Royal Enfield Attacks Indian 'Mama's Boy' Mentality

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Having previously exploited the latent tripper and pastel-lover in unlikely motorcycle buyers, Royal Enfield finally hits 'em where it hurts: love of mother.

From the pressie: "The campaign is based on a big social truth that most Indian men are 'mama's boy'."

The campaign: "Leave Home" for the Thunderbird Twinspark, by Wieden+Kennedy.

The prints:

o Revolution. One man's trajectory from baby to slacker to biker.

o Kid. This is supposed to be a man in the womb, but at first it just looked like a naked guy doing sit-ups in the dark. Which I guess might be another reason to "leave home."

Mama's boys can expect to be outed this month in all major Indian auto and lad mags. Retailers are advised to keep tissues and milk out of reach.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-18-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Magazine



'Get Smart' Whored, Mommy Scolds McCain, Man Conceives Soda, Jack Hits the Track

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- matrixx pulls a fast one: to score coverage for a cross-promotion between Vespa, Subway and Get Smart, it produced a write-up for us. "Please do feel free to use or rewrite the whole thing," the matrixx rep said generously. What a nifty guy. And here we were thinking we had jobs to do.

- David and Goliath put together Jack's Track, a racing game that makes the most of Jack Daniel's NASCAR sponsorship.

- MoveOn says this anti-McCain ad is its most effective ad EVAR. It involves a baby. Meh.

- Bun in the oven? Learn how to troubleshoot.

- What a strange way to market a cola. I'm disgusted. But also sold.



Dashboard Rock Could Excel a Bit Better at Rocking

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Dashboard Rock, which represents Mazda's attempt to cash in on the popularity of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, vibes like Dance, Dance Revolution for your fingers. You can also download 15 songs as you move through the game.

Now here are all the setbacks.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jun-17-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Games, Online, Worst



Kazan Dabs Cultural Pen with CGI-Heavy Palette

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Imagine if Ghost Writer made friends with Cirque de Soleil, and then they went on a Russian tour with hula hoops, tennis racquets and Day-Glo underpants.

Got all that? Good. You're probably picturing Kazan Celebration, which starts out enigmatic, quietly lovely and culturally reverent. Then there's this explosion of acrobats and enthralled villagers similar to the Mystere Las Vegas show.

The piece was put together by Adore Creative, which helped Kazan win a bid at the 2013 Summer Universiade (which Adore calls "the second biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics"). Also see World of Kazan, where an English-speaking narrator depicts Kazan as a fairy-tale locale.

That's cool and all. But does it have Lotus toilet paper?

by Angela Natividad    Jun-17-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Events, Good, Promotions, Video



Funerals Need Not Be Boring Says MyWonderfulLife

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Who said funeral have to be boring, weepy events that continuously follow the same routine? Not MyWonderfulLife, a newish online funeral planning service where people can make their funeral wishes known ahead of time and make it easy for those left planning the funeral with guidance as to what kind of funeral the person prefers.

A new commercial celebrates this so-it-yourself approach making it clear anything can happen at a funeral.

by Steve Hall    Jun-17-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Good, Strange



Enlarged Ego? Patchy Facial Hair? Plain Awkward? Adrantsarax May Be Right for You

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This is awesome!

For client Cedra, Door Number 3/Austin put together Get Your Drug On. It confirms a suspicion we've had for years: that making a drug, or at least the ads for a drug, is as easy as Mad Libs.

Also, gotta love that waiting room music.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-17-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Online



Bored, Wealthy and Evil? Have We Got the Distraction for You

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Here's a campaign that could prove useful if you're ever in the Netherlands with more money than you deserve, you gold-digging footballers'-wives, you.

For Miljonair Magazine, Kong/Amsterdam launched the 2008 Swiss-German Phrasebook for Footballers' Wives. A new phrase will be added each day of Euro Cup 2008.

Paris Hilton might find today's phrase handy. But I plan to use yesterday's -- "Excuse me, I thought this was supposed to be a luxury gym?" -- later this afternoon, when all those horrifying children start pouring into the local gym's rubber mat area. Being a bitch in Dutch strikes me as potentially more satisfying than being a bitch in Queens English. (And by Queens, I mean the one in New York.)

by Angela Natividad    Jun-16-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Events, Online, Promotions



Even Pissing and Sex Are Considered Sports by Hyundai

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To cement its position as a dedicated supporter and sponsor of all sports - not just Olympics and football championships - Hyundai, with help from Duval Guillaume Brussels has launched a new campaign illustrating its support for even the most obscure sports such as dung beetle ball rolling, office waste basketball, pissing and, my favorite, bedroom Olympics.

Check out all the ads here.

by Steve Hall    Jun-16-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good



AIG Uses Risk-Averse Five-Year-Old to Push Insurance Packages

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Nothing warms the heart like the sight of a kid schooling his parents on the importance of travel insurance.

Also see Did you have a nightmare?: "Dents are easy to fix, but liability's the nightmare! Ah, don't get up. I'll tuck myself in." I kinda want to hug him. Or buy him a graphing calculator.

You know what would be awesome? If this kid and the Umpqua lemonaire got together and built the ultimate risk-free lemonade stand, equipped with biodegradable paper cups (to appease the environmentalists) and curved corners for child safety.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-15-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television



Starbucks Goes Bananas, Mennen Spiffs, Cusack Talks Dirty Politics, Microsoft Bans 'Gay'

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- Can your manly-man hair pass the caress test?

- If a chaste mermaid won't save Starbucks, maybe frozen bananas will. (Ugh, dude.)

- Some celebrities educate the public on the Burma situation; John Cusack tallies similarities between McCain and Bush. MoveOn, as usual, is helping raise money to get the ad on air.

- Apparently the Copyright Nazis are after more than just pirates these days. In the UK, you can be prosecuted for playing music too loud or playing it for callers on hold without a license. From now on, let's just keep all music secret and see how the record industry fares.

- Baseball and the Tour de France aren't the only sports to disillusion one-time fans; almost half of Advertising Age readers believe the NBA rigs its games. I fondly await the day Canadians lose faith in hockey. Oh wait, many - already - have.

- A Microsoft Xbox Live group banned a player because he used "gay" in his gamer tag, "RichardGaywood." Upon discovering that was the guy's name, they BANNED IT ANYWAY. Microsoft, you charmers, you.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-15-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Celebrity, Events, Online, Political