A happy ending to an ad nauseam kinda week? Ad Age reports that the One Club has decided to ban any agency that submits scam art from its One Show competition for five years. In doing so, the intent is to cut down on work produced exclusively for award shows. Face it, having just one single award show do this is not enough. Other shows need to join with them here, and One Club leadership has apparently reached out to the other major shows. Regardless of comments that say this is too little, too late, it's a big step considering what's been done to this point. Credit to the One Club for addressing the problem.
Is it the same thing as enforcing existing rules only with harsher penalties the way pro sports do when it comes to steroids? Maybe. But change comes with small moves, right? Whether this seems like it was in response to one blogger's calls for such a ban I can only guess, but it's a big start in the right direction.
Actually, Dirt 2. My week now over, I leave a little present for Steve. Courtesy of Fuel and the logo creator they did for Dirt 2 and Codemasters. I believe the kids call this awesome.
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ad:tech Chicago's "Love for Sale -- How Great Creative Seduces Its Target" session was broken into two discernably useful parts: statistics on online dating, and seduction as a metaphor for marketing.
We'll begin at the beginning.
The Online Dating Crowd
Accompanied by Liz Ross of Digitas US, Fusion Idea Lab's Matt Brennock regaled us with both statistics and close-to-home anecdotes -- the kind that's fueled many a romantic comedy.
I heard one guy say the pair had great chemistry, and he commended them for "[opening] the kimono" the way they did. Given the topic matter, and Brennock's zeal for reminding us (first once, then twice, then...) that men really do just wanna get laid, the geisha metaphor was oddly appropriate.
Some stats:
- The average online dater is 42 years old.
- Match.com remains tops, with 3.4 million uniques/month, but people increasingly drift away from these big-box dating sites and into more niche fare: j-date, veggiedate, Christian singles. (AdAge blogger Kelly Eidson seized this opportunity to send me a link to STD Match, a dating site targeted to people living with sexually transmitted diseases. There are also -- as if you didn't know -- ethnicity-specific sites.)
If the world wasn't our oyster before, the marvelous advances of the internet, coupled with mankind's enterprising creative spirit, have ensured it certainly is now. There's a match worth blogging.
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What would a week of controversial ads be with a little Dov love. The UK's Vice magazine ran an American Apparel ad on its back cover which one, repeat, one reader was offended over. The country's Advertising Standards Authority then responded by banning the ad. Even though the model was 23-years old, the sexually suggestive nature of the ad was deemed too much. AA's British operations manager Brent Chase:
"Our models are real girls who are often employees or friends of the company. They do their own hair and makeup and aren't Photoshopped. From time to time people are made uncomfortable by this, and it occasionally causes an unfortunate reaction."
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Sorry, I meant take it home. In cans. When it comes to submissions, nobody works harder than AdRants at getting them all in. Speaking of! In a DDB Chicago spot that slams your head against the headboard non-stop, pounding you into submission until it finishes a mere :60 seconds later, Bud Light Lime Flavored Beer really drives it home that you can get it in the can. (After the jump.)
Can't wait for the 12-pack spot: "God, it's so big."
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Spec work with brand logos goes without saying. Everyone does it. Cisco Systems however didn't appreciate the recent Re:Birth Films' Creation Begins campaign and asked the shop to remove its logo from the work. (Clip below.) While you might sympathize with any shop that's just trying to build its portfolio/reel and gets caught like this, it's no longer enough to say well, it was only a spec campaign on our site, especially if they have licensing arrangements in place with agencies re: copyrighted material (songs, specific actors, etc.)
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Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R Interactive in Tel Aviv did this bus promotion where 600,000 tickets were given out with teeth artwork on one side. As each rider takes a trip, the card is punched and voila: You have a growing number of cavities. Hmmm. One of those things that looks cool until you realize, do I really need to see a... growing number of cavaties? No, it's okay. You know the answer.
- Ken Cole. Patriot.
- Jetpacks still not quitting.
- All black ads look alike.
- New Yorkers shooting New Yorkers.
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He-said, she-said now officially out of control as ad blogs jockey for credit on who broke what when. Read the latest update that includes the statement from WWF on AdWeek. Plus, check out Ad Age's article with a great response from Ken Wheaton in the comments.
We're confusing the issue here by focusing just on timelines though, or DDB and their creatives, or what WWF knew and what they knew and when they didn't know it. There are a lot of factors at work. (Blaming creatives who support scam is like, well, pick your metaphor: A shark for being a shark, a perv for hanging around MySpace, etc.)
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Who says we don't cover all the groundbreaking campaigns. Before you ask what the hell is this doing here, consider for a second that when it comes to these types of ads, wouldn't you rather see Ron Jeremy in a gator costume during a halftime Super Bowl commercial than your parents in separate bathtubs overlooking the water? Yeah, you would. Like most people in porn, he's the celebrity you can't really admit you know publicly... much. It's also because companies like Bigralis are not FDA approved that they can go humorous and cut to the chase. Viagra et al need to adhere to a ton of guidelines concerning messaging. (Commercial below.)
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