Neverending Good Things

I absolutely fell in love with this flash site as soon as I saw it. As part of mobile service provider Orange UK's campaign for their new Speak Easy pay-as-you-go plan, the site Good Things Should Never End is a gorgeous interactive "never-ending" page that offers tons of little nuggets to click on and play with. It's really hard to explain.


The idea is you scroll down this rainbow and interact with the various characters you meet along the way, each offering a different activity. The site was created by a London-based company called Poke. One of the most interesting elements is the use of "share" links throughout the site.


Clicking on these links pops up a window with code that enables you to embed that particular element of the site into your blog, share it on your MySpace page or Facebook profile or post it to del.icio.us or StumbleUpon (with one notable omission: Digg). Behold:

More and more, marketers are becoming savvy to grassroots online marketing, particularly with the popularity of widgets taking off in recent months. They seem to be recognizing blogs and social networking sites as virtually free, far-reaching advertising vehicles - not that they didn't realize the potential before, but I feel like they're becoming significantly more creative in terms of how they tap in to that medium. Peak the bloggers' collective interest with a neat and innovative nugget and you could just make morning blogrounds™, reaching Jebus knows how many (surely lots!) of eyeballs.

P.S. I was too lazy to make it all the way to the end of the page (it's really long and takes forever). If anyone has taken the time to do so, please let us know if there's reward at the end!

Paint By Light

I saw an amazingly magical commercial on television a few months ago and was absolutely smitten by it. The animation was unlike anything I'd seen before, slightly imperfect like a flip book but also refreshing in its simplicity. Unfortunately when I finally sat down to blog about it I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the company! I searched everywhere but couldn't find it. So needless to say I was super happy to come across it again recently. The ad was for Sprint as part of their Sprint Ahead campaign. Have a look here:

According to Jamie Kivisto, one of the artists that worked on the project, "all the animation was done with flashlights...there's about 100 frames for every two seconds of footage." The commercial also features the song "Souvenirs" by Architecture In Helsinki (one of my favorite bands).

The stop-motion animation flashlight technique was also used in a couple of other commercials in the Spring Ahead campaign as well as the Sprint Ahead flash website. And if you're super interested in these commercials like I am, have a look at the behind the scenes video as well.

Addendum: Have a look at this Japanese site for more of the same. Via Taylor McKnight.

This is New York City

NYC & Company, New York City's official marketing and tourism agency (not to be confused with the New York State Tourism Department of "I [heart] NY" fame, dontcha know) has recently launched a new full scale advertising campaign in a effort to renew interest in the city I didn't really think interest was ever down) both domestically and internationally (the ads will run in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy and Spain as well as Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and San Antonio). Their goal is to "attract 50 million visitors annually by 2015."




The "This is New York City™"campaign designed by UK ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (Best. Name. Ever. I mean, that just screams Harry Potter.), includes print, outdoor, online and television ads. The ads are highly stylized and the TV spots mix live action and animation (reminiscent of the Yellow Submarine style in my opinion) and have a very enjoyable whimsical feel to them (reinforced by the Ella Fitzgerald soundtrack the the muppet cameo).

Here's the New York Times article covering the campaign. Also I've noticed that I've used far too many parentheses in this post (seven including this one, in fact).

Think Different

I stumbled across the the Wikipedia entry for Apple's late 90s Think Different ad campaign today and I thought I'd share it with you. The campaign was commissioned by Steve Jobs after his return to Apple in 1997 and was created by the ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.


The ads, print and television, never actually showed any Apple product but instead featured black and white images and footage of the following historically significant people:

• Albert Einstein
• Bob Dylan
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Richard Branson
• John Lennon
• R. Buckminster Fuller
• Thomas Edison
• Muhammad Ali
• Ted Turner
• Maria Callas
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Amelia Earhart
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Martha Graham
• Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog)
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Pablo Picasso

The television spots also featured the following text written by a TBWA\Chiat\Day copy writer:

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.

I feel like this commercial is a perfect example of how well advertising can reach a consumer. The black and white images, the quiet, evocative music, the footage of significant individuals and the simple and poignant voice-over (narrated by Richard Dreyfus) all work in tandem to move the viewer. Well, it worked for me at least. Gave me goosebumps.

Ad It Again

About a year ago a wrote a few posts (here, here and here) about a new breed of advertising that integrates and often plays off of its environment (which I now realize is called “outdoor ambient advertising - I'm a smart girl). I thought I’d revisit the idea after seeing a bunch of new ads on Amazing Illusions. Now it’s not that I particularly enjoy seeing ads covering everything but I just want to acknowledge that some of them are pretty clever, so don’t go getting all anti-consumerism on my ass, mmkay? Thanks.

Shopping bags with ads by Stop ‘n Grow.

Towels as a marketing tool for Axe Bodyspray.

Ads for Mondo Pasta on ships in Hamberg, Germany.

Nationwide Insurance x-treme! billboard (via Billboardom).

Not Your Average Philharmonic Orchestra Ad Campaign

Check out these wacky ads for Konzerthaus Dortmund, a philharmonic orchestra in Dortmund, Germany.

You don't really need any commentary here, do you?

Via I Believe in Advertising.

Would You Like Fries With Your Chips?

