Martin I Williams (Minneapolis)

For starters, I want to apologize for the blurry photo! I searched and searched for this advertisement online and this was the best I found. This print advertisement for Syngenta's Lumax herbicide, created by Minneapolis-based agency Martin I William, was targeted specifically to farmers, who have a reputation of being very tough and untrusting of advertising. Lumax was a new herbicide that needed to be sprayed only once a season, unlike other weed control products that farmers needed to spray three or more times. Martin I William's difficult task was to encourage trial use of Lumax among farmers in a specific Northern corn belt region, on a tight budget. The campaign ran in an agricultural publication called Farm Journal because Martin/Williams knew it would reach and influence Lumax's target audience. Martin I Williams defeated all odds and came up with a humerous ad that not only helped Lumax onto an impressive 2.5 million acres in its first year, but also won the agency "Best in Show" at the 8th Annual Creative Excellence in Business Advertising (CEBA) Awards. The copy of this print ad says "The beehive hairdo was "sprayed 32 times" while the cornfield was "sprayed once." It was very interesting for me to research an ad targeted to a very small/specific target group because I'm use to seeing advertisements with big target audiences such as Nike, Target, Honda, etc. I think the Martin I Williams agency did an excellent job with this print ad because it's simple, funny, and clearly makes its point. They were smart to place this ad directly into a Farming magazine because had they put it in a popular mainstream magazine they just would have wasted money.

Y&R (Chicago)

Gun-related violence is a serious issue and usually not something to be witty about, however, Young & Rubicam/Chicago does just that in its pro-bono ad campaign for the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. Gun violence is a huge problem in Chicago that seems to have no viable solution; this is where Y&R Chicago and ICHV try to step in and remind the public that something has to be done fast! Y&R Chicago attempts to draw attention to the issue by showing innocent, playful kids in the latest spring fashion....with an extra something special, bullet-proof vests. These advertisements have been placed in over 50 bus stop stations all though out the Chicago area.

This ad in particular features a young boy under the headline "Live Boy Walking,". The copy says "Turn the local park back into a playground. This vest fits snug, while leaving arms and hands free to raise in the air for that 'don't shoot I'm innocent' stance." The rest of the copy tells that more than 150 kids have been shot this year in Chicago and more than 25 of them were shot dead. This advertisement gives me mixed emotions because it's hard to see these shocking death tolls but at the same time it makes me happy because the problem is getting attention.

Special Blog: Socially Responsible/Socially Irresponsible Ads

SOCIALLY IRRESPONSIBLE ADS:

This new E*Trade babies commercial created by Grey may seem innocent at first view, however, there is one line of dialog in the TV spot that makes it socially irresponsible. The E*TRADE baby talks to his girlfriend about the importance of building a diversified portfolio with E*TRADE's online tools but she wonders what else he's been up to in his free time and why he hasn't called her back. She asks, "And that "milkaholic" Lindsey wasns't over?" Now, don't get me wrong, I know that Lindsey Lohan has made PLENTY of mistakes and has battled with drugs, partying, and alchohol, but she is still a human being. The girl gets enough flack and jabs from the tabloids, she doesn't need it now in a National commerical. This just seems like a low blow. As a society we should be trying to better the world and treat people the way we want to be treated...this ad is socially irresponsible because they take a stab at a young girl who is clearly troubled. This commercial must have cause her and her family a lot of shame, embarrassment, and pain.


This next commercial for Altoids Sours (created by Leo Burnett Chicago) is also socially irresponsible. This commercial could be offensive to both people who support same-sex relations and those who don't support same-sex relationships. Either way, the tv spot is just plain raunchy and appropriate. The man testing the Altoids sours asks the younger boy if he can taste the fruit (in the Altoids). After saying that he can not taste the fruit, the old creepy looking man gets up, wearing underwear outside of his pants with pieces of fruit dangling from it), and moves his hips slowly and seductively right next to the boy's face. He then proceeds to say "Can you taste the fruit now?" Gay people do not appreciate being called "fruits" and this is exactly what the meaning of this commercial is.


