Hasta La Creative!

Renault has come up with this fun ad to display make believe scenarios of what people would prefer to be doing rather than being stuck in traffic.

Initially some of the drivers stuck in rush hour seem a little frustrated, sticking their heads out their windows and looking quite aggravated. A few s…

(TrendHunter.com) Miley Cyrus, the 15-year-old Hannah Montana star and a face of the Disney empire, says she regrets posing for a risque photo shoot in an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair. The photos were shot by famed photographer Annie Leibowitz for the June issue of the magazine. Miley, who was accompanied by her fat…

When I filled up my Pathfinder yesterday, I realized that $3.54/gallon means a $70 tank–double what it cost me a short time ago. Naturally, this type of inflation has dire consequences for the economy.

For the first time since 1980, consumers are driving less. Last year, the amount of miles driven declined 0.4%. The previous two years had been flat. Prior to that, the amount of miles had grown 3-5% each year.

Brandweek explores some of the behavioral changes taking place as Americans keep it in “park.”

91% of consumers claim they have changed their shopping behavior due to various rising prices in the U.S. economy.

One of the categories getting hit the hardest is restaurants. Last year, customer traffic was up only 0.7%. More than half of financially challenged consumers surveyed said they are stocking up, preparing more meals at home and using leftovers.

The article also says Coca-Cola and PepsiCo will feel the pinch as transportation and raw materials costs rise. “It’s squeezing everybody’s margins,” said Gary Hemphill, managing director at Beverage Marketing, New York. “Beverages are price sensitive, there is only so much you can pass onto the consumer.”

Brandweek believes strong branding is more important than ever, as it’s that much harder to motivate purchase. I believe they are correct, but if gas prices continue to rise at this rate, it’s not going to matter much. People simply won’t have the disposable income it takes to make non-essential purchases.

[UPDATE] Now that I’ve had the chance to read the front page of Sunday’s New York Times, I see this topic is on the media’s mind. The Times says middle- and working-class consumers are starting to switch from name brands to cheaper alternatives.

In Ohio, Holly Levitsky is replacing the Lucky Charms cereal in her kitchen with Millville Marshmallows and Stars, a less expensive store brand. In New Hampshire, George Goulet is no longer booking hotel rooms at the Hilton, favoring the lower-cost Hampton Inn. And in Michigan, Jennifer Olden is buying Gain laundry detergent instead of the full-price Tide.

Two new campaigns for Olympus and Bynolyt illustrate the power of their binoculars in two fun, but totally different ways.

Bynolyt goes for the distance with its Eskimo ad that shows an attractive girl in her underwear slapping a guy who was spying on her with his Bynolyt binoculars. The creative …

Trend Hunter has told you about Polyvore before, a website that allows you to make photo collages by hand picking the hautest fashions from a huge collection of websites, from Style.com to Bluefly.com. Not only is it great exposure for bigger online fashion stores, but it’s also an exceptional way t…

Only could the remaining few Siberian Tigers talk, they’d tell us that our consumption is the most dangerous trap.

Advertising Agency: JWT, Taipei, Taiwan
Creative Directors: Michael Dee, I-Fei Chang
Art Directors: Ken Wu, Tom Huang
Copywriter: Ivy Lu

A lot of people make fun of me for going crazy with highlights and color coding, but the Rainbow Bookshelf takes organization but hue to an extreme.

Chotda organized his extensive library by jacket color, putting all red books, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple together, in the order of the r…

Following up on last year’s Pioneer Kuro campaign, here are some more misplaced mouths, part of a campaign from Saatchi Switzerland for some sort of throat lozenge. See one more execution here, via Copyranter and Ads of the World. Over at the latter site, a commenter points to another instance of the freaky moved-mouth theme: two TV spots, here and here, in which aching shoulders and wrists literally cry for relief.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

(TrendHunter.com) Trend Hunter has told you about Polyvore before, a website that allows you to make photo collages by hand picking the hautest fashions from a huge collection of websites, from Style.com to Bluefly.com. Not only is it great exposure for bigger online fashion stores, but it’s also an exceptional way t…

It’s not clear why Marc by Marc Jacobs footwear would want to associate themselves with a skunk but that’s what they’ve done with a recent in-store promotion.