It's the time of the season

+ Asia's advertising mavericks takes a look at some of the Asian Creative Directors who are attracting global attention.

+ Product Placement on Television- is it really effective and persuasive? Two exerpts from the article: "'There has been product placement in the movies for a long time,' says Tobe Berkovitz, COM associate dean and an associate professor of communication. 'And it's also been on television for a while, especially automobile brands.? After all, cops on the classic shows Hawaii 5-0 and The FBI drove only Fords, and Ford Motor Company just happened to sponsor the programs. 'But the prolific 'pay and place your product all over the place' strategy is somewhat new,' he says."
"Product placement is not without controversy. Consumer watchdog groups have been vehemently complaining about the tactic. Some parents argue that 'embedded' television advertising has too much influence on children. Commercial Alert, an organization cofounded by Ralph Nader, calls the practice 'an affront to basic honesty.' Last September it filed petitions with the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission asking for full disclosure of all product placement arrangements, not only at the outset of a show, but also during the show, 'outing' the 'hidden' advertising as it pops up."

+ Risque might be too risky for ads- Advertisers are starting to reconsider their blantent use of sex in ads as the public seems to be at what Donny Deutsch says is a "reflective stage".

+ Ovaltine turns 100 this year and is as popular as ever. Article includes image showing the changes in package design over the century.

Friday funk

+ Heineken is ready to help us through a rough election year.
Heineken-Election Year by Publicis, NY. Post by Mill.

+ Soccer players show off before the game. Nike- The Other Game, by W+K Amsterdam. (post by Mill.)

+ Not sure if I posted this one up already, but in case I haven't, here's the Ford Fiesta-Pinball spot directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet for Ogilvy & Mather. (post by Mill).

+ Everyone needs some fun during the day. Kit Kat -Medley by JWT. (post by Rushes.)

+ Watch the feathers fly. Axe Dry anti-perspirant- "Handy Man" By: Lowe Bull, Cape Town.

+ Russian spies are back in this JWT/Diago Great Britian spot for Smirnoff vodka - Matryoshka.

+ Men and sled dog switch places. Mountain Dew- Sled by BBDO.

+ Publicis' Hype project for Hewlett Packard has come to an end, but you can view all the work at the online gallery.
The art gallery concept stemmed from the desire for HP to target young artists. Publicis recommended the art gallery instead of traditional media/advertising. The idea was for people to go and have their work printed out on large format HP printers and projected by digital projectors. Each day the exhibit changed depending on the work brought in. Also, images could be uploaded and sent to print or project from off-site locations as well. Pretty cool stuff. Even the design of the site, and the navigation is tres chic!

+ If I ruled design flash game- (cheers to Clay for the find.)

Hump day news

+ Rheingold beer goes after NYC policies and ticks off the mayor. From adweek.com: "If there is a company that has license to speak out and give commentary, it would be Rheingold because they've been here such a long time," says Neil Powell, founder of the New York shop and art director on the campaign. "They're speaking out against issues that affect New York City nightlife. Rather than doing a conventional campaign about low carbs or how great their hops are, we decided to use the advertising campaign as a platform for objecting to these laws."
From the suntimes.com: "On Monday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted the beer maker after it announced it would begin airing television ads this week poking fun at various city laws, including the mayor's smoking ban in bars and restaurants."

+ The state of the advertising industry lately seems to be frantically trying to throw out as much as possible at consumers, including product placement in magazine text. It doesn't look like this would be a good idea (not that it ever could have been), especially after this article from the NY Times: (exerpt)

As the kingpins of Madison Avenue gather for a major annual meeting, there is further evidence of the growing challenge they confront in seeking to break through the cacophony of advertising that surrounds - and increasingly annoys - consumers.

At the 2004 management conference of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, which begins today in Miami, senior executives will learn the results of a survey of consumers conducted on behalf of the organization by Yankelovich Partners, the market research company. The survey, to be presented tomorrow at the opening general session of the conference, shows that the effectiveness of campaigns that agencies produce for marketers is deteriorating, said J. Walker Smith, president at Yankelovich, because "negative perceptions about advertising have substantially increased."

The survey findings are significant because industry executives are frantically searching for ways to forge more emotional connections with fractious, and fractionated, consumers that differ from conventional methods like running 30-second television commercials and print advertisements.

