Hugo Boss Street Fights

I really hope I see this while I am walking around Toronto. Something tells me it will cause everyone around it to feel awkward. I pity the poor actors.

Hugo Boss will soon raise the curtain on a marketing effort in support of its new XX fragrance for men and XY fragrance for women.

At the centre of the campaign is a street marketing initiative in which actors hired to play couples will appear on downtown streets and at selected Bay stores in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal on Nov. 3 and 4.

The “couples” will break out in heated arguments in these locations, debating which of the two fragrances is sexier. The actors will also involve consumers in the arguments by asking passersby to give opinions on the relative sexiness of the two scents.
The campaign also includes a partnership with dating website Lavalife. A 20-second video spot advertising XX and XY will run on the website, and the products will also be featured in Lavalife’s first-ever holiday gift guide. The campaign was developed by Toronto agency Compound.

Elisha Wagman, creative director for Compound, describes the street-level initiative as an experiment in getting the attention of consumers 30 to 40.
“We’re bombarded with media messages, so what we wanted to do was bring in the human element and reach this target audience face-to-face,” says Wagman. “You don’t have as much control as you would with a typical campaign. But we were quite confident that we would be able to reach the audience in a way that made a difference in the marketplace.

About two months ago The Bay, a retail store in Canada staged protests outside of there stores where women chanted "Don't blame us for being fabulous", "We have a right to feel beautiful" and many other lines. As I stood at the corner at 8:00 am everyone face was saying "What the hell is going on". It was extremely awkward and as one women tried to get by them on the sidewalk she retorted "Get a job".

Good luck Hugo.

Found on Marketing Magazine Daily

When Life and Music Collide...

Great concept from Leo Burnett in Cairo. Melody Tunes is Egypt's first all English music channel and to raise awareness around their launch, they've created a series of spots that combine real life with the Popular videos on their channel.

There are a number of different music products in the market - from iTunes to mobile music downloads - that all have similair strategies. That being said, this simple combination with added the foreign flavor is quite hilarious.

Ad Quote of The Day

"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. (S. Leacock)"

More Naked Women Promote PETA

If PETA ever wants to get taken seriously they need to send the perverted creative team back to the world of Beer advertising they came from.

Yes I know, I am posting about it, I am looking at it and sharing it so the message is spreading. BUT I am still going to walk home tonight in my leather shoes to eat a Beautiful Black Forest Ham, put cheese on my broccoli and enjoy a glass of milk.

Good Advertising Turns Me On...

...so does BMW's. Put them together and well...

Ad of Da Month - Are you Innit?

Ad of da month is a site where all of you creative geniuses out there can post the best work you have managed to sell through to the client and see if the Jury of industry peers likes your creative best.

To avoid making Saatchi & Saatchi errors I don't recommend posting work that has been approved ;) ...did I just seriously make a smiley face in a post...wow.

Anyways the site is filled with interesting ads worthy of wasting away billable hours. The Jury is made up of CD's from Singapore, NY, Cape Town, Berlin and others corners of the advertising world.

Check it out in our blog roll or click on the links.

Immersive Site? Maybe. Rip off? Yes.

Check out this immersive mobile phone site for the Norway telecommunications company Telenor.

The site uses video as the main navigation tool for the user. Click on certain characters to discover the featured handsets or click on the teen rockstar (showcased in a boring introductory video) to smash up the room.

A site like this would have been quite costly to produce. In the end, the navigation helps one of the most saught after metrics for advertisers - time spent. More time spent typically indicates that users are more interested in the site (or have just left their computers running).

That being said, the site falls short because it is - well - boring. As interesting as it is to navigate with video, the pay-off's of each click need to live up to the inital hoopla of the overall setting. Linking through the larger product page after 2-clicks is more of a lunch-bag let down than a reward.

One of the top sites that uses video navigation is the 1366 microsite for Stella.

