Nike, I'm taking your bait

Reactions are running the gamut from love to hate to confusion. I can't decide my reaction because I can't decide what Nike's goal was. Help me figure it out?

• Setting the stage to move forward. "We're not going to ignore the Tiger issue. We can yank his ads or we can run them like nothing happened...or we can do something awesome."
  
• Generate some BUZZ! "Dude, let's do something controversial about Tiger Woods. The bloggers will love it!"
• Branding. "Everybody fucks up, even the most successful athletes in the world. Face your shit, own up to it, get past it, and just do it. It's totally on brand. Let's get a writer on this."

I hope it's the third one but I'm not sure. What do you think? Is it succeeding?

"I'm Lovin' " this new McDonald's outdoor ad (sorry, I couldn't resist)

I have an IHF for McDonald's for this great interactive advertisement. And not interactive as in online (though there's potential for online photos and YouTube views), but INTERACTIVE as in on the streets interaction from people of all kinds. The advertisement utilizes what "Best Week Ever" described as the "holding up the Leaning Tower of Piza viewpoint," for tourists or just regular citizens and their cameras.



The advertisement is in London's Piccadilly Circus area, a large tourist traffic area.

Ad that makes me remember why I love this

Oh oh oh oh, this is a brand new day...

Earlier this week the Fallon blog pointed out all the optimism-laden commercials on the air right now, including two from Target:

I'm absolutely in love with both these commercials and stop to watch them any time they're on.  Perfection.  The campaign acknowledges the recession without making light of it, and translates Target's "Expect More, Pay Less" to be especially relevant.  You can expect the coffeeshop experience but pay $25.  And the gorgeous, compelling art direction + whimsical music = unmistakeably Target.  It really makes you believe (at least here in Mpls, Target Homeland) that you can create your own slice of this perfect world with the well-designed products you get at Target.

I swear I will never get sick of this campaign.

Canadian Comedy: Pizza Pops campaign makes me ROTFL

I love it when commercials can still make me absolutely crack up. For example, this commercial for National Car Rental makes me laugh every single time.

However, they are hard to find. I previously have discussed some other spots that I love right now. Yesterday, on Creativity, I found some more. And to be sure to give the whole campaign some kudos, I'll post all 4 of these. So simple, I love them.

All Sexed Up and Ready to Sell

So, I was doing my normal Saturday routine of watching wedding shows on the Style network (who doesn't love Who's Wedding is it Anyway?, Martha Stewart's the Art of Cakes II, Most Outrageous Weddings, and Forbes 20 Most Expensive Celebrity Weddings?), so what do you get when you mix Style TV with the holiday season?

Perfume ads. Tons and tons of perfume ads.

First there's the J'adore Dior ad with Charlize Theron:



Then there's Lancome's Magnifique with Anne Hathaway (complete with über cheesey song:)



The SUPER sexy Euphoria by Calvin Klein ad:



And let's not forget dear Britney's two fragrances:





*side note: the Fantasy ad airing on TV does not feature her tour, or the Britney + Kevin in a heart on the tree. (Methinks this has something to do with the whole splitting up thing, maybe?)

But the newest Elizabeth Arden fragrance commercial with Catherine Zeta Jones really gave me déjà vu:



Why the hell is a floating red umbrella symbolic of "the power of a woman?" It gives me flashbacks of Traveler's Insurance:



The red umbrella in this spot actually has something to do with the brand (hello- Traveler's logo!) and I actually find the idea sort of charming. The Arden beauty ad, on the other hand, kind of made me gag.

Then again, it is a tough thing to advertise for perfume. People really care about the scent (SHOCKER!), and until Smell-O-Vision becomes a prevalent medium in our lives, it seems we will have to deal with the overtly sexual, lifestyle-based commercials. (I mean, let's be serious: why do women wear perfume, if not to get sexed up?)

Ooo! Another fragrance commercial just popped up! The ever-so-trashy Mariah Carey Precious collection:



Happy Sexed-up Holidays to all in Yaybialand!

