Cocaine Bear wants you to visit the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall. Lumber on down, y’all!
Or at the very least, check out the 175-pound stuffed creature (aka, Pablo EscoBear)—which perished 31 years ago after ingesting 40 kilos of cocaine that fell from a plane in a botched smuggling operation—in the goofy TV commercial below.
It’s been a couple of months since we’ve heard from Whit Hiler and company at Lexington, KY-based agency Cornett. Now, the man, who you may remember for his collaboration on the grassroots “Kentucky Kicks Ass” campaign from 2012, has returned with a new effort for A&W Restaurants. Now that Cornett has crafted “the world’s longest hashtag” for the chain, the agency has unveiled a follow-up in the form of customized table number designs. To accomplish the feat, Cornett has enlisted the services of a handful of artists who each drew up 20 distinct, race car-inspired table number designs that cater to the agency’s new brand platform dubbed “hip nostalgia.” Above and below is just a smattering of the handiwork from artists Ken Davis, Jason Carne, Ryan Quickfall, Travis Hess and Tim Jones. While it doesn’t have the humor like some previous Cornett work, the artistic bent is still somewhat appealing. You can view the full project here.
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Kentucky-based agency Cornett IMS (who you may remember from Beardvertising or “Kentucky Kicks Ass“) has created the world’s longest hashtag to promote the release of A&W’s new chicken tender sandwich.
While most brands see the hashtag as something that fans will hopefully share on social media, Cornett chose to create a hashtag so long that the chance of it being used are pretty damn low. The extra-big hashtag is, presumably, meant to coincide with the extra-big nature of A&W’s Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Texas Toast Sandwich. Like that sandwich, the hashtag is quite the mouthful. As Cornett’s Whit Hiler puts it, they were going for a “hashtag so long, our consumers would say ‘man that’s a really long hashtag, that Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Texas Toast Sandwich must be freaking delicious.’” You can view the TV spot introducing the hashtag above. That hashtag, by the way, is: #
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Do you like sake? Do you like throwing stars? Ever wish there was a place where you could go to pound sake and throw throwing stars? How about an indoor ninja throwing star range where they serve sake? That sounds like either the best idea ever, or a lawsuit waiting to happen, or both, right?
In what is surely the craziest publicity stunt you’ll hear about today, Whit Hiler, one of the Lexington, KY-based Cornett IMS masterminds behind beardvertising and “Kentucky Kicks Ass” announced that he was behind the crazy “Ninjas Indoor Throwing Star Range.”Hiler and crew created “Ninjas Indoor Throwing Star Range” because “Everyone loves throwing stars and everyone loves alcohol.” Hiler and Cornet decided to present their “establishment that allows people to pound sake and chuck throwing stars” to the world, presenting it as an establishment that would open in Lexington, Kentucky in the spring. Enlisted to aid Hiler in spreading this madness were “Kris Kross Ange on the design, Golden Nick Child on the video, and Shammy Shamick Gaworski on the web development.”
And spread it they did. The video makes use of YouTube’s “Best Death Scene Ever,” while the website quotes Wu Tang and, according to Hiler, Japanese curse words. They even created a fake Gmail account under the name Satou Watanabe (which has to be the coolest sounding alias this side of Throb Darshall) Soon everyone was talking, tweeting, and posting about the crazy new sake bar/throwing star range coming to Kentucky. For obvious reasons, most people wanted this to be real. The crew received articles from people asking how they could become a franchisee. Articles appeared in the likes of Gizmodo, io9, and Laughing Squid. Hiler even faked an interview with Yahoo, under another cool alias: Timothy San Bernardino.
Throughout the process, Hiler and crew got a lot of attention for Lexington and the agency in which they toil. But when can I really walk into an establishment, get shitfaced on sake and chuck throwing stars, you ask? Well, “maybe we’ll turn this joke into a reality and end up opening the world’s first throwing star range and sake bar later this year,” says Hiler. One thing is for sure though, as we mentioned above, Whit Hiler is a self-promoting ninja.
