Digital Billboards Snowball in Toronto

Just in time for the holidays, Bos Toronto brings us a new take on multi billboard messaging. The billboards will be projected up on different buildings throughout Toronto’s downtown core from December 6th to December 29th. They are being projected by BC-based Media Merchants using high-power light projectors.
Via colorbus

Client: Fido
Client: Sébastien Moise, Marketing Manager, Fido
Creative Agency: Bos Toronto
Creative Directors: Roger Gariepy, Chad Borlase, Gary Watson

Art Director: Ibraheem Youssef
Copywriter: Mwewa Frederick Nduna
Client Service: François Mailloux, Erin Gooderham
Production: Sugino Studios
Post Production: The Studio Upstairs
Projections: The Media Merchants
Video Production: Stone Canoe

I Heart Branding

This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most recognized branding campaigns in history. The I Love NY campaign first ran in 1977 and featured Frank Sinatra, Morgan Fairchild and Yul Brenner proclaiming their love for the state of New York (not the city) even though some of the celebrities featured in the ads, Sinatra included, were not from New York state at all. ad agency Wells Rich & Green designed the campaign to revitalize the New York economy and that it did as new york tourist continue to hand over wads of cash to clothing stands up and down Broadway. Today, the concept behind the branding effort has been carried over from everything from drugs, fast food, sports and anything else you care to "heart". Happy 30th anniversary consumer slogan.

Evolution of Hypocrisy?

I love when ads become bigger than what they really are. Take the much loved Dove Evolution and Dove Onslaught commercials which kicked off a flurry of debate about the female body image in advertising. Public opinion, at least in public, largely heralded the ads for their transparent honesty. What was perhaps not as transparent was that Dove's parent company, global manufacturer, Unilever also manufactures a number of other products such as Slim-Fast and most surprising, Axe body products who have been responsible for some of the most over the top sex driven ads in the last decade. If you are going to open the books on advertising when it comes to sex you better be ready to open the books on corporate hypocrisy as well. A little editing of the unilever ads that were conveniently left out of the Dove Onslaught ad is provided by ryeclifton@gmail.com below...

Happiness in a Can

McCann Worldgroup wants coke to conquer China. How do they do it? A fully integrated campaign aptly titled 365 days of Happiness. This 7 minute video shows how a concept, even something as ambiguous as "happiness" can encompass just about every media known to man and some previously undiscovered media like magnetic LED lights.
Via Virtual China

Donky Kong Construction

Berlin agency, Scholz & Friends went nostalgic for this outdoor display for the German Gaming Museum. Other than the questionable tax dollars involved in building a "gaming museum", the agency spent relatively little by taking advantage of the building's scafolding.

Let's Roll on Shall We?

Chicago, IL


Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis


The Star Group, Philadelphia

Is it just me or are roller derby ads the new WWF? we're not talking about the World Wrestling Foundation but instead the World Wildlife Foundation and a long history of pro bono, student and spec ads. Why are there so many World Wildlife Foundation ads? Because they are a soft target, they are an easy client to give voice to and they don't have any money to spend on advertising.
Good creatives will always come up with a good ad but at the end of the day, the difference between good and excellent almost always comes down to insight. The recent wave of roller derby ads are beautiful, the lines are eloquent but the voice is tired. Pick an interesting client, do some research, find new insight, next client please.

Smell the Glove

Being provocative = good. Being provocative by being misogynistic = bad. Iggy Pop and the Stooges = good. Iggy Pop and the Stooges a Capella = bad. And so it goes with this charming yet confusing ad for casting agency House.

Diesel Ad Smaks of Unoriginality

Listen, if you are going to swipe creative, we suggest you not do it from a major label music video. The new Diesel ad featuring dancing instructor Aarif Smaks from Finland features one of Smaks original instructional videos only the music is swapped with some modern tunes. Seems like a fine idea but there is only one problem, I could have sworn I had seen it before. It took most of the morning but I finally remembered where I recognized Mr. Smaks from. A couple months ago I was watching a Ryan Adams music video for the song Halloweenhead which presumably, is exactly what the ad wizards behind this Diesel ad were doing when they stole the idea. The video claims to have more than 11,768 views on Youtube, a fraction of record sales for a little known, Grammy nominated musician.

Why Are You Crying? We're Brainstorming!

There is a lot of advertising parodies on the Internet. My favorite thing about this particular one (other than it being listed under the youtube tags: Advertising, Chicago, Ninja, Cocaine) is that this parody seems to hit pretty close to home for anyone that has had to sit through group brain storming sessions.

Where Do You Think Yuri Going?

I'm really hoping Nike campaigns the new Yuri ads to other sports. I'm not sure if "run like you have never run before" really fits as the tag line here but I love the idea of the internal dialougue even though the Eastern European brogue comes off a little too Borat, we will excuse this for the excellent script and casting. What I can't forgive are spots that continue to direct the consumer to their website and then leaves the user to sift through endless content with little or no direction.


WTF?

