Paris Promotes Aids Awareness by Catering to French Obsession With Sex

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Gorgeous moon tonight. Makes you want to curl up with someone you love and ... wait, is that a condom? An ad campaign sponsored by the city of Paris encourages its inhabitants to think about AIDs by sticking condoms where they don't belong hoping that you, in turn, will stick them where they do. Interesting work. Check out another ad from the same campaign here. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Oct- 2-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Outdoor, Strange



Levitra Sponsors Elevator Up Buttons

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While most people may not associate an elevator's up button with an erection, someone in charge of Levitra's advertising in Sao Paulo do. Adrants reader Marcel Cabral tells us the "side effects may include a four hour erection" company has placed little ads on all the up buttons in various office building in the city. Witty

by Steve Hall    Oct- 2-06    
Topic: Good, Outdoor



Minority-Owned Media Flooded With Insertion Orders

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In a hilarious bit of satire, George Simpson tells the ad industry we should be very careful what we wish for when it comes to supporting minority-owned media as we knee jerk react to having our asses plucked like a chicken. George goes on to tell us minority groups have staged protests in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Detroit in reaction to ad agencies over reaction and subsequent purchase of every last bit of minority-owned media's inventory. Reportedly, commercial minutes on minority-owned television stations has risen to 49 minutes leaving only 2 minutes for actual programming.

Protesters are reacting angrily as the same over reaction seems to be occuring in monority-owned print as well. One protester is said to have said, "The News is like reading one of those fat fall preview issues of fashion magazines where you have to flip through a hundred pages of ads before you even find the table of contents. It took me over an hour to find the editorial page yesterday."

As agencies hurriedly ran to prevent their asses being plucked like a chicken in response to the New York City Council knocking on their door, media departments got very busy. One agency exec said. "We ran, alright, straight to our media departments--and bought up every pod, flight, column inch and pixel of minority-oriented inventory"

by Steve Hall    Oct- 2-06    
Topic: Agencies, Good, Policy, Spoofs, Strange



OfficeMax TUL Pens Pull Mind Out of Gutter

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Rarely do we ever have the time or the inclination to sit through an entire segment of one of those online analyze whatever things marketers like to create to sell product. But, we did this time. Perhaps it was because our date last night was uneventful so we didn't have our usual hangover or have to make polite morning conversation with our less-pretty-than-she-was-last-night date. Perhaps it was because we didn't have to spend time with our new Remington Body Hair Trimmer in preparation for tonight's date who unceremoniously canceled after we asked her to arrive dressed up like a pleated plaid skirt-wearing private school girl. Or, perhaps it was because our favorite porn site was down preventing us from wasting hours slobbering over women we will never have.

Anyway, we found the time to spend with this DDB Chicago-created site for OfficeMax for its new line of TUL pens that offered up a handwriting analysis by graphologist Dr. Gerard Ackerman.So after we randomly selected answers to a six question survey about our writing style, we were presented with a step by step video analysis of our handwriting and an insight into our personality. While it may not have been the most stunningly entertaining thing we've ever seen, it did prove there are certainly other things in life than the aforementioned, less than respectable activities.

by Steve Hall    Oct- 1-06    
Topic: Games, Good, Online



Real Life Becomes Favorite Movie Scene For Film Festival

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Apparently riffing on film festival-worthy movies, none of which we've seen, this TBWA Vancouver-created and Reginald Pike-produced television campaign for the Vancouver International Film Festival illustrates the power of great film by showing obsessed freaks turning their real lives into scenes from their favorite movies. That said, the spots are kind of funny to watch.

by Steve Hall    Oct- 1-06    
Topic: Commercials, Good



Nissan Invents New Sport to Promote New Car

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Polkadotholes tells us to promote its new hump back VW GTI-like vehicle, Qashqai, in Europe, Nissan has invented a new sport called Qashqui Car Games which looks like automotive aerobatics. On the site, there's detailed information on the origin of the faux sport, stats on the sport's top drivers, videos - most of which are "coming soon," current news on the sport, swag and an as yet unactivated "stunt builder" section which, one assumes, will allow people to create their own Qashqai automotive aerial trickery. It seems engaging enough and is well put together if not a bit heavy with long page load times.

by Steve Hall    Oct- 1-06    
Topic: Games, Good, Online



Lingerie and Pregnancy Work Together In Ad

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Certainly if the product is adult-focused and the intended target audience is to be adult then by all means, pulling out the big grown up intentions and inserting them in the ad makes all the sense in the world. After all, sexy lingerie can most certainly cause pregnancy and it's a marketers duty to notify potential consumers of this danger.

by Steve Hall    Sep-29-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Magazine



Johnnie Walker Walks on Aircraft Carrier

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There are all sorts of cool places to shoot a commercial but an aircraft carrier certain rank right up there on the list. Shooting a BBH-created spot to announce Johnnie Walker's sponsorship of Team McLaren Mercedes, Pink Film Company Editor Michael Geohegan and Cut + Run Editor Leo King set up their editing suite right on the deck of the aircraft carrier.

The commercial begins with aerial footage, where fighter jets zoom through the sky at high speeds against a setting sun. A plane then lands on an aircraft carrier, transforms into a Formula 1 car racing along the jetway and does a 360-degree spin before stopping near the middle of the ship. Voiceover intones, "In a dog fight, a pilot experiences up to five Gs for over one minute. An F1 driver experiences up to five Gs for over one hour." The scene then slows as F1 racer Kimi Raikkonen gets out of the racecar, takes off his helmet, and "keeps walking" past his admirers.

by Steve Hall    Sep-29-06    
Topic: Commercials, Good



Chalk, Blackboard, 3D Makes Up New ESPN MLB Promos

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Perception, the design/post studio founded by former R/GA creatives Jeremy Lasky, Danny Gonzalez and Brendan Werner, teamed with The Concept Farm on new 2D and 3D animated promo campaign for ESPN's upcoming Major League Baseball playoff coverage. The spots will begin airing the week of September 25, prior to the start of the playoffs on October 3rd. In addition ESPN will utilize the look and feel of the campaign for the Division Series games and as they develop topical spots for the actual match-ups in the Division Series.

more »

by Steve Hall    Sep-29-06    
Topic: Cable, Good



Talbots Cleans Up GAP's 'Watch Me Dress'

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Classing up the GAP's cheesy Watch Me Change promotion, Talbots has launched a dress-me-up site to support its Classic Girls Getaway promotion which offers people a chance to win a trip to one of several locations for a three day stay and a $500 shopping spree. To enter, a 200 word essay is required to tell Talbots why the person should be awarded the trip. Oh yea, and you can play dress while standing in front of images of the Getaway trip locations. While we like the promotion, there's something about the accompanying music that is a bit more suggestive than probably intended.

by Steve Hall    Sep-29-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Promotions