Supersized Copy

Here’s a cute, classic way to get people to actually read your copy. Even if they don’t read straight through the copy, they’re bound to skip around and pick up on one of the lines thanks to the smart formatting. Completely in line with McDonald’s existing strategy, this campaign shows the features of their products with clean and simple presentation.

The campaign works as a complete set, with each individual product changing the format of the ad slightly. My favorite is the chicken because they use the Styrofoam packaging that we’re used to as the background for the CV. We might have preconceived misconceptions about how their chicken is transported and delivered, but this relates it to the everyday fresh chicken that we know and love.

Seeing the positive in the negative

Here's an interesting, simply beautiful, and diverse campaign for IBM by Ogilvy. It's got a brilliant message that couldn't have been promoted any simpler. All of the ads are tied together by highlighting the verb in each headline, keeping the shapes big and bold, and juxtaposing two images together. The visuals are clean and witty, some more successfully presented than others:

My favorite is based on education and uses negative space perfectly.

 Others are a bit of a stretch for me; this one is downright creepy:

One last one worth mentioning is the brilliant placement of the hands in this ad promoting IBM technology in a Germain retail store. The headline is right there in the visual, but not too in-your-face.

Somehow, as inspiring as these were for me, I couldn't help but see that last one and think "In soviet Russia, tie picks you!". I guess these were meant for an older demographic, but I can't help but appreciate them!

WWF sends a deadly message

Too many non-profit organization ads play it cool, but don't leave a lingering message. It's a great promotional step to place a logo on shirts and accessories, but there is so much more potential for promoting awareness.

WWF has done a really great job combining slick design and viral marketing in their interactive campaign promoting the protection of the Siberian Tiger. Finally, a t-shirt with two purposes: to look great and send a message.

Shirts were created with a special tiger design. They were then placed in various shops around Moscow next to specially designed mirrors. When an individual stepped in front of the mirror, the image on the shirt was recognized, and triggered (no pun intended) footage that made the wearer look like they were being shot.

The technology was taken a step further with the online content, which provided the same augmented reality experience through the individual's webcam. Because of the online and in-store shirt distribution, over 200,000 people were affected by the campaign.

We're a narcissistic society. We are constantly looking at ourselves, and happy to show of a company logo if their product fits in our wardrobe - so why not appeal to that nature and hit us when we least expect it.

Timberlake's take on directing

Who's to say that someone who does great work in front of the camera can't take a step behind the lens and try their hand at advertising? Ok, so maybe some people should just stick to their original career.

Thankfully, when Justin Timberlake decided to try his hand at directing, he was actually quite good. He came up with a series of sexy ads for 901 silver tequila that all seem to fit together, while each offering something completely different.

There's something witty in the style of shooting where a quick glance by the speaker is translated flawlessly by a swift camera maneuver. The dialogue is intriguing and the overall style is punchy, yet sexy. The voiceover by Timberlake at the end is appropriate – his tone matches the rest of the footage really well.

His style is so concrete across all the ads, but each one said something different. I look forward to seeing more from him. 901 is actually a brand that he started, so it's nice to see something done by someone within a company that's actually fun to watch.

Here are the other two ads: one being scary sexy, and the other having a more traditional smolder.  

Friends in High Places

Excuse me while I gush for a minute about one of my favorite actresses: Christina Hendricks. She plays a powerful female office manager in the show Mad Men and I can't help but fall in love with the work she does outside of the show. She has recently signed on as the spokesperson for London Fog, which ties in perfectly to the brand's existing presence in Mad Men (straight from Season 3).

Past the gushing, on to the meat-and-potatos of this post:

I'm surprised that more brands haven't come forward seeking connections between their products and the hit show. London Fog has done a great job getting people like me to pay attention to their brand. You've got fans who aren't afraid to admit to re-watching season after season of the hit series, so even products shown in Season 1 could benefit from hiring Man Men actors and actresses. And anyone who's loyal to a show knows that there's a certain excitement that comes from seeing one of your favorite characters doing work elsewhere.

Mercedes-Benz did a spot using John Hamm (Don Draper on Mad Men) for voiceover and it worked great:

You get to know and love these characters in the show, for their faults and for their triumphs, so you instantly relate to the products that they sell. Here's hoping that these brands keep it up!

What's yours is mine.

Idea ownership has always been an interesting subject for me. We're producing exponentially increasing numbers of creative ideas each year and there's bound to be redundancy. So what happens when someone comes up with the same idea as you and sells it first? Worse yet, what happens when your idea gets ripped off before it can be trademarked and you don't see a dime for all your hard work?

Fast Design wrote a story recently about a Brooklyn artist whose work was seemingly ripped off by UPS and Ogilvy for their outdoor campaign. It's pretty beautiful execution, if it wasn't actually taken from the artist, Ryan Johnson. 

The new ads by Ogilvy are on the left, put up in numerous places in Jakarta (interestingly enough, where the artist grew up). Johnson's original work is on the right.

But what confuses me is: if they did steal the visuals here, why not change them up enough where you could still get the idea accross of a moving person? Why keep the identical shape and size of each panel of color, the same staggering pattern, and similar construction? The creative team could have easily appropriated the idea of blurring a subject in their installation, without discrediting their own creativity.

Plenty of other objects can serve as pixels in this ad, illustrated similarly by Lego:

I'm simply surprised at this point by the fact that the ads are still standing. I think it's reasonable that Ogilvy wants to stand by its creative team by defending their abilities, but I think it's up to UPS to retain their own integrity and pull the ads.