OMG, it's OMD! Oh My Disney is Disney's new blog, and it aims to capitalize on all the Disney legacy it can. You know how every few months some Disney-related quiz floats by, like "Which Disney princess are you?" or "Would you like to relive beloved vestiges of your childhood?" Well, that was other people making clicks off Disney's stuff! Now, with OMD, Disney will be making the bank off important posts like "10 Paperman Gifs to Make You Believe in Destiny" and "You Know You're a '90s Disney Kid When…" It's the right bite-sized strategy for our sharable times and the perfect thing to distract us from the news that Disney has no hand-drawn features planned.
It's Friday, so here's an ad from Indonesia graphically illustrating the perils of not using a Hygienex disposable paper toilet-seat cover. "Save yourself from bad ass," says the copy. I don't know. Seems kind of alarmist.
Capital One pitchman Alec Baldwin gets an assist from Charles Barkley in new ads from DDB Chicago and Tool director Erich Joiner timed to the NCAA's March Madness tournament, of which the financial firm is a prominent sponsor. In one spot, the pair perform goofy schtick during a sports broadcast, with the Round Mound's tent-size underpants held up to ridicule. In another, they attend a basketball game, where Sir Charles keeps snacks warm inside his jacket and reveals, "It's like a little hot-dog steamer in there"—which is frankly something I never needed to know. All this sporty-bro-bonding is kind of strained and silly, but overall the tone is probably in tune with the target audience. Besides, Baldwin's slimy smile and smug delivery never get old. And Barkley's dazed and indifferent acting style is a hoot—it's as if he can't collect his check and get off the set fast enough. They're like a puffy, middle-aged Odd Couple, and their combined charisma—though not much else—keeps the proceedings from becoming the commercial equivalent of an air ball. More spots and a behind-the-scenes clip after the jump.
Teenage pregnancy is on the rise. Wait, no it's not! Teen birth rates were at an all-time low in the U.S. in 2011, according to CBS News. And according to New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the city's teen pregnancy rate dropped by 27 percent in the last 10 years. Nevertheless, we have some provocative new ads from NYC's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign combatting the babies-having-babies epidemic. The campaign, which began running across town in subways and bus shelters this week, features adorable kids who are victims—just by being born—of their horrible, unthinking teen parents. One features a kid saying, "Got a good job? I cost thousands of dollars each year." Another, arguably the most most controversial, features a crying baby boy with text that reads, "I'm twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen." The ads have provoked a war of words between the mayor's office and Planned Parenthood of New York City, which has denounced the posters, claiming they ignore the racial, economic and social factors that contribute to teenage pregnancy and stigmatize teen parents and their children. But the message to teens is certainly clear: Don't want a weepy, resentful baby on your hands? Don't get pregnant. More ads below. Top image via.
Amazon's gay-marriage-friendly "Husbands" ad for its Kindle Paperwhite e-reader with built-in light is generating lots of conversation, most of it positive, though there is some criticism in the mix. The brand's bikini pitchwoman Anna Zielinski banters a bit about the product with a guy at the beach. He says he's just ordered a Paperwhite and suggests they "celebrate," so it seems like he's trying to pick her up. "My husband's bringing me a drink right now," she says. "So is mine!" he replies. Some reviewers are ecstatic, while others lament that the gay theme has little to do with the plot or product. And of course, various conservative commentators have offered their predictable reactions. Ten years ago, the twist would've been quite a revelation. Today, the punch line seems like no big deal—it actually feels underwhelming. Perhaps that's a sign of how much progress has been made, with mainstream marketers seeing the light and routinely putting gay characters in ads. I happen to think the commercial ends too soon. One gal, three guys, a bar full of booze … sounds like a doozy of a celebration!
Y&R Midwest is trying to steer Pinterest users toward charitable shores, possibly because they're sick of them posting only about food and lingerie. Y&R's idea, called Helpin.It, is a set of Pinterest boards set up for families who lost almost everything to Hurricane Sandy. Each pin links to an Amazon registry where that particular item can be bought and sent directly to the family. The idea was inspired by BBH's work for the African Medical Research Foundation, and I hope it catches on enough to be extended to more victims of Sandy and other disasters. New Orleans could still use a little help, for example.
