Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: 2009, advertising, big ant international, clios, d&ad awards, non profit, pro bono, what goes around comes around
As technology races forward, we are constantly looking for new, cutting edge ways to pass messages along to the consumer. It seems that nowadays, if you’re not online, mobile or viral, then you are lagging behind the pack.
There are still, however, plenty of opportunities in our advertising world to break out and push the limits with what is available around us. And without the big budgets that some of the larger advertisers are packing. This includes non-profits, for which many shops do pro-bono work.
A campaign that has made headlines in the ad world (and award shows) is a recent outdoor series from Big Ant International, a boutique shop in New York City started in 2006 by SVA grads. With an impressive client list to their name, the shop has managed to really blow one out of the park with the recent “What Goes Around Comes Around” posters.
Designed as posters that wrap around concrete poles, the brilliance behind the concept is its simplicity. The continuous image speaks larger than most words, and the included copy solidifies the message, hammering home the point that like a circle, a war sees no end.
Brilliant work from a group of talented professionals. The judges at the Clios and D&AD awards thought so too.
Check these out:
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: dr. j, dwight howard, kobe bryant, lakers, larry bird, magic, nba, nba finals, nba playoffs
Every year the National Basketball Association treats us to a fantastic show to kick off the rest of summer, the NBA Playoffs. And as they bump shoulders with the hundreds of other shows on TV, the NBA and its partners (Nike and Kia to name a couple) have bombarded the airwaves with promotions for the coveted NBA Finals. Though the Kobe vs. Lebron puppet ones start edging towards the borderline annoying (too bad the Cavs dropped out) and the movie spots are just terrible, the most memorable commercials were created by the NBA itself.
“Where Amazing Happens” was a campaign that lead up to the start of the NBA Playoffs, with clips from various games from the season were played in slow motion in black and white. Players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming and Dwight Howard are showcased in this collection of NBA’s future Hall of Famers.
With the Playoffs beginning, the NBA decided to take this campaign to the next level with its series of spots highlighting “Amazing Playoff Moments”, hitting home to the history that the NBA has developed and to appeal to the generation that saw those moments unravel. I never saw Larry Bird’s steal, Magic Johnson’s hook or Dr. J’s reverse layup (I did see Kobe to Shaq’s alley oop), but with the status that those players currently hold at the Naismith Hall of Fame it truly represents something amazing. The way these spots are shot truly set the emotion for the event, as they blend from empty stands, to a full crowd, to an empty court – symbolizing that this is now a memory in all our minds.
As we watch history unfold in the Magic – Lakers finals series, here’s some moments from the past from players who have made history.
What is interesting is that Dr. J’s video has the least number of views – could that be indicating the end of an era?
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: arnell, go humans go, goodby, oats, pepsico, quaker, quaker oats, silverstein and partners
Quaker Oats has been an icon of American culture for more than a century, providing the American people with great products, specifically for the meal that kickstarts anyone’s day – breakfast. March 2009 saw the launch of a brand new campaign, spearheaded by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. And what a campaign it has been.
For the past few years, “Nothing is better for thee than me” headlined the Quaker campaigns, a slogan that worked but was considered out of place for this place and time. Quaker’s image was growing old and it needed to be refreshed (just like all the other PepsiCo brands it seems). Unlike Arnell, which reverted its Tropicana re-brand, Goodby hit this one out of the park.
“Go Humans Go” reads the tagline billboards, digital and television advertisements, fixed with images of the Quaker man and the effect the Quaker brand of products have on its consumers. The ads are crisp, clean and fresh and add a new flavor to the aging brand.
The most memorable are the TV spots – the housewife loading Quaker Cans into her husband’s jetpack before he flies off to work. A simple concept represented through fantastic execution.
The digital presence could, however, be tweaked. The website, http://quakeroats.com/gohumansgo, does not do the rest of the campaign any justice. There is no space for interactivity and is reflective of the corporate, stiff nature that the company was supposed to free itself from with the campaign.
At least Goodby did better than Arnell, right?
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: ajay bhatt, brandsense, intel, martin lindstrom, microprocessors, Pentium
Marketing something that people can’t really physically see or touch isn’t easy, but that hasn’t stopped Intel from carving out and maintaining a virtual monopoly on processors. Many people don’t even know what a processor looks like, but for the past 15 or so years we’ve managed to associate Intel with the musical notes. (Check out Martin Lindstrom’s BrandSense for some intriguing information about this campaign).
A few weeks ago Intel released a new campaign, it’s first for 3 years, called “Sponsors of Tomorrow”. Taking a step away from the traditional talk about performance, the two spots focus on the culture of the company and the people behind it. And it puts “cool” back into IT.
The first spot features Ajay Bhatt, one of the Rockstars at Intel and co-creator of the USB. As he walks through the break room at Intel, time virtually stops. Brilliant.
The second spot features a camera crew rushing to the release of a new chip, only to find the leader of the event and the entire group looking for the smallest chip in the world. A touch of class and humor.
