McDonald's Blogs Again, Paris Hilton Teaches Branding

Adrants
Marketing and Advertising News With Attitude by Steve Hall

1. McDonald's Blogs Again, Paris Hilton Teaches Branding - 2007-06-29 06:44:52-04
   - Reader's Digest has just announced it will now accept ads on its back cover in January...and cut circulation by 20 percent. Hmm. Guess things aren't going so well. - Any iPhone spoof that has the copy, "I'm drunk...
   
2. Pearl Izumi Pushes Pretense to Promote Rubber Pumps - 2007-06-29 10:24:53-04
   We're usually big typography fans, but, as AdCritic so eloquently points out, this Pearl Izumi ad is bordering Pearl S. Buck. And not all that well, either. The elitist mini-rant against jogging is cumbersome and a pain in the...
   
3. Epilepsy Art May Lead to Epileptic Patients, Which May Lead to... - 2007-06-29 12:16:24-04
   For the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota, agency Carmichael Lynch Thorburn, Minneapolis put together this poster as part of an installment series for the foundation's annual art contest. "An epileptic seizure has been described as a brainstorm, a source of...
   
4. Sex For Sale Ads Unlikely to Be Policed by Magazines Which Accept Them - 2007-06-29 12:40:51-04
   This is a tough one. We were fully loaded to tear Lenore Skenazy's smile off her face for an article she just wrote in Advertising Age condemning publications that accept escort service ads that straddle the legal/illegal line but...
   
5. Lululemon's L'Odeur Leaves Something Lovely Wanting - 2007-06-29 13:35:03-04
   For L'Odeur, an edible perfume, Lululemon put together this ad that can't seem to decide whether it's Calvin Klein or SNL. We weren't the only ones who cringed. The PR people didn't seem keen on it either. And we...
   
6. Royal Enfield Motors Penetrate in Pretty Prints - 2007-06-29 14:06:18-04
   Motorcycle mark Royal Enfield put together a set of prints that, we think, are meant to showcase all the sights you could see from your wizzy wee bike. It's eye-catching and all but somehow negates all the mama's-boy condemnation...
   
7. Fruit Massacre on Hard Lemonade Makes for Entertaining Pastime - 2007-06-29 14:21:13-04
   Hard lemonade beverage-maker VEX has a new ad that mashes Hostel up with horny fruit and a blender. Developed by GJP Advertising, the ad commits a sin typical of spirits that think highly of themselves: it's way too long....
   
8. MasterCard Makes Your MLB Dreams Come True - 2007-07-02 11:11:51-04
   Here's a new spot called "Live Your Dreams" that's part of MasterCard's MLB Dreams campaign. Somehow cementing the notion nine innings of boredom is more exciting than the two halves of amazing footwork the rest of the world seems...
   
9. Ballpark Frank's Third Arm Solves One-Handed Typing Problem - 2007-07-02 12:03:17-04
   Wow. This definitely falls into the "so bad it's good" category. Or is it just the "so bad it's bad" category? Anyway, as AdFreak points out, Ballpark Franks has a new TBWA/Chiat/Day-created Alien-style commercial running in which an apparently...
   
10. Baseball Priceless, Cannes Blinded, Happiness Revealed - 2007-07-02 12:08:00-04
    - George Parker wonders what the hell sense an "official insurance company of Major League Baseball" makes. We tend to wonder as well. - Blind dude goes to Cannes to promote Italian viral community. - Brokaw mourns loss of...
    
11. Nando Gum Curbs Stripper's Peri-Peri Cravings - 2007-07-02 12:31:20-04
    Do you know what your Mom does for work? Do you really? We think this Mom's kids - and husband for that matter - have absolutely no idea. UK-based Nandos restaurants serve something called Peri-Peri chicken, a dish so...
    
12. No Southern Comfort Like a MilkQuake, Says Krystal - 2007-07-02 12:40:39-04
    It's not just brands hawking friends on MySpace anymore; it's products too. For a free milkshake promotion to cool the summer months, Southern brand Krystal put together the Krystal Lovers Lounge, a MySpace page for those who know nothing...
    
13. Commander Adama Parachutes From Plane For Farmer's Insurance - 2007-07-02 12:59:26-04
    Usually, he's just slowly walking around his Battlestar mumbling prophetic statements about the importance of mankind in that gruff voice he perfected so well back on Miami Vice but now Edward James Olmos is appearing, again, in two new...
    
14. Parisians Go Jurassic to Promote Board Shorts - 2007-07-02 13:06:45-04
    We think there's something delicious about these Sundek ads by Callegari Berville Grey, Paris. We have no idea what they have to do with surfwear, but something about dripping bodies (albeit with membrane, which ain't exactly sexy) and the...
    
15. 'Hide This Thing' Wants to Create 'Easter Egg' Language - 2007-07-02 13:32:44-04
    Like hidden dirty images in family-friendly Disney posters, easter eggs have always been a favorite of designers the world over to express, perhaps a twisted sense of humor or, simply, to just have fun. Now, apparently, Hide This Thing...
    
16. Berlitz Bounces Back with Homoerotic Hammer-Time - 2007-07-02 14:06:10-04
    We loved that "What are you ... sinking about?" ad by Berlitz, a language firm that does well when it comes to catching extra-lingual inconsistencies and showcasing them. We haven't seen anything since, but we're thinking they held on...
    
17. Garfield Group is Hiring. Small Wonder. - 2007-07-02 14:41:02-04
    Somehow we thought that, with all the godforsaken noise that deluged us upon arriving at the Garfield Group careers site, the associated video would be all the more raucous and daring. We're really touched by the notion that everyone...
    
18. MFI, IKEA Indirectly Face Off in Showroom Family Feuds - 2007-07-02 14:57:48-04
    Our incognito amigo FishNChimps shimmied us over to these ads for MFI and IKEA, which used the same basic idea (families fighting over feral female teens) to promote the homey feel of their showrooms. Saatchi & Saatchi put together...
    
19. Dove Draws Men to Forbidden Coves, Repels Us from Its Aisles in the Process - 2007-07-02 15:27:35-04
    With all the work it's done to court the "we are woman, hear us roar" demographic, we harbor serious doubts that this viral for Dove is the genuine article. Really, do they even sell deodorant cans like that anymore?...
    
20. Cars, Drums, Gladiators, Robo-Cops Mash It Up in Chimney For Sony Blu-ray - 2007-07-03 10:24:23-04
    With the Blu-ray/HD-DVD wars well under way, it's apropos this new Fallon London-created, RSA Films-produced Sony Blu-ray commercial, Lasers, contain fighting gladiators. Shot in a working industrial chimney (a really big one) in Hungary with no natural light and...