Boing Boing links to a story on the Consumerist that digs into graphic chip manufacturer Nvidia having possibly hired a group of people through Arbuthnot Entertainment Group to visit Internet forums, build up trust and then use that trust to shill Nvidia products. The Consumerist has attempted several times to speak with Nvidia Public Relations Director Derek Perez to obtain confirmation but has not had its calls returned.
While there may be nothing wrong with unleashing a torrent of paid shills to promote a brand online, doing so without disclosing that fact is likely to backfire and hurt Nvidia more then it every could have possibly helped. Bad move. Wake up. Smell the honesty.
While brilliance is something we don't see very often in advertising let alone in any industry, thank God creativity still exists somewhere. Ad Blather points out a BBDO New York-created campaign for Kinko's which places an oversized highlighter at the end of a line yellow line drawn on a roadside curb. We like.
In a clever marketing effort and to encourage Swedish environmental awareness and to introduce a new loan option from financial institution SEB which promotes the purchase of environmental cars eight Scandinavian snowmen have been built in Stockholm to carry the message. The snowmen are the work of Lowe Brindfors which appears to be too busy doing client work to create their own website.
Apparently, there's some controversy surrounding a promotion DDB New Zealand did on January 20 during a musical festival called Big Day Out, at which, according to information we can gather, the agency chartered a helicopter, flew around with a guy hanging off it until, well, he fell off. No one at DDB is talking and we've been informed the employees have been instructed not to speak with anyone about the event. We were forwarded what we were told is a taped phone conversation between, allegedly, someone at DDB and a representative of New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority during which the CAA representative tells the person at DDB it is illegal not to report an aviation accident which, apparently, DDB failed to do.
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MIT Advertising Lab points out a unique use of the ubiquitous nightclub hand stamp. In the U.K., to promote the Franz Ferdinand CD, the usually forgetful stamps became ads for the CD reminding party goers as they woke up the next day to check out the free DC offer in that day's The Guardian newspaper. The effort is up for an epica award.
OK, this one's been making the rounds for a couple days and we think it's brilliant execution of an idea. Lots of people bite their nails out of nervousness, habit or lack of anything better to do. Berlin agency Jung von Matt has created a convincing poster/bag campaign for Stop 'n Grow, a cream that must, apparently, taste so awful, no nail biter would ever again consider sticking their fingers in their mouths.
Wooden toy maker BRIO Corporation is using Flippies flip books to demonstrate unique features of its Smart Track products for the BRIO Wooden Railway System. BRIO will use the flip books to show its Smart Track train rails which make a train do different things such as blow its whistle or back up, depending on which Smart Track the train is passing over.
Here's a smart street campaign from McCann-Erikson Belgium for Durex Condoms which makes witty use of the streetscape in its design. Knob, ribs. It's all good. Full sized images here and here.
Way back in the day when marketers were reaching for any means necessary to attract attention, one company came up with the notion of assvertsing. The idea was simple. Place ad messages on the asses of hot woman and parage them around for all to gawk at. Well, as reported by The Spunker, Kodak has latched onto the tactic and recently hired some women in ridiculously short minis to bend over at photo trade show in Boston as if to pick something up only to reveal the word "Kodak" affixed to her panties.
Adrants reader tlubin writes, "A buddy of mine saw some guerrilla marketing for Saturn down in SoHo the other night...basically just a guy sitting in a truck with a nice projector on top, projecting crystal-clear ads onto buildings nearby. Would be cool if someone could investigate/get a snapshot of this if it's still going on. Indeed. If any readers saw that an caught it on disk, please send.
