I grew up watching Bob Ross… and come to think of it, Bob Ross may be the sole reason I studied art in college. Anyway, in case his officially licensed art supplies weren’t enough, Dutch production agency Comrad created this bizarre yet somehow poignant video for NoBELe Match.

NoBELe is a non-profit aiming to match young creatives and businesses for similar causes. A pretty cool effort, and a bizarre promo. But using Bob Ross is probably perfect for the target demo, and despite its oddness, it’s spreading like wildfire. I only wish there was some reference to Peapod the squirrel in the video. But I suppose that might be asking a bit too much.

Check out the rest of the NoBELe launch at Osocio.org

Apple is known for it’s advertising. Has been for awhile. Recently, mostly with the invention of the iPod, Apple has been responsible for helping to launch the careers of some once-unknown artists. I don’t think I actually know anyone that had heard of Feist, CSS, Yael Naim or The Ting Tings before their partnerships. And hey, as an up-and-coming artist, can you think of a better way to launch your career?

Now, while I’m excited that these talented artists are getting some of the attention they deserve, whenever I hear “New Soul,” by Yael Naim I want to throw my TV/radio/computer through a window. I don’t know if this is because the commercial was WAY overplayed or what. But this morning, while watching VH1, the song started playing, I immediately turned around to change the channel, thinking it was the ad and having zero desire to see that laptop in an envelope one more time. However, I found that it was actually VH1 doing a little news blurb on her. So I feel like I’m torn. I like the ad… but only for the first three times I see it, because next thing I know, I can’t stand hearing the song. Unlike other ads I could watch over and over without getting old. It got me thinking… does this happen to anyone else? Do you hate Apple commercials? Or do we just grow tired of the song, like being overplayed on the radio? Maybe a mini test you can try for yourself. MacBook Air commercial is below, followed by music video for the song. Can you make it through the whole thing? I can’t.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MacBook Air, iPod, music, Yael Naim, CSS, Feist, The Ting Tings, advertising, promotion, commercials, music videos

This morning I read an article in Ad Age about new campaign that will be launching soon for Amstel Light. Previously, Publicis had dubbed Amstel Light as a beer for the connoisseur, someone who was looking for a sophisticated taste and used the tagline was “Live Tastefully.”

Now, the Richards Group is taking a stab at changing the brand and naming it, “Dam Good Bier,” proudly showing the beer’s Amersterdam heritage. The campaign, which will heavily hit New York City, is set to feature Dutch-style bikes (including a beer bike, like a traveling bar), and will rely on lots of print and TV as well. Personally, I’m pretty excited to see how the Richards Group is going to pull this off. It also makes me wish I lived in NY and could see these bikes riding around. Perhaps a special trip is in order.

So as the new campaign will be upon us, it’s time for beer drinkers everywhere to say goodbye to tasteful living and embrace Amstel Light as a lawless party beer, Amsterdam style.

Technorati Tags: beer, Amstel Light, Amsterdam, party, alcohol, advertising, branding, guerilla marketing, bier, Dutch

I’m a huge fan of the idea behind the “original games” campaign. Cafe ping pong & street fencing are genius. The 180 Amsterdam commercial (below) produced by Stink (London) piqued my interest.

And with concept that grabs my attention as much as this one, I was hoping for a bit more than some playable computer games. And while the Skate-or-Die-style of game is cool, there’s still a bit of a disconnect for me from the true idea behind it all (or at least what I hoped the true idea would be). Still a cool execution, but I hope these games aren’t the finale of the “original games” concept… it seems to have so much potential.

(I was going to embed one of the games, but this site’s formatting shrinks it down and messes up the flash a bit, so click the image above to be taken to the Adidas site to best experience the games.)

I wanted to write a response to Jessica’s great coverage on the One Show

The first lesson you learn when you pursue a creative endeavor for money is that you have to be willing to “kill your darlings” to set aside your great idea should someone want to change it.

When I was first taking concepting classes, I was the only one not working in the industry in some capacity, and also the only one not able to recite line and verse of last year’s One Show winners. I found it almost freakish in a way.