This next commercial for Sprite created by Lowe (HQ in London) is socially irresponsible, however, I don't think they intended for it to be. When the boy's favorite WWF wrestling star shows up, he is super excited to wrestle him. The socially irresponsible part is where the wrestler throws the young child around like a rag doll and smashes his head into all sorts of hard objects. These injuries would clearly be threatening if this was reality. Even though the clever and funny tag line "Don't count on Sprite to do anything but quench your thirst" perfectly fits the theme of the commercial, this ad could potentially promote violence and child abuse. Smaller children could also see this commercial, misunderstand the tag line, and try something dangerous after drinking the beverage.


SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE ADS:

In this K-Y Yours + Mine commerical, an embarrassed looking Midwestern couple talk about K-Y Yours + Mine lubrication. When they talk about the lubricants combining a black and white clip of a couple dancing is shown. When the commercial cuts back the couple they are shown smiling and mostly under the covers of their bed. K-Y is a company, just like any other company, and they need to find a way to advertise their products without young children picking up on what they're used for and also without being too sexual. I believe Mother (HQ in London) did an excellent job with this commerical because if a young child sees it, he/she will not understand that the product is used for sex. The commerical does not once even mention the word "sex". The couple sits in the bed (something mommy & daddy do at night time) and instead of showing any phiscal contact, the commerical cuts to a couple dancing while they're supposively using the product. Adults know what the message is, children do not...aka a socially responsible ad!



This next commercial for Trojan condoms, created by Trojan's New York based advertising agency of choice, Kaplan Thaler Group, has been banned from FOX & CBS because it's not "appropriate for television". However, I have to disagree. If condoms aren't advertised, they are not going to be used as much. By associating men who do not use condoms with pigs, women will realize that men worth dating will use condoms to ensure their safety and to prevent unwanted pregnancy. There is nothing sexual in this commerical, making it appropriate for showing on TV. I've seen Victoria's Secret commericals WAY worse than this!


This Truth ad created by Arnold & Crispin Porter + Bogusky is socially responsible because it is showing society the effects of smoking, rather than just telling everyone smoking kills. The spot is titled "You Don't Always Die From Tobacco" and it strikes a chord with the audience and makes them realize that even if you don't die from lung/esophigeal cancer, you may still be negatively effected by smoking. Smoking kills hundres of thousands of people a year. By showing ads like this that put fear/awareness into the minds of society, hopefully the tobacco death rate will decrease.

AMV/BBDO (London)

AMV/BBDO (HQ in London) has recently launched a new 70 second cinema ad for the magazine The Economist called ‘Red Wires’. It was created by Sonny Adorjan and Milo Campbell and directed by Tom Carty. The purpose of this ad is to mark the change in both the strategic and creative direction from white-out-of-red, AMV’s long-running and multi award-winning poster campaign. The ad shows a wire walker jumping between different red wires across the city and ends with the line 'Let your mind wander'. Each wire supposedly represents a different thought which has been inspired from reading The Economist. Even more interestingly, his journey is a metaphor for the pleasure of interconnecting different ideas. I love this advertisement because just like The Economist, it is creative, mind-teasing, and intelligent. Just because The Economist is changing its campaign, does not mean The Economist is changing its core values or the intellectually stimulating material inside the pages.

Venables, Bell & Partners (San Francisco)

I don't care WHAT you were doing during the commercials at the Super Bowl...there is no valid excuse to have missed San Francisco based ad agency Venables, Bell & Partners' Super Bowl Commercial for Audi. The commercial called "Green Car" aired in the 4th quarter of Super Bowl XLIV and was the second most viewed commercial during the Super Bowl with 115.6 MM viewers making it the second most watched commercial in U.S. HISTORY. Audi rose to the top and beat out all the other car companies competing for attention during the game and ranked 6th in the USA Today Ad Meter and 1st in the Wall Street Journal poll. Not only were people floored by this commercial DURING the Super Bowl, they continued to be amazed by it afterwards. From this commercial, Audi gained almost 3 billion media impressions, including coverage of the spots on The Today Show, CNBC, andThe CBS Early Show. This commercial is both hilarious AND socially responsible because it is promoting being green by showing us all the things we shouldn't be doing (i.e. putting out hot tub to 105 degrees, using plastic water bottles, etc.). Audi/Venables, Bell & Partners poke fun at all the non-environmentally friendly things we do on a daily basis and shows us one thing was CAN do right...and that's drive an Audi!

Special Blog: Coming together to make something special

For this assigned blog, I was asked to find 3 spots where lots of things come together to make something special. I believe that the 3 spots I have chosen below encompass exactly that.

