Hasta La Creative!

I studied animation in school, so I have to admit I’m a bit of a sucker for just about anything animated, but the simplicity and effectiveness of this Brazilian anti-smoking campaign is uniquely impressive. The pinscreen-esque animation seems to speak to the message, which is so simple, it works, and provides proof that things don’t need to be complicated to elicit social change.

The simple smokingkillsmore campaign certainly uses a few cigarettes in the process, but the awareness and impact it has well makes up for it.

check out more, including the making of the installation pieces, at osocio.

Theodore MacManus did what every writer wants to do. Pen an add that last well beyond its prescribed useful life. “The Penalty of Leadership” ad ran in as a response to a Packard ad. This simple black and white as has been republished and even mailed out to Cadillac owners. If you are not familiar give it a read.  “In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Wheter the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be mediocre, he will be left severly alone – if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a -wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountback, long after the big would had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions – envy, fear, greeed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains – the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live–lives.” 

 

Now, I’ve always been a fan of the Batman movies. Heck, I grew up with the original being a favorite of mine. As Warner Brothers prepares for its Summer 2008 release of the movie, some of you may have come across the viral websites for the movie. Perhaps you even saw Jeff’s post on the last site to be launched and the scavenger hunt games that users are encouraged to become involved in. However, what I didn’t realize was the extent to which this viral spread. Not only are there several game sites, there are a handful of sites that simply deal with organizations, characters and more from the movie. 33 in all. That’s right, 33 websites all devoted to the launch of The Dark Knight. So… feeling bored? Here’s links to all of them. Enjoy. I’m just going to wait for the movie to come out.

 

Why So Serious, I Believe in Harvey Dent,  Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham, Clown Travel Agency, The Ha Ha Ha Times, The Gotham Times, Maiden Avenue Report, Gotham Cable News, Dana Worthington, Trust Garcetti, Citizens for Batman, Saint Swithuns Church, GVA Foundation, GPDIAD, Gotham Cab, Joseph Candoloro, Gotham Election Board, Gotham City Clerk, Rory’s Death Kiss, Gotham City Rail, Acme Security Systems Homepage, Acme Security Systems Password, We Are the Answer, A Taste for the Theatrical, Gotham Police’s Major Crimes Unit, Gotham Police, Kinsly Travel, Gotham City Ferries, Gotham National Bank, Betty’s House of Pies, Rossi’s Deli, Gotham Intercontinental Hotel, Operation Slipknot.

 

Technorati Tags: Batman, Gotham, The Joker, advertising, viral, websites, marketing, promotion, Harvey Dent, Acme, The Dark Knight, Warner Brothers

 

Flavoured milk has been slowly gaining attention in the UK and to make sure that they are properly penetrated, UK’s leading milkshake brand, Yazoo is set to unveil a new advertising campaign to help build better brand awareness for flavoured milk goods today.

Just like any company that sees a great potential for growth in the market, the best way is to turn to advertising practices to help build on this opportunity. Rarely will you be able to come up with a great product that will surely bring in more customers and sales and with the proper ad placement and market penetration, rest assured that Yazoo will surely jump ahead as far as flavoured milk for the consumer is concerned.

“This new advertising campaign is part of our on-going objective to grow the flavoured milk category and support retailers. A large proportion of the sites have been selected to ensure that we reach people at the point of purchase, keeping Yazoo front of mind.”

The flavoured milk category is one of the key drivers of growth in the soft drinks market.

(Source) Talking Retail

Technorati Tags: yazoo, flavoured milk, advertising, UK, retailers, ad placement, market penetration, consumer

I got into a discussion today with a friend about the Nike and Adidas campaigns and how they address the sport of soccer. I was well-aware of the recent Nike campaign, “Take it to the next level,” but I wasn’t as familiar with what Adidas was up to putting forth. Well I looked around (and watched) and have to say I’m impressed. Adidas produced a documentary surrounding Kaká, Messi, Gerrard and Beckham meeting local football teams in Andorra, San Marino and the Isles of Scilly as part of the film project “Dream Big”.

The production quality of the project is awesome and the feeling that it creates is truly heartwarming. Adidas sending out sports stars to these small cities creates a sense of global awareness and conscience. The concept of “Dream Big” is a strong message that speaks for both Adidas and youth culture in general.

Check out the full-length documentary on youtube: part one and part two.

Food has to be the most essential good that most people will surely buy. Food is among the basic necessities that most people need but it still remains that their benefits will be considered by people as well.

Food is at the top of the heap of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs of man. People need them to survive but they are also particular on what they eat. To ensure that people are not conned into something that will not provide them any good when it comes to digesting, it would be best to make sure that potential markets know what they are bargaining for.

