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Men Are Spending More to Improve Their Self-Worth. Don't Be Dumb, Cash In Early

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Earlier today, Gay List Daily sent its (mostly male) subscribers an invitation to try John Allan beauty products. The pitch began like so:

Meet John Allan. He's been quietly hiding in New York developing a line of men's care. His set of products satisfies a man's every grooming need, from hair care, personal care, shaving, and skin beautifiers.

Skin beautifiers?

Okay. I realize I'm on a gay mailing list, but mens' increasing willingness to explore beauty regimens -- and shop for style's sake (think Beckham!) -- isn't a gay vs. straight thing anymore. For a growing number of guys, the pursuit of youth, beauty and expensive jeans has become a norm. And not just among metrosexuals. (In fact, most men we'd call "metro" don't even like the term.)

How much do we know about mens' changing self-perception -- and their shopping habits? Probably too little. Marketers and book writers like shining the spotlight on the so-called gender minority with her iron hand on the family pocketbook. She's always stealing the show!

Meanwhile, we've let Axe run off with the New Male Order.

Looking to change that? Then you should read Branded Male.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jul- 8-08   Comments (3)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Good, Opinion, Packaging, Publishing, Research

'Goodfellas,' 'Peanuts' Used to Promote...

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Goodfellas Peanuts!

You will smirk until the last Peanuty-tense moment.

by Angela Natividad    Jul- 8-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good, Online, Trends and Culture, Video

Brazil Welcomes Audi R8 With Artful Choreography

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To launch the Audi R8 in Brazil, Bullet created a launch event, "The Art of Performance," which combined an orchestra of 41 musicians, one maestro and three Djs from the German Bauhouse group along with visual wizardry from Campana to create a performance masterpiece.

Masterpiece is the right word to describe this effort. Like an orchestrally-choreographed movie score, this aural and visual extravaganza is perfectly timed and does a nice job illustrating the car's finer points.

Check out the video here and here.

by Steve Hall    Jul- 8-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Good, Video

Goodby and HP Make Computing Blissful. If Only it Were True

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Looks like that cool, drag and drop-style computer as seem on CSI Miami and in the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report will be available for all courtesy of HP. With beautiful visuals and lush music, Psyop (production), Sound Lounge (sound) and Goodby have crafted a nice piece of work for HP's TouchSmart PC. Now, if only the experience of using a computer was as blissful as this as opposed to the frustrating nightmare it often is, life would, indeed be beautiful.

by Steve Hall    Jul- 8-08   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Good

Singapore Axe Commercial Avoids Lameness at Last Minute

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Just when you think you're watching yet another lame (a common phrase today) Axe Deodorant commercial with the ubiquitous lower lip-biting horny hottie eying the dumbfounded geek and are ready to toss it off as a waste of production dollars, you are rewarded with a moderately amusing ending. Amusing enough to cancel out where the impending lameness was headed.

by Steve Hall    Jul- 7-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Good

The Boogie Man is Just Some Guy -- Until NIGHT Falls.

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For Sylvania Light Bulbs, JEH United/Bangkok created a spot that makes highlarious use of Thailand's mythological monsters. And one transvestite.

The premise: when the lights are on, nothing seems to be scary. Slogan: "Light is your true friend."

by Angela Natividad    Jul- 5-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Good, Television

The Social Path Takes Buzzwords, Superiority and Hype Out of Social Media

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David Griner of AdFreak fame has convinced his agency, Luckie & Co, to launch The Social Path. It's a clean, uncomplicated and sane place for learning about social media.

The blog went live Sunday. I don't want to gush much, but I spent most of the last half-hour reading the entries. If you're looking for rants or hype-ridden miracles, you will probably be disappointed.

What it will do is simplify topics that have become extremely noisy. And then it will walk you through them while clasping your hand -- not as an "expert," but as a person learning alongside you.

For a sense of what I mean, read his second entry, Five Myths of Social Media. It's a great place to get started.

by Angela Natividad    Jul- 2-08   Comments (2)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Agencies, Good, Online, Opinion, Social

NASA Astronauts Talk TV at Zero Gravity

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If you've ever wondered what astronauts discuss while floating around doing jack, 72andSunny has the answer: like any other dude at a dive, they're probably talking about TV.

Here are three spots, each of which is for a different Discovery Channel TV show. Guess which promotes what. Answers on AdGabber.

o "I'm gonna go with lunar golf."

o "Y'ever blow up a zeppelin?"

o "Okay, I think we'd call it Money. With an exclamation point. As in 'we're making tons of money,' and 'we're so money at crabfishing'."

One thing I don't get is why the astronauts have Earth for a face. Maybe it's a logo thing. Anyway, it's unsettling.

by Angela Natividad    Jul- 2-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Good, Television

Recycle Right: Start with All Those Hoarded Dreams

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In this charming new spot for its "Save Today, Save Tomorrow" campaign (an unwieldy URL if you ask me), EDF Energy enlisted Miklha Singh, Anne Packer and Sammy Lee to reflect on their Olympic glories, using "recycled" footage of them in their prime.

The ad concludes with a shot of the adorable Lee and the tagline, "This commercial was made from recycled dreams." Better recycled than left broken, I guess.

The spot was created by FEEL Films for Euro RSCG/London. It marks Phase II of EDF's "It's not easy being green" campaign -- another effort that appears to have been shaped in the blistering flames of nostalgia.

I liked it a great deal, even with the epilepsy-inducing London 2012 Olympics logo at the end.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-30-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Good, Sponsorship, Television

'Slap Me in the Face and Call Me HAD!'

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It's been confirmed: vibrating banners can kill. Because no man is safe where the banner ads dwell -- not even if he's the type of man who confuses J-Lo's lips with Angelina's.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-30-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Good, Online, Spoofs, Trends and Culture

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