Sylvain Chomet Whips Pen Out for Discount Tire Spot

kwik-fit.jpg

DDB and Th1ng ("Thing One" -- yeah, that was an intelligent brand move) just put together this spot for Kwik-Fit. In it, people do a conga line when Kwik-Fit announces 25 percent off for four Goodyear or Dunlop tires.

The spot was illustrated by caricaturist and Oscar nominee Sylvain Chomet. Stateside, he is probably best-known for this.

We really hope Chomet wasn't contracted for just one price-slashing ad. It would be neat to watch more Kwik-Fit spots with this warm peculiar feel (as opposed to more cold, fatal discounts).

by Angela Natividad    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good



CD-Turned-Author Self-Promotes without Spending. Much.

standing-still.jpg

CD and president Kelly Simmons of bubble, Philadelphia is sharpening her ad chops by promoting her own book, Standing Still. Released by Simon & Schuster, it's about a mom who exchanges her life for her kidnapped daughter's.

Publicity includes $200,000 of online, sweepstakes, broadcast, direct mail and guerilla efforts, allegedly all bartered.

The effort includes promotional postcards ("The ultimate beach read") stuffed in women's swimsuit orders, courtesy of Miracle Suit. A radio campaign will air on B101 FM, an indie station.

And when it rains, ziplocked flyers (via Tri-County Printers) promoting the book as "the perfect read for a stormy night" will appear on parked car windshields.

Check out Simmons' e-zine, bykellysimmons.com. You could win a Tiffany's bracelet that matches the one worn by the protagonist (product placement! Nice touch).

more »



Australia Hates Goodby Silverstein's Michael Bay Bank Ad

commonwealth_bank.jpg

It seems a new commercial for Australia's Commonwealth Bank has the land of down under angry for two reasons: the bank left Australian agencies behind and came to American agency Goodby Silverstein to create the work. And, secondly, they think the campaign, itself, sucks. Even Australian ad legend John Singleton got in on the hating and called on the bank's CEO to pull the ad because it is "obscene" and a "waste of money."

more »

by Steve Hall    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Creative Commentary, Opinion, Trends and Culture



Converse and Dr. J? No Way. (Okay, YES Way.)

dr-j.jpg

For some brands, deep association with a celebrity isn't enough. Air Jordans and Jordan, and Simmons and Phat Farm, only come around once in a ... whenever.

Watch closely while Converse tries hard to invite a comparison between itself and Dr. J. (The firm responsible: Anomaly.) At best, you'll wish out loud for a return to the glory days of b-ball. At worst, you'll feel a little fragmented.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Celebrity, Online, Video



Enjoy what you've read? Subscribe to Adrants Daily and receive the daily contents of this site each day along with free whitepapers.

Virgin Islands Tries Triggering Wanderlust with Music

virgin-islands.jpg

To drive tourist cash to the US Virgin Islands, JWT Atlanta and What What Films produced a promotional music video for PrimalScream's "Meant to Be."

The pop song is less primal, more bland, and ornamented with shots of the artist dancing on beaches and snapping pictures of turtles.

A ticker runs independent-looking ads that incidentally refer to the scenery: "Deals for US Virgin Islands," "St. Thomas Luxury Homes" (like, while she's in one), and "Wedding Photography" (preceding a shot where the whole video turns into a scrapbook).

We haven't yet whipped out our passports, but we are suffering from severe karaoke nostalgia. And that's a feeling you never want to have.

by Angela Natividad    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Online, Promotions, Video



Taco Bell, Sports Illustrated Toss Aspiring Photographers a Bone

direct-daniella.jpg

Want to photograph models like Daniella Sarahyba for a living? Go for it -- just not for money -- courtesy of Taco Bell and Sports Illustrated. Pick the location and plan her moves based on a series of options. She'll say things like, "Oh, are you the new photographer?" and play the spoilsport when it's too windy.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Brands, Celebrity, Online, Product Placement



Yahoo Justifies Greystripe Collabo with Financially-Bereft Stats

yahoo-razr-ad.png

So Yahoo got all chummy with Greystripe, an ad-supported mobile game and apps purveyor. For two months they worked together to promote Yahoo oneSearch, a universal search tool for mobile.

