OMG! An Agency Won Some Business!

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Fallon informs us they've been placed on Nestle Beverage's agency roster and will begin work for the client immediately.

Nestle Beverages VP Alfonso Gonzalez said, "From our earliest meetings Fallon brought insight and understanding to the new world of beverage marketing. Fallon seems to have a grasp on today's consumer who expects more from a brand than a simple transaction. We expect Fallon to create value beyond brand communications."

You go, Fallon.

by Steve Hall    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Agencies, Brands



Man Seeks Credit for 'Hyundai Sunday' Stroke of Genius

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On Super Bowl Sunday Hyundai launched "Angry Bosses," an ad that depicted corpos all over the world angrily shouting Hyundai! in various states of aneurysm-inducing rage.

At the end, a calm voiceover goes, "Win one little award, and suddenly everyone gets your name right. It's 'Hyundai', like 'Sunday'."

Never mind the screamers in the video. That last line, "It's 'Hyundai', like 'Sunday'," has incited the righteous indignation of at least one man, "Bernard in CT," who believes the idea of rhyming "Hyundai" with days of the week was his idea.

And damnit, he deserves the cred for it.

Letter and ad below.

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Opinion, Television



Drink Milk Now or You'll Have A Heart Attack Doing Jumpstyle at 75

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You know how old people always dance to, well, old music? That's because it's the music they grew up with. They didn't have rock, hip-hop, trance, disco, new age and they certainly didn't have Jumpstyle.

According to this Duval Guillaume-created commercial for the Agricultural Marketing Board of Flanders, "People always dance to music from their youth." We see a loving old couple dancing to some old tune and then...quick cut...to two dudes doing Jumpstyle with the tag, "So you know what's awaiting you. Start drinking milk."

Did we or did we not tell you eight months ago this dance craze would soon appear in an ad? Oh yes we did, brotha!

Angela and I learned Jumpstyle today. If you're lucky, you'll get to see us do it at the next ad conference. It should be good for a laugh.

by Steve Hall    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Trends and Culture



Billboard Karma Shines on Pro-Biking Campaign

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When Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing Co. was offered a package of urban Denver billboards, pro bono, for a pro-biking ad campaign, it quickly accepted, and assigned its agency, Denver-based Cultivator Advertising & Design to create the outdoor messages. And that's when serendipity stepped in and flooded the billboard placement Gods with good karma.

The headline, "Work to Bike More," was inspired by the priorities of several New Belgium employees who may well be more passionate about cycling than about gainful employment. The billboard promotes New Belgium's Team Wonderbike, which encourages both New Belgium employees and the general public to trade in their cars for a bike. The placement above PT Motor's "Cash for Cars" sign, at I-76 and North Federal Blvd., Denver, was...oh yea...serendipitous.

by Steve Hall    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Good, Outdoor, Strange



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Tweet, Tweet, Tweet. Tweet to End Global Poverty

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Want to help fight global poverty on Twitter? Just tweet the hashtag #apowerfulnoise anytime from March 2nd to March 5th, and NCM Fathom will donate $.10 for up to 50,000 Tweets to CARE, the organization working to end global poverty.

Oh and to promote the documentary, A Powerful Noise.

Sound good? Oh wait, where's George Parker when we need someone to crap on all things Twitter?

by Steve Hall    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Cause, Social



Here's The One Time 'Go to Hell' Can Be Used to Incite Purchasing Behavior.

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For Dante's Inferno, an Electronic Arts video game, G-Net Los Angeles got into bed with Psyop. The natural result is an ad we suspect might be more lush than the game itself.

We could be wrong, though. Any English major will tell you Dante had a helluva good time describing Hell, and the work he did merits equal dedication from agencies, production firms and game developers alike. Still, this is just one more reason why future generations will be reading fewer books: you think CGI's had its way with women? It's bringing literature to its knees.*

Going back to the ad: like we said, it's gorgeous, but probably could've done without the toothy worm things. It's just too dental-visit-gone-wrong. And while we understand every good Hell scenario needs a bad-ass horned demon master, the one here looks too much like a Balrog.

