Keep it Simple, People.

best-job-in-the-worldIn a world where clutter is king, advertisers everywhere are doing their best to break through the noise. A word of advice (or three) — keep it simple.

That’s exactly what Australian agency Cummins Nitro did in their campaign for Tourism Queensland.

Challenged to “create international awareness of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef” and drive tourism there, the local agency executed a campaign that placed classified ads in newspapers across the globe. Unusual? Not if you’re looking to fill a position for “The Best Job in the World.”

The job profile called for an island caretaker whose responsibilities would involve menial jobs like cleaning the pool and feeding the fish. The chosen employee would also be expected to blog weekly about their adventures on the island. Throw in a rent-free three-bedroom villa, a roughly $8,800/month salary and… BAM! One fan-freakin-tastic job.

Now, in an economic recession when thousands are looking for gainful employment… who wouldn’t love a 6-month paying gig feeding fishies on a tropical island, right?

This simple idea sparked an international movement. News and media sources picked up on the incredible job offer, millions of people flocked to the campaign’s website — islandreefjob.com — and by the end of it, over 34,000 people from 200 countries had submitted 60-second videos about why they should have the best job in the world.

Cummins Nitro put the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef back on the map. And if that wasn’t enough — they have racked up in Cannes this week, picking up three Grand Prix awards in the PR, Direct and Cyber categories thus far.

And the lucky bloke who got the job…?

A Brit by the name of Ben Southall, who reports for duty next Wednesday, July 1st. You can read more about Ben’s adventures at bestjobben.com.

Deanna Lazzaroni is a self-professed sponge of creative advertising, armed with enthusiastic vigor to tackle the challenges of the mighty marketer’s world. She’s ripe for the picking at deannalazzaroni.com.


Provocative Nerdstrations – Kelly Thompson Illustrates That Geeky Can be Cheeky (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Talented mixed media artist Kelly Thompson is turning nerd haters into nerd lovers. It is no wonder her collection showing at the Gorker Gallery is entitled, “Bookworms Never Go to Bed!”

Her illustrations…

Comment on Wrangler: Dakota 1, Coco White Flare, Dakota On Road, Coco Crouching, Dakota 2 by Ryan

I don’t understand why this is getting such a low rating. I’d say it’s easy to get without the creative description. The tagline’s pretty effective even without the photos, and I like that they kept its typography clean instead of going down the faux-roughness route, which with the photos would just be overkill. And if you have to take anything from the description, it’s that this was designed to be open-ended and evolve. The amount of fun you could get out of a marketing campaign based on something as simple as “We Are Animals” is limitless. I’m not surprised it won awards – as far as fresh starts go, plugging into the growing importance of re-integrating ourselves with nature and the environment, while leaving room for improvement and extended creativity, and having an impact all its own… this is fairly impressive.

Pepsi, Among Others, Pays Tribute to King of Pop


That didn't take long. Pepsi in Canada is running ads on several music sites to pay tribute to its former pitchman, the late Michael Jackson.

Havaianas celebra o verão na Europa

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Depois da Primavera (www.adivertido.com/havaianas-espalhadas-pela-europa), a Havaianas comemora a chegada do Verão na Europa. Desta vez com algumas modelos vestidas de Havaianas e distribuindo sandálias para as pessoas. Elas circularam por importantes cidades, como Lisboa, Paris, Londres e outras capitais européias. O modelo usado nos vestidos é o mesmo criado pelo estilista Paco Rabanne.
Flickr, Twitter e outras redes sociais foram ativadas para dar reforço a campanha.

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Mais fotos e informações aqui – www.havaianas-and-summer-are-now-friends.com

Comment on Wrangler: Dakota 1, Coco White Flare, Dakota On Road, Coco Crouching, Dakota 2 by Francis

Cannes lost its credibility this year. This ffestival is fake, corrupted, and dead

Twitter is What Second Life Wasn’t: Light, Cheap and Open


I run into many skeptics who believe that Twitter is rife with the sort of hype associated with the ascent and crash of Second Live. This is not true. Twitter is suffused with hype, for sure, but it is surely a much different and more sustainable hype than Second Life.

Social Media: Communities Based on Trust Are Stronger


Reading about the brutal layoffs at MySpace last week sent chills down my spine. It comes only two months after a new CEO, a former Facebook exec, took over from MySpace's founding CEO. It sounds like fodder for those "tell-all" books about a business in crisis.

Cannes Lions 2009: GP de Film para “Carousel” da Philips

O filme “Carousel”, que na verdade também é site, da Philips para divulgar a sua Cinema 21:9, a primeira TV com formato de cinema, ganhou o prêmio máximo da categoria Film.

Falei da ação em abril aqui no blog, inclusive com o esclarecedor making of. A criação é da Tribal DDB de Amsterdam e da Stink Digital.

Chegou-se a comentar em Cannes que a categoria Film poderia ficar sem GP, por falta de merecimento das peças no shortlist, mas prevaleceu a técnica surpreendente do trabalho da Tribal. Conceitualmente não acho brilhante, mas é grandioso e interativo.

