9.7.11

WHEEL OF CONCEPT: A NEW SPIN ON INSPIRATION


When the client presentation is an hour away and you need impactful ideas immediately, look no further than the Wheel of Concept. This digital tool serves up pre-packaged client-focused cutting-edge ideas, taking inspirational pressure off overworked creatives. Simply go to wheelofconcept.com, enter your client’s brand name and spin the wheel. Your concept will be branded with your client’s logo for you on a ready-to-print PDF presentation board. Making your client happy 100% of the time has never been easier. Now with the new Wheel of Concept, thinking is one less think you have to think about.
Credits:
Creative Director: Saman Rahmanian
Account Director: Joshua Lenze
Copywriter: Hunter Simms
Art Director: Sherina Florence
Sound Design: Antony Demekhin
Programming: Andronicus Riyono
Voice Talent: Steve Brauntuch


Indestructible proof


Bike theft is an everyday occurrence in cities. As a cyclist, having your bike stolen is obviously inconvenient, but then so is the amount of locks, chains and tools that you have to carry around with you everywhere in attempt to keep your ride secure.
Owners of second-hand bikes never really escape the nagging sensation that the bike they've just bought through Gumtree or Craigslist wasn't already stolen, and no amount of local police force initiatives ever seem to fully address the problem of bike theft.
As a security device, the Lock-Off bike lock from Cheeky.com claimed to be "near-indestructible". Cheeky.com is an online retailer that specialises in unusual but useful inventions that challenge accepted conventions of purpose and design. As such, the most noticeable feature of the Lock-Off is the unmistakable message it sends to would-be bike thieves: Lock-Off is the only bike lock to give thieves the finger.
Opportunities to demonstrate the effectiveness of a bike lock are somewhat limited in traditional media. Manufacturers can make any number of claims about the strength and effectiveness of their product, but to the cyclist who has had their bike stolen needs some more concrete proof that their new bike lock is the ultimate protection from thieves.
To prove just how good the Lock-Off was, agency The Social House attached a bike some railings in a part of Dublin that was notorious for bike theft. Confidence in the Lock-Off was so strong that cutting tools were also chained to the bike. A sign with the words "steal me" was the final addition to the bait. A camera was left set up to record the stunt, and the footage used in a demonstration video hosted on YouTube.

Results

Full results to follow. Within 3 weeks of upload, the Lock-Off video had been viewed more than 8,000 times.
Demonstration videos and infomercials can often be quite boring for the viewer. Here The Social House have risked a product demonstration in a very public environment, which makes for entertaining viewing and a compelling case for the product



BRAND:
Lock-Off
BRAND OWNER:
Cheeky.com
CATEGORY:
Household Goods
REGION:
Ireland
DATE:
June - June 2011
AGENCY:
The Social House
MEDIA CHANNEL:
Out-of-Home
Credits

  • Director
    PJ Dillon

  • Creative Director
    Colin Hart

  • Copywriter
    Jonny Pittard

  • Digital creative
    Lucian Baiesan

1.7.11

Samsung S1 Mini HDD: Data Migration





Advertising Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Executive Creative Director: Fouad Abdel Malak
Creative Director / Copywriter: Amit Kapoor
Associate Creative Director: Dinesh Tharippa
Art Director: Dinesh Tharippa
Digital Artist: Byju Ravindran
Image Library: Corbis, Photolibrary
Group Account Director: Claude Checrallah
Account Manager: Sirine Tueni
Marketing Coordinator: Nayla Mouawad
CEO: Eddy Cherfan
Group Marketing Director: Georges Azar

Associazione Donne Insieme Contro la Violenza (Women Against Violence): Difference






“It takes a little to make a big difference. Call 0290422123.”
Advertising Agency: 1861 United, Milan, Italy
Executive Creative Directors: Pino Rozzi, Roberto Battaglia
Art Director: Nicola Bolfelli
Copywriter: Emanuele Accurli Abenante
Photographer: Andrea Melcangi
Post Production: Martin&Rainone

