Common Fronts Common Gap Merch For Common People

common_gap.jpg

Among the many celebs the retailer has hooked up with, supposedly hip rapper Common, according to Animal, "The Gap couldn't have picked a better spokesperson to try and help sell their bland suburbanite t-shirts." Calling Common a common choice for a common brand, Animal calls into question the logic of the Gap having Common "slaving away in one of their NYC stores silk screening t-shirts for we assume, mostly white moms with absolutely no style." Indeed.

by Steve Hall    Aug-26-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Celebrity, Point of Purchase



FILA Hosts Second T-Shirt Art Extravaganza

fila_t.jpg

In an ideal marriage or art and commerce, FILA and the New York Collective of the Arts Project are holding their second FILA + NYCOLLECTIVE PROJECT - the Artists Play Two T-Shirt Series this Thursday, August 24 at the company's flagship store in mid-town Manhattan. The project provides a means for artists to showcase their creative work. The event will unveil the Fall 2006 t-shirt line, designed by various artists, as well as an auction for tennis-inspired art to benefit the New York Collective of the Arts.

by Steve Hall    Aug-23-06    
Topic: Events, Good, Point of Purchase, Specialty



Grocery Conveyor Belt Ads to Cause Insanity

conveyor_belt_ads.jpg

If you happen to work as a grocery or retail store clerk you might find yourself checking into a hospital for dizziness or a mental institution for insanity all caused by being forced to revolving ads on the conveyor belt in front of you. In what is certainly one of the more blatantly disgusting forms of ad creep, EnVision Marketing Group, which patented the idea, is rolling out ads on the conveyor belts of 52 Cincinnati-based Kroger grocery stores.

Like a kid gleefully plastering every square inch of his bedroom wall with posters of Kelli Garner, EnVision CEO Frank Cox gushed, "Conveyor belts have never been on anybody's radar screen for marketing. But a store with eight to 10 checkout lanes, well, you're talking about 100 square feet of wasted ad real estate." Indeed. But what about all that food covering up the ads, Mr. Cox? Perhaps Cox should start calling hospitals to place ads on the ceilings of patient's room. Now there's a captive audience.

by Steve Hall    Aug-17-06    
Topic: Bad, Opinion, Point of Purchase



Oral Fixation Takes Over Ad Industry

dent.jpg

I really wasn't going to comment on this ad but after reporting mouth-shaped urinals were removed from a McDonald's in the Netherlands because they were seen as perversely sexual by a visiting American, I just wonder what that person would think of this girl's open mouth, ready to receive objects that, apparently, need oral attention. Aside from all that, the not so smart thought of opening a bottle with one's mouth and the fact this just looks like a mock up some art director wished actually ran somewhere, it's not a bad ad.

by Steve Hall    Jul-13-06    
Topic: Opinion, Point of Purchase, Strange



Blender Approves, Hospital Hires, Couch Kills, Intel Sings

-

spokes06_charminbears_1.jpg

Blender and Best Buy are getting together to launch "Blender Approved" music endorsed by the editors of the music magazine.

- Our old Boss, Jeff Winsper, President of Winsper Inc. has picked up the Exeter Hospital business and will develop a full on marketing program for the client. Huh? Oh. Sorry. Of course, we're mentioning this here because we worked for the guy and he's brilliant. Why else would we mention such small time news?

- Some people just don't like the fact that those Charmin Bears have to do their business just like every other animal on earth. Oh wait. It's the over used poop joke. Bring back that creepy freak Mr. Charmin. At least he was entertaining in a weird sort of way.

- Using email lists, message boards and video sites, Hub Strategy gave a viral boost to its commercial for Lombardi Sports in which death by extreme skiing is touted as killing fewer people than live as an inactive couch potato.

- In China, Intel employees get branded every morning with during their ritual exercises and this song.

- One Adrants readers thinks a recent Ad Week headline "Mazda N.A. Imports Marketing Exec" describing the movement of one of its employees from Japan to America is offensive. We think it's quite catchy ourselves.

- Here's a few outtakes of those kids in the Adidas World Cup 2006 Impossible Dream ads.

