Live Aid: The sequel

Well obviously the first Live Aid worked so well, twenty years later Bob Geldof needs to foist his naïve view of global politics upon us again. The former Boomtown Rat—who was knighted as a result of the 1985 concert to raise funds for African famine relief—is more known for his rants of ‘Give us your f—money’ at the original event than his music. (I’m betting you didn’t run out last year to buy the third version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? written by Geldof.)  Not to be outshone by fellow musician/armchair activist Bono, Geldof has just unveiled plans to stage a new concert on July 2, with venues in five countries which is expected to last at least 16 hours. The event, intended to raise awareness rather than money, is timed to put pressure on world leaders gathering at the G8 summit in Scotland July 6-8. Geldof has signed up some of music’s biggest names, including Paul McCartney, Madonna, U2, Coldplay, Sting and Elton John. Call me a cynic but it’s a bit hard to believe that Elton John—who admitted to spending $182,000 on flowers in one 20-month period—loses sleep worrying about Third World debt and hunger. That’s the problem with Geldof’s grandstanding: While AdFreak fully shares his concerns, these events—however well-intended—come across as a triumph of hype and celebrity over substance. About the only good thing I can say is that Sir Bob has nixed plans to feature a Spice Girls reunion, because he’s just realized the group doesn’t have the gravitas to appear at such an oh-so-important event.

—Posted by Noreen O'Leary

Published on May 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Nike almost promotes running barefoot

Nike’s latest ad campaign recommends “run barefoot.” Huh? After all these years hearing you need all that pricey, high-tech support and cushioning to put a spring to your step, it turns out that running barefoot is actually good for you, helping to strengthen muscles and prevent injury in training. But before you start pounding the pavement barefoot,  you should read up on the details.  Or head to the nearest Nike store. To recreate that oh-so-liberating, running-barefoot-on-the-beach feeling, Nike offers Nike FREE, a lightweight shoe with a flexible design that simulates running barefoot. Nike last week began advertising the shoe with a commercial that recreates the famous beach-running scene from Chariots of Fire. Only this poetic jog following a group of runners on a beach gets increasingly cluttered with urban items—a parking meter, a man on a park bench, a taxi—before a bus roars in front of the lead runner and the scenes switches to a city environment.  It seems FREE already has its fans, from Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to rising soccer star Freddy Adu, which have lent their names to the product line. And if you fancy yellow or just feel like giving a little, try the Armstrong shoe, which gives $1 to the Lance Armstrong Foundation for each sold.

—Posted by Eleftheria Parpis

Published on May 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Nike puts the id in advertising

Speaking of Nike, with visions of absolute power dancing through my head, I went and tried out the cell phone-operated NikeID billboard in Times Square last week that lets you design your own shoe and display it to the hordes walking by.(Unfortunately, it looks like the billboard may no longer be live.) My first attempt, at about 12:30 p.m., was a failure, as the billboard, on the Reuters building at 43rd and Seventh, seemed to have a time-share arrangement with the Pillsbury Doughboy, who is currently promoting his 40th birthday in a splashy fashion that might make Paris Hilton jealous. But at about 6 p.m., when the youth market that probably gets into this stuff was well out of math class, the Nike ad was on full display, goading me into giving it a spin. Standing under a slight overhang in a light drizzle, clutching my phone, I dialed up the number, and sure enough the 60-second time limit I had to design my shoe started ticking away on the billboard. I got the hang of it just in time to create this nifty red shoe—a link to this picture of it was immediately sent via SMS to my phone. (I could’ve bought a pair of these shoes from my phone, too, but I’m not currently in the market for new ones.) People at AdFreak's cousin, Adweek, asked me what the experience felt like, and I guess in the end I found it different than I expected. Rather than feeling the adrenaline rush of being in charge, it felt oddly, sort of pleasantly, covert. I was the woman behind the curtain rather than the woman in front of it because to all those walking by, I looked like just another commuter, calling home to say what train I’d be on. In fact, seconds after controlling the billboard, that’s exactly what I was. I jumped back down the rabbit hole into the Times Square subway station and made it to Grand Central in time to catch the 6:18.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on May 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)

No, Virginia, there isn't a Santa Claus

Voltaire said we look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization, and if that is true, we better just can Kris Kringle. In the name of defeating crass consumerism, Scottish art and advertising student Darren Cullen, 22, has declared a virtual jihad on Santa Claus, which also may break a few wee hearts. His artwork/advertising has been unveiled on billboards in Glasgow last week, with slogans like “Stop lying to your children about Santa Claus,” and “Santa gives more to rich kids than poor kids.” Whoa! Someone obviously had some bad Christmas mornings. Cullen says his project is actually designed to help the children. He calls Santa "a lie which teaches kids that products will make them happy." Thanks, Darren. You explain that to a wailing 6-year-old.

