Design the official T-shirt for Cannes 2009
Uniqlo, the Japanese apparel company that swept the advertising award shows this year with its entertaining blog widget, is teaming up with the Cannes International Advertising Festival for a contest to select the official T-shirt of next year's festival. The company, which won Grand Prix honors in both Titanium and Cyber, is inviting people to submit designs for review by the 2009 judges. The design, of course, must be original and include a lion, the symbol of the festival. While only one design will honored as the "official T-shirt" of the event, 10 entries will be sold as T-shirts next summer in Uniqlo stores. Past festival T-shirts usually only got worn out of necessity (lost luggage and blazing heat topping that list). Maybe these will actually make their way back home with the attendees. —Posted by Eleftheria Parpis |
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Published on December 1, 2008 | Permalink
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Does the Mets' Citi Field need a new name?
Giving vivid expression to the term "grandstanding," a couple members of New York's City Council have taken time out from grappling with the city's own financial struggles to propose a slap at the struggling Citi banking corporation. With Citi now among the recipients of a federal bailout, the lawmakers have proposed revising the name of the New York Mets' new stadium from Citi Field (for whose naming rights Citi is paying $400 million over the next 20 years) to Citi/Taxpayer Field. Just the sort of legislative vision we need in these dark days, eh? —Posted by Mark Dolliver |
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Published on December 1, 2008 | Permalink
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Sigmund Freud hired to ease TD Bank fears
As if Regis and Kelly weren't obnoxiously animated enough in the flesh, Tierney Communications and TD Bank have put photo-cutout versions of the pair to work in an online campaign, TD Bank Theater, that co-stars Sigmund Freud. Like the live-action spots that broke a few weeks ago, Philbin frets about the merger of TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank. This time, Freud tries to reassure him. The father of psychoanalysis charges $250 per session, which makes him a bargain compared to some therapists in Boston I could name. Freud seems unfazed when Ripa appears out of thin air, like a figment of Regis's tormented psyche. It's all a bit much—sometimes a bank is just bank. We're promised a clip-art Abe Lincoln in the next installment, so at least there's some hope that viewers will be set free. |
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Published on December 1, 2008 | Permalink
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Eat this candy, not the plane-crash survivor
Back in April, we posted some Swedish Fish print ads from JWT with the tagline, "A friend you can eat." Here are three TV commercials from the same campaign. They try a little hard to be hip and offbeat, but the spot above, with the proverbial hungry plane-crash survivors on the snowy mountaintop, is amusing—perhaps the best cannibalism-themed ad since this skin-care one. In other cannibalism news, the Monday after Thanksgiving is probably as good a time as any to ask yourself: "How many cannibals could my body feed?" |
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Published on December 1, 2008 | Permalink
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Seems like a lot of work just to sell a chair
Mono has launched an online campaign so convoluted and off-kilter for Herman Miller's Embody chairs ... I dunno, maybe it's a brilliant concept that I'm just too stupid to understand. I knew I was in trouble from the first line of the press release, which promised to "change the way you think about chairs. Or perhaps, to change your chair to help you think." I generally don't think about chairs, I just sit in them. That's me: thick-skulled and lazy-assed. There's a site called thoughtpile.org—it looks like something the Rand Corp. or Dr. Evil would devise—where ideas on various subjects "grow" as users "pile" them on. The idea that gets the most votes wins a chair. Not just any chair, but the Embody, which Herman Miller "has spent six years perfecting" because it "supports the mind and body." It took them six years to make a chair? What did they sit on while they were waiting, the floor? Actually, Embody chairs are kinda cool-looking in a retro-industrial-futuristic way, like something astronauts would sit in while savoring mugs of Tang. If they are mind-expanding, maybe I should check them out. People are always telling me I think with my rear end. |
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Published on December 1, 2008 | Permalink
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What some people won't do to get a PepsiPepsi made headlines last month for canning (ha!) BBDO. The Omnicom Group shop might be off the domestic account of the beverage brand it helped shape for five decades, but the agency retains chores overseas. These ads by CLM BBDO in Paris help explain why. Who needs TBWA\Chiat\Day? The message is so clear, the work could run stateside without translation. OMG, that chimp's gonna drive off with a truckload of bananas because he gave the driver a Pepsi! OMG, that geek'll give mouth-to-mouth to an unconscious beach babe because he traded the hunky lifeguard a Pepsi! Yeah, humor this sophomoric seems positively American. C'est si bon! Via Ads of the World. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on December 1, 2008 | Permalink
