MOD to Launch Action Figures

Due to launch on the 8th May 2009, the Ministry of Defense is to release its own range of army action figures and toys, in a licensing deal with British toy company Character Options.



The launch of a range on VE Day will include three 10-inch action figures: an infantryman, commando and pilot, with the range also including other toys such as night vision goggles.



The new action figures will be competing with the popular Action Man, and will be released before the GI Joe madness hits in the Summer, with the release of the film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Back to the 80's - A-Team - Intro

If you have a problem, if no-one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.

First airing in 1983 and running for 98 episodes until 1987, the A-Team was possibly one of the best things on TV, and with rumours of a comeback in 2010 who knows what we'll be in store for.

Calvin Klein Jeans - Threesome Advert

This is the new Calvin Klein Jeans commercial featuring models Natasha Poly, Anna Selezneva and Anna Jagodzinska tangled in a steamy threesome.



The 15 and 30 second spots will initially be exclusive online at www.calvinkleinjeans.com until the completed site launches in the summer.





Update - Monday 15th June 2009:

There has been further controversy caused by the Calvin Klein Jeans threesome advert, which has been blown up to dominate the SoHo streets with this racy billboard (below). New Yorkers have been apparently furious over the move to plaster the poster featuring three models in their steamy entanglement, although the comments following the articles seem to show a mixed reaction (Showing that there is a big tick against the controversial box for Calvin Klein).


Pic - Calvin Klein Jeans threesome billboard SoHo


Related posts: Eva's nipple causes stir in States!!

Honda Fit Vs. Fuelivores – Campaign

This is the campaign by Honda - 'Honda Fit Vs. Fuelivores', for the new Fit, set in the style of a Mad Max style futuristic movie, in which we see our hero the Honda Fit, battle against the evil mutant Fuelivores. The user must choose a side, and battle their way through various levels, and challenges to unlock content, and continue through the movie.



This is a well designed smooth site, with simple concept, and reasonably addictive content. The features of the car, all explained in a tongue in cheek way, which somehow are a benefit to you in this epic battle of good and evil. There is also plenty of additional features to the site offering users, free downloads, the ability to share unlocked movies, and explore the car in a lot of depth.

A short history of marketing

Here is quite a cool short video put together by German ad agency Scholz & Friends.

Back To The 80's - Tron - Lightbike battle

I still dream that one day I'll own one of these bad boys... who knows I might get lucky. Here is the famous Lightbike battle from the 1982 Tron, starring Jeff Bridges.

Pedigree adoption drive Super Bowl commercial

Every year I am very entertained with the PR surrounding this advertising highlight of the year. I am also slightly envious that we do not have a similar annual spectacle of an equivalent magnitude in the UK.

Below is one of the first ad’s to be released ahead of Sunday’s game is the Pedigree commercial for their Pedigree adoption drive (www.pedigreeadoptiondrive.co.uk). Others which have been released can be seen on Adrants. Personally I cannot wait for the release of the numerous movie trailers rumoured to air, included the long awaited Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer.



The 2008 Super Bowl drew in 97.5 million viewers, with that an average spot going for $2.7 million dollars. As quite interestingly pointed out by Nick Burcher (who directed me here http://commercial-archive.com), that only works out to be 2.7 cents per view (based on last year’s reported rate), compared with 5.6 cents a view for the Oscars, which has about a third of the audience. No wonder there have been so many brands justifying their need for these spots, especially during the current economic climate (Ad Age report - Yes, the Super Bowl Is Well Worth $3M a Spot).



All this aside, it is a chance for consumers to see what brands really have to offer with previous memorable ads including Ridley Scott’s Apple – ‘1984’ ad in 1984, the Tabasco ‘Mosquito’ from 1998, and Budweiser ‘Frogs’ in 1995 (MSNBC - The 10 best Super Bowl ads of all time)

Eden launch Channel with Iceberg in the Thames

Yesterday to mark the launch of new Natural History channel Eden, a 16ft high Iceberg complete with Polar bear and cub was set floating down the Thames. So in a bid to remember everything I see that’s a little bit different, I had to get this down as a post.


