advergirl

Local marketers who get it

Let's get physical for a moment, ad friends, with a couple of great examples of local marketing done right. Starting with agency work and wandering the whole way down to a homemade, hand-stuffed message from a local restaurant:

First up: The Women's Fund of Central Ohio Keyholder Event

This annual fundraiser supports grants to programs that promise social change for women and girls. Every year, they feature a well-known speaker. This year, it's Miriam Peskowitz, author of The Daring Book for Girls.

The invitation and Web site were created by Ologie (long before I arrived!) and - I think - powerfully bring to life the book, the theme and the cause. The pieces feel very high end for local greater good and have been received with something akin to delight.

AND- The Web site (again for a local market event) has been nominated for a Webby. Vote for it under Living / Events on the People's Voice.

Onto: The Makeup Counter at Nordstom

Talk about making a big brand personal! Nordstrom has always been known for service, but sometimes they outdo even themselves.

Recently, I went to the Laura Mercier counter to get a fab new lip gloss (seriously, baby doll gloss, you've got to have it) and was helped by a perfectly gracious associate.

Then, the following week, I got this hand-written note from her - thanking me for the purchase. That's a business card I was careful to save.

 

 

Finally: Figlio Restaurant in Grandview / Columbus

We've talked a lot lately about brands leveraging Twitter to listen to users - to find small problems before they get big; to uncover ideas that might make better products.

Peter and Laurie Danis, owners of Figlio, have perfected the old-school version of that.

They have a great personal story about tossing their law practices for the love of food. For caring about work with passion. So, they scan the local newspaper's career section every week. And, target people who've recently been promoted with a great little congratulations package:

A letter about your accomplishment. Their story. And a gift certificate for dinner. All asking that you share your celebration with them.

And, all bizarrely genuine.

 

 

Favorite new multimedia sites

With every new location comes a new pipe to deal with... and this one is... slim. Checking out Flash sites lately has been a little circa-1997-56k-modem-enter-a-URL-and-go-make-dinner-while-it-loads. Nonetheless there have been a few delightful ones this month that were absolutely worth the wait:

Best B2B
Motorola City's show-and-tell of their commitment to public safety. Wait, stop yawning at the title, this site is slick:

Best I-don't-even-begin-to-get-it but somehow admire what you're doing:
Modernista's site relaunch that basically leverages DHTML and some open sourceness to dynamically assemble content from around the Web. I think the point is: we fundamentally get how the Web works in ways that other agency's don't. I think the visual experience is, in a word: painful.

 

Best basic landing page:
Haagen Dazs Help the Honeybees issue site. For its beautiful illustration and actually worthwhile soundtrack.

Best for kids:
Nintendo's Professor Layton and the Curious Village game promotional page. It brings the game to life and (at least seems) very fun and interactive for kids.

Wendy's: the brand struggle

Griner may think the debate on Wendy's ended when he celebrated the demise of the Red Wig campaign, but, after having my post-writers-strike prime time interrupted by the Wendy's fish sandwich love fest these past few weeks, I've got to say: I miss Red Wig. At least I understood its role in the brand story.

Let me step back.

I'm not a food marketer, never hawked so much as a warm roll, but I've watched the industry on and off over the last few years and am close enough to other customer segmentation strategies to have developed a theory.

From the advertising and product mix out there, it strikes me that there are four main types of fast food customers:

• Families and Kids. Hungry people looking for a meal that's easy, affordable and in a place where ketchup smears and screaming babies are par for the course.


• Convenience Eaters. They're dashing from here to there and would probably like to eat something else, but when life has you on the go ... well, you hit the drive through lane.


• Calorie Nullifiers. Blue collar guys busting ass on the work site all day. Just getting to noon burns more calories than convenience eaters consume in a week. They need a big meal to keep them going.


• All-Day Eaters. Let's be honest, maybe they're a little drunk. Either way, they've got wacky schedules, demand ooey-gooey satisfaction and, frankly, probably have enviable metabolisms.

