Target Kaleidoscopic fashion spectacular

During New York's fashion week 2010, the Standard Hotel was converted into a kaleidoscopic fashion spectacular, complete with 66 dancers and 44,640 LED lights:

The windows from 155 rooms in the 18-story hotel were illuminated with a dance show for an entire city block of onlookers below.

Hot Wheels track tape

Here's another good spot for Hot Wheels.  This one is a direct marketing ad from Mexico:

This roll of tape was made to look like a race track as to "turn every place into a Hot Wheels track."

It's HIP to have involved parents

Here is an OOH campaign for the COA Youth & Family Centers in Milwaukee to raise awareness of the positive impact parents' involvement with their child's education has with success in the classroom.  They have done it in a very cool interactive way to show it is HIP to "Get Involved Your Child's Education":

These "guerrilla" classrooms have interactive learning displays where parents could see "how many centimeters tall you are," or "solve this puzzle," or "read a story," or "learn about angles" or "find out how much you weigh on the moon" with their child. 

The campaign included a bus wrap that looked like a safari jeep stressing that parents could "learn about nature" with their child.

Stop! It's lego time.

Here are a few spots for Lego, including a couple of outdoor posters in Malaysia:

This is what AR+Lego looks like.  The lego bus posters blend into the city background, adding a lego-fied multi-eyed slug, lego robots playing hide-and-go-seek and a lost urban orca into the landscape.  If we only had an augmented reality app that would Lego-fy our everyday surroundings so everything looks like lego.

Here is a video for the Lego Builders of Infinity website game:

Visitors of the website build a lego bridge to get the little lego guy to the other side.   There are different brick colors and sizes to choose from, as well as special bricks that vanish, crumble, fall or speed up when the little lego guy jumps across them. 

Allow Google Voice to pronouce that for you

The OOH campaign for the Google Voice mobile search app in the UK includes billboards with pronunciations of London Underground tube stops as well as things people search for on their mobile while out and about:

Taxi Numbers (tak-see num-buhz)

Travel Updates (trah-vuhl up-deyts)

Ticket Reservations (ti-kit reh-zer-vey-shunz)

 Latest Scores (ley-tist skohrz)

Restaurant reviews (res-tront ree-vyooz)

 FTSE 100 (foot-see wun-hun-dred)

 

 Exchange Rates (eks-cheynj reyts)

Cinema Times (si-neh-mar tymz)

Some Google adverts along the Tube included:

Leicester Square (les-tuh skwair)

Marylebone (mar-lee-boan)

Oxford Circus (oks-fuhd sur-khus)

Piccadilly Circus (pih-ka di-lee sur-khus)

 Covent Garden (koh-vunt gar-duhn)

The billboards get your attention because of its minimalistic design and the fact it's just a bunch of gobbledygook thrown on a wall.  The tag "say it to get it," instructs the viewer to say it out loud, and it does take a few seconds to figure out the ad.  But it doesn't take too long where the viewer starts to lose interest.  Figuring out what the ad says is an interactive game in a sense.

Immature signs

Italian sunglasses maker Glassing wanted to promote their new Music Skin collection at MIDO, an international optical fair, but the price for a booth was too expensive.  So they thought of way to promote the sunglasses for in a more cost-effective way that fits within the brand's "immature" personality. 

The Glassing female street team situated themselves at the entrance and secretly attached fliers on the backs of people entering MIDO.  Most passersbys did not mind to have these lovely females tapping them on the back.

The stunt is pranksterish, but it fits in with Glassing's "immature" brand.  It's gotta be a little obnoxious to find out you've been walking around a conference with a sign on your back, but this stunt was done in a way that it comes off as more funny than annoying. 

Smart little gifts

Remember what I was saying about miniatures?  Here is a series of cards mailed out during the holidays from Smart Canada.  Miniature-sized holiday goodies were made and affixed to the card.  It included tiny candy canes, wrapping paper, tinsel, ornaments and a vinyl record of Christmas favorites.  

A smart car may be small, but it provides a big amount of joy.