Photo - Eden Channel Launch - Metro.co.uk


Other activity included branded filler style ads in the morning and evening freesheets, and a lot of PR. The launch is also supported by a very nice site, which houses everything you would expect to see, from photo and video galleries to information about the programmes, and interviews. The trailer for the channel is below, for all of you, whom like me, love a good documentary.




Update: Here is a cool video sent to me on YouTube, which shows the days counting down to the Eden launch.

Back to the 80's - Flight of the navigator - David's First Flight

This is the when we see David's escape from the NASA compound in Max, in the 1986 Flight of the Navigator.



"Compliance"

Top 10 Cult Cinema Ads in the UK

In a recent poll by DCM (Digital Cinema Media), ‘Proof’ the Kylie Minogue Agent Provocateur ad has been voted the greatest cult cinema advert of all time. The full list of the Top 10 ads is as follows:


1. Agent Provocateur 'Proof' (2001)



2. The Orange Gold Spot



3. Maxell Tapes 'Break the Sound Barrier' (1982)



4. Dunlop Tyres 'Tested for the Unexpcted' (1994)



5. Ford Puma 'Bullitt' (1997)



6. Diet Coke 'Break' (1994)



7. Bacardi Rum 'If ' (1991)



8. Guinness 'Surfer' (1999)



9. Carling Black Label 'Dam Busters' (1990)



10. Sony Bravia 'Balls' (2005)



Via: DCM

Megan Fox new Lara Croft?

It was reported on Metro.co.uk today that the new Tomb Raider lead could be taken over by none other than Transformers heroine Megan Fox, who is rumoured to be taking over the franchise from Angelina Jolie.



According to the article the first film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider debuted at number one with $48.2 million in 2001 and is the most successful video game adaptation to date, grossing $300 million worldwide. The sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life didn't do quite as well but made a decent profit internationally. This certainly fuels further rumours of Paramount thinking of a third instalment to the Tomb Raider series.

Back to the 80's - Moonwalker - Smooth Criminal

Smooth Criminal from the 1988 movie Moonwalker has to be another one of my all time favourites. An unbelievably cool scene for all of those who didn't think transforming into a car, spaceship, and robot wasn't enough.

Latest Cadbury's advert 'Dancing Eyebrows'

Here is the latest Cadbury advert in the 'Glass and a Half Full Productions', entitled 'Dancing Eyebrows'...



The ad sees two children children posing for their family portrait, when boredom takes over and they break out into a crazy eyebrow dance to the 1989 track 'Don't Stop The Rock' by Freestyle. The advert aired yesterday, Friday 23rd January 2009, on Channel 4 after Celebrity Big Brother.



Cadbury's have also taken their latest ad a bit further after the success of earlier ads 'Gorilla', and 'Trucks', by launching 'Jivebrow'. Jivebrow gives the public the chance to show off their funky eyebrow grooves by signing up to the Cadbury's website, with the opportunity to be the eyebrow dancing stars of their special online ads.

Back to the 80's - Rocky III - Training video

Nothing to me says 'inspirational' better than two grown men running down a beach in the outfits for the Eric Prydz - Call on me video. This is Rocky III (1982), and is in my mind the best of the Rocky training montages, played out before Balboa's final fight with Clubber 'Mr. T' Lang.



'I pity the fool!!'

Back to the 80's - Karate Kid - Final Scene

Here is the final scene from Karate Kid (1984), every kids favourite back in the early eighties, I know it makes me wish that I'd followed in Daniel Larusso's shoes.



Wax on... Wax off!

Veet – 'Goodbye Bush' advert

Here’s an advert for Veet which was featured in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Tuesday 20th January 2009, by agency Euro RSCG Australia. A nice example of a play on words, which fit nicely with the other stories dominating the news on the day of the Inauguration.

Agent Provocateur – Love me tender… or else!

As a gentle reminder not to forget Valentine's Day, Agent Provocateur have released a new video for their campaign ‘Love me tender… or else!’, which in true Agent Provocateur fashion is certainly going to grab some attention.

