The Corpus Callosum

Alec Brownstein used $6 on Google AdWords and a little insight on human internet behaviour to land a full-time job at Y&R New York. How? Take a look…

via Coudal Partners

Art & Copy is a terrific documentary about the Advertising industry, chock-full of insights from the best in the business: Lee Clow (TBWA\Chiat Day), Jeff Goodby & Rich Silverstein (Goodby, Silverstein & Partners), Hal Riney (Publicis), Dan Wieden & David Kennedy (Wieden+Kennedy), and a host of other notable names.

Designers and Advertisers don’t always see eye-to-eye on most things creative, but Lee Clow said it best in this documentary, “There are now coffee table books made of Toulouse Lautrec art, but back then he was just trying to get people to buy a drink and pay cover charge to get into the Folies-Bergère. So, I think we are in the art business…when we do it well.”

I don’t watch much TV in Beijing because the quality and production values are average at best. However, I caught this sensational commercial for CCTV Beijing on television the other day, produced by Troublemakers.tv and designed by weareflink. I wasn’t surprised to find out that both companies are foreign (Paris and Hamburg, respectively), but it’s good to know that China is willing to spend money for quality once in a while. Now if only this happened more often…

CCTV Ink from Troublemakers.tv on Vimeo.

I’ve always been a fan of Absolut Vodka ads and not only because my old agency (TBWA\Chiat Day) was responsible for them. Their ads are simple and iconic, usually stemming from their eye-catching bottle designs. Here are two recent limited edition bottle designs that caught my eye courtesy of Lovely Package.

Absolut Vancouver
(Designer: Douglas Fraser | Country: Canada)

Just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, this bottle design shows much love to my hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. The design captures Vancouver’s west coast lifestyle in a nutshell, as described by the designer himself:

”It’s about contemporary urban living set in a crown of snow capped mountains, driftwood and steel, high rise condos and quaint neighbourhoods. Vancouver represents the spirit of the west, where the sun rises over the mountains and sets into the ocean. The citizens believe in playing hard. Work happens in the ports, glass towers, and life is all about a balanced west coast style.”

Absolut Flavor of the Tropics
(Designer: Williams Murray Hamm | Country: United Kingdom)

This bottle graphic was designed for the limited edition tropical Vodka flavour which will be launched exclusively in Duty Free/travel retail stores globally for a 6-month period. The design uses thermal images of the world map to represent the various exotic fruit flavors which thrive in the humid climates of the tropics. Nice touch incorporating the Tropics of Cancer line into the logo.

Volkswagen teamed up with DDB Stockholm to develop a terrific marketing campaign called The Fun Theory. The call-to-action in this viral campaign challenges consumers to come up with simple, fun, and innovative ways to change people’s behaviour for the better. Whether it benefits your family/friends, your work, or the environment, the important thing is that some aspect of life is improved through this change, as illustrated by the following examples.








Check out the The Fun Theory website for more great ideas or submit your own fun theory for a chance at fame (your idea will be brought to life at a public venue) and fortune (2500 Euros). Deadline for submission is Dec 15, 2009.

This ad by BBDO Dusseldorf is a bit cheeky but you can’t deny it’s creativity. For their ad agency recruitment campaign, the minds at BBDO needed something raw and eye-catching yet simple enough to convey the “Join us” message all in one memorable symbol or catch-phrase.

Their final recruitment ad killed two birds with one stone by playing off the iconic Southern California “Blood” gang symbol. It also worked out nicely that the letters “b-b-d-o” were finger-friendly (I love my old ad agency, but try spelling TBWA with your fingers!) Hard to say if the general public will understand this hip-hop/gang reference, but a brilliant ad nonetheless.

Here’s a very interesting company portfolio website from Boone Oakley, a full-serviced ad agency based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their entire site is housed on YouTube, changing the paradigm of how portfolio sites should look, feel, and function.

(more…)

Coke vs Pepsi. Mcdonalds vs Burger King. PC vs Mac. These are a few of the many heavyweight head-to-head brand wars we see in the media every day. Who doesn’t remember the Pepsi Challenge “Taste Test” commercials or the hugely popular Apple “Get a Mac” commercials. Well, there’s a new battle brewing in the Socal billboard advertising space - BMW vs Audi.

(more…)