The ultimate connection

Genius, surprising, simple media placement at airports for the rental car company Sixt. In recent years, one of the best German agencies, Jung von Matt, has driven Sixt's rise from a small local competitor to the leading rental company. And yet, they still manage to surprise me and everybody else. See for yourself and be amazed:

Ideational realization

I recently tried to explain my passion for advertising to my grandma.
"Sounds like fun," she said "However, where do you always get all those ideas from?"
"I don’t know," I replied, "I guess, I just have them."

I thought about it for a while and realized that this is not true of course. First of all, I don’t always have ideas, much less good or even great ones. Plus, output is only produced by the right kind of input. My brain is like a sponge and will only release an idea drop every once in a while if it is soaked with impressions and sensations. So I thought about it for another while to find out what really inspires me.

Here is my random, incomplete Top Ten list of inspiration:

• Failblog
• Really good ads
• Really bad ads
• Err, well… getting drunk
• My job as a fair and event hostess. In the past two weeks alone, I have worked at a cardiologists convention, at an incentive for fork truck staff and at a gala for gifted teenagers.
• Children
• Using my energy legs to clear my mind – running, snowboarding, biking, hiking
• Gossip magazines and British tabloids
• Public transport: The tourists’ dialects and cultural differences, the teenage wisdom and the gay couple arguing about what to eat for dinner, the distinguished gentlemen’s conversation with the punk… The day I can fit that in a car, I’ll give up trains and subways.
• And here is my number one source of inspiration: My friends. This summer for example, we found some old eggs. Instead of dumping them, we built a catapult and attacked our friends in their boat. Crazy? Sure! Nonsense? Of course! That’s the point.

Where do you get your ideas from? What kind of input do you need for great output? Everybody is different and it is worth to think about it so you can utilize it better for yourself and for great ads. I believe that everybody can be creative; it’s just a matter of attitude and inspiration. Take my grandma: Although she thinks she could never do“that”, she told me the most amazing stories and fairytales when I was a kid.

Real (Estate) Creativity

In a city like Berlin, it is not easy to attract tourists, families and young hipsters at the same time. In particular if you are a home improvement store. So Kudos to Hornbach, a chain for building materials and tools, for being the current talk of the town. Hornbach sponsored the “Haus der Vorstellungen” in the center of the city. Haus means house (see how easy German is) and Vorstellungen translates to imagination, as well as introduction, presentation and performance (okay, okay I take that back).

Before the old house at Torstrasse 166 is gonna be remodeled soon, it is used as a temporary public gallery and experimental space for a number of different artists: In a completely dark apartment visitors can listen to the “sound of the city”. Another one is filled with huge, white balloons and next to that architects rebuilt a stereotypical GDR condo from the 1970s. In an otherwise empty apartment an artist preserved the olfactory history of the rooms (I did not go into the bathroom in that one). One store is covered in maps and post-its and on another one a creepy video installation shows two little girls playing at a graveyard. On the top floor all bathtubs are covered in fur, a giant disco ball hangs from the ceiling and on the weekends one of the top clubs organized free parties there.



It’s all pretty cool. And the coolest thing is that the house is a real forum for creativity and not a Hornbach showroom. I only spotted a small logo on the free magazine and micosite, a mission statement at the entrance and Hornbach’s slogan “There is always something you can do” on the front wall. Hornbach convinced me that they are willing to think outside the box. They are there for you to provide you with the means to realize your ideas - no matter how crazy they might be.

Unfinished Projects

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

Kevin Swanepoel Lecture

Kevin Swanepoel, the president of The One Club, graced us Minneapolitans tonight with a series of great work done for The One Show, as well a mini-lecture about "The User Revolution and the Creative Evolution." (I got to meet him. He has an awesome accent. Don't be too jealous ladies...)

Quick summary of the lecture for those who were unable to run on over to MCAD to see him speak:
The User Revolution (which consists of
1. Emergence of "Communitainment" [Community+Entertainment]
2. Growth of User Generated Sites
3. Mainstreaming of the Internet
4. Declining usage of tradition media and
5. Fragmentation of content consumption)
has led to a need for a Creative Evolution in our industry. (I think we Yaybies are already hip to that jive, but I'm just summarizing.) The Creative Evolution that he talked about was one that strays from the traditional advertising formats. However, he warns: even newer forms of advertising still need proper copywriters, art directors, producers, and all of the other talents that come from traditional backgrounds, so DON'T FRET MY FRIENDS!