The Yuri spot end with a simple claim, "Challenge Yuri at nikeplus.com". Fine. There is only one problem, the link takes you to the nike homepage. If you thought you were being directed to instantly interact with more of the lovable Yuri you better start clicking. After 5 minutes of searching through the Nike site and being asked to enter endless fields of information I gave up. Usually, the user has less patience than that. The lesson here is use the backslash (/)! and don't ask more from the consumer than what you are giving them. If they like the site, product or message they'll stay.

Also, if anyone actually finds the "challenge Yuri" section of this site, there is a reward.

Crazy Rabbit. Bravia Steals Again

I'm not a Bravia hater. I think the Sony ads are fantastic but if you are going to make ads that are going to get people talking, inevitably there will be critics. Recently the creative minds behind the Bravia "balls" commercial have endured scrutiny over the
origin of that concept. Now it appears the recently released Bravia "Bunnies" ad featuring dozens of colorful play-doh bunnies infesting the streets of New York may suffer the same black eye of unoriginality. Core77 brought our attention to the work of LA based artist Kozyndan and the similarities between the latest Bravia ad and a Kozyndan illustration featuring a city covered in (gasp!) colorful little bunnies. Kozyndan, whose work often features the colorful rabbits was (according to Core77) contacted by the studio requesting work samples but had not been formally included on the project. Full story here.

Over the Hedge

Clark St & Addison

If you live in Chicago chances are you have spent a drunken moment or two in the Wrigleyville McDonalds. The golden arches, just a stones throw from Wrigley field, The Metro theater and roughly half of all the bars in America, was formally the site of Leo Burnett's award winning Sun Dial billboard last year. Recently, the billboard near Clark and Addison has literally gone green. The agency worked closely with a horticulturalist to ensure the longevity of the ad itself as well as the safety of any birds or drunk cub fans looking for a free meal. It will be interesting to see how long the message remains appetizing through Chicago's typically short fall.

Mini Goes Big in Frankfurt

I’m not sure what to think of the Mini Clubman projection in Frankfurt. My initial thought was, would this be cool without a soundtrack? And I think the answer is no. The brand message takes far too long being communicated and I’m not sure why they choose to use sideways type when people are already going to be craning their necks back to see the ad. This seems like an over enthusiastic attempt to show off projection capabilities.

Old Shirt New Shirt

Back in July I Posted the music video for D.A.N.C.E by the French band Justice. Much of the animation was done in post production with the help of video editing. Now, it would appear that Colle + McVoy in Minneapolis have taken that idea one step further and done it for real. This is exactly how the Justice video should have been executed. Unfortunately, the director of this video has just been shown up by a clever agency and a Midwestern Sandwich shop.

I Want My MTV.com

The ad units for MTV have always been infinitely better than the programming. The new ads featuring collaborating musicians Aesop Rock and Blockhead come from a series of clips made almost exclusively for MTV.com featuring the two as the hapless hosts of their very own public access show. Complete with fake waterfalls and smoke machines, the faux variety show titled “I’m trying to help” comes from Aesop’s most recent album title. Along with eccentric guests, clueless callers and the occasional prop mishap, Aesop performs songs from the upcoming album. Short clips of the show are shown in between MTV’s regularly nauseating programs and are meant to drive music fans to MTV.com where the station will try and provide at least some content still relevant to music. More clips from the show found here.

Window Dressing

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Elle Macpherson viral campaign but the recent interactive installment during fashion week in New York did exactly what it was supposed to do, It made people stop and interact with the brand (and not just male gawkers).

AirForce1 Goes Viral

This is going to be everywhere in a matter of days so let me just say this. Good viral campaigns are quickly becoming rare in favor of lazily produced, over budgeted commercials with shotty camera work. The point of a viral video is to get people talking and this campaign for Marc Ecko has done just that. There is a part of you that knows it’s fake but how can you not go to the website because what if…?

Full story via Wired Magazine can be found here.

Organsum

Lavalife shoot

One thing casting reels usually don’t show is the actors actually reading your script. One thing a commercial has no shortage of is script changes, so choose wisely or your copy may end, suddenly due to an “oransum”.

SIRE Sees What Most Sites Lack

A good microsite, like any piece of advertising should unfold like a good mystery novel. It should target the emotions of the user, it should steadily build in anticipation and should always, always return the users patience and time with a good payoff. In The Netherlands, children play a game called ‘Ik zie ik zie wat jij niet ziet’, which translates as ‘I see I see what you don’t see’. The English equivalent of the game is ‘I spy with my little eye’. SIRE, a foundation for Non-commercial Campaigns has transformed this seemingly innocent children’s game into a beautiful and chilling interactive site to bring attention to child abuse. Full site here.

Not an Ad in the Sky

Sao Paulo, Brazil

By now you are either applauding or appalled by Sao Paulo’s decision to ban ads from the city limits. If you work in advertising, the recent law may cast a cloud of doubt or confusion over your own future. Or, you could pull yourself up by your creative bootstraps like Sky Movies and cast the ad-less city as the star in your latest ad. Ironic no? Full video below...