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Whit Hiler– who you may remember as the masterminds behind “Kentucky Kicks Ass” — and the folks over at Lexington, KY-based agency Cornett IMS spent 2013 revolutionizing the advertising world with a new form of native advertising: beardvertising.
It’s a pretty simple formula: beards+advertising = beardvertising. The idea is that “beardboards” (beard billboards) are clipped onto epic bears to advertise a given product. The concept was developed solely to garner free press for Cornett and their clients, and it certainly did that, as it was covered by news outlets all over the country. But a funny thing happened: some brands actually inquired about beardvertising, and more than 1,400 men signed up to be paid for using their facial hair as advertising space. So in July, Cornett launched the first ever beardvertising campaign for Dollar Shave Club. Cornett selected 25 of their favorite beards from those submitted and, in their words, “History was made and beards got paid.”
Check out the case study video above for more on beardvertising. And if you think your beard might make the cut, head on over to beardvertising.com and sign up.
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Lexington, KY-based Cornett-IMS, the agency behind “Beardvertising” and whose creative/biz dev guy Whit Hiler also co-masterminded “Kentucky Kicks Ass,” have crafted the best long and short-form advertisements for a horse farm I’ve ever seen (and also the only long and short-form advertisements for a horse farm I’ve ever seen).
They teamed up with Eye Level Films to create “The Lane’s End Experience: A Short Film,” actually a long ad for Lane’s End Farms, which we’re told is “one of the world’s premier Thoroughbred farms.” It’s not hard to believe that after watching the video. There’s rolling green grass as far as the eye can see, attentive caretakers, and plenty to eat. If I was a horse, I think I’d really enjoy living at Lane’s End. The ad tells the story of Lane’s End beginnings and rise to prominence, with plenty of breathtaking scenery and majestic horses galloping through the countryside. If you’re looking for a horse farm, are a horse, or just love horses, it may be worth sitting through the 4:20 ad.
All kidding aside, it’s very well put together, managing to tell a story in a visually stimulating way over the course of its somewhat long running time. “The Lane’s End Experience: A Short Film” is available at the new Lane’s End website. There’s also a :30 version, which will premiere (appropriately enough) this weekend during the 30th Annual Breeders’ Cup World Championships on NBC Sports.
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With all the hullabaloo surrounding the Campbell Ewald news and everything else under the sun yesterday, forgot Whit Hiler‘s note to us that, yes, brands have latched on, literally, to his “Beardvertising” effort. Hiler, of course, is one of the parties involved in the “Kentucky Kicks Ass” tourism campaign launched towards the end of last year. Two months ago, the creative and his agency Lexington, KY-based agency Cornett Integrated Marketing Solutions decided to launch an effort called “Beardvertising,” in which still-patent-pending “beardboards”–or miniature billboards–would be placed on willing participants’ beards.
Well, suffice it to say, we were skeptical, but now Hiler tells us that “Beardvertising” is building momentum, in a sense, in that the project has nabbed brands including A&W Restaurants and most recently (and aptly enough), Dollar Shave Club. In a statement, the latter company’s founder Michael Dubin says, “We’re excited to be building our business of beardlessness with these badass, bushy Beardboards.” Yesterday, the Beardvertising effort officially took off with 25 participants from around the U.S. who will sport beardboards, and Hiler says there are 1,400 more “eager guys” willing to participate. Perhaps one of the most prominent beardvertisers for DSC thus far is Gerald Okamura (below), who you may recognize from films including Big Trouble in Little China and Showdown in Little Tokyo.
You can check out more Beardvertising hijinks on Instagram here.
