Puma King Aspires to 'Complement Your Character'

Each print ad in this Puma King series features a footballer (read: soccer-player) saturated in a theme shade, visually arresting imagery (three-headed dogs, eagles, dragons, elks) and the aforementioned tagline. See:

o Gold (at left)
o Black
o White
o Red

Diggin' the fantastical, slightly sinister four horsemen motif. It's such a romantic way of saying "our shoes come in many colours."

By the sublime Robert/Boisen & Like-minded/Copenhagen.

Mammoth Mountain Embraces the White Space

Keeping to its preference for minimalism, David&Goliath demonstrate Mammoth Mountain's ... mammoth nature under two-word tagline "Play Big."

The creative is as brusque -- a lot like DDB's "Think Small" ad for VW, but not as wordy, and the concept's reversed: it's not the microscopic object Mammoth's selling you; it's the empty space around it.

See snowplow, see house (at left). All that open space? That's supposed to be the mountain. Same idea with the billboard Steve reviewed here.

Saxsofunny Weds Sensory Delight to Your Average Print Ad

Brazilian sound production firm Saxsofunny's launched a print, outdoor and TV-based campaign that gives you something to play with. Under the slogan "Every image has a sound," the ad at left takes advantage of the human compulsion to pop air bubbles for that satisfying mini-'splosion.

We likesy-likesy. Other prints here, as well as a TV spot that ties 'em all together.

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Air France Plays the Sky's Seductress

Few airlines can boast stripes different from those of any other, but Air France pimps its merits with shots that diverge from the typical relaxed business-classer gazing mildly out the window.

The copy's nothing to gawk at, a laundry list of amenities that include free Champagne in all classes, good food and big beds. But each piece is punctuated with the whimsical features of a woman, coyly guiding eyes to the Air France logo: it slips, for example out of the sharp point in her white patent leather stiletto heel, and glides like heather out of her disheveled cowlick as she naps in business class.

Slick. It lacks Virgin Atlantic's hot-whip sex appeal, but the low-key approach does Air France justice.

Given the Chance, Could YOU Conquer Either Finish Line?

Hoping to take the euphemistic "special" out of "Special Olympics," TDA ADVERTISING & DESIGN/Boulder developed a print campaign that focuses on the sporting similarities between the event you watch and that other one.

"The typical perception of 'Special Olympics' is young children with Down Syndrome, playing track and field. We want to change that," said VP-Marketing Heather Hill of the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. "The majority of our athletes are serious, adult competitors."

There's a brand repositioning worth throwing some weight behind.

Variants include "Slalom" and Ice Rink. If so inclined, you can also read the radio script.

Brandy, You're a Fine Girl, But Scurvy -- er, the Sea -- is Calling.

In a set of prints put together by THE REPUBLIK/Durham, boat manufacturer Wellcraft Marine Corp. appeals to salty sea dogs by emphasizing the rugged freedom and independent nature of life on choppy water.

o "Nothing tastes better than freshly outsmarted fish." (At left.)
o "Bowlines moor boats to docks. Windor knots moor men to desks." Ooh, seaman pwnage.
o "You've never been seasick. Bet you've been landsick a few times though."
o "You wouldn't be caught dead with a fruit in your beer. Unless, of course, you were dying of scurvy."

Each bears weathered-looking imagery, a Wellcraft logo and tagline, "The Boater's Boat."

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Nivea Brings Tanning Oil to Church

"The sun goes wherever you go" Nivea says -- not too loudly, either -- in "Church," a tanning oil ad.

No need for sunkissed girls or an exaggerated product demo; a festive beach towel, draped over a skeletal pew in a sunless gray church, does the job fine. It's even a little wity: all that hallowed sobriety, broken by beach gear.

Good stuff by TBWA/Frederick, Chile.

Saks Arms New Ads with Soviet Kitsch

Sensing a recession isn't exactly an enabler for Jimmy Choos and Prada handbags, Saks Fifth Avenue takes on the marketing style of Communism ... and Stolichnaya.

The high-end department store tapped Shepard Fairey, architect of the familiar Obama Hope poster, to infuse worker's morale into its Spring 2009 "Want It!" campaign.

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Become a Mastermind in Advertising.

Ontario College of Art & Design puts Masterminds on the pedestal in this complex formula composed of the Executive Masters of Design in Advertising.

"Learn what it takes to be one of the greats."

Look closely and see if you can find Bogusky, Gondry and Mary Wells. There's also the Google guys, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, and ... wait a sec ... is that Herbert Krabel of Guerrilla Comm?

Fame, manifested in the subtlest of ways.

Ready to rock the school house? Check out Ontario College of Art & Design's ad man grad school curriculum.

Nastia Liukin Strikes Pose for Max Azria

Five-time Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin invades fashion rags for BCBG Max Azria. The limber gymnast brings physical abandon and sugar-plum-fairy guilelessness to a medium dominated by sullen, overposed divas.

Just another treasure from the haute coffers of Jeremy Dante.

Visa first captured Liukin's porcelain ballerina quality in this ad for its "Go World" campaign, which aired during the Summer Olympics. Shortly after the Games, honey was deluged by spokesmodel opps. Clamoring suitors included Cover Girl, Vanilla Star and Wheaties.