So, when Wendy's started up with Red Wig and introduced the Baconater, I started to get it. They were transforming from a family brand to something straddling the Calorie Nullifiers and the Any-Time Eaters. They were getting back to the Where's the Beef, taste matters heyday of  - screw the nutrition label, this stuff tastes great (for fast food).

Now enter the 'healthy' fish sandwich spot.

We're back to advertising core product. And, to convenience eaters, no less. Meanwhile, product development is adding jack cheese, jalepenos and bacon to any meat-bread combo they can dream up. And, the stores are still featuring cute little Wendy. Where are we red head?

The good news is, Wendy's has all the right tools. Bold product development and real estate teams. Solid footprint. And enough historical brand equity to ride out this blip, but, it's going to take a hard look at the core brand and the customer to get them back on track post-Dave Thomas.

Is local artist Ben Harben inspiring Australian advertising?

Saw these delightfully icky ads over at I Believe and had to wonder ... is friend Ben the inspiration for far-flung CDs at DDB?

Ben creates portraits of reality television stars in the medium of "chewed up and spit out" bubblegum on canvas. Check out he and cutie wife Katie 'painting' Biff on David Letterman:

These Hubba Bubba installations are interactive “paint by numbers”-style posters that use different flavors of chewing gum as the color palette. Stick your used gum here not on the sidewalk.

What do you think?

(RSS readers, click to take the poll)

Miller brand wins with 'second tier' media

After rejecting Miller Lite's Bud-mocking spots in 2005 over fear of offending the bigger beer sponsor, the Super Bowl ad sales division got smart and locked in exclusivity with the King. Now only Anheuser Busch can show its sweaty bottles during the game. But, that hasn't stopped Miller's pesky harassment of big brother's ponies and puppies on the big day.

This year, Miller showed its contrarian side - buying out all the non-Super Bowl inventory to catch viewers who might be channel surfing during cut #7659 to Payton Manning shaking his head at Eli. Then, layered it on the next day with full-page print ads in major newspapers offering to by Bud a beer for their Super Bowl commercial 'win' (a better beer that is) and with some great online snark, like this YouTube video featuring the Miller High LIfe delivery man commenting on the big game ads:

As Bud's product development, packaging design and advertising continue  up-market, appealing to a somewhat more discriminating drinker (uh, beer consumer), Miller Lite heads down-market toward the blue collar beer of choice. And, fiesty really fits for these second place suds. Up with the Miller.

"I don't have to grow up" - gen

For every thoughtful discussion I've had about the cultural consumer, the green citizen, the attention economy, I've had a party / conversation / meeting completely derailed by a group of mainstream 30-somethings playing or talking-about-playing video games. Even as I type this, my copy of RenGen is sitting under my PS3 controller on the coffee table.

We - the fabled, if aging GenXers - are a damn playful bunch. Our marathons are as likely to be a Saturday of Project Runway reruns as 20-sweaty miles across the city. We've passed on scrapbooks for passing around digital cameras packed with thousands of hammed-up snaps. We can cook but would rather collect memories of childhood munchies - from an EasyBake oven to the Snoopy Sno Cone machine complete with grape syrup.

So, if I can put down my classic wooden yo-yo for just a minute, I'd like to congratulate three advertisers for really getting the spirit of grown-up play:

#1 Dominos pizza for the inventiveness of friends
#2 Toyota Tacoma for the joy of the game
#3 Tostitos for the creativity in every roll of duct tape (and best random :5 seconds of moose)

Here are the smile-out-loud spots:

2008 Holiday Gift Cards

First, the gift card version of the 'How Many Jelly Beans' jar:

How many different gift cards does Giant Eagle currently carry?

(Answer at the end of the post)

Even those of us not in the Big-Bird-Gift-Cards-for-Gas program have likely noticed the gift card gauntlet retailers are up against this year. The challenge: Personalize the ultimate impersonal gift. And, get the card-buying masses to wrap up yours.

Category leaders like Starbucks have enabled full personalization and design of their cards online - to the delight of caffeine-addled art directors the world over.