- If the U.S. Senate approves a constitutional amendment to prohibit flag-burning, Commercial Alert is urging U.S. Senators to define commercializing the flag as a form of desecration of the flag.

by Steve Hall    Jun-28-06    
Topic: Point of Purchase



Train Campaign Mixes Up Flat Girls With Flat Guys

flat_guys.jpg

We're thinking the CSX headline for a college student focused railroad track safety campaign "Girls Don't Like Flat Guys" would have worked much better as "Guys Don't Like Flat Girls." But, then again, we wouldn't want to be sexist or break any political correctness rules now would we? Nope. Let's just twist that headline around from what we know was originally conceived to be the "Flat Girls" version and we'll be all good with the client and bitchy cause groups that can't take a joke.

Along with that unfortunately manipulated headline are drink coasters which read "If you're thinking about walking on the tracks, don't" accompanied by the image of - oh, the horror! - a squashed fly. There's also a card with the image of a CSX freight train on the front and the statement "Trains don't make a asound when they come up behind you" on the back. That is if you're deaf. One of those Exit agencies did the work.

by Steve Hall    Jun-27-06    
Topic: Point of Purchase, Poster, Specialty, Trends and Culture



New Mobile Service Provider Maximizes Influencers

helio_logo.jpg

New mobile service provider Helio, with help from StreetVirus and Alt Terrain, has launched an influencer marketing campaign consisting of in-venue pop up stores, a print magazine, a blog and sponsorship of local artists. The in-venue stores include a mini-lounge and employees are given Helio phones. Each store receives free ad space in the Helio magazine and become an exclusive retailer of the devices.

The artists sponsorship provides artists with hard-to-come by public mural space to showcase their work, financial support for their gallery shows, exposure in the Helio blog and the print magazine that is nationally distributed, and artists are provided a Helio phone of their choice. For a new company without a lot of money and one whose services appeal to the social networking needs of tweens, teens and twenty-somethings, Helio has headed in the right direction with this influencer marketing approach. You can see some of the artist's work here.

by Steve Hall    Jun-13-06    
Topic: Good, Mobile/Wireless, Online, Outdoor, Point of Purchase, Weblogs



'Watered-Down' Budweiser Gets Kicked By World Cup Fans

_40061801_beer_ap203.jpg

Anheuser-Busch is getting its ass kicked by World Cup Football fans who are calling the company's sponsorship of the event offensive and overbearing. Yes, $40 million for pouring rights will certainly put the "watered-down beer" as Nuremberg graduate student Heiko Hofrickter called it in front of many who feel the American presence at the World Cup is mostly uncalled for since Americans think football is a game that involves grown men donning giant shoulder pads and crashing into one another while watching a pop star bare her breast during half time. Oh wait, they do that in Europe too. The baring of breasts that is.

While many Europeans are angered over the proliferation of American marketing in their back yards, its the crappy taste of Budweiser that really has people steamed. Hofrichter, while consuming a glass of Weissbier, summed it up saying, "We don't make anything that you can compare it to. We just don't make that kind of beer. Why would we, when you can drink this?"

by Steve Hall    Jun-13-06    
Topic: Bad, Point of Purchase, Sponsorship



Gas Pumps Get TV Programming And Advertising

gas_station_tv.jpg

Given that there's not usually a whole lot of eye candy at the gas station as, say, there is on the sidewalks of New York during a hot summer day, the launch of Gas Station TV, currently testing in Dallas, sounds like a really great idea. After all, for the 3-5 minutes it takes to pump your tank full of gas, there's not a whole lot to do other than watch the numbers roll on the pump or marvel at just how far over the belt line the stomach of the guy in the car next to you hangs as he waddles back from the convenient mart with yet another bag of twinkies and a 64 once bottle of sugar and chemicals.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jun- 7-06    
Topic: Good, Point of Purchase, Television



Apple Leads Pavlov's Dogs to Store Opening

apple_store_video.jpg

Yesterday, we shared a few pictures of Apple's New York store opening. Today, we have a video that further captures the insanity and the power the Apple brand holds over us. It's just a computer store, people! Relax. Go home. Have a beer. Seeing James Woods and Kevin Bacon really isn't that exciting. Unless, of course, your life is meaningless and ll you need is a few pieces of geeky white electronics to spice it up.

by Steve Hall    May-23-06    
Topic: Brands, Good, Point of Purchase