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It was probably just a matter of time before Whit Hiler and Michael Dubin worked together. Hiler—the ass-kicking Kentucky adman, flier-making crazy person and mastermind of Beardvertising—has lured Dubin's Dollar Shave Club right into his sneaky trap. Yes, Dollar Shave Club, known for its own wacky marketing, has signed up for a Beardvertising program, in which 25 hairy dudes across the country will soon have tiny Dollar Shave Club billboards clipped to their beards. "We're excited to be building our business of beardlessness with these badass, bushy Beardboards," Dubin says in a statement. Hiler tells AdFreak: "For brands interested in joining A&W Restaurants and Dollar Shave Club in some hot and hairy 'Beardvertising' action, we've got over 1,400 eager guys ready and willing to place little advertisements in their epic beards." More photos below.
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I'm not sure which is more disturbing—the hirsute images that adorn the Beardvertising site from Kentucky ad agency Cornett-IMS, or creative Whit Hiler's use of the work "mancessory" to describe such facial hair. You might recall Hiler from past wacky ventures such as conquering Reddit with fake fliers (including a meetup to recreate scenes from Human Centipede—"Guys only") and crafting a tourism campaign that was presumably too "kick-ass" for the Bluegrass State. Here's his latest pitch: "Do you wanna get paid for having an epic beard? Of course you do. Join the world's first Beardvertising network. Get paid. It's simple—turn your beard into a business. Just like Duck Dynasty. Hang a BeardBoard (Patent Pending) in your beard. Sit back and get paid up to $5 per day." So far, A&W Restaurants and Eagle One Automotive have slapped their messages on Beardvertising mini-billboard clips. Maybe Schick, Gillette, Old Spice and DollarShaveClub.com should join in to cut through the clutter and carve out some unique ad space.
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And now, for a little midday silliness courtesy of Whit Hiler, a creative at Lexington, KY-based Cornett Integrated Marketing Solutions who’s perhaps better known as one of the parties involved with the ongoing grassroots tourism campaign, “Kentucky Kicks Ass.” Hiler, who’s also been prone to shock and amuse on Reddit in recent months with his array of fliers, has now reteamed with his Cornett IMS crew to launch the patent-pending “Beardvertising,” which he dubs “the real native advertising.”
To be honest, we’re surprised we haven’t seen something this ridiculous before, though ad folks have ventured into “beard-selling” in the past. Anyhow, inspired by stats saying that 55 percent of males worldwide now have facial hair, Hiler and company are now seeking out men with beards that want to make money hosting, yes, “BeardBoards,” patent-pending miniature billboards that clip onto a beard. As you can see, this pretty much only applies to those in the ZZ Top/Williamsburg realm of beard growth, so it looks like we’re out the running (and from the looks of it, thank heavens). Along with brave participants, Cornett IMS is also looking for partners to advertise on BeardBoards (and we’ll be damned, they already have two). We’re just wondering why they didn’t think of this ahead of winter.
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You may have seen one of Whit Hiler's fliers. Perhaps it invited you to a meet-up that promised a re-creation of scenes from The Human Centipede. ("Just for fun. Guys only.") Maybe it offered masturbation lessons ("I don't want you to make the same mistakes I've made!") or the services of an "Asian impersonator." Or perhaps it made you aware of the Rainbow Bus Club, which meets in back of a Starbucks and is "strictly for straight men that wanna get together with other straight men and pretend to be gay for an hour or so."
Hiler's fliers are fake, but people have been fooled by them. Many of them have also made Reddit's front page, which it turns out was pretty much Hiler's main goal.
Hiler, who works at Cornett Integrated Marketing Solutions in Lexington, Ky., has been involved in other rogue projects, including the recent "Kentucky kicks ass" tourism effort. He spoke with AdFreak about the fliers, where he got his loony ideas, and what he wanted to accomplish with his creations.
When did you first have the idea to create these fake fliers? What about fliers seems ripe for parody?
A little over a year ago I made it my mission to try and figure out Reddit, to get some of that hot Internet action. If you're new to Reddit, it's kind of a tough nut to crack. Specifically, I wanted to figure out how to create content that rises to the top and eventually lands on the front page. So my goal was to make the front page. Through a little experimentation, the fake fliers ended up becoming my weapon of choice.