MTV chopsticks

Here is a paper placemat created in Sao Paulo, Brazil for MTV's "The Music Never Stops" campaign:

Placemats were made to look like a standard five-piece drum kit, and customers were given chopsticks with copy on the wrapper saying:  Chopsticks = Drumsticks.

30,000 placemats were created and distributed at one of the largest Japanese fast food chains in Sao Paulo. 

Wimbeledon balls

In homage to Bravia's bouncy balls, a Wimbledon spot was created.  But instead of colorful superballs pelting the streets of San Fransisco, this UK commercial for the Wimbledon Finals has a bunch of tennis balls and was filmed in 3D for Sony:

The broadcast on BBC HD included a "tennis ball hunt" contest where "virtual tennis balls" were released all over the internets.  Each virtual ball "caught" was an sweepstakes entry for a chance to win VIP tickets to the Wimbledon Women's Final.

If you've watched the Making of Bouncy Balls, it's a pretty spectacular feat, involving 170,000 superballs.  When the bouncy balls are shot out of the cannon, the sound of the balls hitting the street is deafening, setting off car alarms, leaving crew ducking for cover as they try to get the shot. 

Remember?

Even though there's 3D element in the new Wimbledon spot, it doesn't seem to capture the same essence as the original bouncy balls. 

Rube Goldbering around!

Here are two ads that contain Rube Goldberg gadgetry to tell their visual story.

The first one is from France to illustrate the Ford Active's Park Assist feature:

This is well done in how they used doggies to initiate the actions in the "most spectacular dog show ever."  Even the beginning sequence where the dog imitates the MGM lion is pretty brilliant.  I've said this before how I love the French creative stuff.  It's absolutely magical in its simplicity, proving once and again you do not have to waste much on CGI-stuff to weave a good (visual) tale.  This Rube Goldering starts off with a doggie who turn on the jams to begin the musical sequence amid backyard ramps in a jungle of toys.  I love how the backdrops have this child-craft aesthetic to it so it looks like a bunch of kids really took the time to create this magical display.  Aww... and the lifeguard dog "rescues" a drowning Barbie.  I love the "unconventional" domino pieces used like board games and books.  

This second spot is the "1st Impression" for the Sony Tablet:

This vid is certainly more "polished" than the Frenchy one, but that kind of jettisons away from what typical Rube Goldberg machines looks/feels like.  Rube Goldbering is fascinating because it's a bunch of stuff thrown together to create an overly-complicated machine to do a very simple thing.  But in this complex contraption, we see the tinkerings of an imaginative inventor who sees mundane processes is a new ways.  Probably the most classic example is from Pee Wee's Big Adventure:

Pee Wee is the quintessential child that never grew up. 

The French spot contains numerous wonder-elements that keep us enthralled as we wait for the next sequence of events.  Whereas, the Sony spot tries too hard to maintain this sleek-aesthetic and ends up being very static, sterile and ultimately very slow.  It never wins our heart.  So when the tablet displays the words "I love you," it comes off as tremendously creepy and disingenuous.

While I do slightly enjoy the 'sleekness' of the look, since tablets are sexy products that deserve clean lines, elements of the Sony spot seemed so forced.  The randomly placed figures seem misplaced, as if it was a last-ditch effort to include ties to a humanistic connection to the product.  Those figurines could have removed from the shot and it wouldn't have made a difference as the spot comes off cold.    

Had there been more high-speed ramps, like the first one (0:10), I think it would have made for a more interesting video.  But alas the majority of the film is eaten up by a slow-moving train that illuminates a background.  As beautiful as the shadows cast on the wall are, where ordinary objects were made to look like real scenery, the movement of the train is too slow, and it could have been sped up just a tad or this illumination concept could have been incorporated in a more dynamic way. 

Sliding the tablet near the end is kind of cool (1:31), which they should have had more of, to make it more visually compelling.  The shadow cast on the wall of the "To Be Continued..." was really a nice touch, but I had a hard time getting to the end of this almost two-minute vid.  It felt more like five minutes long.  Perhaps the next one will be more exciting.

Business card chair

Here's a business card from the Brazilian furniture retailer Tok&Stok.

