"Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating."
John Cleese’s fantastic take on leading a creative lifestyle, with brilliant nuggets of wisdom from his lecture. Read about it here at Brainpickings.
May 2012
29 posts
Transforming unusual spaces
Building on their campaign of transforming unusual spaces (see “Containers” and “Pier”), Homebase and their shop Leo Burnett took Carlisle Station and created a wonderland of exciting colours, bright lights and inviting spaces, bewildering and delighting train passengers. As their website says, “We moved Homebase away from a ‘DIY shed’ to a brand that exists to transform spaces” which is a strategy far more relevant, long-lasting and inspirational that just promoting a DIY home store.
Their tagline “Make a house a home” works beautifully for this PR/marketing stunt. Props to Leo Burnett for harnessing the creative power and potential of making any space a ‘home’.
Get teased by Mike's Hard Lemonade
Remember that innovative Tippex Bear commercial that viewers to play out different endings? Mike’s Hard Lemonade takes a page out of that book with their new digital campaign to promote their line of alcoholic drinks. In a crowded drinks market, Mike’s knew they had to stand out, with a bold voice and bolder advertising that would keep their target audience engaged and let their brand’s personality shine through. They started a scavenger hunt with clues on Twitter…
…which lead to their Facebook where links to sneak previews of their ads were posted. Each ad starts off the same and are made to “shake things up” and keep us entertained with a variety of absurd endings. As the New York Times wrote, this is “commercial roulette”.
“The unconventional nature of the ads is supposed to underline that drinking a Mike’s instead of a beer is ‘an unconventional choice’. […] The theme of the campaign has the same intention: “Always different. Always refreshing.” “We wanted to reconnect with our original essence, our irreverent authenticity…”
Watch the three commercials after the cut »
What do a baboon, a foam party, a swimming dog, making out and deodorant all have in common?
They all have to do with Lynx Anarchy’s new advertising campaign, which combines solid digital work with funny, border-pushing concepts to market a new deodorant for women. You could say it’s the perfect marriage of strategy and creativity.
The latest stunt was pulled in Sydney, with the world’s first invisible ad installation on LCD screen that could only be seen with special glasses. People walking by were invited to pop on those special shades and indulge their inner voyeur as a peering through a house’s windows showed couples making out (it is a Lynx advert after all) in foam, a monkey and a dog swimming in a room full of water. Via Digital Buzz Blog. See the video and the print ads here »
tweets
Where it all begins
Gaudi’s iconic La Sagrada Familia in Barca—at the tip of your pencil. “Where it all begins.” Because even the most pain-stakingly crafted things start with an idea, an initial sketch, that moment of wild inspiration or an idea clicking into place that makes you grab a pencil and jot it down. Great print ads from Leo Burnett.
Unstoppable
To follow up on my recent post of P&G’s “The Best Job” spot, here is a stunning commercial for Canadian Paralympic sport, showing a runner with a prosthetic leg sprinting on a track. The camera follows his journey backwards in time through wheelchairs littered on the track, rehabilitation, surgery and his car accident while he runs ahead relentlessly. An astonishing way to go both backwards and forwards in time with an ad that tells a story. See the video after the cut.
Via Laughing Squid.
De-branded
Would you recognise these objects even if they were stripped of their branding and painted white? Most likely, yes.
“Fear paralyzes. Curiosity empowers. Be more interested than afraid.”
—~ Patricia Alexander
Effective and unclunky use of QR codes? You're kidding me.
A stroke of sheer marketing genius that has (1) an excellent and effective use of QR codes, (2) simple and clear strategy and (3) a real understanding of the unique South Korean context. It wouldn’t work in any other city or country, which Tesco/Homeplus was aware of.
Brandshady’s article is spot on:
There is something really human about this. It harnesses our enthusiasm for smartphones and marries it to two things (1) people generally like to be seen to be tech savvy and the act of shopping like this in public certainly demonstrates, quite publically that CHECK ME OUT – I AM A TECH SAVVY SHOPPER (2) we all need groceries right?
Just cuz I use solar power doesn't mean I'm a vegan hippie pickler living in a commune. It doesn't. Really.
In probably the best ad I’ve seen in a good while, Sunrun solar energy has just released a fantastic set of three spots that accomplish two things brilliantly:
(1) break down stereotypes of the kinds of people that use solar energy. (What do you mean you don’t want to save baby dolphins? Or promote organic agrarian practices? Or subsist on a flax seed and soy diet? Oh, you just want low energy costs. Is that it?)
(2) re-imagines the standard conventions of TV spots. When’s the last time characters in a video ad sparred and quibbled with the voice-overs?
What Sunrun’s fantastic copywriting has achieved are three ads that are surprisingly fresh, delightful and unobtrusive, taking storytelling to a new level by playing around with the conventions and static relationship of narrator to video. The affable comedy and easy way it turns around viewer’s expectations makes these spots incredibly lively and refreshingly free of what AdFreak calls “new-age, bleeding heart concerns”.
Side note, did anyone else get shivers at that guy’s husky tones saying “Voice Man, I’m trying to build something here”?
<iframe width=”560” height=”315” src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/nah_6W5JyJE” frameborder=”0” allowfullscreen></iframe>
Via AdFreak.
Just cuz I use solar power doesn't mean I'm a vegan hippie pickler living in a commune. It doesn't. Really.
In probably the best ad I’ve seen in a good while, Sunrun solar energy has just released a fantastic set of three spots that accomplish two things brilliantly:
(1) break down stereotypes of the kinds of people that use solar energy. (What do you mean you don’t want to save baby dolphins? Or promote organic agrarian practices? Or subsist on a flax seed and soy diet? Oh, you just want low energy costs. Is that it?)
(2) re-imagines the standard conventions of TV spots. When’s the last time characters in a video ad sparred and quibbled with the voice-overs?
What Sunrun’s fantastic copywriting has achieved are three ads that are surprisingly fresh, delightful and unobtrusive, taking storytelling to a new level by playing around with the conventions and static relationship of narrator to video. The affable comedy and easy way it turns around viewer’s expectations makes these spots incredibly lively and refreshingly free of what AdFreak calls “new-age, bleeding heart concerns”.
Side note, did anyone else get shivers at that guy’s husky tones saying “Voice Man, I’m trying to build something here”?
<iframe width=”560” height=”315” src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/nah_6W5JyJE” frameborder=”0” allowfullscreen></iframe>
Via AdFreak.