Borders, Circuit City and others are offering a simplified approach to personal design with a single photo upload. Home Depot's cards double as a CD of How-to tips for the DIYer on your list. And, the Big Boxes are going after the little box with entire catalogs of just-right-for-you card decor, from Barbie to the nearly-old-fashioned spotted dog.

If the personalization isn't enough to woo you, there's always old-fashioned bribery. LL Bean will give you a free tote for giving a card, Circuit City will reward buyers with an instant-win card to try your luck at a big holiday surprise for yourself, and most of the restaurants are trading 'cash back' cards for gift card sales.

But, all that said, there are two programs that I think are stand-outs this year.

First up, the Sears card. I was already doting over the nostalgia of the Wish Book when I saw these two winning cards: A water-paint gift card that lets the giver or getter paint the scene (just don't drop it in the snow) and a sticker-book kit that lets buyers deck out their cards. Great extensions of the childlike fun of the season and the nostalgia of family holidays.

Second, the Bob Evans gift card tin. Your choice of several snowy Bob Evans cards fit neatly in this cute brand tin. Considering that 88% of us (according to NRF) will buy at least two gift cards this year, the tin seems like a great add-on for the gift-giver - a place to store all their plastic cash without stretching out their wallets or pockets with the temporary cards.

Answer: Giant Eagle carries 275 different gift cards.

Whole Foods gets in the Web game - FINALLY!

I recently came across this online holiday planning guide from Whole Foods. When I same 'came across,' I mean either unearthed from their disastrously-designed email newsletter or mined from their messy Web site.

This is a brand that delivers 'high-end' in the stores, but seems as granola and devil-may-care as their sometimes-rival Traders Joes online.

So, I'm thrilled to see them dip their toes into the water of experience design with this accessible landing page full of very actionable advice for real holiday questions ... and, of course, list-building recipes, wine lists and other must-have-to-impress-your-jaded-friends-who-also-shop-here luxuries.

I also genuinely appreciate the sponsorship of the site: Real Simple magazine. The publication of practical advice for impractical people. It's practically a match made in heaven.

Could they do better? Absolutely. Next time around, it would be great to see more featured items, editorial design deeper in the content and maybe an opportunity to ask questions or otherwise interact. But, it's a great start for a brand that's just testing an investment online.

Another site to check out in the convenience meals category is Boston Market. For such a practical buffet-style brand, their Web site really elevates the menu and delivers a great online experience

Excellent Week for Men on the Web: Stella and Guinness launch

While I personally get what Agency Tart is saying about the new Guinness experience site, I've got to step back and think about the target ... which is decidedly not me.

It's a weird technology trick. Looks doable and cool. PLUS, there's a back story worthy of A&E and you can make your own movie without leaving your couch (or wherever you and your computer may be)

So, yeah, DIY showmanship - very manly beer drinking stuff.  And probably an ideal app for the audience.

Elsewhere on the Web, Stella continues to one up Guinness when it comes to relevant, long-lasting, experience marketing. Guinness hung a sign in every bar. Stella put a glass in every hand. Guinness created a cool microsite. Stella revamped their main site to be a sticky, fully engaging, multimedia video game of an experience. Oh, and they told their entire brand story in the context of some of the best gaming graphics on the Web.

So what if I don't get it...

Why blogs? Ask, Stella Artois

Full disclosure: I recently received a press kit from Stella Artois about the upcoming unveiling of their cinematic Web site ‘La Bouteille':

I’m super excited about this for two reasons:

As a blogger: A cinematic Web site? I love to play with shiny new Web things. Of course, I’m going to go check out the launch later this month and if it’s even mildly engaging, chatter about it like crazy in this space.

As a marketer / advertiser: I love to see traditional marketing organizations and agencies really “getting” what bloggers can bring to the table. Yeah, sure, Sony and BK have been doing it forever, but broader strategic adoption seemed to be stalled until this year.