I’m not totally against using these as a guide post for your work. In fact, my class partner at Book Shop, Kari Yu was a finalist this year in the college competition and I was happy to see her on the list.

I didn’t start in advertising, it honestly wasn’t my lifelong dream. I got my start in another creative field and then got into advertising. Something I’ve learned–acting classes, screenwriting trade magazines, etc. can be a helpful tool and help you with the technical aspects of your craft, but if they also make you second guess your natural creative instincts.

I also find if you watch or immerse yourself too much in some creative endeavor, two things can happen–you become a less interesting person, as all you talk about is “your passion for the industry” which after a while is the equivalent talking about how sausage is made. No one’s interested in how the pig gets to market, they just matter if it tastes good. There’s a natural progression that happens–start learning craft, get to the point where it’s all you can talk about with each other, eventually get the point where you burn out talking about it.

The other danger, which I learned the hard way doing stand up comedy in my late teens and early twenties is you’ll find other people’s great ideas seeping into your own work, either consciously, by people who have no soul, or unconsciously, by well meaning people who make an honest mistake and honestly think they came up with the idea. Then you fight a two front battle, coming up with your own great ideas, while systematically fighting off other people’s ideas that enter your head.

Imitation is only flattery if everyone knows you did it first.

Or even worse, you start comparing your work and feeling inadequate, which can be more harmful in the long run.

Like anything else, being a well rounded individual can only feed your creativity, so I shudder when people tell me I “have to” look at the new Communication Arts and hear them deconstructing every ad that’s between the covers. In my case, ignorance may be bliss.

Conversation is always welcome.

Technorati Tags: One Show, Communication Arts, Cannes, Golden Pencils, Ad Shows, Sacred Cows, I like talking about myself, How much you wanna bet I can throw this football over them mountains

Check out this new ad by London-based CHI&Partners for their client, Drench, a bottled water brand in the UK. In this Napoleon Dynamite-esque spot, you watch as a marionette impressively dances across a stage to “Rhythm is a Dancer,” by SNAP!. The puppet featured is Brains from the hit British TV series Thunderbirds from the 60s. The name Brains cleverly works with the product’s positioning that since your brain in 75% water, you should keep it topped up and it also brings back the marionette animation that the TV show was known for. For those unfamiliar with the show and character, enjoy the spot for the entertainment factor. And for those who know Brains, well, this one is for you.

 

Technorati Tags: bottled water, Drench, Thunderbirds, Brains, hydration, advertising, London, UK, Napoleon Dynamite, SNAP!, commercials, TV, advertising

Last week, I posted a blog about the announcement of this year’s One Show winners. I received a comment questioning my belief that winners of The Golden Pencil help to shape advertising to come. In this post, I’m going to share with you why. Just today, while brainstorming with fellow creatives at work, we flipped through this past December’s Communication Arts Advertising Annual for inspiration. It is my personal opinion that things like the Ad Annual, The One Show, Cannes Lions and the Addys are all important in shaping what’s to come in advertising. Why, you ask? Work from all over the world is looked at with these competitions. Some of the best ads I have seen in my life have received this coveted awards, and I can only hope to one day have one of my own. I’m not saying they shape advertising in a sense that these brilliant ideas will be ripped off and re-done, etc. but that when I look at ads like this, I feel inspired. It makes me want to think outside of the box… to be the next to come up with that great idea, that great execution or that great headline. While all out there may not agree, that’s fine. But I can’t believe you could have your heart and soul in this industry and truly not trying to create award-winning work. To each his own, but I will always stand by my previous post and this one. As a special treat, check out some of my favorite winners of last year’s Cannes Lions - as the 2008 festival will be upon us sooner than later!

  

Technorati Tags: awards, Cannes, Gold Lion, Grand Prix, Addys, One Show, One Club, advertising

For those of you who are not sports fans, you may not know the awesomeness of one Charles Barkley. As a player in the NBA he played above his capabilities to be a dominant power forward in a small forward’s body. As a commentator on TNT, he is honest and forthright without any niceties.

As a pitchman for T-Mobile his commercials with Dwayne Wade are funny and bring out his personality.

Technorati Tags: T-Mobile, NBA, National Basketball Association, Turner Network Television, TNT, Dwayne Wade, Charles Barkley, Live Television, I’m Ron Burgundy?

This morning, I checked my email as usual and opened up my daily AdAge email. The first thing I read is an article about how Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty might not be so… real. It has come out that renowned photo retoucher, Pascal Dangin, may have had something to do with Annie Liebowitz’s final photos. After Dangin was featured in an article for The New Yorker, the writer, Lauren Collins, found out that Real Beauty was a Dangin job. Of course, there is still doubt out there about the extent, if any, of Dangin’s involvement and if he worked with Liebowitz this time around.

 

So what will this mean for Dove and even Ogilvy? While something like this could definitely cause an uproar, I wonder, from a personal stance, how this will really affect how women will look at Dove products. In my opinion, okay, so they were touched up. But when I look at the photos I still see women who aren’t stick thin, have curves, wrinkles, tattoos and other “imperfections.” I still see real women. I see a woman, that if I walked out of my house right now and started walking down the street, I would run into in my little town.

 

In the same breath, we all remember the award-winning “Evolution” viral video, one that takes a stab at the act of photo-retouching.

 

Hello, hypocrisy. So, as a woman, what am I supposed to think about this? What is Dove trying to tell me? It’s okay to be real but only so real? Maybe I should be okay with not being a size two but not too okay with it? Maybe I should be self-conscious about a blemish but that tattoo I regret is okay? I’m interested to see how this story unfolds but in the meantime, how do you all feel about this coming out? 

Technorati Tags: Dove, Real Beauty, viral, campaign, beauty products, photo retouching, airbrushing, controversy

This ad for Moccona coffee by M&C Saatchi is getting rave reviews.



Now, me being a cynic, I’ve never really connected coffee to romance of any kind. I’ve connected it to being tired and bleary eyed and needing a jolt to start my day. Or a jolt to get out of wherever I woke up. But I do find it interesting when you use packaging to define a brand, rather than taste or aroma when it comes to coffee.

I can’t help but draw connection to these 80’s Taster’s Choice ads that were all the rage.

Technorati Tags: M&C Saatchi, coffee, Moccana, Taster’s Choice, romance, branding, packaging, Cinderella, It’s just coffee people

This is a question that I’ve have had rolling around in my head for a minute. Where are the personalities? The creative class has always been full of interesting personalities (No, bi-polar does not count as interesting) but recently the creative personality cold war has produced a bunch of carbon copies. On the other side of the house the charismatic face man/woman has been horse whipped out of existence. Have the account folks been reduced to waiters and note takers. Can any out there name some folks with some real swagger you know “That guy”? People who are appreciated for being smart not slick?

Oh the Oreo. That delightful bite of heavenly joy. Unfortunately, in countries other than the US, consumers disagreed. After being on the market for 12 years in China, Kraft finally learned that the lackluster sales of Oreo cookies were due to excessive sweetness. Their solution? Revamp the morsel into something less… sugary. Enter the Oreo WaferSticks. Layers of chocolate wafers, chocolate cream and vanilla cream all coated in milk chocolate. Now, to me, they still look sweet, but with the help of some guerilla marketing from college students the Oreo WaferSticks has taken off and become a top selling treat in China. So here’s the important question. When will this delicious looking treat be available in the US? Cause frankly, it looks fantastic.   (Source WSJ)

Technorati Tags: Oreo, Kraft, China, wafer, cookie, chocolate, international

 

A couple of commercials on rotation currently strike me as incredibly similar. In fact, I know people who didn’t even realize (at first) that the commercials were for two completely different products. Enter the AT&T Go Phone spot with Meatloaf and Tiffany and a handful of Comcast spots, including the “Lady Marmalade” ad. Notably I find them similar since each uses singing as the main means of conversing. Personally, I find AT&T’s spot much more interesting to watch as it is more of a mini-musical - including the song being edited to fit the product. As far as Comcast goes, their spots showcase one of the actors singing the song back as part of conversation, in a weird dubbed-over way, that I find, well, creepy. After much debate, I have found that most prefer the Meatloaf spot to Comcast’s. What are your thoughts? Do you find them similar? Maybe not? 

Technorati Tags: Go Phone, AT&T, Meatloaf, Tiffany, Comcast, Lady Marmalade, Patti LaBelle, tv, commercials, cell phone, singing

Do you see it?

More with the creator of the logo, Lindon Leader, of Leader Creative here

Technorati Tags: FedEx, logos, Lindon Leader, Leader Creative

When is it alright to put your logo on roaches? If you’re brand is Zoo York, you can do whatever ever the hell you want. Zoo York is challenging you to spread the word by any means necessary. As long as you don’t break the law or disrespect anyone. They launched the campaign with the help of their roach department to show that you can get as random as you want. Young skaters spray painted the Zoo York logo on some big’ol roaches and they let them loose in New York City. This is one of the more unique viral campaigns I’ve seen recently. Do roaches count as new media?

La Communidad is a great agency. If you’re into really random funny ads, you might like their work. Some of their clients include MTV, Virgin Mobile, and Volkswagen to name a few. La Communidad is has two locations, one in Miami and the other in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Much of their work is seen in Latin America, but they have won awards for work that appeals to all audiences. This clip in particular originally aired in Argentina and if you pay close attention you’ll noticed that it has been dubbed into English. You don’t have to pay close attention to notice actually. The point is that these folks produce good work that is not bound by language. Have a look at on their site to see more work.

One of the things I hate most about this industry is the use of the word consumer. It’s a bad word and it implies that humans do nothing more than consume. What bothers me about the word consumer is that it objectifies people and neglects natural cycles. I usually replace the word with people or audience whenever possible. But, by doing so I avoid thinking about the negative side of consumption. Like most of you, I am not a “green” freak, but I am a logic freak. We can’t consume forever without some natural corrective cycle. I came across a neat little site, which tells a great story in a way that is easy and logical to follow. It tells The Story of Stuff. It brings to life human production and consumption patterns. It’s a must see for two reasons. It’s deals directly with an issue that many of us (or maybe just me) haven’t looked at beyond a surface level. The story of stuff is also a good example of digital and mixed media being used to engage, entertain and enlighten without losing sight of simplicity.

According to a recent news story, approximately 100,000 children and teenagers receive cosmetic surgery each year which has led to deputies from Germany demanding a ban on allowing children and teenagers to get these “unnecessary” procedures.  In the same report, it even stated that 10-year old are getting tattoos and piercings [gasp!].  Meanwhile, back here in America, we are embracing our beloved cosmetic procedures with books such as My Beautiful Mommy, which aims to explain to children why their mothers don’t want to be ugly.  Don’t you think that if a child sees their parent(s) getting a nose job that they’ll want one too? Who do we blame now for kids wanting to go under the knife?

There are just some ads that will never get old because they’re fun to watch, like this ad for Renault. Finally- a commercial that successfully incorporates the use of the high jump into the auto industry! At first, you don’t know what the heck this guy is doing- perhaps contemplating suicide by running out into the middle of traffic (it’s a wonder he didn’t get hit by a car), but then he gracefully jumps into his vehicle. I didn’t notice a “do not try this at home” disclaimer, but I still wouldn’t attempt it.

We are all aware that most companies would do anything to advertise on top rates shows such as the Iron Chef. But in this case, only the observant people can depict the actual subliminal advertising that is being talked about today.

In fact, you have to be monitoring it closely. Not all people will be aware of it and surely it is a form of advertising that will surely be worthless.

But guess again. Thanks to one person, it has ballooned into a full-blown issue for both the show and the company concerned, that of which is McDonalds. Was it intentional or accidental? You be the judge.

Technorati Tags: advertising, mcdonalds, iron chef, subliminal advertising