I kinda got a kick out of this demo for Audio Spotlight,* a technology that enables the user to transmit messages from a set of speakers to your skull. From as far as 20 meters away, the person using the device can target individuals and whisper secrets (and ad messages) only they can hear.
Gawker's Joshua Stein is less amused by the effort. He was totally blindsided by the technology, which targeted him on the streets of New York for a Paranormal State promotion.
Gotta say, it is in fact some creepy shit -- not to mention invasive. But hey, that won't stop Remy Martin from using Audio Spotlight to add an intensely personal element to its billboards in Chicago, LA, NYC and Atlanta.
So watch out. The cognacs will be coming at you from that most sacred of temples: "inside the brain-house," to seize an expression from Joshua.
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There's a time and a place for sex in advertising. There are also times and places where sex in advertising are most ccertainly inappropriate and accomplish nothing but create embarrassment.
The latter was experienced by Åsk Wäppling of Adland who, along with her daughter and mother, were in a cab when this radio ad (link to story, not actual ad) for Amelia magazine began to play. Needless to say, awkward silence and red faces followed.
Of course Åsk, professional she is, didn't dwell on the more prurient aspects of the commercial, rather the plain badness of it citing terrible copy and questionable strategy. Thank God there are ad critics out there that don't obsess over sex in advertising.
- Obama/McCain WeeMees! OhMG kyoooooot. Diggin' how the page reads, "Invite the presidential nominees to your Room." So naughty.
- Speaking of politics, that half-hour Obama ad pulled in an average household rating of 21.7. The top market was Baltimore, where it averaged 31.3.
- Still undecided? Sport it on your coffee cup. $10 says at least five election canvassers will make a beeline for you within minutes of exiting 7-Eleven.
- Zap bugs with Honda. Reminds me of a Stargate SG-1 episode where these giant bugs would prick you, then turn you into an egg sack.
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Dawn Hands Have Talent is a UGC contest to promote Dawn Hand Renewal, a dishwashing soap that "improves the look and feel of hands in just five uses." The site also includes a special offer for the soap and a dancing hand game you can play.
The image at left is from an entry titled "Handtasia," though I much prefer the vivacity of "Fingerlina."
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If you've got nothing planned for next Tuesday night, head over to Catch-22 at 4 West 22nd Street between 8P and 10P where SMG United and Way Over Budget Production will be hosting an election night party for ad agencies. If hangin' with fellow industry peeps isn't enough (and we know it isn't), then go for the free drinks courtesy of Bulldog Gin. RSVP to Poull@wayoverbudget.com
There were three images that accompanied the release that prompted this story. We're going to spare you from two of them because, well, they're all hairy seventies-style and what with everyone shaving every last hair off their bodies today, seventies-style hairiness is, well, just gross.
So, for Asheville (oh wait, they're still into the seventies there, right?) hot tub retailer Willow Creek Hearth & Liesure (damn., even that word is soooo seventies), Atlanta-based BRUNNER created a campaign that's an ode to the hariy seventies and the supposed seductive qualities of the hot tub.
With headlines such as "Because you can only fit one woman in a Porsche," "Spice up your marriage with someone else's marriage," and "Lowers sperm count to the average male range (as opposed to what...a seventies porn star?)," the campaign intends to set the retailer apart from the usually mundane ads seen in the category which depict impossibly perfect, cliched family scenarios.
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- Rubber Republic offers the chance to juggle booty. No, not that kind.
- The deadline for the Effie Awards is November 5. If you've got some killer creative you want to submit, now's the time to do it.
- Next Thursday and Friday in Boston, Ypulse will host Marketing Mashup East, a conference covering marketing to youth with technology. Check it out here. Use discount code "friends" for a 30 percent discount.
- Michael Hastings-Black, Executive Producer at Desedo Films has written a paper on Islam, identity politics and advertising...what he dubs a $170 billion untapped consumer market in the U.S.
- Here's the winning Golden Joystick Awards Grand Master Flash entry created by Goda Januskeviciute's for 'Stickman Madness'
- James Gardener has collected a lengthy list of online political ads which can be viewed here.
As only The Onion can, a story reports an FCC study recently found Microsoft's $300 million advertising campaign has been crashing TVs across the nation. Apparently, millions of people have been experiencing critical errors after the ads have appeared on their television sets and many people report seeing screens turn blue with "terminal application error" appear in a pop up window.
"I tried to push the power button, but nothing happened," said Andover, CT resident David Lax, who claimed that his television has never had any compatibility issues with commercials in the past. "Luckily I called my buddy Todd, who's pretty good with televisions, and he told me that you just have to unplug it and plug it back in."
Classic.
Sarah Palin wins herself a copywriting credit in The Best of Sarah Palin,* a charming collection of her brightest moments in the spotlight.
Gotta love that look on Vlad Putin's face. "Pray for that!"
By Clay Weiner, whose mother we got to know really, really well.
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Maybe because using plastic bottles to promote tap water ain't workin' all that great, Tappening decided to accomplish what many have before it: self-promotion by way of Obama. Check out the triage of ads it produced to "congratulate" Obama on his "decision" to stop drinking bottled water.
Hoping to seem witty, the Tappening also attributed Obama's success in winning Democrats' favor to his anti-bottled-water stance.
That's the first I've heard of it. If Obama actually did declare war against bottled water, it hasn't stopped him from offering some to his fainting fans (scroll to 1:56).
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