When several people started sending in this image of a Johnny Walker outdoor ad that shows Johhny making his way across a broken bridge, the initially innocuous imagery and our agnostic sense of politics caused us to wonder, "What's so special about this ad? It's just a picture of a friggin bridge." Well after the ad came to us a few times, we realize, "Oh, people are pissed off because Leo Burnett/BBH and Johnny Walker are making Middle eastern fun of bridges destroyed in Lebanon." Oh, OK. Now we get it. Yea. Fuck that shit. We're pissed off too. How dare they stoop to such insensitive tactics to sell a bit of liquor. Whatever.
Anyway, for its part, Leo Burnett says the ad was intended to lift morale which Mack Simpson thinks would have been better expressed as "raise spirits.".
Glossy's Shannon Stephaniuk tells us, "A big banner was unveiled yesterday on MTV Headquarters Toronto. The 50 foot banner was part of The Ministry of Health's Stupid.ca campaign to prevent teens from smoking. Canadian band Silverstein joined in and did a performance on MTV Live. Youthography, Toronto conceived and executed all logistics...and MTV's & Silverstein's involvement."
David Berkowitz vidited the Benn & Jerry's promotion that's been going on for a bit where the ice cream copmpany took over a bank in New York City's Union Square and set up tasting stations for its new line of bottled milkshake ice cream.Berkowitz reports the Chocolate Fudge Brownie and liquefied Chunky Monkey were great. Not so great was the Cherry Garcia which was likened to medicine. Check out the images of the promotion here.
Outdoor is one medium that, unlike many others, seems to be weathering the storm the Internet has rained down on other media and it's executions like this one that insure the medium will remain viable for, well, ever. This is s promotion for the Turkish GP, and Indy 500 of sorts, sponsored by Turkish fuel company Petrol Ofisi and created by Alametifarika
- If you're interested in what other people make for a salary, here's yet another place to find out.
- CBS is piloting several billboards that beam information about its prime-time lineup to Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices.
- Commercial Alert isn't happy with PBS's decision to solicit ads for its kid-focused websites. The group's director, Gary Ruskin says, "This is a betrayal of parents and children across the country. PBS has forgotten its mission, and is selling our children to the highest bidder. PBS President Paula Kerger should be fired immediately."
- Design Observer lauds design guru Helmut Krone.
- Here's an interesting map showing the global domination of the Starbucks and McDonald's brands.
- Japan has un-banned a nude/pregnant poster of Britney Spears from Tokyo's subway system. Officials originally thought it was "too stimulating" for young people.
- Oh please. Can we just stop with the slap a log on the baby's head thing?
New York's Times Square has always been a haven for the racy, the clothing-challenge, the buff body. There's been National Underwear Day. There's been stripping models . There's been models prancing about in a psuedo-living room billboard. There's been gold digging Bridezillas cake diving in wedding dresses. There's been crotch grabbing. There's been gigantic versions of porn star Jenna Hameson. There's even been humping bunnies.
After all of that, it's kind of refreshing to see a fully-clothed, middle-aged woman who isn't 120 pounds promoting something as well as offering advice to tourists. Yes, Snapple Lady, Wendy, is in town to man (woman?) a booth called the Big Apple Visitor Center helping people learn about the city's best things and best places as well as, of course, the best stuff, Snapple. Hmm...a Times Square promotion that doesn't include semi-naked hotties? Rad, dude. Rad.
Adrants reader Sanj sends us an image of wanted poster wild postings which promote the beginning of the second season of the FOX series Prison Break. It's actually a really good show.
There's nothing more powerful that a Firefox lover. OK, maybe an Apple lover but they're both freaks anyway. Ariel tells us a bunch of Firefox lovers in Oregon went out an created a crop circle in the shape of the Firefox logo. A team of 12 people did it in 24 ours and it's 220 feet in diameter. If you want all the nitty gritty details on how they accomplished the task, it's all here ad-nauseam.
As part of a comprehensive, many million dollar campaign for local search engine Yell.com, AKQA, in a first they tell us, created bus sides on 25 buses that use GPS to change the advertising message based upon the bus's location. The approach aligns perfectly with Yell.com's business premise: to deliver local information relevant to one's location.
The agency also created bus shelters which display a map of where you are and allow you to search for things such as cafes, shops, health club, etc. bas upon the location of the bus shelter. While this seems like a very logical use of technology to further a marketing strategy, AKQA was the first to do it which is, perhaps, why this agency wins so many new clients and awards.
Sometimes you have to wonder what goes through the mind of a copywriter when they come up with this stuff.
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