My first-ever encounter with spelling bee mania came during lunch yesterday, when I flicked on the TV and encountered ESPN’s early round coverage of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. At first, my reaction was … a spelling bee? On ESPN? I mean, what’s the sport? Do they time the kids or something to see how fast they can walk to the microphone? No. This sports coverage was all about spelling—and came replete, not with soccer Moms, but with parents (often pleasingly dorky-looking) cheering somewhat reservedly from the sidelines. But then the competition sucked me in. It was partly like watching a really tough game show—could I spell the word before it was displayed on the screen?—and part incredible suspense, as the little geniuses stood sweating at the microphone, questioning their elders as to each word’s definition, origin and so forth before slowly and deliberately beginning to spell. I found myself emitting sighs of relief each time one of the contestants got a word right, and feeling just a tad verklempt (maybe it’s a Mom thing), each time one of the poor, little, defenseless future Mensa members was eliminated from the competition. So, yes, the family did tune in to the primetime finals last night on ABC, and even though early reports suggest the show was dead last in the broadcast network ratings, hats off to ABC for giving these kids some air time.
Here’s a spec ad for a spec phone that bears the Apple logo, but has no relation to Apple itself. In fact, the auteur, Christopher DeSantis, is careful to point out, “The designs presented are purely fictional in nature and do not suggest or infer any current or emerging product design efforts by, nor affiliation with, Apple Computer.” (Apple's actual music phone, the Rokr from Motorola, was launched in September.) I’ll reserve judgment except to say that I’m more impressed by the design of the non-existent phone than I am with the ad itself, which has its own merits. Kind of looks like an iPod Nano mated with a Motorola Razr. Cooooool. —Posted by Deanna Zammit
This is one promotion to get behind.
Tomorrow, Crumpler Bags is bringing its “Beer for Bags Week” stateside, following unsurprisingly successful promotions in the
company’s native Australia – a market not exactly known for its aversion
to booze. The idea is you bring beer to Crumpler’s SoHo store in New York
and exchange it for a bag. A case of Coopers and two Foster’s oil cans
will get you the bag pictured, a Barney Rustle Blanket, which sells for
$85. As an added bonus, you can play drinking games with Crumpler’s hard-working
staff. Crumpler has video highlights of its previous beer promotions.
A while back, we wrote that centenarian Irene Alice Goguen credited her longevity to beer. Now, it seems some Czech scientists have engineered a beer that will make getting older more pleasant for the ladies. The new brew contains 10 times the normal amount of phytoestrogen, intended to relieve menopausal symptoms and maintain bone density. Considering that Tab has bowed an energy drink for gals, complete with a kicky pink can, there's no telling when Budweiser will follow suit with an estro-suds. I have a hunch, however, that the new brew won’t help with that post-menopausal weight gain. —Posted by Deanna Zammit
When you’ve spent the better part of three days behind a red-hot MacBook in a sweltering city apartment, a YouTube video titled How Hot is the MacBook? tends to grab your attention. A computer that throws off this kind of heat (up to 119 degrees, according to the infrared thermometer) might be a selling point in January, but not so much in June. I’m not sure if this YouTube video comes down on the side of citizen journalism or consumer-created advertising (he's happy with the heat), so I’ll let you be the judge.
As one Juan Valdez wanders into the sunset, another is poised to arrive with a new image to maintain for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia.Carlos Sanchez is stepping out of the role at 71 after 37 years under the sombrero. Playing the part of Valdez came naturally to Sanchez, who remains a coffee grower as well as a silkscreen artist. Sanchez was the second Juan Valdez after Jose Duval filled the role created by the agency then known as Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1959. The next Juan will have steeper mountains to climb as the coffee growers roll out a chain of Juan Valdez Cafes that are expected to number up to 300 worldwide by 2007. According to The Los Angeles Times, the successor to Sanchez will be chosen from 10 finalists who will display environmental senstiviity and have already survived close psychological screening. Apparently, the stress of carrying Columbia’s coffee image can prove a heavy burden in the thin mountain air. "We are looking for someone who is emotionally stable and can absorb fame without destroying himself and his family," says Luis Samper, director of intellectual property of the coffee federation, in The Times' story.