The risk posed by some of the new approaches, like placing sponsored brand messages or products in the entertainment content of programs or publications, is that consumers will consider such selling strategies even more obnoxious.

So apparently, something needs to be done. Consumers don't like being bashed over the head with marketing and unrelevant advertising messages. Something is going to have to be done to change the current way in which many marketers and advertisers view the role of advertising. There's been a lack of "integrity" in advertising, overall, for a while. It's time to make changes to fix the problem.

+ Adweek takes a look at commercials playing up on consumer's sense of smell. One they omitted in their list is the campaign for Fabreeze. Lots of sniffing going on in those ads.

Round and round and round we go

+ New Study from Euro RSCG Worldwide Probes Mind and Mood of Ad Professionals And Those Thinking of Entering the Industry.

An overwhelming 80% of ad professionals (and 49% of students) agreed that at most agencies, the clients are more powerful than management. The fact that nearly half the students agreed suggests that they aren't entering the field blindly, but other client-focused questions showed them to be far less aware than professionals of the downside of some client relationships.
A very substantial 74% of professionals agreed that a big problem with working at an ad agency is that management is too often unwilling to stand up for their own people if it means taking on the client. Somehow, well over one-third of students (39%) have managed to get the same idea. Almost two-thirds (64%) of professionals agreed that the big problem with working at ad agencies is the lack of respect shown by clients-a view shared by 28% of students.

The results are interesting. I'm sure that the views of students will change as they get more "real world" experience. I participated in this study, because I found it interesting. And since I had some free time to fill out the questions too. Although I wonder of the effectiveness of the way they did their research too, since the questions were given the choice to respond as "strongly agree", "somewhat agree", "not yes or no", "strongly disagree", etc. But I suppose that those responses are as effective as any other- especially for an online format. The article (press release) is worth a peek anyways.

+ Marketers press for product placement in magazine text. I cannot believe that this is actually something that a marketer would think would be good. As it's mentioned in the article by an unnamed editor in chief, "'Without a visceral relationship with the reader, it's not going to work," this editor said. "Don't be getting in the middle of that" with product placement. "My reader's gonna say, 'What's this [expletive] for?'" Which is so true. As "Time Inc.'s Editorial Director John Huey stated in a brief statement prepared for Ad Age, "Crossing the line is not good for the reader. It's not good for the brand. And it's not good, in the end, for the advertiser. The notion that 'everybody else is doing it' is not a compelling argument to us." " And that is the complete truth. Doing such not only brings down the brand of the advertiser but the brand of the magazine, which could have disasterous results like drop in readership, etc. I cannot see this being a good thing. All it will end up doing is pissing off consumers.

+ Have you seen the new Miller For President ad? Seems like a "me too" kind of thing. View at Miller Brewing site here.

+ Smart Cars revving up for 2006 push in the US. The car,a subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, is going to be positioned as an alternative to the BMW subsidiary Mini. No agency has been chosen yet to handle the account but, "advertising agencies Merkley + Partners of New York, which represents Mercedes-Benz in the United States, and Springer & Jacoby of Hamburg, Germany, which has the Mercedes account in Europe, are said to be competing for the Smart account. Other competitors are Kirschenbaum Bond & Partners and Berlin Cameron, both of New York." They are going to have some tough work ahead of them to compete with CP+B's advertising for the Mini.

+ IKEA sees the benefit of regional/local advertising vs. creating a global approach. Smart, very smart. "Despite persistent rumors, denied by Ikea, of a global media review, Mr. Larsson said that a more international approach to marketing is a long way off. "If we could find one message on a global basis it could be effective, but so far there are different needs in different countries," he said. "We have been in Sweden for 60 years and China for only four or five, for example." Mr. Agee agreed. "Our feeling is that retail is local. It is important to take advantage of local humor, and the things on people's minds." "

Why get a dog and bark yourself?

+ Go to iamjack.com. Do not pass go. Just check out this film NOW. *seriously*
If you're a Creative you'll cheer with glee.
If you're a client- this is for you. Pay attention! Seriously.

Beautiful. Really. I applaude this. I totally agree. 10000%.

(Hat tip to Alec for this gem.)

