A Truly "Champion" Piece of Buzz Marketing. Heineken Plays Prank on UEFA Champions League Football Fans.

Life is all about making compromises right? This piece was brought to my attention by one of young AdLanders Jessica Giordano because she knows my love of the two "beautiful games"... advertising and football.

Careful when it comes to down one of the most sacred things left for guys... an evening of watching football (soccer) with their friends (as wel asl, a profitable beer occasion).

Heineken Italy found a unique way to speak to these men and seal their place as the number one beer choice.

Well that's what roughly 1,000 A.C. Milan football (soccer) fans thought they were making last Fall, when they gave up a nigth of camaraderie of watching a big football match last fall on October 21st against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. Give the evening up for a night of poetic musical and art.

Thanks to Heineken and about 200+ accomplices who were in on the prank which included girlfriends, journalists and professors. Each knowing that in the end the boys will get there desired, watching the match and Heineken sealed its brand loyalty.

JWT Italy developed a rather incredible  and truly a brilliant "stunt" (activation) strategy, where Heineken Italy proposed that the “most sacred time that men have left” is at risk, when they devised a "stunt" to call out the increasing influence external factors have in pulling a fan away from his television and likely his friends... time spent with his lady. The event invitation was to go to a classical concert whose title "Calcio" was akin to going to the dentist for a root canal.

Heineken went viral with this piece, celebrated the sanctity of male bonding and created authentic engagement with its brand. In the end all is forgiven,and the boys got to watch the game and may have won the favor of their lady friends.

Watch this piece gain momentum in the Award shows this year.

This is a Game Changer. 360 Degree Video Controled By Viewer. WOWzer... Fu@king Brilliant.

Click here to watch the 360 degrees interactive version of this video (NOTE: MOVE YOUR CURSOR OVER THE VIDEO FOR A FULL 360 DEGREE EFFECT)

Came across this "awesome"... no make that "FU@KING BRILLIANT" video project that is truly a game changer.

I really don't want to overuse "FU@KING BRILLIANT" or the word "awesome," it will lose its force. It should be reserved for only things that are just that, for only those things that inspire wonder and great genius should merit this description. So, you truly understand how serious a remark it is, when I say this work is more then "awesome", but truly "FU@KING BRILLIANT".

This music video was created for the "IN A CABIN WITH" by Steye & the Ottowanians' from Ottawa (Canada) using an amazing 360 degree view throughout called "VectorVision" using Adobe Flash with Actionscript by Amsterdam based Barcinski + Jeanjean.

Barcinski + Jeanjean an Amsterdam-based interactive studio was formed in 2007 by Mark Barcinski and Adrien Jeanjean both multimedia designers who first met while working at Euro RSCG Amsterdam in 1999.

While freelancing in 2004 the duo collaborated on commercial projects employing their passion for creating innovative experiences, ranging from award-winning websites to ambient installations in the physical spaces. As active members of the Adobe Flash community (FITC), Barcinski & Jeanjean contribute to open-source software such as Papervision3D. Thus began their love pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

http://www.barcinski-jeanjean.com/

Their newly launched portfolio website, www.barcinski-jeanjean.com, uses anaglyphic 3-D navigation to display the samples of their impressive work. If you have a pair of 3D glasses handy from your trip to seeing Avatar, your site visit will be even more interesting. Upon entering, you have the option of playing a little 3-D ping-pong game while the site loads. Even this very simple game is cool as a stand-alone game which they used  rather than a "pre-loader". Trust me I would still be writing about it... it's simple and fun, excellent use of 3-D physics.

Barcinski and Jeanjean themselves are standing in a panoramic view of Amsterdam (which you can rotate 360 degrees by moving your cursor over the arrows to the left and right). The 360º panorama was created using "stop motion video" rather than multiple photo stills stitched together, which allowed them to capture the movement of all objects and subjects in the scene.

Barcinski and Jeanjean noted:

 The vision for the panorama view came to us in while we were brainstorming on another project (the one for which we prototyped a spherical video panorama). We would stand in one of Amsterdam’s many beautiful scenes with everybody around us walking by going about their business. Around us our portfolio work would be hanging in the air in the form of paper flyers. Envisioning viewing that with 3D glasses being able to move around us, filled us with excitement. We are already familiar with viewing photo’s and movies with 3D glasses, but we can’t really say we had had an interactive experience using 3D glasses before. 

 Their portfolio samples are represented as paper sheets hovering in a ring around them, as though they were emanating from the artists' minds.