Besides, healthy eating is an obvious practice today and people want to know if what they will be eating is bad or good for their overall health.

Government ministers today welcomed new television food advertising guidelines, saying they were a step forward in tackling New Zealand’s obesity problem.

The New Zealand Television Broadcasters’ council has launched a new Children’s Food Classification system as part of the guidelines for television adverts.

(Source) TV3 News

Technorati Tags: food, maslows hierarchy of needs advertising, television, guidelines, healthy eating

I’ve been staring at this ad for two days trying to figure out if I like it or I don’t.

I love the image on the right. I think it’s clever and pretty.

I don’t like the break in the middle of the page (it appears to be a corner?) because it distracts the text.

I find the usage of “bold” and “light” superfluous in the copy but most of all my nagging is over one word:

“soulmates”

I’m trying to decide if I’m being too tough or if, my initial reaction that it’s just a cookie and the melodrama of the word soulmate is reaching a little high.

I get what the writer is trying to say. I don’t necessarily mind the attributing of human qualities to inanimate objects, which is often death, but can be done well.

But my initial reaction was there are other ways to say what the image is conveying than the use of the word “soulmates”–”together forever,” “a perfect match,” “inseparable,”
“love,” “perfection,” “perfect” etc.

To be honest I kind of scoffed at the use of the word when I first read it, even though I love the image on the right.

While searching for a picture of the ad, I found another take on it, one that not only takes the writer to task for making “soul mates” into “soulmates” but also claims the ad is racist compared to other ads that define chocolate as “the devil:”

Is the primary intent selling cookies or white supremacy?

…

When studying the racist idea of chocolate over white you clearly see it defined as a devil

When it is white over black it uses captions that are definitively described as Angel’s food. In the case of the ad with the white male image and the black female image it clearly reads soulmates.

Even the written grammar “soul mates” in the Pepperidge farm ad becomes a conjunction and is now one word thus you have soulmates. Angel’s food and Soulmates both quantify as a relative meaning. The further you go into this mindset the more disturbing this behavior gets (pathological).

Comedian and Writer Warren Hutcherson used to have a great bit on how is father could find racism in foods at the grocery store (green olives are in clear jars, black olives are in cans; white Frosted Flakes are “great” but black Cocoa Puffs make you go cuckoo, etc.)

After reading this guy’s take on the Milano advertising, ironically enough my reaction was the same as the first time I saw the word “soulmates.”

“Dude, it’s just a cookie”

Technorati Tags: Pepperidge Farms, Milano, cookies, racism, copywriting, Warren Hutcherson, reading too much into things

Subaru has been making a fairly large push lately for their Forrester, and one of the cornerstones of the messaging push is the fact that the Forrester is sexy. While my allegiances to European auto runs strong and I’ve never been particularly blown away by Subaru, this Subaru Canada spot from DDB Toronto is doing a good deal to change my opinion.

With a soundtrack from Electric Six, the spot is bizarrely beautiful and oddly humorous. I’ll be chuckling for the rest of the day. I suppose my opinion of Subaru (based primarily on advertising) is beginning to shift for the better.

Last week, I posted a blog about the announcement of this year’s One Show winners. I received a comment questioning my belief that winners of The Golden Pencil help to shape advertising to come. In this post, I’m going to share with you why. Just today, while brainstorming with fellow creatives at work, we flipped through this past December’s Communication Arts Advertising Annual for inspiration. It is my personal opinion that things like the Ad Annual, The One Show, Cannes Lions and the Addys are all important in shaping what’s to come in advertising. Why, you ask? Work from all over the world is looked at with these competitions. Some of the best ads I have seen in my life have received this coveted awards, and I can only hope to one day have one of my own. I’m not saying they shape advertising in a sense that these brilliant ideas will be ripped off and re-done, etc. but that when I look at ads like this, I feel inspired. It makes me want to think outside of the box… to be the next to come up with that great idea, that great execution or that great headline. While all out there may not agree, that’s fine. But I can’t believe you could have your heart and soul in this industry and truly not trying to create award-winning work. To each his own, but I will always stand by my previous post and this one. As a special treat, check out some of my favorite winners of last year’s Cannes Lions – as the 2008 festival will be upon us sooner than later!

  

Technorati Tags: awards, Cannes, Gold Lion, Grand Prix, Addys, One Show, One Club, advertising

We all know how it is to make the unique concepts in the world today and apparently, putting a touch of drama into the commercial advertising flicks we see today is something that will capture the attention of most consumers to date.

Products often have to create catchy storylines for them to get noticed. It all has to be in line with what the product has to offer and once compiled, you will find that your creative commercial can be a hit advertising medium especially if placed and targeted towards the proper audience it should be effectively exposed to.

Technorati Tags: clean, advertising, medium, commercial, concepts, drama, audience