advergirl

MTV recycles tired joke

Judging from the lace-bottomed leggings, big hoopy earrings and giant sweaters spotted on the tiny, emaciated bodies of marauding teenagers at the nation's malls, I'm guessing there is a vibe of "everything old is new again" in pop culture. After all, if you don't have old school photos of clam bangs, florescent t-shirts and jelly-braceleted arms, how could you suspect just how evil the 80s really were?

So, perhaps it's no surprise that MTV is recycling this boring old "walk into the wrong bar" business to sell their Rhapsody-knockoff: Urge. Really, the S&M clubs and dominatrixes of the world should seek PR council ... not only are they always forcing good kids into bondage in mass media, they also all look like crap.

Camera work is great though. Nice perspectives.

Agency: MTV On Air Promotions

This guy worked at an ad agency?!?

Uh, nice poster, adman. Boo.

Found at: AdFreak

Beko: A vaccum as quiet as this ad

With the help of my friendly household art director, I was able to decipher this ad. See, it's a treble clef and staff. And, there's no music notes on it. And, the teeny tiny tagline is "very quiet."

Geez.

Found at: Advertising/Design Goodness
Agency: TBWA

Can you over-target your audience?

Um, yes, when your ad is at the bottom of a swimming pool, I'd say you've over-limited the audience. Not only to people who are down there, but, heck, opening your eyes in all the chlorine is pretty dicey* stuff.

At least they are on target - the ads are, in fact, for scuba (are you for scuba?)

Agency: Dubois Meets Fugger, Antwerp
Found at Flickr

*A word which always reminds me of my favorite literary quote of all time: "They can kill you, but the legalities of eating you are quite a bit dicier." (David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest)

Worst spots of the week

Surely each of these oddballs doesn't rate its own post, but, they're probably worth a click or two:

First up: HP tells us What happens to deleted pictures (unfortunate creative closes with a great tag - Shoot fearlessly. Delete easily.)

In second place: BK (of course) with yet another creepy King siting

More on advertising advertising...

The Newspaper Association of America's ad are as bad as the Magazine Publishers ads were good.

This is one of those situations where we have to wonder - how is it possible that in an agency talented enough to win a $50 million ad campaign + projects from category leaders like UPS and Miller no one killed this ridiculous concept?

The strategy - if the copy is any indicator - is to make advertisers think of newspapers as a relevant, effective medium to reach smart, affluent buyers - buyers who opt in to not only the print edition, but also Web and email tools. What about any of this creative says that? Carriages? Fish? 1776-era script?

via Adfreak

AT&T - still going... but, why?

Marketing professors take note - perhaps the  most misguided use of buzz words continues.  AT&T's latest is podcasts - yes again, they've selected a term that nets zero results when searching their Web page.

And, in addition to not being something consumers care about (try simple billing, lower prices, bundled service), it's also a technology that is enabled simply by connectivity - AT&T delivers nothing special or differntiable vs. other connectivity providers. They could just as easily say "bad email jokes from your annoying aunt sue delivered." Or Toyota could pick up the campaign and claim "groceries delivered." 

This is one of those campaigns that begs the question - what could I have done with that $500 million?

"Blogging Delivered," Return to Sender

What is more antithetical to actually delivering blogging than delivering the message that you deliver blogging on a billboard?

Campaign objective: Reach 137.8million unique Internet users each month
Campaign reality: Oh, we've reached them. We just didn't say anything about delivering a meaningful, relevant or worthwhile message.

Oh, and for a little extra fun re: what happens when advertising doesn't synch with product, visit ATT.com and search blogging. (Ok, I'll ruin the ending. No documents will be found that meet your search term.)

Cheers to Omnicom Group’s GSD&M and Rodgers Townsend.