The video stars British supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who takes over from Peaches Geldof who starred in Agent Provocateur’s ‘Follow The Virgin’ campaign in September 2008.



Enjoy!

Back to the 80's - She-Ra: Princess of Power - Opening theme

Not only the Princess of Power, but He-Man's hot twin sister. Here is the theme from the 1985 cartoon.

Pepsi - Dear Mr. President: Refresh Everything

As a nice way to enforce their brand values in a way which is current and in the front of everyone's mind, Pepsi have created their 'Refresh Everything' website giving users the chance to upload a message for the new President in any way they want to.



Pepsi say on the site, that there will be a number of fun experiences to allow people to engage with their 'Refresh Everything' guiding spirit, starting with the opportunity to 'speak your mind as a new president prepares to refresh the nation'. A number of celebrities have already got involved including Lady Gaga, Eva Longoria, and Will.I.Am.



There has also been a YouTube channel created for users to upload their videos and leave messages, the best of which will be uploaded to the site, as well as a Facebook page, and Mobi site.



Via Adverblog

Back to the 80's - Footloose - Tractor Chicken

Continuing my much loved elements of the 80's has to be 'Tractor Chicken' from Footloose (1984). Who could not love the idea of two tractors playing chicken to the music of Bonnie Tyler (Holding out for a Hero)? No-body that's who! I just have to point out to anyone watching this for the first time, the dread on Kevin Bacon's face despite the fact the tractors are only traveling at a snail's pace and are about a mile apart.



... Oh and apologies for the subtitles (YouTube clips are a law unto themselves)

T-Mobile - Flashmobbing Liverpool Street Advert

Better late than never, and I really have been waiting for the opportunity to post this, so here it is. Last Friday 16th January saw the latest advert for T-Mobile which was filmed and on air, in less than 48 hours (very impressive by no means when you think about the planning which must have been involved). The ad saw 350 dancers performing at London's Liverpool Street Station in front of the regular footfall of commuters, and aired during the entire ad break in 'Celebrity Big Brother' on Channel 4.



The three-minute guerrilla ad titled 'Dance' is supported by a T-Mobile 'Life's for sharing' YouTube channel which includes the advert, behind the scenes footage, and audition footage as well as a chance to view the new G1 mobile phone of course.

Although this is not the first time flashmobbing has been carried out as part of a guerrilla-style campaign, it works well, and is always refreshing to see. Other examples include the Lastminute.com guerrilla viral campaign which was carried out at Stansted Airport in May 2008 (Shown below).

Back to the 80’s – The Goonies – Truffle Shuffle!!

Perhaps one of the most memorable scenes from the movie The Goonies (1985) has to be the ‘truffle shuffle’! Although this may not be the most politically correct way for children to treat their slightly chubbier friends, it is still one of my personal favourites.




Enjoy!!

See yourself in the RAF – Royal Air Force Campaign

The Royal Air Force are currently running a campaign ‘See yourself in the RAF’, which by simply uploading a picture of yourself into an MPU gives you a glimpse of what life could hold for you if you were to take up a career in the RAF.


'See yourself in the RAF' - Blog Example


A fantasy blog is created with the users image embedded in a variety of different scenarios, including blog posts and photos, giving the user an idea of what life could be like in the RAF. Although this isn’t anything particularly new I really think it works in this instance, and with all of the RAF URL’s accessible from the page, I think it is a far more interesting way of capturing a potential recruits imagination than a generic landing page.

Back to the 80's - Big - The Giant Piano

Another classic clip from the 80's, still repeated to this day at toy store FAO Schwartz, from the 1988, Big starring Tom Hanks.



Enjoy!!

Get it on - Durex Balloon Animals "OUTTAKE"

Yesterday I posted 'Get it on - Durex Balloon Animals', and already there are OUTTAKES!! For those of you which enjoyed the first commercial, here are the Durex Balloon Animals Outtakes!!









Enjoy!!

