Cooking for Brevitt

Kaupping TV Ads with John Cleese

Although some of these are old, here are some great spots from John Cleese for the Icelandic bank Kaupping. Very creative concepts which include a comedic icon and a brand willing to make fun of itself on multiple occasions. Would love to be able to see any lift or campaign metrics from these spots...

Mittens!!

Damnit Dunkin Donuts!

Listen double D - you know I love you and drink way too much of your brew, but let's ease up on the craptastic online banner advertising you got going on through Hotmail....mmmkay?

As much as I enjoy my morning French Vanilla, what I don't enjoy is having to reload my Hotmail when I check my email because your drop down banner takes over the upper portion of the page, thus eliminating my ability to navigate. This is only compounded by the fact that one must move the mouse from the top of the page to the middle, thus always scrolling over said Dunks advertisement!

I've had enough - do not make me get Rachel Ray and her galactic smile of doom involved!

For the Love of Bruce Campbell

Although everyone still loves Gunther, the original King of Cool has to be Bruce Campbell. From beatnik actor to social icon, Bruce is the ultimate cool cat....and if you don't think so - I will totally fight you! Even with new movies coming out on a steady basis, Bruce Campbell has found time to become the new spokesman for Old Spice - yes, that crappy old cologne that much like Pabst has become popular again.

Check out the two versions that have been released so far - let's hope Old Spice and Bruce Campbell kick up the jam a bit more and release a few more spots.

Take that deadites!

Sony is All Types of Crazy

Remember how cool that Grolsch advertising campaign was that I should everyone awhile back? Well, looks like Sony is trying to create buzz for God of War II - but the question has become: did they go overboard?

Across the pond in cheery old London, media outlets are raging over the recent Sony party 'celebrating' God of War II. I have to admit that I actually love the idea of setting the party during the time period of the game, but also believe they went way overboard with the goat. What is amazing to me is actually not that they did this to the damn goat, but rather that the executives gave the green light to something that would 100% generate media attention from PETA and other animal advocate groups - it just makes no sense.

The costumes, the party atmosphere, the painted bodies all made sense - but did they really think that a decapitated goat where "guests at the event were even invited to reach inside the goat's still-warm carcass to eat offal from its stomach" was a good idea?

Sony hasn't had a good 2007, so  let's hope they pull it together for the rest of the year.

Street Advertising the Grolsch Way

Came across this video of a street advertisement from Grolsch that is really cool. Really enjoy the design and interactive-ness (is that a word?) of this piece. Not sure if it lifted sales, but the lift in awareness and 'cool' factor is quite obvious.

Take a look and let me know your thoughts! Surprised we don't see similar ideas here in the States or it could just be that they aren't showing up in Boston.

Rap Cat

Thanks to kT for sending this over to me a few minutes ago - after a pretty craptastic day in which my laptop became possessed by Snorlax....I'm now happy to bring you - Rap Cat.

Being in Boston I have only been to a Checker's once and it was pretty good, but it didn't have dueling drive-thrus or a rapping cat. Big marks from me for the ad agency that thought this idea up - it's classic. Doubt it will help sell a ton of food, but the coverage alone pays for the fees.

Check out the official Rap Cat site for the full music video and some other goodies or watch the television commercial and CNN report below:

Quote of the day goes to the crazy woman from the CNN piece: 'You ever tried to dress a cat and keep clothes on it?! I don't think the cat would appreciate it, especially if you put the cat in a bag.'

Grab Your Garmin

Ok - so, the Super Bowl didn't really go the way I wanted it to.....damn you Bears, but more importantly damn you Peyton Manning - America wanted the Manning Face to come out and all we got was the goofy damn grin of yours.

Anyway...more importantly we must discuss the commercials. Now, some were good (hello Robert Goulet) and some were bad (Bud - stop the cute dog ads) and then, well then there was one that was pure gold - you know I'm talking about Garmin's Champion spot.

This was pure genius, especially for a Super Bowl ad. Now there is no way I will ever buy a Garmin GPS device, nor do I even want to know about there features, but still - this ad makes me smile every time I watch it.

For those that missed out:

For more viewing pleasure, make sure to visit their microsite which features tons of extras:

• MP3 version of the song
• Lyrics
• Tabs so you can rock out at home
• More importantly - the extended music video featuring Grim Reaper's own Steve Grimmett (click the Battle Video link)

Finally for those that have no idea who Grim Reaper or Steve Grimmett is, I present - Grim Reaper's video for 'See You in Hell'.

The Capital of Djibouti is Djibouti

I just had to post about this.....I've got a few hits the last week from Google Djibouti, which I never knew existed. Most interesting was that the traffic is all for my post on Flash Gordon which leads me to believe that there is a pretty rabid Flash Gordon fan living in Djibouti.

Now, this whole thing wouldn't be as funny as it is if Coke hadn't recently launched a campaign featuring Djibouti. I'm sure everyone has seen it, but just in case.....here we go!

Why Did They Turn Orville Into a Zombie?

I was sick on Friday, so spent way too much time watching way too much television. TV ads are pretty bizarre to me, they've never really made sense - they really can't be about selling a product because who the hell remembers that Product X has a new fresh scent?! Instead, branding and awareness seems to be the main goal. Although, by building your brand you are building your sales.....but, that's not what this is about!

Friday night...I'm sick......watching television and maybe one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen comes on - a new commercial for Orville Redenbacher's popcorn. Please, please, please tell me other people have seen this!

Now I'm all for new ideas in advertising and pushing the boundaries of what people expect, but ummmm......this just creeped me out. I really can't believe the Redenbacher family gave this the green light. And at what point did their ad agency think it was a good idea to turn one of the food industry's icons into a iPod loving zombie?

Serious - check this out.......it's just wrong.

Adidas Superstars: NBA Campaign

It's been many years since I owned a nice pair of shelltoes and after seeing the new ad campaign from Adidas supporting the new NBA Superstars collection - I just might have to go out and pick up a pair.....especially the Celtics version.

Adidas has 30 new designs, one for each NBA team - plus a signature track from Dan the Automater for each city as well. They have also launched a new microsite off of their Basketball section which features each design and all of the tracks for download - go check it out!

So, what the hell does this cool advertising campaign have to do with the MBTA you ask? Well - the shit is everywhere.......well, not really but at North Station the ads are everywhere. Harvard Square on the other hand is currently the mecca for Kellogg's cereal apparently. I am actually a big fan of ads in and around the T - it's much better to look at that crap than stare at the track or a wall for the few minutes it takes for the train to arrive.

What's interesting is that Adidas has a tradition of pushing out limited edition collections just like this. Another recent entry was their World City Superstar collection......

I have a good feeling on which shop developed these campaigns, but could be wrong. Either way - it's a great campaign, but offline and online pieces are really well put together.

Check out the entire NBA Superstars Collection over at Adidas and pick your favorite, but please please please - do not buy these: