In its continuing effort to make B to B high tech advertising less boring, Hanft Raboy & Partners has created another very un-high tech advertising-like promotion for its client Fortify Software. They've created a game called IT Defender during which the player (the guy in charge of network security) has to Pac-man his way around the office long enough to make it until 5PM before the boss catches him and drags him into a time-wasting meeting that causes various security breaches to occur. As one whose done a ton of high tech advertising, we can easily say, this rises above most.
In a last swan song, Group Health Incorporated, this week, launched its last ad campaign before merging with HIP. The campaign, created by Munn Rabot and directed by Rupert Wainwright (The Fog, Stigmata), celebrates GHI physicians, 600 of whom are listed by New York Magazine as the best the city has to offer. The three spots show the surgeons as regular people interacting with individuals who are there should they ever be needed. Hey, it's better than fake doctors in white lab coats. See the three spots here.
Strawberry Frog wants all brand managers to be very successful brand managers and has launched VerySuccessfulBrandManger.com to help. The site's got everything from fashion tips to travel tips (forget yachts, it's luxury submarines, baby) to health tips (sleeping with subordinates is a very good thing, indeed) to wealth tips (it's all about choosing the right third world country to buy) to lifestyle tips (forget office interns, get a golf intern to drive your golf cart) to advice from Sir Monty Montague (when choosing between a welthy princess and a supermodel, Montague offer sage advice, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Take the hand of the one who is worth more and save the second for the bush, if you understand what I mean.")
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To help drum up awareness for the Hartford's Camp Courant, a free camp for kids from the city, Adams & Knight Advertising developed a pro-bono print campaign which is running in the Hartford Courant, space donated b y the paper. It's your basic feel good campaign and with all the trashing we all seem to love to do around here, let's just be happy for this one. See all the ads here.
Bluelithium, the company that's "reinventing the ad network," is reinventing the ad:tech party. On April 20 at 6PM, a week prior to the ad:tech San Francisco show, Bluelithium, famous for its ad:tech Ruby Skye blowouts, will host a party at Le Colonial and feature belly danvers, caligraphers and other Asian and French Colonial inspired activities, an open bar and small plates. We assume small plates means hors douvres...or however you spell that. To request an invitation, please contact Carla Vicens of blast! PR at (919) 833-9975 x.10 or carla@blastpr.com.
Some in Canada are, apparently, taking issue with the representation of the country's indigenous people and have created a spoof site to call attention to the issue. While we don't claim to know a thing about Canadian politics nor what the site is trying to accomplish, we love spoofs and we know our neighbors to the North will explain it for us.
Duval Guillaume has created a new set of commercials in Scandinavia for Schweppes which sophistication and politeness to new levels. One one commercial, a bar fight becomes a gentlemanly exchange and a football team become wise beyond their stereotype. The campaign, which will run in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland, works to position the new Schweppes Fruit Flavors as a grown up fruit drink. You can see two of the spot here and here.
We hope James Cameron sees this because we know he's going to laugh his ass off. Someone's gone to the trouble of creating a three minute movie trailer for Titanic Two The Surface, a mash up of Leonardo DiCaprio clips from Titanic and all the other movies he's made along with clips from other movies that feature a whole host of Hollywood actors. The premise is Jack's back. He was found on the bottom of the ocean floor and has to...well....just watch the trailer. Someone put a lot of work into this.
We wonder why we had to wait so long for a spoof of the Honda Choir ad to make it's debut and now we know. This spoof from 118 118, the same people that spoofed the Honda Cog spot, is so horrifically bad, they had to re-shoot it over and over and over to make it even worse so it good then be released as "so bad it's good." What a waste of time. View it, if you have to, over at Adland.
Over at MediaShift, Mark Glaser is asking what kind of advertising people would actually like to see. I've always thought a return to simplicity would work wonders. In other words, toss aside all the over-produced, poor-excuse-for-entertainment commercials we see today and just explain the product. Tell the viewer what's being sold, who it's for, why they'd benefit from it and where they can buy it. Sounds simple but rarely does a commercial accomplish those simple goals. I'd be happy if all the commercial consisted of was a spokesperson standing in front of a white background delivering the information.
Consumers don't need to be lured into viewing a commercial with brainless entertainment. They need to be presented the facts quickly so they can determine whether or not the advertised product is for them and then move on. Too many commercial and ads leave one scratching their head wondering, "What the hell was that?" Or, they try to force a message or product on someone who clearly has no interest or need for the product. I mean how many times can you say "keep it simple stupid" before someone actually heeds that advice?
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