Advertising

Continuation of Life

The massive earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, made funerals an all too frequent occurrence, draping the country in the black and white colors of grief. The Nishinihon Tenrei Funeral Parlor in Japan sought to soften the somber mood and turned to I&S/BBDO in Tokyo for a respectful advertisement that would remind people of the beauty of life. The agency created a full-size human skeleton out of pressed flowers and reprinted it as a poster with the message “Life Is Endless”. The poster was unveiled at a funeral trade show.

Advertising

What Makes an Ad Go Viral

Sports and beer were meant for each other. If you watch beer commercials, that’s the impression you get. The beer- sports fan theme is an advertising cliché. Unfortunately, most of the ads are so interchangeably similar that one brand name on a beer bottle could be photoshopped out and replaced with another and no one would know the difference. Most of these commercials feature attractive, young people with bottles of beer in their hands, yucking it up in a crowded sports bar. When you’ve seen one beer-in-bar commercial, you’ve seen them all. Which brings us to the Carlsberg Fan Academy spot, created by Fold 7 agency in London. Like most videos that go viral, this one has a story line that holds your attention and is fun to watch. It’s a comedy sketch, with actors not models, and the brand message for Carlsberg comes through strong, but doesn’t stomp over the entertainment value. The viewers’ delight in getting amusement from an ad, makes them feel good about the brand and want to retweet it to share with friends.

Humor

Beware of Bears!

UK ad agency Viral Factory filmed this commercial for Samsung’s EcoBubble Washing Machine on location in Manning Park, British Columbia, where nature is wild and unpredictable. Directed by James Rouse, produced by Jon Stopp, and post-production by Jellyfish Pictures.

Motion Graphics

Blue Mondays Made Brighter by Starbucks

Starbucks in the UK found a novel way to promote its discount latte special, available only on Mondays until February 18. London-based ad agency AMV BBDO created a stop-motion video to tout other great events that happened on a Monday, citing Neil Armstrong’s first walk on the moon, the first chiming of Big Ben, the first performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as examples. The entire commercial was produced in-house at Brand New School, using items from Starbucks for props. Coffee cups, napkins, wooden stir sticks, straws and corrugated java jackets serve as stand-ins for super heroes, landmarks and Macbeth’s three witches hunkered around a cauldron stirring up “toil and trouble.” The charm of the animation is its playful homemade quality. The only question is did someone at AMV dream up the idea on a Monday?

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Humor

Flemish Travel Advice

De Lijn, the public bus company run by the Flemish government in Belgium, has launched a new ad campaign showing that it is smarter to take the bus or tram than travel alone. The concept for these commercials came from Duval Guillaume Modem in Antwerp, and the 3-D production was done by CC (Creative Conspiracy). Don’t know if there is safety in numbers by taking a bus in Belgium, but in the U.S., it’s crowded and a good way to get elbowed by strangers and attacked by psychopaths. Still, the ad is memorable and cute.

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