Got tank?

Carlton Draught from Australia has come up with a novel spot. A spot that a lot of people would love to have pitched and sold to their beer client. It involves a tank. Those crazy Aussies.

Any publicity is good publicity - right?

Especially when you have UN General Assembly president, Dr. Ali A. Treki of Libya available for a photo op.

Here's the formula: 1 imitator of long deceased corporate founder and icon + 1 security guard from a country that hasn't achieved massive exposure to western brands = photo op inside the UN.

True story.

The style guide to end all style guides

Thank you internets for giving us this incredible and mighty tool. We can now write without fear.

Politcal Advertising - British Style

Britain. They gave us the Magna Carta, fish n' chips, humour and now they've given us some rather amusing and satirical political advertising over the recent expenses scandal.

Perhaps you heard about it. MP's were caught claiming expenses for such things as moat cleaning and floating duck houses. Moat cleaning. Hmmm.

Instead of marching, yelling, throwing things and generally getting all shouty and anarchistic, the good people across the sea did something better. They made fun of it to show how serious they are.

A series of videos have been produced and released this week taking the mickey out of the rather exotic expense claims British Members of Parliament have made. These expenses came to light after numerous media outlets campaigned to have details released earlier this year.

The videos are directed by John Lloyd (the man behind British comedy classics like Blackadder and Spitting Image) and they've been made to support the Open Up! campaign for Parliamentary Reform. Watch the videos, and if you're based in the UK, you can sign the petition calling for change. Funny how media can turn against you in the blink of an eye innit? Funnier still how youtube can completely and utterly captivate and educate while skewering you.

Buy our car. Or else.

Toyota has opened up an entirely new avenue of effective communication with their target demographic.

Sheer terror.

In a misguided and ill-advised effort to promote the Matrix model, Saatchi & Saatchi decided to embark on a campaign that was meant to mimic Punk'd in style and tone.

It didn't.

Instead it mimicked a lawsuit, filed by a consumer and recipient of some target marketing by Toyota that failed to generate the sought-after emotional response. In her attorney's words "She slept with a machete next to her bed and she slept with mace. She could barely sleep or eat normally."

Well done. Any publicity is good publicity right?

Is English no?

Bloody'ell! So, what do you do when you wan' some bees an 'oney but don't know what da machine is saying? Nuff said, yeah there Squire? I don't ken wot the geeza sorted.

A company in the UK has set up five ATM's that offer the option of English or Cockney to users who wish to compound a late night cash transaction with complete and total incomprehension.

Just gotta make sure no tea leaves get yer dosh and leave you looking a right muppet.

random acts of art

Berlin has long been an artistic haven, but a few years ago artists caught postering were treated the same as graffiti taggers. In order to avoid legal tangles and to make public art even more engaging and random, they came up with the Papergirl Street Art Project.

Brilliant and wonderful idea.

Advertising in Powerpoint

A Dutch coffee shop chain has come up with a novel way of promoting themselves to one of their target markets: students.

For each student who manages to sneak a supplied branded frame into their Powerpoint homework (ick Powerpoint homework, glad I'm out of school), they get a free coffee. Hopefully they get a passing grade too.

Take that Starbucks. Your topless mascot has nothing on this kind of strategy.

OH NO IT WENT VIRAL!

Want to meet attractive members of the opposite sex? Want to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies? Want to be so incredibly stylishly dressed that Anna Wintour will ask you for your secret?

You my friend need a patented "Three Wolf Moon T-shirt".

Without it, you're nothing. At least if the reviews on Amazon.com are to be believed. Don't ask the manufacturer though, they're referring to it as a "viral assault". Oh dear.

From the BBC News:

"Sales of the kitsch Three Wolf Moon T-shirt shot up 2,300% after a spate of ironic reviews went viral.

The first review gave the shirt five stars, saying it "Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women" but "cannot see wolves with arms crossed".

That prompted hundreds of others to post frivolous reviews, turning the page into an internet phenomenon.

"When I put this T-shirt on for the first time, my wife left me! Thank you, Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt," wrote one wag, while another said that "the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt gave me a +10 resistance to energy attacks, +8 Strength... and I have successfully solved 7 crimes in my city".