Apropos of budgeting season, I’ll write a full business case for investing in blogging next month, but, until then, here are my top 5:

1. SEO: There is no cheaper, faster way to get solid organic search engine optimization than riding the coattails of the mega-servers at the top of the blogging service pyramid.
   
   
2. Low-hanging fruit: So, you want to talk to the advertising reporter at the New York Times. It will cost you and he’s got a lot of heavy hitters on his tail - but, yeah, you can do that.
   
   Or, you can invest half the money and talk to a couple of hundred bloggers – who by-and-large are pre-disposed to early adoption, curiosity about new products and general buzziness.


3. Share of voice: You’ve likely seen this Yahoo! Pyramid, representing "phases of value creation" at Yahoo! Groups as outlined a year ago by the company's head of technology development.
   
   Short-story: A very few people online are creating content. A larger number are aggregating it into ‘did you see’ posts. And the rest are, well, checking it out.
   
   Pair that with the recent report about the number of technology reporters who CITE BLOGGERS AS SOURCES. Not as man-on-the-street interviews, but as credible industry sources. It’s 67% of technology reporters. 67%.
   
   And, you start to see what we’re looking at: A small, vocal group of ProAms has been awarded a lot of authority – through Web behavior, RSS feeds, media attention and SEO - with little more than an interest in publishing.
   
   
4. On-demand delivery: Why wait for someone to find your Web site or read a review about your new product? Talk them into signing up for your feed once and deliver the content wherever they dine on feeds.


5. Changes in consumer behavior: Online ‘pre-shopping’ behavior and the emerging credibility and impact of user-generated consumer reviews has changed the offline game. Having people – real people, like bloggers, commenters, etc. – talk about your product / service / etc. has become hugely important as consumers go online in droves to ‘try on’ brands before going offline to buy.

Guinness 'Alive Inside'

Ew.

Some products just really don't need to be broken down to their component parts by representative humans hurling about to a booming score.

Sometimes in the search for massive production value, we forget how great simple really is...

The other organic food story

Have you noticed all the buzz (and, well, legal action) around the Wild Oats acquisition seems to end with - what about Trader Joes?

Well, granola heads, it's no Whole Foods. But, another competitor - one much closer in approach - is using field marketing and WOM to actively take on the big guys. With some early success.

Sunflower Market

Check out this brand launch strategy:

Market: Indianapolis
Audience: Suburban Moms (mid-tier shoppers who don't currently buy a lot of organic food)
Medium: Online - offline / trying for viral
Marketing budget: ~ $200,000

Agency: Olson

Key online tactic: Amazing Growing Virtual Sunflower - a downloadable desktop plant that would live or die based on user action to water, give sunlight and fertilize. Totally sharable on a daily basis - look what I grew.

Key offline tactic: Think pink flamingos, but more eco-friendly. Olson & Sunflower Market took guerilla to the 'burbs with "lawnvertising" - planting neighborhood lawns in a three-mile radius with branded cardboard sunflowers.

Key media tactic: Six weeks out from the first store opening, key media received a branded flower pot + seeds and soil with the instruction to  "plant the seeds in the pot, and, by the time it sprouts, you will have been introduced to the sunny new face of organic food."

BIG, BIG, BIG ROI:

• Whole Foods' plans to build a competing store were put on hold
• Pickup by all local TV news + online media
• Exceeded initial sales goals by ~20%
• Nearly doubled average basket goals
• Lots of email registrations for ongoing communication

So far, Sunflower Market has five stores in the midwest with more opening soon...

The ads we were raised to create

Brands of our childhoods.

Nostalgic.

Harkening simple memories of good times.

Or, at least uncomplicated times.

How glorious to sit in a workstart meeting, charged with boldly exploiting them to sell a completely unrelated product.

No, really. That sounds fantastic.

Like the Transformers.

The (cranky, snotty) boy my mom babysat growing up would hunker down in my dad's tan cordoroy La-Z-Boy at 3 every day to watch the warring robots. And, of course, we all watched, too ... biding time through the machines & GI Joe for whatever we were really waiting to watch.

