Get your basketball on

Interesting new website from (people think) Nike.

The challenge that I imagine that was set to their agency was... 'How can we build up public interest in the fact that Michael Jordan is being inducted in to the basketball hall of fame without being chest-beating and schmaltzy about it?'.

The solution... rather than spending money advertising the fact that your greatest brand advocate has a moment of glory... promote the ramblings of a discontented clinger on to Michael who claims to have been instrumental to his success.

Personally I think that the solution is funny and interesting... although not sure how many more pairs of Michael Jordan basketball trainers will be sold as a result of this.... although who knows! I'm sure the agency that created it would argue that in increasing salience of Michael Jordan again, you're elongating the life-span of the Michael Jordan franchise and selling more trainers longer-term. Maybe... but I bet they're not charging for their services based on any metrics like this.

Also... in the UK I believe that you do actually need to declare that you are funding activity to promote yourself... through whatever devious means in the online environment. Not sure about the rules in the US, but are they risking the wrath of the public when / if they find out who funded it?

http://www.getyourbasketballon.com

Adidas - The Spark

Really like the atmosphere, the production on this new campaign from 180 Amsterdam... however, I think their strategy is wrong.

To me... the Spark... the mystery of what Zidane is up to is a really nice opener for a dark, moody story filled with suspense. Yet supposedly a year out from the big climax of the campaign in the World Cup, they're already ruined the ending and stuffed the opening episode so full of product that there's nothing left to tell.

It is a beautifully produced spot... and I'm sure the target audience will think it's cool... but it could've been a lot cooler.

Trailer


Full TVC

McDonalds - No fry left behind (DDB Chicago)

I think working on the McDonalds account must be quite a challenge. I would imagine that every brief that comes in will have a pretty hard retail message at its heart... i.e. Big Mac sales are down, what can we do about it? or... how can we get people eating more junk food, even though everyone's new years resolution has been to give it up? (evil!) The client will always be pushing for the product shot... the product shot... that's what'll get people going. They agency will constantly be saying... but people know what a chip looks like... that'll be boring!!! This ad manages to keep the product at the heart, but in a really imaginative way.

You could liken it to the 'inside the Coke machine' / Happiness factory ad done a few months back i.e. cool hidden worlds where strange creatures obsess about the product, but this still feels pretty fresh in a slightly stale category to me.

McDonalds - No fry left behind


CocaCola - The Happiness Factory

New Coke Gremlins Ad

I really like this new Coke ad from Mother in London.

The questions I want to know are:
1) Have Coke and / or Mother been smart enough to negotiate a cut of the publishing rights to the song? With Calvin Harris being pretty hip right now and all the TV airtime this ad will get, the song is bound to chart pretty high.
2) What kind of experiential activity have they got lined up for the festivals around the summer to link in with this ad? I'm sure you could have a lot of fun with the gremlins...

Augmented reality stuff

I'm really loving all the augmented reality stuff at the moment.

The latest Star Trek DVD one and the Topps baseball card one are the most interesting ones that I've seen in the commercial sphere. My question would be to what extent this is a novelty thing or something that will be here to stay.

Obviously the technology is funky, but does the set-up cost of doing this kind of stuff pay back the consumer enough to warrant it?

Star Trek


Topps Trading Cards

New Smarties Ad

Thought this Smarties ad was quite sweet and firmly seems to follow in the credit crunch / Natural Confectionary style trend for lo-fi communications that postively don't shout 'we spent loads of money on this ad even though you've probably just lost your job'.



There's been some chat on the interweb that it may have "borrowed" heavily from the American poet / author / cartoonist Shel Silverstein... and yes there is a resemblence. However I'm not sure that you can claim to own 'line drawing' or 'the quest for love' as your intellectual property.



Personally if I was to critique this ad it would be more on the endline. I don't think that the story that is being told is really anything to do with imagination (which to me would be an add that shows lots of different Smartie arrangements)... its about love. Maybe an endline like "The colours of love" (for example) or "All the colours of life" would be a closer match?

Either way though... not bad for a sugar coated candy snack (or whatever the EU make them classify it as!).

The Quest for G

Quite enjoyed this parody of Python parody from Gatorade.

The 8 minute film sees the merry band of "questors" seeking out the holy "G" which, of course turns out to be Gatorade.

I think it's a brave move for a brand to spend as much as they obviously have on filming undistributed content like this. However personally think that the humour could have been sharper. If you're going to parody great comedy... you need to be more funny than the original or what's the point?