Doritos has built a 62-foot-tall, tweet-powered concert stage designed to look like a giant vending machine that turns your tweets with the hashtag #BoldStage into a real-time concert-control mechanism at SXSW. Confused as to how? They've made a handy infographic (below) to 'splain. You can not only use your furious tweeting power to choose the opening act at the Doritos gig, you get to choose their playlist, and then, just to mess with them, you control the special effects. That's right—smoke, balloons, pyrotechnics and fricking lasers are all in your hashtagged hands. So, of course, you can also send pictures of yourself having a freaking awesome time directly to the four-story-tall screen in the arena! There's a 9.6-second lag, presumably to make sure you don't tweet your beets. LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Doug E. Fresh will be sharing the stage with Doritos' awesomely awesome creation of pure LED force. Listen to a low-energy LL ramble about it in the video below. But who really cares about the has-beens on the stage when they'll also be premiering new ads that launch the first Doritos global campaign titled "For the Bold" that will completely change the brand's look and feel?
Did you leave something on a Southwest Airlines flight? Don't worry. If they find it, they will send it back to you—along with the added gift of an unbearable poem about how the airline "luvs" you. Consumerist has the story of a reader whose husband lost his cellphone on a Southwest trip. It turned up in Southwest's Lost and Found and was soon mailed back to him. "When it arrived, the attached poem was tucked into the package," the wife explains. "The writer of the poem is definitely NOT in line to be a future Poet Laureate, but it's the thought that counts, right? What other airline would do this?" What other airline would want to? Text of the poem below.
It's always sad when something's lost when what is yours is gone And the hope that it will soon be found is what keeps you going on And it's especially sad when was was lost simply cannot be replaced And the sorrow felt when this occurs sometimes cannot be erased Well hope no more and start to smile for what you lost was found And it's with much luv that it's returned to the style for which we're renowned And we'd be remiss if we didn't say in one loud voice We hope for your future travels, we are your choice.
So, you're feeling kind of blah and waiting for the elevator and sipping your latte, and the door opens and some guy is choking some other guy on the floor, and you're just like, Whatever, it's probably some stupid marketing stunt for some indie gangster movie because oh my god even these nontraditional ads are getting so tired.
Viral marketing agency Thinkmodo—the professional ambushers who also did the Beauty Shop Scare video that we posted last week—says this latest clip shows regular bystanders, not actors, happening upon what appears to be an attempted murder, and that every precaution was taken to ensure the safety of all parties involved. The clip, promoting the movie Dead Man Down, your average underworld revenge fantasy rom-com starring Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace, features such choice responses to the crime-in-progress as beating the attacker about the head with a bouquet of flowers and spraying both him and his victim with a fire extinguisher. Because everyone knows if you see a person being strangled, don't panic—just reach calmly for the nearest fire extinguisher, remove the pin, stand eight feet back and aim at the base of the strangling while squeezing the handle and sweeping the hose from side to side.
There's also a lot of staring awkwardly and then scurrying away, and one guy who takes a picture—all masterfully emphasized to produce amused incredulity and Internet bravado among the YouTube masses.
Despite the creators' claim that it's not manufactured, it's pretty hard not to imagine the movie's lawyers getting a nasty ulcer over this—unless it was staged. As one random, surprisingly level-headed YouTube troll put it: "I hope you guys did this experiment in a state that doesn't allow concealed carry, I would have shot that mother fucker." Because where's the fun without a little debate.