Chicken shit

Check out the Subservient Chicken. Funky viral for Burger King.
Some things to try:
Flap, Hop, Jump, Roll, Hide, Beg, Moon, Sit, Scratch, monkey, read a book, watch tv, cry, laugh,turn off the lights,"mcdonalds", fly, burger king, whopper, "do the robot", "why did the chicken cross the road",  "what came first, chicken or the egg", fried chicken, baked chicken, play dead, look under the couch, smoke, "spank yourself", crispin, Cripsin Porter + Bogusky, hula hoop, hula, vomit, advertising, mosh, paint, hump, poker, michael jackson gets him to moonwalk, madonna make him vogue, tiger woods makes him play golf, propose, brush, party, kung fu, karate, kiss, tango, high five, "do the butt", shower, rap, and sword fight.
I typed in "president" and he did aerobics. Weird.
"Jazz hands" brings up the "may not be suitable for all audiences" text.

There's some more at Adland. (hat tip Clay.)

I'm sure this will get passed around. And it ties in nicely with the "have it your way" theme of the Burger King brand. I'm not sure that it will result in a jump in sales but it's fun. Which means it could be aimed more at the current customers rather than as an attempt to attract new customers.

Additional: Clay, that super duper adgrunt, found out that additional props for this go to The Barbarian Group and that there are over 400 different clips.
Two other commands to try are "built a fort" and "hump the couch."
If it's going to be a rainy weekend I might just try to find all of them ;D (Yipes I'm such a geek!)

Out in space

+ After Hubble: Global Push for a World Space Observatory. "If NASA stands firm on its decision to let the Hubble Space Telescope die in about 2007, scientists will lose among other things their only tool for studying ultraviolet (UV) light coming from all corners of the cosmos. To fill the need, astronomers around the world are advocating the construction of a World Space Observatory they say could launch by 2009." So far this concept is supported by 14 countries, and others say they are interested. Although none of these is the US. Bad US, bad. Get involved.

+ Venus Transit- June 8th- "Put a big red circle around June 8 on your calendar. On that day, you may have a chance to see a celestial event not witnessed by human eyes in 122 years when Venus crosses in front of the Sun...The beginning will be visible from northern and western portions of Alaska, all of Asia, Indonesia and Australia, the eastern half of Africa and northern and eastern Europe, as well as the northernmost parts of Greenland. The end will be visible over central and western Asia, all of Africa, Europe and Greenland as well as northernmost and eastern sections of North America and northern and eastern parts of South America. Australians will be able to catch the beginning stages before sunset. Europeans will be able to see most, if not all of the transit, starting at around sunrise with the end coming in the early afternoon with the Sun high in the sky. For much of the eastern United States and Canada, the Sun will rise with Venus already on the Sun?s disk with the transit nearly over." The last transit occured in 1882, and the next one will occur June 6, 2012, but will only be visible "from the Pacific Ocean and the extreme east coasts of Siberia, Japan and Australia (North Americans will see the opening stages before sunset)." After that the next one will be on December 11, 2117. The transits, according the article occur in groupings of two within 8 years and then not again for about a century.

+ Two comets- One for the Northern Hemisphere and one for the Southern Hemisphere. For those in the Northern Hemisphere- Comet NEAT will become an evening object in the sky near the end of April and "during the first week of May, most northern observers will anxiously be awaiting darkness to fall, straining for clear, unobstructed views toward the southwest horizon for their first sighting of Comet NEAT. Probably the first good opportunity for most will come on the evening of May 5, approximately an hour after sunset. Look low in the southwest for blue-white Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky. Comet NEAT should be hovering about 10 degrees to the left of Sirius (your clinched fist, held at arm?s length, is roughly equal to 10 degrees). On May 13, a line drawn from Castor to Pollux (in Gemini) and extended out three times the distance between these two stars will bring you to Comet NEAT."
For those in the Southern Hemisphere, "Comet LINEAR will probably not become readily visible to most until mid-April, thereafter it will appear to climb progressively higher each morning in the east-northeast sky. During the first ten days of May, the comet should be an easy target for observers south of the equator, rising about 2 to 3 hours before sunrise." Also "Southern Hemisphere observers will have a decided advantage over their northern counterparts, being blessed with not one, but two unusual opportunities to see both comets in the sky at the same time! Through most of April, they will be in the morning sky and then from late May into early June, they?ll again be visible simultaneously in the evening sky, possibly even for a brief time to northerners as well."