Happy iPhone 4th Anniversary



Four years ago today, Apple released the original iPhone. The hype that preceded the release of the so-called “Jesus Phone” was nothing short of staggering.
Analysts, tech blogs and consumers oscillated between hyping the phone as the second-coming or deriding it as much-ado about nothing. In 2007, I was both an Apple fan (I purchased my first iPod in 2002) and a mobile phone fanatic. Still, I had my doubts about the iPhonebecause of its outlandish price, its carrier lock (and the carrier of choice) and the lack of third-party applications. I thought, OK, the iPhone will probably sell pretty well, but it’s not going to change the mobile phone industry.
The details and investment into the narrative surrounding the iPhone’s launch wasn’t like other tech products — or even other Apple products. It was more like a highly promoted, well publicized and much buzzed about movie. The only question was, would the iPhone be an Ishtar (a highly publicized failure), or a Titanic(surpassing even the most hopeful expectations)?
In four years, the iPhone has utterly transformed the mobile industry. One can debate how much Apple innovated versus refined when it comes to certain features (touchscreens and app stores existed before the iPhone), but when we look at the mobile industry, there is a very clear line between what happened before June 29, 2007, and what happened after. I would argue that every major smartphone that has gone into production since the iPhone’s release has, in some way, been a response to the iPhone itself.
The iPhone not only transformed the mobile industry, but changed Apple as a company. In 2007, Apple was nearly 10 years into a fantastic business turnaround. Propelled by the early success of the iMac and pushed further into the black with the iBook, iPod, iTunes and the transition to Intel processors, the iPhone took Apple into an entirely different direction.
As our lovely infographic showcases, Apple’s stock has nearly tripled over the past four years. The company now has a market cap of more than $300 billion, exceeding that of Microsoft. Apple’s revenues are now higher than Microsoft’s, too — something that would have been a laughable suggestion four years ago.
Four years after the first iPhone was released, a lot has changed in the mobile space. Smartphone adoption has finally gone mainstream. The fortunes of Nokia, RIM and Palm (now HP) have significantly changed. The big leader in the mobile OS space is Android, Google’s open source OS that debuted a year and a half after the original iPhone.
One thing that hasn’t changed (aside from Apple’s aversion to Flash on mobile devices) is the hype and fury that the iPhone still incites in both its supporters and its detractors. Rumors of the iPhone 5 are likely to continue to build throughout the summer, ebbing the hype to the point that all of us will ask, “Can anything really meet these expectations?” Only this time, we know how this story ends.
After all, if the iPhone was Titanic, the iPad was Avatar. Now we just have to wait for the sequels.




23.6.11

Outcome of many debates and disagreements



Agencies in this part of the world nobly take it up in the Ass .. agencies are becoming like retail shops in how they sell their products


The downgrading process started by giving away creative in exchange for media cut AKA media commission. Ideas were thrown in as added value  and for nothing.
So called marketers, ask for options and alternatives not smart cost effective and high return on dollar investment solutions.


Burning out client service and creative in 12-20 pitch a year while marketers mix and merge concepts AKA tweaking and twisting with their in-house creative-less designer in a very agonizing, exhausting process called creative services request for proposal leaves a few good people in emptiness,


Pitch fees
Agencies have to start asking for pitch fees regardless of whom wins even the top one need to charge for time and ideas presented.


Retainer structure
Should be exact response to a marketing calendar where agency and future client negotiate scope of work, planning caliber , creative resources and development process in details.


Going back to basis
Where the fuck quantitve, qualitative and usage trends gone? At least can I see a retail audit report or target group defining based on lifestyle , role or life status? Any thing boys and girls rather than our CEO thinks, feel -and the worst one- wants???


Extra work= extra budget for agency


The marketer adds extra work into the proposed scope, and the agency takes on all the work at no extra cost. So the agency comes to the party to help out hoping that they can make it up in production in another word takes from the value of the production which devalue the final output. Bad advertising!

I am talking to agencies here hoping to save the little lift with; marketers on the other hand are hopeless.

22.6.11

Operation Christmas


The Ministry of Defence in Colombia ran “Operación Navidad” (Operation Christmas), in an attempt to encourage the demobilization of guerilla fighters in the jungles of Colombia. Las FARC has been fighting a battle against the Colombian government for 60 years, retreating deeper and deeper into the jungle every day. Operación Navidad involved decorating ten 25 meter tall trees with Christmas lights. When guerrilla fighters approached the trees, movement sensors made it light up with a banner announcing the message, “If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilize. Everything is possible at Christmas.” 331 guerrillas who have demobilized acknowledge that the Operacion Navidad trees motivated them to finally give up their weapons. The campaign won a Gold Outdoor Lion at Cannes International Festival of Creativity 2011.
.
Operacion Navidad



Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLoYpy_HFw

Credits

The Operacion Navidad campaign was developed at Lowe-SSP3 Bogotá, Colombia, by chief creative officer Jose Miguel Sokoloff, creative directors Alejandro Benavides and Santiago Mesa, copywriter Sergio Leon, art director Carlos Andres Rodriguez, account director Juan Pablo Garcia, account executive Emiliano Arango, agency producer Jose Vicente Altamar. The case study was filmed by directors Jose Maria Angel and Jaime Gonzalez, editor David Abril and animator Alejandro Ussa, with creatives Alejandro Aponte and copywriter Mario Lagos.