Related Posts:
'Get it on - Durex Balloon Animals'

IFAW - Spoof Cadbury Gorilla advert

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has release a viral spoof remake of the Cadbury Gorilla advert, which features a Gorilla-less drum kit, with the caption 'A world without Gorillas is closer than you think'.

This clever and very simple remake puts across an extremely clear message in a way that is eerily impactful. Take a look yourselves below...




Related Post:
Apple hits out against Microsoft "I'm a PC" ad campaign

Jackie Chan to join 'Karate Kid' 80's remake

I have read this morning that Jackie Chan is to play the equivalent part of Mr. Miyagi the handyman and martial arts master, in the 80's remake of Karate Kid due to start filming this summer. The original character was played by Pat Morita in the 1984 original movie.



I posted back in November that Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith was to become the latest star of the remake of the 80's classic The Karate Kid, playing the lead role played by Ralph Macchio as Daniel Larusso.

Related link:
Jaden Smith to star as Karate Kid in 80's remake

Back to the 80's - Back to the Future - Johnny B. Goode

This clip is an absolute classic, found while sorting though old social network profiles. As the title suggests it's from the 1985 smash, Back to the Future starring Michael J. Fox, and Christopher Lloyd, and is one of my all time favourites. Enjoy!!

Get it on - Durex Balloon Animals

A quickie from Durex, which I thought I'd share. Be warned you'll never look at a balloon animal in the same way.



Via Illegal Advertising.com

Evolution of Dance 2 – How to shamelessly commercialise a viral legend

I promised myself I wouldn’t write about the scrutinised sequel to ‘Evolution of Dance’, a viral which to date has clocked up a mind blowing 121 million views since its release in 2006, however I going to anyway. The reason for this is simply because the further you look into the journey toward Evolution of Dance 2, the more cringe worthy it becomes.


Evolution of Dance


Evolution of Dance 2 is an exact replica of the first, slightly adapted with some different songs, and dances throughout the past few decades. The main difference this time round however is that the video is sponsored by Comparison shopping site Saveology, and self-improvement site PeopleJam.


Evolution of Dance 2

The build up to the release of the video was littered with everything you can imagine from a campaign which quite simply attempted get as much as it could from the pre-buzz as possible, including a chance to upload your image to become a dancer in an online video version of the dance, uploading it to your social network page etc etc.


"Evolution of You!" - www.eod2.com


We could dwell on this for ages, and debate how to carry out a successful ‘viral’ campaign and so on, but the truth of the matter is the sequel will no doubt generate an astounding number of views, I mean it already has reached the 1.5 million mark since the 12th January! I’m also guessing that this is by no means the last time we’re going to find ourselves talking about Judson Laipply and his Evolution of Dance.

So could it have been approached better… probably yes? Should it have been revisited at all… probably no? Is this therefore a successful campaign... I suppose it depends how we define successful?

Ninja Cat Returns!

I must admit I was a bit of a fan of Ninja Cat when it hit our computer screens last September, like a viral whirlwind. Although not necessarily the most watched clip on the Internet, it has managed to total up a fair few views in the four months it has been in existence.



Well Ninja Cat is back... kind of! It's not the same cat, but he's talented friend is sure to get people watching all the same.




Enjoy!

RSPCA – Give animals a voice campaign

The RSPCA are ‘Rooting for pigs’ in their latest campaign, to speak out and call for ‘supermarkets and other UK food retailers to work with the charity and the British pig industry to develop and sign up to a voluntary labelling agreement’. The campaign was launched today with full page National Press adverts announcing the ‘Give animals a voice campaign’, along with all the details needed for people to pledge their support.



As well as the Give animals a voice website and online video (below), Jamie Oliver has been working with the RSPCA to lead the debate during Channel 4's The Great British Food Fight, in a programme titled Jamie Saves our Bacon which is due to air Thursday, 29 January.

Evolution of Technology - Saturn Commercial

I saw this creative earlier for German electronics retailer, Saturn. It shows the evolution of technology, starting in the stone age and evolving to the modern day. It's quite a random advert, but well worth a watch.

Microsoft Tag – The future of Mobile??

