Fresh out the Flagrant Email pile comes this subject line from Almighty Apple: "Last chance to give iPod for Mother's Day." We were like, okay, let's see how they work this angle, and popped the email open to meet eyes with the following header:
"Give Mom a reason to play favorites."
Need a blunter innuendo? Cast your gaze leftwards to see an iPod lovingly engraved, "No wonder you always liked me best."
Mac confidence at its most engorged state. Props to the shameless email marketers at Apple, whose capacity to self-promote -- for any holiday, or none at all -- knows no inhibitions. Might be time to swoop up another Shuffle; as things stand, we're lucky if Mom tells us we look nice in the morning.
We're a coupla months late on this one. But when a shirtless rambling Iggy Pop pushes insurance (--"ON MY INSURANCE!"), you can't let it lie without imposing it on others.
This is better than that one time Gene Simmons tried reigniting relevance through cola. Or almost anything Ozzy Osbourne's ever done for anybody.
Props to @tamega for sharing.
more »
- One man's curation is another man's scraping: more on the ongoing drama between pubs that report and 'net-based pubs that aggregate.
- Oprah over Twitter? Guess that means ... absolutely nothing, now that we think about it.
- Stats on motivations of Twitter users. Features graph intros like "A Large Following Doesn't Equate with Intelligence" and "Mixed Feelings about Reciprocity."
- Perspective on your perspectives on Swine Flu.
- Facebook has plen'y of cash, and expects interactive advertising rev to boost sales 70%, COO Sheryl Sandberg ballsily proclaims.
- Stolichnaya is the premier sponsor of Babelgum, which will air exclusive live concert footage from artists like Franz Ferdinand, Stereophonics and Kaiser Chefs; as well as "Bananaz," a film about the Gorillaz.
- Aerocles deconstructs Dominos' approach to social media.
- Saw the Loud n' Clear infomercial on TV last night. This is why we love America. Hold 'til 1:27 for when Enthusiastic Geriatric shouts, "Bingo!" It don't get any better than that.
Wait, Sirens? Isn't that Victoria's Secret? Anyway, the sirens we're talking about here are the models in this very strange but very appropriate commercial for Agent Provocateur. We'd expect nothing less from a purveyor of lingerie fixated on sexualizing anything and everything to sell some bras and underwear.
Oh and there is a nipple in this ad so if that offends you or anyone near you, you have been warned. And there's a longer, very stylized version (along with others) at the Agent Provocateur site. It's interactive with asterisks you can click for product information.
Want more Agent Provocateur kinkyness? Have at it.
Philips Cinema brings us the mildly unsettling "Carousel," where a hospital shootout between the SWAT team and demented clowns is frozen and investigated by a slow-moving camera.
Money flutters through the night sky, the faces of cops are taut with tension; and you can actually see the caked makeup creases on the masks of the tormentors. It's strange and beautiful; we watched wordless from beginning to end.
The online oeuvre was directed by Adam Berg via Stink Digital for Philips' hi-def Cinema Proportion TV. More at Philips Cinema; also see deliciously engaging making-of (shown below).
According to Berg, the secret to a great film is narrative and light. Food for thought, whether you're directing an epic or breathing :30 of life into a brand under your care.
more »
Kaiser Permanente continues its insufferable five-year-old "Thrive" campaign with two new ads, Kabuki and Mural.
The latter targets Spanish speakers without trying too hard (Latin music + "Viva bien." Way to go). Meanwhile, Kabuki features a Kaiser employee performing "Kabuki" with an electric guitar and selective gravity. He is later joined by a bunch of grinning people that tear off their clothes to reveal medical gear.
Campbell-Ewald (with help from Miami-based sister agency Accentmarketing) came up with this and the tagline du jour: "You and your Kaiser Permanente team. Together, you rock."
Fucking kill us. The campaign cost $50 million, and we apologize to the inhabitants of California, Oregon, Washington, Southern Colorado, Hawaii and Georgia, which will have to see it all over their daytime TV.
more »
A few months ago Pfizer released an ad meant to discourage people from buying prescription drugs from unregulated sources like the 'net.
In the moralistic, painfully allegorical tone cause spots sometimes adopt, it featured a man checking his mail, popping a pill and bemusedly pulling a dead rat out of his throat.
The ad naturally generated flak for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which regulates ads in the UK and has, based on X number of adamant letters, banned ads for a wide variety of reasons -- from claims to increase eyelash length to, well, heresy.
The ASA ultimately decided Pfizer's counterfeit medicine ad didn't breach code, which means it can still run in the UK. But in some warped knee-jerk effort to clear the public mind of any wrongdoing on its part, the pharma decided to produce a making-of.
more »
There's something ballsy about the UPS Store comparing itself to complex acrobatics or death by amphitheater. So, props for being flagrant.
But while the cardboard animation is fun to watch -- enchanting, even -- we could've done without the Universal Studios soundtrack, the extra-extra voiceover and the trite ending ("Hey, we do more than shipping!").
Apart from all that, pretty work by agency Doner and production firm Psyop.
more »
"Icons," a McCann-Erickson/NY spot that aired during the '05 Super Bowl, is a fond standby of Mastercard's "Priceless" campaign.
Prep for serious warm-fuzzy syndrome: it's composed of brand mascots -- Count Chocula, the Vlasic stork, Jolly Green Giant, Pillsbury Doughboy -- having Soul Food-style dinner as Mr. Clean slaves merrily over the sink. Some of the icons weren't even animated for TV prior to this. (Thank Calabash for bringing them to life.)
Too much good stuff. There's even some illicit Facebooky pokeage between Doughboy and Morton Salt girl. Scandale!
more »
...and what that has to do with razors, we're sure we have no idea.
Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter and Roger Federer lend modern swagger to Gillette's "Stayin' Alive" -- or try to, anyway.
The video's a wordless recounting of three down-ass blokes whose confidence -- or lack thereof -- shines through their shoes. We'll leave you to see which athlete busts out with the platforms in chrome.
more »
|
