The thirty year old "I Love New York" campaign is about to get a makeover to the tune of $16 million. Speaking like he has a mouthful of marketing marbles affecting his speech, Empire State Development Corp. Co-Chairman Pat Foye said, "We want to maximize its value and get creative input from the leading advertising agencies around the state and the nation on how we can best be effective stewards of it." Hopefully the agency that takes on this challenge won't get caught spewing babble like this and puke out some piece of shit replacement for a campaign that's done just fine over the years.
Copyranter gives a quick review of a recent YKK zipper ad which has a visual of zippers tricked out to look like spiders and the tagline, "Fashionable by Nature." His conclusion? "OK, I fucking HATE 'Fashionable by Nature.' Lazy fucking line. We'd have to agree and would also add associating spiders with zippers is just going to make people suffer through a fit of arachnophobia every time they touch their zipper. Zippers. Spiders. Who's "creative" brain did this come out of?
We have to admit there's something about Altoids we just like. A lot. For Valentine's Day they've taken their running Curiously Strong theme and added a curiously twisted BDSM thread.
In a dark take on Herbal Essences' bubble-gum anti-Cupid campaign, Altoids embraces Cupid in all his glory ... and gives him a pair of handcuffs. And because ambiance is 9/10 of a good show, they've even opened up temporary Altoids Chocolate Shoppes, prime purveyors of their devilish chocolate mints, with darkened windows and threesomes hidden in the wallpaper. The stores are in NY, Miami and Chicago and will remain open until tomorrow at 10 PM.
Aside from the product there's not much branding going on and the prevalent hearts have slashes down the middle that recall melting chocolate. We are afraid of the (whip-wielding, leather-clad) part of us that says "YES" too readily to this bad-ass positioning scheme, which was concocted by Bigheads Network in tangent with Gigunda Group. All it needs is a cross-brand relationship with Lelo and it'll really be in business.
Bandages are one of those categories that nobody pays much attention to - and they should, because anybody who's anybody has a box or two in the house. People just don't do enough to make them interesting.
That's why we admire the effort behind these nifty bacon bandages by Accoutrements. What is it about putting a slab of meat on a wound that makes you feel 10 times more awesome? We're not really sure, but in the unlikely event that meat bandages fail to make you feel cool, don't worry: there's a free toy inside.
Doesn't the thought just fill you with a glow? We just want to run out there without our knee pads and do something crazy, like climb fences with that prickly stuff on top.
Just as we remember all the times we were pleasantly surprised for Valentine's Day, we also remember all the men, sets of grandparents and dowager aunties who gave us Russell Stover chocolates. While the drugstore candy makes good for fits of chocoholism, receiving the uncute white boxes as gifts does not always a happy recipient make.
But better packaging, chic flavours, an organic line and fresh marketing are all part of Russell Stover's plan to not only change that but take on competitors like Ghirardelli and Lindt. And with the help of PHD Media out of St. Louis, they'll even be dabbling in some guerilla work.
Well, if Target could change its image (granted, in the space of a decade) we're fully confident that Russell Stover can. Their challenge will be to convey less of a drugstore vibe without alienating the little old ladies who pull those boxes off the shelves most often. In the meantime, we remain unconvinced by the idea of a Russell Stover private reserve label. But the market, like love, is fickle. Maybe next year we'll feel differently.
We're seeing a lot of work where the background of an ad is incorporated into the ad itself. This Chandon Rose billboard, which lends new meaning to the notion of community activity, is a good example.
Check out a further shot here. Thanks bunches to Adrants reader Janine, who caught this in NYC recently.
So we're looking at this commercial in which an older couple is having a conversation but it's subtitled because, well, after you're in a relationship for a long time, one assume everything's already been said but e can't figure out what the ad's trying to say. But the end of the ad with it's tagline, "A real relationship is built over time," all is apparently explained. While it's true a solid relationship does take time to build but as a person looking for banking services, does anyone want their bank to take 40 years to "understand" them?
Oh screw that, the ad's funny. The ad was created by Duval Guillaume in Belgium.
This new leapfrog ad by GE uses playful animation to marry love of innovation to harmony with the natural world. We think the frog, which echoes the adorable Geico gecko, is a little scrawny for all that hardcore hopping but we like the ad anyway.
The Adave miracle phone promises to do everything the iPhone failed to: it will read for us, deal with clients for us and get all our media work done. We clicked "Buy it now" faster than we should have and were instantly forced into the raw white light of confusing, bewildering conference information.
Awww. We'd declare shenanigans, but the Guilt is too overwhelming.
This year's Future Marketing Summit: NY takes place on March 5 at the Broad Street Ballroom. Speakers include SVP Esther Lee of Coca-Cola, creative director Luanne Calvert of Google, Colin Drummond of CP+B, and a passel of other super awesome bigwigs that could only look like rock stars to us.
The running theme is "Integration" and session one is called "Reality Check." Oh, that's blistering. Does this mean no magic phone?
Apparently not. Slacker. Register here.
Sort of along the lines of logic (or complete and purposeful lack there of) that resulted in Robert Goulet appearing in an Emerald Nuts Super Bowl commercial, Intuit has tapped Vanilla Ice (where the hell has he been all these years?) to front a Tax Wrap promotion for Turbo Tax. The promotion offers $25,000 to the person who makes the best homemade rap demo about taxes. So far, there aren't too many submissions and they are all embarrassingly horrible. We really don't know what to do with this one. Trash it for its use of a has-been to get all jiggy with one of the most financially serious periods in a person's life or praise it for its brilliant quirkiness and kitschy badness.
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