you didn't ask if i wanted a REAL one!

"It's a piece of Junk!"

These Ally commercials are well recognized for being creative, inventive and cruel. I have to admit, I laugh a lot especially at the red truck and more recently the Pony one.

Are they using real childrens' reactions or are those reeeeally good actor children? I feel bad for the creators if they are real reactions - imagine telling that little blonde girl she can't take the pony home? Worse yet, imagine being the kid :(

Interesting take on "wrongful advertising", ridiculous conditions and hiding behind fine print .... At least i now know to ask for a REAL pony.

I like it. I now know who Ally is.... success?

Red Truck


Pony


Bike

The snuggie on 'roids?

Ahh, remember when you were a kid and you had the footie pj's? The ones that zipped up the front, had the non slip soles and when you got too big for them you cut the feet off so you could keep wearing it?

Are you sad you had to give them up and nothing keeps you warm the same way? Did you try the snuggie but found the back-draft too chilly?

Well have I got an offer for you! The Hoodie-Footie. This clever little product HAS TO BE A JOKE. However, I don't think it is despite the laughter it caused.

Please enjoy the hilarity - and if you dare to purchase one - invite me over.

Super Bowl 2010 Ads: WIN and FAIL

Ahhhh the Super Bowl. Where diehard football fans and advertisers meet up for chips, beer and big screen entertainment.

I realized, if you have the right mix of people, there should never be a bathroom break line - the people into the game go at ads and the people in to the ads go at the game. Genius.

I would be going during the ads.... if Canada got the super fun US ads. Thank goodness for the interweb, where I can spend the better part of my Monday morning watching all the US ads that we miss north of the 49th parallel (it also means I can take a "break" whenever I want without fear of missing something). Check out all the ads HERE.

On to the ads. I have posted what is, in my opinion, the BEST and the WORST.

The BEST: Google.

Watching this spot incited such an emotional reaction that I felt like I was at the end of a well written romance. Google hit the nail on the head with a simplistic love story. The spot showed the capabilities of Google, a search engine, while telling an increadible tale of a man moving to Paris, learning the language, falling in love, getting married and having a baby with just their search field. They even captured common spelling mistakes and the ability of Google to still understand what you meant. A story in 30secs, without a face, name or verbal dialogue.

This is the kind of spot I dream of making.

The WORST. Watch the spot and you'll understand. They've spent millions of dollars on an ad that is pointless and tries way too hard to be funny. Crappy ad + wannabe funny = FAIL.

The disappearing act

I stumbled across this SunChips ad (creative agency: Juniper Park) and I really liked it! The simplicity is really nice, the music reinforces the emotional feeling really well and though I often scoff at the realistic-ness of the claims - I actually believe SunChips.

Maybe I'm just searching for a warm fuzzy feeling but I do think they've done a great job here. I also think it was a better execution than "T-Shirt" only because it was easier to read and understand the point.

One more - this time they have an interesting use of an Aussie accent when talking about American chips and California....

I hope more brands will start heavily pushing R&D to make sure that what SunChips has started and broken through with becomes "old news" and the norm.... but is that too much of a warm fuzzy feeling again?

SunChips has taken the campaign to really really creative levels that perfectly ladder up to the essence of the brand, check out this super simple billboard ad, talk about using something seemingly mundane and often ignored to do something truly interesting

I'll have a Diet Coke and a Men's size small....

Vending machines for clothes?! Sounds bizarre but it's real.

Mark's Work Warehouse has set up a clothing vending machine in Toronto's Union GO station in Toronto. We've all heard of the insane vending machines you can find in Japan that literally sell anything, but you'd be hard pressed to find vending machines in Canada like that. Check out this blog to see some really fun, interesting and weird Japanese vending machines.

Mark Work Warehouse's goal is to be in more places and be more visible. They've paired up with IBM to develop these vending machines and hope to roll out more if they are successful. As the first retailer to really offer this kind of shopping experience in Canada, they have some big hurdles to overcome. Canadians aren't used to this kind of shopping, think about how many people still refuse to shop online. This is a major shift in how people shop, though given a situation where a big stain threatens to become a the only thing people notice about you (see the funny Tide ad below) then maybe having a shirt at the ready is a pretty convenient thing to have!

I'm interested to see what the future of this will be. The vending machines have been out since December and so far this is the first I have heard of them. I haven't seen any advertising or viral buzz floating around, except for this article in The Star.

Would you buy a shirt from here?

Print is not a dead medium

Using the printed page to some advertisers is considered to be archaic. Brand managers are pushing their ad guys to push for more interactive online channels, flashy banners and new social networking site features. However, there is a growing trend for brands to go back to the printed page to draw consumers back online - through their phones.

A little while ago, ecommbyablonde brought you a couple posts about interactive magazine pages: one from Nike and another from an article in the globe and mail.

Now the New York Times is running an article about the progression of using smartphones and magazine pages to drive sales. It is incredibly interesting to read about the technology, how it is being used and even where it started from. Check it out here.

Have you purchased anything online or used your smartphone to access more information from a magazine?

The best ads of the decade - did they make you purchase?

Best campaigns of the decade?

The Globe and Mail article has set out the 5 best campaigns this decade, with a few runners up. Most of h spots they've posted made me smile and agree with them. Some, like one the runner ups made me cringe at the thought of watching it again....

Take a look and let me know - did they miss something?

Potentially the Nike Freestyle ads?

