This video called "Satisfaction" from DJ Benny Benassi has been making the rounds for two months but I've only just found a decent link to it. If you like power tools and you like hot babes gyrating their boobs and butts in bikinis, then this video is for you.
All this video needs to become a great ad is the logo of a tool manufacturer. Stanley? Makita? Black and Decker? Any takers? I guarantee you your sales will go up.
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Two spots in this week's Ad Age TV Spots of the Week feature water as the central character . The first is every guy's dream. For Mudd Jeans, which Britney Spears popularized, a couple strolls romantically through a field only to be assaulted by the sprinkler system. Of course, the girl revels in the beauty of being soaked and dances seductively for us until she is completely soaked finally getting a big kiss from her boyfriend. The second, for Gordon's Gin, shows the lengths people go to in order to be refreshed with H2O. Watch closely as the spot starts. You will see some intruigingly pendulous activity.
Other spots this week includes a Hispanic focused ad for McDonald's, an illuminating spot for Kids Foot Locker and Reebok, a wife calling attention to her husbands love handles to promote a bathroom scale, a kid who sticks pencils up his nose illustrating why parents should not spend a lot on school supplies, and a spot from Subway featuring the Sherman brothers who lost 100 pounds each by adhering to a Subway diet.
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Levi Strauss has pulled an ad featuring a women on horseback riding down railroad tracks and jumping over an oncoming train following complaints by the rail safety group Operation Lifesaver. The group claims the ad encourages risky behavior.
The ad itself is meant to be seen as fantasy and not real however that did not sway the group which sent a letter to Levi Strauss requesting the ad be pulled.
Perhaps all ads should now carry a disclaimer stating, "Nothing in this ad is real. Nothing in this ad matters. Nothing in this ad is meant to be offensive in any way, shape or form. Nothing in this ad should be construed to be racial or strereotypical in any way. Nothing in this ad should be believed. Nothing in this ad is really worth you getting your britches in a bunch so just back the fuck off and enjoy it for what it is."
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Here's an interesting twist. Ads placed in programming that is not predominantly filled with sex or violence deliver a 17 to 21% higher rate of advertising recall. This is the finding of a study done by the University of Michigan's Institute for Higher Learning.
"In our labs we have never found that people remember more if the ad is embedded in a violent or sexual program," says Brad Bushman, a psychologist at the university who conducted the research. "It doesn't matter whether the viewer is male or female. It doesn't matter how old they are, and it doesn't matter whether they like violence or sexual content."
These findings are in line with past findings and show a trend. Violence and sex are just too distracting to allow advertising messaging to get through. Sex and violence in the ads, however, are another story. Recall is very high as proved by the notoriety of the Miller Lite Catfight campaign.
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Bob Guccione, publisher of Penthouse, has not been heard from following a two week extension on the forclosure of his $37 million Manhattan mansion granted to work out a deal for his troubled magazine. Penthouse has seen tough times latley and has had to cut staffers pay checks by 75%. Perhaps sex does not always sell.
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From the folks who brought us the washing machine orgasm for women, comes 'Foul Feet', an online viral contest where those with the ugliest feet are awarded a new cell phone. The company behind this game is U.K. based Phones4U, a mobile phone retailer.
The winners receive a Sony Ericsson T610 and, thoughtfully, a selection of Scholl footcare products
The online game is accompanied by a television ad that breaks August 18.
From the looks of some of the entrants, many in the U.K. are in serious need of a podiatrist. It seems bad feet can now be combined with bad teeth as a stereotypical identifier of the British.
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