Adfreak pointed us to news of a virgin ad campaign for Apligraf, a kind of magic band-aid that uses living cells from the foreskins of baby boys to heal foot sores and leg ulcers.
Apligraf is generating lots of noise because it's the first product in its industry to start promoting its wares to consumers via advertising. (Granted, it's also the first product in its industry to get FDA approval.)
Adfreak surmises that the product is young, but it won't be long before it or similar offerings are promoted with bikini-clad sexbombs promising new-you salvation (It's Not Just for Foot Sores Anymore!).
Tough to play devil's advocate on this one. How long did it take post-legalization before controlled botulism injections became the stuff of slumber party play? A week?
The New York City Department of Education has approved the first-ever advertising and media public high school: The High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media. For short it will be called I.AM High, which ... speaks for itself. (Are you guys fucking kidding?)
I.AM High School will be situated with two other small high schools on the Canarsie High School campus. For the next several months it will be recruiting students and staff, developing a curriculum, and building outreach.
The school's mission is to equip students for ad and media careers with a strong portfolio and "an impressive resume." (Printing I.AM High, 4.0 under "High school education" -- guaranteed whiplash effect.)
Read about the program here.
- StrawberryFrog, The Wexley School for Girls, The Barbarian Group. Now we can add Omelet to the list of oddly named advertising companies.
- Hmm. It seems dumping its iconic bottle campaign was the right thing to do for Absolut which, last year, saw sales hit five millions cases, its highest ever.
- Rather than "Get some NYC Condom," Copyranter thinks New York's Department of Health condom campaign should, perhaps, read, "Get some wet, tight waxed pussy."
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For the record, we've never felt a compulsion to watch Joss Stone wrap her lips around a chocolate shaft. But don't mind us, Cadbury (you saucy chocolate peddlers, you!). We just work here.
This ad for Cadbury's Flake is part of an effort to "reference the old adverts but bring a new feel to them," said a company rep to The Sunday Mirror.
The "feel" we got hovers somewhere between a puberty reel and a '50s girl gang smut film.
We welcome guest columnist Sean X Cummings who, in response to the ongoing Yahoo/Microsoft acquisition dance along with Google's response, has several things to say about the deal and how the pace of technology growth is out pacing the ability of some marketers to keep ups with and master the influx of new media.
The Microsoft/Yahoo deal is often analyzed on the differences between technology companies, and media companies, offline, and online, threats to companies within that world, and outside, and those who interfere. Much of this misses more fundamental issues.
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Last Friday Gap launched its Sound of Color effort by Rehab. It's pretty neat. Mouse over a color spectrum to watch a music video about a certain shade.
The videos aren't all commercial color-overload like we thought; it's all pretty true-to-feel. The Blakes' blue was mellow; the Raveonettes give us a stark black and white.
You can learn about the artists, get information about the theme swatch, watch interviews and makings-of, and -- most importantly -- download songs free.
Check out the Sound of Color website. We guarantee some close-to-valuable time-wastage. If anybody has photos of how Gap is promoting it in stores or elsewhere, send 'em over.
Bruce Willis did it. Sylvester Stallone did it...twice. And, as we've all been anticipating, Harrison Ford will attempt it May 22. Check into a nursing home? No way! These "old" dudes are still making films and people are still watching them. OK, so maybe not as many people as back in the day but still.
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Oh it's about time. Well, apparently it was three years ago when The Golden Ducks were launched. The Golden Ducks honor the weird, the strange, the head scratchers in advertising. The ads that make you go, "Huh?"
This year, the event has been expanded to included more categories such as the Decoy, The Duckling, The Quack and others. Here's the full list of awards which will be bestowed upon the creators of such ads that are, well, less than good.
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Hmm. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense for a brand's ad campaign to mirror the essence of the brand. On the other hand, if you're Holiday Inn, you might want to shoot a bit higher. Alas, Holiday Inn chose to properly reflect the douchenozzles (thanks, George) who frequent the place.
In these four spots (1, 2, 3, 4) from Fallon, the agency followed research which found almost half of all business travelers say they've been "picked up or hit on" in the morning. And, 14 percent of those went on to form romantic relationships. In the commercials, we see a group of business people eating breakfast at a Holiday Inn buffet. Stupid jokes and awkward buffoonery ensue. And the announcer dares to close each spot by saying "check out the new hot bar in town." Really.
Inner Leprechaun? Inner Leprechaun? WTF? Inner Leprechaun? Seriously. OK, it's a little funny but Inner Leprechaun? Well, apparently Bennigan's, a chain of Irish-themed restaurants living in the shadow of Friday's, think people need to get the inner leprechaun on, forget about those healthy blender drinks and rush out to one of the chain's establishment for a nice high calorie, fat-filled meal.
Anyway, the ad points to a site on which you can create Lepregrams (which AdFreak's David Gianatasio thinks sounds too much like the not so warm and cuddly word "lepergram"). little leprechaun-themed messages you can send to your friend. There's other goodies to play with too but Inner Leprechaun?
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