AdFreak points to three new commercials for Altoids Sours in which sexual deviancy is used to promote the mints. Somehow Leo Burnett, we assume, thinks this is an extension of the brand's "Curiously Strong" platform but we think it's just "curiously strange." Of course, that could be a good thing. After all, fruits who like their Fruit of the Loom underwear a bit too much, sadomasochists and transvestites should have equal time in ads just like every other minority group now does.
Not that featuring a product in a music video is anything new but HP reportedly paid $200,000 to place products in Jessica Simpson's candy-coated, new video A Public Affair as part of its "The Computer Is Personal" campaign. In the video, Simpson raps with Christina Applegate, Christina Milian and Eva Longoria about how cool it is to be famous then the girls hit the roller skating rink and offer up more bubble-headed tripe. Towards the end of the video, comedian Andy Dick reaches into his pants as if he's misplaced his last name and pulls out an HP Ipaq emblazoned with the campaign's hand imagery. A laptop and a TV/monitor make an appearance as well.
UPDATE: HP's PR agency, Porter Novelli contacted us to correct a couple of facts we and the New York Post had incorrect.
"While we can not share the exact figure, the $200K quoted for HP's product placement in the Jessica Simpson video is incorrect. The Jessica Simpson video product placement is not an extension of 'The Computer is Personal Again' campaign. HP has an on-going product placement program and this deal was part of an existing relationship."
Now here's something that will likely not amuse McDonald's. Rafi Kam of Oh Word and blogger Dallas Penn have created what, we think, has the potential to become a fairly successful viral video. The video explains how to get a Double Cheeseburger off the Dollar Menu and, with some special "have it your way" ordering, add Big Mac sauce, large-cut onions and a seeded bun (which don't cost extra) and transform the lowly one dollar double cheeseburger into a $3.39 Big Mac. And, with the addition of some fries, the whole thing becomes what the pair call the Ghetto Big Mac.
This is one of those commercials which we, after viewing, usually say something like, "Damn, it took them long enough to make their point!" But, we're not going to say that about this new Land Rover commercial created by RKCR/Y&R and voiced by Ewan McGregor. This mini film is so enveloping, so lush, so celebratory, so entrancing, so uplifting, so motivational, so encouraging, so everything, it doesn't matter what it's selling. However, Land Rover has chosen to position itself as the enabler in making one's dreams come true, to assist in achieving one's goals to clearly illustrate there are no barriers that can not be overcome if one casts aside the rule book and follows their heart.
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Recently, rapper Lupe Fiasco signed a marketing deal with Reebok to appear in several ad campaigns but just last week he appeared at a PUMA-sponsored event to hype the release of the company's Karmaloop sneaker. Needless to say, Reebok's a bit pissed and isn't so happy it paid Fiasco millions only to have him help promote a competitor's brand. Apparently, there's an emergency meet between the two sides this week to iron out the whole mess.
Yea, yea, yea. We know we're late on this but we were involved with actual live hotties for the past few days so we think you can forgive us for telling you about these virtual Burger King/Maxim hotties a few days late. Yes, Burger King, hoping to lure the drolling set has nabbed three of Maxim's Hometown Hotties to appear on the site and converse with visitors. Dennis Digital and Maxim.com worked with Burger King to provide the eye candy. We do, though, think it's a bit weird these Maxim Hometown Hotties seem to be sitting in the kid's playground section of Burger King. We wouldn't want those pre-pubescent boys to get all worked up and embarrassed now would we?
UPDATE: To give credit where credit is due, Adrants reader Ariel points out the concept was VML's idea and the agency produced all but the sweepstakes portion. Funny how that stuff gets left out of press releases from other companies involved in a multi-company project.
While Reebok and Scarlett Johansson would not appear to be two names normally mentioned in the same sentence, Reebok has signed a deal with the actress to front a new footwear and apparel fashion line called "Scarlett Hearts Rbk" which will launched in Spring 2007. Of course, no one's revealing how much coin Reebok will part with to secure Johansson but New York agency Mcgarrybowen will create a campiagn which will include television, print, Internet and outdoor.
Television music network fuse has joined with the truth anti-smoking campaign, , for a documentary, called Warped: Inside & Out, which will look at the alternative music and extreme sports event, Vans Warped Tour 2006. The documentary will cover the three month-long music tour and will feature truth brand presence by incorporating the orange truth truck and its crew. The series also includes the tour¹s creator Kevin Lyman and his staff, roadies, guitar techs, tour bus drivers, members and managers of the 100+ bands that will be on the tour.
The documentary will include a supporting campaign with content accessible on fuseMobile, fuse On Demand and online at fuse.tv. which will have a micro-site designed to give tour-goers and non-attendees the details on Warped. The site will have a bunch of clips from Warped, along with photo galleries and blogs that will cover the tour.
It seems Kate Moss has made it perfectly fine for brands to use spokespeople who live the drug lifestyle. Fashion brand Adriano Goldschmied has hired artist, photographer, graffiti writer and self admitted coke user Dash Snow to appear in several ads promoting the brand's jeans. But it's all perfectly fine. After all an under the radar personality like Snow which only the hippest of hipsters has heard of is perfect for a fashion brand that only the hippest of hipsters has heard of. Snow's aunt, Uma Thurman, must be quite proud of her nephew's accomplishments.
Claiming the Internet has been good to him, and considering not much else has since his Knight Rider days, David Hasselhoff in now appearing in an online video for UK broadband company Pipex.
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