The Microsoft website poses the question, ‘What is Mobile Tagging?’… A very good question, I mean it looks like a colourful version of the QR codes we’ve been seeing for a few years now.

So could this be the future of mobile?

In short… yes it could be. The main difference with Microsoft Tag, lies within the technology of the code itself. The technology powering Microsoft Tag, or High Capacity Colour Barcodes (HCCBs), was invented by Microsoft Research. It was designed with the limited cameras on most mobile phones, with advanced image-processing techniques resulting in the ability to decode even out-of-focus barcode images.



As explained by Microsoft the computer imaging of HCCBs employs different symbol shapes in geometric patterns and multiple colours to provide more information in less space.



This means that the HCCB’s are much better suited for use on packaging and advertising where available space is limited. Other advantages include the fact that the new codes are completely compatible with the latest smartphones, and once the Microsoft Tag reader has been installed allows for much more information to be sorted on each code. There is also the promise of much richer consumer analytics data, and further scope for creativity within campaigns.

At the moment the service is in Beta, and is free to use, so anyone can create, download, or use the Microsoft Tagging service. For example here is an example of Funkadelic Advertising in Microsoft Tag form…

Burger King – Whopper Sacrifice Facebook Application

As part of a new campaign, Burger King in the U.S have unleashed the Whopper Sacrifice Facebook Application (one of the best I've seen in a while). The idea is simple, prove to Burger King how much you would do for a Flame-broiled Whopper, by sacrificing 10 of your Facebook friends with their Whopper Sacrifice application.



I think this is a brilliant and fun way of playing on the fact that people maybe have more friends in their friends list than they really need, and with a well put together application like this, it is bound to have an instant viral factor.




Hats off to Adverblog for finding this one.

Big Brother 10 auditions on YouTube Channel

Big Brother fever has hit once again with the likes of Coolio, Verne Troyer, and Ben Adams already within their first week of their 22 day stint. As any viewers will be aware Channel 4 are already inviting future hopefuls to send in their entries for Big Brother 10 this summer, with the added bonus of now being able to enter via YouTube.



In order to jump the queue, and perhaps be invited to a VIP audition day, this year Channel 4 are using their YouTube channel for views to submit their audition videos, as well as watch some of the past efforts of previous contestants.



Videos should be about a minute long, and need to be posted by February 3rd 2009, so for anyone who is crazy enough to give it a go the link is - http://uk.youtube.com/bigbrotherauditions

Good Luck!

Wikipedia ad appeal proves successful

As I'm sure most of you may know, Wikipedia, have been asking for the help of the online community since July 1st 2008, to donate money in order to keep Wikipedia advertising free, and free of charge to anyone using it. Earlier this week it was announced that Wikipedia had reached its $4 million target, which combined with major gifts and foundation support totalling $2 million, means that they have reached their overall $6 million target. This combined target will cover Wikipedia’s operating expenses until the end of June 2009.



This achievement was marked by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales who posted a Thank You note on the site explaining why all donations were needed, and how users can offer further support.



It will be interesting to see how long this process of asking the online community for donations can be sustained, especially within the current state of the Global economy. However with the number of the users to the site growing year on year, it certainly seems feasible, for the time being anyway.

Comparethemeerkat.com… or was that Comparethemarket.com you were looking for?

Kick starting 2009 in style, Compare the Market have launched a new campaign to liven up the aggregator market. The campaign sees Aleksandr founder of Comparethemeerkat.com explaining his dilemma, that people keep getting his site mixed up with Comparethemarket.com. Here is the TV execution, for those of you yet to see it, delivered entirely from Aleksandr’s perspective.



A full working site has also been set up to support any Compare the Meerkat traffic, with all the relevant info needed to satisfy any visitors to the site, with sponsored search activity also supporting any traffic wishing to visit the site. As well as the website itself, there has also been a Facebook page put together for any fans of Aleksandr.



This is an excellent way of differentiating the brand from other advertisers in a highly competitive market, and a great way of creating a buzz in what may be considered a low interest category.