Upside Down Window Used to Get Agency Publicity

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Oops. Looks like one of the windows on the new Frank Gehry-designed building for IAC/InterActiveCorp in West Chelsea was installed upside down and was noticed by Sugartown Creative whose offices are nearby. Of course, it's all just a promotional stunt to garner press for IAC/InterActive and/or Sugartown which we've just given them. Of course the PR person forgot to send us any links to these two companies and we are way too lazy to figure them out for ourselves.

by Steve Hall    Jul-20-06    
Topic: Agencies, Promotions, Strange



Puke And Advertising Don't Mix

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There's two reasons why US Airways' decision to place advertising on air sickness bags is pointless and stupid. First off, when was the last time you puked on a plane or actually looked for or even found an air sickness bag? Not a smart media buy if you're trying to reach a crowd. Second, during the act of puking, are you normally able to focus on anything other than making sure you properly projectile the substance from your stomach? Oh, and third, do you really want to look at the bag after you fill it with puke? The only benefit any advertiser will receive from making a buy on puke bags is the press that will surround the first advertiser who decides to do so.

We'd love to see the measurement metrics on this ad medium as well. Cost Per Puke? Gallons of Puke Per Flight? Any media planner care to weigh in on this?

by Steve Hall    Jul-19-06    
Topic: Bad, Specialty, Strange



Virgin Money Says Don't Over-Extend

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While this spot, created by Maverick Media does nothing to tell us what Virgin Money is, it does capitalize on the oldest male desire in the book; to have a member so large wearing a Speedo (not that that's ever a good thing) becomes an impossibility and sex requires one to frustratingly endure the girlfriend's hour-long loosening up period prior to sending in the insertion order.

by Steve Hall    Jul-19-06    
Topic: Commercials, Strange



Abraham Lincoln And Talking Beaver Shill Drug

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Adrants reader James Baldiga sends us this decidedly weird promotion for sleep drug Rozerem which features Abraham Lincoln, a talking beaver and a guy who can't sleep. The three explain healthy sleep and how the company's drug can put you to sleep when you can't do so yourself. Drug ads are boring. Sleeping pills are mundane. The combination of Abraham Lincoln, a talking beaver, a guy who can't sleep and a drug company promoting its sleeping pill are not.

by Steve Hall    Jul-18-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Strange



Time Sheets Suck

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Well, it's definitely not Numa Numa but, then again, time sheets are not that fun. These two German singers from Datebeat stopped by some German agency to do their rendition of "Time Reports."

by Steve Hall    Jul-18-06    
Topic: Good, Strange



Bud Light Creates Zagar, Transplanted Tribal Dude

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Bud Light has created this Aborigine-like guy called Zagar and featured him on his own website and blog written by his "roommate," Steve. Videos on the site follow the the Crocodile Dundee-like, fish-out-of-water antics that come with cultural transplantation. Some of its funny. Some of its lame. The site has all the usual wallpapers, AIM icons and downloads and there's also a Flickr page and the very bloggy blog written by Steve which has all the required bloggy blog bells and whistles. So far, there are three posts that point to the three videos on the site. One wonders how long Bud Light will go to the expense of creating videos to foster blog content given that they are TV commercial quality.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jul-18-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Online, Strange, Weblogs



The Battle: Ad Agencies Versus SEO Firms

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Tribble Ad Agency which isn't really an ad agency but rather a search engine marketing firm or an agency that offers SEO or a just parody site designed to crap on the current state of the ad agency business has caused a debate between ad agency types and search engine marketing folks who are jockeying for position as to who's best suited to handle a company's online marketing. We think the SEO guys are a little bit more right than the ad agency guys.

In announcing their launch last month, Tribble had this to say, "Tribble Ad Agency has opened it's doors and launched our blog to consume companies' ad budgets and deliver next to nothing by way of online ROI. We promise to build your website all in flash so it never ranks in the search engines. We also like to use image navigation with complex DHTML menus that are unspiderable and employ random 'keywords'." And it goes on deliciously from there.

by Steve Hall    Jul-17-06    
Topic: Agencies, Strange



Oral Fixation Takes Over Ad Industry

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I really wasn't going to comment on this ad but after reporting mouth-shaped urinals were removed from a McDonald's in the Netherlands because they were seen as perversely sexual by a visiting American, I just wonder what that person would think of this girl's open mouth, ready to receive objects that, apparently, need oral attention. Aside from all that, the not so smart thought of opening a bottle with one's mouth and the fact this just looks like a mock up some art director wished actually ran somewhere, it's not a bad ad.

by Steve Hall    Jul-13-06    
Topic: Opinion, Point of Purchase, Strange



Politically Correct, Sexually Closeted Attitude Causes Urinal Removal

Leave it to the politically correct, sexually squeamish mind of an American to become so offended by those red-lipped, mouth-shaped urinals in a Netherlands McDonald's, the person's complaints caused the owner to remove them. Yes, we Americans are, for the most part, an oversensitive bunch so caught up in our fervent desire not to do anything that might remotely cause bad vibes for a person or a particular group of people, we read negativity into almost everything. The designer of the toilets, Meike van Schijndel, said the toilets were designed to be cartoonish and not represent a woman's mouth. Of course, way back in 2004 when they first appeared at New York's JFK airport, we didn't know how to react either.

by Steve Hall    Jul-13-06    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Strange, Trends and Culture



Agency Offers Internship to Best Head Butt Subtitle Writer

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Quickly capitalizing on that whole World Cup head butt thing, Belgian communications agency Mortierbrigade has created a site where people can subtitle the video of what Materazzi said to Zidane prior to the head butt. The agency will offer a copywriting internship to the person who they think writes the best subs.

by Steve Hall    Jul-12-06    
Topic: Agencies, Strange