Cactus ads boil down classics of the theater

Prying people away from social media and computer games for live theater is tough. And these posters from Cactus for the Denver Center Theatre Company won't make it any easier. The ads here, including the stylized eyeball with a drop of blood beneath, seem kind of cool at first. But when people realize they're advertising Othello, they'll de-friend the person who dragged them off Facebook and made them sit through this high-brow crap. The series also includes A Raisin in the Sun and A Christmas Carol. It's like every book you hated in English class coming to life and mocking you. None of the plays, to my knowledge, was even based on a TV series. (Did I get passed over for the lead in my high-school play? Let me put it this way: There are no small parts, my ass!)

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on August 25, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Cactus, Gianatasio, Theater

Westwood College jazzes up career training

These ads from Cactus for Westwood College aren't your typical continuing-education spots. The backgrounds constantly change while the protagonists remain in the middle of the screen—a technique the agency calls a "visual metaphor" that supposedly emphasizes that to get the best jobs, applicants need the best backgrounds. It kind of made me dizzy. According to the ads, the school offers degrees in design, healthcare, technology, business and construction management. I don't really trust career-training ads that don't tout programs in refrigeration or driving the big rigs. Even in a recession, folks like their milk frosty-cold and delivered to supermarkets in trucks with happy cows prancing on the side. Also, I'm not sure I'd hire Westwood grads. It seems like every time they land a job, they're immediately dissatisfied and seek employment elsewhere.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on July 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Cactus, Education, Gianatasio, Westwood College

Cactus taking fresh look at Colorado's balls

Let's look at this ballsy campaign by Cactus for the Colorado Powerball lottery. The agency was told to refresh the existing digital-signage campaign while maintaining the motif of six big red balls signifying the six zeroes of a multimillion-dollar jackpot. The solution was to rearrange the balls and tweak the backgrounds to represent gears, circuitry, chemical formulas and such, illustrating that Powerball has been "re-engineered," "re-wired," "re-programmed," etc., to yield faster-growing jackpots. The resulting boards seem a bit hard to read (is the jackpot just $173?). Also, what happens if the jackpot does indeed "grow faster" and tops $1 billion? Six orbs wouldn't work anymore, and the lottery would have to bag those balls and try a different approach. OK, I just wanted to write "bag those balls." I suppose if the jackpot did reach $1 billion, they'd just add a seventh ball. Which would be easy, since they've clearly got lots of balls in Denver.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on May 27, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Cactus, Gianatasio, Lotteries

Colorado unleashes packs of smoky beasts

Cactus's work for Colorado's State Tobacco Education & Prevention Partnership (STEPP) filters (ha!) your standard scary warnings about second-hand smoke through a Hitchcock/X-Files/CGI fantasy lens, producing PSAs with considerable visual élan. Yes, I just wanted to use the word élan. Still, it fits: The are cool, moody and compelling, with smoke morphing into ravens (above) and dragons (below) that plague the family car and home. And that may be the problem: The spots are too appealing. They take a smooth, light-menthol approach, as opposed to, say, American Legacy's super-high-tar "We're all gonna die!" tactics. The images may be too glamorous (despite their dark design) to really demonize such a supposedly dirty habit. Also, will smokers respond well to being told to step outside their own homes when lighting up? And will drivers remember to pull over before stepping out of their cars to smoke? Let's hope so. With their brains clouded by nicotine and the tobacco monkey riding their backs, you never know.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on February 27, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under Anti-smoking, Cactus, Freaky, Gianatasio, STEPP