Cool ad Campaigns

I'M IN FULL BLOG MODE!!

Just wanted to share a link to some pretty neat ad campaigns that I stumbled upon on the internet. By the way, as a side note to anyone who hasn't heard, there is a great web toolbar out there from StumbleUpon.com that literally allows you to "stumble upon" a different website any time you click "stumble". I have it installed and it remembers all your favorite sites (the ones you thumbs up) and sites you hate. You can also instantly share them via Facebook. Just thought I would share with you guys what I mean when I say I "stumbled upon" something on the internet. I use it all the time! Ok, back to the topic. I thought these ad campaigns were cool to look at; check em out! CLICK HERE!

Spoof Ads

Hooray for Harry Potter No. 7 Part 2!! This poster pretty much sums up my feelings. After our first project, I really got big on the idea of spoof advertising. When I stumbled upon this website, I knew it was almost too good to be true. It's on a site called TheShiznit.co.uk. This particular article, if you click the link to view it, has a bunch of advertisements for movies coming out this year that have been modified to "tell the truth". I think some of them are really clever and others are pretty hilarious. It definitely made me stop and think about why these movies are coming out, particularly the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie... (that one still blows my mind, but I guess everything really is about money). I thought I would share these, even though we have already passed the spoof ad project. I guess now I can better appreciate the artistic intellect that someone put into making these. Here are some of my favorites, but I pretty much love them all!

Smell Like a Man, Man

So everyone knows those Old Spice commercials that are currently running. I stumbled upon a comical image made with Minecraft:



Apparently this is a game where you can build anything you want out of cubes. I just thought this cartoon was hilarious because I'm so amused by those Old Spice commercials (and not just the fact that the dude is drop-dead sexy). They really are clever and they're one of my favorite commercials on the air. I have seen only a few that I find myself thinking "this is a good commercial". So when I came across this cartoon, I just had to laugh. Nice spoof.

Advertising Becomes Personal with Billboards that See You

Thought this article that I found was very interesting.

"We live in a “me” society, where everything is on demand, and customized and personalized just for me. I have MySpace, iGoogle, my Yahoo, my iTunes – everything directed towards me, in the way I choose to consume it. I no longer read a print newspaper; instead I simply log onto my Google desktop, and can see my top interest news, specifically in the way I have decided to filter it, and specifically in the order I want it displayed. I no longer listen to the radio, I play my iTunes, which are songs I have chosen to listen to, or Pandora, with specific radio stations created just for me, based on the music I want to hear. I no longer buy shoes at a regular store; instead I use an online company that puts together a customized selection of shoes just for me, based on my personal tastes. I have decided that I am important enough to only consume exactly what I want, and have thus managed to filter out most of the “noise” that exists in the world."

"It only makes sense that advertising and marketing will follow this trend in focusing on the “personalized for me.” Random ads directed at mass consumers may no longer be as effective, now that consumers are used to having everything else customized specifically for them."

"While there has been much debate in the past over your online privacy – a new debate may soon exist that can be taken to the streets, in the form of billboards."

"A system was very recently developed by a research agency in Singapore. The system consists of a billboard-like electronic screen that has cameras and sensors that can actually “see” passersby. The screen can detect the gender of the passersby, as well as exactly how long the “audience” looks at the billboard. The system will soon be able to detect your age as well. IBM is currently working on a system that will be able to scan a crowd, estimate the number of people in the crowd, as well as the demographics of the crowd, and exactly where the crowd is looking."

"Taking this new technology a step further, there is much to come just on the horizon. These systems will soon be able to detect logos on cups and shopping bags of passersby, and then display relevant ads to each person. These “relevant” ads could either be to reinforce the brand they are using, or to display an ad of a competitor of the brand."

"Albeit a bit creepy to have a screen know my age, gender, and what I am having to drink, what an amazing way to customize and tailor messages just for me."

What do you think about these billboards?

Top 10 Viral Video Ads (of the week!)

http://www.visiblemeasures.com/adage

I stumbled upon this website while looking for something else, and thought it would be worth sharing on this blog. Updated on Thursday mornings, it's a Top 10 list of Viral Video Ads.

Here's what THEY say about it:

"The Visible Measures Top 10 Viral Video Ad Campaigns Chart focuses on brand-driven viral video ads that appear on online-video-sharing destinations. Each campaign is measured on a True Reach™ basis, which includes viewership of both brand-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. The data are compiled using the Visible Measures Viral Reach Database, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on more than 100 million internet videos across more than 150 video-sharing destinations. Note: This analysis does not include Visible Measures' paid-placement (e.g. overlays, pre-/mid-/post-roll) performance data or video views on private sites. This chart does not include movie trailers, video-game campaigns, TV show or media network promotions, or public service announcements. View-count results are incremental by week."

So basically, they focus on 10 online ads that reached sometimes millions of people just through the internet. (The #1 this week is a T-Mobile ad that reached over 8,000,000!)

We all know that the internet is a great way for things that would otherwise be completely overlooked or insignificant to become instantly popular (i.e. Friday, Charlie Bit Me, among others) but it works for advertisements too! What is so interesting to me is that these advertisements really wouldn't work (some of them, I personally think the T-Mobile one is included) for TV. They only work because they're out there on the internet. Something to keep in mind as we design for multiple mediums!a

The Evolution of Coca-Cola

The great debate: Coke vs. Pepsi. No doubt they are both raking in MILLIONS for their respective founders, but Coke has been a symbol of a generation since it's classic curved design in 1915. I'm a Coke-drinker by nature (some say it's a southern thing, and no we don't call it POP). Not only do I love it's flavor, but the evolution of Coca-Cola in advertising is also something to revere. I came across this website: http://www.designers-magazine.com/?p=542 that chronicles the history of the soft drink's advertising campaign. Most recently, Coke got some television time when the Myth Busters guys dropped a Mentos candy into a 2-liter of Diet Coke and made an explosive discovery.

As it stands now, the Coca-Cola logo is pretty much universally recognizable and enjoyed by millions all over the world. Most recently, the company has adopted a more modern vectorized and loses everything but the name. Simply the white and red line are also instantly associated with the brand. I would say they've done a pretty good job embedding the product into our brains!

Unconventional Advertising

In Chapter 15, it talks about unconventional advertising. Unconventional advertising “ambushes” the public, it appears in public or private environments - places and surfaces where advertising does not usually live. Context is important and unconventional advertising can make people notice - that is, it can break through to consumers in ways that traditional ads do not or can not, and it might garner free publicity from the news media. Often, clients and agencies turn to unconventional marketing when the budget is too low for television or for rich Web solutions. The underpinning hope is that a terrific unconventional solution will garner free attention from the press.

There are basic questions to ask when you create unconventional advertising:

• What is the goal? Why would you employ unconventional marketing rather than conventional or screen media?

• What will the audience get out of it? Something worthwhile?

• Since unconventional advertising intrudes in non-paid media space, will it be more beneficial that annoying?

Here is a site I found with different examples of unconventional advertisements.

http://www.boston.com/business/gallery/quirkyadvertisements?pg=11