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IAB Announces MIXX Awards Finalists

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Today, the Interactive Advertising Bureau announced the finalists for its 2012 MIXX Awards which will take place during Advertising Week on Tuesday, October 2 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For the second year in a row, the awards will be hosted by comedian Baratunde Thurston.

This year's nominations include 111 finalists from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. New this year is the IAB Standard Rich Media Display Ad category, reflecting the adoption of the IAB Rising Stars Display ad formats, a set of six rich-media ads sizes that are now part of the IAB Standard Ad Unit Portfolio.

Below is a list of the finalist in their respective categories

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by Steve Hall    Aug-21-12    
Topic: Industry Events



Miranda Kerr Causes Santa to Crash in Japanese Lipton Ad

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Miranda Kerr, and just about every other American celebrity, is loved by the Japanese public. They just can't get enough which is why we keep seeing American celebrities pop up in Japanese ads. Not to mention in a pre-internet world it was a nifty way for celebrities to make silly ads without embarrassing themselves back home.

Miranda Kerr, who has done ads for the Lipton before, can be seen sporting a yellow mini-dress and hat in a scenario that causes us to wonder just what she was doing to Santa that caused him to crash land. It's all to promote the very yellow-looking Lemon Tea.

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by Steve Hall    Aug-21-12    
Topic: Commercials, Strange



How to Develop A Winning Mobile Strategy

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According to Nielsenwire, in 2011, shipments of smartphones surpassed shipments of PCs and by early 2012, about 50 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers owned a smartphone, accounting for more than 100 million units.

The growing mobile market presents unprecedented opportunities for marketers. According to Statcounter, since January 2009, web traffic originating from mobile phones has doubled every year - accounting for 11.09 percent of global access by mid 2012. In the US, 69 percent of mobile users access the internet on their phones daily, with 46 percent of smartphone owners going online several times a day.

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by Steve Hall    Aug-21-12    
Topic: Mobile/Wireless, Research



Teen Pregnancy Effort Illustrates What You Can't Do With A Baby

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Here's a simple and straightforward campaign from Serve Marketing for the United Way of Greater Milwaukee which aims to lower teen pregnancy by 46 percent by 2015. The campaign, called What You Can't Do With A Baby, consists of print ads showing just that. In one ad, we see a high school basketball shooting a basket with a baby in a baby carrier.

In another ad, we see a cheerleader mid-jump also with a baby in a baby carrier affixed to her. Copy includes, "Think your life won't change with a baby?"

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by Steve Hall    Aug-21-12    
Topic: Cause



After Initial 'Headless Breasts' Attraction, Axe Helps Men Find True Love

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All while acknowledging the initial carnal desire two humans may have over one another with its "headless breasts" ad, Axe is also continuing its Susan Glenn trajectory. If you recall, the brand ran an ad that featured Kiefer Sutherland who lamented the day when his Susan Glenn, the woman of his dreams, slipped away. That work is quite brilliant.

The brand is continuing in that vein by helping men find their own Susan Glenns. A six-episode video series, a Facebook page and a Fear No Susan Glenn website that allows guys to upload images of their Susan Glenn to a virtual Times Square billboard (which can then be shared with one's Susan Glenn) - all aim to help men reconnect with their lost loves.

It's an intriguing approach for a brand that always has (and still does) focus mainly on initial sexual attraction as its mainstay.

by Steve Hall    Aug-21-12    
Topic: Social



Why Axe's 'Headless Breasts' Ad is Strategically Sound

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While some have said the new BBH-created Axe work - a departure from the agency's brilliant Keifer Sutherland/Susan Glenn spot - is a sad return to the brand's roots where mostly women and sometimes men are reduced to playthings, toys for the horny male middle school mindset.

We say smart move. All the brand has done, and always has done, is celebrate the carnal desire that is ever present between man and woman. It's an innately human desire. It's a fact of life. And no amount of pious, politically correct sugar coating is going to diminish the fact that men and women are, forever, sexual beings that, yes, are sometime vile, vulgar and animalistic in their dealings with one another.

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by Steve Hall    Aug-21-12    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Creative Commentary, Opinion



Panties Bunched, Men Favor Porn, TV Trumps Online Video

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- One million moms get panties in a bunch, protest Ragu commercial.

- This just in! Men favor computers over television for entertainment. Um, yea. That's where the porn is!

- Why online video remains in TV's shadow.

- Why social media agencies are a farce.

- Taylor Swift gets all dolled up for Wonderstruck Enchanted Fragrance.

- Olympic super hero Michaels Phelps can be seen lounging in a bathtub for a new Louis Vuitton campaign.

by Steve Hall    Aug-20-12    
Topic: Policy, Research, Trends and Culture



Michael Phelps May Incur Wrath of IOC Over Louis Vuitton Ads

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While no official word has handed down by the International Olympic Committee regarding Michael Phelps' appearance in leaked photos of a Louis Vuitton ad inside the Rule 40 window barring appearance in non-Olympic sponsor ads between July 17 and August 15, the media has its panties in a bunch over the kerfuffle.

The ads, shot by Annie Liebowitz, feature Phelps in a bathtub wearing a Speedo and swim goggles and on a couch sitting next to Russian Olympian Larissa Latynina whose medal winning record Phelps just broke.

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by Steve Hall    Aug-20-12    
Topic: Celebrity, Policy



James Franco is a Master Multitasker Thanks to Samsung Galaxy Note

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James Franco has stuffed everything imaginable into this Samsung Galaxy Note 1.1 commercial epic in which he lauds himself for acting in, directing, producing and writing movies as well as writing a book of short stories, acting in a soap opera, directing a dance company and directing this commercial.

As he wanders through his self-created epic he engages in all sorts of Note-aided tasks including diagnosing strep throat, solving complex math problems and engaging in a pillow fight with a trio of youthful hotties. Though how the Note helps with that last task eludes us.

The 2:45 video, which hypes the Note's ability to aid with multitasking, even includes a Ferris Bueller-like send off at the end.

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by Steve Hall    Aug-20-12    
Topic: Celebrity



Budweiser Helps Ecuadorians Extend Happy Hour

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So here's a campaign that would never air in America. Why? Because we don't condone binge drinking and beat-the-clock style happy hour boozefests. But in Ecuador? No problem whatsoever.

Y&R Ecuador developed a campaign called Budclock that resulted in the extension of happy hour by one minute for each Budweiser purchased (using QR codes, of course). In theory, happy hour might never end.

Since its inception on May 12, happy hours have been extended by 6,000 minutes

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by Steve Hall    Aug-20-12    
Topic: Guerilla



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