As an industry with a tendency to overthink things, I think this agency is bringing simplicity back. And with good reason – the marketing department might be lucky to score a cursory glance from the average consumer, and so, the message conveyed in that split second is all the PR they’ll ever generate. Instead of intense and complex images, the stark and recognisable graphic in this FedCup gets the message across instantly.

It is rare for me to enjoy an advertising that embraces these clichés – I mean, hot pink and curves for women’s tennis? But I suppose there’s no reason to criticise if it makes its point, and it does. My initial reaction was that the extreme femininity in the ad was a little unnecessary for a sport like tennis, which isn’t necessarily male-dominated. I then realised that I had never heard of the FedCup, supposedly the premier world event in female tennis.

With full recognition of the need to appeal to female sportsfans, you would think that the ad agency would have a little more credit for my gender. Something a little less obvious than the hot pink could have gone a long way, and using some Barbie-fembot like body for the image could also be misconstrued. Then again, maybe I am over-analysing – another tendency of the industry.

So it’s smart and to the point, but it’s also a tad clichéd. I suppose it could go either way – let’s call it deuce, and be done with it.

Creative Director / Art Director / Illustrator: Vladimir Petrovic
Published: November 2008

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Foam ear plugs swallow every kind of noise.

Somewhere out there, a concert pianist is tut-tutting with disapproval. Other insulted parties include an electric guitarist, a rockin’ drummer, and a trumpeter for good form. Now I think the guy who mows the lawn may get over it, but I can’t be sure – after all, landscaping is art too.

The concept of the ad is clever – the ear plug swallowing the unwanted noise. But placing instruments into the category of noise-makers is a little much. And as eye-catching as the imagery may be, (and please excuse the unsavouriness), the graphic placement of the instruments on the trajectory indicates, well, the ear plug is throwing up, as opposed to swallowing. If music is being equated with vomit, those poor musicians are now screaming. Not only is that a little distasteful, accident or not, the ad is placing music in the noise pollution category, somewhere alongside construction and machinery.

Furthermore, both backgrounds are a little distracting from the main image – really, they didn’t need to be so intricate. And actually, the first is a tad confusing as well; why are you at a dimmed concert venue if you don’t want to listen to the tunes? Avoiding the scary chainsaw and drill action is one thing, but shelling out for tickets to a gig only to wear your foam buds? Not too high on the reality factor, Butter Berlin.

With all apologies to 3M, throw away the ear plugs! We could all use some more music in our lives.

Advertising Agency: BUTTER.Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Creative Directors: Timm Holm, Michael Preuss
Art Director: Björn von Buchholtz
Copywriter: Till Grabsch
Photographer: Christoph Riccius
Post Production: Else Dittel
Graphics: Andrea Heinrich, Zuzana Havelcova
Account Supervisor: Rolf Schrickel
Account Management: Orlina Miller
Published: January 2009

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Life. It’s worth sticking around for.

One Londoner goes in a store for a ciggy packet, shells out the pounds and leaves. He strolls a bit, past shop windows, thinking about his sickly girl, but mostly about the ill economy. He nabs his lighter and then the packet. In the characteristic way smokers do before lighting a fag, he gawks at the gloss of the packet. There’s something different about it, he thinks. Suddenly it hits him like a zillion nicotine patches: That’s an image of a heart being taken out.

Last October, cigarette packets all over the United Kingdom began to be manufactured with the grotesquenesses. Emblazoned on them are images, fifteen in all, showing surgical operations underway on fated hearts and lungs. UK’s health department have earlier been impressed with text warnings on smoking-related diseases, credited for swaying 90,000 people into seeking help. Some tougher love is in order this time, although the new packets won’t be available until all previous stock are distributed.

Smoking kills six times more Britons than AIDS, accidents, murder and suicide altogether. Civic leaders have repeatedly fallen back on scare tactics to stave off the habit. Granted, the use of graphic images is new to the UK, but the drill is getting flashier. At long last, someone figured out a more understated way about it.

Not only did agency Saatchi & Saatchi X pass on clichés but it also outright eschewed the visuals. This campaign, in effect outdoors around London throughout January 2009, relies singly on the written word.