Enjoy the brilliance of these forward thinking designers and think of the endless possibilities.

CP+B Interns Band Together. It's All About Camaraderie.

It's been called the "best placement program" ever seen.

This past fall the Class of 2009 CP+B interns did something unique and extraordinaire... they banded together for the purposes of employment and more importantly camaraderie when they launched their own website "http://pleasehire.us". The site is a "one-stop" shop where you can go hand pick any of the 27 kids (5 are postes as hired) who are facing the real world. The interns featured are from both the Boulder and Miami offices.

The site was featured originally on the FearlessQA episode featuring ECD Omid Farhang on the topic of "On Being a Junior" who brought along guests and CP+B interns Dil-Domine Jacobe Leonares and Jeff Hunter, both featured on the site.  The episode was great for young "AdLanders" on getting the dirt on starting out, but the big payoff was when Alex Bogusky and Farhang surprised Dil and Jeff by offering them jobs at CP+B. Wonderful news as they were both coming to the end of their internships at the time, it was actually quite cool to see two people get their shots.

Interns, sadly get the "raw" end of things (sometime of referred to as "slaves"), fetching coffee, making copies or simply sitting at a desk waiting and maybe even bitch about not getting a shot or worse thinking they're better than everyone and everything. It's all part of the battle.

Getting an internship at Crispin is a dream for many a young "AdLanders", some see it as a ticket to "anywhere" in the industry, but that's not the truth. It will always come down to hard work and dedication.

The CP+B Summer 2010 Intern deadline has passed, but keep posted at the CP+B internship site or follow on Twitter.

Burger King is ***KING Awesome. Crispin Porter +Bogusky is ***KING AWESOME.

File under FU@K*** awesome... or should I say ***KING Awesome!

Burger King UK launched a new campaign for a special menu offering the 3-Cheese Angus burger and it's ***KING awesome.

CP+B launched the ***King Tasty integrated campaign for the 3- Cheese Angus without regular TV media, but instead, the campaign will use a :30 second spot that will run in cinemas and on PubTV in the UK to get the campaign started. But its true "awesomeness" comes from the online engagement.

The site allows you to create your own t-shirts on the website where you can customize a message based on ***KING______, add your message (see my version to the right). The site offers a "buy it" or "earn it" functionality - a new concept for CP+B. The basic concept allows fans to distribute the spot to friends, and with unique 50 plays gets you a free shirt. The campaign will also included web banners and various OOH efforts. These will be launching this coming week.

 

The :30sec spot has two guys who are fall into a discussion about the burger, they use the “***KING….” combination in every sentence and it turns into a very funny dialog..."It's ***KING delicious... I haven't had anything since ***KING breakfast... hey, get your mitts of my ***KING flame-broiled 3-cheese Angus...!"

In addition, the campaign also follows the with “***King+….” combination through the website and Facebook app. 

This project originated in the US from CP+B Boulder, from Group CDs Bill Wright and James Dawson-Hollis and ACD Andrew Ure, with the interactive portion was developed and built by the new CP+B Europe office, headed up by Gustav Martner and Bjorn Hoglund (ECD for CP+B Europe). 

Check out the campaign website here.

The Magic of Brilliant Copywriting...Again. Wieden+Kennedy for EA Sports FIFA2010

Soccer fans around the world rejoice because the EA Sports FIFA2010 allows fans to play, manage and enjoy soccer stars Wayne Rooney, Karim Benzema, Xavi, Theo Walcott, Tim Cahill and Bastian Schweinsteiger, it’s a commercial created to pump up anyone’s adrenaline—soccer fan or not.

Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam created this spot that has been around "viral" block for a couple months now to kick off its latest integrated campaign for EA's blockbuster FIFA2010 game. This spot has become the "anthem" spot world wide. The ad debuted during the Manchester City vs Manchester United match in November.

The "How Big Can Football Get" campaign was inspired by the massive FIFA game play figures (EA claims that over two million FIFA games are played daily). The campaign includes web films, an online football community, a documentary and other elements. As the community rallies behind both the sport and the game, the force of comradery is more than apparent, currently the Facebook group for FIFA2010 has over 452,000 fans.

File under Brilliant.

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam
Client: EA Sports
Year: 2009

An Advertising Installation That is Making A Difference An Environmental Difference

Here an interesting if not brilliant piece that has been making the rounds since the fall, but it certainly is timely when we look to how we can suggest a simple idea that can change attitudes... specifically in terms of the environment. (Note: Video starts in Swedish but the details are presented in English) 

Every day thousands of cars are driven to and from Swedish airports. Every car holds only 1 or 2 people on average which is to be compared with the Airport Coach Servie which can that takes over 50 people at a time. Needless to say, taking a single car makes no sense whatsoever from an environmental standpoint.

