In yet another effort to hipify itself with a generation that's never heard of The Sears Catalog let alone even noticed the store in a mall as they scamper by it on their way to Justice, American Eagle or Claire's, retail giant Sears has hired Disney cutie Selena Gomez for its back to school effort.
Wait, wait, WAIT!!!! Back to school? Stop! Stop! Stop!! Can we please start Summer first? Seriously. This is like summer blockbuster movies making their debut in April. Or Christmas promotions beginning the day after Halloween. There are rules here, people. Rules that must be followed. You can't just mess with seasons like this. You can't mess with our heads. Seriously. Why don't we just start celebrating New Year's 2010 today!
Anyway, Selena (Miley? Miley? Where did you go, Miley?), along with Demi Lovato, is Disney's new it girl so if the retail giant's trying to connect with teens and tweeners, they did choose the right spokesperson for its Arrive Lounge effort.
On the site, visitors can vote for the best styles in a series of air band competition videos. Design Kitchen created the work.
Soccer ball? Nope. Stuffed animal? Nope. Baseball glove? Nope. Squeaky toy? Nope. Slipper? Nope? SPDR Bone from State Street? Yup.
Yes, this is how we explain the benefits of precision investing with SPDR EFTs,
And becasue this is advertising, the whole thing's an homage to the French film Breathless.
The Gate Worldwide created the work.
Saturday night: the show to end all shows, the one people actually queue in line for. (Though markedly less so than in previous years, as tweeted by Influencia.) And while recession-spawned conservatism was accounted for, the jury hailed from all corners of the globe and generated cheers -- like rock stars.
Saw some awesome work over the next two hours, but it remains a shock who ultimately won what.
There was a lot of talk about how Cannes Lions '09 differed from previous years. I'd say there was a greater focus on how efforts addressed users directly, although creativity remains a big part of that. And given who won the Grands Prix for Titanium and Integrated, it may be the first year agencies must take into account that the user has become a legitimate advertiser himself.
This is no death-of-the-agency foretelling; it's simply a call to listen more closely and respond more intuitively to the crowd. We have spent so many years trying to contrive artificial emotional connections between products and people; it is only natural that, now that they're able, consumers demand to know why those connections should exist in the first place.
What does your company stand for? Does it listen and respond to me? Crucially, is it as willing to incorporate me into its message as I am to incorporate it into my life?
Grand Prix recipients, and a wee bit o' work, listed below.
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Described as a "brilliant riposte to the current financial climate and the champagne fueled jungle," a debut novel from James Palumbo is getting some promotion with a dark, noire-style video complete with old school gangster-style slayings, gallons of champagne, freaky pig-headed people and breasts so big they need a wheeled cart to support them.
The book, available July 1, is about a society gone wrong. A society in which reality channel Shit TV (yes, that's what it's called) has overtaken the small screen and filled it with "homicidal dwarfs on rollerblades and obese mamas in tutus." Title character, Tomas, has had enough and with the help of his tommy gun, he hopes to eradicate the world of this filth.
An additional two promotion videos will be added to the site on July 3 and July 10.
Louis Vuitton continues its gritty, occasionally nauseating work with Madonna in a fresh effort for AW09.
Supposedly a video's coming out soon, but in the meantime content yourself with this surreal and childlike shot of Madge wearing the same bunny ears she wore to the Met Gala last month. (Guess it's a tribute to the culture that we're jarred by the sight of bunny ears unaccompanied by a bowtie.)
Hollyscoop lists all the reasons why the ad doesn't quite jive. We'll content ourselves with saying both bag and pop icon are too heavy for such a frothy fairy princess treatment, which better serves less bulky labels like Lanvin.
Remember that creepy We Are People campaign Wrangler ran a while back in which humans were hunted as if they were animals? We called it "bad advertising that's trying to pass itself off as high art." Guess that shows how much we know about advertising...the thing won a Grand Prix Press Lion.
But, that's not what we're talking about here. Nope. We're talking about a spoof of the campaign in which the tables are turned and the whole thing becomes We Are People. Except there's animals. Walking around as if they were people.
The campaign's called Wanker. George Parker would love it.
Everyone takes a little something different away from Cannes. Some take home awards. Some come home with nothing more than a giant hangover. Others, like the Perlorian Brothers come home with a decidedly different take. Have a look here.
After running into Keith Lane, a creative director at an agency I used to work at, Emerson Lane Fortuna, at the Boston AdClub Reunion, we did the required social media hook up on Facebook. Then, upon reading his Wall, I hilariously discover he's got as jaded a view of social media as I do. So much so, he's gone an created a line of CafePress-wear entitled the Anti-Social Networkers.
The line hypes what Lane dubs the three most overused words of the year: friend, share and connect. Headlines indlude Do Not Follow Me, Linked Out, Zero Connections, Do Not Follow Me and more.
