French communication agency W Atjust and director Thierry Poiraud gave a new twist to the tilt-shift photographic technique in making this commercial for the French railway network, Reseau Ferre de France. Tilt-shift uses special lenses and unique angles to capture a real life scene as if it were in miniature. In this case, the video combines tilt-shift photography with models and 3-D animation and adds a giant human hand making improvements to the railway network. Nice touch.

For home remodelers weighing whether real hardwood or Pergo XP laminate will wear better on the floor, check out this marketing video, produced by Atlanta-based ad agency, Fitzgerald+CO. Pergo XP foregoes the standard product performance demonstration and shows a cast of odd characters performing unspeakable acts on the flooring. Fitzgerald+CO wisely chose to film the ad in Venice Beach, California, where even bikini-clad roller skaters and Mr. Universe muscle men don’t cause a stir — just another day at the beach.

Canal+, the French television network and film production company, promoted its familiarity with every aspect of the filmmaking business, in every genre including porn, by creating a detailed flow chart of the process. Developed by Euro RSCG, the Canal+ infographic/advertisement is fun, fascinating, a great primer for novice filmmakers, and a convincing argument for why filmmakers would benefit from Canal +’s knowledge and support.

Here’s an effective print ad for VW Phaeton that doesn’t show the product at all — not the exterior, interior, engineering marvels or even a silhouette of the product. In fact, you wouldn’t make the connection to an automobile, much less a specific brand, if you didn’t see the VW logo and read the tagline at the bottom of the page: “Arrive in better shape. The Phaeton with adaptive air suspension.” At first glance, the ad just looks like an intriguing dissection of Cubist art. Look again. The humor (and the marketing message) come through when the ad is taken in as a whole. Very clever.

Grabarz & Partner in Hamburg, Germany, created this print ad series, titled “Cubism,” illustrated by Silke Bachmann.

Whether pushing soft drinks, electronic games, clothes or jewelry, all the TV ads during the Christmas season seem alike. They are packed with every Christmas cliché — a rosy-cheeked Santa, cute kids in pajamas, elves, reindeer, snow, families gathered around the Christmas tree basking in the warm glow of a fireplace. If you’ve seen one Christmas commercial, you’ve seen them all – and can’t remember any of them, much less the product they’re promoting. So, it is refreshing to see some retailers strive for originality. Here, Brooks Brothers and Walmart chose animals to celebrate the season by singing “Jingle Bells.” There the similarity ends, and the fun begins.

Happy holidays, everyone.

Here’s a case of taking the same visual concept and using it to communicate two different marketing messages. This “night light” print ad, created by Cossette West in Canada, promotes the fact that McDonald’s is now open all night, 24/7.

It builds on a visual idea, conceived by Leo Burnett USA, for an outdoor marketing campaign touting McDonald’s as having the “Best Fries on the Planet.” Visible from three miles around, the billboard shot vertical beams of golden light up from a super-sized French-fry packet, illuminating the night skies of Chicago. Although this spectacular “tribute to fries” garnered lots of accolades for its ingenuity, the outdoor light show was also called insensitive for what some considered an uncanny resemblance to the Twin Tower “Tribute in Light” commemoration of the 9/11 tragedy. We don’t think so. For one thing, the billboard – which came down last week – was only shown in Chicago near the company’s headquarters. Also, the red box of fries is so iconic that viewers immediately associate it with the fast-food giant and chuckle. Don’t know whether this marketing concept will be extended beyond print ads and billboards, but maybe it should be turned into a promotional giveaway of a real “french fry” night light.

To advertise the fact that Amtrak, America’s nationally owned railway, now offers free wi-fi services on 12 of its East Coast routes, Arnold DC agency in Arlington, Virginia, combined an iconic symbol of each regional route and the wi-fi signal. With creative direction by Mick Sutter and illustrations by Andrew Bannecker, the AmtrakConnect ad campaign kept text to a minimum and let the images speak for themselves.

While this marriage of location and wi-fi signal may seem simple, the challenge was to find the one image that people immediately associated with the region — e.g., Maine lobster, Philadelphia Liberty Bell, Adirondack mountains – and then make the wi-fi mark an integral part of the silhouetted image and not feel like a forced and clumsy “add-on.” This they did. Nice.

The fact that the Museum of Communism in Prague is next to a casino and above a McDonald’s burger restaurant is an ironic “thumbing one’s nose” at the oppressors who kept the Czech Republic under nearly a half century of totalitarian rule. The museum, which has as its slogan “Communism: The Dream, the Reality, the Nightmare,” is dedicated to relating what daily life was like living behind the Iron Curtain, right up to the Velvet Revolution that led to the overthrow of the Communist government in 1989. It includes everything from video clips, Soviet memorabilia, and a replica of a Soviet interrogation room.

As educational and serious as that subject is, the Museum of Communism promotes itself with wry humor, offering a vast collection of well-designed posters done in vintage style. In addition to a Russian nesting doll with a shark-like grin, there are Soviet propaganda broadsides for the masses, an Andy Warhol-style portrait of Khrushchev, and a Soviet soldiers knock-off of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover, among others. What better way to celebrate freedom than poking fun at the bad old days.

Chanel let its Le Vernis line of fingernail polish take centerstage with this choreographed dance number by Grammy-nominated director Patrick Daughters and French set designer Aline Bonetto. Sassy fingers strut down a mini-runway to the doo-wop tune of “Little Bitty Pretty One” by Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers and break into chorus-line steps. The set incorporates several of the couture house’s symbols including the double “C” logo, pearl necklaces, and Coco Chanel’s famous mirrored spiral staircase. The closing credit cites the starring roles of the nail polish shades.

The Shade Parade promo video was preceded earlier this year by the equally charming Chanel Nowness animation, by Peter Phillips, Chanel’s Global Creative Director for makeup. It’s all wonderful silliness and great fun.

When you consider standard car ads, you can pretty much imagine the scenario – beautiful young couple driving over curvy scenic roads or attracting envious stares from suburban neighbors as the car pulls into the driveway. So it is refreshing to see how Volkswagen Phaeton has elevated its ads to fine art in order to convey the handmade quality of the luxury sedan. In India, DDB Mudra Group in Mumbai suggested the artisan’s pride of craftsmanship and attention to intricate details through the use of a traditional Indian art form. The way the Phaeton is integrated into the art is both surprising and memorable. More importantly, this isn’t a “foreign” ad jarringly adapted to an Indian audience. It speaks directly to India’s rich aesthetic heritage.

The Volkswagen Phaeton shadow puppet video, produced by Grabarz & Partner Werbeagentur in Hamburg, Germany, is diametrically different from the Indian paintings, yet it too is steeped in rich tradition. The shadow show draws on ancient artistry and graceful choreography. All of this goes to prove that there is more than one way to tell the same story. It’s the same product, same underlying message, both exquisitely evocative and unique.