adthropology

Illeana Douglas Wins An Oxskar

"Line readings, aisle 4 please. So what do you do when nobody picks up your show? Change the name and repurpose sell it to Ikea. Illeana Douglas is rewriting a show about celebrities who give up acting and work in an Ikea store called Easy to Assemble. The clip above, Supermarket of the Stars, is actually the show she created a few years back and the basis for the new one. (Don’t worry about the store signage, as you watch, just think Ikea logo.) And since branded content is all the rage these days, watch how many agencies pop up and gouge brands for doing basically nothing while someone else comes up with the show partnering with just the right strategic agency is critical. The show premieres in the fall but will probably be more of her and Goldblum doing the same schtick near the DRAGÖR piles. Prediction: Throw in an actual Ikea spot before and after the webisodes along with a ghosted logo in the corner, and yet another brand shows how to destroy branded content."

via Make the Logo Bigger

Banner Ads as Tools

"Adverlab points to an exciting new ad development. Bookmarkable ads that are also tools. Spongecell is offering ads that allow users to do widget-type things, like set a reminder for yourself about an upcoming event, sale, or expiration date. And of course share with your friends using the social media tool of your choice.

This is a cool trend, and could actually make banners that are purposeful. Together, we could change the world. One banner at a time."

via Brand Flakes for Breakfast

ScanLife: Barcode Scanning for the 21st Century and Beyond

"In the grand tradition of UPC codes and CueCat, ScanBuy/ScanLife is attempting to barcode the world. Their mission: to allow companies and individuals to place small barcodes on their publications that are readable by over 70 phone models including an upcoming application for the iPhone.

The 2d barcodes - meaning that unlike standard barcodes they are read in both the X and Y axis - can trigger menu events, download content, lead you to a website, or create a contact or calendar entry in your phone. They currently appear in outdoor ads, some magazines, as well as transit schedules in Europe. The program is actually compatible with multiple types of codes, ensuring international compatibility."

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via Tech Crunch

Entertainment Industry is Being Outrun by a Technological Snail

"Tom Coates's 2006 rant about the pace of change and the TV industry is as fantastic today as it was two years ago: in it, he takes issue with the entertainment execs who say that they can't be blamed for their failure to come to grips with new technology -- after all, everything is changing so quickly!"

"I'm completely bored of this rhetoric of endless insane change at a ludicrous rate, and cannot actually believe that people are taking it seriously. We've had iPods and digital media players for what - five years now? We've had Tivo for a similar amount of time, computers that can play DVDs for longer, music and video held in digital form since the eighties, an internet that members of the public have been building and creating upon for almost fifteen years. TV only got colour forty odd years ago, but somehow we're expected to think that it's built up a tradition and way of operating that's unable to deal with technological shifts that happen over decades!? This is too fast for TV!? That's ridiculous! This isn't traditional media versus a rebellious newcomer, this is a fairly reasonable and incremental technology change that anyone involved in it could have seen coming from miles away."

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via BoingBoing!

TV Viewers' Average Age Hits 50

"The broadcast networks have grown older than ever -- if they were a person, they wouldn't even be a part of TV's target demo anymore.

According to a study released by Magna Global's Steve Sternberg, the five broadcast nets' average live median age (in other words, not including delayed DVR viewing) was 50 last season. That's the oldest ever since Sternberg started analyzing median age more than a decade ago -- and the first time the nets' median age was outside of the vaunted 18-49 demo."

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via Variety

Has Google Changed the Ad Network Landscape - Again?

"Last night Google announced that they would be distributing webisodes from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane via their AdSense publisher network, but as a news item it didn’t strike a particular chord with me at the time. Then I read a post this morning by Eric Berlin over at Online Media Cultist.

As I read Eric’s piece bells started going off in my head; and no I was not suffering from auditory hallucinations, but if you have read the same post then you should have been hearing the same thing. The idea that Google would be making available content that is unique and something that people will want to watch — after all who doesn’t like watching cartoons — via their AdSense network, is in my opinion something of a game changer for the ad business. These 30 second spots are supposed to come with pre-roll ads and given who is creating them, you almost have to be assured they will be popular, even if only because they are something new."

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via Mashable!

New but Dirty Shirt

"Lowe Ad Agency sent samples of laundry detergent to potential customers in Thailand. They wrapped the sample with a new t-shirt and addressed it with washable ink. By the time the samples arrived, the shirts were pretty dirty. Then voila, the solution was right there inside! Clever marketing. See more pictures at Ads of the World. Link"

via Neatorama

PUMA’s Series of Short Films on Bike Culture

"PUMA have just released a series of short films exploring bike culture. Produced by Daniel Leeb of Cinecyle Productions, The I-Cycle Film Series consists of five surprisingly well made videos documenting five different influencers and the contributions they’ve made to the bike community. Each video is about 5 minutes long and explores the importance of biking and why these advocates personally love moving on two wheels.