Why fliers? Fliers are really simple. Anyone can make them. You don't even need a computer. I'm not a designer. I could make them myself. It's not hard to pick the worst fonts and drop and drag strange images.
As far as sharable content goes, images work the best and are easiest to consume. Plus, images of fliers have already proven to be popular on the Internet. Did you ever see the Lionel Richie "Is it me you're looking for?" flier?
There's already a lot of strange fliers out there. Craigslist ads, too. So they are believable.
You certainly jumped right in with the Human Centipede flier. Were you looking to shock people, or just amuse them? Did you assume people might think it was real?
I knew the Internet already had a fixation with the Human Centipede. Like an event flier, the movie was about bringing people together. I also knew Reddit loved really weird stuff. For some strange reason, I got the idea to put together this sick-minded flier for a Human Centipede Meet-Up, asking people to "meet at noon to roshambo for positions."
The goal was to both shock and amuse. I figured if any place got a kick out of it, it would be Reddit. We're talking about the Internet here, so I really didn't assume anything. Just hoped for the best.
From this idea, another buddy and myself created a infographic called the Human Centipede of Advertising, which we dropped last Halloween. The possibilities with the Human Centipede are endless.
The Rainbow Bus Club flier might be your most successful. Where did you get the ridiculous idea for that one?
The Human Centipede Meet-Up got me hooked. It did well, but it didn't make the [Reddit] front page. I needed something a little hotter. The initial idea for the Rainbow Bus Club came years ago at a friend's house. It started as a big joke—the idea of straight guys getting together, sitting around and pretending to be gay. Anytime I'd mention it to someone, they'd laugh their ass off. Guys already do this (visit a fraternity). It just needed an official name. I just never did anything with it. Reddit seemed like the perfect home for the Rainbow Bus Club. It's by far been the most successful, hitting the front page twice. Tosh.0, too.
Is it true that people actually showed up for that event?
A girl I work with was friends with a girl who works at the Starbucks where the meeting was set to go down. Apparently the phone was ringing off the hook about the Rainbow Bus Club. I couldn't believe it. In the end, a group of guys wearing tank tops that said "Dudes" on them showed up. I guess they hung out and snapped a few photos. They even got a little press.
After the jump: The Asian impersonator and masturbation lessons
Tell us about the two impersonator fliers. Those are pretty confounding as well. Who would possibly need services like that?
One morning I read this ridiculous article on Complex magazine around the 10 most racist tweets against Asians from people that had seen the new Red Dawn movie over the weekend. For some strange reason, I thought it would be funny if an actual Asian guy marketed himself as an Asian impersonator. I found a stock photo of an Asian guy and made the flier. It hit the front page, too. [It got 750,000 views in 24 hours.]
I'm not sure who would possibly need services like that. I do know I invented that job. Hopefully it's making someone some money.
Finally, you've got the flier for masturbation lessons. Did anyone show up for that class? And why was that flier removed from Reddit?
No one showed up. I blacked out the location prior to putting it on Reddit. It was for a local gym, and I felt bad having an actual location listed. I bet someone would have shown up, though. No matter how strange the offering is, someone will always show up ready to party.
I'm not sure why it was removed from Reddit. I think it was just too hot for the Internet. Too absurd for even Reddit.
A lot of real fliers out there are very strange. What is it about them that's so oddly compelling? There's a sadness to them, isn't there?
There are some strange fliers out there. Just people looking to connect with other like-minded people. I'm not sure there's a sadness to them, except for the lost dog and missing person fliers. Those are really sad.
You've got a new project in the works. Can you tell us anything about it yet?
I've always got side projects in the works—typically several side-projects at a time. The best thing about creative side projects is there are no rules. I can do whatever I want, get as weird and as punk rock as I want. So yes, I've got a few things in the works.
I always like to keep things on the down low until I launch. It's too easy to get ripped off. You gotta protect your ideas.
We are still working to rebrand Kentucky. That's one big ongoing project we've been working on with Kentucky for Kentucky. That's been a lot of fun.
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