To highlight this, an enormous bus was built out of 50 cars on the side of the highway to the airport. I do question what the "Carbon Footprint" is for the bus. The website, has a "live" camera that not only shows the installation 24/7 but also analyzes the image and also tracks each and every car going by. This data is then being used to highlight just how much emission we could save just by going by bus instead.

You can go to the services website to view a meter that gives a statistical update:

http://flygbussarna.cache.nu/english/website/

Advertising Agency: Acne Advertising
Set designer: Johan Sjölin - ArtnDito & Urban Lisinski - Dekor Klippan AB
Web agency: Acne Digital

Highjacking of A Creative Idea... and Message.

One of things I offer my students in the deveopment of their skills as creatives is the challenge of doing a "competitive" advertisng campaign. The basic idea is to create a message from the number two or non-leading brand in any given category. The main idea or concept is that you can't mention the competitor by name or brand identity (ie.logo, product etc...)

It is often noted by the students as one of the most difficult challenges, but when done right it can create a strong brand message and often make the target audience stop and think before they purchase... at least have them consider your brand in the process.

I came across this ad when searching for some sample ads to demonstrate "quality" of this type of message, and I thought it was excellent.

Verizon launched a "teaser" ad for the November release fo the "Droid" handset and seeks to slam Apple's iconic smartphone on all the things it's perceived to fall short on, such as a lack of a physical keyboard and the capability to run multiple third-party apps simultaneously. In a play on the iPhone's "I," the campaign takes jabs at the handset with a series of "iDon'ts," starting with "iDon't have a real keyboard," "iDon't run simultaneous apps." The commercial ends with "Everything iDon't ... Droid does. November."

What followed was a unexpected spoof ad that hijacks the concept and content (video above)
I contacted the creators of the "spoof" ad to ask if they were students or basically what inspired them. Only known as "droiddont" who sent me the following message:

Nope not a student. And actually not just one person! It was a collaboration of three people - Ryan, Jon and Shawn.

All living in the USA. We all work in video production and we had some down time and decided to throw a mock commercial up on youtube.

Ryan and Jon are avid Iphone users, while Shawn wants to buy one whenever he decides to abandon his current carrier. While the droid ad was interesting, we thought it would be funny to kind of make a rebuttal to the whole thing.... and see what it would be like to create a counter viral video.

Since we all are into Video Editing.... Macs are pretty much the lifeblood of what we do.

Not bad... as of tonight (10/26/2009) the spot has had 91.203 hits for the spoof while the "real" spot has just a million. They are pretty good. Maybe they can email back and I can post there contact info if anyone is interested.

Currently the iPhone is dominating the category even with 100's of great alternatives currently available it's still leading. Question is for how long? Well the iPhone will not likely give up that throne, there are competitors who want to reach those who aren't 100% convinced or brand loyal (cultish loyal) to Apple. 

Facing nearly insurmountable competition from AT&T Wireless and its iPhone juggernaut, Verizon Wireless is capitalizing on the well-publicized download problems by airing a television ad that tweaks Apple's iPhone tagline, "There's a app for that."

Here is the "App"... turned "Map" message from Verzion, followed by the original "iDon't" Droid ad also from Verzion.


"There's Map for That"



Agency: McCann Erickson Worldwide

"iDon't"



Agency: McGarryBowen

Brilliant Writing Part II

This Johnnie Walker spot called "Walk" created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty London is proof of a great concept married to great talent and fostered by brilliant copywriting.

Amazingly, this ad for Johnnie Walker was done in one take, but took 40 takes to get it right. No report of how many bottles were tested and tasted to get it right.

Best ad of the year so far? It just might be.

This brilliant five-minute-plus spot by BBH London, in which Robert Carlyle, in a single continuous take, narrates the progression of Johnnie Walker whiskey from the backroom experimentation of a humble shopkeeper to the multinational powerhouse it is today. The combination of bagpiper abuse, well-timed visual cues, pitch-perfect writing and music, and Carlyle's charisma keeps the mini-movie chugging right along.