 

The business card separates into "furniture pieces" that can be "assembled" into a tiny little chair.

Be stupid with spreadsheets

After the dismal Diesel Island vid, Diesel makes up for it with Excellbook, part of their Be Stupid campaign.  Excellbook is a downloadable app that allows you to be on Facebook while it appears you are slaving away on a spreadsheet.  

Look: 

 

Download Excellbook.

The legend of Zelda... Williams

Sometimes celebrities give their offspring completely wtf names like Zolten, Moxie, Apple...  Really?  You're going to subject your child to that?  Actually, when you think about it, Moxie is kind of a cool name. 

So it turns out Robin Williams' half-filipina daughter Zelda is named after the video game:

Here Zelda and Robin Williams talk about the game some more:

Bookmark tells you... You are here.

Here is another bookmark campaign from India.  These are "GPS bookmarks" created for the Ford Endeavour, showcasing the vehicle's GPS geolocational positioning.  A small window frame in the middle of the bookmark shows the reader the exact word(s) they left off at.  

The GPS bookmark was distributed in bookstores and were given to customers purchasing travel books.  While I like this bookmark, and it is actually the perfect bookmark for me since I read at a snail-like pace, often getting distracted and then wasting reading-time trying to figure out where I left off, I just wonder how many of these bookmarks were actually given away.  This pic showcases a sample book "Driving Holidays ..." but these types of books only represents a small fraction of the type of travel books there are and an even smaller percentage of people who purchase these types of travel books.  

Apples to apples

Here's a cost-effective OOH campaign in Slovakia for the Slovak School Archery Club.

Apples were placed on the heads of statues around Bratislava.  Each apple had a sticker with the archery club's website.

Tok&Stok puzzle

Here is an old-fashioned game for furniture retailer Tok&Stok in Brazil.  

To show how easy it is put together Tok&Stok's furniture, puzzle boxes ranging from 4-, 6- and 12-pieces were made.  The amount of puzzle pieces in each box is equivalent to the amount of furniture parts.

iPodspirational!

Here's an amazing video from "Virtual Magician" Marco Tempest.  Using three iPod Touches, Marco creates an illusion that is truly magical.

Pizza art

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the print shop ArtCenter targeted ad agencies with their "La Pizza" direct marketing campaign:

Boxes of pizza were delivered with toppings directly printed on the dough, and had copy that said: "We also print on paper."  Agency people who commented about the campaign on ArtCenter's website received a voucher for an actual pizza from a local pizza shop. 

Skate pinball

A skate park that looks like a big pinball machine was made in New Zealand for Mountain Dew:

Mountain Dew Skate Pinball on Vimeo.

Here's the Making Of video:

Darth goes to Disneyland

Here is a magical spot for Disneyland.  Darth Vader decides to visit the Magic Kingdom but disappointingly finds the re-designed Star Tours ride is not open.  That doesn't stop him and his entourage of stormtroopers from having a day of fun.  

I want you to hit this print ad as hard as you can

Here is an amazing print ad for Peugeot 408 from Brazil:

To illustrate the vehicle's safety features, they created an airbag - that inflates in the ad.  The insert showcases the front of the vehicle with copy that roughly translates to:  "Hit this spot hard and find out why the new Peugeot provides a lot more safety."

When you punch the insert, a small bag starts inflating on the other side of the print.  The interior of the vehicle is pictured on the next page with the "airbag" and copy that reads "Six airbags and eight protection points to absorb any impact"

I'm really looking forward to June 11th

For the month of June, Dogmatic restaurant in NY is offering either a FREE or $1 signature sausage dog, depending on what day it is.

