Mutant animal freaks always wear Converse

It's been a while—probably going back to Kodak's dual-cyclops dog—since we've seen a good mutated animal in advertising. Converse gives us a whole host of them—a lion-gerbil, a dog-boy, a sheep-cat and others—in a new Web and wild-postings campaign by (fittingly enough) ad agency Anomaly. The ads send you to ConverseOne.com, where you can customize your shoes (though not any animals) by mixing and matching parts. The Skittles sheep-boys should try to get in on this action. Customized sneakers are getting to be a big deal, with help from Melanie Oudin, who famously made her own pink-and-yellow Adidas sneakers for the U.S. Open.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

See also:
Mutant dog helps sell new Kodak camera
Converse celebrates Chuck Taylors in song

Published on September 17, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Animals, Anomaly, Converse, Footwear, Nudd

Converse's skate epic should be punk'd

I'm not sure what Converse and Anomaly were going for with this "Skate Like a Punk" ad. It's five-and-a-half minutes of what might as well be the Downhill Jam from Skate or Die. There aren't any impressive tricks or daredevil stunts—nothing's terribly "punk" about the clip, save the lawlessness implied by the police helicopter following the skater. Granted, I suppose it's a fresher example of punk rebellion than mohawks and spiked leather jackets, but it's still too long and a "to be continued" ending is highly unnecessary for a commercial designed to sell cheaply made shoes. It's not like actual punk skaters are hard to find. Hell, Duane Peters invented the layback grind, among other tricks, and he's been in and out of punk bands for decades (most notably the U.S. Bombs). Assuming he's not still in rehab, he's just a phone call away when Converse gets a clue.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on July 15, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Anomaly, Converse, Kiefaber

Anomaly gets celebrities to play Ping Pong

The celebrity interview magazine is a time-honored if often shallow institution. The time is right to spice it up a bit. That's what James Cooper, a creative at Another Anomaly (the spin-off of regular Anomaly), hopes to do with Celebrity PingPong. The magazine, created by Cooper and a class he taught at Miami Ad School, features interviews with artists, actors and writers while they show off their paddle skills. The idea came to Cooper, a self-described "Ping Pong nerd," as a way of getting interviewees to relax and open up. The magazine promises to be "a bit like Freud's couch, but with less mothers and more top-spin." Cooper walks the walk: He knocked a ball around while giving a talk about the project this past weekend at the Interesting New York event. The first issue, a 60-pager featuring interviews with graphic designer Kate Moross, author Jerome Charyn and rapper Kenan Bell, is out now. Initially, CPP has spec ads created by Miami Ad School students. Cooper hopes to tap into Anomaly's stable of brands to make the magazine a regular business. He's lined up other notables for chats, including author Salman Rushdie. I could see this working. Ping Pong has that retro-cool feel about it nowadays. Cooper says his bosses are totally behind the effort. "We're Anomaly, we're supposed to do silly things," he says. Anomaly is hosting a launch party tonight, featuring a Ping Pong tournament.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on September 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Anomaly, Magazines, Morrissey