Life is sweet and golden on the outside with a creamy middle, baby! Would-be summer interns at Campbell Mithun might want to ponder such points, because the Minneapolis agency is asking hopefuls to submit recommendations for "taking the iconic Twinkies brand into the future" as part of their application. I'm not sure the spongey cakes need much help in that department, since they don't biodegrade and will probably be viable centuries hence to nourish cockroaches as they dance on mankind's bones. Applicants are instructed to write a "Dear new owners of Twinkies" letter to share their ideas for reviving the brand. (I'm guessing those who recommend using "big data"—for, you know, whatever—are shoo-ins for the job.) Hostess, the long-struggling corporate parent of Twinkies, is in the midst of liquidating assets, and an auction to determine the snack brand's new owner is set for next Wednesday, March 13. Campbell Mithun created the "Where's the cream filling?" tagline for Twinkies 20 years ago, when agencies seeking to fill internships generally just hired their clients' kids.
"Maybe you should just use? a knife." That's one of the less charitable reactions to this latest Oreo Separators video from Wieden + Kennedy—part of a series in which inventors and technologists develop machines and tools that are much more complicated than a mere knife to separate Oreo cookies from their creme. (Yes, I know, what's even the point of doing that at all?) In this third video, a couple of guys from the London conceptual-art collective Dentaku do their best with a Ferris-wheel-style contraption that—well, to be honest, it's a disaster at first, though the guys do redeem themselves somewhat at the end. Our favorite is probably still the video with the toy scientists.
Domino's doesn't make much use of its namesake domino logo—until now. The pizza chain topples more than 50,000 dominos in the video below from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, as a thank-you to fans after crossing the 8 million likes mark on Facebook. I think we can all agree it probably should have been 8 million dominos, but that would have been 160 times the work—and required more than two years of nonstop work to produce, instead of the 120 hours it took for this one. Facebook milestone videos are something of a specialty for CP+B, which last year did the giant human coupon for Old Navy.
Our favorite economic-development ads this week come from Eastern Poland—a region in which you simply must invest, lest you ruin your child's life forever. Somewhat more cryptically, the campaign also suggests that your therapist will also be super pissed if you miss the Eastern Poland boat. Also, your father-in-law—who's presumably just looking out for his little girl. Check out the other ads from the series below. Via Slate.
The minute-long ad for German composer Sven Helbig's new album, Pocket Symphonies, is a pretty straightforward representation of Helbig's goal to create something new from something old and weathered and mostly (but not quite) dead. It's a pretty good summary of Helbig's career, too. He's worked with Rammstein, Pet Shop Boys and Snoop Dogg, and staged elaborate multimedia events like the High-Rise Symphony, in which an orchestra played from positions on the balconies of an old apartment building in Dresden in 2006, to celebrate the city's 800th anniversary. Compared to that, this ad is a modest effort. The moment when the musicians rush into the medical theater to induce birth with dramatic strings and piano is neat, though. Directed by Kai Schonrath, with creative direction by Kolle Rebbe's Sascha Hanke. Full credits below.
CREDITS Client: Sven Helbig Executive Creative Director: Sascha Hanke Creative Director: Matthias Erb Copywriter: Sascha Hanke Producer: Jankel Huppertz Production Company: CZAR, Berlin Director: Kai Schonrath Director of Photography: Jan Prahl Managing Director: Jan Fincke Producer: Birke Birkner Post Supervisor: Dennis Vocke Production Coordinator: Simon Rühlemann Makeup: Nina Düffort for Cisel + T.I.N.S.L.E.Y, California Styling: Diana Dean Cast Conductor: Gundi-Anna Schick Pregnant Woman: Alexa Wilzek
Whenever I write about zombies, I tend to bury the lead. That's a grave mistake. Anyway, here's a case study about how the Darewin Agency used social media to make The Walking Dead a hit on France's NT1 TV network. On its Walking Dead site, NT1 advised people to avoid a "zombie virus" by avoiding the #walkingdeadNT1 hashtag, which naturally prompted people to use it. Within moments of posting the hashtag on Twitter or Facebook, users were suddenly followed by hoards of virtual zombies. (Maybe those new followers were just average French people. Undead or Parisian … it can be tough to tell.) Contrast this campaign—in which 30,000 users were "attacked" by zombies in less than two weeks, with 550,000 impressions tallied—with this Walking Dead stunt from Toronto, where a finger was chopped off a pair of giant zombie hands each day until the series' return to TV. Effective for sure, but the French effort required more braaaains. Via Adverve.