And, yes, there's even a thong. On Facebook, Lane's Daughter Courtney commented, "friggin' genius!! but quick question: was it your idea to have thongs??" to whick Lane responded, "Validation from my first born anti-social child. Thanks, Court. You made my anti-social day. The thongs? No comment. Love, Dad"
Dad and daughter talking about thongs on Facebook. Bet Keith didn't foresee this when he held Courtney in his arms swaddled in a baby blanket.
Israeli agency Mizbala has created CannesZions, an effort to call attention to the Israeli advertising community.Regularly updated, the site features work done my Israeli ad agencies and marketers.
Currently on the site is work for Christina Aguilera's new fragrance, Pantene and Nokia
OK. Who knew going to McDonald's late at night was such a big deal. Apparently a few people in Oklahoma City do. Enough to show up for a red carpet-style event put together by Wave Omnimedia Group. Patrons heading to the restaurant had their pictures taken on the red carpet and their likeness projected on a large shadow wall.
You can see a video of the event here and photos here. Other red carpet events will take place July 4 and August 1.
Make sure you don't miss TBS's airing of Very Funny Ads' World's Funniest Ads tonight at 9 EST. Or you could just go to VeryFunnyAds.com and see them. Either way, have a look. And you can vote for your favorites as well.
Some of the ads you'll see are Cadbury's freaky Eyebrow ad, Pepsi's Octopus, Renault's Football, Volkswagen's Dog-Fish and AmbiPur's Fart.
Wholly unintentional, Pepsi is enjoying a bit of added exposure in Times Square. It's signage is placed all around a digital display which is paying tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who died yesterday.
Most brands don't willingly take advantage of a celebrity's death but it's a sure bet a few people at Pepsi and the brand's agency aren't complaining about this coincidental confluence of events.
See if you can find Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama in this Abraham Lincoln mosaic, part of a perception improvement campaign for Illinois State Bar Association. Created by & Wojdyla (yea, that's not a typo. what's up with these agency names?), the campaign consist of mobile billboards and posters.
Also appearing the in 3,055 head shot image are Stephan Douglas, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan and (Abe's son) Robert Todd Lincoln.
The campaign will make its debut this Sunday at the Chicago Gay Pride Parade.
The 7th Chamber has seeded a video which promotes Nokia'a 5800 phone. The entire video is spoken in song titles and album covers. On the site, people can create their own song title playlist video, submit it and get a chance to win a Nokia 5800.
So while the lucky (unlucky?) ones are in Cannes this week, the rest of us can get all creative and win a phone.
But here's a thought. All these contests. What aren't they all one by people working in advertising? After all, we're supposed to crank this shit out in our sleep, right? Why is it always some pimple-faced teenager that wins these things? Are contests beneath us? Do we refuse to be creative unless we are paid? Are we just lazy? What's the deal?
Last night was the Cannes Lions awards event for Design, Press and Cyber efforts. As always, for the full list of winners, go hithery-dithery. But here are the Grand Prix winners for each category:
For DESIGN: "Paper Battlefield" for Nike Hong Kong by McCann Worldgroup/Causeway Bay.
For PRESS: "We Are Animals," that creepy bejeaned-human-meets-carnal-instinct campaign by FRED & FARID/Paris for Wrangler.
For CYBER: "Best Job in the World" -- which is seriously cleaning up this year -- by Cumminsnitro/Brisbane for Tourism Queensland.
"Eco:Drive" by AKQA/London for Fiat also scored a Cyber Grand Prix, as did "Why So Serious?" for Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight. The latter campaign is a typical piece of elaborate genius by the folks at 42 Entertainment/Pasadena, whose every project is not so much advertising as it is grand oeuvre.
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Hey, Cannes Lions delegates! Have a big heaping slice of buzzkill, brought to you by Weisser Ring!
I get that these are for a good cause. Given the appropriate context, these particular pieces are damn stirring.
But given that this image ornaments the exterior of the Palais and these ads plaster the interior, you gotta wonder: which sadistic member of the ad festival planning committee picked out this year's damaged kids motif?
The other night I had dinner with Shannon Stephaniuk of Glossy Inc. Because she's an old-school Ad Fest attendee, she brought me up the narrow, picturesque Rue Saint Antoine -- one of the staples of Old Town Cannes, where few fresh ad folk venture.
Ended up having dinner on the terrasse at Le Chaperon Rouge, where foie gras comes cooked and snails are extra-salty. We also experienced more than our fair share of pupil-dilating Priceless! moments, two of which I managed to record.
(Granted, they both happen to be street-guys-for-profit moments, but that's life in the jungle for you.)
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- Don't miss Wrath of Cannes! It's tomorrow from 7-10P at the East River Bar.
- Amidst Cannes, New York Festivals announced the 2009 Grand Trophy winners, honoring six countries with the coveted award. This year's Grand Trophy recipients include: CumminsNitro, Australia; Publicis, France; and BBDO/Proximity Malaysia. The United State also received three Grand Awards, honoring BBDO NY, Big Ant International and Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
- Do you laugh or do you cry when you watch this New Zealand safe-driving PSA?
