messages") Assignment. We just watched an entry called "Leader of the Pack," which bored us stupid. But it did have bagpipe music.

Entries are accepted 'til Feb 25. If your video is worthy of Current airtime, you could win $1,000 -- slave wages in the ad industry, but who are we to judge.

If the sponsors want to air your ad elsewhere, you could get anywhere between $5,000 to $50,000. And yeah, somewhere in there is a free trip to Scotland. So start recording, squares.

by Angela Natividad    Jan-16-08    
Topic: Consumer Created, Online



« Dec-07 | This archive, pg:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  |  23  |  24  |  25  |  26  | Feb-08 »