I've seen "Moving" for Dunkin' Donuts about 486 times -- and I find it more loathsome after each sitting.
But Dunkin' knows how to maximize a spot's branding power. If you watch any amount of weekly TV, you'll see it enough times to be mouthing the words in a month. And the music is so distinctive, so gratingly terrible, and so instantly recognizable that it will probably do its label more good than harm in the long run. Life can be cruel that way.
"Moving" is part of the Hill Holliday-developed "America runs on Dunkin'" campaign, which has been running -- successfully, even -- for the last two years. Message consistency contributes to its sheen, but rival Starbucks, which lost its grip on its own brand, also threw plenty of kindling in Dunkin's direction.
- Jezebel compiled a list of the top 10 female product advertising icons -- and the actresses that could replace them. That Mrs. Butterworth's/Queen Latifah one is hella funny. Now you: go forth and laugh.
- Driverside.com, which sends reminders for auto maintenance and calculates repair estimates in your area, is paying parking tickets off for 100 San Francisco inhabitants. Register at the above link and check back July 25th to see if you're among the scott-free parking violators.
- Gary Busey's objectively bananas, and here's proof. If you're planning to argue, I've got three words for you: stupid, misfortunate placenta.
- Neat water campaigns: submerged-society ones for Australian brand Insight, quiet dreamscape ones for Diesel.
- BooneOakley is behind State Farm's "Experience Peace of Drive" car wash campaign. (Apparently you also get a free massage.) More from the effort: bathing car, car and yoga, car and cucumber, car and candles, car and acupuncture. (Kinda cool. I had a fat friend whose mom made him visit an acupuncturist to induce weight loss. It didn't work, but he kept telling her it did because he found the needles soothing.)
Promotional video of the Fiesta Love Factory features people in various states of G-rated ecstasy. Those warm fuzzies are then conveyed out of their bodies and into a Ford Fiesta.
News flash: Coke's Happiness Factory managed to sneak by us, mostly on Coke's frothy reputation and the romance of Willy Wonka, but there is nothing romantic about an auto factory. (Or any factory, actually. I went to the Jelly Belly and saw sadness calcifying behind the taffy machines.)
And lest we forget, Ford was the first home of the assembly line -- which is cool considering it kicked off our industrial revolution and all, but those first assembly line vehicles weren't made with vicarious bliss. They were made on the backs of tired, underpaid mummies and daddies. Think about that next time Papa comes home and demands his nightly gin.
Be a pal, Commit Your Friend.
This is a promotion for The Dark Knight, sponsored by Verizon and put together by Oddcast and Moxie Interactive. Using the same feature-pinpointing technology Nip/Tuck used to make you hate your face (but in a fun way!), the site weds a person's features seamlessly to a loonie in the Arkhum Asylum.
Um, neato.
I have no friends worth strapping down, so I decided to commit Mark Zuckerberg. Afterward I felt sorry. His trusting face, staring out at me from the confines of a strait jacket, was just too much to deal with.
He hardly looked like himself.
So I had some Haagen-Dazs ice cream (try it now, save some bees!) and now I feel better.
The DHSMV and the Florida Rider Training Program are looking for cool ways to get bikers to dress more visibly. So they launched Ride Proud Dress Loud.
The associated print ad campaign -- put together by Kidd Group -- features bikers in various shades of yikes! and oh my!. There's also some wince-worthy flaming-leather action. Great balls indeed.
More ads here.
Our source at Kidd says a lot of hardcore bikers are pissed about the campaign. Well hell, sour grapes, it could always be worse. Good stuff from Kidd though. I like a little colour on my burly man.
If you were a fan of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer or its slightly traumatizing spin-off Angel, you might get teary with glee over Acts I and II of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, an effort by creator Joss Whedon to raise crowdsourced funding for a web-only show. (See trailer!)
Dr. Horrible, played by Neil Patrick Harris, is a singing supervillain. He uses the blog to share his dreams of dominating the world and joining an elite frat, the Evil League of Evil, whose membership he'll probably never earn unless he defects for a series that takes itself more seriously, like True Blood.
"If you're gonna get into the Evil League of Evil you have to have a memorable laugh," insists Dr. Horrible, who looks like a cross between Doogie Howser, MD and Butters masquerading as Professor Chaos.
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Idle insanity mashes up with everyday banality, colorful media and schizophrenic graphics in Stunningly Harmful Artlikes, six audio-visual vignettes that may in fact cause you harm.
The series brings Being John Malkovich to mind: media artist Jason Nelson is pretty much letting us glimpse a mundane world through his compulsively musical mind. Along the way you'll see or hear appropriated snatches of songs, games and imagery seen elsewhere but out-of-context.
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- Nonesuch Records redesigned its site so artists can "directly" interact with fans. Created by Sisu and branding partner Axiom.
- We were checking email and minding our own business when Gay List Daily suggested we put a cock in our mouth. "Or 32 if you're feelin' crazy." It was appalling. And then we realized they were talking about tooth tattoos -- the low-key variation of a rapper's grill, but just as expensive if you're fickle.
- ABSOLUT Vodka is doing some weird shit right now. Its current online video campaign features Tim and Eric from Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job. (It's totally off-putting, but you gotta stick with it.) "I only made cookies for three..." Bloody hilarious. If you're not down with Tim and Eric, you're making baby Jesus cry.
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Amber Lee Ettinger -- better known as Obama Girl -- is seriously amazing. She didn't just shake her ass for politics; she turned that ass-shaking into a recognized brand.
Mochila is partnering with Barely Political, Obama Girl's parent, to promote online political coverage of the 2008 Presidential campaign. The pair will sponsor NetRoots Nation 2008 in Austin from July 17-20.
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I'm kinda digging Viking Smackdown, a game Hello Viking put out to celebrate its one year anniversary.
I'd probably like it more if I could play it though. (You can only play from an iPhone or iPod touch with sassy tilting capabilities. And as the "sorry, fuck off!" message states, "Shaking your laptop just won't cut it.")
Here's the next-best thing (not really): a video about the game! (Scroll down.) I'm digging the awkward vibe and bare feet.
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