Despite the luke-warm reviews, I'm still looking forward to the movie. And, although the too-obvious GM spots barely held me for the full 30-seconds, congratulations to the new Mountain Dew spot for hitting all the key tones for successfully playing a nostalgia brand:

• Fresh element added (not a direct lift from the story)
• Priveleged view (as with all great childhood stories, it's important that not everyone in the room can really see the magic going on)
• Unexpected environment (bring the icon into the brand's real audience / location / etc.)
• Playful (even if it was scary growing up, all kid brands should be fun looking back)
• Remembers the re-runners (even if you didn't see it the first time around, you still get it)

Now we know!

And knowing is half the battle.

Anyway, top five brands I cannot wait to have a movie made of ... a movie that I will parlay into advertisements for hams and 800-thread count sheet sets:

1. Smurfs. (Gargamel obviously needed softer sheets. And, Bigmouth could have been easily distracted by a nice ham)
2. Fraggle Rock. (Sing it with me ... down at Fraggle Rock)
3. Punky Brewster. (It could happen. Headbands are hot right now)
4. The Snorks. (I wonder if Al Gore will make them part of his movie ... in a post-Global Warming world, when we all live under water...)
5. Strawberry Shortcake. (It's only a matter of time until we're all trading scratch-n-sniff stickers again)

Taking on Griner: Why I like Boy Wendy in the Woods

Ok, David, now that you’ve convinced me to return to blogging, I’m going to have to make a pest of myself.

First up: The issue of Saatchi & Saatchi’s pig-tailed play in the woods.

To catch everyone else up:

AdFreak’s David Griner – and, in fairness, other industry notables – have panned the new Wendys spot as too long, derivative and flatly executed. Here’s why I think the spot was smart, strategic and an overall win:

Real estate: Chain-wide, Wendys has 6600 stores. Compare that to category leaders: McDonalds at 31,045 and BK at 11,184. They don’t have the built-in marketing hammer of being top-of-mind via ubiquitous presence. When lunch time rolls around, Wendys needs you to be so wanting their square burger that you actively seek it out. In :60 seconds they pounded that brand and the idea of a hot and juicy burger into memory.

Client culture: I wonder what decades of casting cuddly founder Dave Thomas as the primary brand spokesperson have done to the marketing culture at Wendys. I would guess it’s fairly conservative. This is a huge and bold departure – one they should really be proud of in terms of contemporizing the brand and niche-ing their approach to the market.

Noise: You watched it, right? The visual is ridiculous; the audio is unexpected.  It broke out of its 3-minute Idol pod and got watched. That’s successful.

After-School Special Effect: I’m not convinced Saatchi was following Crispin. The spot actually seems a little snarky – almost making fun of the category. It’s got that feel of intentionally-off on authenticity … think: after school specials. And, I’m guessing Wendys customer is a little older than BKs – so, that might be just the right tone and fit.

Anybody out there from Saatchi? Come on, tell me I’m close…

David: Here’s one as annoying as those BK ads, linked just for you

Can brands be funny enough? (Or: Beat the meat)

Link: A branded viral video from BullsEye created by Greg Auer and Patrick Durkin at DRAFTFCB-Chicago.

I'm posting this for two reasons.

First: Let's forget the video for a moment. Greg sent me the single-most effective pitch email I've ever received. For those of you readers who are also fellow bloggers, you are no doubt familiar with the range of "outreach" activities perpetrated on bloggers by traditional PR types - emailed press releases, faux attempts at familiarity, strange headlines with disjointed form letters, etc.

While I'm sure it was still a form letter, Greg went about it in a much more genuine way. Summary: I'm proud of this work. I'm trying to get it out there. Will you post it?

THAT kind of approach makes the world seem smaller and more collegial. And, it gets response.

Second reason: This video is cute. It gets at lots of the "just a big kid" personality play of America's Joe Lawnmower-Griller. But, is it really fun enough to be viral?

Maybe.

