Street Art - Inflatable Sculptures

I'm a fan of any form of art, but the ones that I take a particular liking too is the art in its simplistic form. The gift of art can be appealing to anyone. In this video, we see the work of street artist Joshua Allen Harris. Have you ever considered the artistic possibilities of subway exhaust? Using only tape and garbage bags, Harris creates giant inflatable animals that become animated when fastened to a sidewalk grate in the city of New York.




Thanks to Creative Juice.

Now don't get this confused with the most beautiful thing ever filmed.

Coffee Wars - Dunkin' vs. Starbucks

Starbucks announced they will stop serving Decaf after 12pm to its patrons. The world’s largest coffee chain, will stop continuously brewing decaffeinated coffee as part of a drive to waste less and save $400 million. Disadvantage to consumers who don't want caffeine in the afternoon. Advantage to the competition. In particular, Dunkin' Donuts.

After an ad that featured Rachel Ray in a Muslin scarf being pulled, Dunkin' Donuts found a way to redeem consumer loyalty via a slip in the economy. Dunkin' Donuts launched an online campaign that used a blind taste test to prove better than Starbucks. Now to follow the online campaign. A new print campaign with some clever copywriting (Click on the image to read the full text):

"We don't work around our schedule, we work around yours."

Five Cent Direct Mailing

I received this direct mail piece this morning and saw a nickel inside the window. The envelope that the charity annual fund came in, stated:

The enclosed nickel can help save a child's life.

Exactly how many nickels did they send out in this promotional event? If it's guilt they are trying to bestow, this direct mail FAILED! I'm a little more upset that for an annual donator to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society it feels like a bribe after reading this.

But in the letter itself, it contradicts the previous statement:

You and I both know that a single nickel won't go far in the fight againt blood cancers.

I'm now a little upset and confused. If that's true, I'd like to know who managed to sell the idea of passing out nickels?

A little math for you. I gave fifty dollars the previous annul fund. 1 dollar = 20 nickels, so 50 dollars = 1000 nickels.

A direct response mailing can get somewhere between .50-1.00% response. This direct piece was probably more targeted to those who have donated in the past, I would assume 1.00-5.00%. If assuming 5% return rate you'll get 50 nickels (responses) back or $2.50. Although that 5% you'll probably get a variety of enclosed amounts on average, let's say $15.00. For a grand total of $752.50! (Of course the more mailed out the more responses.)

So a campaign that would yield little over $750.00 probably cost at least $1000 to propose.

I guess I can use the nickel towards a postage stamp, along with my donation.

My math maybe wrong on this. I kinda just went on a rant, but I'm just saying, hypothetically!

The One-Second Ad

MillerCoors flagship (my personal favorite at least) Miller High Life will have a one-second ad premier during the Super Bowl on February 1. The ad created by Saatchi & Saatchi of New York City, use the current campaign that features our favorite delivery truck driver who reinfoces the brands image as "good, honest beer at a tasty price.

Super Bowl ads are selling for $3 million for a 30-second spot.

Miller High Life has launched 1SecondAd, which features several of the one-second ads that didn’t make the cut, as well as a 30-second teaser below. Now that's what I call "the Champagne of Beers".

It's a Mad World

It's been awhile since I did a music video post. My roommate Greg has been playing the piano exquisitely lately and he played a song that I haven't heard in ages and I remembered how beautifully crafted the video was done. Gary Jules and Michael Andrews display a simply heartbreaking music video back in 2004. On top of a school building in Brooklyn. The camera scans down on to a score of children choreographing simple, child-like pictures on the sidewalk below: a car, a house, a boat, occassionally panning back up to Gary and a back drop of New York. The song was featured in the movie Donnie Darko (Highly suggest watching this flick.) and directed by one of my favorite, Michel Gondry.

Enjoy Mad World.



In 2006, Mad World made a strong connection to some folks over at the French insurance company MACIF. A campaign was directed by Raphaël Frydman for Partizan.

Every. Man's. Dream.

You definitely know it's Super Bowl time. Agencies are beginning to roll out the big ideas, and the majority tend to be quite entertaining. for the most part, I look forward to this around of super bowl ads that go on through out the course of the night. Of course, Budweiser and Miller Lite seeming always compete for the best ad of the night. But we can't forget about our imports now!

Heineken released this spot that plays on how women who LOVE to throw a house warming party and of course to showcase the new pad to all her friends. You take them to the one place your girlfriends are dying to see... the walk-in closet. Well guys have a similar agenda too.



That's right... Every. Man's. Dream.

What's G?

I couldn't figure out just what is so 'G' about this commercial. (I'll get to that in the moment.)



With the economy slowing, now is an opportune time for generating awareness on your brand. Pepsi who owns the majority of Gatorade is aiming to promote a new style for its flagship. With the help of TBWA/Chiat/Day, the drink will remain the same, but it has a new finesse, it is putting an attitude behind it, stepping up on the competition as the brand to drink.

The bottles will support a new label to the packaging. Representing the Large copy 'G' and the brands you know them have taken to new names to the likes of "Bring It" and "Be Tough".

The commercial gets your interest, but falls flat because we're left not knowing what the heck it is! the g in the commercial should stand for geez!!

I see that they want you to ask the question....What is G? But they did not execute the viral ability of the campagin. I found a YouTube channel, but nothing more of this besides an AdWeek article.

Update: Fellow Binger Laura, fellow blogger at BINGenuity sent me this Wall Street Journal article

Consumers are feeling the same way:

"The commercial is great, but it is frustrating when you don't know what they are trying to advertise."

Outdoor Campaigns with RFID tags

I was reading up on Rohit Bhargava blog at Influential Marketing and found one of his 2009 predictions rather interesting. Tikitag service enables you to connect real world objects to the online world using RFID (NFC) tags. This online ID service can revolutionize any outdoor & print campaigns. Brands are enabled to make their campaigns interactive. How?

When a consumer touches a billboard with an NFC reader (Nokia phone for example) the consumer will get more information via e-mail, post or SMS message.

250-400 million NFC enabled phones sold by 2012. That's 40% of all new phones.

Barcodes will have a better use using the cellphone as well. Scan a magazine barcode and get more information via mobile website.

Let the consumer drive interaction.

Stove Top Stuffing Public Transportation

With the following months of frigid cold air and winter storms, standing outside and catching the bus is sure not something ANYONE wants to do...until Stove Top Stuffing came up with an advertising first.



What you are seeing is Kraft and marketing firm, Interpublic Group have installed heaters in bus shelters around the city of Chicago. The slogan reads: "Cold Provided by Winter. Warmth Provided by Us.

Great campaign. For $100,000, to associate the connection between the right-out-the-stove warmth of Stove Top and that I love Stove Top Stuffing are amazing for me! If my regular bus stop had a heater, I'm pretty sure on my way home from riding the Dayton RTA, I'm going to stop and get some stove top. Although I can see these heaters as a point of interest for many homeless who are out bearing the cold, I'd hang out with homeless people if I could get free stovetop at the bus stop every morning.

Here is an article from the New York Times.