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Love Diesel for its Mind, Not Just its Brain*

diesel-flash-fiction.jpg

Maybe it thought "SFW XXX" gave people the wrong idea. Alongside new buddy the Accompanied Literary Society (which seeks to revive the culture of literary salons), Diesel asked celebrity authors to produce some short stories for its latest outdoor campaign.

The so-called "Flash Fiction" was broadcast on the face of One York Place, NYC, over the course of three days.

Totally falls into the shadow of HBO Voyeur (BBDO/NY). And while I like the idea of reviving the literary salon, I'm inclined to think people -- myself included -- are more receptive to illustrative storytelling. Especially when they have to read them off the side of a building.

By Idealogue and PanOptic Motion.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Guerilla, Outdoor



Is a Chevy Anything Like a Hailstorm of Shoes?

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Here's a spot comparing the Chevy Traverse to "a sudden downpour of shoes." It's the latest in a campaign that debuted during the Beijing Olympics. (Remember the ad with the half-nekkid man ironing shirts?)

Facile premise: the Traverse is everything you've ever wanted. To illustrate that point, stereotypes of everything "we've" ever wanted are used. Hot men that iron? A hailstorm of shoes?

If nothing else, this spot's more coherent than the last. In August, I spent at least eight minutes on Twitter trying to figure out Shirtless Man's relation to folding seats.

by Angela Natividad    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



Poltergeist Pondered, Obama Games, Men Prefer Sex Over Internet

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- AdFreak's Tim Nudd notes some think if DirecTV's Poltergeist commercial is in bad taste given that Heather O-Rourke who played Carol Anne died in 1988 at age 12.

- This BBDO-created Guinness commercial in which refrigerators are magnetically drawn to a Guinness truck is quite good.

- Here's eight steps to writing in narrative format which sells.

- Gamepolitics reports team Obama placed an ad inside the Xbox game Burnout Paradise. The game's maker, EA, will neither confirm nor deny whether or not money changed hands for the ad or if it's simply great Photoshop work.

more »

by Steve Hall    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Games, Research



Bulgarian Ad Objectifies Woman, Reduces Her to Pair of Melons

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Belgian born Peter Forret, who recently took a trip to Bulgaria, noticed an ad campaign for Mastika, an aphrodisiac used as an ingredient in mixed drinks or in the yogurt drink Ayran. He remarked the standard of advertising in Bulgaria appears to be far different than that of his home country, Belgium.

The print campaign employs visuals of scantily clad women foisting their curvaceous features towards the viewer. A commercial has two guys ogling a girl who passes them by on the beach and casts a shadow on the sand suggesting a figure of, shall we say, larger than normal proportions. Sadly, the commercial employs the tired, much over used male arousal tactic.

more »

by Steve Hall    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Racy, Strange, Worst



Ball of String Captures Moment of Love

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Oh wow. This ad, capturing the precious moment between two people when they decide to ask and answer one of life's biggest questions which, in a big way, will determine how they live the rest of their lives together, is, by far, one of the best we've seen.

With nothing but a ball of string and some ingenuity, one man expresses his eternal love for the woman of his dreams. Love does, indeed, rock.

Created by The Richards Group for Zales, this commercial features music created specifically for the ad by Robert Francis. The song is entitled Don't Forget Love and was produced by PrimalScream Music Creative Director and EVP Nicole Dionne.

by Steve Hall    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Best, Commercials, Creative Commentary



Big Ass Photo + Tiny Product Shot = Weird But Good Ads

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Why does it seem every ad created in non-English speaking countries consists of nothing more than a big ass photo and tiny logo or product shot? Oh wait, we get it. They want us English speakers to understand their ads as well. Or at least be able to convey the message within countries that may have several different dialects making copy unable to be understood by all. Or maybe it's just laziness. Or a shortage of copywriters.

Mo matter. Many of these copyless ads are quite good and do a fine job at delivering their message without the unneeded baggage of overly pompous verbiage and self important overtones which do nothing but further confuse the message with needless puffery.

by Steve Hall    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Opinion, Trends and Culture



Hatch Award Video Brings Clarity to Clutter 3.0

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We didn't make it to Boston's Hatch Awards this year and therefore we missed this hilarious introductory video created by Fort Franklin. In the video, we see the desktop of a creative seemingly hard at work developing the voiceover for the Hatch video itself.

All seems to go well until the desktop explodes with activity not far from the reality we all experience everyday as we try to work on one thing while endless distractions such as email, IM, stupid YouTube videos, Skype, iTunes updates and stupid pictures begin to bounce incessantly along the bottom of the desktop making actual work impossible. Revision after revision fails.

more »

by Steve Hall    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Agencies, Best, Industry Events, Trends and Culture



Celebs, Scribbles, Gap Try Stimulating Youth Vote

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What better way to get self-conscious Millennials to the ballot than with a bunch of celebs being gratuitously cool, slightly ironic and occasionally almost (but not quite!) deep?

Look, look, it's Bill Maher in a blazer, prattling about elitists. It ends with "Vote for BBQ" -- except BBQ is written in a Mad Libs sorta way, so you know the "vote for" is open to whatever motivation, however bizarre or irrelevant, you've got.

Because hey, that's democracy.

more »



At AdEaters, Watch for Roofies ... and Teeny Little Gorillas

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To promote Night of the AdEaters, a 40-country show that screens ads from around the world in a no-holds-barred atmosphere, Euro RSCG/London resuscitated some of the ad icons it helped create.

The idea was to convey what someone might experience the morning after an indulgent ad event. (Odd, DDB/Stockholm seemed similarly inspired for the Roy awards.) At left, see the Cadbury Gorilla at the end of a tooth-scraper. Here's Flat-Head Eric in the same context, and the Energizer Bunny on dental floss.

The shit people put in your drinks!

Night of the AdEaters happens on October 16 at London's Bloomsbury Theatre. Tickets have sold out since the campaign started running.

by Angela Natividad    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Industry Events, Magazine, Poster



Coral Reefs Become Placeholders for a New Kind of Outdoor

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Coffees of Hawaii put a floating coffee bar on the swim course at Kona during the Ironman Triathlon World Championship. (They did it last year too. See pics.)

To ensure nobody would miss the hype-heavy, espresso-peddling raft bobbing near shore, it targeted swimmers with ads on the sea bed.

Neat idea. Neater still: if the flyers were clues to an undersea treasure hunt, and if, at the end of the hunt, people found -- not dubloons! -- but hazelnut coffee bean samples. Their expressions alone would make the effort worth it.

by Angela Natividad    Oct-14-08    
Topic: Brands, Events, Guerilla, Promotions



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