Category — Edgy Advertising

Freak out videos are big. People love to laugh at the misfortune of others, plus we can all relate with the one guy who just has too much one day and finally snaps. It could be one of us, if we were mentally unbalanced. Fortunately for society, most of us are at least partially balanced, so we keep that terrible rage bottled up deep inside, buried in our special place, where it can do no harm except for the gradual eating away of our soul and joy of living.

Yes, well, the videos: This unfortunate nutcase in the hotel lobby is a fictional character as you may have guessed from the website displayed at the end. That website, www.donthaveameltdown.com, is actually a front for Cisco’s Unified Communications Create Adaptive Workspaces service. You sold me, Cisco, hook it up in my living room. Wait, it costs how much?

Moving on, check out these past freak out viral video ads:
[Read more →]

Toyota’s new Australian ad campaign for their 2009 Corolla hatchback is freaking solid gold. It’s just this kind of bizarre stuff that gets people interested and talking about the product, especially in their target audience, youth. “We just really wanted to make something a younger audience could be intrigued by, and sell a different side of Corolla, other than how practical it is,” says Micah Walker, Creative Director, Mojo Sydney.

The kitten headed hero’s story doesn’t end with the commercial though, his story is fleshed-out in an animated graphic novel online called The Getaway. We learn his name is Max and he has a sidekick named Misty; and he gets into a series of adventures: 9 Lives and Counting, Landing on all Fours, and The Sound and the Furry… clever, right?
[Read more →]

This is advertiser Ogilvy Action’s public awareness campaign for MTV Switch.

Switch is MTV’s environmentalist arm. It tries to increase pubic awareness about environmental issues. I think Ogilvy Action’s low-cost/high-impact signs get the job done nicely. Strangely realistic-looking hands stick out of the water, holding up a sign with a simple question and the website address; and the whole assembly is attached to a remote controlled mini-submarine.

The theme of the campaign: we’re in deep.
[Read more →]

Heidi Klum Guitar Hero Commercial

Now this is a hot commerical. Kudos to Guitar Hero for putting this out. Heidi Klum, we bow at your feet.

[Read more →]

We’re big fans of Agent Provocateur here at AdSavvy. They’re hip, they have quality collections, and their advertising is top notch. Plus they always have the hottest models. We can’t get enough, and neither can consumers apparently. Even in economic tough times, AD is doing well.

The company is poised for some rapid expansion following last years’s $120 million dollar acquisition by the private equity firm, 3i Group. There are already 40 boutiques worldwide, including 8 in the US, and their planning on building even more: Boston, Chicago, Bahrain, Geneva, Puerto Barres, Madrid, St. Petersburg, and Germany to name a few. AD also had a fragrance launch party in London recently where Daisy Lowe showed off the goods on the catwalk.
Check out Daisy Lowe’s near-naked hotness; plus more recent sexy adverts:
[Read more →]

Let me refresh your memory:

Agent Provocateur constantly pushes the envelope when it comes to sexy advertising. This Kylie Minogue ad came out in December of 2001 and caused a huge hullabaloo. It was banned by UK TV networks (all 1 of them, the BBC), and it ended up only able to be shown in movie theaters.

Luckily it made it’s way to the internet and became one of the most viewed videos ever. Some estimates say this particular video has been viewed over 360 million times. Sex sells.

Finished watching? Ok, stand up…

Agent Provocateur is known for it’s very sexy ad campaigns. In the past they’ve had Kate Moss, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peaches Geldof, and recently, Daisy Lowe; all ultra-hotties in their own right. But supermodel Helena Christensen is the newest freshbody in the AP ads.

Agent Provocateur’s ads are always interesting and usually have some sort of story line or theme. This time is pirates; mind-bogglingly sexy pirates. The Danish model stars as a female pirate who’s seducing the captain of the ship she’s attempting to plunder. Their website also has an insanely sexy video starring Christensen and Alice Dellal with cryptic clues and a choose-your-own-adventure feel.

Check out the hotness:
[Read more →]

The Economist is one of my top five favorite magazines, I read it regularly. I also live in the Philadelphia area and eat pizza quite often. So I’m excited about The Economist’s new advertising plan: they connected with over 20 pizzerias in the Greater Philadelphia area, most of them near college campuses or dorms, and supplied them with Economist-branded pizza boxes. Each box has a pie chart that connects pizza consumption with global economics and politics. They encourage people to “Get A World View”.

This kind of ambient advertising is always interesting. Publipizz, a maker of advertising pizza boxes, estimates that a box of pizza is looked at by 3 people for at least 8 minutes and results in an 80% memory retention rate. Plus, boxes with advertising on them are less expensive for pizzerias, which makes them more likely to join in.
[Read more →]

Episode III: Raising the Stakes

The final episode of the Audi’s Arrested Development inspired advertising campaign, Meet the Beckers, has been released, and I’m excited.

In a world without new episodes of Arrested Development, it doesn’t take much to excite me. Even a commercial that’s vaguely similar to the greatest show of all time can give me a reason to get up in the morning.

Anyway, in the first episode, we meet the whole family. Jason is the regular guy, and the Audi driver of course. He’s bringing his girlfriend to meet his dysfunctional family for the first time. His aggressive brother Billy drives a BWM cuts off a Prius. His drunken, country club-visiting father (The Commander) drives a Mercedes. And his doormat brother (or brother-in-law, maybe) Lewis, drives a Lexus. It’s hilariously accurate and has lots of subtle jokes you may miss if you’re not paying attention.
[Read more →]

Barack Obama has become the first presidential candidate to advertise in a video game. The Obama campaign purchased ad space in the Xbox live versions of 18 different video games. The ads will run up until Nov. 3, and only be displayed in 10 major swing states.

The ads show that Obama is willing to embrace new technology, and that may be the most important aspect of this whole video game campaign.

Obama’s face and name will be on billboards and signs in “NBA Live ‘08″, “Burnout Paradise”, “Nascar 09″, “Need For Speed Carbon”, “Need For Speed Pro Street”, “NFL on Tour”, “NHL ‘09″, “Skate”, and “Guitar Hero”, among some others. And the 10 states that are targeted include some major battleground states: Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, and Colorado.
[Read more →]