Play like a big league groundskeeper

Major League Baseball has a very devoted core fan base. They buy the merch, watch the games in person or on TV, they visit stadiums just to say they've been there. And now they can feel the same grass underfoot when they hang out in their own backyard.

Scotts Miracle Gro is partnering with MLB to provide the same grass seed used at Fenway, Wrigley Field and more. It will be the same blend of seeds and fertilizers and will feature branding from the respective club and will be certified by the head groundkeeper from the that club's field.

Kinda brilliant. Shame the Jays use artificial turf. Mind you, I'm sure you could brand that stuff and sell it as mousepads or car mats or some such thing.

* Please note that this post was written without the express written consent of Major League Baseball and may be subject to blackouts in certain markets. Contact your local authorities for details. Oakes & Mowat are not responsible for facepalms or groans from the overuse of the phrase "Field of Dreams" and the like.

Get your freak on.

Here at Oakes & Mowat, we're getting ready for the new year and everything that comes with it. So, for your viewing pleasure, we bring you someone else's content. But it's okay, it's really fun content...

It's the 30 Freakiest Commercials of 2009, from adweek.com. Some you've already seen here, some you'll never be able to forget and some will just confuse you. Enjoy.

Going to the streets to go viral.

So. Gum advertising. Some have goats and dancing Germans. Others have talking pieces of gum with funny foreign accents. And then there's Stride. Instead of hiring livestock or Sean Connery or the Von Trapp family, they went to Chicago and hired Goons to help them get the word out.

The result is a whimsical, soft, and handmade 90 second piece that's already had over a million views on YouTube. Looks like it's working better than a goat...

keep it simple

you not so smart person.

Minimalism. It's not just for minimalists. It's also for marketing.

The pen. The sword. Who wins?

If you can't speak your mind, you aren't free. It's a universal right that extends to people, groups, countries, corporations and everything in between. As the old saying goes, I may disagree with what you're saying, but I'll defend your right to say it. Let's all take a moment to enjoy that freedom. It's freedom to advertise and freedom to disagree with that advertising. It's freedom to start up a site that slams WalMart or a bank, and it's freedom to tell the government that their ads aren't too convincing.

Now, for your viewing pleasure and as a reminder that not everyone enjoys freedoms that we exercise every day, here is a gallery of posters protesting the suppression of speech and the denial of that universal right.

Television spot for the printed word

It's brilliant. It's art. It's worth a watch.

The Best So Far

See if you agree with Adweek.

That is all.

Coca Cola's new touchy campaign

Coca Cola wanted to promote their new bottle design, meant to improve the consumer's grip. Apparently this is a big problem in Europe, after several highly publicized incidents of grip-failure related injuries swamped hospitals and emergency services...

Anyway, to get the attention of the grip-challenged public, they decided to promote them using some transit ads. Transit ads that reached out and touched the public.

It's an interesting idea but really only practical when there's little chance of bare skin coming into contact with it...

John Mayer "Heartbreak Warfare" - Official Augmented Reality Music Video

Studio B teamed with Adobe and John Mayer to create the worlds first Augmented Reality music video.

If you find them, count'em

Taking a census is never a simple matter. In fact it's a swamp of logistics, data and analysis. Of course getting people to participate is crucial, but what if they don't want to? For fear of 'government surveillance' in the big brother era amongst other reasons.

To combat low numbers and generate more responses, the U.S. Census Bureau has embarked on a media campaign that goes beyond what they've normally done. Way beyond. All the way to Super Bowl XLIV. But that's not all. They're also reaching out to immigrant communities and engaging them in ways that haven't been attempted in the past. Like telenovelas for the Latino spectrum of the population.

Come to Denmark for the culture, the sights, the one night stands.

Viral promotion is all the rage, and the fine folks over at the tourism office in Denmark decided to jump on the wagon with their own contribution. It's a fun little video that is all about one woman's quest to find the father of her baby, the offspring of a one night stand in Copenhagen. Ah Copenhagen...where all those lovely Danish women approach lonely tourist men, get them drunk and have their babies.

Of course, the entire thing has ignited all kinds of controversy and has generated multiple apologies and mea culpa's. Sounds like it worked.

See it here before it's too late.

I'm just holding it for a friend.

And I didn't inhale. Ever. At any time.

To promote the upcoming season of Weeds the drama/comedy that features all kinds of drug dealing hijinks and lowjinks, the promotional company went and built a blunt of Cheech & Chong proportions.

Using hemp, the ugly sibling of marijuana, the promoters sent out packages that probably raised a few eyes in the mailroom. Once unwrapped, voila, the payoff, some promo print for Weeds and some hemp to put in your office.

Odds are a few packages didn't make it to their intended recipient and a few people spent an evening taking self-portraits and coughing their lungs out...

some you've seen, some you'll like

Billboard Tuesday.

Enjoy

Just do it.

WWF ads. Not only are they brilliant. They're right.

"The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment. It is the world’s largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 90 countries, supporting around 1300 conservation and environmental projects around the world. With the mission” to halt and reverse the destruction of our environment”, WWF is trying hard to make this world a better place.

To WWF, what’s important is to get their message passed to the public, and to arise the public awareness of the importance of protecting the nature. That’s why they rely heavily on advertisement. What we have collected here are some of the most powerful and eye-catching ads of WWF. They are all creative and well executed, and the message is clear. What it takes a make a great ads? Maybe you can learn something from the ads below."

I'm not invisible

Every city has a homeless population, and every city tends to ignore it.

Raising awareness of the homeless is never a simple task, but a German group has devised a more direct approach that highlights a basic fact - homeless people become almost invisible in a city.

Here's how they did it.

I love a man in uniform

How do they recruit in Singapore? Well, they hire a smart agency and let them do their job.

And this is what happens.

Saatchi came up with a DM piece that went out to potential recruits, mainly graduating 'A' level students.

I wonder if McDonalds has thought of this?

it's a car, no wait, it's a font, no, it's both

A Belgian ad agency came up with a very novel way to promote the launch of the new Toyota iQ compact in Europe. They engaged typographers and a driver to film the car in motion and custom design a font around the captured images. Working together, the type geeks, the driver and other assorted creative types (probably wearing black) met up and essentially built a font out of skids, curves and parallel parking.

The most interesting campaign in the world.

Ahhh the Dos Equis spots featuring the Most Interesting Man in The World.

From the TV spots to the tagline - "Stay Thirsty My Friends" it' makes for a pleasant change from the usual beer adverts. And it has made a very utilitarian brew into something much more sophisticated without having to beat the viewer over the head.

He's even got a Facebook page.

And now, the numbers are in. And they're very, very good.

"He once had an awkward moment just to see how it feels."

Ads you probably shouldn't put in your portfolio

Unless it's to illustrate the kind of work you don't want to do...

one hell of an insight

An outdoor poster educating people about domestic violence. Pretty damn powerful.