- Dos Equis Most Interesting Man is now a professor at the Most Interesting Academy.
- Zugara has launched an online shopping application that's destined to make online shopping much easier.
Calling attention the to the practice of plumping, injecting chicken meat with salt water to increase size, weight and cost, Foster Farms has launched Say No to Plumping, a website that features two chickens, Betsy and Martha, talking to each other about plumping as if it were a botox treatment.
Goodby Silverstein & Partners created the work. The site also includes plumping facts and figures, how to detect a plumper, links to health resources and an interactive "Plumpinator" calculator to help site people calculate how much money they waste on saltwater from plumped chicken each year.
Seriously. If we all just stepped back and took a look at the idiotically stupid, inane and unhealthy things we do as humans simply to make an extra buck or two, we'd actually laugh. Seriously. Injecting chickens with water to make them...what...taste more like water and less like chickens? Are we really that idiotic?
If you think you have challenges in life, meet Aaron Fotheringham, a wheelchair-bound 17-year-old who's created a sport called hard core sitting. Basically, it's extreme skateboarding in a wheelchair.
Recently, Discovery Communications hooked up with Fotheringham who appears in a commercial, launching this week, for the Discovery Channel's HowStuffWorks website. Aaron has Spina Bifida and is the first person to perform a backflip in a wheelchair.
This latest work follows an initial campaign for the site which featured a scuba diving cat.
The votes are rolling in for the Killed Ideas People's Choice Award. Following the selection of the top fifty Killed Ideas that appear in Killed Ideas Volume I, the fifty were put to the vote. While the voting won't be final until the end of the month, several Killed Ideas have risen to the top of the list.
Oddly, work done as a studio mark for a movie is looking good as is a wine label design for BFrank wine. Also looking good is a website design for a church and a pro-reading campaign. At the end of the month, the final tally will be released.
Now for the fun. I have six Killed Ideas books to give away. If you can answer the following question correctly, you'll be entered in a drawing to win one of the books. What color bikini is the girl sleeping on the couch at Cannes wearing? The answer is here on Adrants, You just have to find it. Send your answer to killedideas@adrants.com.
Former Y&R CD James Othmer will publish a new book in September entitled ADLAND: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet. Othmer describes the book as "a semi-memoir about the past present and future of advertising."
Since it's Cannes week, Othmer agreed to share a Cannes-related passage from the book. It's the first line from his chapter about Cannes 2008:
"The future of advertising is hunched over in the center of Boulevard de la Croisette outside a tiny yet unthinkably crowded cafe on the French Riviera at 4:18 AM, hands on tanned yet wobbly knees, uncertain whether she will succumb to the excesses her industry has bestowed upon her and puke, call it a night and stumble back to her overpriced, mega-agency-sponsored hotel room, or gather her wits, her stomach and her constitution and rally to take her skills to another, more exciting place where the party is just getting started."
Yup, things haven't changed much at all. The future of advertising is clear: awards, company-funded trips to exotic locales and lots and lots of alcohol.
At 72 Croisette (the so-called Gutter Bar) last night, Shannon Stephaniuk introduced me to the members of Ogilvy Stockholm, which won a Gold Lion for its work for UNA Sweden.
Their objective was to raise funds to support the war victims of Georgia (the country, not the state); and to do this, they spoke with the locals and gathered small, specific and personal items that belonged to people affected by the war.
See Shoes, Sweater and Sheet; I found the sight of those scorched, warped items physically painful, and the stories still more moving.
It's my strong feeling that the work deserved a Grand Prix, but apparently you can't win one if the effort is nonprofit. Weird logics. In any case, I hung out awhile and talked to the guys about the work, what they did and how it made them feel in general.
Video interviews below. Given that it's the Gutter Bar at 2:00 AM and not, say, an Embassy lobby, try to bear with the background noise. Better yet, imagine you're there, stumbling around with your third vodka tonic, playing guess-the-accent with your group of chums-for-the-week.
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For marketers fascinated with Twitter and its seemingly endless possibilities, for good or bad, as a marketing channel/platform/whatever, a new service called TweetPsych might be worth a look. Created by Dan Zarrella, TweetPsych uses Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and Regressive Imagery Dictionary to build a psychological profile of a person based on the content of their Tweets.
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On a recent episode of This American Life, Sarah Koenig, tells the story of her father, famed copywriter Julian Koenig, who wrote "Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking" and copy for the VW Think Small ads. It seems his partner, famed ad man George Lois has been taking exclusive credit for work the two did together while at DDB.
Seemingly the consummate gentleman, Koenig never took issue with this until his daughter, producer of This American Life, began to probe deeper asking him about the origin of the ads and his work with Lois. It's yet another story of greed, ego and pompousness run amock in the advertising business. Give it a listen.
Commenting after forty years about his partner, Koenig said of Lois, "his talent is only exceeded by his omnivorous ego."
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