BTW, I gotta add on the Scotch note; Taxi Toronto got something right this past Thursday evening.They hosted their first Scotch Night (and I hope not the last)

Now if I can get an invite... Nick, Cam, Mykolyn, ... anyone! Invite @southsideadguy

Johnny Walker Credits:

Agency: BBH London

Creative Director: Mick Mahoney

Creative: Justin Moore

Here's Something You Don't See Everyday - A Rock Opera (AdVerganza)... About Milk

As big fan of if 70's Rock Operas, specifically The Who's "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" and the near perfect Lou Reed offering "Berlin". If you asked me if I would ever see the day that there would be a rock opera about milk, I would likely say "nah" not a chance in hell. Well the that day is here and hell has likely frozen over.

“The most amazing rock opera ever made - about milk.”

Seriously, I'm not kidding. This totally online effort is sponsored by the good folks at “Got Milk” and creative advertising genius agency Goodby Silverstien of San Fransisco and starring a dude named "White Gold" (wielding a milk filled electric guitar no less - for onstage replenishment) and chocolate milk partner "Jug Life", his lusty pal "Strawberry Summers" (right) make some sweet music together and of course "The Calcium Twins". (see additional images below)

I present the new rock opera "Battle for Milkquarious"! Check out the trailer here.

If you want more... then check out "White Gold" and his totally awesome website. It’s very milk-centric.

“Originality is the confluence of the opposite of epitome.” - White Gold

If you’ve never heard of "White Gold", he’s the marketing creation of California Milk Processor Board and ad agency Goodby Silverstein - who together brought us the infamous “Got Milk” campaign.

White Gold is the fake rocker who prefers milk to the bevy of stronger drugs presumably available to him. 

I am looking into details about this campaign being a "relaunch" from the spring of 2008.  MarketWire posted a piece on April 7th, 2008 about the campaign devoted to a rock band professing its love of and devotion to milk. The campaign made its television debut that day, and also launching its very own web site whitegoldiswhitegold.com The campaign will show music lovers, especially teenagers, how cool and beneficial drinking milk can be. The article noted White Gold gained much of its popularity in social networking circles and video-sharing sites. Fans include teens, young adults and even influential bloggers and DJs. White Gold's MySpace page logged close to 50 thousand hits and has added about 3000 friends since it debuted on March 17, 2008 and  the band's YouTube page has garnered over 350 thousand hits.

White Golds MySpace site gives some exclusive insights to "Being White Gold".  To learn that guitar geniuses like White Gold aren't just born. "They're honed". "Crafted". "Perfected". For this maestro, consumption was the only way to become reborn and set free.

Before White Gold found "milk", the luscious white mane, the four-hour guitar solos and ripped abdominals, there was simple White Gold, the man. A mess of frail hair, a dull smile and a scrawny body. It was a rockless bottom for White Gold. He couldn't finish a three-song set without being booed off the stage and thrown out onto the street.

White Gold's stylings are described as “milk-otestical” (or possibly “milk-tastical”) which sounds disturbingly like “milk testicle.” Not sure that will be around in any of the future media releases or mentions.

The Got Milk people have a goal in producing a milk themed rock opera. This is part of $50,000 scholarship for the arts for the California Public Highschool art programs. Nothing is being given away for free however. There is going to be a contest in which entrants (students) will enter by creating their own video spoof of the White Gold Rock Opera and uploading it. More details on the exact rules where posted last week. The prizes will be a $20K scholarship for first place, one $10K winner for second place and 8 honorable mentions at $2.500!

This "adverganza" also includes a YouTube Channel and Facebook Group.

 True fans will be able to celebrate White Gold’s entire catalog when it hits iTunes no less.

Jug Life (top), The Calcium Twins (middle) and White Gold with Strawberry Summers (bottom).

Droga5 Hits a Home Rum with Puma Index

Droga5 New York last week hosted 20 of my best and brigthest at their agency where they revealed a very unique new webstie and application for Germany based sportsbrand PUMA.

The PUMA Index that is a stock sticker with a twist. When I say twist... I mean a twist. Pretty simple, when the stock markets go down, the model’s clothes come off. That's right The Puma Index has models taking off and putting on clothes in response to the DOW, DAX and S&P/ASX 200 indexes. When the market goes down the male and female models’ clothes come off to reveal their Puma Bodywear underwear. When the market recovers, back go the Puma clothes.

The basic idea is that if you loose your shirt on the market, at least the models do too.

Droga5 also created an iPhone application to work along side the site. Once you’ve installed the free app you can choose between a male or female guide to your index of choice, by shaking the iPhone. The market numbers will be updated automatically (actually a 15 minute delay) throughout the day and when it gets good enough, or bad enough, the models will be called into action... of course when the markets are closed you can catch their sleeping habits.


