Bringing art to life

I really love this campaign for Deserres art supplies in Canada by Nolin BBDO.

The idea of using iconic and graphically strong artworks is kinda obvious to be honest.

But creating the visuals out of crayons or pastels definitely isn't.

Here's a close up of the Keith Haring pic to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

Copy lives outdoors

Love a good long copy print ad.

This is not one though.

A print ad that is.

It's one of a series of posters that run in the London Underground.

Click pic to read.

Great stuff from M&C Saatchi.

Oops!

Hat tip to Y2.

Seriously shake proof

Anyone who's ever travelled in Asia is sure to be familiar with these ramshackle three wheeler taxis.

Sure they might look cute in photos but they're a pretty bumpy ride.

Which is why putting an ad for a seriously steady camera on top of them is such a good idea.

If you can get a great shot from the back of one of these babies you can get a great shot just about anywhere.

Top stuff from Saatchi's Jakarta.

Nice tagline too - Seriously shake proof.

Text me...Text me now

So many ads want you to sms for something these days.

Problem is the reward for participating in sms promos is generally pretty crappy.

This poster for Axe (Lynx) knows its target market well and uses sms brilliantly.

It gives you the missing parts of the poster. Which are the most important parts for young males.

The campaign also only works after dark. Which is a nice touch.

Great work from Lowe in Uruguay of all places.

I'm lost for words

I came across this poster on a Russian site called ADME.RU.

Certainly eye catching that's for sure.

But what's it an ad for?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Believe it or not it's a poster for the 28th Bienale of Graphic Arts in Slovenia.

Yes I can't see a link either. Although I guess it is quite graphic.

Look behind you

Sadly this piddly little pic does not do this very cheeky Lexus billboard justice. Click the pic for a better look.

It's by CHI & Partners in the UK and it made me smile. A lot.

Less = More

Good to see this excellent idea by Saatchis in Sydney recognised at the Outdoor Awards tonight.

In fact it took out Best of Show.

The campaign for the Toyota Yaris saw Toyota donate 2/3 of its billboards to selected charities.

A very clever way to bring to life the tag line Uses less, gives more.

Starting to sag

Is it just me or are Wonderbra ads in need of a bit of a lift?

This one's by Publicis Conseil in France.

Sure it's funny. Well kinda.

But it's a hell of a long way from the standard set by the original Eva Herzigova poster all those years ago.

They're Back!

Never averse to a bit of controversy the boys from The Chaser have unveiled a billboard campaign to promote their upcoming ABC series.

It’s a bit hard to read the copy from this photo. So I’ve typed it up for you.

* Stay in your home for the next ten weeks

* Wear one of those little blue face masks

* Watch The Chaser’s War On Everything from Wednesday 27th May at 9pm on ABC1

For added laughs there’s a small warning notice on the billboard. It reads: Caution - Advertisement

Pic taken by Brenden Wood

Legal art Vs Illegal ads

I was very surprised to discover recently that there are literally hundreds of illegal billboards in New York.

The ads on these poster sites are legitimate. It's the sites themselves that are illegal.

Street artist Jordan Seiler decided to do something about it.


Seiler organised a street advertising takeover which saw over a hundred of the illegal billboards whitewashed.

The resulting blank canvases were then given over to a group of artists to express their creativity on. Sounds like a fun idea to me.

Must see advertising

Big thank you to Kirsty for alerting me to this thought provoking idea by one of my old employers - JWT Melbourne.

It's for the Australian Childhood Foundation as part of their ongoing Stop child abuse now campaign.

The childsize manequins were eventually removed from underneath the posters to reveal the payoff to the headline.


Much as I love this idea I do have one minor quibble. Where's the call to action?

A piece as powerful as this is sure to provoke a response. Yet the call to action is tucked neatly away in the corner of the poster. Making it almost as invisible as the child.

I know award juries don't care about this sort of detail. But I do. Especially where abused children are concerned.

Still a damn good idea though.

What's that up in the sky?

In the early days of this blog I often used to write about urban spam.

You know the kind of thing - ambient stunts and other dodgy 'strictly for award entry' type stuff.

Well today I learned about another utterly unnecessary advertising medium.

The Flogo.

Actually that's Flogo with a small TM above the name.

With Flogos you can create a bloody huge logo or message out of soapy bubbles that floats in the sky like skywriting.

Why? You're probably thinking.

I have no idea. No idea at all.

A good waste of money

I have no idea who was behind this eye catching campaign for the Zimbabwean newspaper.

Proudly positioning itself as a voice for the voiceless the paper's poster is actually made from real money.

That's an entire billboard covered in legal tender.

Sadly it's worth two thirds of bugger all thanks to Mr Mugabe.

For more from the Zimbabwean go visit their website.

BMW goes big

Obviously the global economic crisis has yet to impact on Russia where BMW recently unveiled the biggest billboard in the world.

How big could it be you're probably thinking. Big. Really big.

In fact covers an area of approximately 6,000 square metres.

Those cars you can see in the pic are not models. They're real BMWs!

For lots more photos of this totally over the top billboard visit the oddly named English Russia.

Goo the egg

My wife loves playing the bubble wrap game on my iPhone.

I reckon she'd love this interactive bus stop by Saatchis london.

And given the current cold snap in the UK it might even help people waiting for a bus to keep warm.

Missed opportunity

The headline in this poster is interesting I think. Just enough intrigue to get you thinking.

But is it strong enough to stop you in your tracks? I don't think it is.

I also don't think it needs to be underlined. And as for the exclamation mark!

You're probably sitting there reading this wondering why this poster even warrants an appearance on Brand DNA.

Here's why:


The body copy invited people to take a photo of themselves and MMS it to a number on the poster.

Minutes later they were sent a pic of how they would look at 70.

Hence the grey hair headline.

This is a very interesting idea I think.

But I can't help wondering if the agency people got so excited about the photo ageing idea that they forgot to give the advertising the thinking it deserved.