Hasta La Creative!

I’ve always been a fan of Onitsuka Tigers, and most of the advertising and marketing over the past few years, like the Hero Breath cans, has certainly piqued my interest, but this newest campaign might just surpass all the others.

I’d heard the “Made of Japan” tag in the past and knew of the “Electric Tiger Land” concept but the end result thus far is more impressive than I’d anticipated. I could go on about the branding and messaging behind this round of Tiger marketing, but what strikes me most is the actual physical execution.

The fact that Strawberryfrog Amsterdam and R&D/product design firm Freedom of Creation teamed up to execute something fairly monumental is both impressive and refreshing. Today, there are many people (many of my good friends included) who would jump at the chance to entirely digitally create a world like that of the shoe above. It could be done fairly easily. But the fact that it wasn’t is beautiful.

The fact that Freedom of Creation actually went as far as to design the meter-long shoe and other branding accessories like a mini-led-shoe-USB stick is just perfect. And it speaks to the heritage and design sense that Asics is trying to keep alive with the Onitsuka line. The branding and message they’re communicating is great, but the fact that their methods speak directly to their means is superb. Check out the “making of” video below, and if you want more details, photos, etc, check out the Tiger page on FOC’s site here.

Technorati Tags: advertising, shoes, asics, tiger, onitsuka, beyond madison avenue

If you like cute, to the point, relatively engaging commercials that are (almost) single-focused, you’ll like this introductory commercial for the then all-new Toyota Yaris. And, as my mind wanders to ease the pain of filling my gas tank each week, I dream of driving a car that sucks less gas. And, then I think of this commercial and the Toyota Yaris.

Well, this :30 spot does just about everything I need it to do (except maybe a quick shot of its interior). It playfully, but powerfully, mocks the big, bad oil company’s grip on us by (literally) cutting the gas pumps down to size — and then trampling them before sucking the little bit of gasoline the small Yaris tank needs. The Yaris, spinning about on an all-white background and floor (to show off the vehicle) cruises off after the quick fill-up – and human-like belch – while having an impressive “40 MPG Rated” superimposed prominently.

When the Yaris circles back around it splits into two — to exhibit both the 4-door and 2-door coupe options – superimposing the attractive price of “starting at $12,405″. Enough said…40 MPG, for under $15,000, built with assumed Toyota’s high quality, and pretty good looking. I’ll take two!

Technorati Tags: Toyota, Yaris, commercial, beyond madison avenue

As much as I enjoy them, it’s refreshing to see travel/hotel advertising without Shatner or that gnome. Renaissance Hotels, cleverly referencing their namesake, has created a new series of print ads in which they’ve taken classic Renaissance paintings like Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Leonardo’s The Last Supper and re-created with a hotel flair. The references to real-life hotel features adds a nice touch and takes it beyond a simple parody. The background of the venus is inspired by a pool at Renaissance Orlando Resort at Seaworld while the the portico below echoes the arches on the facade of the Renaissance Hamburg Hotel. The art historian in me wants to balk, but the execution is well-done and shows a definite appreciation of the original artwork. I’m enjoying them.

Equally interesting is their website which carries on the “renaissance” mentality beautifully. The images have hotspots bringing up more details like hotel amenities and even cocktail recipes & wine pairings. The site kept my attention for a few minutes, and even had a random and enjoyable surprise here and there. In a market where hotels and cheap often tend to go hand-in-hand, it’s always interesting to see hotel advertising in general-market channels going the other way with their message.

via

Technorati Tags: advertising, hotel, renaissance, Beyond Madison Avenue

The world’s smallest ad?! Check out this clever use of print. Love it or hate it, it gets noticed just like the those pesky pimples it promises to vanquish. The latest work for Clearasil from Euro RSCG Düsseldorf, Germany uses a “specially created pimple sticker” to instantly turn the covers of popular youth magazines into Clearasil Ads. The back of the sticker drives to clearasil.com, and due to high demand they are producing more of the stickers to be used as giveaways. Yeah, I know I can’t wait to cover my Trapper Keeper in pimple stickers — so cool! Still, it’s a really smart use of media. Just wish they would have given a little more thought to the online experience. Once you get there, it’s just another generic product site. Why not replicate the print experience there? Let people upload photos, pimple-ize them and share them with friends? Seems like a huge missed opportunity — almost as big that pimple. How can you miss it?
Technorati Tags: review, advertising, beyond madison avenue

As we all know, brands are living things. They can get sick, they can get tired, or they can thrive and become energetic. The getting better/mending (and potential positive turnabout) is off to a good start with this relatively recent branding ad for Saturn automobiles. In fact, I really dig this ad!

Saturn was one of the only GM brands that had darling status in the industry when it was introduced some 22 years ago. But in the last decade, Saturn has endured a steady erosion of brand equity and sales of its automobiles. Part of the decline was due to unimaginative automobiles given to it by GM — but, getting away from its original branding has also played a role.

This “Rethink American” ad and platform re-make of the Saturn brand has me optimistic about the division’s future. The ad is thought-provoking in a more global consequential way, as well as informative about the Saturn line-up. It sizes up that things change — how we once viewed things, now mean something else. And, with Saturn’s 5 new models, commitment to affordable hybrids, and a 100,000 mile (5 year powertrain) warranty, it may be worth giving this brand another look.

As the ad’s uplifting rock music articulates in the end, I may be ready to “come around”. Good idea, good execution, and good luck turning the corner resurrecting the Saturn brand.

Technorati Tags: GM, Saturn, Brands, Rethink American, Beyond Madison Avenue

I don’t know about you, but as I watched my fair share of football this holiday season, I was belted with another huge amount of automobile ads. Some were okay, some were pitiful, and a couple just seemed to hit the mark.

So, in the spirit of the season, I’ll just speak to one that seemed to do all the right things with just the right weight, just the right way. It did not blow me away with brilliance, but captured my attention enough to make me sit through the :30 stint and come away with the message and a decent feeling.

This is the newest version of “The Happy Honda Days”. The festive seasonal music played while the various red Honda vehicles cruised slowly between huge red baubles set up along the stark white floor and backdrop. The cars were the stars and we even caught a 2-3 second glimpse of one of the car’s attractive interiors.

The message was about all the great deals we could get on the new Hondas in stock including the Accord, the “popular Civic”, the “fun-loving Fit“, etc. The commercial concluded with an attractive lease offer on the mainstay 2008 Honda Accord LX for $259/month (for 36 months) with $2,606 down at signing (including the security deposit). Affordable, simple, and practical. Sounds like Honda, eh? Happy Honda Days!

Technorati Tags: honda days, commercial, beyond madison avenue

HELLLLLOOOOOOOO EVERYBODY – Although I doubt any of my posts from here to eternity will incite as much ire as my “Can’t Wanda Sykes go away” post, I feel some perspective… or lists or “best of” are always a good way to sum up periods of time because as trite as they are, they sure do get people’s blood boiling.

This first one for me is this: what is the best TV spot this year? My choice is Tiger Beer, Reincarnation. And although there were some great ones I am obviously not choosing, this one cracked me the hell up.

Technorati Tags: wanda sykes, tv spot, beyond madison avenue