Mmmmm, Media Goodness

Nothing brightens my day like great media placement:



(My apologies for the terribly shitty quality of these pictures...iPhone got distracted by the bright shiny light.)

Not-for-profit HMO HealthPartners has taken over Metro Transit route 135, including new ceiling stickers I've never seen on the bus before. These ads are excellent in both targeting and placement. The 135 route has jusr a handful of buses each day: 6 from south Minneapolis to downtown in the morning, and 6 going the opposite direction after work. HealthPartners knows beyond a doubt that they're putting their ads in front of commuters.

Not to mention catching their attention. Taking over the entire bus, instead of being one of 15 panels competing for eyes, ensures that these ads can't be missed. The bright orange of all the ads visually unifies all the ads. And the ceiling sticker really seals the deal because it's new ad space for Metro Transit that's literally staring you down as you enter or exit the aisle.

Check out their site for a better idea of what the campaign looks like, and I'll try to catch some better pictures next time I'm on the 135!

Unfinished Projects

Cool Lowe's billboard at 9th St S & 4th Ave in Minneapolis. Copy: "Unfinished projects?"

100 Percent recall ratio.

You know it is a great ad when you wonder how nobody could have thought about such a simple, obvious idea before - and you wish you would have been the first one.

Kudos to DDB Amsterdam for this evergreen ad and congratulations for a Gold Clio.

Long live one of the best-selling cars of all times.

And long live brilliant text-based print ads.

Also Volkswagen, also DDB - Berlin this time - , also simple and surprising, but image-based instead. Thanks to the guys (yes, only guys, I checked) at DDB, my motivation to go back to Europe has just been boosted a little bit. I cannot wait to cruise around in my friend's ancient, red 1974 VW Golf, blaring Jacko from his new entertainment system that he will likely get in exchange for his broken gloves department.

Quit Plan Minnesota: Great OOH

I make the drive between the Twin Cities and Fargo, ND on I-94 pretty frequently and have a few specific landmarks I watch for along the way: the smiling water tower in Freeport, the WeDoCows building in Melrose, and even my favorite highway sign (which was the inspiration for Road Sign Math, by the way). But the one that catches my attention the most is this brilliant billboard just outside the Twin Cities near Rogers:




My non-ad boyfriend even remarked last time we made the drive how cool he thought the sign was. Simple and clear, like out of home should be.

coolest. billboard. ever.

I found this NYtimes article about how SunChips is green. 75% of their plants power is coming from solar energy -- that is awesome.

I just really love creative OOH. It never gets old to me. And this is a perfect example of SIMPLE.

Jameson Irish Whiskey: Out of Home Done Right

I love nothing more than when creative and media teams work closely together. When transit ads act differently than print, I'm impressed--and even moreso when they're locally relevant. One of the biggest factors for whether someone pays attention to an ad is personal relevance, and for a national brand, taking a local approach often enhances that factor. Take these transit ads around campus:




They're conscious of the fact that they're bus ads in Minnesota without screaming, "HEY! I'M AN ADVERTISEMENT! ISN'T IT COOL THAT I KNOW I'M AN ADVERTISEMENT?" Instead, they're relating the product and the message to its surroundings. Very cool in my book, and the sign of creatives who think strategically about media and media planners who think creatively.

And I'm not gonna lie: On a college campus, a bus stop might just be the moment of receptivity for a whiskey ad...