Today I’d like to give a tip of my hat to Kool-Aid man.
The Kool-Aid man has recently made a comeback in the first two spots from Kool-Aid’s “Smile, it’s Kool-Aid” campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
This time around, the giant red pitcher is promoting Kool-Aid Liquid, the brands new liquid drink mix. The campaign is targeted towards moms.
The new CGI incarnation of Kool-Aid man doesn’t sing any annoying songs and his voice is much less creepy. He does, however, burst through his own front door in an amusing bit of self-referential humor.
Feel the burn Kool-Aid.
According to PR Newswire, the campaign will include a mobile app that allows users to add Kool-Aid man into their own photos. This app, as well as a newly designed website and Facebook page are being designed by VSA Partners of Chicago.
Check out this 15 second spot in which Kool-Aid explains, “People get freaked out when you drink from your own head” and this 30 second spot where we get a glimpse of his everyday routine.
Kool-Aid man has come a long way from his days of appearing on command like some kind of drink mix genie and singing jingles with a voice that rivals the vocal prowess of Rebecca Black
Yes, unfortunately Director Wolfdog has stepped down from his position as director of marketing at Old Spice.
Wieden + Kennedy continues its tradition of producing bizarre work for Old Spice with the extensive “Director Wolfdog” social media campaign. Apparently, Old Spice decided to hire a wolf with some sort of wolf-to-English translator strapped to his neck to be their marketing director and he has been very busy promoting Old Spice’s Wild Collection.
From his twitter account, to his album, to his (in my opinion) hilariously formatted website, Director Wolfdog has a strong online presence.
After Director Wolfdog was first announced as Old Spice’s Chief Director of Marketing, he went on to star in many instructional videos concerning business practices such as how to hire new employees.
The campaign has an interactive component that lets you call Director Wolfdog for some help with looking busy in front of your coworkers.
Go head. Call it.
He even hosted a webinar for those of you who have half an hour to spare and would like to learn about how to “make the sales”.
Unfortunately, Director Wolfdog’s savage approach to business got him into some legal troubles and he has agreed to gracefully step down from the position.
Check out his his parting message.
According to Creativity the campaign has generated over 4 million video views and 30,000 new social fans for Old Spice.
I think that this YouTube comment pretty much sums up the success of the campaign.
Newcastle’s “No Bollocks” campaign is quite possibly my favorite currently-running ad campaign for a beer brand.
Commercials such as the Great Times spot and the Handcrafted spot are doing the exact opposite of what most beer companies are doing. They are being real.
The campaign, created by Droga5, really goes against the grain of traditional beer advertising with this spot that’s not making any promises, except of course, that Newcastle’s brown ale is a quality beer.
As someone who is currently looking for internships, I found this spot particularly funny.
Newcastle’s in-bar executions are also honest to a fault, which is a trait that I have always personally found endearing.
The brand has also taken the campaign to social media where you are invited to complain about their ads…
…or to personalize your page with your very own No Bollocks cover photo.
The campaign has elicited allot of positive feedback from folks on sites such as Reddit and Twitter.
The rest of the No Bollocks spots can be viewed on Newcastle’s Youtube page.
If the No Bollocks campaign has won you over and you’d like to purchase some Newcastle brown ale for yourself, you just might be lucky enough to score a coupon. Honest.
Blackberry is in the midst of its most ambitious campaign ever. The brand is promoting its new smartphone, the Z10, using almost every resource available, including: interactive, crowdsourcing, celebrities, social media, and their first ever Superbowl commercial.
The campaign’s slogan “Keep Moving” was reportedly inspired by a quote from legendary hotel mogul Conrad Hilton.
“Success…seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
In an interview with the New York Times, Blackberry’s chief marketing officer said that the campaign is meant to target “doers, achievers, [and] people of action”. “They are about getting things done, success-oriented, multitasking and hyperconnected”.
One of the campaign’s most buzz-worthy TV spots does just that. The camera is in constant motion and set to the driving tempo of the song “Elephant” by Australian rockers Tame Impala.