So there I was, poised to ridicule the Guiding Light fans who have propelled fictional tell-all Oakdale Confidential onto The New York Times' best-seller list. (The book has been woven into the plot of the soap as characters try to unmask the anonymous author.) Then I realized that Lost’s hard-cover counterpart, woven into the content of The Hanso Foundation site, sits three notches above Oakdale Confidential on this week’s list. Anyone who read last month’s Lost post knows that I am an inveterate Lostie, sometimes to my grammatical detriment. And while foaming at the mouth over Lost may be trendier than doing the same over Guiding Light, I can’t really sit in judgment of the GL fans. After all, when I first heard of Bad Twin, my only thought was—“IwantitIwantitIwantit.” What a fantastic way to placate fans until next season. Happy summer reading.
What’s up with Wal-Mart? First, the mega-store announces it's taking a stab at organic foods, priced right for the rollback crowd. An upcoming article in The New York Times Magazine opines, “The vast expansion of organic farmland it will take to feed Wal-Mart’s new appetite is also an unambiguous good for the world’s environment.” And the new, greener Wal-Mart may not stop there as the Associated Press reports the chain is considering selling ethanol, a fuel made from corn. A while back, I suggested Wal-Mart give up the smiley face and license the Death Star instead, based on its union-busting image. But if it can create a niche as the superstore with an environmental conscience, Wal-Mart might just win some new fans. On a separate note, considering the amount of corn it would take to fuel Wal-Mart’s initiative, heartland towns might wish they could get back all those fertile acres they paved over to make room for, well, stores like Wal-Mart. —Posted by Deanna Zammit
OK, the headline really grabbed us—“Ad Space Now Available on Jim Morrison’s Tombstone.” And even though that’s not really true, it enticed us to read “6 Sacred Places that Still Need to be Ruined by Advertising” by Brian W. Vaszily, president of a company called TopMarketingPro, which, according to his bio, practices "conscientious marketing." The list was apparently inspired by the U.S. Postal Service, which recently announced that it would allow companies to advertise on postal stamps “to make mail more interesting to consumers.” Vaszily retorts, “So instead of the U.S. flag you can now watch for the Wal-Mart smiley-face logo on your mail.” The six places that made the list are: tombstones of famous people (thus, the Jim Morrison reference); the earth’s natural wonders; the sky (he’s not thinking good old analog skywriting here, but something more bold using the latest digital technology); babies (wonder if he's ever heard of the forehead guy?); church altars; and baseball stadiums (though, he admits that’s kind of a done deal). Any others you guys would like to add to the list?
I’m not what you’d call a fashionista. I don’t spend more than $60 on a handbag, I bought my only pair of “city shorts” at K-Mart, and I really couldn’t care less what Anna Wintour is doing right now. In fact, part of the allure of blogging is that you get to work in your pajamas and never have to apply a stick of makeup. So I’m really not the target ticket buyer for The Devil Wears Prada. Or so I thought until I caught the movie’s “trailer” at a theater near me. The teaser smartly avoids an attempt to draw in mainstream (non-media) types with a stale working-girl-in-the-big-city montage and instead opts to show an engrossing three-minute scene from the movie. There is no better way to showcase Meryl Streep’s turn as the quietly terrifying editrix of fashion mag “Runway” or the havoc she wreaks just by showing up early. Stanly Tucci’s effete art director tells his staff to “Gird your loins,” upon her arrival. Ouch. I’ll be buying a ticket on June 30. (What, no day of the beast tie-in?) Just don’t expect me to attend the showing in stilettos. —Posted by Deanna Zammit
We think this post will mark the first time ever we've linked to eTrucker, but since the Flying J chain of truck stops is now being sued by networks including ABC, CBS and Fox Broadcasting, it's high time we did. This story in eTrucker says that Flying J, which among other things offers lounges where truckers can watch TV, has been pre-empting network TV ads with ones targeted toward truckers. (The chain has an extensive array of advertising options under the Flying J Communications banner.) In a way, this all seems obvious in these days of personalized media—the company is providing a service to truckers, so why shouldn't it reap some of the advertising benefits? But on the other hand, the networks are providing the programming. We'll let the lawyers fight this one out.