21.6.11

American Rom Takeover


American Rom, a campaign of deception run in Romania in 2010, has won the Grand Prix in the Promo & Activation Lions at Cannes International Festival of Creativity. Romania’s ROM, manufactured by Kandia Dulce, is the traditional chocolate bar that all Romanians grew up with. Wrapped in the national flag, it had an ageing, nostalgic consumer base and was losing ground with the young generation who preferred cool American brands. McCann Erickson challenged young people’s national ego by replacing ROM’s packaging with an American version.
American Rom Patriotism billboard


The campaign started in-store with the controversial change and promo activities. The bold move was then amplified on ATL with all channels further directing people online, inviting debate on the campaign’s microsite,noulrom.ro, and the product’s Facebook page. As patriotic fervour reached its climax, with people stocking up on traditionally packaged ROM bars, the campaign shifted. Overnight, advertising began to reveal the point of the campaign, celebrating the renewed national support of the brand on the site romautentic.ro.
American Rom ads
American Rom takeover
Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=41DflcblJz8

Click on the image below to play the Teaser 1 video in YouTube (HD)
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKUmi0DM3R0

Click on the image below to play the Teaser 2 video in YouTube (HD)
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXTcJgUSlJ0

Click on the image below to play the Reveal video in YouTube (HD)
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xtdyMHx0TQ

Click on the image below to play the Anthem video in YouTube (HD)
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-3GeJ-AYxg

Click on the image below to play the Vox Pop 1 video in YouTube (HD)
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ8sDqp1V4k

Click on the image below to play the Vox Pop 2 video in YouTube (HD)
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1h_W_nkIiA

Credits

The American Rom campaign was developed at McCann Erickson, Bucharest, by creative partner Adrian Botan, group creative directors Dinu Panescu and Catalin Dobre, art directors Ionut Cojocaru and Andra Badea, copywriter Florin Florea, client service director Sagit Tzur Lahav, account director Ruxandra Savulescu, human insight director Ileana Serban Parau.

20.6.11

The 10 Funniest Commercials of All Time

Sure, humor is subjective—but some advertising over the years has been undeniably hilarious. Here are our picks for the 10 funniest mainstream commercials ever made (none of that "banned" European stuff), stretching from the '80s to today. Yes, we left out about 17 million other ads, probably including your favorite. Leave your objections and insults—along with your favorite funny ads—in the comments section.

  1. Apple, "Stuffed" (2007)

    Click to view. While usually not laugh-out-loud funny, TBWA's "Get a Mac" ads for Apple, which ran from 2006 until 2009, were some of the most wryly humorous TV entertainment of their day. Built around an archetypal comic duo—Justin Long as the straight-man Mac, and John Hodgman as the bumbling-fool PC—the spots never failed to amuse. "Stuffed," from April 2007, was among the more visually outlandish, with an absurdly rotund PC complaining about how he's stuffed full of trial software that really slows him down.
  2. Holiday Inn, "Whale Song" (2006)

    Click to view. A few years before becoming vp of everything Kevin Butler in the PlayStation campaign, Jerry Lambert starred as one of the "Business Guys" in Fallon's Holiday Inn campaign. A master of deadpan, Lambert stole the show in every spot, including this one, where he imitates the majestic humpback whale in his hotel room's comfortable—perhaps too comfortable—work space.
  3. Starburst, "Bus Station" (2007)

    Click to view. Candy brands have embraced absurdist comedy in recent years, rolling out "oddvertising" that leaves the youth target in stitches. And when it comes to hilarious oddball characters, few can match Starburst's "Little Lad," the unnervingly sprightly berries-and-cream loving imp, played by Jack Ferver, from this TBWA\Chiat\Day spot.
  4. Skittles, "Piñata" (2008)

    Click to view. Another amusing oddvertising spot from TBWA\Chiat\Day, this Skittles spot skewed darker, with a human piñata recovering from a vicious attack at the hands of a co-worker. Piñata Man's anguished cry at the end is probably the genre's singular high point.
  5. Bud Light, "Mr. Really, Really, Really Bad Dancer" (2003)

    Click to view. Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius," from DDB Chicago, facetiously saluting the world's legion of unsung male heroes, is probably the best and funniest radio campaign of all time, and the TV spots were stellar, too. The faux-epic tributes featured great mock-serious voiceovers by Pete Stacker and over-the-top vocals by Survivor's Dave Bickler. Among the highlights was this spot, lauding crappy guy dancers everywhere.
  1. Budweiser, "Whassup?" (1999)

    Click to view. Another campaign that would light up the culture, "Whassup?" featured Charles Stone III and his buddies groaning and bellowing the catchphrase at each other over and over. Simple, infectious, and hilarious, it originated as a short film before DDB got Stone and friends to remake it as a commercial. Before long, it seemed everyone in America, Budweiser drinkers or not, was parroting the phrase, while Stone was picking up multiple ad awards.
  2. Reebok, "Terry Tate" (2003)

    Click to view. Slapstick violence livened up a familiar comic outpost—the drab corporate office—in this Super Bowl spot for Reebok starring Lester Speight as Terry Tate, a linebacker who thrives by viciously tackling colleagues when they mess up. It was conceived by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who made Tate a master of the one-liners. After flattening one worker who poured the last cup of coffee, he screamed, "You kill the joe, you make some mo!"
  3. Cadbury, "Gorilla" (2007)

    Click to view. An animal spot with a twist. A gorilla is transported into a state of solemn euphoria by the Phil Collins song "In the Air Tonight." But the beast is just gearing up. As the song reaches the drum solo, he ferociously leaps into action, pounding his drum kit with the kind of emotion only iconic '80s music can evoke. Preposterous, wonderful, and weird, the Fallon ad gave Cadbury's advertising new life. And it got the song back on the charts, too.
  4. Wendy's, "Where's the Beef?" (1984)

    Click to view. Grumpy old people and mild suggestiveness—comic staples on their own, they worked even better together in this legendary spot. The diminutive and inimitable Clara Peller, 81 at the time, created a cultural movement just by swiveling her head back and forth, looking bewildered and barking the catchphrase. Created by two comedic giants of advertising—writer Cliff Freeman and director Joe Sedelmaier—for agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample.
  5. John West Salmon, "Bear" (2000)

    Click to view. Animals and blows to the crotch—two more mainstays of advertising comedy, combined to great effect in this British ad for canned salmon by Leo Burnett. What begins as a nature documentary about bears fishing for salmon is interrupted by a John West fisherman running and screaming into the scene, determined to fight the bears for the best fish. And fight them he does, giving one a serious kick to the grizzlies.


18.6.11

Shangri-La :::“It’s In Our Nature”


Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, the international hotel chain based in Hong Kong, ran an integrated advertising campaign with the tag line, “It’s In Our Nature”, expressing the hotel’s distinctive philosophy of hospitality lived out over 40 years. The campaign takes the viewer to epic locations to communicate a simple, universal truth – “There’s no greater act of hospitality than to embrace a stranger as one’s own.” The television commercial at the heart of the campaign introduces us to an exhausted traveller alone in an overwhelming and unwelcoming landscape. As night falls and the traveller gives into exhaustion, the wolves appear, not to add to his danger, but to live over him in order to give him warmth, embracing a stranger as their own.
Shangri-La Wolves print advertisement

Click on the image below to play the 3-minute In Our Nature video in YouTube (HD)


www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZeS0Un3jwk

Inspired by conversations with thousands of employees, partners and guests, the campaign focuses on the essence of the Shangri-La culture ‘embracing people from the heart and treating them like family’. “What is truly distinctive about the kind of Asian hospitality that Shangri-La offers is our colleagues’ genuine care and respect for our guests and each other. For us, this is more important than talking about palatial buildings or beautiful locations, which is why we choose this dramatically different and powerful style of campaign. It conveys the value of genuine kindness, something that is very relevant in today’s society,” said Greg Dogan, president and CEO of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts.
The television advertisement was launched as a 90-second film, followed with a 60 and 30 second cut down versions for television, in-flight, online and cinemas. A three-minute version is available online atwww.shangri-la.com. The campaign includes a set of magazine advertisements, featuring wolves, dolphins and a swan.
Shangri-La Dolphins print advertisement
Shangri-La Swan print advertisement

Credits

The campaign was developed at Ogilvy & Mather, Hong Kong, by executive creative directors Simon Handford and Sandy Chan, creative director/art director Pierre Desfretier, art director Genevieve Hardy, copywriters Kwei Chee Lam, Edgard Montjean, Troy Sullivan, account team Adam O’Conor and Laura Le Roy, planner Catherine Moustou, and producer James Brook-Partridge.
Filming was shot by director Bruno Aveillan via Quad Productions, Paris, with director of photography Patrick Duroux, producers Martin Coulais, Claudia Traeger and Helene Karson.
Post production was done at Wizz, Paris, by editor Fred Olszak and producer Francois Brun. Sound was designed and arranged at Chez Jean, with music composed by Bruno Coulais.

7 Skills for a Post-Pandemic Marketer

The impact of Covid-19 has had a significant impact across the board with the marketing and advertising industry in 2020, but there is hope...