2007 Adland Roundup – A look back at the year in advertising

Hello boys and girls of Adland! Yes, it’s that time of year again when we do the Adland roundup and list the year’s best and worst ads.
My, my, I can’t believe time flies when you’re having fun – can you believe we’ve been doing this since 2003. Nostalgics may start their tour of previous years Round Ups here: 2003 part 1 and 2003 part 2. Adland roundup 2004, the ads, and adland roundup 2006 part 1.

Now let’s get into the fun!

2007 seemed to be a year of medicore or average ads overall. There were some quite good ads, of course, with the usual sprinkling in of shocking and ready for bannage. We saw some bizarre furries themed work from FFL for Orangina. Last years big bringing back the dead trend continued as CP+B brought back a super creepy Orville Redenbacher. Uncle Ben was brought out of retirement, in April there was news about bringing back Bartles & Jaymes characters, and in the UK they trotted out Comedian Bob Monkhouse, but at least it was for a good cause. And we said goodbye to Alan Maxwell Pottasch and Jack Zander .

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Phil Dusenberry Dies; Colleagues Mourn a ‘Legend’

Phil Dusenberry, the famed BBDO creative known for campaigns such as Pepsi's "The Choice of a New Generation," died at his Manhattan home on Saturday, December 29, after a battle with lung cancer.

Sadly, Phil Dusenberry Leaves Advertising at 71

This is personally sad. Not because I knew the guy but because I read a book of his (one of the few ad books I’ve made time to read) and feel like I know him. Yes, Phil Dusenberry, a…

What’s Sexy?

Let me say this, if anybody says “2 girls 1 cup” on the comment section, please go ahead and euthanize yourself because poo-fun/poo-sex is not cool EVER; and on a side note the fact that that has become an internet sensation makes me think that the apocalypse is near.

Okay, now that that’s done, I am serious when I ask “what’s sexy these days?” I mean these days, most of what’s out there is self-aware ironic like the K-Fed rap commercial (I hope no ladies ever felt that dingleberry is/was sexy) or whorish like the Paris Hilton FatAss Burger Ad. There is little grace and seduction and restrained beauty in advertising these days (of course I could be wrong, hence comment section); and to be honest I am a fun loving red bloodied American but there is nothing really that screams sex appeal to me these days.

If anybody remembers this one diamond ad I am about to describe please send the link in the comments section, I found the scenario very subtly sexy and beautiful; let me explain: the spot was shot in black and white and a beautiful woman in a short dress comes running down the stairs – all the while a Moby song plays in the background – and she opens the front door and her fella is standing there in the rain holding an umbrella and he sees what we have all seen, a stunningly beautiful woman, and he lets the umbrella slowly fall to the side ignoring the rain…. NOW THAT’S HOT!

What do you guys think was sexy this year?

American Copywriter salutes Phil Dusenberry

Dusenberry8Former chairman and CCO of BBDO, Phil Dusenberry, passed away on December 29th after a battle with lung cancer. He was 71. In 1999, Ad Age ranked him 31 on their list of the century’s most influential advertising people. He was a bona fide advertising luminary. His lofty titles and achievements disguise the fact that he was, throughout his career, a copywriter’s copywriter. Dusenberry’s work is the stuff of legends including Pepsi’s Michael Jackson spot and Ronald Regan’s Morning in America commercials. He penned a few screenplays, too, most notably The Natural. An apt description for Dusenberry himself in the context of his chosen profession.

When I was in college I interned in the corporate communications department of Pizza Hut, Inc. When it came time for the big franchisee convention, I got plopped down in some back room of a Wichita Marriott hotel making last minute changes to speeches for the Pizza Hut execs. I was pecking away (on an original Mac BTW) when I heard someone say, "Hi Phil!" I turned and saw Dusenberry sweep through the room. He was there to present BBDO’s new crop of spots to the franchisees. I punched "save" and stole into the darkened hall with everyone else. I really wasn’t supposed to be there but no one hassled me. The room was electric. Advertising is a big expense and franchisees pay much of the bill. Hundreds of eyes locked on Dusenberry as he took the stage. From word one, he owned that room. With his white hair, whiter teeth and power suit, Dusenberry was the definition of an "ad man." He deftly introduced several spots to the crowd that afternoon including (if memory serves) the classic "Right Field." The crowd loved it. And him. It was a lesson to me. An advertising contract is a potent mix of money, power, politics and creativity. Yes, it’s always about the work, the work, the work. But a little showmanship never hurts.