The best part for the consumer is if you show your iPhone with the app installed to a PUMA sales rep, you even get a 20% discount on your next purchase.

It's a bit of fun, and little bit sexy, app in rough economic times. Everyone needs a bit of fun, don’t you think?

After just one week and very little support 170,000+ views on YouTube...watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtNLpKPL6Eo

Reverse Pick Pocketing Ad Stunt - Talk Talk UK

Reverse pick-pocketing is in fact the art of placing one's own objects into the possession of another, either for entertainment or a charitable matter. However, the correct, street credible term, is "PUT POCKETING" - Urban Dictionary

British telecommunications company TALK TALK has hired reformed pickpockets to work as "put pockets" slipping money into pockets and handbags in a marketing campaign. TalkTalk has assembled a team of what it calls 20 "ex-pickpockets" to execute the stunt.

The stunt seems to have its roots in Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) Burger King ads form late 2008 (see below).

But it ain't cheap... the campaign will distribute £100,000 by reverse pick-pocketing. The plan is to slip 5-pound to 20-pound bills, along with cards advertising Talk Talk, to people in crowded places like Trafalgar Square.

The company, Talk Talk, plans to post signs where the ex-pickpockets are at work in London that will say "Rejoice! Put pockets operating in this area".

The broadband and telecoms company is giving away the money between now and the end of August in areas including Leicester Square, Oxford Circus, Covent Garden, Westminster, Trafalgar Square and the South Bank, as well as on the Tube network.

Chris Fitch, who says he picked pockets for a living while he was in school and kept it up until he got caught, is in charge of recruitment. Along with working for Talk Talk, he now provides guidance about pickpocketing prevention.

"I've got a team of 20 that I can call on," Fitch said. "Some of them are ex-offenders, and some of them are magicians, sleight of hand."

"There is actually some sense to this," Fitch said. "If I were to stand on the street and say here's £20, come and get it, they wouldn't. They would think there was a catch to this. So they came up with the idea of covertly planting the money. And that's what we do."

Mark Schmid, communications director of TalkTalk, said: "With so many scams out there, Britons have become very skeptical of companies giving money away -- so we have turned to Put-Pocketing to give something back. Adding, "While unconventional, we don't think anyone is going to mind finding a crisp £20 in their pocket courtesy of the activity."

The campaign has met with a mixed response from those who like the idea of finding a fiver in their trousers, to those who have been victims of bag snatching and other street crimes questioning the sense of such a campaign.

However, TalkTalk has anticipated such fears and says that the Metropolitan Police have been notified of the campaign.

The ex-criminals have been given ID and minders in case they do get caught in the act although TalkTalk said that the stunt has been in pilot since July 1 and none of the team has yet been rumbled.

Other UK cities will have the chance to be "put pocketed" later in the year.

CP+B - Burger King Ad:

Watch Your Ad In A Magazine.

What? Watch your ad in a magazine...
A Video player…magazine… WHAT?

Titled VIP Ads. Video-In-Ads. The first major use of the VIP ad format will be limited to copies of Entertainment Weekly distributed in New York City and Los Angeles.

Well this fall the September 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly's print edition will be embedded with a video player that will run ads for CBS shows and Pepsi.

Well it does require the magazine to do some minor modifications.

Last year Esquire magazine made headlines by putting on its newsstand covers a miniature e-paper display. It didn't do a whole lot: The small display simply repeated a message ("The future is now") before running out of power three months later. It was a fun experiment, a gimmick and something that didn’t get than repeating -- at least until e-paper can be used to create an affordable and portable complete magazine on a regular basis. Stay tuned it’s coming.

The ad comes in a heavy-paper package resembling the kind of novelty greeting cards that make noises. A roughly 5cm screen starts playing automatically as the page flips open and a small speaker is embedded below it.

CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s Entertainment Weekly billed the video advertisement as the first ever to appear in a print magazine. CBS says the video player insert, made by a Los Angeles company called Americhip Inc., will be able to withstand the binding processes and mail delivery.

Ink-on-paper titles have been trying new formats to boost advertising revenue. Newspapers have done many things once considered a no-no and magazines have even put ads onto covers.

The technology for the battery-powered ads can handle about 40 minutes of video. It's a product that has been in development at Americhip for about two years. Here are some more details about the Americhip technology (see video below):

The screen, which is 2.7 millimeters thick, has a 320x240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged, believe it or not, with a mini USB cord--there's a jack on the back of it.