As more brands get into this space of trying to be the post-next-door on YouTube and MySpace and (please let's stop) Second Life, I have to wonder how many brands can really pull it off.

Some of you are likely thinking: Subservient Chicken. That was 2004. What truly viral (meaning sans huge PR campaigns) site / campaign / video  has had that enduring and wide-spread success since then? I think Ted Ferguson could easily be nominated. Maybe a few others. But, for the few viral wins by brands, there are hundreds and hundreds of losers. Ideas micromanaged from laugh-out-loud funny to wouldn't-even-make-me-chuckle. Copywriters so deluged with brand attributes that they can't string a knock-knock joke together. Art directors who've jammed a logo on every frame.

Strategically, I think Miller Lite had the right approach back in 2005 - picking up the Carson's Christmas display - those flashing holiday lights synchronized with the Trans Siberian Orchestra score. It was proven viral. People liked it. It had the low pro, authentic feel. Miller Lite added corporate sponsorship and gave it an even wider reach.

For those of us with clients who may not be funny from white paper, it seems like a logical approach to present a slate of proven-viral hot candidates to approach for sponsorship ... before we drag out our home video cameras and water balloons.

Snickers: Grownup candy bar targeting kids

Great find by Adverbox this morning ...

Love this Snickers ad both for its really fun, environmental visual and because (YAY!) this campaign is the first in a long time by Snickers that hasn't targeted me (!):  toiling office worker likely to be run-down by mid-day and easily romanced into an ill-advised purchase at the vending machine...

Agency: Impact BBDO

Dominos: At least this one is less gross

Continuing to market to the otherwise untapped stoner audience, Dominos has added "uncontrollable laughter at something not really funny" to its series of ridiculously gooey and sweet spots.

(Apparently all pizza marketing has been put on hold for this all-out assault on the candy and twinkie aisle at the nation's gas stations)

Agency: The Perlorian Brothers

Tea Partay

Tea Partay: If you haven't seen it, you have to watch it.

And, visit the site if you want to fall prey to the whim of advertisers ... and, who doesn't, really?

Renault and Coke: Fresh takes on usual messages...

Renault Clio print from Lowe.

(No, this is not a picture of me from last weekend)

And, a great Coke spot that must be buried in all the summer reruns ...
From W + K and Nexus Productions:

Oh, hello

Terribly sorry to have been gone for so long. It's been days, maybe weeks. That new whiz over at Logic + Emotion zipped past me in the Ad Blog rankings and all I did was wander around out in the big world and accomplish little or nothing ...

So, back to my soapbox.

And, here's a fun find from Ad Arena to celebrate my return:

Not to go all anti-ad-hyperbole on you, but I think this expertly communicates just how unrealistic our expectations about appropriate weight are and speaks volumes about why so many of us give up and let the pounds pile on.

Agency: Grey

BK on the bus ride

I should really have a category just called Crispin Rants.

Clay at Exit Creative spotted this series on a Chicago commute this morning. It probably goes without saying that this gorgeous illustration style is wasted on the product. And, while I appreciate the awareness that the audience for 1000+ calorie sandwiches is truly a working man (meaning: hard, outdoor, labor-intensive work), I'm not sure how the same creative directors who thought that the gaudy over-the-top Super Bowl ads were spot-on could think that this understated style would appeal to the exact same audience.

And, is there any such thing as an ownable brand with CP&B? Dancing chickens, the costumed King, objectified showgirls, WWII-era illustration, NASCAR, Superman... can a burger ad budget really be all things to all people?

Getting Old is Freedom

Love to Ad Arena for this fine find.  Just drink and it will all be better.

Agency: Saatchi&Saatchi

It's Bacon's Time to Shine

I know it's a selfish use of a community medium, but sadly this post is for one reader only. A reader who will understand the preeminence of bacon and is presently researching the viability of a business plan for bacon-flavored water. For you, my friend, I give you McDonalds Canada:

Snazzy little Sprite package

Hey, speaking of the agency I love to hate, check out the new Sprite packaging featured at Goodness:

It's pretty reminiscent of skydiving art. Which, I like. But the attached campaign just makes me feel old. Which is probably smart - after all, (1) I am old and (2) I'm not on that side of the industry, but, I'm guessing - based in no small part on the mania of NASCAR drivers - a person's soda preference is pretty well ingrained by the time we're, oh, 20.

