A Little Tease

Talk about an interesting integrated campaign. To promote an upcoming burlesque show, tassled pasties were slapped on local parking meters in St Johns, Newfoundland to generate buzz for the event. Lucky for marketers, the street meters already resembled the proper anatomy. Hidden cameras caught reactions from passersby and provided enough footage for an accompanying viral video (above). Not only did the show sell out and get tons of press coverage for the stunt, every single pasty was stolen as a souvenir. And who says Canadians don't know how to have fun?

Genius: Zyrtec Ad on Telephone Pole

Oh this brightened my day. Adrants posted this funny Zyrtec ad found on a telephone pole in Boston. They ask, "Can A Sharpie Poster Push More Sales Than A Glossy Ad?" Apparently their source took the time to take down the ad and pass it around the office. Even though I suffer from horrible skin allergies, I don't think I'd really act on this if I saw it.

It kinda reminds me of the Craig's List ad the guy from Ogilvy put up for Six Flags.

Throwing $ Away: Levi's Copper Microsite

You know, I used to love microsites. Until building microsites became a unnecessary and/or gratuitous addition to an integrated ad campaign. Case in point, Levi's Copper Jeans site, http://www.metal-denim-passion.com/. Hot models? Check. Snazzy Flash/Actionscript animation? Check. A point? Hmm, you lost me there.

Not only does the site takes a couple of minutes to load, the wait is no where near worth it. A flashy 3D rendering of a girl and guy stripping (not as sexy as it sounds), only to be be swathed in copper armor is all you get to see, and that only takes a few seconds to view. Boo. Give me a game or a customizable jean design or something.

The Odder Adder = An Odd Ad

Ha! Can you see it? My likeness is on a T-Mobile banner ad! Don't believe me? Look a little closer below:

Striking resemblence. no? The bangs, the flat nose, even the smile are uncanny. Except for the fact that the girl sports a stump. I can attest both of my hands and all ten fingers are still intact. Therefore, this model, as lovely as she is, is NOT me. And check out the crappy copy:


"MOM DATED WHO BEFORE DAD? CALL MOM. TALK LONGER. FIND OUT MORE."


Really now. Like this is actually going to sell home cell phone service packages? I know no Gen X, Gen Y or Millenial would be willing to shell out a hundred bucks when they can just call up Maury Povich.


In any case, when this ad splashed on my screen, I quickly jumped over to my coworker's desk to make sure this wasn't some super-duper-targeted marketing campaign. Imagine if your face popped up on every ad you come across on the web.

But if this were indeed a picture of myself, I wonder where it came from. My thoughts can't help but wander to Virgin's lawsuit from using a teenager's Flickr photo without permission for an ad campaign. Over the teen's picture, Virgin wrote, ""Dump your pen friend," and "Free text virgin to virgin" at the bottom. At least my accompanying copy isn't so condemning.

Hillarack? Barackillary... Broccoli!

What do you get when you cross...

If only our own citizens were as interested in US politics. (Ahem, Canada.) This is a print ad for Hogeschool Universitein Brussel, a university/college in Belgium. "Why choose when you can combine," asks the copy. "Go study at HUB. The first college and university in one."

[Via Copyranter]

Spitz'er Swallows?

Gotta hand it to the ad community, and New Yorkers, for their lightning-fast funny bone reflexes during this whole Spitzer-banging-whores debacle. You can't blame them--there are far too many ingredients making this ripe for a hit sitcom. Forget the GEICO cavemen.

Even Virgin Mobile in Canada jumped at the chance to exploit the Gov of Love's "Client #9" John codename (see below).

The copy goes on to read:

"When you call us, we'll treat you like a person, not a client.
Whether you're #9 pr #900, you'll get hooked up with someone who'll finally
treat you just ow you want to be treated..."

Oooooh. Good one. [Via adrants]

But New York Shitty spotted some homegrown humor at the Brooklyn bar, Teddy's. Would you rather throw back a Spitzer Spritzer or Hypocrite's Delight?

But in the end, the best humor comes from real life:

Genius! Juice Salon Escalator Ad

A creative take on floor graphics, Juice Salon in India takes advantage of the escalator’s shuffling real estate to demonstrate the variety of haircuts they can deliver. The execution is simple: a static head at the bottom of the escalator meets a series of different hairstyles with every descending step, and each head-hair combination is a perfect match.

Advertising on escalators isn’t new by far. Heck, there’s companies dedicated to the job (http://www.escasite.com/). But for the most part, traditional escalator ads are the same graphic repeated over and over again—something consumers are used to channeling out. Juicy Salon's ad is a clever idea, conceived by Rediffusion DY&R of India, is hands down a genius one, but one that will have to undoubtedly be switched up and one-upped in later executions.

Seeing this now, I can totally see how marketers could use this existing medium for other projects. How about a cosmetic brand (same nose and mouth, different eye makeup looks), the ASPCA (same boy at bottom, different dogs and cats) or even a dating site (girl at bottom gets matched up with different guys on each step)? The possibilities are endless.

[Via Ads of the World]

Freaky Kittens Sing for Bank

Whoa. There's much to be said about a PROPERLY done viral. And this ain't it. Although there's no doubt Australia's BankWest is paying homage to OfficeMax's Elf Yourself, sometimes imitation isn't the best form of flattery.

Here, instead of your 5-year old niece and nephew shaking her elfin moneymakers, you're treated to a grainy, YouTube-esque video of 3 kittens singing and spelling out your name. But that's only if you listen for it.

On my first go, I couldn't make out a single word being said. The throaty lead kitten could just as well have been voiced by Ronaldo Martinez (you know, the guy with a hole in his throat from the anti-smoking ads) and the left kitten barely pronounces each letter (Was that N-A-O-M-I or A-A-E-E-I?).

If you're going all out with a web viral. At least do the following: a) be relevant, b) have a point that ties into your main message, and c) be quirky in a way that fits your brand. What do kittens on a porn set have to do with banking? Beats me. Maybe I'll just have to visit Australia.

Try it for yourself here.

Masturbation is Groovy

Gee whiz. I'm glad I was still a piece of fairy dust when ads like this were circulating TV. This is an old, albeit excrutiatingly awkward PSA of a mom catching her preteen son, ahem, playing pocket pinball.

Her reply?

"Excuse me, Ricky. Ricky, I saw what you were doing. It felt good, didn't it? It's alright, we all have feelings like this sometimes. I'm just glad you're doing this in the privacy of your own room."

Um, versus Shabbat dinner? I'm wondering why she hasn't run out the door screaming at this point. It's as though she's been spying on poor Ricky for weeks, carefully rehearsing her "masturbation is groovy" monologue until the time is right. And then there's Ricky, with his deadpan face innocently blinking away thoughts of Goldie Hawn or Marie Osmond... or whoever kids fantasized about back in those days. His mother does exit and apologize, not without letting Ricky know that they'll soon have "a talk" about how he can control these urges in the future.

I give credit to those ad men from the '70s. What else can you do when you're handed a creative brief on juvenile masturbation? Although it would have been interesting to see a Schoolhouse Rock version air after Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.