Back together again

Love an ad that takes a while to reveal it's charms.

What I'd really love to know though is how long it took to go from billboard one to billboard two.

Neko Funjatta?

It's got cats. Dancing. And it's from Japan. Nuff said really... 

Iain Tait says...

Not sure if I completely agree with Iain on this one. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop loving what we do and fighting passionately for our ideas. 

Sony glitters in Romania

Been a while since we've had a Sony 'Balls' style ad on TV.

Well now they're back and visually this is a beauty.

It was filmed in a magnificent disused casino in Romania.

Shame about the choice of soundtrack though.

It's a tad cliched if you ask me. 

Love a good topical ad

Game on!

Another cracking TV spot for Lurpak from W+K London. Seriously what's not to love?

It's Super Trump!

This Trump poster turned up in my Facebook feed the other day.

I honestly thought it was a meme.

Turns out it's a real poster and it's in Times Square.

Please please please America don't elect this knucklehead President. 

Motorola takes on Apple

My first mobile phone was a Motorola.

That was over 20 years ago.

Their popularity was eventually usurped by Ericsson then a few years later by Nokia.

Eventually they reclaimed the popularity crown with the clam shelled Razr.

And then along came the iPhone...

This is a very brave ad from Motorola. It ran full page in the New York Times.

Will it bring people back to their brand?

I doubt it.

But good on them for being cheeky enough to diss Apple and try.

*Click pic for easier to read ad copy.

Fast or faster?

Every once in a while I see and idea and thing now that's clever.

This is one of those times.

Sadly it's only a student concept.

Which make me wonder why on earth the kid that created it hasn't pitched it to FedEx?

MEATBALL GOLF

I always encourage people to get a bit of random in their work.

And their life.

But is there anything more random than meatball golf?

Certainly not this week.

Beautifully short. And very well art directed.

It's the work of the oddly named San Francisco agency MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER.

Bloody advertisers!

I use an ad-blocker on my Mac. Have done for ages.

Why?

Because most ads on the web are shit. And there are far too many of them.

The other day I was watching Seinfeld when I found myself craving a Vandelay Industries t-shirt.

So I did a search on Google. Then looked at a couple.

Today I turned off my ad-blocker to view a piece of paywalled content.

And since doing so I am being bombarded with ads for Vandelay Industries t-shirts.

So remind me again why more and more people are installing ad-blockers on their computers?

What's up pussycat?

Ads are bloody everywhere these days.

Especially in (and on) our public transport networks.

In the UK a group of people thought it would be far nicer to fill Clapham station with pictures of cats rather than advertising posters.

And given there are 60 ad sites in Clapham station who can blame them.

They raised money for the cat takeover via Kickstarter.

Seriously what's not too love?

What a turkey

Recently bourbon brand Wild Turkey announced that they had appointed Matthew McConaughey as their creative director.

When the story broke I thought it was incorrectly reported.

Brand ambassador perhaps. But sure not creative director.

It seems I was wrong.

And so what did this great actor but unproven creative director choose to do for his first campaign for the brand?

Star in it. Of course. 

To pre-roll or not?

Don't know about you but I hate pre-roll ads on YouTube.

But at the same time I understand that it's a way for video makers to monetise their content.

What I didn't know is YouTube are very selective about where a pre-roll can run.

As the above notification for the Vlog Bros shows.

In light of the recent furore over Facebook removing a famous Vietnam war photo for violating it's terms and conditions I did and bit of research.

And what I found is it's not actual human people looking at Facebook pics or YouTube vids.

It's an algorithm. And algorithms can do amazing things.

But they ain't quite a clever as humans just yet. 

Some ideas are just plain bad

I cannot even begin to fathom what Miracle Mattress were thinking when they decided to create a 9/11 themed TV spot.

But suffice to say the general public gave it the kind of response it undoubtedly deserved.

And now apparently they're closing down. Oh dear... 

Herding cats

My daughter sent me a link to this ad on the weekend.

Can't believe I've not seen it before.

Dumb. Real dumb. But in a truly great way. 

What a client!

Kiwi agency Strategy Creative worked for a year on a project with a client.

A client who was prone to saying some very random things.

Mind you most clients are!

Anyway, to celebrate the end of the project they collated most of the client's most memorable quotes and created a book for everyone involved.

Kinda fun don't you reckon?

Travelling style addicts

Very clever campaign for Harvey Nichols by Adam&Eve DDB.

Along with Harrods the store is a must visit destination for fashionistas visiting London.

So what better way to highlight their tax free shopping than a play on the form you fill in when landing at a UK airport.

Trying or try hard?

I have one word for this ad - cringe.

Seriously though. Have you every been to concert and seen a muso that uses a laptop using anything else but an Apple Mac?

Nah. Didn't think so. 

Get Kinky

You only have to watch episodes of shows like Scooby Doo to know that young people with a soft spot for recreational drugs were gaining employment in the creative industries in the 60s and 70s.

Because that can surely be the only explanation for calling an ice cream Kinky.

And as for the seriously psychedelic black and white characters on the poster...

War on ad blockers

There are a number of sites posting messages like this to people using ad blockers.

It's quite clever I think.

But it's not going to make me turn off my ad blocker.

Why?

Because there are far too many ads on the internet.

Most daily newspapers have about seven ads on their homepage.

Which is about six too many if you ask me.

To be blunt

This is an ad for an eyeliner call Razor Sharp.

Now I don't know about you but I reckon it's pretty tasteless.

Anyone who's had experience with mental illness (and I have) knows that self harming is a problem.

So why oh why would the brand Urban Decay run an image like this?

Seems I'm not the only person questioning it.

There's been an outcry on Twitter. Of course.

And yet all they do is say they intended no harm. Idiots!