Axe Makes Women Crazy, Tom Ford Delivers Snatch

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When selling men's fragrance, most marketers rely on artist but meaningless photography of alluring situations meant to capture what they believe to be some ethereal state of being obtained only by using the marketer's fragrance. But not Tom Ford.

Ford removes all pretense in his latest fragrance campaign and celebrates what every man wants: to fuck. In this ad, Ford less than deftly places the product in the place all men hope the it will get them: snatch. Crass? Certainly. Objectifying of women? Sure. Attention getting? Most definitely.

Of the campaign, a Tom Ford Beauty Spokeswoman told Women's Wear Daily, "We loved the original Marilyn Minter images, but while on a shoot with [Richardson] in Milan, we decided that a sharper, more graphic approach clearly communicated the bold and provocative mood of the fragrance." Sharper and more graphic, indeed.

by Steve Hall    Sep-12-07    
Topic: Brands, Creative Commentary, Magazine, Racy, Strange



Nike Introduces the Greatest Team We've Never Heard Of

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Hoping, perhaps, to bring back the days of Mia Hamm, Wieden + Kennedy just launched a new Nike campaign for the Women's World Cup with the headline, "The greatest team you've never heard of," which introduces women's soccer's next greats. Illustrating the dedication of the team, the copy in one ad reads, "Together [they] have missed out on 13 proms, 74 birthdays, 21 Thanksgivings and 989 boyfriends." And in an effort to familiarize us with the team, copy in another ad reads, "[the team] includes a tattooed surfer, a scholar, a college football fanatic, a humanitarian and a trucker hat-wearing scuba diver."

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by Steve Hall    Sep-12-07    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Creative Commentary, Good, Magazine



Parker Bullshits, Ads Suck, Hyundai Un-Hyundais

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- Calling AMC's Mad Men, Dr. Ernst Dichter's The Hidden Persuaders and current motivational research "mostly bullshit," George Parker manages to get himself into Advertising Age and promote his new book, The Ubiquitous Persuaders which, if his past book, MadScam, is any indication, won't be bullshit at all.

- Magazines and newspapers aren't doing anything wrong. It's just that the ads inside them all suck.

- Hyundai's new campaign leaves behind the brand name hoping to leave behind associated cheapness.

- Has anyone else noticed how "bloggy" Advertising Age is getting and how it's now OK to "print" words like fuck and bullshit? We just thought we'd wonder publicly a bit about that.

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Tampon Absorbs Entire Pool

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Tampon maker O.B. has left all the crap about comfort and simplicity behind and zeroed on the product's main benefit: it absorbs a shitload of liquid. Enough said. I mean really. What else can be said about this ad? It's truly brilliant. Maybe a bit gross but brilliant none the less. That is, of course, if it is, in fact, a real ad.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 7-07    
Topic: Best, Magazine



American Apparel Makes Friday Masturbation Day

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Having followed the American Apparel campaign for some time, Copyranter reacted to the latest iteration with the following headline, "It's Friday. Why Don't You Masturbate." One can't ask for a better headline when it comes to discussing American Apparel campaigns which, for a long time, have been one step above porn. It's just Dov Charney's way and who are we to complain. Sex is supposed to sell, right?

by Steve Hall    Sep- 7-07    
Topic: Magazine, Racy, Strange



Farting Farmer and Nice Cans Sell Microbrewery

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If you like farms with pigs, cows, fish, farting farmers, aliens and atomic bombs that launch out of grain silos, you're gonna love this new site for Butternuts Beer & Ale from Woods Witt Dealy & Sons. just click around and have fun. Don't forget to click on the tractor in the back.

Along with the website, the campaign also includes print ads, table tents, packaging, posters and a MySpace page, all of which can be seen here. In one of the print ads, the cans are celebrated with the write-itself headline, Nice Cans. The ad is also carries a blue ribbon honoring the breweries position as best brewery in Garrattsville, New York. Not that there's any other brewers there which , of course, is the entire point of the ribbon.

Dubbed "farmhouse ale" (whatever that is) the beer's got great names like Porkslap, Heinnieweisse and Moo Thunder. If a microbrewer has to set itself apart from the pack, aligning the brand with farm nomenclature is certainly one way to do it.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 7-07    
Topic: Good, Magazine, Online, Point of Purchase, Poster, Social



Vogue Invites us to 'Feel the Glam Forest,' We Politely Decline

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The notion that out there is a wilderness dripping with pleasures in the raw is incredibly attractive. That's why Willy Wonka's candy forest still lingers in our dreams.

We're also guessing that's what Lowe, Athens had in mind when it invented a world ornamented in jewelry for Vogue (not the magazine). See variation here.

From a distance, the ads look compelling. Up close, they strike us as clumsy and pedestrian. The jewelry seems copy/pasted, and something about the way the models are dressed evokes a poorly-stocked costume rack in some photo studio we hope to never visit.

And come on. The glam forest? Really? Was that the best you could do?

by Angela Natividad    Sep- 7-07    
Topic: Bad, Magazine



Yahoo Inhales Lithium, Business 2.0 Dies, Brothels Advertise

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- Yahoo grabs ad network BlueLithium for a $300 million.

- It outlasted every other dot com magazine but Business 2.0 has finally succumbed to the tightening economics of magazine publishing and will cease to publish on its own, becoming part of Fortune.

- Make sure your Facebook profile doesn't include any salaciously incriminating information. The site has just made profiles publicly searchable.

- JupiterResearch reports just 15 percent of viral campaigns achieved success in the last year. Good. Maybe we'll see a lot less crap from marketers now.

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by Steve Hall    Sep- 5-07    
Topic: Magazine, Online, Social



Helmet-Wearing Sex Partners Convey Peugeot Sexy Time

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Ever feel rushed during sex? Or, perhaps feel it's a bit too rough? Apparently, that's the vibe Peugeot is tapping into with this print campaign that features lovers in helmets in case, well...

We're not sure but we'd love to do it in an all-white room like that sometime, if only for the purity of it all.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 5-07    
Topic: Good, Magazine, Racy



Afraid of Commitment? Or Geriatric Sex? Avoid a (Virgin) Mortgage

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For its home loan component in Australia, Virgin Money hits us hard with the notion of long-term commitment.

You mean there's sex after 65?

To be fair, shots of geriatric lovin' may deliver a muddier message than the mortgage guys would like. Who's to say this is a happy long-term relationship and not a racy first date? Or better still, a short-term but lusty (interest-only, har har) affair?!

Anything is possible. Or else we've just been watching too many French PSAs.

by Angela Natividad    Sep- 4-07    
Topic: Good, Magazine