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If nothing else, be thankful for all the beer!As if we needed further encouragement to crack open a few beers on Thursday, the National Beer Wholesalers Association is telling us that beer—and lots of it!—is now a mandatory part of any Thanksgiving meal. The trade group trots out Brasserie Beck's Bill Catron, a D.C. beer expert who's actually earned a Belgian knighthood for his knowledge of the stuff, to offer guidance: He suggests matching a cold, crisp pilsner with appetizers like shrimp; a 'spicy' blond ale with pumpkin soup; red Flemish ale with leafy greens; and Witt ale with cranberry sauce. After all that, you may have lost interest in the main course, but for those soldiering on with solid food, there's triple style ale to wash down the turkey and stuffing. And (God forbid) there's also beer with dessert, whether it's a Bier de Miel with pumpkin pie or Framboise Lambics with chocolate. If some of your more teetotal guests take issue with chef John Barleycorn's menu, blame it on the Pilgrims who, according to the NBWA, landed at Plymouth Rock with beer! |
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Published on November 26, 2008 | Permalink
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4 out of 5 headless women prefer Treximet
Now and then, the warm and fuzzy world of morning TV gets interrupted by a vision from hell. That's the case with this ad for migraine medication Treximet, now airing during The Martha Stewart Show and the like. It starts off unexceptionally, with a close-up of a woman's face as she describes her migraines. But soon it becomes clear she has bigger problems—her head seems to have come off entirely. She's cradling the throbbing thing in her arm, and has a gaping hole in her neck where the head used to be. All of this takes place at a suburban school-bus stop, adding to the Lynchian vibe. (Her son takes his mom's appearance in stride, but doesn't like to look directly at her.) Over the top or not, the spot is memorable. And migraine sufferers, not known for understating their level of pain, might actually appreciate the horror-movie theme. Read more at the Treximet site. —Posted by Tim Nudd |
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Published on November 26, 2008 | Permalink
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Adidas finds groove with Frankie Valli song
It's hard to imagine a hipper scene than the one portrayed in the latest TV ad for the Adidas Originals brand. The spot, celebrating Adidas's 60th anniversary, shows a rockin' house party crashed by, among others, Katy Perry, D.M.C. (of Run-D.M.C.), Russell Simmons, David Beckham and Method Man. Even harder to imagine: a more unlikely song for everyone to be grooving to. It's Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' 1968 hit "Beggin' "—not the original, but a remix by Parisian producer Pilooski. Truth be told, it's catchy as hell and fits the commercial's retro/of-the-minute vibe perfectly. Kristian Manchester, creative director and partner of Sid Lee, the Montreal agency that created the ad, said the shop went through thousands of songs before finding this one. Originally, he says, they were looking for a Motown or Stax/Volt tune, but "every time you find a great song, someone would ask, 'Was that in a car ad?' " Only after committing to the track did Manchester find out it had been a huge club hit in Europe in the summer of 2007. Still, he's happy with the choice. "It had the right rhythm and tempo and was a little nostalgic," he says. "It felt like it was from a lost party." Fans take note: Adidas plans to offer seven different remixes of "Beggin' " on its Web site. |
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Published on November 26, 2008 | Permalink
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PSAs battle drunk driving with grim humorMullen and the Ad Council successfully walk a fine line in these anti-drunk-driving spots. Using humor to draw attention to such a charged issue can be tricky, and in the process it's all too easy to stagger drunkenly and fall face-first to the pavement ... yadda, yadda ... you complete the metaphor. These ads, thankfully, mix the portions just right. The sight of severely injured accident victims popping up and chatting as if nothing's wrong, as the drivers tearfully claim they were "just buzzed," helps mitigate the tragic-PSA cliche factor and heighten viewer interest. The reprise of the hyper-realistic serious theme at the close of the spots seems unforced, logical and not at all preachy. Ultimately, the dream-like humorous interludes—off point and disingenuous, just like the drivers' claims that they weren't really that drunk—drive the nightmare quality of the scenarios. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on November 26, 2008 | Permalink
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