Here’s to you, Mr. Dusenberry.

Pan American Games Rio: Javelin

Pan American Games Rio: Javelin

Pan American Games Rio: Bowling

Pan American Games Rio: Bowling

Advertising School: The Creative Circus
Art Director: Raquel Solaro
Via: ihaveanidea

Pan American Games Rio: Archery

Pan American Games Rio: Archery

Advertising School: The Creative Circus
Art Director: Raquel Solaro
Via: ihaveanidea

Banner hijacking still going strong – Adrants now victim to uplothario campaign.

I’ve bored you with this before: Worst banner ad ever, System doctor takes over your browser and Hacking web banner networks sends banner ads from hated to feared. Well, that redirect trick is still appearing in flash banners on ad networks everywhere it seems – just a few days ago fellow adblogger Adrants.com had the misfortune of carrying one of those buggers.

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24c3: The history of guerilla knitting

0aalafuss4.jpgYeah! Another year has passed (Best wishes to all of you, dear readers!), another Chaos Communication Congress has just ended in Berlin.

You’ll find of course loads of pictures, some videos of the talks on google videos, you tube, while official conference recordings will be online soon.
Hack A Day has a post on Antoine Drouin and Martin Müller’s presentation of DIY autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles and another one where Phenoelit gives the lowdown on barcode security.

One of the talks i attended was Rose White’s. The history of guerilla knitting looked at the overlapping issues in the knitting and hacking worlds. The video is yours to download. Here’s a few words and links to complete the picture.

Rose White is a sociology PhD student in New York, she’s been knitting for over 15 years and she used to own a yarn store in Brooklyn, named Yarnivore.

She started by showing a few examples of “knit graffiti” mainly by knitta but we’ve also discovered those lovely cosies for anchors installed by Maskerade in Stockholm.

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But knitting is not difficult so people discovered how to do it and knowledge spread in the community. Knitting then followed two different paths: the industrial production the home made kind, mainly socks and small pieces of clothing.

Late 19th century, Gansy.

00aaroserose.jpgOver the course of the next 50 years, attempts to codify knitting patterns, to make them distinguishable and proprietary. The yarn and needles sellers would provide you with a specific type of information: “To make this jumper you will need x balls of our yarns and will have to use this size of our needles.” You would not know how many meters of yarn this makes for example. Industry possessed the means and modes of production by the ’60s.

Another schism happened at the end of the ’60s and beginning ’70s. Then enters our heroin: Elizabeth Zimmermann. She was commissioned to make a sweater. She gave it to the company but they re-wrote the patterns using a proprietary system. Disgusted by the process, she started her own company and she’d invite knitters to be the boos of their knitting, distinguishing the “blind followers” from the “thinking knitters.” The point was to put the control of what was going on back into the hands of the knitter. It’s like Linux versus Windows.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Barbara Walker authored knitting books which have become landmarks for their comprehensiveness and clarity. She devised knitting instructions which were understandable to all, not just to english speakers.

Debbie New‘s Labyrinth knitting.

Norah Gaughan, a biologist who uses scientific notions in her knitting.

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Hildur Bjarnadóttir, Untitled (skulls), 1999

Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting at the Museum of Arts & Design, in Manhattan (more images). The MAD used to be called “The American Craft Museum” until it was re-named less than 5 years ago. Now of course craft is starting the get back it technique and skills undertones.

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Dave Cole’s “Knitting Machine” project used two excavators wielding telephone poles as needles to knit a giant American flag in the courtyard of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
The artist also made a series of poisonous Lead Teddy Bear which marries ideas of coziness and danger.

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Knitted Digestive system. Instructions to knit a womb.

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A Tree Undone, the artist brought a tree to Burning Man, wrote a pattern explaining how leaves should be knitted, and together with the citizens of Black Rock City knitted thousands of leaves. They were not bound off so each leaf could unravel in the wind.

People knitting red mittens for the statue of Lenin in Seattle. Other knitters, this time in New York making boots and scarves for statues of horsemen.

2 websites: Ravelry, a database and social networking site for knitters and knitML, an attempt to develop and promote adoption of a standard content model for knitting patterns.

A last one for the road:

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Hansigurumi “because squids are the new skulls.”

Artificial Dummies

 

Street Art rocks.
Technology rocks.
Artificial Dummies… rock.
 