Pour some sugar on me

+ "An ad in Vogue, showing a semi-naked couple who appeared to be having sex against a sink, for Tanner Krolle designer handbags has been rapped by the advertising watchdog, which said it was 'sexually provocative and gratuitous'.
In the press ad, a second woman, dressed in her underwear, touches her upper thigh while pointing a camera at the couple. The copy accompanying the ad said: 'Tanner Krolle London Bags To Covet'.
Tanner Krolle, the London fashion accessories brand, claimed that the couple were embraced in a clinch but could not be having sex because the man was wearing trousers. It said that the ad was part of a launch to revamp its brand to appear sexier and more edgy.
The designer firm maintained that sexy images of women, men and couples were common in magazine features and advertising." The ASA told Tanner Krolle not to repeat the ad. Because, well, we wouldn't want to offend those who couldn't tell the man was wearing trousers or who are so perverse that they see sex in everything, even if the people are clothed. Gah. Those readers the ASA say it might offend shouldn't be reading Vogue then, since it's all over the pages of that magazine.

+ New Zealand to clean up "raunch billboards" in Auckland. "From now on, the Outdoor Advertising Association will run any doubtful material of a sexual nature, including words of a double meaning, sexual innuendo or sexual connotation, past an adjudicator. A council officer will also be shown the material and liaise with the adjudicator, who will decide. The council or anyone else unhappy with the decision will be able to lay a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority." Hopefully they will continue to make smart choices as to what complaints get rejected like the billboard for the Family Planning Assocation from December, which showed three guys from the back with condoms in their back pockets and the headline "Three Wise Men", which offended christians. Why they'd be offended is stupid. It's a great ad and I'm glad that the ASA didn't uphold the complaints.

+ "A $2 million television commercial that spearheaded the largest beer launch in Australia in a decade has been pulled off the air after falling foul of the alcohol industry's own regulators. The ad for Carlton & United Breweries' Empire beer, which was shot in a castle in the Czech Republic and was one of the most expensive commercials in recent years, was pulled three weeks ago after a member of the public complained that it encouraged excessive alcohol consumption. The complaint hinged on the claim that the film, which shows digitally distorted images of lurching young partygoers, appeared to suggest they were under the influence of alcohol, and that it failed to make clear to viewers that the venue and party were fantasy, not reality." The ad by ad agency George Patterson Bates, was pulled after *one* complaint.
Interesting- as I was searching for the ad itself to post a link to view it, I came across this blog entry from 2002 at halfbakery.com, which the idea was mentioned of replacing the floor fo your bar or club with a bouncy castle. I have yet to be able to find the ad. If you've come across it online, please post the link in the comments. Thanks :D

More ad crap

+ Host Clifton Joseph has spent eight months investigating the relationship between hip-hop and materalism for a show called "Rhyme Pays: Hip Hop And The Marketing Of Cool", a Marketplace special airing on CBC-TV tonight at 8 in Canada.
"You can admire some elements of them taking charge, but when you're dealing with a genre of music that has prided itself on coming from the streets and being real and (on) its history of political-social consciousness and you look at what's happening now ? you can clearly see that they've turned mainstreet rap into a marketing tool," he posited. "As materialism and getting paid have moved so much to the forefront of the music, it has de-emphasized politics and culture."

+ Where have ad jingles gone? Licensed music kills them. What makes a good jingle? "According to Steve Karmen: "It's a memorable melody married to that perfect phrase - the lyric that rolls off your tongue without any effort, the tune that you whistle as you walk down the street." Karmen, a veteran jingle writer, added: "It's the job of the jingle to provide an arresting sound that will grab immediate attention and hold the audience - at least until the next commercial." But where have all the jingles gone? Turn on the television, and it seems as though the music for 90 percent of the commercials features old rock songs rather than custom-written jingles."

+ KFC jumping on the Trump bandwagon and taking what falls off. "KFC Corporation (KFCC) announced today that it is extending an offer to one of the nation's best and brightest business minds -- the runner-up from this season's hottest new reality show. After seeing the "out-of-the-bucket" thinking exhibited during the most publicly grueling job interview of all time, the company has a real challenge in mind for this would-be corporate titan...In lieu of the original offer of an annual $250,000 salary, KFC pays its new CSO $25,000 for the week and a year's supply of KFC products...The new CSO has the ultimate and very real challenge of coming up with a fresh way to sell KFC's Oven Roasted menu items to the entire country, and gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the view at the top of one of the world's most iconic brands." I'm not quite sure how being on a reality TV show automatically makes this person "one of the nation's best and brightest busines minds." I also love how KFC has a "chief concept officer". Too damn funny.