 There are some really interesting looking hot-dog days coming up:

Here's all the shenanigans for the month of June:

June 1st - Identical twins

June 2nd - Redheads

June 3rd - Nannies

June 4th - Bowties

June 5th - People who go to the gym

June 6th - People with really old cell phones

June 7th - People taller than 6'5''

June 8th - Canadian tuxedos

June 9th - People from Missouri

June 10th - You and your boss

June 11th - People in period costume

June 12th - People who just went to a movie

June 13th - Full sleeves [tattoo-wise]

June 14th - Pregnant women

June 15th - People who can solve this math problem

June 16th - Scuba instructors

June 17th - Handlebar moustaches

June 18th - Newlyweds

June 19th - You and your dad

June 20th - Pink socks

June 21st - People who skateboard

June 22nd - Dentists

June 23rd - Ty Manning & Dr. Goldstein

June 24th - 41-year-olds

June 25th - Flower bouquets

June 26th - Old-fashioned pocket watches

June 27th - People born on October 13th

June 28th - Men with ponytails

June 29th - Australians

June 30th - JIMMY FALLON

#TweetingFridge

Here is a Twitter campaign from Bonafont bottled water in Brazil:

The Tweeting Fridge on Vimeo.

Mini-fridges filled with Bonafont bottled water were sent to influential Tweeters. Using a light sensor, timer and a lot of gadgety stuff, this tweeting fridge posted tweets.

The first time the fridge is opened the @InfluentialTweeter gets a tweet:

Hello @InfluentialTweeter!!! I'm in your fridge.  Let's share with the world the experience we have together.  Go to http://www.bonafont.com.br and allow me.

Then every time the fridge is opened another tweet is posted on @InfluentialTweeter's timeline with tweets like:

There were a variety of different messages, including messages to remind @InfluentialTweeter by DM to drink water when the fridge has not been opened in a while.

Inside the washing machine

Here is an ambient ad installed in Tel Aviv's harbor boardwalk for washing machine manufacture Ariston.  

People would walk inside a massive replica of one of the new lines of Ariston's washing machines.  Projections showed footage of an actual wash cycle, showing all the stages of the wash - from start to spin cycle.  This 360-degree washing experience included vibrating floors, squirts of water and bubbles. 

Take it in the boob!

I've been ignoring the Ericson Xperia PLAY campaign starring Kristen Schaal for far too long.  She is adorable in her adorableness.  

Kristen battles Kristen in this self-deprecating spot.  

With YouTube very much on their mind, these ads are meta in how they show on the internets.  

And we all know how much the internet lulz over cats.  [Ha... this one has the BEST opening line.]  

She's quirky and fun to watch.  I love how she just drops the phone in the beginning, and does this weird floor drop to feature the product, bitches. 

Hahn beer is made out of awesome

It takes a ton of awesome to make the Australian beer Hahn SuperDry:

This beer is infused with a megatron of kung fu, mega-set drum kits, and mega-trophies of win.   All with an epic score of Knight Rider.

Directed by the dude who does Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" commercial. 

Photobooth!

Photobooths are fun!

Here is one from Colombia for the board game Pictionary.  A photobooth was set up offering free photos.  People would step inside what looked like an ordinary photo booth.  An artist hidden in the photobooth* would do a 10-second sketch to show how easy it is to do a quick Pictionary drawing.

*Kind of reminds me of this OOH campaign.

Here's another photobooth that was placed on a busy street corner in Berlin for MINI.  People put on headphones before they had their picture taken and selected a MINI style they liked.  

The photo taken would be instantly streamed on a large screen in one of Berlin's busiest intersections.

Beards!

Budweiser's "Grow One, Save a Million" campaign hopes to save a ton of water that is wasted each year by men who thoughtlessly shave off their sexy beards.  

I like this.  Can't get enough of the beard, I say.

These kids hate you and your pizza

Normally I don't really like it when ads have cutesy pie kids or bloody freikin adorable infants.  It seems kind of lazy.  But I do like this one for Domino's Pizza.

The jewel of this spot is at the very end when the kid just slams a soccer ball in the adult's face.  That was kind amazing.

And who gave that kid a bullhorn?

Nude gaming party

When I first saw this, my first thought was ... this can't be real.  This has to be fake. 

Here's a nude gaming party for the XtendPlay controller.  And everyone's naughty bits are covered up.  Where did they find enough attractive people willing to be nude?  Usually nudist are not so good looking...

And turns out, it was totally and completely fake.  

I am weary of this kind of stuff.  Sure you want your things to go viral, but when it has a hoax-y kind of flavor to the sham, then it kind of leaves a bad taste...