The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate.

The video inserts will appear in some copies mailed to subscribers in New York and Los Angeles. Readers who live in Canada and everywhere else, along with newsstand buyers, won't get the video edition.

In the ad will feature characters from CBS's The Big Bang Theory, and give a how-to on navigating the different buttons that bring up more clips of additional spots includes a Two and Half Men, a sneak peek at the new CBS comedy Accidentally on Purpose and a preview of the network's fall drama slate. There's also an ad for the Pepsi Max diet soft drink.

CBS won't say how much it is paying for the spread, but the idea behind these new experiments is generally to charge a premium for advertising that has more potential to catch readers' attention.

Whether or not this catches on, it sounds like an absolutely perfect way to breath life into slumping print ad revenues. The sheer novelty of it dictates that everyone who receives one of these special copies of the magazine will assuredly devote a full hour to watching videos on the tiny screen and more time showing it off to all their friends.

Ray-Ban Never Hide Campaign

This was just sent to me... the campaign has helped promote Ray-Ban sunglasses, and Ray-Ban created a series of viral videos called Never Hide Films. With 18 videos posted to date, sone have seen multi-million views, and a few four-digit failures, so it’s an interesting look at what works well as an online viral video, and what doesn’t. The most recent post was shot completely in the "Never Hide Films Video Booth" during the 2009 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX.

100 People/1 Minute. Cool beat. They call it freestyle... hmmmmm! Beatbox yes, FreeStyle no!

You can download a free MP3 of the film's soundtrack at the YouTube NeverHide page

Beats + edits by Squeak E. Clean & Rossangeles.








Print Ad Credits:
Advertising Agency: Cutwater, USA
Art Director: Kele Dobrinski
Copywriter: Noah Phillips

Scary Smart Idea... but will they get it.

This came to me by one of my grads. He recalled the frequent conversations and debates of "will anyone other than us get it?" This campaign is for Mercedes-Benz for "Brake Assist Plus". The basic concept is built around the "Extra braking force when you need it".

My thoughts always turn to "if you need to be there to explain it... it don't work".
But really this is super simple.

Credits

Advertising Agency: BBDO Proximity Singapore
Executive Creative Director: Jagdish Ramakrishnan
Copywriter: William Mathovani
Art Directors: Andrian Pranata, Ivan Hady Wibowo
Photographer: Sebastian Siah, Shooting Gallery

CP+B... Holy Mother of Jebus, Another Mind Blow

Okay, caught this just after it went live. Played for a an hour or so.... everything I needed and a few surprises.

Sure to be the "Buzz" for the next few days. Too bad it's the Canada Day holiday tomorrow and so many of us will be away from their computers.

Crispin Porter & Bogusky joined and may have rewritten the Web 2.0 landscape today with its revamped site. As Alex Bogusky says in the introduction video it will be a "giant digital fishing net" of all things CP+B. Yes, there is always digital static and noise about the Miami and Boulder shop.

It's part social web and traditional agency promo except the new CP+B home page, you get both the good and the bad of what everyone's saying about the agency and its clients.

CP+B is the latest agency to revamp its Web site with an eye toward aggregating content and letting others around the Web tell its (CP+B) story. The site, collects videos, Tweets, news headlines and blog entries that mention the agency or its work, yes it has all "the good, the bad, the mildly unnerving," as a large-afro-ed Alex Bogusky says in the video below.

Click on a Twitter feed and see people tweeting about "I'm a PC." Click on a Microsoft tab and see a Newsweek article about Microsoft "Laptop Hunters" campaign. Click on contact, and it takes you to a map of Crispin's Boulder office courtesy Google Maps instead of a Bing map... oops isn't that the Microsoft search engine. Oh wait, Crispin may not be responsible for Bing's advertising (that's JWT), but CP+B is Microsoft's consumer agency of record -- and one of the biggest shops on its roster, paid some $300 million to promote the brand. You'd think the least they could do is help a struggling new search engine out via all those clicks from hungry young job-seeking creatives. Not sure that is what the this site is about, but then again I can see an assistant to the CMO making it an issue.

Check out the work by client. Check out Alex and his hello. Check out the Twitter and Facebook links... and join the fun and education in what is going on in creative thinking today by linking off site to changethethought.com.

This will be the first of I am sure a few post I will deliver on the site as it finds its way through the bugs and snakes of a beta launch.

Stay tuned folks... the fun has just begun, for all that is the "the good, the bad and the ugly (mildly unnerving)".