La-de-dah

+ W+K launches 12. It would be one thing for w+k to charge a fee if it was just an education thing. But, since "students" will be handling client work, what happens when what they create gets used by the client? Does that mean that they are in fact paying 13K to do work? That seems extremely backwards. I'd hope that they'd get some sort of compensation for their work being produced. Unless the agency is going to claim that it's "portfolio building" and exposure or some such crap.
Juniors and interns are taken advantage of enough as it is. This seems like it could easily do the same thing. For the sake of the "students" I really hope that they get something other than some certificate or the response that they are buliding a portfolio, just because the work they did was used.

+ Guess doesn't care about copyright infringement: "Julie Wear alleges in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington that the company (Guess) illegally used one of her elegant paintings in its latest suggestive advertising campaign.
A cropped version of L'Amore Secret -- Bandos and Fantazja, a 20-year-old painting of two world-famous Arabian horses, hangs in a black frame as the main backdrop behind a model supposedly posing in a Las Vegas motel room with lavender walls and purple shag carpeting.
The ad is one of several photos by Ellen von Unwerth that comprise Guess' 2004 "Las Vegas Campaign." The series portrays "showgirls and guys" who are "looking sexy in the City of Sin. ... causing distractions at the craps table and gambling with lustful emotions," according to the company's Web site." View the ad here.

+ Pope on Advertising:
"Commenting on the theme "Project Culture: The Language of Advertising," which brought the university students together, John Paul II stressed that it "is necessary to know how to use the appropriate language to transmit positive messages, and to make noble ideals and initiatives known in an attractive way."
At the same time, the Pope added, "it is imperative to discern the limits and pitfalls of the languages proposed to us by the media."
"At times, advertisements offer a superficial and inadequate view of life, of the person, of the family, and of morality," he said in his address, delivered in Italian."
I never would have thought the Pope would have given a speech on Advertising. Seems awfuly strange. I'm not going to go into my religious beliefs here, but at the same time, I do think this is wrong and scary. Bad pope, bad.

+ Advertising: The right to choose? is an article from Ghana which wonders whether advertising is the "power to influence or the right to choose?"

April Showers

+ Molson- Chasing Beaver. Wow. I wonder where they got that to air. I like it though. Funny.

+ Master Cabbie- The Finger. Find out what you *really* learn at Cabbie school. ;)

+ Pot Noodle- It's Dirty and You Want It. An okay ad. Not super funny but, it's different.

+ Mullerice- Bird. This one is included because of it's strange, strange tag/strapline at the end. Double entendre anyone? ;-)

+ From the mad.co.uk weekender:"A time restriction has been imposed on Autoglass' television campaign to encourage people to repair chips in their windscreens before they become unsafe, after viewers complained that it was "frightening" and "distressing" for children.
Created by HHCL/Red Cell, the ads showed a driver inspecting a small crack on his windscreen, but he shrugs it off and continues on his way into work. After he leaves his car the crack grows bigger, coming up through the floor and chasing him through his office and down the street until it catches up with him on a train and creeps up his body.
The £3 million drive was developed to demonstrate the importance of windscreen safety and dramatised the danger facing drivers who don't repair chipped glass before it needs replacing."
View the "scary" ad here.

+ Branson mimics Trump. "According to a report in The Times, the tycoon is to make the programme for Fox in the US. It has been dubbed 'Branson's Big Adventure' and will run for six weeks with contestants being set a series of challenges each week. They will follow Sir Richard around the world but one of the hopefuls will be left behind at the airport at the end of each episode.
Always with an eye to the chance of free publicity the show will help promote Virgin's airline and mobile telephone businesses in the US."

Happy April Fool's Day

+ tamponart.com. I like the concept. Actually I think some of these would/could make for a great print campaign for Tampax, or Playtex, etc.

+Found in the"British press has its fun on April Fool's Day" article on ananova.com: "A full-page advert in The Guardian says new technology from BMW means drivers can now cook their dinners from their car as they drive home from work.
The advert for "SHEF technology" says it uses satellite technology to link controls in the car to the driver's oven in their kitchen at home. An "oven-cam" on the car dashboard shows how dinner is doing."
The ad tells people to find out more at anewwaytocook.co.uk.