Memorable moments from 41 ads, nicely choreographed to the tune of One Spring Away. Yeah, the gorilla's in there, plus bits from Sony's Bravia spots and Gap's Khaki Swing.
Steve is jealous because, in less sober times, we've bounced this same idea back and forth: "Hey, what if we mashed up a bunch of ads to, like ... a song...?"
But it takes a fine hand to elevate advertising -- coolly thrashed by jaded pundits -- to the soft-focused realm of scrapbook-worthy human experience. The Band From does it better than we could have.
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For United Way, Publicis/Toronto gives us "Youth" and "Homelessness." Each introduces you to someone in dire straits: a homeless guy in his alley, staring despondently at passers-by; and a nervy new gangbanger.
Both look markedly stressed. Then each grabs hold of some part of themselves -- the homeless guy his torn jacket, the street kid his head -- and suddenly their skin peels off.*
Within the homeless man lies a clean-cut Joe with a uniform on. He steps easily out of his poverty-ridden skin -- kinda like the crazy sorceress whose ugliness "melted away" at the beginning of Disney's Beauty and the Beast -- and joins the sea of active, busy people on the streets.
Same deal with the kid. He grabs his head, peels off his hoodie-ensconced bad-ass self, and reemerges in -- lo! -- a baby blue soccer uniform.
"What you're really giving is a way out," each spot concludes, referring slyly to the donation you are now morally obligated to make.
I like the idea of being able to shake off your past and join the sunshiny stat-quo. But if the spots are appealing, it's because they oversimplify a taxing inner journey that can take years -- and plenty of sorrows -- to complete. Well, that's advertising for you.
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Dear Bank of America and Microsoft,
Your recent upgrade to the new state of the art ATMs which, among other things, can accept check and cash deposits without an envelope has been, shall we say, less than pleasant. Apart from all the disconcerting noises and beeps they make, did you really have to assign the Windows XP Ding sound to the machines which plays every time a button on the touchscreen is pushed? Hello?? That's the same sound everyone in the world hears when they mis-click or make an error on their PC.
Don't you think choosing that sound to represent common function on the ATM was, well, pretty stupid? Not to mention incredibly disconcerting to the person using the ATM? Do you really want everyone to think they are making an error every time they push a button? Was this some sick joke your programmers decided to play on the unsuspecting public? Would it really have been that difficult to have pick something else from the hundreds of other less disconcerting system sound God forbid, create a new one?
The last thing I want to feel when I'm using an ATM is that I'm making a mistake or, worse, it's making a mistake. Which brings me to my next topic...
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As only Consumer Reports can do - being all unbiased and all - a new full page ad appearing in Monday's USA Today will inform shoppers "There is no 'bailout clause' in your credit card contract."
Damn, what a way to rain on the annual Holiday credit card spree! But with consumers owing upwards of a trillion dollars in debt, using cash to buy Christmas gifts this year might not be such a bad thing...or habit to get into as we all play out part in reducing America's debt. Which, by the way, we did to ourselves and should get out of ourselves without a government bailouot...which will only cost us later.
Admittedly, economics isn't Adrants' strong suit but it seems obvious if you can't afford to buy something you should just, well, not buy it. No matter how much you want it or how cheaply a bank will lend you money.
Or your aquarium, as the case may be. And while those winning numbers fall out of the sky, why not stick the dinette set under them? Fickle Fortune will buy you a new one. Someday.
By Colle+McVoy for the Minnesota State Lottery. The latter hosts a Daily Drawing show every night, which C+M helped reformat: instead of floating ping pong balls with lotto numbers, "viewers now get plummeting cast iron balls."
Who signed off on that idea?
Anyway, the spots linked above are two of 50 (probably equally disjointed) ads shot for the accompanying campaign. So if you're Minne-soootan, expect to see plenty of variants through '09. (Sorry.)
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Which makes the reward potential about as exciting as "winning" a class action lawsuit.
This outdoor campaign for ABSOLUT vodka is running in New York and LA. As always, the idea is to tout the superiority of a world where ABSOLUT is boss. Case in point: getting tomorrow's lotto numbers instead of yesterday's.
Yeah, that would be cool. If you were, like, the only person awake in Times Square that morning.
Creative by TBWA\Chiat\Day out of NYC.
The economy shake-up means hard times for everybody, but print news weeklies are probably among the heaviest-laden. Few people are willing to wait a day to see news in print; fewer still have the patience for a week, not when they can load Google News and have at it instantaneously.
In a desperate bid at self-preservation, the LA Weekly has launched "LONG LIVE PRINT." Weeklyites invaded the Detour Festival in Downtown LA to wave signs, distribute bookmarks (cringe) and ink the message onto other people's shirts with a printing press (nifty!).
Other media ran on newsstands and in the LA Weekly itself. See the creative in all its grungy glory:
Cool work by Ignited LA. Painfully valiant though, given that we've never thought much about the LA Weekly, and now we associate it with the struggle of by-weeklies to remain relevant in an increasingly by-the-Tweet kind of world.
You know, like a candy cane, except with peeled-off bits of other people's faces.
To promote Give Me More Stripes, some kind of VIP dining rewards card, TGI Friday's launched the farcically kitschy Give Me More Stripes face striping widget.
Those reined into the Give Me More Stripes club get a coupon for a free appetizer, a one-time "front of the line" pass -- which could come in handy if you're ever insanely feening for jalapeno poppers -- and the ability to earn "stripes" for every dollar spent.
...Are those anything like big-top points?
- The American Cancer Society is hosting a Great American Smokeout today. How liberating. Excuse me while I light up.
- New Anheuser-Busch InBev logo fails to be a turn-on.
- Google is shuttering virtual world Lively, which it launched in July. Guffaw.
- Honeyshed's hurtin' for suitors.
- Clean your free t-shirt with our product. That's confidence.
- Hello Kitty Beaujolais Nouveau -- the bastard child of all things commercial, cavity-inducing and just generally wrong (or right?) with the universe.
- Oh snap, my email just went retro.
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