Have you seen those NASCAR guys (hey, I have a client who sponsors a car - it was due diligence. And, anyway, vineyards are sponsoring those redneck racers now - so, stop judging me)? They pimp their soda like they're getting paid by the bottle sold. Or, more than that, like they have a personal vendetta against their sponsor's fizzy foe. In no other sport (hey, don't start - ) could an advertiser get away with that ...

(I went on the tangent to avoid closing this post with a compliment to CB&P. You know it's true!)

Could we move the line along, please?

It's just a burger, but, sometimes, it's the hardest decision a person makes in a day.

Fun POP at Burger King:

From MIT Advertising Lab

Yet another reason I'm glad to be an adverGIRL

Reason: I'm not targeted by nonsense ads like these. (On the other hand, the "do you ever have that not-so-fresh feeling" wasn't much to be proud of either.)

Agency: Oh, guess who. Come on, you know.

(CP&B - where men believe men are the sole purchasers of consumer products.)

Cheerios Dads

I hesitate to post anything at all after that pet naming request – I think that was my most popular post of all time. Maybe I have the wrong calling here … I should leave advertising entirely and start some sort of pet calendar biz.

Until then, here’s a fun one:

Stick with it. I know you’re going to think done a million times, not creative, etc., although you know very well that you’d still watch it out of the corner of your eye, rubbernecking at the public embarrassment. But, truly, it’s the ending that will delight you.  (Those of you jaded ad guys who are, in fact, still capable of delight.)

Agency: Saatchi

Cadbury billboard

Sold.

(Damn, where are my quarters for the vending machine?)

Distracted by: Found at: Peanuts

More at James' Flickr

OBIE winners

I've passed a terrrible camera-phone-taken version of this billboard around half my agency. I think it's my favorite for the year. And, because of our wonderful industry award process, I finally have a clean photo and info about the agency that designed in - it's a 2004 regional campaign created by Leo Burnett. And, as it turns out, a 2005 Outdoor Advertising Association of America OBIE winner.

See this and other winners at OAAA.
Interesting look at the future of outdoor and more pics at The Ranch.

Hill Holiday creates buzz

Wow. Hill Holiday really knows how to create buzz around themselves and their clients. I've heard more about Dunkin Donuts in the last week than in probably all of the post-Starbucks era combined.

It all started with a really interesting Wall Street Journal article (exerpts here. link for lucky subscribers.) about immersing Starbucks drinkers in Dunkin and vice-versa. Picture unhappy exchange students grimacing at their coffee.

Now the rebrand has launched.

With in-store work, packaging and TV.

Not to mention tons of online buzz.

Oh, and it's a great campaign, too, with a nicely-carved-out, not-really-competing-with-Starbucks niche and very sticky creative. A banner day for HH.

Overview
Doing Things spot
Tree spot
Pleather spot

Early Fishing spot
A Ton of Stuff spot

When a creative brief gets on the air

I should first admit that I don't really understand what Marmite is. To all reading, it's some sort of yeasty spread chock full of Vitamin B. Doesn't sound appealing, but neither does cheese if you really try to explain it.

According to the Web site, complete with love it / hate it landing pages, this is the origin of this decidedly odd campaign -

Marmite leaves little room for a middle ground - you either love it or you hate it.

Our recent advertising campaign played on this. It all started when the two people coming up with the ideas found themselves divided by their tastebuds: one of them adored it and the other didn't. And thus a campaign was born.

And, so, this decidedly-internal message lives in the world. It will be interesting to see if Marmite does in fact engender enough passion to get the "lovers" out buying to save their precious spread.

See it on Ads of the World

Agency: DDB London

Cheesey Imitation

... which isn't to say it's bad. Check out Dorito's take on the Bravia spot.

