Germans attach tiny advertisements to flies

Since skywriting is no longer acceptable in advertising, German agency Jung von Matt has settled for "flyvertising," attaching tiny ad banners to flies and letting them buzz around a convention center during the Frankfurt book fair. Neat idea, but the obvious flaw is that flies are the most annoying things ever, and may not be something you'd want people associating with your product long-term. (The client here, Eichborn, is a publishing company whose logo is a fly.) Reports from the convention indicate that the flies had some trouble staying aloft and kept landing on people. Gross. The banners were attached with an adhesive that naturally dissolves, so as not to hurt the fly. But this could still be considered flysploitation, and some advocacy groups have been rather touchy about flies lately. Via Adland.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Previously on AdFreak:
The giant fly wants you to buy some stuff

Published on October 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (6)
Filed under Europe, Jung von Matt, Kiefaber

Dogs with Internet-porn habits need daycare

This ad by Jung von Matt for a doggie daycare in Sweden (full ad here) could be a spec piece, award-show fodder created for a local business ... or just a flat-out phony. Life's too short to waste time finding out: It's just a dog-wanking-off ad, after all. The headline is: "What's your dog up to when it's home alone?" Nothing good, it seems. It's easily the most suggestive piece of marketing involving an animal since Ikea Photoshopped a human penis onto a dog in 2007. Though let's be honest. The visual could be worse. And just try watching today's bandwidth-hogging hard-core on a Mac Classic. There's no way! Or so I hear. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on October 28, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Animals, Europe, Gianatasio, Jung von Matt

Mercedes chases away your sleep monsters

This new Mercedes-Benz ad from German agency Jung Von Matt is shot in such a way—lit almost entirely from the car's headlights—that it has a cool, ethereal quality that separates it from most other lame, driving-up-a-mountain-road car ads. And chasing all the dream characters out of the vehicle is a cute way of demonstrating what the Attention Assist security feature does, even if the little person and the ogre are a sign that the driver should stop eating right before bed. It's also a little weird that he kicks the two nurses out of the car first, and only later relinquishes the sheep. What's really missing, though, is an actual demonstration of the Attention Assist feature. We have no idea how it really works, and we'd like to know whether it uses an alarm or a bright light or just drives the car itself until you wake up and then yells at you.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on April 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Automotive, Europe, Jung von Matt, Kiefaber, Mercedes-Benz

Animals voice approval of Mercedes safety

Creatures of the forest don't get to narrate too many automotive ads, but they do in this Mercedes-Benz campaign from German agency Jung von Matt. See the four ads here. The idea is that the vehicles' special handling and brake controls have saved these beasts from getting splattered all over the street—a happy development that they discuss in the copy with varying levels of awareness. Of the four creatures, only the pig really gets philosophical about what's happened. The others are mostly oblivious, embarrassed and, in the case of the squirrel, still thoroughly panicked.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on November 20, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Automotive, Europe, Jung von Matt, Mercedes-Benz, Nudd