August 2006

Here’s the latest Nike SB spot featuring some cool special effects. The only problem with this ad is that it starts off slow, making me almost want to change the channel/click stop(then again, that may just be the ADD kicking in). There also is absolutely no shot of the new shoe. However, I did like how at the end of the spot, the skater(Paul Rodriguez) looks back at the camera and shrugs his shoulders, as if he’s just as “mystified” with what happened as the viewer. This falls perfectly in line with the Nike SB - Freestyle ad that came out a while ago.

Done by Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo and produced by HSI Productions.

It’s an old and common practice that sex, cute animals, and babies can sell pretty much anything. Well, here’s one more example of that strategy in use. Done by Assignment Group Auckland, this spot features a cute baby who steals the keys of his parents car for an adventure in joyriding. After riding around town, the young driver picks up another baby(female hitchhiker of course) and heads ‘out west.’ Interesting to note that the baby is shown wearing his seatbelt, how he reaches that, or the pedals for that matter, is still unknown.

This spot would not be complete without the obligatory closing scene of the baby surfing… It’s all been done before(well, maybe not the surf scene), but that still doesn’t stop me from liking it, even though it’s more “cutesy” than “earth shattering.”

ripped from ‘Boards.

To promote their latest Purell effort, JWT Toronto came up with this unique “ambient”(the UK version of what we call “guerrilla”) campaign where they placed stickers on the cover of magazines in doctor’s waiting rooms. The stickers have tags like: “Thumbed Through By Sick People Since October 2005,”Gently Sneezed on Since October 2002,” and “Exposing Patients to More Than Germs Since November 1998.” Clever idea, although I bet the doctors were not too pleased with having their patients think that they were endagering their health by providing magazines while they wait.

The stickers call out the campaign website, www.washyourhands.tv, although as of this morning there is only a flash loading bar simulating how long it takes to “properly” wash your hands(Their answer: forever) and then a link to the Purell Website. I think that a logo would have been much better than a website. Afterall, the only thing people remember after a visit to the doctor is what the doctor told them, not the magazines that they pretended to flip through before their appointment.

The other day I stumbled across a few advertisements from the 1950’s and I was reminded of back when I was younger and would sift through old TIME magazines in my grandparent’s garage. I remembered how I enjoyed the story that all the Norman Rockwell style ads would tell through use of imagery. For instance, in the first ad above, even Father Time is perplexed by the GE brand refrigerator. Notice that the cooler is on what is likely to be the moon, as if the product was light years beyond what was currently on the market! Then in the second ad, it shows Hunt’s Tomato Catsup as being, “Deliciously Yours!” Even in the 50’s and 60’s, brand loyalty was sought after with ads prodding the consumer to make Hunt’s your brand. This practice is still done today as seen with all the campaigns aimed at creating user generated content as a way of both personalizing and promoting the brand through consumer usage.

Then I stumbled across this gem:
There is no way you would ever see this in any form other than an anti-meat ad. I’m not even going to comment on the copy, however, I will comment on how disgusting those hamburger patties look. I guess that’s just one more advancement in advertising that we’ve grown accustomed to: food photography. Never again will you see a fatty, greasy burger on a stained tray. Instead you’ll only see food that looks so good that it would have to be plastic in order for it to be real.

Here is a gallery of ads that I’ve pulled from Plan59(Definitely worth checking out, I only pulled the ones that I liked, there are a bunch more up there).

This is only the tip of the iceberg when comparing ads from the 1950’s to today. So much has changed but at the same time, a lot of the concepts behind the ads are still the same: Make the user relate to the product, promise a better life, tell a convincing story, or everyones favorite - use sex(or the promise of sex).

I wonder what strategies used today will still be in use 30 years from now. Anyone care to take a guess?

Here is another magazine ad which utilizes a creative way to get the consumer interested in their product. This one, however, is not to draw new customers, but rather to develope a community with existing ones. Done by Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners for MINI USA, this ad can be found in this months issue of Blender and Maxim Magazine.

This campaign falls in line with what Shine’s CEO Greg Sturn said last December about their proposal, “[that] It is basically about the evangelical community of owners (of Minis) and creating technological platforms that recognize those owners and allows them to do what they do — which is be evangelical about the brand.” He said the agency’s pitch to the company was titled “Evolving the Mini brand without screwing it up.”

I think they’ve succeeded at not “screwing it up.” Every MINI owner was mailed a little black box containing a book entitled, “A Dizzying Look At The Awsomeness of Small.” At the end of the book is a “secret” compartment hiding a few gadgets that are meant to be used with upcoming advertisements. One of them happens to be the magic window decryptor capable of showing us the secret text. The hidden message drives the user(no pun intended) over to a Citizens for Fair Insect Treatment website. From there the user can click on a couple funny features of the site, ultimately leading them to yet another site which is part of the MINI Take The States promotion. Overall I thought this was a crafty way of making the MINI owner feel like he/she is part of a community. CP&B set the creative bar pretty high with their previous MINI campaigns and it looks like BSSP will not disappoint. Also included in the MINI “spy kit” are two other decoders - some red tinted glasses and the “super secret decoder” (a card with holes cut at strategic points).

My only critique is that this campaign could have been done in a way that both cultivated existing mini-owners as well as enticing non-mini owners rather than alienating them. Also, what if the MINI owner lost(or threw out) their “magic window decryptor?”

All images courtesy of Ian Cull from GBMINI.net