Microsite.

Via: Coloribus

Dr. Pepper publicity ploy?

You may have already seen the "shelved" Dr. Pepper spots on AdAge.com today. Story is that the soda marketers finished the $5 million spots with  WPP Group before deciding to start over with Y & R.

So, why are they online? Generally when a client nixes a spot, the explicit direction is don't associate this with our brand. Not, skip the media buy, but buzz it around the Internet.

Are marketers increasingly hoping they become the next big viral? Maybe playing on the success of some big word-of-mouse winners?

[W+K London says that their "Choir" ad for Honda Civic has been downloaded 3,000,000 times in a month since launch and that the iPod version of the spot has got into the Top 50 chart on iTunes. "The microsite had a record 679,000 unique visitors during the same reporting period. This led to Honda's highest level of test drive bookings ever."]

I'm wondering how long until our broadcast group is developing Internet-only spots, outtakes, etc.

 

Thanks to Ian for the find and the question...

Function Drinks / Urban Detox

I really like the packaging on this new anti-hangover brew hitting the market pretty big on the West Coast. Something about the graphic feels like refueling, pumping the energy up. And, it has prickly pear in the recipe - which is just simply fun to say. Pretty tasty stuff. Prickly pear. Ha.

Krispy Kreme burger - where no brand should go.

Take a look at this press release regarding what may soon be a new baseball park favortie: a burger topped with bacon and smooshed between to Krispy Kremes:

"The Gateway Grizzlies are proud to announce that they will be adding a new concession item to GMC Stadium for the 2006 season. The Grizzlies and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts have teamed up to create 'Baseball’s Best Burger.' The burger...consists of a thick and juicy burger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon. The burger is then placed in between each side of a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut"

Y'ouch. Try advertising that...

Tip Top Undies Spot

Oh, hooray, there's finally a link for this spot. I have no idea if it will make you want to buy ice cream, but it's certainly fun to watch -

Agency: Colenso BBDO, Auckland
Via: Advertising for Peanuts

MGD Oscar spot

I caught a preview of the Miller Genuine Draft "Red Line" spot set to premier during the Oscars. I couldn't find a link to share, but the spot is interesting enough to watch for tonight -

The Martin Agency has taken a strategy that was successful in motivating Boomers and applied it to a Gen X demo.  It's essentially the "making life stages our own" message that really clicked for the generation who reinvented everything from work to aging. But, for the once slackers still playing video games in their business causal work wear, flopped on their over-stuffed couches, will it work?

And, what does it say that love, lifestyle, work and consumer success are valued exactly the same in the spot? What scary research about my demo bore that out ...

The campaign overall is part of an attempt to snag the 26 - 40 who have "drifted away from beer." There's a snazzy new bottle and a big ad buy. And, I have to say, the beer's good.

Irresistibly yummy

Agency: 1pointsize
via: AdBlather

Could cool music have made Alien less scary, too?

Apparently McDonald's healthy menu options didn't stick to the ribs of consumers because their latest ad pops open adult bellies and sends their inner children running for big ol' greasy sandwiches and creamy hot fudge sundaes (free from adult guilt).

Sound gross? Well, yeah, but the music is nice.

Ambassador Scotch: Scotch from another era

Yep, that's aggravating enough to read on. Very interesting tactic. Here's hoping they write a case study (and that the people at Ambassador's 800-line don't go on strike).

See a few more at Ads of the World.

Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago

Water needs fish?

These strange ads are part of a series by Aquabona that applies creatively designed fish to various parts - heart, lungs, legs, etc. - to suggest that every part of your body needs water.

"Selling the category" would seem an odd strategy for water (it's pretty common knowledge that 80% of our lovely selves is made of the simple beverage), but perhaps the parent company will make sense of it ... Aquabona is owned by Coca Cola (whose ad execs may well be so strung out on sugar that healthy water is indeed a surprise...)

And, a packaging question - is that a glass bottle? Another surprisin