Amazon's senior manager of community content, Russell Dicker, said the T-shirt was currently the top selling item in their clothing store.

"The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt recently moved up 2,300% in sales rank," he said. "We are grateful that our reviewers are so passionate."

Publicity shy

However, the firm which actually makes the T-shirt appeared less than pleased at some of the comments.

"The Mountain is a wholesale company and does not sell shirts on Amazon, so this viral assault went under our radar until the shirt made it into the top 10 in the Amazon apparel section," they said in a posting on the Amazon site.

"We appreciate humour as much as the next company, but we don't approve of some of the remarks.

"Not everyone can start out at the top and not everyone from our neck of the woods lives in a trailer or cruises Walmart to hook up.""

Real Life Twitter

Graffitti - it's art no?

Beats the hell out of badly spraypainted tags any day.

It's art, it's free, it's everywhere.

Just do it yourself

"Last Saturday, ads-in-public-spaces activist Jordan Seiler spearheaded NYSAT, or New York Street Advertising Takeover, where teams of artists, videographers and activists replaced 120 unregistered billboard advertisements throughout the city with original art installations.

Here's a little background from cronicasbarbaras.com about the targeted billboards:

As the main organizer explained to the artists who choose to get involved, the agency that owns the 'attacked' billboards operates on an illegal basis. "NPA outdoor operates over 500 street level billboards in NYC ranging in size from about 4'x4' to 50'x12'. All of these advertising structures are illegal. I found this out by talking to the NYC Department of Buildings which has no permits for the NPA outdoor structures but has its hands full dealing with the rampant illegal billboard situation. I have also spoken directly with NPA outdoor employees who have told me that the NYPD will jail them from time to time at which point NPA lawyers bail them out and they are compensated 500 dollars for the nuisance of spending the night in jail".

There's a lot of coverage of the event available online, as well as pics and videos of the various installations. Here are a few good places to check out the results of the event. Some of the art is quite nice."

Well, you mess with the bull, you get the horns. And art. Delicious art.

JWT New York "Intern shirts"

JWT New York had a grueling 10-week summer internship for creatives. They were given daily projects and made to work long hours and weekends. To prepare them for the intense experience, they were given t-shirts with silkscreen-printed sweat stains and rips that resembled whip marks. "No interns were actualy harmed. Honest." Reminds me of first couple of years in advertising.

Diversification is crucial to surviving a recession

And letting people know how many ahem, varied services you offer is critical.

Best Business Card Ever. In fact, it's time to rethink mine.





In case you can’t read the image, it says:
USED CARS — LAND — WHISKEY — MANURE — NAILS
FLY SWATTERS — RACING FORMS — BONGOS

ENTERPRISES, Un-Ltd.
W. W. GREEN, President
Wars Fought Stud Service
Revolutions Started Tigers Tamed
Assassinations Plotted Bars Emptied
Governments Run Computers Verified
Uprisings Quelled Orgies Organized

Make your own anti-terror billboard

In the wake of some rather Orwellian and slightly panic-mongering posters released by the Metropolitan Police in Britain, some people have decided to have a bit of fun.

Instead of fear-based text turning everyone into a spy for the state, they've decided to mash up the posters and let you create your own.

So get to work and spread a little sunshine around.

Flutter: The New Twitter

As Twitter-mania reaches new levels, Slate V presents a mockumentary about a company that wants to take microblogging to the next level. Count me in!

When jokes come true

So, April 1st, 2009 - April Fools Day to some, including the fine people over at ThinkGeek. In the spirit of the day, they released the "TaunTaun Sleeping Bag", which will allow you and your kids to recreate that feel-good scene in Star Wars where one person cuts open a dead animal and shoves another person inside it. To save their life. Or so they claimed.

But I digress. The site got a lot of traffic, a looooot of traffic, and generated a lot of demand. So much so in fact that ThinkGeek is now going to try and make a real TaunTaun Sleeping Bag.

Just goes to show, people will actually buy almost anything.

Speaking of which, I have a mystery box for sale, contents are a mystery but can be yours for only $49.99 plus S/H.