Rather than being an encore of anything, this outdoor campaign doesn’t connote death; the erstwhile text warnings were never about life anyway. Ant Melder wrote the copy, the bulk of which consists of fictional conversations concerning old people just beginning to experience life’s joys.

Now his are hardly sob stories, nor are they vapid pep talks. One of the ads reads as septuagenarians just planning to marry. And there’s the man becoming grandpa for the first time. In another execution, a publisher calls a woman to inform her that her book is seeing print, after four decades in the back burner. There’s also the old man hearing his son was about to play football with the Hammers. Sniff, sniff.

Each execution tapers to an inspirational “life….sticking around for” line—it could have been an ad for suicide—and an invitation to phone 0800 002200.

“Quitline,” as the hotline is called, leads to QUIT, an anti-smoking nonprofit. QUIT paid for the ads to appear, aptly, on cigarette bins. Furnished by London’s Adbins, the giant ashtrays are projected to seize the attention of smokers around the same time they would make their first puff.

Somehow, all these is supposed to consolidate efforts by the British government to curb smoking. A smoking ban has been in effect in the UK since July 2007.

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi X, London, UK
Creative Director: Emma Perkins
Art Director: Seamus Higgins, Roger Kennedy
Copywriter: Ant Melder

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Here is the creative process that went in to this: “So get this, we get a small dog smelling a Hyena’s ass who will have that smile on its face you see in animated films. Yea and that will be perfect ad campaign advertising for your new VW Caravelle van.”

Seems like fun to me. I guess this sort of thing is close the  heart for Ogilvy agency from Cape Town’s heart. You know animas, cars and poop. I like it but I am not buying it.

Brand: VW Caravelle
Agency: Ogilvy Cape Town
Executive Creative Director: Chris Gotz
Creative Director: Gordon Ray
Copywriter: Gordon Ray
Art Director: Jamie Mietz
Country: South Africa

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First question: Where can I get one? Seriously – this is the Willy Wonka paradise of park benches.

Second question: Do Nestle and Hersheys execs sit around rubbing their hands with glee everytime the new childhood obesity figures are released?

Honestly, this image is simple, memorable and appealing, which is pretty much a home run in advertising. But having said that, edible furniture people? Really? Do we crave chocolate that much?

The truth is, we do. And ads like these aren’t helping. But having said that, the poor kids at Nestle are just doing their job. I was surprised to see that this is a British ad, it reminds of the American decadence that created an entire Hersheys themed amusement park.

If the bench is real, the concept might work a little better as a television ad – after all, if you can build a chocolate bench that actually looks like a Kit Kat, as well as tie it in with the age-old ‘Have a break’ thing – you may as well show off your hard work and prove that it is real.

A similar KitKat bench with the wrapper still on is also around, but this one is far more believable. I think it’s about time the vegie producers got this creative – think of the children people!

Advertising Agency: JWT London, UK
Creative Director: Russell Ramsay
Art Director: Ben Markey
Copywriter: Mitul Shar
Released: December 2008

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This looks like an ad from the eighties, made by a low budget and lame photography. Especially the quin and king shots are quite bad. Its kind off horrible photography. Poorly styled models bad lighting boring set. Even some props lire the table do not look right, but perhaps I am getting too picky now.

Interesting idea, but it seems to have “Monkey Magic” copy and crummy art direction. So apart from all the ways it sucks, it’s ok.

Advertising Agency: Máxima Brasil, Anapolis, Brazil
Creative Director / Art Director: Paulo Ribas
Copywriter: Erick Moneró
Illustrator: Fred Lobo

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“Everyone in the company came into work to find their computers vandalized with crayon scribbles. To promote “Bring your kids to work day,” childlike art was hand-drawn on acetate sheets, which were trimmed to fit the screens. Building security secretly unlocked over 500 offices the night before so the acetate sheets could be affixed to everyone’s computer monitor.”

This is the type of idea that award show judges will probably only give merit to since it’s an in-house idea. The fact that they put this much heart into the execution for an in-house event is admirable. I love the story of how security got involved to do this undercover stunt. Down & dirty yet pristine in execution.

What would Friday night drinks look like when done this way? Messy…

Advertising Agency: BBDO New York, USA
Art Directors / Copywriters: Frank Anselmo, Jayson Atienza
Chief Creative Officers: David Lubars, Bill Bruce

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