Once something invites a comparison to LotR, even accidentally, it's gonna have trouble standing up on its own. Even if it is the bloody Inferno.

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Online, Television



Campbell's Soaps Up, Casino Stimulates, D&G Rebrands

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- Mediaedge:cia brokered a deal that'll result in two Campbell's Soup executives appearing in All My Children tomorrow. They'll be playing themselves. (Photo cred: ABC.)

- Mohegan Sun -- you know, the casino -- debuted its Stimulus, Recovery and Rebound Package. Think gambler giveaways, deep discounts and a "Business Bail Out" program that includes free gaming lessons for corporate clients.

- LA-based David&Goliath has rebranded. Check out their new look.

by Angela Natividad    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Agencies, Product Placement, Television



Mystery Solved! Peter Arnell is Mister Six in Disguise!

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Oh now it all makes sense. So this is what Peter Arnell did before he spent (wasted?) $35 million messing with Tropicana packaging (only to have the brand revert to the original) and who knows how many millions on the Pepsi logo...and that document.

Yes, indeed. Now it makes perfect sense.

by Steve Hall    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Agencies, Spoofs, Strange



Mr. T And Snickers to Offend Again?

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Uh Oh. The Wimpy Swimmers of America cause group is about to get their undies in a twist. As will, no doubt, Bob Garfield. Yes, after its Speedwalker ad offended gays (and Bob Garfield), which we never quite understood, Snickers is out with another Mr. T ad which takes on wimpy "toe dippers" who cower at the thought of swimming in water that isn't a perfect 85 degrees.

"You makin' me mad, sucka!"

"It's time to get in the pool, fool!"

"Take that, toe dipper!"

"I hate flying so this better be the last time I hear you crying!"

"Get some nuts!"

Yea, baby! Classic Mr. T.

by Steve Hall    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Celebrity, Commercials, Good, Opinion



If They're Gonna Be Plotting Your Demise, Better to Eat Them While Sober

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Belin Crazy Rings/Tubes/Starfish are essentially drinking snacks. We'd call them beer nuts but the branding material reads "l'apero cingle" -- aperitif snacks. Classy.

Anyway, to best target its market of casual at-home cocktailers, the French company is broadcasting this ad from its website and in banners on sites like MySpace. Our best guess is that they thought, "Drunk people engage in slightly malevolent, poorly thought-out hijinks all the time, so what if our snacks did too?!", and went zealously from there.

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Online, Strange, Television, Video



Triscuit + Kraft = No Snackrifice Necessary

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We have it on good authority that Nabisco's started circulating a new slogan, "Why Snackrifice?", to promote Triscuits -- and, to a lesser degree, Kraft cheese (its perfect mate).

Annoyingly, video searches for "triscuit snackrifice" or "snackrifice" yielded little more than videos produced by people that should not own cameras and a ton of Neopets-related stuff, respectively.

However, we did find a Why Snackrifice? page on NabiscoWorld, which promotes Triscuit (and Kraft!)'s health merits and pocketbook-friendliness. Also, there's a really rad shot of two women snacking responsibly while sitting in ecstatic postures normally reserved for yogurt eating. Scandale!

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Promotions, Strange



Parents Recall How Their Parents Talked -- or Didn't Talk -- Drugs

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The Partnership for a Drug-Free America enlisted Avenue A/Razorfish to help it talk to parents about talking to their kids about drugs, I guess because the Patsy angle didn't go over so well. (Actually, this probably didn't either.)

Don't Sound Like Your Parents is the fruit of this partnership. It plays with out-of-touch parental camp ("You don't need drugs for excitement -- you can help me dust!") but it's also really candid. (Video reels depict Boomer parents that generally meant well, but for the most part failed to adequately deliver the drug talk. But hey, like the sex talk, it's a tough topic to scale.)

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Online