Stella was able to create not only a navigational experience but also a neat advergame centered around the journey of creating the perfect beer. The site recently came second in the CMA Digital awards - mostly due to is unique style and functionality.

And, as you'll see, each click takes you deeper into the site - with new videos, games and challanges.

Thanks to pantyboy22 for the Telenor link!

Interesting Facts

Every degree that the temperature rises above 14 degrees Celsius, sales of water increases by 5.2%.
~ The soft drink association.

In a poll of 1,000 Facebook users, 85% preferred boxers to briefs.
~ Facebook

69% of all text messages sent by Saudi teenagers are pornographic.
~ The Three billion project

Bollywood's global audience is estimated at 3BN, while Hollywood's is about 2.6BN.
~ Times

Each year about 70 new Vodka's are launched into shops and bars globally.
~ www.thedrinkshop.com

87 new manga series will be launched in the second half of 2007.
~ ICv2

Found in The Future Laboratories THE:LAUNCH:ISSUE

Lowe Coasters

BBDO New York has created coasters for Lowes Building Centres. A unique idea that actually make sense for the brand. Lowes customers like to build and their demo definitely drinks.

Sometimes unique ideas make it into market that are horrible and make no sense at all for a brand - such as the Foldgers manhole covers. Who wants to associate their brand with sewer steam?

Lights Out

Neat post from BoingBoing today -

For an eco-friendly San Francisco fund raiser, organizers decided to "turn out the lights" in the city for an hour. One of the organizers was a former PR exec at Google and had friends who helped turn out the lights on the Google homepage.

Want to create awareness for your campaign or cause? Just go to the front door of the web and throw up a nice sign (if you have the contacts and cash...)

Next Generation Social Marketing

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NBA - Where Amazing Happens?

Where amazing happens? Is this really the new tagline for the NBA? Everything in all 3 of the spots happens in pretty much every major sport. They should have tried to capitalize on what makes the NBA unique.

Better luck next season.

See the spots.

Historical TV Viewing Activity

It amazes me that the average household watches almost 510 minutes of TV per day.

Found on adverlab:

One Hit Wonders on the increase

Lately I have been hearing and noticing a lot more one-hit wonders. Many 'music' people will say that this is because the quality of music is going down faster than a groupie on a roofie, but I believe it is because of the Internet and the wonderful marketing tools available to every indi-band in the world.

Myspace, flickr, facebook, websites and mp3 sharing sites has made every band able to offer their music to the world. For this reason the OK bands that stumble on that one hit get noticed, get big quick and disappear. Little does my friends band Empire Alley know but I have been watching their marketing tactics and seeing how they spread the word of their good music.

Empire Alley is a Vancouver based indi-band that in my opinion has a few pretty good tracks. Hopefully they will make it big and not be a "one-hit wonder" but at this moment they have quite a marketing plan in the mix.

A flickr site where fans can upload pictures from shows.

A myspace page with 8000 friends, songs with 1000's of plays, banners you can post on your own site and an eventful link to request tour stops in your town.

A facebook group with 543 friends.

And all of this exposure cost them only a little bit of time. To have this same level of awareness would have taken a lot more work back in the 80's. The thought leadership shown by big dreams and small budgets will never cease to amaze me.

Drop by myspace and have a listen and look.

The First Advergame?

I can't believe that this is the first I have heard of this. Advergames on vinyl records played on a spectrum.

"In the case of these programs on vinyl, the user would have to play back the proper portion of the record, record the resultant chatter to tape, and load the tape into the spectrum. Some users have mentioned playing certain games so much that they could recognize the loading sounds.A gigantic step up from encoded text files were actual games included in the grooves of records. In 1984, The Thompson Twins released 'The Thompson Twins Adventure Game' in both regular vinyl and flexi disc formats. The game is a bizarre text-based adventure in which you guide the Thompson Twins around a land of beaches and caves."

Similarly encoded games were also added to the tape releases.

Unbelievably cool.

Found on Adverlab.