Copen to Hopen - Climate Change and the digital world

I'm flummoxed.

I'm not against the idea of getting together to figure out how to stop the way we treat our planet, but I'm concerned at hope it is being done and the example that is being set.

In 2010 the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit is happening in December. The climate summit will bring together the leaders from around the world representing 192 countries.... wow that's a lot of flying and a lot SUVs and cars.....

At the summit they will discuss how to help solve the climate change problem happening right now and reduce greenhouse gases and emissions.... huh, i wonder how much will be added by the planes and cars their using?

A bunch of corporate giants including Coca-Cola and SAP and numerous agencies have united under Hopenhagen. A creative attempt to bring awareness to the summit. Their goal is to "To connect every person, every city, and every nation to Copenhagen. To give everyone hope, and a platform from which to act. To create a grassroots movement that’s powerful enough to influence change. " Hopenhagen.org

Here are some of the ads from hopenhagen:










There are rallies against the summit happening around the world and Greenpeace is also stepping in to make their demands heard. I doubt many are against WHY it is being held for BUT they are frustrated at HOW it is. With the wonders of technology, could a software giant not come up with the most advanced teleconferencing system to allow the summit to exist without the need to travel?

If you argue that most of the ideas, deals and agreements happen outside, during the networking sessions - then there MUST be a better system of sharing planes, cars and transportation. These are the leaders who are supposed to be setting up strategies and making promises - why don't they SET AN EXAMPLE instead?


From the Globe and Mail: the president of SAP, involved with Hopenhagen replied with this when asked if he would attend "““From a carbon perspective,” he said, flying from his base in Palo Alto, Calif., to bring attention to climate change might be a counterintuitive move."

Ummm, duh?

No money? No purchases!

Great skit by SNL.

Don't buy stuff you cannot afford.

Amazingly simple idea but incredibly hard to follow apparently (see: current economic conditions for more information)

Thanks to the Consumerist for posting.

Could someone please make this an actual ad. For real.

Advertising Dollars and there's a lot of them.

Interesting video about the cost to advertise in New York City, NY.

It's a little old but you get the idea, it costs MONEY. If you think about the companies that advertise in the city you'll start to recognize the cost of advertising and the strength of the industry.

Be aware though, advertising is more than just pumping out flashy ads, visuals and text. It's about creating ideas that capture imagination, attention and memory.

Heineken is keeping it real

Perhaps a little like Dave Chappell's sketch "When keeping it real goes wrong", this holiday season Heineken is taking a different approach to draw attention to it's brand.

Heineken is highlighting the social dangers of drinking too much; however instead of going for a tear inducing, heart-aching story/warning, Heineken is keeping it light and humourous and (in my opinion) doing a pretty good job.



They've created a TV ad that drives drinkers online to a micro-site knowthesigns.com where they can play a game of spotting the people who drank too much. The object of the game is to spot the typical characteristics that all of us have had to deal with when we've gone out with friends including: the crier, the flirt, the fighter and the groper. All the kinds of people that we really don't want to deal with and will/have ruined our nights.

Beyond the game Heineken is leveraging this other media as well. They have an iPhone breathalyzer app and a "tag of shame" app that users can download to their social media site and actually tag pictures of their friends being TG (That guy or That girl)

Launching during the prime holiday season, at a time when office parties, friends are celebrating and family is getting together Heineken is offering an interesting spin on marketing of one of the worlds favourite beers. They are keeping the fun, lighthearted and interest while maintaining a drink responsibly message.


Warning: No heartstrings were pull in this campaign.

Even the billionaires of the world are being hit by this global economic crisis, so it's a very good thing that there exists a website where they can auction off their one of a kind luxury items to raise some cash AND ensure their precious items are given a good home.

Welcome to Billionairexchange, the luxury online auction site. Here the billionaires of the world can bid on and sell items ranging from castles, to diamond encrusted iPhones, to armored luxury vehicles, even a mexican resort is up for sale.


All one has to do is sign up for a membership; however, the price isn't shown because (I assume) "if you have to ask, you can't afford it".



What is interesting about the site is ease and ability a user has to buy advertising space. The prices are all laid out and based on impressions. Users can purchase leaderboards, features or sponsored links. Pretty interesting way of selling the media space as it seems they are cutting out the media companies and have made it really simple for their users.

I currently have my eye on a sweet diamond iPhone 3G, so if you're looking for my xmas gift, that's a good place to start: check it

Imagine a world where the hot "spot" is the size of a city

Imagine the whole city as a hot spot. That would be pretty great right? Sitting on a park bench reading the paper online or stuck at Davisville station in the morning streaming online video.

Seems like a pretty good idea but will it happen?

Well, sitting at home watching TBS... I mean PeachTree... I caught one of the many Atlanta area ads but this time, instead of catching one of the irritating college ads to study at home and earn a degree - it's so easy!... this time i caught one for clear.com

Boasting super fast internet access in approximately 9 states, clear offers consumers internet everywhere based on data usage. Clear states "With CLEAR 4G WiMAX, you'll always get crisp, super fast mobile internet, regardless of where you are in the coverage area."

I have to admit, I am not an expert on this kind of technology, but it seems like it is similar to smart phones that access the internet... payment is based on a data plan/usage and the service (4G) is just a little jacked up.

How long until Canadian major markets get this and who is going to do it? Rogers with the largest, fastest network? It'll be interesting to see how this develops....

Here is the ad I saw: