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Big Ass McDonald's Coffee Ad Makes Smart Use of White Space

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We're a big fan of white space. We hate ads that cram so much shit into available space under the misguided belief people will actually read the shit. Car dealers ads immediately come to mind as do many billboards whose creators seem to believe every one is a speed reader and blessed with binoculars for eyes.

So whenever we see an ad that gleefully makes use of white space, we can't help but love it. Especially when it actually serves the intended message as does this Swedish McDonald's ad which promotes the chains ginormous coffee. Thank you, DDB Stockholm for giving us our fix.

by Steve Hall    Feb-26-08   Comments (5)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Good, Magazine

Che Magazine Continues to Celebrate Fact Men Lust After Women

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Without fear of American political correctness or the nation's apparent refusal to accept men are, in fact, sexually attracted to women, we are thankful to have Che Magazine's continuing campaign which gleefully and without apology offers up women as objects of desire to increase circulation. Oh there's a joke in there somewhere but we're gonna leave that to you.

Created by Antwerp's Duval Guillaume, the ad envisions the ideal desk calendar for the man trudging, wearily, through his day when he'd rather be tossing everything off his desk and throwing that hottie down on it for some intense mid-afternoon tension relief. Come on, you know it's true. Just admit it.

See the ad in its full sized glory here.

by Steve Hall    Feb-22-08   Comments (2)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Good, Magazine, Racy

Hast Thou Forsaken the Hopes and Dreams of Thy Patron Stork?

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Monster.com's "Your Call is Calling" campaign has been a buzzkill since launch, particularly against CareerBuilder's darkly funny "Start Building."

But "The Stork" -- a :60 spot by BBDO, NY for Monster -- begets a bit of greatness.

You know that "What hath God wrought!" look your parents give you when you talk about what you do for a living? Apparently storks do it really well. Two hours later, we're still wallowing in quiet shame.

Jokes aside, the ad left us with a sense that there's magic and meaning in what a person chooses to do with his life. It's melancholy, well-timed and worth the watch.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb-21-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Good, Television

You Mean People Don't Get Off on Sarcasm and Malice?

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Advertising Age says snide advertising is bad for business and society. (They also define "snide" in case you're teetering on uncertainty. Isn't that sweet?)

Having been victimized to emotional tatters by the online efforts of Jawbone, we believe it.

by Angela Natividad    Feb-21-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Creative Commentary, Good, Opinion, Trends and Culture

Toronto's Fake Drug Campaign Revealed to Be College Advocacy Ad

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The Torontoist has been following a a local teaser campiagn which, for a couple of weeks, appeared to be a campaign from a pharmaceutical company for a fake drug called Obay. After much sleuthing, the campiagn turned out to be for Colleges Ontario, a pre-college group representing area colleges in Ontario.

A teaser campaign using a fake drug is a daring move but it appears no one got lawsuit happy. The campiagn itself is funny. It promotes a drug that makes kids think more like their parents, sort of like mind control in a bottle.

The ad copy is great. It reads, "My son used to have his own hopes and aspirations. Now he has mine. Thanks, Obay!"

by Steve Hall    Feb-21-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Good, Outdoor, Poster, Strange

We Missed it But Bud Light Cut the Cheese

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We missed this one. Perhaps you've all seen it already but at a count of just 20,473 on YouTube since February 5, we're guessing not everyone has. This Bud Light video called "Cut the Cheese" was released just after the Super Bowl. If you ask us, it should have run in the game. It's far better (better meaning funny, not necessarily having anything to do with selling beer) than some of the other spots we saw during the game. Give it a watch. And yes, it's a very, very tired old joke but it works for us.

by Steve Hall    Feb-20-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Good, Strange, Super Bowl 2008

Come On, Hipster. Do it for the WANDERING FISHPERSONS!

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GSD&M put together Unscrew America to coax Millennials into using eco-friendly lightbulbs without forcing them to forsake their fatalistic sense of ha-ha.

The effort will invade TV and print. To get the point across, Unscrew America pulls the "stark alternative universe" card and infuses it with a shot of Millennial irony.

Watch "Deadly Serious" -- which is funny (OMG Paul REUBENS!!!), but not quite like the print stuff.

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-20-08   Comments (2)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Good, Magazine, Online, Television

Delta Highlights 'Force for Global Good' in Video

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It's very easy to sometimes call out and make fun of the sappiness most cause-related marketing efforts are so fond of employing but if you bypass the urge to toss them off as manipulative tear jerkers, you come to realize these efforts are important and do very good things for fellow human beings. That's the case with Delta's Force for Global Good, a humanitarian effort which support Habitat for Humanity, The Conservation Fund and pink ribbon breast cancer efforts.

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by Steve Hall    Feb-20-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Cause, Good, Video

Denver to Remove 'Less' From 'Homeless,' Hopes Reality Will Follow

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The Denver Rescue Mission is in need of $12.5 million to support the needs of 10,000 homeless people who seek shelter each night in the city. To call attention to the need, the Mission asked Cultivator Advertising & Design to develop a campaign. The agency came up with an interesting outdoor and transit campaign which composed the word "Homeless" from photos the agency took of 143 Denver area homeless.

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by Steve Hall    Feb-20-08   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Cause, Good, Outdoor, Poster

Chevrolet Grabs Jonas Brothers to Hype Green Cars to Disney Set

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If you're a fan of Disney-manufactured pop acts then you'll have a soft spot for this partnership between Chevrolet, Disney and the Jonas Brothers, Disney's male version of Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana. Yes, that's Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter. Yesterday at Walt Disney Studios, the Jonas Brothers performed in front of 150 LA area students at a "Chevy Rocks the Future" concert. The effort aims to make Chevrolet's "green" cars cool in the eyes of the bubble gum set. Um, yum?

by Steve Hall    Feb-20-08   Comments (9)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Celebrity, Events, Good

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