It seems the booth babe trend has passed and in its place, a new trend has appeared: The Booth Dude. A visit to the CPA Empire booth will offer you the anti-booth babe, a fine collection of the male specimen clad head-to-toe in white tuxedos. Definitely an eye catcher and, dare we say, as eye catching as booth babe cleavage. Yes, a new trend is upon us at ad:tech. Relish it until its days are played out and it turns in to a Chippendales nightmare.
We want to say no, it's not weird to see genitals in nature, but photographing them and putting them all together does vibe slightly weird. And calling the whole thing Nature is Sexy? It completely warps the meaning of "tree-hugger."
We're a little worried somebody at the office is going to come up behind us and catch us looking at ...
... at what? Fruit? A gaping hole in the ground? What? - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Because it's low-key, informative and witty, and because each piece of creative merits a long look, we've watched the ongoing BusinessWeek ad campaign with interest for some time.
This is one ad we really liked, in part because the purple shapes on the brain look vaguely like happy people with their hands in the air. Side effects of reality TV? Probably. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
It's pretty funny. A tame excerpt:
"Look! A crash-test bulkhead! Look! A rugged fashion model squinting with driving intensity! Look! The California sunrise glinting into the lens! No surprise, of course, that a General Motors product introduction would embrace every single cliche of the auto-ad genre. This, in addition to losing money and shutting down factories, is what GM does."
Ouch.
Saturn's Aura ad indeed reeks of something we've seen 10,000 times before, and the slogan feels like they've thrown up their hands and died: "Saturn. Like always. Like never before." Feels a lot like the work a high schooler would put together if asked, not to create a car ad, but to simulate an aggregate of car ads seen over a lifetime.
Sucks for you, Saturn. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
In a twist on the tired (did we actually say that?) booth babe approach to attracting attention, affiliate ad network hydramedia left the short skirts, tight tank tops and butterfly costumes at home and, instead, went for a more elegantly polished look. While we can't say we never want to see "typical" booth babes again, we think the hydramedia ladies hit on something interesting here.
Because we're all scrambling to work out what to do about all these nebulous algorithms wrapped around SEM, SEO and other components of search and neo-'net advertising, Ad Age has done us the courtesy of releasing a free 52-page guide.
The Search Marketing Fact Pack includes a ranking of search advertising agencies, detailed SEO strategies, ways to extend the life of a :30 second spot, and the definition of that elusive and confusing marketing phrase "golden triangle."
Swoop up that bad-boy right here. We doubt it will make your job less guessy, but you'll at least sound like you know what you're talking about. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Kicking off ad:tech New York 2006, incoming ad:tech Chair Drew Ianni gave outgoing ad:tech Chair and current ad:tech Chair emeritus Susan Bratton a nice nod touting her tireless work over the tears growing ad:tech through thick and thin and presented her a giant bushel of roses.
Ianni told the audience this year's ad:tech, in addition to 10,800 pre-registered attendees, has 330 exhibitors. He then discussed ad:tech's global expansion which new and planned shows acoss the globe in London, Sydney, Paris, Hamburg, Mumbai, Bubai, Tokyo and others. Also announced was a fourth domestic show in Miami June 26-28, 2007.
Ianni then reviewed the state of the online advertising citing such nuggets as revenue hitting $20 billion in the next year, consumer packaged goos spending hitting $1 billion and online video revenue hitting $1.3 billion in 2008. China's also expected to get active with $200 million in revenue predicted by 2008.
After the overview, Ianni introduced BBDO Chairman and Chief Creative Officer David Lubars who mostly continue's BBDO's mantra of "insight" as the driving force behind making great creative. Seems we've heard that before from former BBDO legend Phil Dusenberry but there's nothing like carrying on tradition. Related to insight, Lubars told the audience agencies shouldn't have to convince their clients to go online stating the insight, as the driving factor, would make that decision a no brainer.
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It's called Karma's Quest. We wonder if Canadians are doing anything else these days besides playing other promotional puzzle games and posting pets on the internet. We're going to guess that no, they're not. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Coffee and Manipulation points us to some virals for Blendtec, a company that hawks ordinary-looking blenders that are apparently not so ordinary. We were mesmerized in a pathetic sort of way when the man in the white coat fed a rake to his blender on the :90 second soup cycle.
We suspect these virals strike a chord because they speak to a desire to put things that will create fatal shrapnel in contact with swirling kitchen blades. But hey. It's not like videos go viral because they're deeply profound. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
San Francisco Agency McCann-Erickson worked in tandem with a ton of talent, including director Garth Davis of Anonymous Content and editor Angus Wall of Rock Paper Scissors, to release a playful ad for Xbox entitled "Cops and Robbers" - a monicker as whimsical as the spot itself. A52 is responsible for making complex visual effects and physical logistics look like a carefree leap off a building.
It's a fun watch and the clapping beat will probably be stuck in our heads all day. We much prefer it to the esoteric stuff PS3's putting out. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Remember the sandbox? In the sandbox it was a big deal to find out who spit further and who could destroy who at mercy. In business things aren't so different.
With the creative help of McKinney in Durham, NC, CEO Tom Tiller of Polaris challenged the CEOs of his industry competitors to an ATV duel. The object was to find out who's better at building ATVs. Polaris won by forfeit, meaning everybody else bitched out (3 declined, 3 acted too cool to answer).
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