This Combos campaign from TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York features some excellent stupid guy humor. Check out five TV spots here, here, here, here and here. The concept: how life would be different if your mom were a man. The upshot: you’d suddenly be eating a whole lot more Combos, among many other not-so-subtle changes. The tagline: “What your mom would feed you ... if your mom were a man.” So simple. So stupid. It’s great. Some of the ads in the ’boards screening room have a URL tacked on the end of them: man-mom.com. The site doesn’t exist yet, but hopefully it’s on the way.
The World of Comedy Film Festival was held in Toronto in March and promoted with ads and the tagline, “Comedy makes everything better.” (Click the ads to enlarge.) A humorous concept, although honestly, it’s very rare that clowns make anything better. Via Houtlust.
More monkey news today. This time, Strategic Public Relations points us to the Trunk Monkey—a versatile fellow who hides in the trunks of cars and comes to his drivers’ rescue just in the nick of time, in ads for the Suburban Auto Group in Oregon. In this spot, he plays midwife at a backseat birth. In other spots, all of which are on the Web site, he threatens violence with a shotgun, inflicts violence with a metal club and tries to bribe a cop with cash and doughnuts. It’s sort of unclear what the Trunkmonkey product is, exactly. According to the Web site, it “lives in the trunk of any vehicle and helps to automate weight transfer at the rear wheels during spirited driving maneuvers.”
I’ve had roommates who looked like this guy after a night out at McCormack’s. But seriously, the context here is more sobering: It’s a domestic-violence PSA ad from Saatchi & Saatchi in Singapore. (Click the image to see a larger version.) The text reads, “Your mother acts as though nothing happened. She makes dinner and sits at the table, staring into her plate. He stumbles in drunk, stands behind her and says, ‘I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?’ She sits silent for a long time. You can see the bruise over her eye turning purple. You can feel her sadness filling the room. She nods without looking up. He forces a kiss on her then smiles at you as if to say everything’s fine now. You stare into your plate.” Ugh. The tagline is, “No child should have to live with a monster.” See more executions here and here. Via Ads of the World.
Over the last few days, we've been reading about Virgin Mobile USA's plan to give people free cell minutes in exchange for spending an equal amount of time watching ads—subscribers could get up to 75 minutes per month of free calls, as long as they watch the ads served up on their phones and respond to them via SMS. (We're assuming that's to verify they actually watched). Virgin, according to this story, sees potential in the idea from a highly-desirable youth market that
will do anything—including watching ads!—to preserve cash, but a
Forrester analyst says cell calls are already so cheap anyway, it won't
make a bit of difference.
So, AdFreak readers, time to tell us what you think.
Hard-hitting spot here, including racist language and a brief moment of horrific violence, from McCann Portugal as part of Amnesty International’s efforts to tackle prejudice against immigrants in Europe. In Portuguese, with English subtitles.
Summer in the Hamptons. It’s fun. It’s sexy. It’s where spoiled publicity princesses mow down pedestrians who get in their way. And where high-powered New Yorkers go for the weekend to get away from the pressures of work. Or it’s supposed to be. Of course, some people never tire of work, or of thinking about the issues that preoccupy their industries. And that’s just what a couple of Manhattan-based PR guys—Ronn Torossian of 5W Public Relations and Joseph Anthony of Vital Marketing—are counting on. They’ve just launched a series of roundtable discussions and networking events to take place in East Hampton featuring luminaries from the worlds of entertainment, sports and business, which of course Torossian and Anthony spend most of their waking hours promoting. But don’t expect to able to just waltz right through the front door of the “super-luxurious house” (shown here, according to the e-mail we got) and start dialoguing. Invitations are hard to come by, Torossian tells Newsday. “You have to be culturally relevant in your space,” he says. OK, that leaves out about 99.9 percent of the people I pal around with. “The people we are targeting run major American companies” or are entertainers, he says. And for those who question whether the Hamptons is the proper setting for such weighty talks, Torossian responds, “Today’s big business is not just done at the boardroom. ... I don’t know the difference between business and personal.” Poor bastard.