OK so looks like I’m a little late to the party on this one. Like, really late. Like, everyone’s-already-passed-out-and-the-sun-is-rising late but I still think this is very important information nonetheless. Almost timeless really. Our friends over at Frito-Lay (and by “friends” I mean I’ve never met them but I’m secretly hoping they’ll send me free chips) came up with a clever marketing campaign/contest called X-13D. Sometime in May 2007 mysterious looking bags of Doritos like this:

Were made available for public consumption (presumably on in the US only). The idea is that people had to name the flavor of the chip and enter their guess online to see if they won. Brilliant. Now that’s all fine and dandy but the real news here is the actual flavor. I’m not entirely convinced that you can handle it but I’m going to tell you anyway:

Cheeseburger! Doritos! Cheeseburger Doritos! This is an important moment in history, dear readers. If anyone out there has managed to get their grubby little fingers on these special chips, please do share your flavor experience with us. I have so many questions! Can you taste all the toppings? Ketchup? Mustard? Pickles? Beef? Lettuce? Sesame bun? Please tell us, in 250 – 300 words, how your life has changed since experiencing this unique flavor amalgamation.

Too far?

You Get the Point

The Japanese versions of the PC vs Mac commercials. Ha!

LEGO My Shadow

Some sweet LEGO ads for you on this fine Friday morning. Clean, simple, clever, brilliant. You're welcome.



Via Notcot.org.

What Will The Chickens Think?

According to this New York Times article CBS will start advertising their prime time line up on eggs. Warning: may contain lame egg puns.


Via Notcot.org.

The Million Dollar Building

From not the same people who brought you the Million Dollar Homepage comes the Million Dollar Building! Actually that's not what it's called. The building belongs to the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam and they've launched a project called Artvertising. Much like the Million Dollar Homepage, the Sandberg Institute is selling off chunks of its building's facade to advertisers in tiles of 29 x 35 cm at 19,99 euros a piece. Current advertisers already include Google, Apple, Nike, Ikea, Pepsi and a bunch of others. Not sure how much of this "artvertising" is actually art, but I know it's a whole lotta advertising.


Via The Cool Hunter.

Like Is The New Crack Cocaine

I'm pretty sure these posters are fake but they've been floating around the blogosphere today and either way, they're pretty funny. Something called Acadamy of Linguistic Awarness [sic] (no website) wants to warn you against the dangers of compulsively using the word "like." As Cathy and Paul from California have discovered, you could risk losing the respect of your peers, your opportunity to graduate for college or even your lover. Anyone know what the fine print says?



Via BoingBoing, The Presurfer and Miss Cellania.

The Ad Fad: Addendum Part II

Looks like this is going to be an on-going feature cause I keep coming across these post-worthy new forms of advertising. Further to this post and this follow-up post, advertising agency BBDO Toronto has created interactive (kind of) PepsiAccess subway posters. These ads invite users to unplug their headphones from whatever it is they're listening to and plug them directly into the jack in the ad where they will get to hear part of exclusive music tracks and other such promotional banter urging them to visit the PepsiAccess website. The ads are currently running on subway cars in Toronto and Vancouver. I haven't seen them yet but next time I ride the TTC I'll be sure to try it out.


Via Advertising/Design Goodness.

The Ad Fad: Addendum

As an addition to my recent post about the wave of clever advertising we've been seeing lately, I'd like to draw your attention to this Amnesty International campaign. The ads appear primarily on bus shelters and depict scenes of various human rights violations integrated into the background of the bus shelter itself. The slogan reads "Cela existe. Pas ici, mais maintenant" which means "This exists. Not here, but now."



Via Farpas & Bitaites.

The Ad Fad

I would like to address the rash of clever advertising we've been seeing lately. People are so used to billboards and ads on buses and in washrooms and everywhere else that they're starting not to notice anymore. But lately we've been seeing a new breed of advertisement that attempt to integrate and relate to their environment rather than being a static entity. And I have to say, if I have to be subjected to the whims of the advertising gods, then I at least enjoy being entertained in the process. Here are some of the more clever ads I've come across in my daily internet meanderings.

A campaign by for the Dutch job search site Jobs In Town. These ads also appear on the sides of coffee machines and photobooths.


Advertising agency DDB Canada created this campaign for Toronto Plastic Surgery which allowed people to try on a new nose with their coffee. Not sure how this would work if you're skin colour was different than the one on the cup. Or if you're a man. Or if you just didn't hold the cup the right way. Neat anyway though.


Manhole covers in the streets of New York city were put to good use by Saatchi & Saatchi New York when they used them as advertising space for Folgers. The steam was a nice touch, but I'm not sure what it smelled like.


Not sure what city this is in but the ad for Friskies bird seed was created by the Portugese branch of the Leo Burnett ad agency (so maybe Lisbon?). The top of the box is filled with bird food and those are some lucky pigeons. I wonder how often they fill it up.


Here are a couple more that I've already posted about but that I feel are relevant here. This one is for the UK strip club Stringfellows:


And this one is for 3M security glass:


Via Fosfor, The Cool Hunter, Gothamist and a bunch of others, I'm sure.

ETA: For more, see The Ad Fad: Addendum.