Unfortunately, the videos can’t be embedded, but you can check them all out here. Features include:

Matthew McGuinness, cofounder of The 62, a Brooklyn-based art collective who started Re-Bicycle
George Bliss, the man behind New York’s Pedicabs
Brendt Barbur, founder of The Bicycle Film Festival
Matthew Modine, actor and founder of Bicycle-For-A-Day
Antonio Bertone, PUMA’s CMO

I-Cycle Film Series"

via PSFK

Matt Is Back, Still Dancing For Stride Gum

"In 2005, a guy named Matt couldn't dance. So, of course, he uploaded a video of himself dancing frenetically in front of famous places. Stride gum saw the video and sponsored him to go around the world and dance his strange, leprechaun-ish jig. Stride's first Matt video, from 2006, has gotten almost 10 million hits to date. Last week, the follow-up, with fans dancing alongside Matt, was posted (see above). It already has more than 2 million views..."

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via AdFreak

Surfing The Amazon River

"Hoping to turn out a series of adrenaline infused commercials for Nissan, professional surfers Jon Rose (US), Mar Ohno (Japan), Sergio Laus (Brazil) and an entire film crew were flown down to one of most isolated and unique breaks in the world.

The wave, called Pororoca, is a tidal bore at the mouth of the Amazon River. It’s created when the leading edge of the incoming tide from the Atlantic forms a wave that travels up the river. Still a secret to most, the wave has developed into somewhat of a legend amongst surfers and an annual championship has been held there since 1999.

Nissan put together this short film documenting the trip, as well as the wave.

Additionally, Surfline has a fun little sideshow with Jon Rose detailing the entire adventure."

via PSFK

Clorox Graffiti "Green Wash"

"Clorox has taken an innovative experiential approach to promoting Green Works, a new line on plant-based household cleaning products. They hired Reverse Graffiti Artist Paul Curtis (aka Moose) to "paint' the inside of the Broadway Tunnel, which runs through Russian Hill into San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. 

By removing the soot and grime from public spaces to create the outlines of nature, Moose makes a poignant statement about pollution in urban spaces and our reversal of the natural world. 

The video is a tiny bit heavy-handed in the product placement, but it still seems like a major departure for Clorox, which is not featured in connection with the project at all. 

It must have been a tough internal battle about whether or not to put the Clorox logo on the packaging (it's there in small format).  Because while Clorox=clean, bleach does not connote environmentally friendly (Burt's Bees, for example, doesn't carry the Clorox name).  Maybe the Clorox brand is there to counter the common skepticism that a green product "actually cleans".  Thanks to Laughing Squid.

Misha Cornes"

via Three Minds

Art Collective Remixes Ads

"CutUp are an anonymous collective of artists based in East London known for experimenting with urban environments. The group’s latest project entailed the removal of large billboards and bus stop posters, which were then cut up into small squares, and then reassembled in the original location using the source material to create entirely new images.

Check out some images from the groups studio and of their work here."

via If!

Search Engine Spelling Bee by Converse

Converse Spelling Bee, "...It’s a little experiment/viral ad using Google Adwords, where to get to the next round, you have to spell the word right in Google …"

via Neatorama

Posterchild Turns New York's Video Ads Into Stainglass Windows

via Wooster Collective

We're Connecting - And Wasting Time - On Twitter

"Some have called Twitter "the 'Seinfeld' of the Internet - a Web site about nothing." And at first glance, this micro-blogging tool that connects users around the world through short bursts of real-time text messages can seem mindlessly superficial.

"just ate a great burrito," types one Twitterer.

"time for a nap," says another.

But drill down a bit, its fans say, and the San Francisco-based network has all the makings of an Internet phenomenon with vast potential for social, business, political and cultural applications. Critics say Twitter, which can be accessed by computer, instant messaging, PDAs and cell phones, is prone to system crashes, has yet to show how it will turn a profit, and seduces its addicted users into unproductive dead zones - "a time-suck" says one critic, "for those not able to stay away."

But don't tell that to the users - 1.2 million unique visitors in May, by one account - who have embraced the 2-year-old tool and use it to trade sports scores, organize protests and even hire new employees. Many who try Twitter are smitten."

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via Mercury News