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Category — Experimental Ads

Jones’ Big Ass Truck Rental & Storage Facility Drunk Discount Sale

According to the Jones’ Big Ass Truck Rental & Storage Facility website, Toby Jones is an aspiring rapper turned “street pharmaceutical sales rep” turned warehouse owner. His current warehouse supposedly cost him 1 dollar, and he’ll store whatever needs storing. Anything from Firebirds to elephants. The thing is, it’s not for real.

I called the number a few times, and nobody ever answered. It has an away message saying it’s Jones’ Big Ass Truck Rental & Storage, but it’s a cell phone, and the mailbox was full. Plus the website directs viewers to this website, belonging to a sketch comedy group called Big Dog Eat Child. So it looks like Jones’ Bis Ass Truck Rental & Storage is a clever viral marketing campaign for a comedy troupe. Well done guys. Unfortunately for them, the Jones Storage commercial is the funniest video on the site. See for yourself:
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December 16, 2008   Comments Off

TiVo Debuts “Pause Menu” Ads During Fast-Forward And Pause

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One more reason to get a TV tuner card for your computer:

In the eternal arms race between advertisers and viewers, the DVR is the viewers nuclear weapon. Finally we have a way to completely bypass commercials. It doesn’t matter how clever or interesting or infectious the ads are, we just hit fast forward and don’t have to deal with them; or at least that’s the way it was, until now. There is no equilibrium in any arms race, and advertisers, who were immediately looking for some way around the DVR loophole and back into the brains of viewers as soon as the digital recording technology came out, have been offered a clever new way to display ads by TiVo.

The new “Pause Menu” feature from TiVo will insert single-line, targeted ads whenever a user pauses or fast forwards a program. Advertisers will be able to pick specific genres or keywords of program descriptions so they can reach the right audience. The ad will be on single line of text, and another line will link the viewer to TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search. Swivel Search lets viewers find info about the program and the any related content via the programming guide. TiVo is selling the new Pause Menu as an “upgrade“. Check out the official press release:
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December 10, 2008   Comments Off

Burger King’s ‘Whopper Virgins’ Ad Is Great

Burger King has finally kicked off it’s slighted twisted take on the classic taste test this weekend. If you haven’t yet seen the set of 15-second teaser ads leading up to the launch, the campaign is a taste test with participants who’ve basically never heard of a hamburger. It features various isolated peoples from around the world, hence “Whopper Virgins”, to participate in the “world’s purest taste test”. They asked Thai Hmong tribesmen, Transylvanian farmers, and some Inuit from Greenland to choose either the Whopper or the McDonald’s Big Mac.

This is the latest bit of marketing from BK’s agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky. CP+B is also responsible for previous ads like the motivational spoof Dr. Angus, the Whopper Freakout day where customers were told Burger King no longer sold Whoppers, and all the ads featuring the exceedingly bizarre King. This ad seems like the most ambitious to date though. “We wanted to see how the Whopper would perform in a world that didn’t have ad or marketing awareness or any sentimental attachments” says Russ Klein, president of BK’s global marketing. Of course, even before the main ads came out, tons of people were offended, as people often are. Read on:
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December 8, 2008   2 Comments

California Teacher Sells Advertising Space On Tests

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Calculus teacher Tom Farber is using the free market to help make up for the school district’s budget cuts – by putting paid advertising on his exams. The school district reduced Farber’s budget to $316, far less than the $500 he says he needs to prepare his students for Advanced Placement exams.

Farber’s pricing: ads on a semester final cost $30; chapter tests and quizes are only $20 and $10 respectively. So far the ads have raised $350, although most of the advertising so far has come from parents who put in good luck and other inspirational messages to the kids. Only about 1/3rd of the space has been sold to local businesses. One particularly clever ad was a local dentist’s “Brace Yourself for a Great Semester!”

But interesting question here is, why is Tom Farber forced to do this to get the money he needs? Public schools are, on average, twice as expensive as private schools, and yet, public schools are having funding shortages, what’s going on?
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December 5, 2008   Comments Off

The British Television Advertising Craft Award (BTACA) Winners

Best Animation & Best Direction & Best Model Making & Best Use of Recorded Music (Joint Winner)

Title: Play Doh
Product: Sony Bravia
Client: Sony
Nominee: Darren Walsh
Animation Production Company: Passion Pictures
Agency: Fallon

And the rest:
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December 2, 2008   Comments Off

Some Chicagoans Will Keep Warm and Fed Thanks To Kraft Foods This Holiday Season

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Kraft Foods Stove Top brand will be pumping warm air and delicious stuffing into some the chilly bus stations around Chicago this month. Out of the 50 bus shelters getting Stove Top print ads, ten lucky shelters will get specialized Stove Top ads with temporary heating units in the ceilings. The company also plans to hand out samples of it’s new Stove Top Quick Cups instant stuffing in the streets of the windy city.

The new ads read, “Cold, provided by winter. Warmth, provided by Stove Top.” Apparently, this is the first time heated bus shelters have been used for advertising in the US. Why don’t they pump delicious stuffing smell in with the heat? Well, we all remember what happened with the GOT MILK? cookie smell campaign. They pumped in the delicious smell of cookies into various bus shelters around San Fransisco hoping that the smell would get people craving a glass of milk, but instead of making commuters get all hungry for cookies and milk, the snooty SanFransiscans complained. Only in San Fransisco could people complain about the scent of freshly baked cookies.

Anyway, check out a list of all the heated locations and the locations of the free samples:
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December 2, 2008   Comments Off

Fake Freak Out Rage Ads Are All The Rage

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:
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November 14, 2008   Comments Off

Kitten-Headed Ninjas Drive Toyota Corollas

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?
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November 13, 2008   1 Comment

Global Warming In Amsterdam: We’re In It Deep

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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.
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November 11, 2008   Comments Off

Helena Christensen The Newest Agent Provocateur Girl

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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:
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November 7, 2008   1 Comment