B to B advertising always gets sloppy seconds in the media so we're going to send some clean love to Hanft Raboy & Partners which created this interesting print campaign for its security software client Fortify Software. The print ads feature a forward looking time line highlighting less than desirable results based on a security breach. From the simpler loss of job and, as a result, having to live in one's mother's basement to full scale SkyNet-style Armageddon, the campaign, while exaggerating the extremes, clearly illustrates what can happen in a world run by computers. See all the ads here.
While fast forwarding through the ads in a recent episode of "The O.C.," an ad from the Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign caught our attention with it's DVR-resistant, slow-cut tactic. The ad, with only four "segments" is called Smushed and is part of the Office's Above the Influence effort. Apart from catching our attention by appearing as a "still" while fast forwarding, the imagery of a girl who looked like she'd just stepped out from under an industrial compression-like machine also caused us to stop, rewind and watch the ad.
The ad itself dealt with issues of peer pressure to be cool, to fit in, to drink, to get high, to be popular, to never say the wrong thing. This ad is one of six currently running on MTV, Fuse, The N, FOX, The WB, UPN and others. The online component appears on Yahoo, GameSpy, IGN and print ads appear in 23 magazines including Teen People, Skateboarder, J-14 and Playstation. The entire collection of spots, all of which are very good, and print ads can be seen here.
Creature of culture, Bucky Turco sent along this U.S. Army banner and noted its edgy but odd message. The banner reads, "Use Your Arabic to Help Build Your Future." Of course, innocently, that just means, "hey, one who speaks Arabic, consider joining the Army." Not so innocently, it might mean, "Hey one who speaks Arabic, consider joining the Army and let us use your language skills to hunt down and kill those Arab fuckers." Take your pick but we're sure both notions passed through the minds of those behind this recruitment effort. See the full banner here.
Working with DDB San Francisco, Union Editorial Editor Nicholas Wayman-Harris and Director Douglas Avery have just completed a beautiful, nostalgia-laden spot for Clorox that takes a look, in quick-cut fast-forward-style, at how laundry-related activities, detergents and machines have changed over time except for Clorox which has been doing its job diligently since 1913. It's one of the more ingenious ads we've seen for a product that is both a commodity and a powerful brand at the same time.
We aren't normally a fan of iconic brands drastically changing their image, logo, tagline and overall marketing but we've taken a quick look at the new Absolut campaign from TBWA/Chiat/Day New York and we like it. We really like it. Gone is the bottle, mostly, and gone is the print heavy focus. TV has been added to the mix showing iconic imagery such as an image of Steve McQueen with the tagline, "The Absolute Man," an image of the Statue of Liberty with the tagline, "The Absolute Welcome" and an image of the moon rover with the tagline, 'The Absolute Road Trip." Clearly, the over crowded, hipsteresque vodka landscape has required a different tact for Absolut to set itself apart. This just might work.
Our Canadian correspondent, Sanj, sends us this ad for ezdivorce, a company that specializes in, as the name indicates, divorces. The ad, which appeared in the Toronto Metro paper, carries the ingenious headline, "Holidays Are Over - You Can Stop Pretending Now," giving nod to the perpetual postponement of all thing painful during the Holiday season. Simple. Witty. We like.
Because we never write about radio, know firsthand what cancer is like and, generally, like the straight forward approach this :30 takes, we'd like to draw your attention to a spot created by Scott G for the American Cancer Society. Sometimes, simple is the best approach.
Here's something you don't see in a car commercial every day. BBDO New York has created a spot, for the 2006 Mitsubishi endeavor, in which the entire background is made up of Japanese Origami. It's a bit more interesting than your typical winding mountain road spot.
MSNBC, today, launched the largest BlogAds buy ever according to BlogAds Founder Henry Copeland. To promote its digital day this Wednesday, MSNBC purchased ads on 800 weblogs, including Adrants, more than the Audi BlogAds buy of 286 last spring. From online affairs to porn to bizarreness caught on tape, MSNBC will take a close look at all things digital.
Unfortunately, the page the ad points to isn't very clear on exactly what MSNBC is trying to accomplish. There's all kinds of bloggy stuff on the page which is, perhaps, the point but there's not much emphasis given to the shows being promoted. That may be besides the point as MSNBC knows all 300 bloggers will go to the site, perhaps read a few of MSNBC's blogs, write about what they've read, link back to them and, poof, dramatically increase traffic to MSNBC's blogs. Oops, we just took the bait.
Milking, but brilliantly maximizing the "Hey dude, you left your coffee on the roof of your car" scenario, Starbucks has done just that - left its coffee on the roofs of cars in San Francisco so people will go nuts trying to tell the driver - a paid Starbucks stunt marketer - he's, yes, left his coffee on the roof of his car. Flickr member Thomas Hawk snapped a shot of one of the vehicles and recounts his being had by the stunt.
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