Once in a blue moon, an ad using a QR code somehow manages not to suck. We had the Guinness QR cup. There was also the shadow-activated QR code from Korea. And now we have this awesome ad from Turkey from a tattoo studio seeking new tattoo artists. The ad in effect becomes the first step of the interview process—applicants must display their drawing skills by filling in the QR code that's faintly visible on the ad. Those who filled in the code perfectly could scan it to receive the official application form by email. Great work by BÜRO in Istanbul. See the full print ad below. Via Hello You Creatives.
Mad Men returns to AMC on April 7 for Season 6—with a special two-hour premiere written by showrunner Matthew Weiner and directed by executive producer Scott Hornbacher. Check out the first on-air promo below, which began airing on Sunday. There's not much to go on, plot wise, although Don looks as conflicted as ever.
Separately, the other big Mad Men news this week is that Gita Hall May, a model from the 1950s and '60s, is suing Lionsgate over the show's opening credits. May, who is now 79, claims the opening segment uses an image of her without her consent. The image, below, was taken by Richard Avedon and used in a Revlon hairspray ad.
Shetland ponies have never been quite as celebrated as they are these days—thanks to several British ad campaigns. First, of course, we had Fivla and Vitamin, the adorable sweater-weating ponies from the VisitScotland campaign. Now, Wieden + Kennedy, London, has upped the ante with a dancing pony in this new spot for mobile network Three. The agency explains: "Shot against the dramatic backdrop of the Shetland Islands, the :60 spot follows the story of a stocky little pony. But this is no ordinary Shetland pony. With the scrape of a hoof and a flick of his Tina Turner-esque mane, he effortlessly moonwalks along to the sound of 'Everywhere' by Fleetwood Mac." The video rocketed past 1 million views this weekend, and is surely just getting warmed up. The point of the dancing pony is that the mobile Internet is great for sharing silly stuff that cheers people up. As part of the campaign, W+K also created The Pony Mixer, a dancing-pony-remixing tool "where you can make our pony shake it to anything from Boyband to Bollywood."
Anheuser-Busch is tired of allegations that Budweiser might as well be sex in a canoe, and it placed ads this weekend in the Houston Chronicle and The New York Times in response to lawsuits claiming it's been watering down its product to save money. One ad shows a can of the branded water they give away during natural disasters, alongside the headline "They must have tested one of these." Clever, but it's still a clumsy sidestep of the issue at hand, which has nothing to do with A-B's laudable relief efforts, and now they look like they're trying to create a diversion. Thankfully, not everyone in the company is as eager to change the subject. Brewing and supply vp Peter Kraemer tells the press that "the claims against Anheuser-Busch are completely false, and these lawsuits are groundless."
Truth in advertising? Bwaa ha ha ha ha! Actually, that's the title of a new first novel by former Ogilvy & Mather creative exec John Kenney. The book is about a copywriter who faces a life crisis while trying to create a diaper commercial for the Super Bowl. (Hey, we've all been there.) Now, Kenney's publisher, Touchstone, is holding a contest asking people to design ads for the book. The deadline for submissions, which must feature the title and author's name, was just extended to April 30. The winner gets $5,000. The entries are so far a very mixed bag. Nicholas Howard produced the best video, in my estimation, with Brother Ali's primal and infectious "Truth is here, the truth is here!" playing over snippets of Truth in Advertising's media reviews. My favorites among the print include a giant circle (more like a black hole) with the tiny word "square" in parentheses beneath; a big yellow happy face with its mouth taped shut and the headline "Just sell smiles"; and a mammoth asterisk atop a huge block of unreadable fine print. Another intriguing, evocative image shows a strange billboard with a shiny, seemingly reflective surface in some lonely wasteland on the edge of town. Its creator, Ray Ludacer, tells AdFreak that it's a photograph of a blurry bar code, designed to symbolize that "the lines of what is true in advertising are often blurred. You can see it as a mirror too." Hmmm, might be a tad too cerebral for ad land, Ray. Next time, just make the logo bigger.
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