Spoofing its own "UnAustralian" ad featuring Sam Kekovich, BMF Australia, in its Christmas card, tells advertisers to "increase the size of your budgets, decrease the size of your Legos logos, make better ads and make sure you put me in them." While we have no idea what the Legos (note, he said Legos, not Lego), reference means, Kekovich says he's sick of watching bad advertising such as singing families in breakfast commercials and women having orgasms to sell shampoo and says "you don't have to make ads dull enough to sedate hyperactive Australian Idol contestants just to sell your products."
To explain the power of good advertising, Kekovich tells marketers, "Take my lamb ad. it won loads of awards and sold shitloads of lamb." And to those in charge of business, Kekovich says, "the research-driven, penny-pinching, logo-loving CEOs out there may disagree with me but they can get stuffed." Such a delightful, however very true, holiday greeting. Give it a watch.
A new online campaign for the Jennifer Anniston, Kevin Coster movie Rumor Has It has played sweetly into our fluff and puffery-filled world of journalistic nonsense. Online marketing firm Pod Digital Design has created RumorMaker, a site that lets visitors create their own front page tabloid scandal about a friend complete with photograph and snarkish commentary. If there's no photo or snark available, visitors can choose from several provided choices. We couldn't resist temptation and had a bit of fun with Alex Bogusky and his hair.
In an elaborate marketing hoax, it appears the Sony PlayStation2 game Shadow of the Colossus is being promoted with sitings of giant, unexplained archaeological findings around the world. Three large, prehistoric entities have, reportedly, been found - one in India following the tsunami, one in the Sulu sea and one in Bam, Iran following an earthquake. There's even video news footage from the Indian finding to go along with the hoax.
Fueling the notion this is all just a big marketing ploy - albeit a grand and intriguing one - Joystig points out all this information appeared at the same time just this week, an anonymous tip pointed them out, there's the predictable blog (with a podcast) and two of the site's follow that tired, Geocities-like, "this site is so bad it has to be real" design strategy.
One has to admit, it is quite admirable the lengths to which a company with boatloads of money will go to get its products talked about. One also has to question the potential backlash of such an elaborate lie.
We know the Internet is full of lame, cheesy, oddball promotions but this one sure grabbed our attention. On SaveMyFinger.com an man calling himself Carl Valentine made a bet with his "internet marketer" millionaire friend he could send 2 million people to SaveMyFinger by April 18, 2006. If Valentine succeeds, he will play his friend in a poker match to win the million dollars. If Valentine fails to generate 2 million visitors to the site, he will play his friend in a poker match to keep his right index finger. That's right. If Valentine doesn't achieve 2 million visitors and loses the poker match, he will also lose his finger.
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Media culture group Stay Free has created a spoof drug site calling attention to the idiocy most drug companies place or are required to place on their sites and in their ads. The site is for a fictitious drug called Panexa by MERD which is "a prescription drug that should only be taken by patients experiencing one of the following disorders: metabolism, binocular vision, digestion (solid and liquid), circulation, menstruation, cognition, osculation, extremes of emotion." That covers just about everyone.
And in a nod to either people's idiocy, drug company's idiocy or everyone's propensity to sue the asses off one another, the site lists several situations in which Panexa should not be used: - PANEXA should not be used as a physical aid to set a broken bone, as in the case of a splint;
- PANEXA should not be used as a substitute for real human relationships; the tablets (and gel-coated caplets) are incapable of displaying any real emotion, and would prove to be dissatisfying friends or mates;
- PANEXA should not be used to soak up spills or remove stains. This is disrespectful to PANEXA;
- PANEXA should not be resold with the intent of generating a personal profit;
- PANEXA should not be used a form of motive transport, as it lacks the government regulated (US DOT 1445/88-4557) safety lights and reflectors;Women with uteruses should consider avoiding PANEXAor moving to a state or province where the concentration of PANEXA is lesser;
- Do not taunt PANEXA.
Product Invasion, the folks behind Subservient Donald are, again, taking on product placement proliferation, this time with Survivor, and have created some spoof footage of Survivor's Jerry Manthey in which producer's urge her to shill for Home Depot, Scope, Dawn, and Pepsi. While it's a bit over the top, it still calls attention to the maddening and overly forced attempts by marketers and networks to shamelessly shill.
Marina Dell Ray-based Ignited Minds wins the prize this year for first Holiday "card." The agency created a website for fictitious heavy metal band Karkis which includes a video, discussion boards, wallpaper, discography and all the other usual band site paraphanalia. It sure seems like a while lot of work an expense just to say Happy Holidays. If you choose to watch the video, be prepared to wait a very, very...uh...very long time for it to download.
The agency also placed an ad with the headline, "Karkis challenges every band in this paper to a knife fight," in LA Weekly promoting the site which you can see here.
Copyranter (hey, we knew there were more ranters out there) points to a real estate ad in the New York Times Magazine for One Carnegie Hall that clearly states who is and who is not welcome to live at this address. The copy reads, "Dad's a surgeon at Mt. Sinai. Mom works at Sotheby's. Tyler is at Dalton. Baby sis is on the way." While that paints an airy picture of New York's upper crust, Copyranter translates the ad into reality here.
Seems this has been out and about for a month or so but don't you ever wonder what goes on inside the bowels of Verizon Wireless as they continually upgrade their network so their ad campaign is honest? Watch this video and you'll see how.
British Columbia production and voice talent company Wayne Kozak Audio Productions has some funny stuff buried deep on its website. It seems someone at Wayne Kozak is having fun with CD covers and has created one called March of the Tampons and Other Feminine Hygiene Tunes. Other include STD Moments: Pharmaceutical Company Classics, Wrist Slitting Tear Jerkers and our favorite, Dance of the Large Breasted Skank, Music For Your Beer Commercial. Who knew production company employees were so humorous?
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