The first commerical is one for Sony Bravia created by Fallon London and is filled with hundreds of multi-colored bunnies bouncing around New York. The play-doh rabbits hop to a central point where they turn into an enormous purple wave. The wave then turns into a sea before a whale's tail emerges, which then turns into the biggest red rabbit in the history of the world!

The second commercial that I chose is called "Feel the bubbles" and was created by JWT advertising (HQ in NYC) for their famous client, Nestle and its newest chocolaty concoction of a crunch bar called "Aero". The commercial shows pro skater Bob Burnquist skating a course with thousands of chocolate balloons, meant to resemble chocolate chips. The chocolate balloons form a "bowl" and other obstacles for the skater to skate on and in.

The third commercial that I chose, titled "Sea of skin", was created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), New York for Vaseline. The commercial celebrates human skin by using choreographed naked human bodies of all different races. The Sea of Skin spot begins with landscapes alongside close-ups of human skin. We’re finally introduced to people curled up on the floors of boats....the camera zooms out and the people floating in boats in the giant river begin to take on the form of cells in the blood stream. The masses of actors throw their hands in the air and cross their arms to symbolize them, as the cells, protecting skin from harmful substances.

22squared (Tampa)

The long, tiring struggle between orange growers in Florida and Brazil has opened on its largest front yet... the battle between the top three American orange juice sellers for U.S. market share. Florida's Natural Growers, the Lake Wales juice processor, has initiated the new front with a brand new, kick @$ advertising campaign created by 22squared Tampa (HQ in Atlanta). The purpose of these new ads is to capture a bigger market share by showboating that its brand of not-from-concentrate orange juice comes completely from Florida fruit while other brands, such as Tropicana and Minute Maid mix Florida and Brazilian orange juice. Since consumers often worry about the safety of imported products, this campaign takes all those worries away. They're not saying that their company is any better or worse, just simply different. I absolutely love this commercial because it completely captures the idea of "freshness". When the shopping mother sticks her hand through the bushes and reaches into the luscious green orange tree field you can almost taste the juicy oranges in your mouth. It makes you believe that the orange juice is prepared and then shipped IMMEDIATELY at it's freshest state and put on the shelves. Also, in a time where terrorism is heavy in America, it's wonderful to be able to support AMERICAN brands and not rely on other countries for our products.

Secret Weapon Marketing (Santa Monica, CA)

In 1993, a food poisoning outbreak that killed four people traced back to a Jack in the Box fast food restaurant in Seattle, Washington. Jack in the Box's business came to a screeching halt and the company almost went bankrupt due to all the unrelenting bad press. Jack in the Box decided to bring out its secret weapon (literally) and hired Santa Monica based Secret Weapon Marketing to come up with a solution to get them back on their feet. In 1995, the Jack in the Box campaign begain and has been uninterrupted ever since. Sales responded immediately to the campaign and revenue continues to increase. Today, Jack in the Box has regained their loyal brand following and is the fifth largest national burger chain. The Jack in the Box campaign "Sirloin vs Angus" recently won a Gold Effie in the Fast Food/Casual Dining/Restaurants category. This tv spot below, part of the "Sirloin vs Angus" campaign, highlights the quality of Jack in the Box's Sirloin Burger by using humor and a play on words to differentiate it from several competitors who offer Angus burgers. The commerical throws in a few jokes such as when Jack says "For those of you that are not from Texas...that's the Sirloin area" which makes every Texan and every non-texan for that matter giggle. The most effictive/funniest part of the commerical however is when one of the employees says to Jack, "Our competitors serve Angus burgers...can you point to the Angus" and Jack stares at the butt of the cow diagram and says "I'd rather not." By associating Angus with Anus....WHO in there right mind would go to a competing burger restaurant and order an Angus burger? Jack in the Box's sirloin burgers 100% defeats Angus burgers as a result of this TV spot.