I am sure as more folks hit the site the ugly will follow... it always does for CP+B.



PS. It took less then 30 seconds for my tweet to appear on the site and 5 minutes for my blog post to appear. It's part magic and voodoo I am sure.

PPS. Oh and Gawker called him That Ad Guy... hey BTW, I am the AdGuy.

Really It's Fu@king Money. Creative Brilliance IV.

BonTrust, a German financial planning company, have provided a sexual take on the international financial market in "Money Love", an animated commercial developed at Optix, Hamburg for ad agency Grabarz & Partner, Hamburg.

The ad brings together the English pound, the American dollar, the Chinese yuan in a NSFW romp. Clara Schumann, whose face appeared on the 100 Deutsche Mark note, stars as the femme fatale with a British 20 Pound body. The explicit activity between Schumann and Lincoln is sure to elicit a range of reactions from the British, Germans and Americans who love their currency. Fortunately for the agency, Mao’s involvement with Clara is only hinted at. Yet who knows how the Chinese will react!

Optix has made a world completely made out of banknotes, with explicit characters, Clara Schumann, Abraham Lincoln and Mao Tse Tung. The team focused their research on the characters and the appropriate furniture, buildings, bridges, landscapes, and clothing styles. An origami feel for the world was created in 2D style frames. The team spent hours making origami figures out of dollar and pound notes, providing inspiration for the 3D characters were created in Softimage XSI. Each character received an individual animation rig. With this digital skeleton we defined positions, rotations as well as the movements of the particulars.

Credits

Title: Increase In Currency
Agency: Grabarz & Partner, Hamburg
Creative Directors: Fedja Kehl and Paul von Mühlendahl.
Animation: Optix Digital
Director Andreas Pohl

Rebranding A Major Brand? America.

For years the battle cry was those "Ugly Americans". It was awful, but was it deserved?


There was a time Americans would neatly place Canadian flags on their backpacks and baggage while traveling the world. Why? It became simple, the brand was tarnished. It became a bully. It was seen all things wrong. Expansion without compassion. And time went on without repair.

So, now America is like any company teetering on bankruptcy -- having lost so credibility and brand currency, and never more so then over the past eight years. What can be done? Well, a magazine named PAPER has invited some of the best visual communicators in the United States, from ad gurus to artists to create original advertising concepts that could redefine the country's image. A welcome to U.S.A. 2.0.

Here are the details and my personal favorites. But it is Alex Bogusky's "Flag" that blew me away. I believe his rationale is as brilliant as the design. When President Obama included non-believers is his inauguration speech he touched so many while equally surprising so many.

I sent Alex a note about my feelings on his piece and the rationale, he told me he would love to turn it into a painting if "I could only find the time". Let's hope he does... this piece is timeless and potent.

(To see all the results click here)

THE BRIEF:

From: Kim Hastreiter
Subject: Rebranding America
Date: March 16, 2009 4:54:26 PM EDT

To: Alex Bogusky, Dan Wieden, Ivan Chermayeff, Kevin Roberts, Andy Spade, Shepard Fairey, Ron English, Peter Buchanan-Smith, Steve Powers, Chris Johanson, Jonathan Horowitz, Mike Mills, Geoff McFetridge, Bruce High Quality Foundation, Alex Kalman

Hello! I'm a great fan of yours so I wanted to approach you about participating in a piece I am producing for my annual Design issue of the magazine (themed "homesweethome"). I felt compelled to include you in this piece as you are truly some of my personal favorite fearless creative communicators.

As the times we are living in are so radical, I think radical ideas are needed to help save our proverbial asses and to create a new path forward into what I like to call the "new normal". The best part of being in deep shit is that with it comes a unique opportunity for progressive thinking because the status quo is desperate. I thought it appropriate to dedicate the issue to home, and so the subject of one piece I am producing is about our homeland: The U.S. of A.

I have chosen a stellar list of my favorite mavericks (you are one!) and invited you all to create a visual page ---as if it was an ad--- for America. HOW WOULD YOU REBRAND AMERICA??? (we certainly need it desperately!) How would you make people love us again? How would you change our brand image? Our perception abroad? How could you project our future to our citizens? If America had a new ad campaign, what would it look like? I will run the portfolio of these "Ads for America" as the editorial well in the May issue of PAPER.

I know you are big cheeses, and yes, super busy, but I really hope you are inspired to contribute something that will then inspire others. To me this is an opportunity to share with our readers some amazing ideas from the best thinkers I know of using our pages. Can you (or your team) come up with something for this issue?