If anoyone knows who is the author of this work. Please leave a comment.

A picture says more


 

 

 

 

“No matter what you say. A picture always says more.”
 
Awesome campaign by Leo Burnett.
 
Via: I Believe in Adv.

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Crane

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Crane

Dietrich company organizes an exclusive golf tournament for its premium clients. The challenge consisted in letting these clients know about the upcoming edition of the tournament in an original and eye-catching manner with the final goal of getting them to register and compete. In the two weeks leading up to the tournament, clients began to receive emails every two days containing a video with information regarding the tournament as well as an invitation to register electronically.

Advertising Agency: Grey Buenos Aires
Creative Directors: Pablo Gil, Sebastián Garín
Art Director: Diego Rubio
Copywriter: Coco Olivera

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Legginses

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Legginses

Dietrich company organizes an exclusive golf tournament for its premium clients. The challenge consisted in letting these clients know about the upcoming edition of the tournament in an original and eye-catching manner with the final goal of getting them to register and compete. In the two weeks leading up to the tournament, clients began to receive emails every two days containing a video with information regarding the tournament as well as an invitation to register electronically.

Advertising Agency: Grey Buenos Aires
Creative Directors: Pablo Gil, Sebastián Garín
Art Director: Diego Rubio
Copywriter: Coco Olivera

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Michael

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Michael

Dietrich company organizes an exclusive golf tournament for its premium clients. The challenge consisted in letting these clients know about the upcoming edition of the tournament in an original and eye-catching manner with the final goal of getting them to register and compete. In the two weeks leading up to the tournament, clients began to receive emails every two days containing a video with information regarding the tournament as well as an invitation to register electronically.

Advertising Agency: Grey Buenos Aires
Creative Directors: Pablo Gil, Sebastián Garín
Art Director: Diego Rubio
Copywriter: Coco Olivera

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Guitarrist

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Guitarrist

Dietrich company organizes an exclusive golf tournament for its premium clients. The challenge consisted in letting these clients know about the upcoming edition of the tournament in an original and eye-catching manner with the final goal of getting them to register and compete. In the two weeks leading up to the tournament, clients began to receive emails every two days containing a video with information regarding the tournament as well as an invitation to register electronically.

Advertising Agency: Grey Buenos Aires
Creative Directors: Pablo Gil, Sebastián Garín
Art Director: Diego Rubio
Copywriter: Coco Olivera

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Train

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Train

Dietrich company organizes an exclusive golf tournament for its premium clients. The challenge consisted in letting these clients know about the upcoming edition of the tournament in an original and eye-catching manner with the final goal of getting them to register and compete. In the two weeks leading up to the tournament, clients began to receive emails every two days containing a video with information regarding the tournament as well as an invitation to register electronically.

Advertising Agency: Grey Buenos Aires, Argentina
Creative Directors: Pablo Gil, Sebastián Garín
Art Director: Diego Rubio
Copywriter: Coco Olivera

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Pogo

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Pogo

Dietrich company organizes an exclusive golf tournament for its premium clients. The challenge consisted in letting these clients know about the upcoming edition of the tournament in an original and eye-catching manner with the final goal of getting them to register and compete. In the two weeks leading up to the tournament, clients began to receive emails every two days containing a video with information regarding the tournament as well as an invitation to register electronically.

Advertising Agency: Grey Buenos Aires
Creative Directors: Pablo Gil, Sebastián Garín
Art Director: Diego Rubio
Copywriter: Coco Olivera

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Couple

Dietrich Golf Tournament: Couple

Dietrich company organizes an exclusive golf tournament for its premium clients. The challenge consisted in letting these clients know about the upcoming edition of the tournament in an original and eye-catching manner with the final goal of getting them to register and compete. In the two weeks leading up to the tournament, clients began to receive emails every two days containing a video with information regarding the tournament as well as an invitation to register electronically.

Advertising Agency: Grey Buenos Aires, Argentina
Creative Directors: Pablo Gil, Sebastián Garín
Art Director: Diego Rubio
Copywriter: Coco Olivera

A better tomorrow: The Voice of the Street

A better tomorrow: The Voice of the Street

Advertising Agency: Holics creative team, Hamburg, Germany
Creatives: Leif Abraham, Alexander Norvilas
Programming: Nils Döhring, Christoph Maeschig
Flash-Developer: Ralf Lechner
Released: January 2008