Relembre o post original, logo mais atualizarei o post com o vídeo-case.

Philips Cinema 21:9 Carousel

Sex, Sex, Sex

Fast Food Wars I am loving the porno wars fast food company’s have introduced into our advertising. While only a few have been spotted here in our U.S. of A, international Advertising is running ramped with the integration of food and sex.

I’m not offended — as a woman, a professional, and an advertiser. In fact, I am completely digging this. When times get desperate, living organisms seek whatever means necessary to survive. Just take a look at any of the popular “survival” shows. So, why should advertising be the exception. Hasn’t advertising always been the medium to push the envelope, to blur the line or whatever cliché you want to insert. It has. I say: “Jolly good fun!”

Starting from the Quizno’s Marlboro inspired sandwich all the way to the “put it in me” line from… wait, that’s Quizno’s too! Wow. Nothing like Subway’s major competitor to recommend sex and smoking as they compete against Jared followers. That, of course, is probably all he needed: to get laid and have a smoke (the century-old diet plan). Quizno’s isn’t the only company targeting raging hormones, as Hardee’s are Carls Jr. are also contributing more than their share of sex to advertising.

We’re so desperate to hold on to the growing competition in market share, that soon, we’re just going to show completely nude women sitting with a foot-long Subway sandwich between her legs offering a “quick and cheap” lunch option “any way you want it.”

In case you’ve missed the latest release, Burger King has decided to step up its game in the fast food wars. Since they’ve completely lost the family market to McDonald’s, they just figured they would go the completely opposite route and appeal to the sex starved males. That’s a BIG market, and why not capitalize on it? I think it’s smart of BK to restructure their targeting because they’ve truly been fighting a losing battle for a long time. You can’t beat McDonald’s. You just can’t. Let them have their family. Eventually, these kids are going to grow up and become sex starved teens and young adults, which is exactly whom The King is targeting!

Rena Prizant is a Copywriter, Ad Creative and mammal in the Chicago area, professionally word playing since 2002. Rena writes smart, engaging, dynamic copy for a broad range of mediums and industries; and loves helping start-up’s get their branding feet. Visit www.RenaPrizant.com or Twitter WriteLeft.

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Rena Prizant is a Copywriter, Ad Creative and mammal in the Chicago area, professionally word playing since 2002. Rena writes smart, engaging, dynamic copy for a broad range of mediums and industries; and loves helping start-up’s get their branding feet. Visit www.RenaPrizant.com or Twitter WriteLeft.


Cleavage Cylinders – KUSH Wrinkle Protectors for Large-Chested Ladies (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) For those of you with a C-cup chest size, you will probably want to know about KUSH, a wrinkle protector for your boobs.

Simply place the cylinder in your cleavage when you sleep, and over time KUSH will…

Comment on Andrea Romani: Ecological Business Card by John

Insane, on this page promoting environmentally business cards there’s a big ad advertising plastic business cards!!!

Creative Director Says ‘Do Not Follow Me’ With T-Shirt Line

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Do not friend me either.

The World Has Cannes Lions. Israel Has Cannes Zions

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Israeli agency Mizbala has created CannesZions, an effort to call attention to the Israeli advertising community.

The queen of blow job for Burger King

Advertiser: Burger King

Sensodyne widens oral-care range with mouthwash

LONDON – GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK) has widened its Sensodyne enamel care range with the launch of Pronamel Daily Mouthwash.

McDonald’s Celebrates Open Late With Red Carpet Events

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OK. Who knew going to McDonald’s late at night was such a big deal.

Ugly Betty dolls sponsored by Diet Coke

The TV show Ugly Betty is back on funny video with Diet Coke Advertiser: Diet Coke Agency: Mother London Advertiser: Coca Cola Project name: Eleanor Client: Coca-Cola Copywriter: Mother Art director: Mother Planner: Mother Media agency: Vizeum Media planner: Zoe Schmidt Production company: […]

World’s Funniest Ads Hit TBS Tonight

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Make sure you don’t miss TBS’s airing of Very Funny Ads’ World’s Funniest Ads tonight at 9 EST.

Branding Conversation: Go Ahead and Butt In

Getting in the middle of a conversation that’s already going on, versus creating a conversation and asking consumers to come in is the key to effective advertising.

Doing the latter is as silly as the following conversation:

Person 1: Hey, did you hear about Michael Jackson?

Person 2: Yeah, I loved him. I already miss him!

Brand: Hey, you over there! Did you know most of insecticides have nerve poison that causes a cockroach to have muscular spasms that make it flip on its back? Without muscular coordination the cockroach cannot right itself and eventually dies in its upside down-position. Wanna buy some bug spray?

Irrelevant.

But take interactive shop Deca (Digital Entertainment Corp. of America) for example, which inked a sponsorship deal with Target for its Momversation show (above). This content is uniquely relevant to the target audience that the brand fits comfortably into. Plus, it utilizes bloggers that already have influence within market.

Now that’s relevant!

What conversation can your brand butt into today?

Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) in this industry for 8+ years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding, and brand development. Join her @twitter or her firm Germ, LLC.