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No idea's original, but in any field the taboo is the same: if even a successful idea can be traced back to somebody else's sleeper hit, fingers get pointed. For a shining example, just look at Suzuki's attempts to be BMW.
A source tells us elements of the STA World Traveler Contest are suspiciously similar to an existing campaign that's lesser-known but more complete in scope. St. Georges School in the Grenada West Indies used the same pinpricked-globe format to highlight, not starry-eyed co-eds, but far-flung alumni they've accumulated over 30 years. Visit the St. Georges website and click on the 30 year anniversary logo at bottom left to catch the similarities.
If you don't feel like clicking back and forth, that's okay; we'll show you.
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It's not the first time a political candidate will have used social networking as part of a campaign strategy, but it's probably the first time a political candidate has ever created his or her own social networking site.
Enter My Barack Obama, a social networking space dedicated to users who'd like to help Obama get into the White House in '08. He also has a MySpace that's of course not made or endorsed by him but by some very serious fan out there who happens to have little to do but make thousands of friends on his behalf.
There's not too much you can say to trash a guy who acknowledges his own lack of qualifications and admits to doing drugs in college. But we've all seen how internet influence can make or break you. A word of warning, Obama: remember Howard Dean.
True.com has colonized sex so effectively, dating sites that once mistook sex for neutral domain are now scrambling for the next Holy Grail of human characteristics.
So in its ongoing quest to find a personality, Match.com resorts to the webcam, a tactic shared by those bastard cousins of dating sites, amateur porn purveyors. "See who's on Match.com right now FREE!" a banner bubbles while running videos of attractive people drinking coffee and taking off their shoes.
The effort is unsettling. We don't know if it'll help draw hot single traffic, but we did stare for a long time. This is mainly because we harbor the quiet hope people will forget they're being watched and do something to satisfy our voyeuristic desire to witness something childish but unsavoury, like ball-scratching or nose-picking.
But these things didn't happen. Maybe they should. Maybe that would turn the ads into winners. It's hard to tell at this point and we don't see much hope for the future because Match.com changes campaigns faster than Mr. Rogers changed his sweaters.
Public Relations professionals work hard to get their client's message out to the media. They send press releases. They make personal contact. They send gifts. They take you to lunch. They bribe...uh...no. The good ones don't go that far. So after a PR professional spends a day pitching their client's new ad campaign to the media and only one publication picks it up, a nudist resort blog, it is both depressing and very humorous. Why would a nudist-focused blog pick up an ad launch story? Simple. Because the ads feature nude models.
Yesterday, Bluefly launched a new ad campaign touting Bluefly's ability to eradicate that feeling of nakedness when not fashionably dressed. Or something like that. Thankfully, these nude models are far more attractive than your average nudist colony resident but that would be insensitive and uncaring to say so we're not going to.
Anyway, Bluefly President and CEO Melissa Payner tells us, "This campaign is not about nudity - it's about feeling naked, which is very different. These days more than ever, what you wear is inextricably linked to who you are. Without the 'right' clothes we experience an identity crisis. So our tagline 'That's Why I Bluefly' is the perfect antidote for this condition." OK. See the second ad here.
It's become part of the 20-something cliche to leave college and see the world. That's why we think the STA Travel 193 campaign by Night Agency is doing so well. Upon the contest's end a winner will be selected to become a "world traveler" over a two-person trip to four countries.
The campaign features a little Flash globe with clickable videos where you can watch people talk about their experiences in a given country. It's a little like being back in college again, watching those EAP kids give speeches about how their lives have changed forever post beer-chug in Munich.
With next to no media money spent this invitation has garnered over 6000 leads for STA in its first week. Now how can we possibly have an immigration problem when everybody's just raring to leave?
If lust doesn't do the job for you this Valentine's day, Swatch suggests voodoo. And if the voodoo fails, at least the apple of your eye will have a neat new watch and a weird-looking stuffed toy.
Swatch is running a neat little Valentine's Day campaign with love voodoo master Eddy G Lazaro. In this video he shows you how voodoo love Swatch watches are made. It's not nearly as action-packed as it sounds and there are no shrunken heads, but he does do that neat eyes-rolling-back trick. And each voodoo love Swatch comes with a bonafide voodoo doll.
What can beat that? We're at a total loss. This is just a notch better than smacking your partner on the back of the head and dragging her by the hair into your cave.
We used to drink Killian's, that reddish beer that was cool for two minutes a decade or so ago. We haven't had it since. We wonder if anyone else has. That may change after February 20 when Killian's Irish Red announces its new television ad campaign which is said to focus on the brewer's unique brewing process. Not that that approach hasn't been done hundreds of times before but we'll reserve judgment until we actually see the campaign.
Today in New York City, street teams are handing out posters of Czech model Petra Zemcova and informing passersby they can meet her at Fortunoff jeweler's 5th and 54th store where she will be autographing prints of the poster between noon and 2PM. The event is part of a new Irwin Slater-created campaign which will include inserts in The New York Times, ROP ads in area newspapers, POP, direct mail and online banners.
This is the first work the agency has done for Fortunoff and the jeweler's first celebrity campaign since they first used Lauren Bacall beginning in 1980. The campaign is tagged "Give Passionately. Love Brilliantly." See two other versions of the ad here and here.
Make the Logo Bigger points us to Dump Cupid, an Herbal Essences promotion that departs from middle-aged moaning women in favour of a younger set, just in time for Valentine's Day.
The website features a depressing pole-dancing Cupid and, perhaps still more depressing, a series of supposedly user-generated hook-up stories that, despite carefully administered typos, ring false. We have trouble believing a woman who nearly drowned was saved by a lifeguard she later married. That's way too Nicholas Sparks. Users can also send Dump Cupid e-cards to each other with a running "We don't need him!" girl power theme. Uh ... yeah. Can we bring back the moaning women?
Update: as of 2/16, over 1.1 million people have seen the campaign thus far. And we're not surprised - across the Youtube and MySpace channels we've seen Cupid's red face peering gamely out all over the place. Is this a testament to the efficacy of viral marketing, female distaste for Cupid or a sick sense of epicaricacy? We don't know, maybe all 3 make the grade. Whether they convert into brand loyalty over the long-term is a fable for another day.
Shortly after a Bill Gates interview in which he discusses Vista and finally blows his top about Apple, Apple releases its latest Mac vs. PC ad. Looks like they're getting meaner: this one features a Secret-Service-looking guy standing behind the humanized Mac and PC. Every time they say something he asks, "Cancel or allow?"
The ad pokes fun at Vista's hyper-anal new security features, which, if this ad is any authority, may hamper the user experience rather than improve it.
We don't know about you but we're pretty sick of the Mac vs. PC campaign, particularly now that they're getting damn snarky. Really, how old are we, five?
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