Uhhh-MER-ka!: The Right Time?

Above is an excellent example from Dodge of a recent slew of American Pride focused ads. Some others include the Walt Whitman Spots for Levi’s and the American Made Jeep ads. Although we haven’t seen this strong of American Made focused advertising since the end of World War 2, is it the right time to bring it back?

I feel I would be one to give a resounding yes. With the economic woes, environmental disasters and looming threat of guerilla attacks makes me feel a greater connection to my country and the people around me. The new advertising isn’t saying just, “Buy American” its positioning these brands to have the same attributes that our country has been historically known for: innovation, youth & freedom.

Yet I’m curious what others think? The right time or not?

ATT Hurts Apple Customers. . . Again

It appears, via twitter, that the general consensus is AT&T’s new data plan is terrible. With the recent release of the iPad, Apple customers were lead to believe that with the 3G model they would get a relatively low cost unlimited data plan. After all, with the launch of the first iPhone, unlimited data was free standard which was bumped up to around 30 dollars a month with the release of the 3G model. Now AT&T is not only capping the amount of data in a two tiered plan, they are only extending the limit to 2gb well below the relative standard of 5gb that was expected.

The question that has been floating around for quite some time is, is this effecting sales of the Apple devices and (more importantly) is this effecting the perception of the Apple brand negatively? One thing is for sure, if and when apple allows multiple carriers for iPhone and iPad there will be a mass exodus of consumer from the AT&T carrier.

The Rise of Wanky: Here to Stay?

Recently, within a few product categories, there has been a rapid increase of the wanky ad.

First evident in TBWA’s Starburst followed by Crispin Porter Bogusky’s VW & Burger King and now with Wieden + Kennedy’s Old Spice stealing the show with their latest slew of “Smell Like A Man, Man” ads. The question is are these ads shifting pop culture or vice versa has a new generation of dry humor, evident in the target market, given way to wanky ads to grab attention? The viral pop culture success of Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man could Smell Like” proves that this advertising, whether or not sparked by the target market, is at the very least able to spread quickly when the target’s sense of humor is imbedded in it.

The question is, is this a passing fad or a method of cutting through the clutter that will continue to prove successful?

Ad of the Week: Target

One of the more interesting experiments, as of late, in advertising is the attempt to make traditional more conversational. It brings up the question can a TV ad truly be conversational?

While watching the finale of Lost, I saw three excellent examples of being conversational through tv. They were a series for Target by Wieden + Kennedy. They simply featured an aspect of Lost and tied it to an everyday product including this one with the smoke monster. The reason I feel it is conversational is it’s making an ad to specifically speak to a target audience of Lost fans in their visual language. Paired with their tagline “Life’s a moving Target.” it creates a meaningful link to their target that makes one feel like Target understands me. It was so successful in fact that already the next morning there was a few great Target ad spoofs including this one featuring a kiss between Kate and Sawyer.

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

Ad of the Week: Levi's

Much of success in advertising is dependent on those that are extremely talented mixed with a client willing to take a risk and, in some ways even more so, being in the right place at just the right time.

When the Levi's account was won away from BBH by Wieden Kennedy, I was a little worried because BBH had done some notable good work for Levis especially with one of their last pieces, Strange Love. Yet with Wieden Kennedy's release of this series of two ads including this first anthem, America. It was clear the WK was putting a very unique stamp on the Levi's brand that should prove fruitful for quite some time.

As always from WK, it's excellent art direction, great writing, cohesive branding, good music and a distinctive voice. The reason I feel these ads were released at such a perfect time is that they are keying into the same audience that Pepsi and Coke have attempted to with Refresh Everything and Open Happiness, the young generation that looks at all the issues in front of us as the human race and has a positive viewpoint of what they can do to improve it. Its keying into the new generation of "pioneers" looking to explore and put their unique stamp on things and all of these emotions and aspirations are now being housed within the Levi's brand. The ads themselves went live shortly after Obama had stepped into office. It was a time when many Americans had come off of the high of the political campaigns and now felt refreshed making history with one of the first african american president's in history.

Yet, with anything, the consumer and the dollar is the true judge of wether this campaign is successful or not; but, I wouldn't be surprised if this helped increase sales over the next few years.

Agency: Wieden Kennedy

It Just Feels Good to Rebrand

I've missed a few blog posts as of late because I took on a fun side project that I've been wrapped up in, rebranding myself.

Like most creatives, we can often get sick of our personal brand quite quick and want to redefine it with something fresh and new using some of our latest skills. Above is a screenshot of the homepage of my new site currently in development. You can click through the entry and loader screens here if you like. I'll be updating the look of my blog and other materials soon.

Keep on the look out for some new work and a new brand coming in a few weeks.

Ad of the Week: Nuit Blanche

For this Ad of the Week I chose an ad that isn't consumer facing because I think it's important for ad agencies and production companies to equally be radical in marketing themselves.

The digital production house, Digital Film Central, created this short film noir like scene with some stunning visuals. The reason I love this piece is, unlike most production houses, this doesn't just show how cutting edge and polished their techniques are; but, also shows a strong depth in story telling and creative concept. It shows ad agencies and film companies, that may partner with them, that this production can do more than produce, they can partner with you to add further depth to the creative thought behind a piece of work.

The second reason I chose this is it seems to be doing very well virally. On youtube alone its had over 92,000 hits and has been up for less than two months. As a potential consumer/partner to the organization, I loved the fact that I was inspired enough to wait through all the credits to find out who made this original piece of work. Check out how they made it too.

Production House: Digital Film Central

Director: Arev Manoukian

Music: Samuel Bisson

VFX: Marc-Andre Gray

Cinematography: Arev Manoukian