Kevin also said that in order to be successful as a Creative in this modern world of advertising, you must answer "yes" to all of the following questions:
1. Do you own an XBOX, Wii, PlayStation, etc.?
2. Do you hold a MySpace/Facebook account?
3. Do you own a website?
4. Do you write (or contribute to) a blog?
5. Do you subscribe to any RSS feeds?
6. Do you know what an RSS feed IS?
7. Do you post your creative online?
8. Have you ever created a video or podcast and posted it on YouTube?
9. Do you have a Twitter account?

According to Kevin, however, don't throw in the towel just yet if you haven't conquered all of the points on the list... there's always time to quickly whip up a podcast of how you plan on taking over Hollywood as the next Miley Cyrus! But seriously, knowing how to interact with a variety of digital/technological devices and sites makes you a better advertiser. (Does this mean I can beg my mom for a PlayStation so I can play SingStar? "But Kevin Swanepoel told me I NEED one Mom!")

The show stoppers of the evening, however, were the examples of "new media" advertising. Here is a not-so-exhaustive list of what was shown: (Sorry if you've seen some of these before. I have too, but I want to make sure EVERYONE has!)

Super Monkey Ball Deluxe's Chad Series This is just one episode in a series of hilarious webisodes for the SEGA game. A viral video that I actually WANT to pass on - WHO KNEW? (Actually, I share a lot of shit that probably isn't very deserving... so I guess that's not saying TOO much.) Never mind my rambling. This is funny stuff.

GNUF How do you advertise for a new online casino in a fresh and BIG way? Make HUGE DICE and roll them down a mountain and have people bet on it! Wish I would've thought it first...

Coke Happiness Factory Hiring Everyone on NSAC (REPRESENT!) loves Coca-Cola and especially the Happiness Factory, but AKQA New York added even more fun to the experience by letting you apply for a job in the Happiness Factory! I'd <3 style="font-style: italic;">you know where.)

Hema A hysterical way to have fun with your site. No need to create viral ads to send traffic, just make your SITE viral!

HBO's "Voyeur" site This work brought up a series of questions about to whom work belongs during collaboration. I don't know whether to give claim to BBDO (who originally started the campaign) or Big Spaceship, who BBDO hired to help make the campaign interactive. Either way, this site is intriguing, if not creepy.

Smirnoff Raw Tea The Tea Partay music videos are classic. If you haven't seen them yet, you haven't lived a true advertising life. P(rep) Unit FOREVA!

Ford Sportka This viral vid is devilishly funny. The cat one got a lot of criticism and was removed a while ago for just going a little TOO far, but I still enjoy them nonetheless. (AND I LOVE KITTIES!)

Okay, I've blabbed on enough, right? So, if you want to check out some more sweet ads, Kevin gave us the link and password to access a bunch of The One Show stuff that you normally need to pay for. I suggest looking at MINIMALISM by Taxi 2 Toronto for Mini Canada. Perhaps Get the Glass for the California Milk Processor's Board too. (It's only good for 90 days, so GET TO IT!)

Just go to: www.oneclub.org/creativerevolution
Username: creative@oneclub.org
Password: revolution

Peace Lovas!

P.S. Got to see my JJ tonight! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Jennifer Johnson!

Mac vs. PC Strikes Again

The latest Mac vs. PC ad was on CNN.com yesterday and this morning.

Love:
• Context awareness. News article on CNN! So clever!
• Politeness. Why yes, I will click to play with sound, thank you for asking.
• Justin Long. Yesplz.

In light of the new Microsoft ad, I can't help but see the PC character pulling out his Clown Club membership card. It's not much of a stretch to think of Jerry standing in for Justin and Bill for John Hodgman in all the Apple spots. Clearly, Microsoft and CP+B played right into the personality Apple created for them. So now I'm wondering: Is it smart to accept when your competitor has defined you and decide to go with, not against, that persona? It's one thing to accept your consumer's perceptions for better or for worse, but should you keep giving your competition more ammo against you?

Maybe the next Seinfeld spot will clear up this massive confusion.