The campaign was called "Be a better..." (handyman, explorer, etc) and you can check out some executions here.

To demonstrate how smart (or how adept at denial) Yahoo is, the results of the campaign have come in.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Brands, Mobile/Wireless



Girl-On-Girl Facial Suckage the New Drool Inducing Ad Tactic

clontark_whiskey_kiss.jpg

Ugh. Anything to get guys to drool. Oh wait, that's a good thing. We like to walk around with our jaw dropped to our knees and saliva drolling down our face like a Neanderthal who hasn't seen his cave hottie for over a year. Apparently, Clontarf Irish Whiskey knows guys are easy targets for this stuff and the latest drool-worthy tactic is the girl-on-girl kiss.

That and a cute play on the phrase, "Kiss me, I'm Irish." We like is as we're sure many others will. However, Complex wonders just how well this might go over in the predominantly Catholic Irish culture.

by Steve Hall    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Good, Magazine, Racy



Virgin Active Health Clubs Encourage Destruction of Your Couch

virgin_active.jpg

Is there anything Richard Branson doesn't do? Apparently he's now into health clubs with Virgin Active. And to promote the 70 clubs that exist in the UK, we've got Sofa Bash, and fun little game that lets you destroy a sofa with various weapons such as a chainsaw, a shotgun, a cleaver, an axe and others. It's all to get you in the mood to proverbially destroy your own couch, get off your ass and head over to a Virgin Active health club.

Oh how we do love games that let us beat the shit out of stuff. Must be some latent childhood horror we experienced. Mom? Dad?

by Steve Hall    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Games, Good, Online



Kim Kardasian Goes Bongo, Hotties Leave, India Comes, Gates Bails

bongo_kim_kardasian.jpg

- Following Vanessa Minnello, bootylicious Kim Kardasian is the new spokesbabe for Bongo Jeans.

- If you're sad to see that really hot office mate leave for another agency, send his or her picture over to Office Hotties Who Leave, a site which features images of "men and women who make coming to work more bearable."

- American Express, Coke, JCPenney, L'Oreal, General Motors, Mars/Masterfoods, MasterCard, McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, Bertolli Frozen Dinners, and Dove Cream Oil Bodywash are a few of the confirmed advertisers for ABC's 80th Annual Academy Awards broadcast.

more »

by Steve Hall    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Agencies, Celebrity, Social, Television



For Presidential Candidates, It's YouTube, Baby. Screw Network News

hilary_youtube.jpg

Politics has come to this? Hmm. What would your grandfather say? Likely, he'd be horrified. Strange as this goofy Hilary Clinton video may be, times have changed and politicians have to, ya know, get down with the cool kids. Was that just Up With People we saw?

Can you imagine any presidential candidate before Clinton (the first one) doing anything like this? Reagan doing a two step in front of a green screen later proliferated with dancing bunnies while repeated his classic debate line, "There you go again..." over and over? Jimmy Carter wearing a straw hat with a big wad of chew in his mouth giving us his best "aw, shucks, y'all" drawl? George Bush (the first one) doing some kind of appropriately robotic break dance while rapping about the dangers of "nucular" weapons? Oh wait, that was the second Bush.

more »

by Steve Hall    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Political, Strange, Video



Michael Bay Commands Awesomeness, Blows Stuff Up For Verizon

michael_bay_verizon.jpg

In this first commercial, breaking February 17, for Verizon's FiOS TV and Internet campaign, Jerry Bruckheimer's boy, Michael Bay, is seen hyping his own over-the-top obsession to blow things up. From The Rock to Armageddon to Pearl Harbor to Transformers, Bay is all about blowing things away and that's the central message of this campaign: Verizon blows away the competition when it comes to internet upload and download speeds.

more »

by Steve Hall    Feb-15-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Celebrity, Commercials, Good