Wongdoody (Seattle)

Seattle-based indie agency Wongdoody was officially named the AOR of Quiznos early this year. Wongdoody has already launched two national 15-second spots this month to promote Quiznos' "Choose 2" menu. The spot below, titled "Shut up" is hilarious, short, and right to the point. This ad goes to show you that a commercial does not have to be LONG in order for it to be effective. The commercial only has 3 main lines of dialog between the customer and the sandwich machine...."How much was all that food?", "five dollars", & "shut the f*** up!". Normally it's risky to put the "F word" into a commercial, however, the way they they inserted it into this TV spot just makes you laugh because it's so unexpected and it completely reminds the viewer of something a person would say if they found out how cheap the prices were for such good food. Despite the vulgar language, the commercial is not vulgar at all...it's 100% comedy.

La Comunidad (Buenos Aires)

This TV spot for MTV, created by the agency La Comunidad (HQ in Miami and Buenos Aires), completely crosses the line . Breast feeding is something special that a mother and baby share and it provides the baby with the best nutrition. La Comunidad makes this commercial look like the baby is being sexual with its mother...which is COMPLETELY inappropriate. The baby reaches out and grabs his mother's other breast and he continuously licks her nipple while looking her in the eyes. The music playing in the background is even very swanky & sexual....something that would be played in a romance scene of a movie. Surprisingly, this commercial has somehow won an award. In 2007, the MTV Latin America spot "Bebe" won the TV Grand Prix.

Mother (New York)

For the holiday season, Mother New York turned Times Square into a collage of holiday greetings interpreting “12 Days of Christmas" with a New York twist to showcase Target's love for NYC. As you can see from the ads below, Mother found creative ways to incorporate the NYC lifestyle into the famous Christmas story.

The target story goes as followed: On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me...

• twelve drummers drumming
• eleven pipers piping (an oil fin heater)
• ten lords a-leaping (men in suits on stairs)
• nine ladies dancing
• eight maids a-milking (meter maids)
• seven swans a-swimming (ice skaters)
• six geese a-laying (parents with prams)
• five golden rings (bagels)
• four calling birds (hotel porters calling taxis)
• three French hens (french horn players)
• two turtle doves (pigeons on a Don’t Walk sign)
• and a partridge in a pear tree!

This outdoor advertising is very effective because thousands of people pass through Times Square a day and are going to see the ads. People are then going to associate Christmas WITH Target, therefore causing them to shop there for their holiday gifts and winter apparel.

72 and Sunny (Los Angeles)

This new commercial, created by LA headquartered ad agency 72andsunny for Nike+, creates a battle of the sexes to see who can accumulate more miles. Starting on March 13, 2009 and ending April 20, 2009 the world's largest running club, www.nikeplus.com, will add up all the miles of men and women who join an official Men vs. Women online running challenge using the Nike+ system. Nike+ running shoes transmit data wirelessly to an iPod nano, an iPod touch or Nike+ SportBand. Then, information about time, distance, pace and calories burned during a run is stored easily on www.nikeplus.com. This makes it easy for runners to stay motivated because they can set their own goals, challenge others to virtual races, and connect with friends/fellow runners. Men vs. Women is currently the most popular challenge on nikeplus.com. I love this commercial because it is empowering to both men and women...it is not bashing men or women by saying that one sex is more athletic than the other...it's simply challenging them to find out fair and square who's the better runner in a fun and friendly way. The men and women play pranks on each other along the way which gives the the commercial a very playful vibe which in turn makes exercising seem fun! By showing Eva Longoria and her MBA star husband, it gives the commercial even more effectiveness because they're both in incredible shape and people will want to do what they do to look like them.

Rethink (Vancouver)

When you think of advertising, you often think of a print ad in a magazine, direct mail, or a TV commercial and we often forget that there are SOOO many different ways to advertise, such as this ad for Coast Capital Savings that was named by Financial Brand magazine one of the 15 best guerrilla promotions in banking. The giant 8’ x 10’ Thank You card, created by Rethink Communications (HQ in Vancouver), was posted outside Vancouver’s Waterfront Station, giving Canadians a chance to write their personal thank you messages to the big banks. The card was part of Rethink’s ongoing campaign for Coast Capital Savings that criticizes Canada’s big banks for the fees they charge. Many people view advertisements as a bother and a burden while they're trying to watch television or listen to their favorite station, however, ads like this make advertising fun and interactive...which in turn makes it EFFECTIVE.