A still from the new “Keep Moving” spot.
The campaign kicked off with Blackberry’s first Superbowl commercial, which boldly shows viewers a few things that the Z10 actually can’t do.
However, the most ambitious element of the campaign is taking place online. Blackberry is hosting a series of creative projects in which fans of famous artists will be given a chance to work with their heroes. So far Alicia Keys, Robert Rodriquez, and writer Neil Gaiman are all working on projects that you are invited to help them with. Fans are given the chance to “get involved” in creating music videos, a short film, or an adaptation of a short story.
I am a big fan of director Robert Rodriguez’ work (Desperado, Machete, Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror, ect.) and I am very interested to see how his short film “Two Scoops” turns out. One of the opportunities that aspiring film makers have to get involved with “Project Green Screen” is to play a special agent in one of the film’s scenes.
I browsed the current set of video submissions and, frankly, found them all to be pretty terrible. This seems like an amazing opportunity for aspiring actors to showcase their talent and creativity. Watch Robert’s brief on the project and start practicing your lines now for a chance to work with the always innovative director.
Blackberry’s “Keep Moving” campaign is definitely ambitious. What is your favorite element of the campaign so far?
What do you think of when you here the word “Cadillac”?
Do you associate the brand with the words “fun”, “hip”, or “adventurous”? For decades the Cadillac brand has been associated with luxury, and unfortunately, old people.
Cadillac: Exciting or elderly?
Cadillac’s new campaign for the 2013 Cadillac ATS is attempting to re-brand the car company for a younger, more rambunctious crowd. “ATS vs. The World”, which is aimed at younger consumers, strives to convey the message that Cadillac’s new compact sedan is fun to drive. According to Cadillac’s director of advertising, conveying this message is easier said than done.
The campaign, which debuted during the 2012 Olympic Games, has been bombarding audiences with sights and sounds that attempt to thrill and inspire. The first spot in the campaign features some death defying driving by Formula 1 driver Derek Hill in such exotic locations as Morocco, Monaco, and China.
Not only do the ads demonstrate and test the features of the car, but they strive to convey the message that the ATS is fun to drive. The spots have a much less formal vibe to them than previous Cadillac campaigns. They take on a documentary style in which most of the dialogue is ad-libbed.
Personally, I have found each Cadillac ATS commercial thrilling to watch. They portray an authentic sense of danger and excitement, while showing consumers that the ATS can handle anything that the world could possibly throw at it. Next time you find yourself behind a Cadillac on the road you may have trouble keeping up.
Mustard Merchants Grey Poupon have recently relaunched their famous “Pardon Me” campaign.
An ad from the late 1980’s promoting Grey Poupon squeeze
The new ad features a new take on the original “Pardon Me” spot from 1981 and debuted last Sunday during the Academy Awards. The main goal of the campaign has been to establish Grey Poupon’s positioning as a brand for high class people with good taste.
The ad is also meant to appeal to fans of a certain character known for his good taste. This years Oscars celebrated the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise. The Rolls Royce’s in the ad are decked out with gadgets and weapons (such as a caviar oil slick) that resemble a car that would have been designed for Bond.
The two minute long spot has created a significant amount of buzz in the social media realm. According to Networked Insights, the brand received four times its usual social media conversations following the airing of the new spot. Speaking of social media, the brand’s Facebook page takes its positioning to the extreme. One must qualify to be a fan of the brand of mustard based on their “good taste”. After applying for a “membership” in their “Society of Good Taste”, an algorithm searches a user’s page for proper grammar and preference for art and literature in order decide if a user is classy enough for a membership. Grey Poupon also utilizes Pinterest as its primary website.
The “Pardon Me” campaign has been essential to Grey Poupon’s branding over the last three decades. The Big Idea is that Grey Poupon is consumed by those who have good taste in condiments because they have good taste in general. Is the advertising overly arrogant? Possibly. Has it been monumental to the success of Grey Poupon? “But of course”.