—Posted by Celeste Ward

Credit: Comstock Images/Getty Images

Published on May 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Unhappy? Become a hairdresser

Memo to unhappy ad execs: You might be better off chucking it all for beauty school. Fast Company’s blog points to a Happiness Index created by a British vocational-certification group called Cities & Guilds that tries to measure job satisfaction. The group surveyed over 1,200 workers, evenly split between “vocational” and “academic” professions. It turns out many more blue-collar types are happy at work, particularly hairdressers. Forty-percent of hairdressers said they were very happy with their jobs. In all, those working with their hands seem much happier than those staring at computers: 23 percent of cooks and 20 percent of plumbers, mechanics and builders said they were happy against just 5 percent of lawyers, 2 percent of architects and 8 percent of bankers. A fair number of DJs (13 percent happy) and fitness instructors (18 percent) were very pleased with their toil. Unsurprisingly, there appears very few overjoyed government workers (3 percent) and IT guys (5 percent). Ad agency folks didn’t make the list, so we can only guess where they would end up. The group has tips for sticking it out and getting happy on the job, such as be positive, put flowers out and “start the day with a natter or gossip.”

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on May 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Detroit Free Press wraps itself in flag ... sort of

In the latest example of placement being as important as content, the Detroit Free Press and Marshall Field's have caused a bit of a stink with a wraparound ad that had some readers thinking a special Memorial Day's tribute was inside. Instead, they found the stars against a blue background that dominated news-box windows were part of an ad for department store chain Marshall Field's. That prompted at least one subscriber to threaten cancellation. The dust-up led to some curiosity on my part about Field's Web site as we head into Memorial Day. No sign of the flag there, in fact I found a decidedly more foreign and exotic sales pitch: highlighted are the new Signoria di Firenze line of sheets and bedding, and the Le Mystére line of bras.

—Posted by Trevor Jensen

Published on May 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Wendy's says it's good to be square

It’s not often that we click on an ad just because it looks intriguing, so we have to hand it to Wendy’s for sucking us into its little animated short this morning. The banner that led us to it looked as though it might be promoting Zoloft (see Zoloft face above), since its central visual was one of those wistful black-and-white faces on a cheery red background. But the movie it links to at goodtobesquare.com is more like an homage to what happens when the anti-depressant treatment finally kicks in—and it never mentions Wendy's. It stars a little square emoticon being followed slavishly by a bunch of chirpy circles to the 1970 tune “Ooh Child” by The Five Stairsteps, the feel-good hit of the entire twentieth century. (See Wendy's emoticons at left.) According to this story, the TV version of the campaign will segue into some discussion of why square hamburger patties are better. One other note: isn’t it curious that the emoticons have legs, but no arms, and therefore, no fingers?

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on May 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (31)
Filed under Wendy's

7Up wants to shoot you into orbit

Lance Bass was willing to put up $20 million to travel into space. All you have to do is drink a lot of 7Up. Starting this week, 7Up is holding a promotion to give one lucky/terrified winner the “first free ticket to space” on a rocket based on SpaceShipOne technology. (SpaceShipOne was the vehicle that won the Ansari X Prize last year by completing a truly bad-ass suborbital journey.) To play, you have to visit 7Up.com and enter 15-character codes that are cropping up on a variety of 7Up, Sunkist, A&W Root Beer and Canada Dry bottle caps and 12-packs. 7Up will cover the $200,000 price tag, plus $100,000 more in taxes, to hurtle you headlong into the unknown. You’ll be responsible for bringing the second clean pair of trousers.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on May 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (10)

How Carrie rode her niche to the top

It’s no brain stretch to dissect exactly what won Carrie Underwood her American Idol crown. While Gawker may call her Kelly Clarkson Jr. (and they have a point), it’s clear that Underwood’s small-town charm and wholesome smile appealed to a broader audience than Bo Bice’s flip flops and lanky, laid-back ’tude. But what pushed Carrie to the final, final, final round was the fact that, like any good marketer, she knew her niche. From the start, Carrie and Bo both each appealed to their own group of core viewers. Idol has no shortage of young lovelies, but those picked off early went for a predictable mélange of sex appeal and melisma. How many would trade Top 40 for Tammy Wynette? Just Carrie. Same for the guys. It’s no long jump from Anwar’s Stevie Wonder covers to Nikko Smith’s Bobbie Brown impersonation. They split the vote. Ultimately, even Bo shared his niche with Costantine Maroulis. Viewers may have screamed upset when the smoldering giant was booted, but one of them had to go. By the time it was down to the final five—which inexplicably included Scott Savol and Eastern Bloc cheese hunk Anthony Federov—each inhabited their own space. That’s when Carrie’s mainstream appeal carried her to the top. Every drunk with a cigarette lighter and a lungful of air may have hollered for Bice to “Play some Skynyrd!” But girls wanted to be Carrie, boys wanted to date her, and moms wanted to cut her a big old slice of American apple pie.

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Photo: Ray Mickshaw/Fox

Published on May 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey, everyone! Meet iGuy!

Strangely enough, the theme on AdFreak this morning is squishy anthropomorphic white things. As we raise a glass to the Pillsbury Doughboy on his 40th birthday (see below), we’d also like to introduce you to iGuy, a new iPod holder that lets your digital device actually look like the living being that you privately know it is. (As far as our iPod is concerned, we’re still scratching our heads about that day a few months back when he flat out refused to play Green Day and seemed to have an obsession—which we didn’t share that day—with Pearl Jam.) Anyway, ever since we discovered iGuy yesterday at the iPod Lounge, we’ve been pining for the launch of iGal, and trying to figure out who iGuy most closely resembles. An albino Gumby? Or an albino, headless Teletubby?

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

Published on May 27, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1)