Taxi (New York)

Taxi's commercials for Blue Shield of California began in 2006 and are still running today. The commercials use disembodied heads of actors against a white cyclorama, which shows images of customers telling tales of poor treatment. While Taxi's headquarters in Montreal, Canada, Taxi New York was responsible for these ads. As an extension to the television campaign, Taxi New York launched and experimented with a guerrilla-marketing idea and put outdoor booths, known as "chat boxes", in 4 different cities that allowed anyone to stick their heads in a hole and tell their personal stories/experiences of health insurance mismanagement. People who shared their stories could then go to the website and view their own Blue Shield commercial and send it to friends. This campaign, both the television & guerrilla-marketing campaign is very effective because it really makes you feel that Blue Shield has your back and understands the problems that people face everyday with insurance companies. Blue Shield realizes that bad things happen at inconvenient times....and they're here to help! In this hilarious commercial a 46 year old man loses a tooth... but since Blue Shield includes a dental plan he'll be just fine and won't have to wait around for the tooth fairy.

Doner (Detroit)

On March 30, 2009, The UPS Store, the world's largest franchise of retail shipping, postal and business service centers, launched an innovative advertising campaign, created by Doner (HQ in Detroit). The campaign uses CGI to bring to life a fantasy world made completely of cardboard. The statement, "We do more than shipping," is used throughout the campaign which includes: television, radio, print, online and local store marketing. Through research, it was learned that many people think The UPS Store is only used for one thing...shipping, of course! In order to change people's minds, this campaign focuses on the plethora of business services that The UPS Store offers its customers. By using cardboard (the thing that The UPS Store is known for), Doner created a brand new visual style to make their point: ‘We do a lot more than shipping.'" I love this print ad in particular because it shows in a creative way that they will do everything they can to package your item safely as well as send it. Before seeing this advertisement, I never realized that The UPS Store would actually properly package the item you're sending....this ad gives me faith and trust in The UPS Store to not only send my package, but also give it the protection it needs to make it to point B safely. It was a great idea for them to create this castle only using cardboard because it creates the image/idea that anything can be protected with just the use of cardboard....and that is exactly what The UPS store uses.

180 (Amsterdam)

The Adidas Jose + 10 commercial, created by 180 Amsterdam, was not surprisingly voted as the best commercial for the World Cup in 2006. One year later in 2007, this commercial won a Gold Effie! The commercial stars famous soccer players: Zidane, Beckham, Beckenbauer, Platini, Cisse, Kaka, Defoe, Kahn, Lampard, Klose and two boys; Jose and Pedro. Because this commercial is in spanish (and I just happen to be fluent in Spanish) I am going to explain exactly what is going on for those of you who don't speak spanish. This commercial shows how José and Pedro, two little Spanish-speaking kids, get to choose their own team because they are the captains. Instead of picking kids from their local neighborhood, Pedro and José get to pick their dream team consisting of international football stars from the past and present. Their impossible fantasy quickly turns into reality and José and Pedro’s teams are actually lining up. José and Pedro have picked their +10 and are preparing to play the biggest game of their lives! I believe that this commercial became SO popular, effective, famous because in Spain, and European countries in general, soccer is not just a sport, it's a culture. This TV spot lets us in on the big dreams of José & Pedro that one day they will play with their idols and we see their dreams come true....This is a very uplifting and inspiring commercial and this is why people responded so positively to it.

Team One Advertising (Los Angeles)

Normally I do not usually blog about TV ads that are as old as I am (21) because I like to talk about current advertisements, however, this 1989 advertisement "Balance" for the Lexus LS 400, is an exception. This commercial, created by Team One (HQ in LA), was the first commercial to introduce the luxury car, Lexus, to television audiences. The ad was designed to strictly promote the engineering of the Lexus sedan. The advertisement shows the Lexus LS 400 on rollers with a set of champagne glasses stacked on its hood. The engine was then set to top speeds of over 145 mph. and amazingly didn't produce any vibrations and none of the champagne glasses spilled, not even one drop of champagne. This commercial has caused other car companies such as Nissan and BMW to emulate what Lexus did and mention the champagne glasses test in their ads. Ads that scientifically demonstrate and prove the quality of a product are always more effective....people have to see things to believe them!