A few weeks ago we wrote about the nominees for Commercial Closet’s 2006 Images in Advertising Awards, which honor outstanding representations of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community in advertising. The votes are in, and DDB’s “Guy Watcher” spot for Diet Pepsi, featuring Carson Kressley, has walked off with the award for Outstanding Commercial. The PFLAG ad with Ben Affleck, which we ran with the earlier post, won for Outstanding Print/Outdoor-Mainstream. As we mentioned before, the turnaround mainstream advertiser of the year award and the “Clean Up Your Act Notice” were kept secret until May 23 event. Those awards went to T-Mobile and Nabisco, respectively. Check out all the award winners here.
While advertisers try to figure out what (if anything) to do with “user-generated content,” they’re likely to see more of it as broadband connections become increasingly common. A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project says the number of Americans who have broadband at home jumped from 60 million to 84 million between March 2005 and March 2006. Growth has been brisk among middle-class households “and particularly fast for African Americans,” as well as among people with low levels of education. The report notes that broadband users are significantly more likely than their dial-up counterparts to post material online. Thus, the spread of broadband is changing the demographics of user-generated content. When Pew first looked at the matter in 2002, such content was largely the province of “a ‘broadband elite’ of mostly male technophiles.” No longer. In the current research, broadband users in households with income under $50,000 were slightly more likely than those in higher-income households to say they’ve put content online. Of course, we can take it for granted that most of this content has nothing to do with advertising. But there’s a growing base of people who are candidates to make brand-related postings online—whether the brands in question like it or not.
Every four years, someone trots out a study that says men (in Europe and South America, anyway) overwhelmingly prefer watching World Cup soccer to having sex. Erotic retailers naturally wonder why it has to be one or the other. As the 2006 tournament nears, many of them are rolling out World Cup-themed sex toys and apparel. The thongs shown here, done up in the colors of Germany, Brazil and Italy, are among a large selection of World Cup sex products on sale at Beate Uhse, Germany’s erotic superstore. The company is also selling six “sporty vibrators,” tight-fitting soccer jerseys for women and an “erotic energy drink,” guaranteeing “an erotic home game that is a lot more exciting than any football tournament,” say the promotional materials. Not to be outdone, U.K. sex shop LoveHoney has introduced the England Victory Vibe, a vibrator emblazoned with St. George’s Cross. The product description pulls no punches: “G-oh-oh-ooal! Come on, England! Go 45 minutes each way with this mini orgasm machine and you’ll feel like you’ve won the World Cup of sex!”
Whatever they’ve been smoking up in Ottawa, Canada, it’s caused them to royally screw up the Arabic version of a billboard encouraging people not to drive under the influence of marijuana. “The first time, I thought it wasn’t Arabic,” one Arabic speaker tells CBC News. The problem? Both the sentence and the individual words in it are written backwards—left to right, instead of right to left. (You can see the fixed version of the ad here.) “This is an embarrassment for the city,” a councilman points out. The city says it used a professional translation firm to create the ad, and tested it on a focus group. The error, says a spokesman, occurred during production. Where have we heard that before?
A Columbus, Ohio, magazine called Alive! has set up this giant working iPod billboard in the city’s downtown area. The playlist is kept online, so passersby can look up the songs they hear while passing the ad. It also takes requests. It’s unclear whether Apple had to approve the use of the iPod image, or if it even knows about this. Via MacDailyNews.
“Read before diving,” says this humorous ad for a Brazilian diving magazine. (Click to see a bigger version.) Another ad in the series reminds me of the opening segment of Magnolia. And this one has a Planet of the Apes thing going on. All of the work is by Giovanni,FCB in São Paulo. Via Coolz0r and Ads of the World.
Most people pass the time on the bus or subway by reading a book, listening to their iPod or playing Breakout on their BlackBerry. The bored guy in a new Taxi spot for Amp’d Mobile prefers to order his fellow passengers around—having them fight, turn up the music and shake their junk. He also gets a pair of women to make out. The tagline is, “Have the power to entertain yourself.” It’s kind of amusing, but there’s always a bit of a letdown with these kinds of ads when you see the product. Via ’boards. Spotted on Advergirl, who writes that she’s “bored with the whole women are hot kissing cliché ... but, I am clearly not the target.”