The group of Intel employees sounding out the classic Intel tune adds another dimension of personality to the company. Wonderful work from a company that is reminding the public about its presence and excellence.
What do you think?
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: bic, john mcenroe, mars, national, seat, tennis
After a not-so brief hiatus, I am going to return to the blog to contribute a lot more frequently than I have for the past few weeks. Everyone deserves a vacation once in a while, right?
In the meantime, here’s a few ads starring John McEnroe and his famous catchphrase.
Stringing out his 15 minutes of fame that occurred 15 years ago? You make the call!
Anger management worked, perhaps?
And the most recent National Rental spots
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: adage, ads, commercials, print, print ads
The last few days have been extremely busy, and I apologize for not being able to contribute more often.
In the meantime, check out this slideshow by AdAge with some of the best print ads in news magazines:
http://adage.com/images/random/0409/starch0409/
My favorite have to be the ones for Marriott and Cartier.
And yours?
Filed under: advertising, branding | Tags: 3G, 4G, at&t, branding, information, marketing, nextel, rebrand, sprint, t-mobile
In the race to the top of the big carriers we’ve seen a variety of different campaigns – the funny family share spots from T-Mobile, the massive platoon of people in the Verizon commercials and the bars from AT&T. For the past few years Sprint, the third largest network in the United States, hasn’t really created advertising that has stuck in the minds of the consumers. In the past few months the company released its flashlight graffiti spots which were well executed, as well as the black and white ads with the CEO – although these weren’t as powerful as they could’ve been.
Recently, the company began its venture into 4G (didn’t we just start covering 3G?) and with this, we’ve seen a rollout of new spots to promote the service. The new spots are full of information, are animated, relevant and most of all, memorable.
The statistics approach provides two avenues of entertainment for the audience. First of all, it includes information that is relevant to the fast data network the company provides, while keeping it interesting. Secondly, the tongue-in-cheek nature of the statistics that are shown brings the spot down to a personal level. Don’t you feel bad for one of the 84 people who were dumped by text message?
Great new work from one of the leaders in wireless technology – let’s hope the product fulfills the expectations.
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: advertising, audi, billboards, bmw, marketing
Many of you have probably seen this floating around the Internet in the last few days, but I felt the need to post it here and show it again.
With the way techonology’s been advancing the last few years, people have turned away from some of the more traditional forms of advertising – billboards, radio etc.
Audi and BMW in Santa Monica took it up a notch in this butting of heads on neighboring billboards. Brilliant.
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: bad, dick's sporting goods, good, jimmy rollins, ozzy osbourne, patrick ewing, snickers, ugly, world of warcraft
The Good – Dicks Sporting Goods – Jimmy Rollins
Ever since seeing this spot on TV for the first time, I’ve found it amusing every single time. Jimmy Rollins is at Dick’s (he goes shopping in full gear apparently) explaining to the kids what baseball is really about. He talks about how tough players half to be, all while being hit in the chest by balls ejected from a pitching machine. This commercial speaks to the target audience, is relevant and is definitely memorable. Bonus points for W+K (as if they aren’t creative enough already).
The Bad – Snickers – Patrick Chewing
Having already given my thoughts about this campaign, I am still convinced that it is acquired taste. Some people think that these spots with Patrick Chewing and Master P-Nut are the most hilarious things in the world, and others think quite the contrary. It is definitely an acquired taste, though watching an overweight former NBA superstar destroy a basketball rim isn’t something you get to see everyday. The idea is quite interesting, though the thought of pushing this concept of cool onto the consumer in the age of pull may be a little off beat. Read more here.
The Ugly – World of Warcraft – Ozzy Osbourne
This one’s been out for a while, though the recent flight has seen it appear on the screen a lot more often than before. Celebrity testimonials are usually dedicated to people pushing brands they actually use (or claim to use). Now don’t get me wrong, Ozzy is quite crazy, but I don’t think he (or any other celebrities in these spots) are sitting around playing WoW. Another disconnect is that Ozzy’s career and craziness spanned decades in which current players of WoW probably don’t remember (or weren’t even born yet). Unless Blizzard is trying to target the metal heads of the 70’s? Sorry Ozzy, your 15 minutes of fame were up when you left the stage. Please stay away from reality shows, cellphone commercials and video games.
What do you think?
Filed under: advertising, marketing | Tags: advertising, brand, brandjacking, burger king, christopher walken, hijack, marketing, twitter
New contribution to Respinning The Web:
Identity theft has been threatening society for years, and now this battle has become an issue for brands on the internet.
A few weeks ago I was following two different characters on Twitter – TheBKLounge and CWalken. The way both accounts were set up, followers were lead to believe that The Burger King and Christopher Walken were on the other end of the wire. Both accounts were, however, revealed to be false and the owners fessed up to their exploits (Caleb Kramer even wrote a post about it).
