We've seen plenty of evidence in the ad world of P. Diddy's self-deluded worldview: Ciroc Vodka, Burger King, Unforgivable.
Even so, I still choked a little upon catching sight of this two-page spread for I Am King, the direct and to-the-point moniker for his newest fragrance. Copy and packaging are flanked by The Man himself, tux-clad and perpetually defiant.
Diggin' how the spread lacks a sampler. Guess you're supposed to take it on faith that if Diddy shits it, it reeks of rosepetal.
It's funny about this subsite. For a few seconds I seriously thought it was for a phone called the Pomegranate NS08 -- which I had already begun to covet more than anything else I've ever wanted, ever.
Then I realized it's unlikely that a phone -- even one with email, internet, GPS, music and a camera -- will actually shave your face, brew coffee or double as a harmonica. (Though it's easy to picture scenarios where all those value-adds would be useful.) So, taking my cues from the site motif, I concluded this must be a campaign promoting the universal merits of the pomegranate fruit.
I hit "Release Date" and got a message that kind of seemed to corroborate my theory:
Someday you'll be able to get everything you want in one device. Today you can get everything you want in one place.
Followed by the product reveal, which did blow my mind because it struck me as so utterly improbable:
"Nova Scotia."
Wait, what?
And that's pretty much all the PR people have going for it. The idea behind "Recess is on" is for Morgan Hotel Group to look like a bad-ass place to party amidst the crippling buzzkill of a recession.
See minimalist rebel prints:
o Don't Jump. Dance.
o Fuck the recession. Powerful in brevity.
o Fuck the recession -- reprise. This ad also includes a letter written by Morgan Hotel Group to a personified Recession, flippantly declaring its intention to raise hell and whatnot. "Fuck off" is written at bottom in surprisingly girly script. (I think a sharp, all-caps and slightly Nicholson-esque "FUCK OFFFFFFFFFfff" would have done the job better.)
The website, linked above, also includes an epilepsy-inducing :60 video that'll be projected upon some unfortunate building. Or not. Word has it the creative will be changed and repeated use of "fuck" will be scrubbed.
"Whatever happened to defiance?" the rep from Pronto Stockholm asked us. Well, fuck if we know.
Last week, international underwear brand Sloggi held its second annual World Most Beautiful Bottom "Show me your Sloggi" competition at Club Quartier Latin in Paris. Out of 11,200 entrants who submitted photos to Sloggi, 46 finalists from 29 countries were selected with the aid of 31 million voters and a panel of seven judges including supermodel Adriana Karembeu, ESA Astronaut (huh?) Paolo NesPoli, conceptual artist Stan Murmur, FHM Editor in Chief Lomig Guillo, Invista Global's Michelle Rice Sloggi Global Brand Manager Thomas Herreiner and 2007 Sloggi winner Kristina Dimitrova.
The winners? Brazilian 20-year-old Melanie Nunes Fronckowiak had best female bottom, while French 27-year-old Saiba Bombote was named the most beautiful male bottom.
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Ingredient brand Intel has decided to dip its toes in the lemming-filled waters of marketing nirvana, otherwise known as social media, with Digital Drag Race, a competition which pits professional digital designers against one another mixed with a consumer-generated aspect for non-professionals.
Launching November 17, a collection of professional designers will spend 70 minutes on a computer powered by the brand new Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Processor using Abobe Creative Suite 4 to create a 17 second motion graphic using supplied assets; video, music, vector images. The content of the videos are to center on the themes of power, speed and innovation.
After each race, judges will select competitors with the best final product. The first two digital drag races will be unveiled on the Digital Drag Race site on November 17th, after which site visitors will be able to view and vote for their favorite designs.
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To compel holiday shoppers to try Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash, Creature organized the Re-Gift Rap Battles, which will hit shopping malls in most major cities coast to coast.
Imagine White Elephant, except with a persuasion element: participants grab a wrapped gift -- a nose hair trimmer, ceramic cat, backscratcher -- then rap about it to another contestant. At each event, eight contestants will be sifted through four rounds, after which a winner and the worst holiday gift will be named.
Somewhat more exciting than pulling a sampler afternoon at Costco. Think Jin the Bay Area wonder will come out and play?
November in Canada sucks. There's neither sun nor snow, no Thanksgiving, no Obamamania to call their own.
So what's the best way to stick it to a month that's gunning for your unhappiness? The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, where you can watch, like, horses and ... stuff.
zig, the Toronto-based agency entrusted with "[making] an agricultural and equestrian show sexy to city slickers," came up with the ultimate anti-November manifesto, which, after all the doom and gloom, positions the Royal Fair as the ultimate pastime in a month when no fun can be found. Anywhere.
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"You can wear this to a club, you can wear this while you get jiggy ... you can wear this just to have a latte!" gushes an Alexander McQueen Puma sneaker promoter on the revamped Honeyshed, which hopes to give QVC's bauble-loving enthusiasts a run for their money.
Also, product models aren't 65 pounds overweight ... and sometimes they breakdance. You know you want those Alexander McQueen velcro shoes now.
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Probably because the bulls-eye has more brand cachet than she does, Christina Aguilera's paired up with Target to promote Keeps Gettin' Better, a premature greatest-hits album buttressed by a handful of mediocre new tracks.
The ad features Aguilera in superhero Target garb, breaking through comic book frames like a cross between Frank Miller's Sin City and a less saucy version of Britney Spears' Toxic. It's infectious, mostly because Target knows how to play with the colour red. But it took a coupla watches to positively ID the once-ultra-visible pop diva.
Keeps Gettin' Better is available exclusively at the big-box. Possessed of timeless classics like Genie in a Bottle, Dirrty and something called Genie 2.0, we (don't) highly recommend it.
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- Be a GAMER. Made of steel. Video game school will show you how.
- The US Army is using webcasts by overseas soldiers to bait new recruits. The series is called -- wait for it! -- "Straight from Iraq." Soldiers are ready to take your questions.
- Keep up with Advergirl's social manifesto on how companies are using social media. It's illustrated!
- To remind us all how with-it and un-stodgy it is, Microsoft (I guess?) sends rats skydiving. Sick 'em, PETA.
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by Angela Natividad
Nov-11-08
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Guerilla, Online, Opinion, Political, Promotions, Research, Strange
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