"LIVE" concerts in Second Life

This U2inSL concert from last year had me thinkign lately about if and when an animated Second Life concert will become apart of a bands tour schedule.

There is a lot that could be done here such as the first 100,000 CD's have a code that you can use to go online and recieve free SL concert tickets. Or what about setting up a create your own concert selection on SL. Literally create a playlist then watch the concert. Labels could let you pick from a selection of bands and make your own Personal Lollapaloza.

Lately I have read the SL is on the decline so this may not be that close but I imagine it is coming.

Why Blog?

A lot of people (and by "a lot" I mean about 3) have asked me in the last couple of weeks why I blog.

"What's the point?" is probably the most common question for those who haven't read blogs before.
For the 106 million bloggers out there, the answer is always unique. Some do it for money (or the hopes of making money), others do it to help connect with a specific niche of people - like Vampire lovers or Sailboat enthusiasts.

Whatever the reason might be, something about blogging as struck a chord in millions of people across the world. It could be the desire to be heard. To have a simple forum to communicate your passions, thoughts and interests.

Or it could be the need to continually update people on where you've been and what you're doing. Many of the blogs out there are immensely personal. An online diary about your real life for anyone to read.

I started blogging as an experiment to see what it was like and why so many people did it. "Why would I need to blog if I'm already am addicted to Facebook and Google Reader?" I thought.

More importantly, don't I have something better to do?

After 8 weeks of solid blogging, the answer is a resounding no.

Is that a bad thing? Depends on who you are, I suppose. But the fact remains that blogging, for those who have the stomach for it, can be highly addictive, frustrating and personal. That being said, if you enjoy your topic(s) and can find your voice (and audience) it's quite rewarding.

We Love Kids...

A fun European spot that's recieved some great coverage around the web.

Defining Innovation

If you haven't seen this old spot from BMW, it's well worth checking out.

"The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds"

Understanding Facebook

We’ve blogged about Facebook before but wanted to post this comprehensive overview from Adverblog. It’s important to think about why you’re advertising on Facebook. Are you simply checking off a box on your marketing budget, or are you actually trying to add value to the users? To give people a chance to connect with your brand?

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China's Summer Olympic Print - Sort Of...

Some great executions from Amnesty International in regards to China's human rights record, laws and history. Developed by Saatchi & Saatchi in Slovakia, this series of print ads is in your face and interesting. The copy on one of the executions reads:

"In the name of ensuring stability and harmony in the country during the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese Government continues to detain and harass political activists, journalists, lawyers and human rights workers. Get involved: http://www.amnesty.sk/"

We've seen a number of executions like this before (see our MTV 9/11 post), however these executions take the message to an off-beat level. They don't agressively hammer down the atroticities of the Chinese government, they combine them with a brand that is completely opposite - the Olympics.

Can't imagine that the IOC is to happy about these comparrisons but think that this print could resonate. Link from Copyranter.

Student Work

Some intereting work from some Miami Ad School Europe students. Although they've taken a successful Axe campaign and slightly tweaked it, I like the simplicity in the executions.

That being said, it's interesting to read some of the reactions of those in the industry.

Thanks to Rebecca for the link!

The Heineken Beer Brick

Stumbled on this great article about the Heineken beer brick.

The idea comes from turning wasteful into useful products. Afred Heineken and designer John Habraken coined 'the brick that holds beer' after Heinken took a trip to the Caribbean. After walking on the beach and seeing hundreds of empty bottles but hundreds of locals without homes, he invented the beer brick.

Although it has not exactily taken off, the idea to turn waste into useful products is something we could certainly strive to see more of in the future.

Great Quote - Social Networks

A social networking tool becomes a publicity tool when "I speak, you speak, I reply, you reply" becomes "I speak, you listen".

From CenterNetworks.

Prep Unit

A couple years old but still classic – I always love a good Tea Party. And with over 4 million views on YouTube, I'm not the only one.

Check out the West Coast response previously posted by PJC.