A big, red push button was recently placed on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. A sign with the text “Push to add drama” invited people to use the button. The result is nothing short of mind-blowing. Find out what happened – after the jump!
You might have caught this billboard in Cape Town CBD. It’s been created by our buddies over at Bletchley Park, for their client – Bronx Shoes. From the road it might just look like a guy with stubble. And what’s more, that stubble is in 3D. It actually comes out of the billboard. But wait, […]
The above is in reference to Helen Zille’s recent “refugee” Twitter snafu. Keep up the fine work, ladies and gents.
Still don’t get why the iPad is the best tablet out there? Then check out this presentation by two Swedish magicians – their use of seven iPads, along with some old-fashioned trickery, should clear things up for you. Bucket loads of amazing are waiting for you – after the jump.
The advertising industry needs to “stop being stereotypical” about talent if it wants to retain it. That’s the opinion of Matthew Bull, former chairman of Lowe and Partners, founder of Lowe Bull agency in South Africa, and now a partner at The Bull-White House in New York. He’s written an open letter on the topic, in which he makes an interesting distinction between “wordthinkers” and “visualthinkers”.
A month ago the battle between FNB and Standard Bank was just heating up. Following Standard Bank’s complaints about FNB’s “misleading” advertising in February, the banks remain at loggerheads. In recent days FNB has lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about its competitor, which it says is now attempting “to sell nonexistent products”.
This gem popped up in our social media feed yesterday, courtesy of one humorous individual. It is a billboard that’s been displayed in London Underground stations, and it advertises cheap travel to France’s northern coast. But it’s clearly an image of Llandudno beach in Cape Town.
Electronics companies don’t have it as easy as they used to, especially since Apple came along. They have to make you really want their products – especially in the field of cellphones and computers. SONY has enlisted the help of Wes Anderson, to help them out with a new 60-second stop-motion ad. Click ‘continue’ to see the spot.
The world-wide Red Bull backlash continues, with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference now calling on all Southern African Catholics to “fast” from drinking Red Bull until Easter. The energy drink’s latest advert angered Christians for poking fun at Jesus walking on water. The Conference say they are hoping to show that “when it comes to mocking religious symbols, there is such a thing as bad publicity.”
For the first time ever, you’ll be able to watch every single Olympic event live, for free, without having to pirate it through some dodgy online stream. In fact, it’s actually a clever marketing ploy on the behalf of NBC, but still, it’s better than nothing.
A new website, called Dollar Shave Club, just launched. What are they all about? Look, I can tell you – or you can watch this video. The level of awesomeness you are about to experience knows no boundaries. Check it out inside.
This might turn out to be the most inspiring documentary you will watch all year. A serious campaign is underway to bring down Joseph Kony, the infamous leader of the Ugandan guerrilla group: the Lord’s Resistance Army. The LRA is responsible for an unquantifiable number of atrocities across Uganda. Human trafficking, brutal rape, and child soldier deployment are commonplace. This is KONY 2102.
Good work, guys. Good work. [Thanks, Mike!]
Last night saw the expulsion of Julius Malema, along with some of his brothers-in-arms, from the ANC. Now might be a good time to sit back and reflect on this prophetic Nando’s poster, released in November last year, that now rings truer than ever. The headline reads: “Juju, you’ve been served.” While the body copy […]
For the first time ever, researchers will now be able to access extensive historical Twitter data. Previously, only the preceding 30 days of tweets were available for companies to search. The new move means that trend analysts and companies looking for specific insight will now be able to access tweets dating back two years.
Did you know that Shrien Dewani’s lawyer used the previous advert to try and convince a court that South African jails were dangerous and that he shouldn’t be extradited from Britain to face trial for allegedly killing his wife Anni? The sequel, which aired last night for the first time, is bound to instil yet more fear in drunken drivers’ minds.
Microsoft has launched a fascinating attack on Google Apps. In this instalment, Microsoft uses the American television series, Moonlighting, which aired during the mid 1980’s, to give us the spoof: Googlighting. Microsoft asks: “What happens when the world’s largest ad sales business tries to sell productivity software on the side?” It’s Microsoft Office versus Google Apps.
An intelligent billboard set up in London has facial recognition tech built in that lets it scan passersby for gender – if a woman stops to take a look, it plays a 40-second video clip. Dudes only get a link to the advertiser’s website. It’s like they’re trying to send a message or something.
Irish low-cost airline, Ryanair knows that sex sells. That’s why they ran an ad campaign last year which showed scantily-clad models in lingerie with the strap line “Red Hot Fares & Crew.” But the advert has been banned by the ASA, after staff members from Ryanair complained. They say it portrays cabin crew as glamour models and that they subsequently feel objectified.
In the battle for king of the ebook readers, Apple has been fighting pretty hard. iBooks for the iPad is a beautiful piece of software, there’s no denying it. Apple’s only real competition comes from Amazon, with it’s range of Kindle products. These have all been revamped recently – with a new ad to go with it. Full vid after the jump.
The 102 turbine Walney Offshore wind farm located approximately 15 kilometres off Walney Island, Cumbria, in the Irish Sea in the UK, is about to start harvesting the wind. It will provide electricity for 320 000 homes and the project has cost £1 billion.
Very clever McDonald’s. The fast food giant has introduced eco-advertising to its marketing strategy – in the form of a seed bomb campaign by designer Sean Click. It’s not the first time the technique has been used, but the ingenious part of the McD’s seed bomb ad that has blossomed on the side of a California highway is that its removal would probably be illegal.
Old Spice is so powerful, it sells itself in other people’s commercials. No, really, true story. If that’s still not enough for you, then how about Terry Crews’ pecs making super cute laser sounds? Video after the jump.
Yesterday, OK Go released their new music video for Needing/Getting, which doubled as a Super Bowl ad for the Chevy Sonic. The band drives a Chevy fitted with retractable arms down a 3km stretch of desert lined with 1 000 instruments to perform a version of “Needing/Getting” that took four months to prep and four days to shoot.
Well. This just brings a whole other meaning to the phrase “mile high club”. Referring to an article about two airlines merging, Bloomberg Businessweek’s newest issue front cover features a lewd moment between the two companies’ planes.
Frankies Olde Soft Drink Company CEO, Mike Schmidt, has today revealed the small beverage manufacturer has won its case against the larger retailer. Early reports indicated that Woolworths would need to remove its entire range indefinitely, but instead it will only need to repackage its products and remove the slogan: “Good Old Fashioned”. You can read the full Advertising Standards Authority report by following this link.
You may have heard recently that former Model C schools – with English as the medium of instruction – may be scrapping African languages. Naturally, Nandos had something to say about this malarky. The headline reads: “Respect your (mother) tongue” While the body copy reads: “Give it a taste of our delicious Peri-Peri, flame-grilled chicken.” […]
We’re big fans of those hysterical (and amazingly well-timed) Nando’s posters. You can check out our favourite ones here, and here. And here, and here. Oh, and here, too. So it’s nice to see that the boys and girls who seed them, Retroviral, had such a great 2011. Ta, fellas. Keep up the radvertising. [Director: […]
It’s nice that companies are willing to go to insane lengths to try and make us buy their things. Take G-Form, who wrapped up an Apple tablet in their ‘Extreme Edge’ case, and launched it into space on a weather balloon before dropping it back to earth to prove how extreme their case really is.
Whether you love it or hate it, Facebook’s new Timeline feature is here to say. Rather than jump on the bandwagon condemning the new feature, an Israeli ad agency used it to send a powerful anti-drug message.