Richards Group (Dallas)

The Dallas-based advertising giant, known for its hilarious Fruit of the Loom grape and apple guys, outshines everyone in the workplace in Dallas-Fort Worth. The Richards Group is now the largest independent branding agency in the nation, with 615 employees and annual revenue of $167 million! Below you can see for yourself how the clever Fruit of the Loom commercials make the Richards Group shine. In 2005, the Richards Group created a song entitled "You Can't Over Love Your Underwear" on the "3-Pak Records" album "Ripe for the Pickin'" that spoofed country music videos with the following lyrics (sung by Collin Raye):

Daddy wears his tee shirt in the cold Kentucky rain
While a boy in pure white briefs looks out
The foggy window pane
And even though his hamster died
He finds comfort, this I swear

'Cause you can't over-love your underwear
'Cause comfort ain't just found in teddy bears
There are no labels hanging anywhere
No you can't ever over-love, over-love, your underwear.

The Richards Group was genius. Because underwear is always a funny, semi-embarassing subject to discuss, they created an incredibly catchy song and music video that makes you laugh until it hurts. This commercial has been stuck in my head for years, long before I was in college actually studying advertising!

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (London)

In 2008, British Airways ran ads in the British press that used photos that were taken the previous day at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. The airline got a lot of flack and criticism earlier in the year because the terminal was plagued with delays and bugs when it first opened. The idea of this ad campaign, created by BBH London, is to show how confident the airline is that T5 is now operating smoothly. A photographer was hired by BBH and went to the terminal at 6:30 AM to look for passengers. At 1 PM a team assembled at the agency in London selected 4 of the best pictures and emailed them to British Airways in order for them to select one for the advertisement. The ad was completely finished by 5:30 PM was sent to U.K. newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, Independent and Evening Standard. A 30-second radio spot was even cut and sent to radio stations by 4:30 p.m.

Even though I think that this advertisement is an excellent idea, if something happened to go wrong at T5 and delays occurred, the ads would have to show that. I feel that these ads won't be very effective because BBH is not going to choose a picture that shows a negative situation...they are going to pick the very BEST picture and use that for the advertisement. If anyone has had a bad experience that day in the airport in T5, they are going to lose trust/respect for British Airways AND advertising in general.

Cramer-Krasselt (Chicago)

Cramer-Krasselt recently beat out fellow Chicago-based agencies TimeZoneOne and Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnet for the account for the footwear manufacturer, Crocs. Cramer-Krasselt's Chicago office will handle brand strategy, creative, interactive, online, media planning and buying, as well as PR for Crocs. The CEO of Cramer-Krasselt said that its aim for the new campaign will be to give existing customers other reasons for expanding their Crocs ownership and also to educate new people who really don't know much about Crocs as well.

When Crocs first surfaced, I thought they were the ugliest shoes in the world. After watching this Crocs commercial, "Feel the love", I was surprisingly won over by them. Not only have they improved the look of the shoes in this commercial, they also show how incredibly comfortable they are! The shoes in this commercial are made to look like little pets that are there to comfort you when you get home from a long, stressful days at work. I went from viewing Crocs as hideous to cute in the time length of this commercial. I think that Cramer-Krasselt achieved its objective to give existing customers other reasons for expanding their Crocs ownership and also to educate new people who really don't know much about Crocs. I didn't know much about Crocs before this, but now I realize that they are a luxury (even though they aren't the most fashionable shoes) because they make your feel feel great. A nice change from 5 inch heels!

Dentsu (New York)

Canon lead the digital camera market for almost 10 years. With increasing competition from rival, Sony, a campaign highlighting just product specs and features would simply not be enough to differentiate Canon from its competitors. Canon needed to find a way to get consumers to reconnect with Canon on an emotional level. Canon hired Dentsu America/New York to do EXACTLY that. The Dentsu HQ is in Tokyo but it was obviously easier to use the American based Dentsu. They chose the beautiful tennis superstar Maria Sharapova to represent the Canon PowerShot brand because she's bold, stylish and at "the top of her game". The campaign showed Maria taking pictures of her spunky dog, Dolce, in everyday situations. The message resonated well with consumers because they can easily see themselves and their families in the advertising. The campaign was used in TV, print, online, out-of-home, promotions and events. Having a celebrity endorser can sometimes be risky, however, with a beautiful, talented, and criminal-record free star like Maria, choosing her was definitely a smart and safe move! Consumers will now associate this camera with being cool, fun, and the best of the best!