With Admiration,
K

"Our forefathers had the brilliance to provide for the separation of church and state, but it hasn't really been adhered to. For example, in the '50s "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. I think the "separation" may actually be part of the issue. Perhaps it would work better to unite the nation, the states and all faiths -- including the lack of faith -- and sew it into the flag, so we never forget that this was what our forefathers wanted."

"My dream is for all Americans to reach out to the world and inspire everyone they touch to come together and rebuild a new world of optimism, joy and shared responsibility. Actions speak louder than ads."

Kevin Roberts is the worldwide CEO and creative force behind Saatchi & Saatchi. He works with a team of 6,000 people across 86 countries. Well known for his revolutionary marketing theory of "Lovemarks," which helps to connect brands with emotions, Roberts is also the author of marketing and management books Lovemarks: the Future Beyond Brands, and sisomo: the future on screen.

"America is a forever-young country, branding and rebranding itself incessantly. This is no country for old ad people to re-imagine -- that is best accomplished by the youngest hearts and minds. And that is why we turned to W+K12. They did not disappoint."

Peter Buchanan-Smith started his own New York-based graphic design company, Buchanan-Smith, in 2006. He also teaches graphic design at The School of Visual Arts in New York.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth. And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace." President Barack Obama, inaugural remarks (January 20, 2009)

Burger King... er Kingons!

Brilliance once again from our friends at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.

Simply outstanding... Burger King has assaulted our brains with creepy-weird ads for years now, but these may be the weirdest... specifically the female BK-themed "Kingon" that does a "dance of seduction" to steal your Star TrekKingon Defense Academy, devoted to protecting you from these insidious attacks.

The Burger King Star Trek campaign is getting underway with the introduction of what may be the funniest promotion ever. The offspring of an "alien encounter" between the Burger King and a Klingon woman (possibly when he showed up one morning in her bed with a breakfast sandwich as he likes to do, but didn't count on the aggressiveness of the species), the "Kingons" are here on Earth on a mission to collect all the Star Trek glasses.

I actually don't know where to begin with these ads... the "Kingons" are determined to steal them from you mostly using weird playground bullying tactics, such as wedgies and nipple attacks. Yes, really. A "Kingon" is going to attack your nipples. There's a whole website, the

The website "Kingon Defense Academy" which has just opened, has a series of hilarious training videos to help earthers learn the tactics of these glass-grabbing aliens: http://www.whenkingonsattack.com/ You have to visit it for a good laugh, I got a real "kick" out of it!

From The Website The Dance of Seduction:




From The Website Talaxian Limb Paralysis:



Television Spot:

Taxi NYC and MoMA - A Film by Paul Lavoie

The short film, directed by Azazel Jacobs, marks a return to copywriting by TAXI chairman and co-founder Paul Lavoie.

G-d do I love this piece. Simple and something I have seen happen in front me... look around your life, the places you go and see, and you will see the "art" that lives within your life.

It's also the first of what will be a new, annual series of commissioned films by rising filmmakers, and will be shown before film screenings in the museum's Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters. The series is titles iSee.

In "I See," by TAXI, NYC, a character named "Frank" stands looking at Russian artist Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné's 1913 sculpture, Symphony Number 1. He's got that bored look in his eye of someone forced to be there by friends or out-of-town visitors, until the robotic audio tour voice begins to relate the piece of art and the inspiration behind it, to Frank's own life. To that end, this project by MoMA reaches out to those who might not have the museum at the top of their visit lists.

Coke Gremlins Spot Update... Cat Piano!

If you enjoyed Mother London's "Organ Player" spot for Coke I posted the other day, there's more about them at CokeCreatures.com. The best part might be the biographies of all 10 characters over on their Flickr page. They have given each a personality, two that I like are the dimwits Crétin and Tincré, yes they sound about as dimwitted as they look. There's also a Facebook page and various other gimcrack.

The song from the commercial is available on iTunes in the U.K.

Meanwhile, some bloggers are wondering whether the whole campaign was inspired by this German cat piano from the 1600s. Yes, you read that correctly, "Cat Piano".

This crazy musical instrument was designed in 1650 by Athanasius Kircher, a 17th century German Jesuit scholar.

The piano was designed to raise the spirits of an Italian prince who was too stressed out. The musician would select cats whose voices were at different pitches then arrange them in the pens accordingly. The piano delivered sharp pokes into the tails of the cats.