These two advertising campaigns really caught my eye recently.
A beautiful execution and a very simple message. I think these are really powerful.
NH Hotels advertisement was placed on Iberia airline’s headrests. On the back of the headrests you could see illustrations enjoying the different activites offered by NH Hotels: golf, beach, sauna, and spa.
[via Ads of the world & Ad Goodness]
This is such a great idea for when you have those pesky creative blocks.
So to preform this wondrously inspiring feat, all you do brew a cup of tea, then plunk your fresh tea bag down on a white index card. Once the tea stain has dried, you take a pen and complete the drawing. Finally, just sit back and feel that mental block melt away as the ideas come pouring in.
There is a whole flickr group dedicated to it here, unfortuantly there aren’t too many pictures in it right now, but the ones that are there are facinating.
Anyhoo, I’m sure this will prove to be very useful in the near future.
[via Drawn!]
When great ads support “not so great for you” products
Have you seen this new Wendy’s baconater commercial?
This ad is a great example of a really funny use of innovative graphics to do what?
sell you a hamburger that is bigger than your head!
Now I am not adverse to a good hamburger every now and then, but I usually choose In-N-Out Burger who I believe do not even advertise anywhere, yet they are always packed.
But back to the baconater, these ads remind me of David Wojnarowicz, when he took all these pictures around New York City with a iconic mask of Arthur Rimbaud on, Rimbaud is the poet who inspired everyone from Surrealists to Patti Smith.
You know this ability to use such compelling graphics to sell stuff that makes us really fat is the reason why I am such an advocate of culture jamming being done by the people over at AdBusters. I am pretty sure that no one ever needs to eat in one sitting: Six strips of hickory smoked bacon piled high atop two 1/4 lb. patties of beef, complete with two slices of American cheese. EEEEEK!
As my good friend Gwendolyn always says “you have to use your powers for good, not evil.”
Someone who is using his power for good and not evil is Shaquille O’Neal, in his new ABC show called Shaq’s Big Challenge, he takes 6 children through a weight loss program and inadvertently deals with school lunch programs and physical education (or the lack thereof). Shaq is so empathic towards these kids, you can see even this mighty man being demoralized by the forces that weigh these children down (no pun intended)
We have a responsibility to create inspiring exciting design for good not evil.
Tell us some examples you have of great ads that are created for “not so great” products.
This post is inspired by the Live Earth concerts this week Yeah, yeah everyone can be cynical, like they already have, about Madonna & the Red Hot Chili Peppers riding around in their private jets burning too much fuel etc. I am just happy that people are even debating it. You know I am always a sucker for positive change wether it be Bill Moyers coming back to PBS or Alice Waters and the Edible Schoolyard, the list could go on and on.
But what I want to talk about is that we here at Fearless Future believe that you have to make a decision:
will it be Eco-Guilt or Eco-Fun?
and I think you all know what our choice will be!
One way I have found to have lots of Eco-Fun is to host and participate in Rags to Riches parties. Definition: invite a bunch of girls over and bring all the cloths you are tired of and would like to switch with friends.
We are lucky to live in a such a developed country that we can simply become bored with our cloths. What you think of as your “rags” can become someone else’s “riches”!
Plus it will be a really fun activity for you and your girlfriends to catch up and eat some nibbly bits and such. I was introduced to Rags to Riches by my wonderful and brilliant friend Lauren. Thanks lolly!
And when you are done the hostess of the party takes all of the cloths that have not been switched and donates them to the charity of the group’s choice. Reuse and give to those who need and HAVE FUN while doing it! SO EVERYONE WINS !
All of this talk about answering the call and doing what you can to have some Eco-Fun reminds me of the lyrics from a Tribe Called Quest song Luck of lucian:
“Instead of doin so much, why dont you do just a little?
Lucien, lucien, lucien, lucien.
You should know!”
I remember when the iPod debuted in 2001: I was a student at the time, so I scrimped and saved for months and months; 400 bucks later I finally had my hands on a 5 gigabyte one. All of my friends thought I was nuts for plunking down so much money for something their $30 CD player could do, but now-a-days you’d be hard-pressed to walk 3 blocks without seeing someone using an iPod. Something happened between 2004 and now to make iPods beyond ubiquitous. Hint: it isn’t a price drop.
Everyone knows that Apple creates beautiful (and intuitive) products that have a cultish following. Groundbreaking design isn’t the only thing that has transformed Apple from the darling of the art world into a household name; it’s also their marketing.
If you want a first hand look at Apple’s marketing in action, take the iPhone release on Friday – you could scarcely turn on the TV or read a newspaper for a full month before it’s release without hearing something about it. The hype was astounding. The funny thing is, contrary to my assumption and contrary to the image apple projects in their ads, it wasn’t just the cool kids lined-up and counting down until the 6:00pm release. Surrounding me in line was a late 20’s professional, an mid-30’s business man, and a late 40’s corporate lawyer all foaming at the mouth for this $600 phone. After talking with them, it became apparent that each and everyone of them had been gobbling up ever piece of information they could find about it on the internet.
This is the real power of Apple’s marketing machine, they created a want need for this device.
Apple is slowly but surely becoming the Prada of the computer world. They take a piece of technology (a superiorly designed piece of technology, but a piece of technology none-the-less) slap a high price-tag on it, and make it cool to own. Now this is simplifying the formula quite a bit, but the point is they’ve managed to make their product a status symbol. Not bad for a company that was in the dumps 10 years ago.
“Dell people buy computers to get a job done. Apple users buy a computer to make a statement.” - Seth Godin
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