Useful Advertising Makes A Splash!

I spotted this innovative piece of advertising on Springwise last week. Aircel, an Indian mobile phone network provider, attached a dinghy to a billboard next to a road which is notoroious for flooding during the monsoon season.

The billboard bore the message "In case of emergency cut rope" and, sure enough, a few weeks later the underpass flooded, the rope was cut, and the dinghy was used to rescue stranded pedestrians.

This bit of corporate generosity has brought media attention from around the globe and, now Aircel are reported to be planning something similar in Delhi and Kolkata.

Posted by: Roz

Spacious!

I really like this series of ads for the Citröen C3 Picasso created by Euro RSCG Worldwide. A really fun way of demonstrating the spaciousness that will work in any language.

Posted by: Paul H

Dirty Street Ads!

I like the idea behind dirtystreetads.com. This Bristol-based company provide pavement advertising by pressure-washing stencilled logos/messages into existing grime. Effective, legal, eco-friendly and original!

Posted by: Clare

Pizza Hut Cinema Ad

I saw this recently after taking my daughter and 7 of her friends to the cinema. I thought that the ad was clever, made me smile and the music was perfect - reminded me of my family photos and the good times past and present - just a shame it ended with going to Pizza Hut!?

Can’t knock em for promoting Family Fun though!




Posted by: Richard

Top of the Ads

Last week Campaign magazine included a feature called “The Ten Ads That Changed Advertising” as voted by senior figures in the industry.

Whilst these ads may not necessarily be the best ever created, the've certainly changed the way that industry works and thinks... In chronological order, they are:


1. Gibbs SR Toothpaste, 1955 – the first ad to ever air on British TV

2. Volkswagen - Think Small ,1962 – because it went against all the prior rules of how to sell

3. Coca-Cola - Hilltop, 1971 – for the breathtaking appropriation of love and tolerance by a brand

4. Benson & Hedges - Iguana, 1978 – enigmantic, utterly compelling … opened up a new (and surreal) palette to advertisers

5. The Conservative Party - Labour Isn’t Working, 1979 – changed the way agencies (and political parties) thought about and used advertising

6. British Airways - Manhattan, 1983 – the first ad to straddle the corporate/consumer divide

7. Apple - 1984, 1984 – demonstrated that impact can be more effective than exposure

8. Levi’s - Launderette, 1986 – changed the way advertising thought about music

9. Playtex -Hello Boys, 1994 – the moment when advertising realised what PR could do for a campaign

10. BMW USA - BMWfilms.com, 2001 – demonstrated that the internet was a viable alternative to television and, that if the content is good enough, viewers will seek it out.

Posted By: Davey

Big Bites

I’ve had these ads on my desktop for a very long time now; if you’ve not seen them before, they were created by the agency Jung von Matt in Germany to promote a product called Stop n’ Grow. It’s a great example of ambient media in action - using plastic carrier bags

Stop n’ Grow is a product you can apply to your fingernails; apparently they taste so damn awful that no nail biter would ever consider sticking their fingers in their mouths again!

Bringing the biting concept forward to the grandest scale, check out this ad created by Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann for an chain of motorway restaurants called Oldtimer in Austria…

Posted By: Yvette

Now Wash Your Hair!

Check out this ambient media ad for the new CLEAR brand of anti-dandruff shampoo in Thailand.

The concept uses a giant print of someone’s head, with long flowing black hair. Upon the print, they’ve attached hundreds of little sticky white tabs, which of course resemble dandruff from a distance.

The tabs feature copy that reads: ‘Remove to get 10% off CLEAR anti-dandruff Shampoo’.

What a great way of engaging the audience with the benefit of the product – whilst also providing them with an incentive to buy.

Posted By: Davey

Pick Your Nose!

Look at this use of ambient media promoting Toronto Plastic Surgery; with a perfectly shaped nose printed onto the side of a coffee cup, it gives the impression a nose job is just as quick and easy to achive.

A nice idea, but it'll only work if you drink from the cup in exactly the right position... and of course if you're going to do that you're probably very, very insecure about the way you look!

The idea below is much better, using the concept above for party laughs - available in packs of 24, with an assortment of differnt noses for both sexs... go on: pick your nose!

Posted By: Yvette

Transformers Go Off-Road

Nissan have released an amazing high concept TV ad for their 4WD vehicles – Naturally Capable.

The vehicle in question metamorphosis into a series of robotic animals to show how it naturally copes with different off-road terrains.

What an amazing ad! Now where's the button that lets my car do that?

Posted By: Richard

Infomercial Insects

How do you promote a sugar free sweetener in a new and interesting way? The Ad agency Rediffusion DYR based in Bangalore, India has come up with an unusual but impressive answer…

They placed plane white ad space on trees and coated outlines of sweet foods - including cupcakes and lollypops using the sweetener itself. Real live ants, known for their love of sweet sugars gathered from all around onto the outlines, making them visible for all to see.

Click on the image below, it'll link to the video so you can see the full effect…

Posted By: Davey

Mini Yo-Yo

As a Mini driver, I have a fond spot for the Mini. The ground breaking ‘Mini Adventure’ campaign introduced the new Mini to the world and successfully re-launched the brand… I’ve been hooked ever since.

Current marketing activity has seen no decline in innovative new ideas or spectacle; check out the image below, seen in Milan…

This massive billboard shows a hand with a long string attached to it and full size Mini dangling at bottom! What makes this ad really special is that the car moves vertically up and down the string on invisible rails, as if it were a yo-yo!

This ad truly conveys the ‘small and fun’ brand values on a gigantic scale!

Posted By: Davey

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker

This is one of a series of TV ads created for Reebok, based on the premise of hiring an office linebacker to increase workplace productivity.

Terry Tate, was first shown at Super Bowl XXXVII. The short films feature Lester Speight as "Terrible" Terry Tate, an American Football linebacker who "gives out the pain" to those in the office who don't obey the rules.

This has gone down a storm in America, even Reebok UK made an episode!

Sexual innuendo and strong language is incorporated throughout. So if you're listening in the office, you may want to turn your speakers down a little...

Posted By: Bew

Fast as Schnell

Check out this Business Week article revealing the principles that drive hot Miami ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky and how there’re reviving the flagging VW brand across America with the help of German dominatrix Miss Helga … Read the article here.

Helga implores drivers of tuned cars to "Unpimp Your Auto", poking fun at the way other cars are souped up by local garages, whilst the VW GTi, is ‘pre-tuned’ for performance in Germany.

The tied-in online test drive won a Cannes Lion. After choosing various options for your GTi, Helga goes for a test drive with you and seductively comments on each item you've chosen...

You can learn more about Helga on her amusing MySpace page.

Check out the video below, and experience your own test drive on the VW website.

Posted By: Dan

Mint Advertising

Spotted these clever ads for Mentos, they feature a series of Mentos blister packs with the missing mints punched out to create images. Apparently the street level ads are actually made out of ‘real’ Mentos gum packages!

They complement a fantastic micro-site where visitors can create, save and display their own designs, create yours here.

Posted By: Davey

Map of Realities

Saw these posters a while ago for the launch of BBC World News in America. Love them because like all the best advertising, you need to take a second look before you get it… once you do, you’re bound to remember them!

On first impressions, the ads look like geographical territories on a map; take a look closer, you see what they really are!

The tagline is ‘News beyond your borders’. They certainly drive that point across…

Posted By: Davey