The art of shaving, kissing and microsites

I wish there would have been microsites back when I was middle school. I could have just forwarded this link to Simon, aka. the Tongue Twister. And to Stephan, the Throat Digger. Oh, and to Chris, the Wet Whirl.

To beard or not to beard, that is the question

BBDO created a fairly entertaining and educating page for Gillette. A middle-aged guy and a couple of attractive ladies offer lessons in love to men in need. The message is that a clean-shaven face is the first step on the path to the perfect kiss. Guys who prefer a little stubble can only learn how to shake hands in about 500 ways. Maybe my early experiences would have been more pleasant after some virtual tutoring for the above mentioned boys. In their particular case, however, the benefit for Gillette would have been rather marginal. They hardly had any facial hair yet, apart from eyebrows.

To be precise, the microsite is for the Gillette Fusion safety razor. Fusion seems rather appropriate, considering the viral videos that two of Gillette's competitors have released way earlier. An advergame and related trailer from JWT Paris for Wilkinson stars a baby and his daddy fighting for mommy's kisses. When the dad finally figures out that the toddler's competitive edge is his soft skin he simply shaves. Now the son has to come up with new ways to get his mother's attention and rival his father.

Would you kiss this guy?

A Phillips microsite with hilarious videos (in the "body" part, warning NSFW) features a grown-up fratboy, who talks and sings about the change in his life after he started using the Bodygroom razor. The creative campaign increased the razor's sale beyond expectations and earned Tribal DDB New York tons of awards. Props to Phillips for having enough balls to run the racy site!

As a girl, I might not be able to compare the actual product benefits of the different razors in questions. However, I still know about shaving: My legs are much longer and generally less hairy than most male faces. And as the shaving results on some boy's cheeks and chins show as well, the right tool is not enough. It also takes talent for smooth skin. The same is true for a smoth kiss by the way. Luckily for us girls (and for Simon, Chris and Stephan) both skills can be learned.

Eggcellent. (Sorry, that was definitely not a Turbopun.)

I don't have much time to elaborate on this execution, but I think it's a clever and simple exaggeration for the Sony Microvault Tiny:


(If you couldn't tell, that blue thing in the top right hand corner is the Microvault.)

Simple, gets the point across. Me likey.

Zoo York

Killer promo idea

Apocalypse is Near

All I can say about this new Cadbury commercial is "what the hell?" Fallon-London produced this monstrosity of pimped out airport vehicles racing to the God given voice of Freddie Mercury. I know Queen was a British rock band but that doesn't give the Brits a right to exploit their songs for the sale of chocolate. Freddie, you're still a legend in my heart even though they've sold you to the world of confectionery candies like some eighties one-hit wonder. RIP F.M.

Oops... I Ated a Bunny.

Sometimes brands take themselves too seriously... and let's face it, though us advertising nerds spend countless hours determining which typeface is going to jolt consumers into purchasing nylons, advertising really isn't a life or death situation. So, after a 4-day inner tug-of-war of whether or not I like the new Swedish Fish ads or not, the results are in:

(Drum roll....)

YES! I do.

Candy was never supposed to be a serious thing, and these silly, playful, and somewhat insane ads do the trick for me. I definitely will never forget these images:


A syrupy bunny... it gets me every time.

Maybe it's just the LOL Cat lover in me that sees potential copycatting among Internet geeks ("I thunk the waffle was pillow." "Somewon forgotz da peenut butter and jelliez.")... who knows? But I have decided that these ads are just random enough to spark my curiosity, but not so much that it freaks me out.

Hopefully my first yaybia post did not disappoint. If it did, go to my blog (hitmysweetspot.blogspot.com) to see the new yaybie if you haven't already. That's right, I'm not above shameless self promotion.

Off-road right on track

On November 3rd, 2007 a massive hailstorm erupted over Bogota. Within minutes, the capital of Colombia was flodded with more than four feet of water and ice. It was brought to a complete standstill.

An almost complete standstill. Some things were still moving:



In a felicious example of reverse cross-media, Chevrolet used existing news footage for a beautifully simple spot. Normally, I am not a fan of in-you-face product benefits, but this ad for me shows that the letter U actually deserves its place in SUV. Sure enough, there isn't a rainstorm every day, but there isn't a rocky desert to drive through or a jagged mountain to pass every day, either.

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...