Weiden + Kennedy (Portland)

Wieden & Kennedy Portland took home an Emmy from the Creative Arts Emmy Awards Celebration in 2009 for its Coca-Cola spot titled "Heist". The TV spot shows an animated group of bugs marching to the mischievous tune of Peter and the Wolf stealing a sleeping man's coke. This commercial is part of the "Open Happiness" campaign and wowed viewers during the last Super Bowl. This TV spot creatively resembled a picnic scene from many of my childhood storybooks/movies where ants would march in to steal the tasty picnic food. Instead of just using ants, W+K used a variety of funny looking insects and instead of tasty pie they used sweet sweet Coca-Cola. This pleasant-to-watch ad keeps you interested the entire time and wanting to see what happens in the end. The bugs even use their unique physical qualities as creative ways to transport and open the Coca-Cola bottle. This ad was fun to watch AND socially responsible....Coca- Cola could have easily took the easy way out and used sex appeal to sell their product, but instead the created an innocent and unique commercial for the whole family to enjoy.

Kirshenbaum Bond (New York)

This new commercial for BMW called "Practice makes perfect" is from the campaign "Joy Of BMW". Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, New York, USA was the advertising agency that was responsible for the creation of this spot. This ad shows the excitement and adventure some BMW drivers feel from being an owner of this amazing car. The BMW owners literally try to find ways to literally jump into their cars because according to the tag line, "Joy Never Misses". The creative director for this commercial was John Boiler, who actually spent 11 years working for Wieden + Kennedy and was a co-founder of Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam. With such an experienced man in the picture as the CD, you would think that a commercial for luxury car company BMW would have been a little better. I found the tag line "Joy never misses" to be quite confusing...is it trying to say that if you buy a BMW you can jump through it easier than if you own a Honda? Also, the TV spot does not make the car look glamourous and luxurious; this ad makes BMW seems cheap and for recreational use, rather than spotlighting its unbelievable engineering and beauty.

Cliff Freeman & Partners (New York)

The demise of Cliff Freeman & Partners, once a creative hotbed located in NYC, is such a shame. Even though there were not many clients and employees left at the company, it was once a very influential agency. Cliff Freeman & Partners, famous for creating Almond Joy's slogan "Sometimes you feel like a nut", and Wendy's "Where's the beef?" closed its doors in November of 2009. The commercial I am going to show below is from one of Cliff Freeman & Partner's main clients, Baskin Robbins. This TV spot plays up the chain's point of differentiation--its variety of flavors. The ad shows kids bombarding a plain ice cream truck with colorful explosions and utilizes the tag line "Don't be so vanilla." Research was conducted and showed that consumers often saw soft ice cream and hard ice cream as separate eating occasions. This commercial was very effective because it showed that Baskin has 31 one ways to do soft serve as well as hard ice cream. Why go to another ice cream chain when you can get BOTH soft serve and hard ice cream at Baskin Robbins?

Crispin Porter + Bogusky (Boulder)

In 2009, Burger King and Crispin Porter Bogusky (HQ in Miami) were awarded the Grand Effie Award for the “Whopper Freakout” campaign at the 41st annual Effie Gala. With the 50th anniversary of the Whopper approaching, Burger King decided to conduct a social experiment and remove the Whopper from the menu completely. For the first part of the experiment, they used the deprivation strategy to see how people would react if America's most beloved burger was banned from the menu without warning. The second part of the experiment consisted of giving customers competitors' burgers. Burger King launched a series of TV spots to drive traffic to ‘Whopperfreakout.com’ where people could view a full-length 8-minute documentary on the experiment. This campaign skyrocketed Whopper's quarterly sales...they increased by double-digits! I absolutely love this campaign because its very creative and unique. You don't see many commercials that utilize the deprivation strategy and by doing so, you can physically see how good the Whopper must be if customers freak out if they are deprived of them.

VitroRobertson (San Diego)

In December, 2007, San Diego-based ad agency Vitro-Robertson LLC put a big divot in ad giant Universal McCann's client roster when it was hired to handle the $80 million account for IHOP Corp. Tom Sullivan, president of VitroRobertson, apparently isn't one to brag but he said one of the things that will make it easy to launch the campaign is that publicly-traded IHOP, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IHP, liked what VitroRobertson brought to the table during their pitch to IHOP. Robertson said that a great deal of what they used in the pitch will be used in the ads. One of the major aims of the campaign was to increase IHOP's different "day parts", advertising both lunch and dinner. This commercial achieves just this because it stresses that breakfast is served ALL day AND that they also offer dinner entries.