We are all familiar with the Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign. The campaign has been running for over six years now and has reportedly increased Dos Equis sales more than 15% while our nation’s economy continues to struggle. However, before the suave fellow was lapping opponents in drag races, counting backwards from infinity, and encouraging us all to, “stay thirsty, my friends”, the advertising world was interested in a different man.
In the early 1950’s (about 55 years before the Dos Equis man won a lifetime achievement award…twice) “The man in the Hathaway shirt” was intriguing consumers and inspiring men to wear Hathaway dress shirts. After 116 years of making fine shirts, the C.F. Hathaway company approached Ogilvy & Mather about making a print campaign to boost sales. David Ogilvy came up with the an ad that featured a man with an eye patch wearing a Hathaway shirt and Ogilvy’s signature informative copy.
The Big Idea was that the eye patch would give the man “story appeal” by making consumers wonder how he had lost his eye. The campaign was a success and Hathaway’s shirt sales doubled in less than five years. And yes, you read that correctly. The shirt sales for a company that provided shirts for soldiers in the civil war doubled in less than five years.
Have a look at the advertising industry’s original most interesting man in these classic Hathaway ads.
So what do you think? How did the man in the Hathaway shirt lose his eye?
Advertisements are a very important component of the professional skateboarding industry. Ads that are featured in skateboard magazines or on skateboarding websites have several purposes. They let consumers know which companies are sponsoring which professional skaters. They create buzz for upcoming skate videos, and most importantly, they promote new products.
Skateboarding is one of the few advertising markets that is primarily print based. In a world in which Newsweek no longer prints its issues, skateboard magazines like Thrasher are thriving. Two things that most skateboard ads usually share in common are minimal copy and the fact that their target looks at them for longer than the average consumer. It isn’t uncommon for amateur skaters and other fans of skateboarding to decorate their room with ads cut from their favorite magazines. Brands like Axe and Ray Ban have had successful print campaigns in recent years, yet it is lesser known brands like Supra Footwear and Deathwish Skateboard decks whose ads are adorning the walls of their target consumers.
Many modern ads for products within the skateboarding industry follow a similar formula. An ad typically shows one of a companies sponsored riders doing a trick while utilizing the product being advertised. Others simply feature a prominent product shot and a logo.
Skate ads are almost always done in-house by a small team of designers. They usually follow a fairly simply formula, and yet, according to this infographic, they seem to work.
Could this model be applied to other industries? Imagine a Nike ad feature a photo sequence of a popular NBA player performing an impressive dunk in an empty court. There could be something to be learned from an advertising market in which its companies perform their intended goals so well with so few resources.
I stumbled upon a series of fun visual riddles made using Lego’s. Considering some of the pop culture based answers, many of these clever little ads function as brain teaser games for adults. Lego is a perfect product for really fun and imaginative advertising, like this, this, and this. I think they do a great job of showing us how for 55 years, Lego has been providing us with the tools to create what’s in our imagination or to recreate things from the imaginations of others.
Here’s one that I particularly liked:
*(Check below for the answer)
Check out this link from Toxel for the whole list!
Upcoming posts from this blog will feature Big Ideas. Below are a list of successful ad campaigns from over the years and the agencies behind them. Much like the ideas themselves, I have kept this list short and sweet. Check out this post by D. Drew Design for a more comprehensive look.
Avis: “We Try Harder” by Doyle, Dane, Bernbach
Nike: “Just Do It.” by Wieden & Kennedy
Volkswagen: “Think Small” by Doyle, Dane, Bernbach
DeBeers: “A Diamond is Forever” by N.W. Ayer & Son
California Milk Processor Board: “Got Milk?” by Goodby Silverstein
These phrases have entered the cultural lexicon and are, in some cases, rarely even associated with the client who originally commissioned the campaign. Their longevity and widespread success serves as a standard by which any existing or potential advertising can be measured. These are the Big Ideas.
Volkswagen was thinking big when they told the world to think small.
