I think these ‘posters’ for Ariel Colour are really impressive. The intense blocks of colour emphasise the idea of colour well, but my only reservation is their appearance during the day, which isn’t shown, as the effect may not be as impressive. Also depending on time of year and location, night fall may vary, so if it is too late few people may see the ads in the best environment, but I imagine/hope this was considered.
Web Demo
Firebrand is a new site that appears to be attempting to create the next youtube incarnation, but for commercials. Firebrand CEO Roman Vinoly said, “We program TV spots like a DJ spins music in a club. There is a rhythm and flow to it.” Then goes on to say, “On Firebrand, you’ll see more car chases, explosions, gags, drama, heroes, Oscar-winning actors, directors and producers in an hour than in a month of HBO.” A statment that may be a little over dramatic. Advertisers who place their commercials on Firebrand get the ‘Firebrand Dashboard,’ described as “an innovative diagnostic tool that integrates industry standard television and online response data.”
Teaser
Sites like this do already exist but not in the way mentioned above with benefits for the advertiser and more structure and organisation. Users are given the ability to create playlists of their favourite adverts, but I’m not sure how many everyday people would want to sit and watch a playlist of 30 second commercials repeatedly. I can see this being popular within the advertising field, but if it is not popular amongst consumers then advertisers may stop posting their spots on Firebrand so I imagine its success may depend on its success with consumers.
3iYing is a New York based “all girl creative agency” that in order to gain some publicity for themselves (as well as tackling an issue in their business) have filmed hundreds of girls reacting to advertisements, for which they are supposed to be the target, for a series they have called ‘Adflip.’ Each video tells the audience (advertisers and marketers) why the ads they hold in their hands cause them to flip the page and why it was subsequently ignored.
3iYing founder Heidi Dangelmaier stated that, “This series directly links massive financial waste to specific girl-market misunderstandings, and challenges the predominant methods agencies use to develop creative strategies.” The campaign also asks YouTube members to add their own videos to the series (of which there are now 159).
If you watch the videos the people are pretty much right about the ads and its interesting to see the apparent lack of understanding about the teen/twenty year old female market. But on the other hand, it would be interesting to see if as well as ignoring the ad (which they must not have done in order to be able to analyse it so much) that they didn’t buy any of the products featured in them aswell. Also another problem may be, (especially in videos uploaded by solitary youtubers) that the person talking about why they flipped an advert may not be the target audience and if they are they may simply be an anomaly within that group. For me the idea has strengths and weaknesses but I think its and idea that will get noticed and that will in turn at least draw some attention towards 3iYing.
Here’s the teaser video for the latest Sony Bravia commercial that I blogged previously…
Find more videos like this on AdGabber
I’ve posted this spot as (like most of Honda’s advertising) it says something different to most other car adverts as it tackles environmental issues (which is always good for appeal in todays world), whilst still showing visuals of the car in action. Then at the end we see the Honda owner finish up on top. Simple.
These designs are planted in rice fields and apparently use different types of rice to create the different colours. The results are quite interesting. They remind me of crop circles, but the rice fields have the extra dynamic of colour/contrast and they have a more visually artistic as opposed to geometric design.
Here are some of the other designs…
“This execution was created to allow young Americans to experience what a trip to Canada would be like through the eyes of their peers. To create the content, we sent a young couple to three major Canadian cities: Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. We then told them to pose as tourists and have as much fun as they could while capturing it all on their digital camera and camcorder.
The images and video footage were loaded on to 1000 USB keys, along with MP3s of Canadian indie bands and an authentic travel itinerary outlining the details of their trip. The keys were then scattered throughout selected neighbourhoods in the key market of Chicago. This was done in such a way as to make it appear as though their owners had lost them.
In order to maintain authenticity, no Canadian Tourism branding was included either on or in the keys. Instead, imbedded links would appear when playing MP3s and, when clicked, would take a viewer to a Canadian Tourism Commission landing page (www.unknowncanada.com), which gave other target-specific options for things going on in Canada and also allowed us to track the success of the drop.”
I like this idea. In the crits people have talked about sending out and handing out USB’s containing information, but the idea of the USB’s being found on the street and being un-branded makes the idea more interesting as I imagine most people, if they found one that obviously didn’t belong to anyone around them, would pick it up, keep it and use it, and in doing so would see the files on the device and look at them to see what they were.
Using a helicopter gnuf.com have air-lifted huge dice, over two meters tall and weighing half a ton, up a steep sloped mountain near Nuuk, Greenland. They released the dice and visitors to the site can bet for free on how long it will take for the dice to stop rolling, with the chance to win a cruise as the prize.
The site is a new online casino and poker room so this stunt will probably be a good way to attract attention to the site, but it depends how they are trafficing people to it, I found the video on youtube, but only because I saw the site on a design website. I imagine they are hoping for the idea to gather a viral effect as the site has a page where you can email the site to a friend. Its definately a stunt worth noticing and its interesting when a campaign is taken to such a large scale as something similar could have probably been generated in flash with bets but no prizes, but by taking the idea to such a scale the campaign should attract attention.
Here’s a nice business card that has been personalised to the company, and that gives the client/reciever an added benefit in the fact it contains grass seeds. The design would probably incur little extra cost, but its interesting things like this personal touch that would probably win you a job over another company.
I visited the supermarket Asda recently and as stated on the Graphics blog I treated the store as a packaging museum and I looked around to see what I could find.
Firstly I noticed this DVD case for a children’s cartoon and the way it had been modified through the rounding of its corners and inclusion of a handle to make it safer and easier for a child to carry. I think this is a good idea as its safer for the child, and parents would probably be more inclined to buy that cartoon, than another similar one, purely for the novelty of the case and thought that has gone into it.
The second piece of packaging is a carton containing wine by Andrew Peace. The ‘FuturPak’ gives the consumer 33% more wine and is sold at the same price as a glass bottle. They state that its easier to re-seal, lighter to carry and that fewer resources are used in production, transportation and disposal than glass. The product definitely had shelf presence through its uniquenss and the environmental aspects of the idea are great but the only problem I can see is that if you wanted to buy wine to entertaining guests then a carton may not be the best idea, (but then again it could be a talking point and its not bad to be environmentally friendly) but for other wine purchases and occasions I think this is a strong idea that could be developed upon to create a style of carton that you would be proud to place on a table when entertaining guests.
I also noted the ideas that I had heard before about how as consumers we have become accustomed to what typefaces, colours and packaging styles say about a product, its origins and its price. For example the images above are at a glance all clearly trying to appear environmentally friendly, natural, simple, basic, unprocessed etc, through the simple type, brown hues, recycled appearance.
And similarly the above product uses green to show how natural, safe and healthy it is and the tins below draw on a local market style in its card boxes, typeface and design to convey a sense of locality and in turn trust that the product is safe and authentic.
As consumers we know what we are getting before we read the packaging in detail and we can make good assumptions about its price as well. For example the silver colour and script typeface below along with the products’ minimal design and shiny foil all convey a sense of the product being the best or luxury and we know it will hold a higher price tag.
Promotions feature heavily in all supermarkets and attempt to make consumers buy products they may otherwise not. Location of these promotions is also very important and it appears that they work as the tomato ketchup promotion below, located by the frozen food was considerably emptier than the shelf in the sauces aisle.
Finally, when you reach the till you are again confronted with products to buy as you wait in line. There a drinks, sweets and chocolates, and even paracetamol situated to maximise a consumers possible impulse purchases whether for their own consumption or more likely to appease a child.
Here are some links to some interesting packaging and supermarket articles that are worth a look.