McKinney (Durham, NC)

Nationwide Insurance, one of TM Advertising's former biggest clients, has recently named Durham, NC-based McKinney as its new advertising agency. This change has left many people completely confused because TM did EXCELLENT work for Nationwide. Below is a new commercial for Nationwide Insurance created by McKinney....it will definitely make you question why Nationwide Insurance switched to an agency that created this TV spot (McKinney)......

.....from an agency (TM Advertising) that created this famous super bowl commercial "Rollin VIP"

featuring Kevin Federline.

Euro RSCG (Singapore)

This cheeky print campaign for Nikon, created by Euro RSCG Singapore recently picked up a win at the Cresta Awards. According to the Cresta Awards website, "To win a Cresta means you’re hot, because Cresta stands on its promise of adhering to the highest standards of creative excellence and it delivers the reputation and value that top-level creatives seek. Cresta’s name is becoming synonymous with “achievement” among the worldwide marketing communications industry". The campaign promotes the Nikon Coolpix S60 Camera and apparently has one of the bests face-recognition-technologies…as you can see. This print ad is absolutely awful because it is basically child pornography. Showing two young girls in sexually promiscuous positions is both unethical and to some degree illegal....I'm very surprised that this ad was not immediately banned.

Arnold Worldwide (Boston)

2010 marks the ten-year anniversary of the country's most successful youth smoking prevention campaign--Truth. In the past 10 years, the Truth campaign by Arnold Worldwide (headquartered in Boston, MA) has succeeded in keeping hundreds of thousands of teens from smoking , saving them from years of addiction and tobacco related illnesses. These shocking and sometimes disturbing TV spots are far from pleasant, but they do show the reality of the dangers associated with tobacco use. In this spot, you can see how these ads turn teens away from smoking....instead of simply just saying "don't smoke" the ad uses body bags to symbolize all the deaths that tobacco causes. Seeing mountains of body bags is way more effective than simply just showing a percentage.

Leo Burnett (Chicago)

This is the latest ad campaign lunched by Leo Burnett Chicago for Altoids breath mints. The advertisement campaign revolves around the different explicit expressions people make when eating an Altoid. The Altoids "Initiation" campaign ("Hairy Chest," "Oh, the Shame" and "First Time") has won Bronze at the ANDYs, four Gold at the Addys, Merit at the Art Directors Club of New York and four meri recognitions at the One Show. In total, the Altoids brand won six Clios at this year's festival. I'm not quite sure that I like this campaign for two different reasons. First of all, the expressions that the kids are making in the ads are NOT that pleasant. Their expressions make Altoids look like they have a painfully awful taste. Secondly, these ads are sexually charged.....they all have a double meaning. I feel like kids won't respond well to this ad campaign because these are all situations you hope to never find yourself in.....and mothers won't support it either because they won't want to support a brand who's ad has sexual content.

Kaplan Thaler Group (New York)

This commercial, created by Kaplan Thaler Group (headquartered in New York) for Dawn soap in my opinion is a perfect example of a company that promotes social responsibility. When the viewer sees this commerical, he/she learns that the best thing about this product is that it is used to wash and help save animals that are caught in oil spills. Something so thick and gooey as oil can be defeated by Dawn soap without even slightly harming the delicate little feathers of the duckling. Not only is Dawn promoting its soap, it is promotiong animal safety and stressing the importance of being enviornmentally friendly. Sometimes animal cruelty commericals can come off as corny and overly dramatic, however, this commerical keeps it upbeat (thanks to the music) and shows how the animals are being helped rather than seeing them suffering in the ocean covered in oil.

On the flip side, many Animal Rights activists are suprisingly infurated with the ad. The commercial claims that thousands of animals caught in oil spills have been saved by being washed in their dishwashing liquid. The TV spot shows a duckling covered in oil being bathed with Dawn dishwashing liquid. Animal activists are outraged because in tiny letters at the bottom of the screen, it says, "simulated demonstration" meaning it was not actual footage from an animal rescue. In order to make this commerical, they intentionally covered an animal with paint and corn syrup to simulate oil, just so they could wash them on camera.