AdFreak welcomes its evil twin, BrandFreak
Like a character from a Mike's Hard Iced Tea commercial, the Freak family of blogs today sprouted a second evil head: BrandFreak, a new daily blog from the writers of Brandweek. A kind of Jamie Lynn Spears to AdFreak's Britney, BrandFreak will explore amusing and quirky marketing stories with a primary focus on brands themselves—with topics including new product launches, brand extensions, packaging, sponsorships and so on. AdFreak would like to officially welcome BrandFreak to the marketing-blog universe and at the same time ask where it got the tiara/eye-patch combo. |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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'You kin' do it,' says a giddy Dunkin' Donuts
Hill, Holliday's latest advertising for Dunkin' Donuts introduces the rallying cry, "You kin' do it!" Thankfully, there's a press release which explains that "kin' do" is literally part of the DunKIN DOnuts name. Without seeing the ads, I never would have figured that out on my own, at least not before my large with six sugars. See three more new commercials here. The press release says the new campaign "cheers on the everyday people who keep America running by reminding them they can take on any task: you kin' make it through the workday, you kin' shovel out that driveway, you kin' pass that exam, you kin' finish that paperwork." Well, you kin' also join a gym to work off that bulbous butt after quaffing all those chocolate frosteds, though I doubt that iteration will make it into the campaign. Frankly, after eating a bunch of donuts, I don't feel like I kin' do much of anything. I usually just need a nap. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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The Ladders only wants the worst monsters
Here's a new commercial from Fallon Minneapolis for premium job-search site The Ladders, showing a bunch of small-fry monsters trying (and failing) to wreak havoc on a cityscape and instill fear in its populace. "If you think about it," says the voiceover, "this is what makes The Ladders different from other job-search sites. We only work with the big talent." The site evidently only deals with executives who make $100,000 or more—personified in the spot by a suitably devastating Japanese creature. It's a nice twist on the usual Godzilla ad theme, with the added bonus of seamless dressing down Monster.com and its ilk. |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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Burton's 'Playboy' snowboards: cool or not?
Burton is trying to heat up the ski slopes this winter with a new line of Playboy-branded snowboards, but the effort is getting a chilly reception in Vermont. As one (female) Vermonter told Boston.com: "When you really think about it, it's a young man standing on top of a naked woman's body. I probably could have gotten past it, because I try to have an open mind, but seeing it like that, it's offensive." My first thought, since I'm so darn progressive, was: It could also be a young woman standing atop a naked woman's body. (Well, it could be!) The city council in Burton's hometown of Burlington, Vt., might ask the company to withdraw the boards. And the Girl Scout Council of Vermont is considering taking its own concerns to lawmakers next month. (Perhaps they'll bring along some of those chocolate sandwich cookies—those can be convincing.) In any case, the story is generating some free press coverage for Vermont's ski areas, and I almost made it through this entire post without saying "snow bunnies." —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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The greatest fictional ads from sci-fi movies
It will take a geekier geek than me to properly parse this fun-looking list of the top 25 fictional ads in sci-fi movies. I have a moderate Doctor Who habit, but I haven't seen the majority of the movies highlighted here, much less the fictional ads they contain. (The spot above is from Robocop 2, for Sunblock 5000.) Doctor Who (Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America) has little in-story advertising—except for that seven-year product placement back in the 1970s, courtesy of Tom Baker, for Jelly Babies. |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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Don't throw those innards out with the trash
2008 may be remembered as the year when organ-donor-plea advertising came of age. California's singing-maggot effort ranked among AdFreak's 32 Freakiest Ads of '08. Now, from IMIP in Brazil (via agency Ampla) comes a print campaign that poses men, women and children next to trash cans. The text reads: "One of these two will get your organs. You decide." See all three ads here. I'm assuming they mean someone will get my organs after I'm dead, but you'd never know it from the haunted, hungry looks on the faces of those models. Go ahead, dream about my spleen. Just let me finish using it! Of course, I can't shake the feeling that maggots will get us all in the end. |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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This is your brain on D&M Publishers' books
This ad campaign from Rethink in Vancouver for D&M Publishers, an independent publishing house in Canada, might be a tad too clever for its own good. See the three full ads here. Or maybe the approach is spot-on, considering the target audience of presumably brainy readers who don't mind working an extra beat to take in the ads' subtly mind-blowing message. Either way, it's somewhat amusing that the ads rely entirely on visuals to make their point—an unintentionally ironic nod, perhaps, to the fact that no one reads anymore. But I might be reading too much into it. Via Ads of the World. |
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Published on January 5, 2009 | Permalink
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AdFreak falls into holiday publishing stupor
We're going to take a break this week to enjoy the holiday and recharge for 2009. A big thanks for reading this year. We really appreciate it. |
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Published on December 26, 2008 | Permalink
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THE FREAKIEST AD OF 2008: Saatchi's comic, gory spot for 'Evil Dead the Musical'
In the end, it wasn't even close. This gory/comic spot for Evil Dead the Musical, by Saatchi & Saatchi in Toronto, has bloodily sauntered off with the title of AdFreak's Freakiest Ad of 2008, after collecting 49 percent of the vote in the four-way final. Converse's KissingWithRoss.com came in second, with 22 percent. The Dutch Socialist Party and Doritos rounded out the top four, with 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively. The Evil Dead spot is a worthy successor to the Dexter viral that won our contest last year. So, congrats to Saatchi. To see all of this year's 32 freaky finalists, click here. |
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Published on December 24, 2008 | Permalink
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The year's most-liked retail holiday TV spots
AdFreak's parent The Nielsen Company (I asked for a tricycle and an iPhone, just in case they forgot) has gauged the "likeability" of this year's holiday retail TV commercials and come up with a top 10 list. Narratives, nostalgia and family-focused story lines are hot. Sales and price-driven messages, as well as shorter commercials, are faring poorly. Wal-Mart rules overall (doesn't it always?) with the ad above, showing employees turning register lights on and off to the tune of a Christmas song. (Wal-Mart employees are actually robots, and those lights indicate that customer credit cards have been declined. At least, that's been my Wal-Mart Christmas experience.) Placing 10th is a Victoria's Secret spot showing, according to Nielsen, "models wandering through a mansion in brass and ruffled skirts." Um, is it too late to change my list? —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on December 24, 2008 | Permalink
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