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

Be Stupid. .... really?

I struggle with the new diesel campaign: Be Stupid.

Check it out:


It strikes me as trying too hard and not really that original an idea. I understand that they are attempting to push consumers into thinking differently and with a different perspective of what is stupid but I just couldn't agreed with them, though the music is catchy. Perhaps because I'm not the diesel target? Or did they just miss the mark?

Diesel claims that Stupid is brilliant, has the stories, the balls and creates. I struggle mostly with the idea that Stupid is how this gets done and "Don't be stupid is the crusher of possibility". I think being stupid is the crusher of potential and opportunity...

I decided to trot on over to Dictionary.com to look up the meaning of "Stupid" to see if my internal definition was skewed... it wasn't:

stu⋅pid

–adjective

1.	lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.

2.	characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish; senseless: a stupid question.

3.	tediously dull, esp. due to lack of meaning or sense; inane; pointless: a stupid party.

4.	annoying or irritating; troublesome: Turn off that stupid radio.

I've thought about this campaign for about a week and I still don't like it but perhaps I'm just near sighted or closed minded or..... STUPID? (though I guess in their eyes that would make me brilliant?)

Here is their online landing for Be Stupid: http://www.diesel.com/be-stupid/

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?

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.