Change Starts With Your Underwear. And Office Nudity

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Ever experience that moment at work when time seems to stop? You glance around the office? You notice every little detail? You marvel at the beauty of things? You are overwhelmed with feelings of goodness, righteousness and environmentally sound principles?

Nah. Neither have we which is why this is all encapsulated in a commercial instead of real life. Because in real life time never stops, there's nothing special to see in the office, details involve strange looking stains on the rug, no one is beautiful, you never ever feel anything but misery and most assuredly, no one's clothes are magically torn from their bodies...in slow motion.

Which, again, is why this is all in a commercial. A very strange commercial. A commercial for organic underwear maker PACT.

Strange as it is, it truly does make us wish there were days like this when the walls would part and we could escape into nature for a welcome respite from the difficulties of the day.

The tagline for this campaign? "Change Starts With Your Underwear." Perfection.

by Steve Hall    Nov-10-09    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Strange



Colored Balloons Flood River to Hype Camera

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Seems this stunt was a missed opportunity to use the song 99 Red Balloons. Of course, there were more than 99 balloons in this stunt and they weren't al red so we guess it makes sense they chose other music to accompany.

What the hell are we talking about? Yet another stunt to promote yet another goofy hook to get people to buy a camera. In this case the camera comes from Sony Ericsson and the goofy hook is a character called Hopper which is basically a bouncing balloon you get to design.

The event, called Hopper Invasion, that's highlighted in this video took place November 4 on the Spree river in Berlin. Thousands of colored balloons were dropped and corralled on the river while a DJ spun tunes and people...well...just started at the balloons. Seriously. That's all it was. Who knew watching a bunch of balloons float on water could be so exciting. Guess we don't get out much.

by Steve Hall    Nov-10-09    
Topic: Events



Walmart Thanks Troops For Helping Us Live Better

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It's never a bad thing to thank the troops for the work they do overseas. Everyone appreciates the work they do even if we don't agree with the politics of it all. Hate the war, love the soldier. That's what it's all about.

So it isn't easy to bash a commercial whose sole purpose is to thank the troops for the hard work they do. So we're not going to do that. We're just going to say Budweiser (it was Budweiser, right?) did it much more effectively with its commercial featuring the troops arriving home in an airport.

We still like the work The Martin Agency did here for Walmart.

by Steve Hall    Nov-10-09    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good



Corporate Idiocy: Verizon Slams Phone It Will Sell in Two Years

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In the latest version of its iPhone-bashing commercials, McGarryBowen compares the Verizon Google Droid phone to a robot. A robot that crushes rocks. A robot that punches holes walls. Why? Because we don't need smart phones. We need robot phones. Why? Because robot phones do.

So...the Droid is an un-smart, idiotic brute that can kick ass and take names? Is that really what we want in a phone?

This ad is so far off the mark it falls into comical territory. The comparison to a rock crushing robot is absurd. Phones don't need to crush rock. They need to smartly do digital things with ease. Kinda like this thing from Apple called the iPhone. Heard of it?

more »

by Steve Hall    Nov-10-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Worst



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Bus Ads Hijack Events Ads. Then GIve Back

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Duval Guillaume, which always does interesting work, is out with a new campaign for transportation company De Lijn which recently increased its nighttime schedule and wanted to make the public aware.

Rather than create an entirely separate campiagn that simply announced the change, the agency latched onto the notion people use the buses to get to and from evening events. Cutouts with the tagline, "whatever you are planning tonight, also plan your transport," were placed over already existing posters promoting events.

The idea, of course, was to simply grab the attention of people reading about certain events and frame the bus message around the original event listing.

A secondary element of the campaign made it possible for the promoters of any posted event to have their event promoted on the actual buses by uploading their poster to a website.

by Steve Hall    Nov-10-09    
Topic: Outdoor



Please Help Us Interpret This Strange Nokia Commercial

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Watching this long form commercial for the Nokia N900 brings back less than fond memories of agency concepting sessions during which creative types (and everyone else for that matter) would begin to act like idiots, spout out idiotic buzz words and, in some cases, even burst into full blown freak outs like one dude does here.

It's endearing to know this spastic behavior still exists in the industry. And if this commercial is trying to deliver some deeper message, it's surely escaped us. And we're the best test for this sort of thing. Because if you can't connect with our simple mind, there's no way you're going to connect with the people you'd like to buy your phone.

by Steve Hall    Nov-10-09    
Topic: Strange



Slow Work Day? Roll Out the Slip and Slide

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Apparently, Austin-based agency nFusion has no work and no clients. Why else would they spend an afternoon on a slip and slide. Oh wait. To make a stupid video they could send out and hope for some press coverage.

Well here you go, nFusion. Here's your press coverage. No get back to work!

by Steve Hall    Nov-10-09    
Topic: Agencies